Chicopee Public Schools
English Language Arts Curriculum

Vocabulary and Concept Development

Students who have acquired an extensive vocabulary have a much better chance of becoming successful readers, writers, and spellers.  Research has shown that comprehension improves when students have multiple experiences with essential vocabulary words.  Direct instruction in vocabulary strategies as well as exposing students to vocabulary in reading and oral story telling facilitate vocabulary acquisition.
 

Listed below are possible categories of vocabulary instruction that can be used from grade one through grade five.  Students can be helped to acquire vocabulary through the use of:

            dictionaries, thesauruses, glossaries

            word walls,

            word banks (words that describe events or places such as a birthday party, amusement park, etc.)

            vocabulary journals

word categories (lists of words that denote size, number, texture, color etc.),

word of the day, etc.

Vocabulary and concept development should be a daily focus throughout the year at every grade level.

Word Meaning – Introduce and define vocabulary.

Synonyms – Develop synonym lists through word walls or individual vocabulary journals.

Antonyms – Develop antonyms lists through word walls or individual vocabulary journals.

Context Clues – Identify words in the sentence that helps student to understand the meaning.

                         Give students oral or written sentence and choice of three definitions.

Classify & Categorize – Have students sort words.  Provide choices.  (Which word tells about an animal? 

Which word shows an action?)

Compare & Contrast – How are two words alike?  How are two words different?

Word Families – List words that belong to a word family and what are their shades of meaning

                        (jump, jumps, jumped, jumping)?

Figurative Language – Similes, Metaphors, Personification.

Multiple Meaning Words – Provide sentences for multiple meaning words and have students

                        distinguish between the words.

Content-Area Words – Have students identify in what subject they would learn about a

                        particular word.  Science, Math, Social Studies, Art, Gym, etc. The farmer

                        bartered ten bushels of corn for a new pair of shoes from cobbler.

Rhyming Words -  Have students identify rhyming words and think of new rhyming words.

Prefixes & Suffixes – Have students explain how the meaning of a word changes when a prefix or

                        suffix is added.

Titles for People – Discuss the meaning of titles such as president, governor, ambassador, etc.

Abbreviations – Discuss the purpose of abbreviations and have students match the abbreviation to

                        the word (street = St., United State of America = U.S.A., September = Sept.)

Onomatopoeia – Have students identify words that make sounds (ex. – words that make animal

                        sounds - moo, chirp, cluck, meow, oink, roar, buzz, etc.)

Alliteration – Have students practice tongue twisters.  Have students create lists of words that all

                        start the same and then select words that have similar meaning to make up their own

                        sentences with alliteration.

Homophones – Define meanings of homophones and have students practice placing correct

                        homophone in sentences context clues.

Analogies – If you can find grass in a pasture, what would you find in a desert?

Word Origins – Provide students with word histories and the country or origin.

Regionalism – Discuss that people who live in different parts of the country use different words

                        to name the same thing (soda, pop, tonic – pancakes, hotcakes, flapjacks –

                        frying pan, skillet, spider – etc.)

Greek and Latin Roots – cycl, graph, meter, photo, therm, aud, credit, dict, tract, etc.

Chicopee Public Schools
Benchmarks
Grade 1
Language Strand

1. Students will use agreed-upon rules for informal and formal discussion in small and large groups.
2. Students will pose questions, listen to the ideas of others, and contribute their own information or ideas in group discussions or interviews in order to acquire knowledge.
3. Students will make oral presentations that demonstrate appropriate consideration of audiences, purposes, and the information to be conveyed.
4. Students will understand and acquire new vocabulary and use it correctly in reading and writing.
5. Students will analyze standard English grammar and usage and recognize how its vocabulary has developed and been influenced by other languages.
6. Students will describe, analyze, and use appropriately formal and informal English.

First Term Benchmarks
Introduced and Reinforced each Term

The following language standards should be introduced in the first terms and reinforced throughout the school year:

1.1        Follow agreed-upon rules for discussion.

3.1       Give clear presentation about personal experiences or interest, using clear enunciation

and adequate volume.

