This parent guide supports parents in helping their child at home with 1st Grade ELA content. Within the folder you will access Parent Guide PDFs in FIVE Languages: Arabic, English, Hindi, Spanish, and Vietnamese to help on-going communication with caregivers. 

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. 

In this lesson, students will write free-verse acrostic poems about themselves using the letters of their names to begin each line. They then write an additional acrostic poem about something that is important to them. After proofreading, both poems are recopied or typed and illustrated and then mounted on construction paper for display. Several opportunities for sharing and peer review are incorporated.

This Animal Needs research project helps early elementary students explore animal needs around a specific animal. The project provides students with an opportunity to demonstrate speaking/listening skills, organize and present information, and write informative texts at a developmentally appropriate level. It can be completed in a variety of ways with multiple final products: posters, sculptures (playdoh/air-dry clay), oral presentations (in class or on video), and/or research papers. Students can ask and answer questions following presentations. Students may work independently or in pairs/small groups at school or complete the project at home using books, magazines, and internet resources. Focus on local animals, native species, invasive species, or leave the choice completely open to students' interests. 

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.

After reading books about obeying the rules and discussing the positive results that occur when rules are obeyed and the negative consequences when rules are broken, all students will help produce a Cause and Effect chart like the one I have attached as an example for obeying rules at school. Then higher-level students will extend their learning by working in a small group to create a Cause and Effect chart of obeying rules in the neighborhood and one for adults obeying rules/laws in the community. Their charts that they create will actually provide an opportunity for all students to be challenged to think about rules further. This lesson was developed by NCDPI as part of the Academically and/or Intellectually Gifted Instructional Resources Project. This lesson plan has been vetted at the state level for standards alignment, AIG focus, and content accuracy.

Students will be introduced to the different federal holidays celebrated throughout the year. They will work collaboratively to research information and images related to the federal holidays. They will then place pictorial representations of the holidays on a timeline.

This lesson uses two books, Charlie Needs a Cloak by Tomie dePaola and A Symphony for the Sheep by C.M. Millen, to provide early exposure to economic concepts while encouraging reading comprehension. Prereading and postreading discussions and activities promote vocabulary building and analytical thinking. Students gain knowledge of the economic terms "natural resource" and "producer" as they make text-to-world connections.

Seesaw is a web-based and application platform where students can post pictures from the classroom, annotate, speak their mind, and create electronic portfolios that connect school and home. Parents are able to see student work as soon as it is posted.
In this activity, students will take a common problem and use the design process to come up with a solution.

As a way to support teachers with English Language Arts (ELA) instruction during the pandemic, the NCDPI ELA team created choice boards featuring standards-aligned ELA activities.The intended purpose of these choice boards is to provide a way for students to continue standards-based learning while schools are closed. Each activity can be adapted and modified to be completed with or without the use of digital tools. Many activities can also be repeated with different texts. These standards-based activities are meant to be a low-stress approach to reinforcing and enriching the skills learned during the 2019-2020 school year. The choice boards are to be used flexibly by teachers, parents, and students in order to meet the unique needs of each learner.Exploration activities are provided for a more self-directed or guided approach to independent learning for students. These activities and sites should be used as a way to explore concepts, topics, skills, and social and emotional competencies that interest the learner. 

Students will investigate ways people around the world change the environments where honeybees live to make it harder for honeybees to meet their needs. Students will also be exposed to ways people participate globally in activities that have a positive impact on honeybees' environment. Independently and as class students will determine ways they can help honeybees in the local community. Students will make plans independently and as a class to take action to alleviate a problem or aid honeybees in the community.This lesson was developed by Gisele Cauley as part of their completion of the North Carolina Global Educator Digital Badge program. This lesson plan has been vetted at the local and state level for standards alignment, Global Education focus, and content accuracy.

Students will complete the animal group exploration choice board to explore the different animal groups. They will listen to read alouds, explore videos of each group and create bubble maps showing their understanding of the characteristics of each group.

In this unit, students will choose topics that they already know about and will write an "All -About Book".

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.

Students will read a prompt and probing questions in order to write an essay about a man who is important to them. This resource supports English language development for English language learners.

Students will read a prompt and probing questions. Students will then write to respond to the prompt about an important woman in their lives. This resource supports English language development for English language learners.

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 will read 'The Moon Book' by Gail Gibbons. Each page, the teacher will stop and talk with the students about what they are learning about the moon. After the students read the book, additional actvities are provided in the lesson including arts and crafts, oreo moons, and much more.

The NC Kids' Exploration Journals are a fun educational tool to help youth explore their communities and natural surroundings! Each journal contains: 18 multidisciplinary activities with guided prompts, 6 lined journal pages for recording observations and reflections, and 4 blank pages for individual creativity.

The digital versions of the journal are designed to be printed out for students either as individual activities or in its entirety so that they can explore their school yard, local park, or own backyard. Though designed for 1st - 5th-graders, older audiences may enjoy them too! They are also available in both English and Spanish languages.

While supplies last, hard copies of the journals are currently available for free to teachers by contacting karen.ipock@ncdcr.gov.

This is a lesson plan about ocean animals that integrates writing informative texts and technology.