Grade 1 English Language Arts
9 units matched to the BC Curriculum. Kids see this subject as “Letters & Words”.
Big Ideas
- Language and story can be a source of creativity and joy.
- Stories and other texts help us learn about ourselves and our families.
- Stories and other texts can be shared through pictures and words.
- Everyone has a unique story to share.
- Through listening and speaking, we connect with others and share our world.
- Playing with language helps us discover how language works.
- Curiosity and wonder lead us to new discoveries about ourselves and the world around us.
Units
Unit 1
Blend It
Blending sounds into words (s-u-n makes sun), counting the sounds in a word and hearing the last sound. These listening skills are the base of reading and spelling.
Learning standard: Phonological awareness: phoneme blending and segmenting; letter–sound relationships
Unit 2
Short Vowels
Hearing the short vowel in the middle of words like cat, bed, pig, dog and sun, and filling in the missing vowel to spell the word.
Learning standard: Letter–sound relationships: short vowels; spelling of simple words
Unit 3
Word Families
Words that share an ending, like cat, hat and bat. Once children know one word in a family, they can read and spell many more by changing the first sound.
Learning standard: Word patterns and word families; phonological awareness (rhyme, onset and rime)
Unit 4
Sh, Ch, Th
Letter pairs that make one sound (sh, ch, th) at the start and end of words like ship, cheese and tooth.
Learning standard: Letter–sound relationships: consonant digraphs sh, ch and th
Unit 5
Sight Words
Common words like said, was, they and where that are tricky to sound out. Children practise finding, using and spelling them so they can read them at a glance.
Learning standard: High-frequency words; spelling of simple words
Unit 6
Sentences
Starting sentences and names with a capital letter, ending with a period or question mark, telling whole sentences from parts, counting words and finding naming words.
Learning standard: Language features and conventions: capital letters and periods; concepts of print; naming words
Unit 7
Story Time
Reading short stories, then naming who is in them and where they happen, and putting the events in order. Reading the story aloud together and talking about it helps a lot!
Learning standard: Story elements: characters, setting and events; reading strategies
Unit 8
Describing Words
Opposites (hot and cold) and describing words that tell how something looks, feels, tastes or sounds, including finding the describing word in a sentence.
Learning standard: Language features: vocabulary, opposites and describing words
Unit 9
More Than One
Plurals: adding -s to a naming word means more than one (one cat, two cats). Stretch questions add -es to words like box and fox.
Learning standard: Language features and conventions: plurals; spelling of simple words
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