3.2       Maintain focus on the topic.

The following language standard should be taught and reinforced daily throughout the school year:

4          Understand and acquire new vocabulary.

Chicopee Public Schools
Reading and Literature Strand
Grade 1

7. Students will understand the nature of written English and the relationship of letters and spelling patterns to the sounds of speech.
    
8. Students will identify the basic facts and main ideas in a text and use them as the basis for interpretation.
    
9. Students will deepen their understanding of a literary or non-literary work by relating it to its contemporary context or historical background.
    
10. Students will identify, analyze, and apply knowledge of the characteristics of different genres.
     
11. Students will identify, analyze, and apply knowledge of theme in a literary work and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding.
     
12. Students will identify, analyze, and apply knowledge of the structure and elements of fiction and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding.
     
13. Students will identify, analyze, and apply knowledge of the purpose, structure, and elements of nonfiction or informational materials and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding.
     
14. Students will identify, analyze, and apply knowledge of the theme, structure, and elements of poetry and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding.
     
15. Students will identify, analyze how an author’s words appeal to the senses, create imagery, suggest mood, and set tone and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding.
     
16. Students will identify, analyze, and apply knowledge of the themes, structure, and elements of myths, traditional narratives, and classical literature and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding.
     
17. Students will identify, analyze, and apply knowledge of the themes, structure, and elements of drama and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding.
18.  
19. Students will plan and present dramatic readings, recitations, and performances that demonstrate appropriate consideration of audience and purpose.

Reading & Literature

Comprehension Skills

Author’s Purpose

Characterization (character traits)

Cause and Effect

Classify and Categorize

Critical Thinking

Compare and Contrast

Draw Conclusions

Fact and Opinion

Following Directions

Generalizations

Genre (fiction, realistic fiction, historical fiction, science fiction, mystery, fantasy, fairy tale, tall tale, myth, legend, fable, folktale, poems, plays, short story)  (nonfiction, biography, autobiography, magazine article, diary or journal, personal narrative, photo essays)

Inferences

Interpreting Information

Judgments

Locating Information

Main Idea and Details

Point of View

Predicting Outcomes

Prior Knowledge (anticipating meaning & making sense of text)

Problem Solving

Reading Strategies (pre-reading, using picture clues, reading first and last paragraphs, making predictions, using title, adjusting reading rate, reading ahead, rereading to clarify, set purpose for reading, self-questioning, visualization, summarizing and paraphrasing, using context clues, using graphic aids, using prior knowledge)

Sequence of Events

Skimming

Story Elements (Setting, Characters, Story Problem, Plot, Climax, Resolution)

Story Maps

Summarization of Text (paraphrase, retell)

Supporting Details

Synthesize Information

Themes

Vocabulary/Concept Development

Text Comprehension/Literary Devices

Alliteration

Allusion

Descriptive Images

Dialogue

Figurative Language

Foreshadowing

Hyperbole

Imagery

Metaphors

Mood

Onomatopoeia

Personification

Poetic Devices (rhyme, rhythm, assonance, allieteration)

Poetic Language

Sensory Details

Similes

Voice (first person, second person)

Vocabulary/Concept Development

Study Skills

Alphabetical Order

Book Parts

Charts, Graphs, Diagrams, Illustration (use, interpretation, construction)

Dictionaries

Encyclopedias

Graphic Organizers

Interview Skills

Note Taking

Organizing Information (graphic organizers, flowcharts, timelines, K-W-L charts, etc.)

Outlining

Search Techniques (card catalogue, computer searches)

Skimming

Summarizing

Technology

Test Taking
 

Chicopee Public Schools
Benchmarks
Grade 1
Composition Strand

19. Students will write with clear focus, coherent organization, and sufficient detail.
     
20. Students will write for different audiences and purposes.
     

22. Students will demonstrate improvement in organization, content, paragraph development, level of detail, style, tone, and word choice (diction) in their compositions after revising them.
     
23. Students will use knowledge of standard English conventions in their writing, revising, and editing.
     
24. Students will organize ideas in writing in a way that makes sense for their purpose.
     
25. Students will gather information from a variety of sources, analyze and evaluate the quality of the information they obtain, and use it to answer their own questions.
     
