First Grade - ELA
1: Environment
Unit 1: Habitats and Homes
Lesson 1
My Environment
Students walk through their home and number rooms in the order they explore them, label rooms on the "Exploring My Home" page, and place data/ideas on a chart. Students circle items that meet needs (water, food, shelter), record or dictate responses on "The Most Important Room" sheet, and practice reading aloud the text they or an adult have written. The skills list explicitly includes attempting to read dictated text and placing data and ideas on a chart, indicating shared data-gathering and shared writing tasks.
Lesson 2
What Is a Map?
Students participate in shared reading of Me On the Map and examine example maps (world and U.S. maps) with an adult. Students create maps of their own rooms, label items (by filling in scrambled words or writing labels, sounding out words as needed), and complete handwriting practice using words like map, home, and house. Students answer location questions about map features (e.g., what is beside the refrigerator) and can cut/paste or draw items into a floor-plan map.
Lesson 4
Animals Live and Grow
Students are asked to go online to research "plants found in the ________" and to list or write the names of plants they find, showing direct research and recording. Students fill graphic organizers for Wetlands, Woodlands, Grasslands, and Drylands by writing or drawing plants and animals and labeling them. Students analyze their lists to find and record pairs of consumers and energy sources, cutting and pasting or writing matches on the "Food for Survival and Energy" pages.
Lesson 5
Discovering Animal Habitats
Students are asked to use picture books, websites, and linked resources (National Geographic, Habitat videos, and a matching game) to find pictures and information about different habitats (Activity 2). Students label habitats on pages, write habitat names (scrambled or from a word box), and draw and label animals and their food and water sources (Activities 1 and 3). Students also practice handwriting and write words (e.g., jungle, Jeep) and complete pages that require written labels and filling in graph data (Activities 4 and 6).
Lesson 6
Exploring Animal Habitats
Students are asked to observe a real habitat, record drawings/collages, and compare observations to prior predictions (Activity 1), which engages them in gathering information from first-hand observation. Activity 2 directs an adult to "locate more information about the animal in a book or online and share it with your child," after which students dictate and help read a written story about the animal, linking gathered information to a written product. The student pages ("A Day in the ___: A ___'s Life") provide structured writing prompts and space for illustrations that students use as part of a shared writing task.
Lesson 7
Tools in My Environment
Students conduct a Tool Scavenger Hunt in which they explore their home environment to find and collect 8–10 tools, answering questions about tool use. Students record the names of three chosen tools on the "Measuring Tools" activity sheet, measure those tools with a ruler or tape measure, and write the measured number of inches. Students also practice handwriting the letter I and the words "it" and "inch," and are asked to copy or write tool names and numbers if able.
Lesson 9
Animal Designs
Students are asked in Activity 2 to research animals online with an adult when unsure why an animal would not live in a habitat and to record their reasons on a separate sheet of paper. Activity 4 asks students to tell a creative story about an animal in the wrong habitat and have that story recorded on paper and read aloud, which is a shared writing task. Option 2 prompts students to print a small picture from the Internet or draw their own and to write the name of each habitat, combining simple research with writing.
Lesson 10
Amazing Animals
Activity 1 asks students to select an animal and "locate websites and/or find books about the animal," and the Student Activity Page provides informational text and illustrations for each animal that students can read and analyze. The Skills section lists "Listen critically to text read aloud" and "Respond to critical questions about a text," which indicate students read/listen to informational sources and answer questions about them.
Lesson 11
Amazing Me
Students are asked to think of a time they changed and to share an example while an adult records their ideas on paper (Activity 3). Students are encouraged to read the recorded ideas aloud or have them read back, and to illustrate their ideas; the Skills list includes "Read or attempt to read own story," "Illustrate a story," and "Express ideas." Wrapping Up and Life Application direct students to share examples and to observe and record environmental changes over the next few days.
Final Project
Animal Research / My Environment
Option 2 (Animal Research) asks students to choose an animal, find websites, books, or other sources of information, and then create a multi-page book with pages for the animal's name, range on a world map, what it eats and drinks, its habitat, and interesting facts. The directions ask students to draw or paste illustrations that match page descriptions and to label their pictures, then staple pages together and share the book with family. The project includes adult help for collecting sources and for labeling, supporting a guided research-and-writing activity.
