This parent guide supports parents in helping their child at home with 1st Grade ELA content.

These resources accompany our Rethink 1st Grade ELA course. They include ideas for use, ways to support exceptional children, ways to extend learning, digital resources and tools, tips for supporting English Language Learners and students with visual and hearing impairments. There are also ideas for offline learning. 

This unit was created by the Rethink Education Content Development Team. This course is aligned to the NC Standards for 1st Grade ELA in Non-Fiction Literature.

Using a wide variety of nonfiction literature, students learn to sort and categorize books to begin the information-gathering process. Then, working with partners and groups, using pictures and text, students are guided through the process of gathering information, asking clarifying questions, and then enhancing the information with additional details. Students complete the lesson by collaboratively making “Question and Answer” books for the classroom library.

This informational text explains that while both the Arctic and Antarctica are cold, Antarctica is much colder and drier - a polar desert. The text is written at a kindergarten through grade one reading level. This version is a full-color PDF that can be printed, cut and folded to form a book. Each book contains color photographs and illustrations.

Students are prompted to use comparisons to discuss what they see as they picture walk through books about the ocean. They identify what these comparisons have in common to arrive at an informal name and definition of simile. They then create illustrations showing these comparisons. Next, students picture walk through two additional picture books about the ocean and comment about what they see. They are introduced to metaphor by rewording some of their comments into metaphors. They continue to note metaphors as the books are read aloud, and then name and define this new type of comparison. They again draw pictures to illustrate some of these metaphors. Students discuss why writers use these types of comparisons, then work to revise existing writing to incorporate figurative language through guided practice or independent work. Finally, students use templates to create a book on the ocean that features similes and metaphors.

Students and the teacher produce a class book through a group-writing activity, focusing on a basic before-during-after sequence of events. After discussing what they know about pumpkins, the class carves a jack-o-lantern, pausing at each step to chart their observations on before, during, and after charts. The class then uses their sentences from the chart to write the sequence of events for carving the pumpkin. Finally, the class publishes their work, using one of several publishing options.

Students will learn how good readers preview a nonfiction book before they begin reading.

In this lesson, students will use KWL charts and interactive writing as key components of organizing information. As a class, students list what they know about insects, prompted by examining pictures in an insect book. Students them pose questions they have about insects, again using picture books as a visual prompt. Students then search for answers to the questions they have posed, using Websites, read-alouds, and easy readers. Periodic reviews of gathered information become the backdrop to ongoing inquiry, discussion, reporting, and confirming information. The lesson culminates with the publishing of a collaborative question and answer book which reports on information about the chosen topic, with each student contributing one page to the book.

This informational text introduces students to the dinosaurs found near the polar regions and discusses the adaptations that allowed these dinosaurs to survive in a dark and cold environment. The text is written at a kindergarten through grade one reading level. This version is a full-color PDF that can be printed, cut and folded to form a book. Each book contains color photographs and illustrations.

This page contains six online fiction books, eight online nonfiction books and puzzles. Each book will read paragraphs, sentences or single words to students as they click on the ear icon or click on what they would like to have read. Nonfiction reading passages include information about nature. Fiction passages are fantasy. This resource supports English language development for English language learners.

This informational text discusses the unique property of ice - that it floats in liquid water. Students focus on real-world examples and how ice is necessary for life in the polar regions. The text is written at a kindergarten through grade one reading level. This version is a full-color PDF that can be printed, cut and folded to form a book. Each book contains color photographs and illustrations.

Getting children to use their imaginations when writing a story can sometimes be difficult. Drawing, however, can create a bridge between the ideas in a child's head and the blank piece of paper on the desk. In this lesson, students use factual information gathered from the Internet as the basis for creating a nonfiction story. Story elements, including setting, characters, problem, solution, and endings, are then used as a structure for assembling students' ideas into a fiction story.

In this unit, students will begin their inquiry by comparing fiction and nonfiction books about animals, using a Venn diagram. They will list things they want to know about animals on a chart. As a class, students will vote on an animal to research. They will revise their question list, and then research the animal using prompts from an online graphic organizer. After several sessions of research, students will revisit their original questions and evaluate the information they have gathered. Finally, students will revise and edit their work and prepare to present their findings to an authentic audience.

In this lesson, students will be given objects and asked to make predictions on how far each object will move after they blow in it. Then they will measure the distance and record their observations in their science journals. After their science investigation into motion students will read Move It! by Jaime A. Schroeder to reinforce the hands-on learning activity.

This resource supports English language development for English language learners. This page contains six online fiction books, eight online nonfiction books and puzzles. Each book will read paragraphs, sentences or single words to students as they click on the ear icon or click on what they would like to have read. Nonfiction reading passages include information about nature. Fiction passages are fantasy.

This resource supports English language development for English language learners. In “Earth Day Celebrations” - a brief Listen and Read nonfiction story - students learn how children in New York City, Costa Rica, South Korea, and Russia celebrate Earth Day, a holiday that honors our natural environment. The reading activity includes text, images, and audio, so students can read along while listening to a narrator. At the end of the story, a Sound It Out section lets students listen to these vocabulary words a second time: "parade," "trees," "drums," and "recycling."

This educator's guide demonstrates how Brian Floca's books provide an exceptional blend of text and illustrations to present information. Students will study diagrams and use them to glean information about the main topic of the book. Students will also examine how Floca uses various features throughout the books to enhance readers' enjoyment.

In this lesson, students will learn that building a snowman is one way to provide food for birds and animals during the winter. Students begin by listening to a book about snow. Students are then introduced to a K-W-L chart and discuss what they know about how animals find food in the winter. As students listen to Henrietta Bancroft's Animals in Winter, they listen for details about how some animals survive during the winter and record those details in the last column of the chart. To continue to build students' knowledge of the topic, they listen to additional fiction and nonfiction books and view a website about animals in winter. As a culminating activity, students use their charts to write and illustrate a story.

In this lesson, students count the days between Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Valentine’s Day and are challenged to complete 100 acts of kindness during that time. They brainstorm examples of kind acts they could do and discuss how to report acts of kindness they witness. They also select a service project to plan and complete together as a class. For the project’s duration, acts of kindness are tracked on a classroom chart. Students are encouraged to acknowledge kind acts by others through thank you notes, and families are encouraged to help report acts of kindness. The project culminates with a Valentine’s Day celebration.