26. Students will develop and use appropriate rhetorical, logical, and stylistic criteria for assessing final versions of their compositions or research projects before presenting them to varied audiences.

Chicopee Public Schools
Academic Benchmarks
Grade 1
Media Strand

26. Analysis of Media:  Students will identify, analyze, and apply knowledge of the conventions, elements, and techniques of film, radio, video, television, multimedia productions, the Internet, and emerging technologies, and provide evidence from the works to support their understanding.

27. Media Production:  Students will design and create coherent media productions (audio, video, television, multimedia, Internet, and emerging technologies) with a clear controlling idea, adequate detail, and appropriate consideration of audience, purpose, and medium.

Chicopee Public Schools
Language Strand
First Term Academic Benchmarks
Grade 1

Students will be able to:

1.1       Follow agreed-upon rules for discussion.

            (Raising one’s hand.  Waiting one’s turn.  Speaking one at a time.)

            Make positive personal remarks during class discussion.

            Listen for information.
 

3.1      Give clear presentation about personal experiences or interest, using clear enunciation and

           adequate volume.

Orally share items during Share Time or Morning Meeting.

Chicopee Public Schools
Reading and Literature Strand
First Term Academic Expectations
Grade 1

Students will be able to:

7.4         Demonstrate understanding of the various features of written English.

Know the order of the letters in the alphabet.

Understanding that spoken words are represented in written English by sequences of letters.

Match oral words to printed words.

Recognize that there are correct spellings for words.

Use correct spelling of appropriate high-frequency words, irregularly or regularly spelled.

Recognize the distinguishing features of a sentence (capitalization, end punctuation) and a paragraph (indentation, spacing).

Identify the author and title of a book, and use a table of contents.

Recognize and recite the letters of the alphabet.
 

7.5        Demonstrate orally that phonemes exist:

Generate the sounds from all the letters and letter patterns, including consonant blends, long and short vowel patterns, and onsets and rimes and combine these sounds into recognizable words.

Use knowledge of vowel digraphs, vowel diphthongs, and r-controlled letter-sound association to read words.

Recite and recognize the sounds that letters make.

Recognize the letter sounds as initial, medial or final.

Say and recognize the consonants sounds for:

            b, c(k), c(s), d, f, g, h, j(j), j(g), k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w, x(ks), y, z.

Say and recognize the consonant sounds for:

            Ck(k), ll, ff, zz.
 

7.6        Recognize common irregularly spelled words by sight (have, said, where).
 

7.7       Use letter-sounds knowledge to decode written English:

                        Decode accurately phonetically regular one-syllable and multi-syllable real words

                        and nonsense words.

                        Read accurately many irregularly spelled words, special vowel spellings, and

                        common word ending.

                        Apply knowledge of letter patterns to identify syllables.

                        Apply independently the most common letter-sound correspondences, including

                        the sounds represented by single letters, consonant blends, consonant digraphs,

                        and vowel digraphs and diphthongs.  Know and use more difficult word families

                        and known words to decode unknown words.

                        Read words with several syllables.

                        Read aloud with fluency and comprehension at grade level.

8.6       Make predictions about what will happen next in a story, and explain whether they were confirmed or disconfirmed and why.
 

8.7              Retell a story’s beginning, middle, and end.
 

8.8       Distinguish cause from effect.
 

14.1          Identify a regular beat and similarities of sounds in words in responding to rhythm and rhyme in poetry.

 

Chicopee Public Schools
Composition Strand
First Term Benchmarks
Grade 1
 

Students will be able to:

19.1     Write or dictate stories.
 

22.2     Use correct standard English mechanics such as:

            Printing upper- and lower-case letters legibly and using them to make words.

            Separating words with spaces.

            Understanding and applying rules for capitalization at the beginning of a sentence,

            for name and places, and capitalization and commas in dates.

            Using correct spelling of sight and/or spelling words.

            Using appropriate end marks such as periods and question marks.

            Print legibly using upper and lower case letters.

            Print using one finger spacing between words, attending to correct letter formation, and

            using the entire line.