Unit 2: Weather
Lesson 1
Reading the Skies
Students dictate sentences using weather vocabulary and have an adult record their dictated stories (Activity 2 and Activity 3), which involves shared writing. Students make and maintain a Weather Calendar over 3–4 weeks, drawing daily pictures and recording temperatures (Activity 4), which has them collect and record observational data over time. Students listen to weather forecasts and view weather pictures as informational inputs during wrap-up and life application sections.
Lesson 2
Types of Precipitation
Students read multiple weather books (Oh Say Can You Say What's the Weather Today? and Whatever the Weather) and discuss information about different types of precipitation. Students follow step-by-step procedures for hands-on activities (making rain, creating a tornado in a bottle, and folding/cutting a paper snowflake) and are asked to make and record a prediction for the rain experiment. Students are directed to look for pictures of hurricanes and tornadoes online and to use written craft instructions (Symmetry Craft Instructions) to create a snowflake.
Lesson 3
Measuring and Charting Weather
Students are asked to look at the book Crinkleroot's Guide to Knowing Animal Habitats with an adult and describe weather in different habitats, which involves shared exploration of an informational text. Students record measured temperatures on a "Measuring Temperature" activity sheet and mark readings with a crayon, practicing writing and documenting data. Students complete a Rain acrostic by writing words or phrases that relate to rain, demonstrating a focused writing activity.
Lesson 4
Simulating Weather
Students follow step-by-step directions to create a pinwheel (cutting, folding, pinning, and testing it outside), and they carry out a procedural experiment to "make a cloud" by adding warm water, smoke/dust, and manipulating pressure. Students also read and point to words in the Weather Song as they sing, connecting words to actions and following a sequence during the activities. These activities give students practice with following and enacting how-to style procedures.
Lesson 6
Winter
Students locate and examine winter pages in a book (Whatever the Weather) and describe what they see, comparing book pictures to their own environment. Students are asked to dictate a story about a winter activity while an adult records it, and some students are encouraged to write their own words and illustrate the story. Students view a picture of the Earth and Sun in a book or online and discuss how Earth's tilt affects winter, connecting information from a resource to discussion.
Final Project
Weather Games
Students reread weather-related books (Whatever the Weather; Oh Say Can You Say What's the Weather Today?) and are asked to use observations plus information from the Internet or TV to inform their forecasts. Students record daily temperatures on a weather calendar and fill out a 'Weather Forecast' graphic organizer that asks guiding questions about sky, precipitation, temperature, clothing, and activities. Students prepare a three-day forecast, practice it, receive prompts from an adult, and present their forecast to the family (with opportunities to record and revise presentation).
Unit 3: Community
Lesson 1
On the Town
Students read the book On the Town and discuss places and people in a community, answering guided questions about Charlie's visits. In Activity 3, students draw a new page for the book and write or dictate a sentence or two about Charlie visiting a unique place in their community, producing original written content. The Life Application asks students to keep a notebook and take notes or draw pictures as they visit different places over the next couple of weeks, which asks students to record observations over time.
Lesson 2
My Community Environment
Students explore multiple books about communities (Activity 3) by selecting three books, copying each title, and drawing illustrations of the communities. Students conduct small-scale research through a planned interview on a field trip (Activity 4): they prepare questions, ask an adult who works at a community site, and take notes or record the conversation. Students produce written/dictated descriptions when they create a community poster (Activity 2) by labeling places and writing or dictating brief descriptions of how each place serves the community.
Lesson 3
Jobs in the Community
Students conduct field research by observing a chosen community worker for an extended time (Activity 3) and record observations. Students gather data over several days by tallying sightings of different community helpers (Activity 2). Students read books about community workers (Activity 6) and produce written work: a dictated or self-written paragraph about being a community worker (Activity 4) and simple sentences about how each worker helps (Activity 5).
