Grade 1 English Language Arts
14 units matched to the Nunavut Curriculum. Kids see this subject as “Letters & Words”.
Learning focus
- Uqausiliriniq: communication and language, creative and artistic expression, and reflective and critical thinking.
- Comprehension: listen, view and read to understand a range of texts.
- Production: speak, write and represent ideas clearly for different audiences and purposes.
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.
Approved guide: NWT English Language Arts (2011), Comprehension · blending and segmenting sounds to read and spell words
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.
Approved guide: NWT English Language Arts (2011), Comprehension · short vowel sounds in reading and spelling
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.
Approved guide: NWT English Language Arts (2011), Production · word families and rhyming patterns
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.
Approved guide: NWT English Language Arts (2011), Comprehension · the sounds 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.
Approved guide: NWT English Language Arts (2011), Production · recognizing and spelling high-frequency 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.
Approved guide: NWT English Language Arts (2011), Production · capital letters and periods in sentences
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!
Approved guide: NWT English Language Arts (2011), Comprehension · story elements, and retelling in order
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.
Approved guide: NWT English Language Arts (2011), Production · describing words and opposites
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.
Approved guide: NWT English Language Arts (2011), Production · word endings that make plurals
Unit 10
Kinds of Sentences
Knowing a telling sentence from a question, a command and an exclamation, choosing the end mark, and seeing sentences with two ideas joined.
Approved guide: NWT English Language Arts (2011), Production · sentences that tell, ask and exclaim, and the punctuation they need
Unit 11
Think It Through
Reading a short story, finding the main idea and details, and using clues to work out what is not said.
Approved guide: NWT English Language Arts (2011), Comprehension · using strategies to check and show understanding of a text
Unit 12
Reading Smart
Practises thinking before and while reading: using what you already know, predicting what happens next, making connections to your own life, using headings and pictures, telling kinds of texts apart and learning topic words.
Approved guide: NWT English Language Arts (2011), Comprehension · background knowledge, choosing texts, text forms and features, predictions, connections and topic words
Unit 13
True, Pretend and Opinions
Practises telling what could be true from what is make-believe, noticing that people see the same thing differently, seeing people like us in books, and giving an opinion with a reason.
Approved guide: NWT English Language Arts (2011), Comprehension · seeing ourselves in texts, what could be true or false, different viewpoints and sharing opinions with reasons
Unit 14
Plan and Write
Practises planning writing by drawing and talking, putting ideas in order, grouping ideas that belong together, showing feelings in writing, improving after feedback, and knowing different kinds of writing.
Approved guide: NWT English Language Arts (2011), Production · planning, kinds of writing, organizing ideas, personal voice, feedback, forming letters and using more than one mode
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