            Hold pencil with correct pencil grip.
 

23.1          Arrange events in order when writing or dictating.

Organize ideas before writing as a class using graphic organizers.
 

25.1          Support judgments about classroom activities or presentations.

Listen and respond to the writing of others.

Chicopee Public Schools
Second Term Benchmarks
Grade 1

Students will be able to:

Review/continue previous skills

3.2              Maintain focus on the topic.

Follow predetermined format for oral presentation

(example of format for share time)

            Why did you choose this object?

            Who gave you the object or where did you get the object?

            Why is the object important to you?
 

4.3              Identify and sort common words into conceptual categories (opposites, living things).

Identify, define, and use grade level appropriate vocabulary and concepts in order to become proficient and fluent readers and writers.
 

5.1              Use language to express spatial and temporal relationships (up, down, before, after).
 

5.3       Identify correct capitalization for names and places (Janet, I George Washington, Springfield)

            Identify and capitalize proper nouns.

            Capitalize and punctuate dates correctly.

            Capitalize and punctuate abbreviations correctly (Mr., Mrs., Dr., days of week, months of the year).
 

5.4              Identify appropriate end marks (periods, question marks).

Identify and punctuate declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory sentences

(statements, questions, commands, and exclamations).

Chicopee Public Schools
Reading and Literature Strand 
Second Term Academic Expectations
Grade 1

Students will be able to:
 

7.4              Demonstrate understanding of the various features of written English.

Know the order of the letters in the alphabet.

Understanding that spoken words are represented in written English by sequences of letters.

Match oral words to printed words.

Recognize that there are correct spellings for words.

Use correct spelling of appropriate high-frequency words, whether irregularly or regularly spelled.

Recognize the distinguishing features of a sentence (capitalization, end punctuation) and a paragraph (indentation, spacing).

Identify the author and title of a book, and use a table of contents.

Recognize and recite the letters of the alphabet.
 

7.5              Demonstrate orally that phonemes exist:

Generate the sounds from all the letters and letter patterns, including consonant

blends, long and short vowel patterns, and onsets and rimes and combine these

sounds into recognizable words.

Use knowledge of vowel digraphs, vowel diphthongs, and r-controlled

Letter-sound associations to read words.

Recite and recognize the sounds that letters make.

Recognize the letter sounds as initial, medial or final.

Say and recognize consonant blends:

            Initial consonant blends:  sc, sk, sl, sm, sn, st, sp

            Final consonant blends: st, sk

            Initial consonant blends: cr, dr, fr, gr, pr, tr

            Initial consonant blends: cl, fl, pl

Say and recognize the letter for short vowels sounds: a, e, i, o, u

Say and recognize the letters for short vowels sounds: ea(e).

Say and recognize the digraphs sounds for:

            th, sh, ch(ch), tch(ch), le(l), qu(kw), wh(hw).
 

8.9         Make predictions about content of a text using prior knowledge and text features, and explain

             whether they were confirmed or disconfirmed and why.
 

9.1              Identify similarities in plot, setting, and character among the works of an author or illustrator.
 

9.2              Identify different interpretations of plot, setting, and character in the same work by different illustrators.
 

13.1          Identify and use knowledge of common textual features (title, headings, captions, key

words, table of contents).

 

Chicopee Public Schools
Composition Strand
Second Term Benchmarks
Grade 1
 

Students will be able to:

Review/continue previous skills.

19.6          Write or dictate short poems
 

19.7          Write or dictate letters, directions, or short accounts of personal experiences that follow logical order.

Write or dictate a friendly note that follows a logical order with modeling and guided practice.

Write or dictate a short account of a personal experience that follows a logical order.

(A paragraph should have a topic sentence, at least three detail sentences, and a closing sentence).
 

22.2          Use correct standard English mechanics such as:

Printing upper- and lower-case letters legibly and using them to make words

Separating words with spaces

Understanding and applying rules for capitalization at the beginning of a sentence, for name and places, and capitalization and commas in dates

Using correct spelling of sight and/or spelling words

Using appropriate end marks such as periods and question marks

Print legibly using correct form for upper and lower case letters.