Lesson 5
Resources
Students are asked to gather three natural and three manmade resources (Activity 3) and then explain how each is used, where it is found, and/or write a sentence about the resources. Students sort and classify pictured items as natural or manmade (Activity 1) and draw examples, which involves collecting and recording information. The Life Application asks students to look through the kitchen and identify natural and manmade resources, prompting exploration of real-world sources.
Lesson 9
Caring for Our Communities
Students are asked to look through a variety of picture books and discuss settings (Activity 2 extension), which has them explore multiple texts. Students collect and share three things that make their community healthy by taking pictures, drawing, or making a video (Activity 3), which has them gather information and present it to others. Students collaborate to write a Helping Song (Activity 6), practicing shared composition with an adult or peers.
Final Project
I Can Make A Difference
Students write a step-by-step plan using sentence starters: "I am planning to..., 1. The first thing I will do is..., 2. Next I will..., 3. Finally I will..." and can check off each step as they carry out the project. Students carry out a community project (e.g., pick up trash, visit a nursing home), take a photo of themselves engaged in the work, and write a reflection describing what they did and how it helped. The activity emphasizes sequencing events in the correct order and producing written steps for completing a task.
2: Similarities and Differences
Unit 1: Amazing Attributes
Lesson 5
How Old?
Activity 3 asks the child to "look for information on the Internet about the average life spans of a variety of different animals," draw and label each animal on an index card, and write its average life span. The activity provides a web link to a PDF poster of animal life spans as an information source. Option 2 of Activity 2 asks the child to find pictures of five people of different ages and to write a question for each person, which involves recording information in writing.
Lesson 9
Solids and Liquids
Students are asked to gather examples by using magazines, catalogs, advertisements, or images found online and to cut and paste those pictures into columns labeled "Solid" and "Liquid," which shows them locating and collecting information from multiple sources. Students are also asked to write down definitions for "Solid" and "Liquid" and to label sheets of construction paper, demonstrating written work tied to the topic.
Lesson 10
Earth Materials: Rocks, Soil, and Water
Students read two related nonfiction books and answer text-based questions, watch two instructional videos about soil/rocks/water, and collect and compare two soil samples as hands-on research. Students use those observations and sources to create an "Earth Materials" book: they write properties of dirt, rocks, and water, sort and label types of soil and rocks, glue images showing rock formation, identify solid and liquid water, and draw places water is found. These activities require students to gather information from multiple sources and produce a written/published product.
Lesson 11
Using Earth Materials
Students are asked to keep a Water Log, recording times water is used and optionally dictating entries to a parent or taking photos to make a collage. Students watch a video about rock types and then go on a scavenger hunt, keeping a list or taking photos of rock uses and items made from rocks. Students work in a garden or observe soil and discuss soil properties, collecting observations about how soil affects plant growth.
Final Project
Presenting Attributes
Students choose and carry out a multi-day project (demonstration or poster) in which they select at least five attributes, gather Earth-materials or pictures (including finding images online or in magazines), and plan what to say. Students compose words and sentences on a poster (or dictate text to an adult to record) and practice organizing and presenting their explanations to family or a small group of children. Students rehearse their oral presentation and revise their plan based on practice feedback.
Unit 2: Senses
Lesson 4
Hearing and Seeing
Students are asked to read about seeing-eye dogs on the Internet (Activity 4), which requires locating and using an informational source. Students are asked to describe a noisy place, have their ideas recorded, and are encouraged to attempt to read their description aloud to friends or family (Activity 5). Students record observations from guided experiences (blindfold walk) and compare lists of sounds and sights, producing written notes of their observations.
Lesson 7
Using All of Our Senses
Students look through books to identify how characters use senses (Activity 3). Students go on a nature walk, record observations in a chart, and may draw, write, or dictate findings to an adult (Activity 2). Students write or copy a sentence about their nature-walk observation (Activity 4).
Final Project
A Sensible Party
Students plan a multi-sensory "Sensible Party" by completing Party Planner sheets where they write ideas for games, list supplies, and plan activities for each of the five senses. Students make a guest list, count attendees, determine quantities of supplies, check items off as they gather them, and create invitations with place, date, and time. Students prepare for and lead the party games, and answer reflective questions about whether guests used their senses and how decisions were made.
Unit 3: We're the Same, We're Different
Lesson 2
Physical Characteristics
Activity 3 asks the child to dictate a Friendship Story while an adult records the child's sentences and the child illustrates beginning, middle, and end, which requires the child to participate in a jointly produced written piece. Activity 3 also asks the child to produce a sequence (beginning/middle/end) and to provide one sentence per part for the adult to record. Activity 4 asks the child to write a sentence about a personal physical characteristic, giving the child practice composing text.
Lesson 4
Interests and Hobbies
Activity 2 directs students to go to the library, find books about an interest, and use prior and new knowledge to answer the five prompts on the "My Interest" sheet; it also invites students to teach others and to extend the work into a poster, presentation, or booklet. Activity 3 has students interview three people using a Hobby Survey, read questions aloud, and record responses, which involves gathering information from others. Activity 1 asks students to dictate and then write a few sentences describing a hobby, providing practice in composing written descriptions.
Lesson 6
Different Families
Students examine a nonfiction book (A Life Like Mine) and locate families on specified pages and on the book map, describing clothing, activities, and interactions. Students complete writing tasks that compare their family to a family from another country using sentence prompts or a Venn diagram and draw illustrations to support their responses. Students practice writing conventions by completing sentences, attempting words with inventive spelling, and dictating ideas and responses.
Lesson 7
Different Homes
Students look through the book and the Internet with an adult to find homes similar to the puzzle pieces, identify countries where those homes might be found, and record the country name above each home (Activity 2). Students search for additional pictures of homes (Activity 3) and add visual details based on pictures they found. Students write at least a short piece of text: they label homes with country names and write a sentence about their own home (Activity 4 and Handwriting).
Lesson 8
Different Holidays and Traditions
Students are asked to look online for pictures and descriptions of holidays and traditions around the world and to discuss similarities and differences (Activity 2), which engages them in gathering information from multiple sources. Students read about holidays in encyclopedias or on websites and match traditions with holidays (Activity 1), demonstrating use of informational resources. Students create a "Book of Holidays" by putting pages in chronological order and writing a sentence about each holiday, and they write three sentences about their favorite holiday (Activities 5 and 3), which produces a written project informed by research.
Lesson 9
Different Modes of Transportation
Students are asked to look through books and websites on different countries and identify modes of transportation, which has them locate information in multiple sources. An optional extension explicitly asks students to select a form of transportation to learn more about and to have help locating information in books and online. Students also write labels, answer scenario prompts about appropriate transportation, draw and dictate or attempt to read aloud a story about a trip, providing opportunities to record and produce written responses based on topical exploration.
Lesson 10
Wants and Needs
Students carry out a simple research task in Activity 4 by surveying four people, asking each for two wants and two needs, and then drawing or writing those items in a chart and placing them on two webs. Students collect and organize data in Activities 1 and 3 by labeling items as wants or needs and making separate lists of their own wants and needs. Students also produce written/dictated responses in Activity 2 when they write about how it felt to give away toys and clothes.
Lesson 11
Being Part of a Group
Students listen to and discuss pages 98–113 of A Life Like Mine, using that text as a source of information about identity, nationality, and religion. Students brainstorm community groups while an adult records ideas, which involves gathering information about groups and their purposes. Students produce written work by drawing a picture and completing a prompted paragraph (with the option to dictate while an adult records), then read the paragraph aloud.
Final Project
Differences Make the World Go 'Round
Students locate a chosen country on a map and read about it in books or on the Internet, including a discussion of fiction vs. nonfiction. Students gather information about food, clothing, activities, transportation, and environment and use that information to complete comparative sentence prompts on activity pages. Students compose and illustrate pages, print or cut pictures, assemble the pages into a book, and share the finished book with family or a person from the chosen country.
3: Patterns
Unit 1: Identifying and Creating Visual Patterns
Lesson 1
What Is a Pattern?
Students read Busy Bugs together with an adult, follow along, and discuss patterns found in the book (for example, spider webs and repeated parts on pages 12–25). Students practice sequencing language by naming items in order (e.g., "butterfly, ant, butterfly") during pattern creation activities and are encouraged to use the phrase structure "First, there is ______. Next, there is ______. Then, there is ______." in Activity 4 and Activity 7. Students write or copy three sentences describing a pattern using first/next/then in the handwriting activity.
Final Project
Patterns Poster or Patterns Presentation
Students choose and complete a final project (poster or presentation) that requires them to plan and display seven types of patterns. Students write a "Script for Presentation" where they describe each pattern and record what materials they will use. Students prepare and present their work to friends or family, practicing what they will say and demonstrating examples of each pattern.
Unit 2: Patterns in Sounds, Words, and Actions
Lesson 2
Making Word Patterns
Students examine a variety of picture books that rhyme and identify and record words from the texts that share the same sound pattern (Activity 3). Students create a written product by cutting, pasting, and assembling a book of rhyming sentences and composing two original rhyming sentences (Activity 1). Students sort word lists into word-family groups, label them, and paste them on index cards, practicing organizing information from provided word lists (Activity 2).
Lesson 6
Sound Patterns
Students are prompted to write about a sound pattern on handwriting paper (Activity 4) with a sentence starter: "I heard a pattern that went...". The Student Activity Page asks students to record a sound pattern and then create their own pattern. The Wrapping Up section asks students to describe how to make a sound pattern, which asks for a sequence or steps verbally or in writing.
Final Project
Patterns Video
Students are directed to locate or create examples of action, sound, rhyming, and story patterns using books, music, activity pages, or their own ideas. Students write or dictate on four "Video Script" pages that prompt them to record the type of pattern, where they found or made it, the parts of the pattern, and the steps using prompts such as "First comes" and "Then." Students practice their scripts, record a video of their patterns, and share the video with others.
Unit 3: Patterns in Your World
Lesson 1
Patterns in Nature
Students are asked to read aloud pp. 1-11 of Pattern and to identify and describe patterns in the pictures, which engages them with a text source. Option 2 and Activity 3 direct students to look in books or on the Internet to locate pictures of animals and patterns, and to draw and label 3–5 favorite patterns, indicating students use multiple sources to gather examples. Activity 4 asks students to write or copy a sentence from the reading on handwriting paper, providing a small writing task tied to the content.
Lesson 2
Patterns of Growth
Students follow step-by-step planting directions for the bean experiment and record the plant's growth by drawing and writing a sentence for each observation. Students cut apart and glue pictures to sequence the life cycles of a plant, a dog, and a person and illustrate stages of growth for animals like butterflies or frogs. Students are given web links about metamorphosis and life cycles that they can explore as informational sources.
Lesson 3
Night and Day
Students examine pictures of the Sun, Moon, and Earth, watch a linked video of the Earth rotating, and use a globe/ball and flashlight to investigate night and day. Students label the three celestial bodies on an activity page and draw and record or dictate a few sentences on the "During the Day" and "At Night" pages. Students also participate in guided Q&A and hands-on simulations with family members, suggesting shared, interactive exploration.
Lesson 4
Daily Routines
Students cut pictures of a morning routine and glue them in the correct order to produce a sequenced morning routine (Activity 1). Students think of another daily routine, break it into four numbered steps, and dictate or write a sentence for each step and illustrate each step (Activity 2). Students record activities with times across a day and write or copy a sentence describing one routine, practicing chronological ordering and sentence writing (Activities 3 and 4).
Lesson 7
Patterns at Home
Students listen to a read-aloud of a Pattern book and watch a linked patterns video, then go on a pattern scavenger hunt to identify and describe specific patterns from the book and the home. Students complete activity pages (Shirt Patterns, A Quilt Pattern) and create their own pattern drawings for shirts and plates. Students write or dictate and then copy a sentence that describes a pattern found in their closet.
Final Project
Patterns All Around Lapbook
Students create a multi-part lapbook by making six mini-books (one-page, four corners, matchbook, three-flap, wheel, fan) and assembling them into a single project. Students locate and collect examples of patterns by drawing them, cutting pictures from magazines, or printing images from the computer to paste inside mini-books, and they record or dictate knowledge and write labels and titles (e.g., "Pattern in Nature", days of the week). The skills list explicitly includes "Record or dictate knowledge on a topic," and templates require students to label stages and sequence items (e.g., beginning/middle/end for growth stages, seasons in order).
4: Change
Unit 1: Changes on Planet Earth
Lesson 5
Changes in Location
Students complete worksheets filling in prepositions and write simple prepositional phrases describing a cat's location. Students cut out a mouse, move it to locations described by sentences, and are prompted to write simple sentences describing the mouse's location (Option 2). Students follow written directions to change their own location and are asked to write directions for a partner to read and follow, then switch roles.
Lesson 9
Heat Causes Change
Students review specific pages (14–15 and 18–19) in the book Changes Happen All Around You with an adult, and they collect and organize information by measuring and recording data on activity sheets (Ice, Water, Steam and A Burning Candle). Students observe experiments, record measurements in both paper clips and inches, and answer guided questions about their observations. Students also write or copy a sentence on handwriting paper about something they observed during the experiments.
Unit 2: Characters Change
Lesson 3
Is It a Problem?
Students are asked to brainstorm personal problems and write a plan of action in Activity 2 "Tackling a Problem," including a section "What steps can I take to tackle my problem?" with three numbered lines for actionable steps. Students illustrate how the problem progresses in the story on the "The Problem" activity page, connecting text and images to represent stages. Students identify beginning, middle, and end across three different stories in Activity 4, demonstrating work with multiple texts to organize events.
Lesson 6
Positive and Negative Change
Students discuss and compare how characters change across several stories (What Do You Do With a Problem?, Chrysanthemum, The Raft, Wemberly), which has them explore multiple texts on a common topic (change). Students dictate and produce a new ending for the rat story while an adult records it, creating a shared writing product. Students also illustrate and write or dictate one-to-two sentences describing a personal change, producing written responses to prompts.
Unit 3: A First Look at History - Change Over Time
Lesson 1
People and Families Change
Students gather and organize information by collecting pictures of themselves and their family (Activities 1 and 4) and by looking through family scrapbooks to identify changes (Activity 5). Students record and display data from observation by creating a growth chart with yearly height measurements (Activity 2). Students participate in shared writing when they dictate ideas about family changes while an adult records them, fill in the "Writing About Change" sheet, write a sentence about a change, illustrate, and read their ideas aloud to family (Activities 3 and 5).
Lesson 3
Communities Change
Students read and discuss The House on Maple Street and answer guided questions about who, where, and how the environment changed. Students collect and organize information by cutting, numbering, and pasting events onto a timeline and by matching picture labels to events. Students identify artifacts from the text, draw artifacts, and write a sentence about the book, showing basic research-related and writing practice.
Lesson 4
Past and Present
Students use The Usborne Time Traveler and are asked to look at pictures in other books or on the Internet to learn about a chosen time period (Activity 2). Students record dictated stories about living in the past, write a sentence comparing past and present (Activity 8), and complete charts and lists (timeline cut/paste, Advantages/Disadvantages chart, 5 clue dictation) that require extracting information from the text. Several activities ask students to refer to multiple pages/sections of the book and to use that information to create drawings, dictated narratives, or written lists.
Lesson 5
Exploring the Past
Students explore multiple sections of The Usborne Time Traveler and examine pages on homes, clothes, food, and transport across three cultures. Students cut out pictures, sort and glue images onto culture charts, and place culture pictures in chronological order on a timeline. Students draw and write or dictate descriptions for culture elements and write one sentence about each element to assemble into a small book. Students share their finished book in a presentation to the family.
Lesson 7
People of the Past
Students read a simple biography with an adult (Activity 1) and work with the "People in History" sheet that presents five historical figures and descriptions (Activity 2). Students are asked, as an extension, to choose an individual to learn more about and to "read about this person's accomplishments and challenges on the Internet." Students also write a sentence about a historical person on handwriting paper (Activity 4).
Final Project
My Past, Present and Future
Students are asked to collect and organize information and to write or dictate sentences such as "In the past ______" and "Today ______" as they create a book or comparison pages. Students create a multi-page product (a book of past, present, and future or folded comparison pages) and are guided to illustrate and write about elements of culture. The materials explicitly note that students can use The Usborne Time Traveler for reference when completing the comparison activity.