Massachusetts State Standards for Language Arts: Grade 1

MA.1. Language: Discussion: Students will use agreed-upon rules for informal and formal discussions in small and large groups.

1.1. Follow agreed-upon rules for discussion (raising one's hand, waiting one's turn, speaking one at a time).

MA.2. Language: Questioning, Listening, and Contributing: 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 new knowledge.

2.1. Contribute knowledge to class discussion in order to develop a topic for a class project.

MA.3. Language: Oral Presentation: Students will make oral presentations that demonstrate appropriate consideration of audience, purpose, and the information to be conveyed.

3.1. Give oral presentations about personal experiences or interests, using clear enunciation and adequate volume.

3.2. Maintain focus on the topic.

MA.4. Language: Vocabulary and Concept Development: Students will understand and acquire new vocabulary and use it correctly in reading and writing.

4.1. Identify and sort common words into various classifications (colors, shapes, textures).

4.2. Describe common objects and events in general and specific language.

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

4.4. Identify base words (look) and their inflectional forms (looks, looked, looking).

4.5. Identify the relevant meaning for a word with multiple meanings using its context (saw/saw).

4.6. Identify common antonyms and synonyms.

4.7. Use knowledge of the meaning of individual words to predict the meaning of unknown compound words (lunchtime, daydream, everyday).

4.8. Determine meanings of words by using a beginning dictionary.

MA.5. Language: Structure and Origins of Modern English: Students will analyze standard English grammar and usage and recognize how its vocabulary has developed and been influenced by other languages.

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

5.2. Recognize that the names of things can also be the names of actions (fish, dream, run).

5.3. Identify correct capitalization for names and places (Janet, I, George Washington, Springfield), and correct capitalization and commas in dates (February 24, 2001).

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

MA.6. Language: Formal and Informal English: Students will describe, analyze, and use appropriately formal and informal English.

6.1. Identify formal and informal language in stories, poems, and plays.

MA.7. Reading and Literature: Beginning Reading: Students will understand the nature of written English and the relationship of letters and spelling patterns to the sounds of speech.

7.1. Demonstrate understanding of the forms and functions of written English: recognize that printed materials provide information or entertaining stories; know how to handle a book and turn the pages; identify the covers and title page of a book; recognize that, in English, print moves left to right across the page and from top to bottom; identify upper- and lower-case letters; recognize that written words are separated by spaces; recognize that sentences in print are made up of separate words.

7.2. Demonstrate orally that phonemes exist and that they can be isolated and manipulated: understand that a sound is a phoneme, or one distinct sound; understand that words are made up of one or more syllables; recognize and produce rhyming words; identify the initial, medial, and final sounds of a word; blend sounds to make words.

7.3. Use letter-sound knowledge to identify unfamiliar words in print and gain meaning: know that there is a link between letters and sounds; recognize letter-sound matches by naming and identifying each letter of the alphabet; understand that written words are composed of letters that represent sounds; use letter-sound matches to decode simple words.

7.4. Demonstrate understanding of the various features of written English: know the order of the letters in the alphabet; understand 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.

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 (as in star) to read words.

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

7.7. Use letter-sound 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 endings; 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 (-ought) and known words to decode unknown words; read words with several syllables; read aloud with fluency and comprehension at grade level.

MA.8. Reading and Literature: Understanding a Text: Students will identify the basic facts and main ideas in a text and use them as the basis for interpretation.

8.1. For imaginative/literary texts: Make predictions using prior knowledge, pictures, and text.

8.2. For imaginative/literary texts: Retell a main event from a story heard or read.

8.3. For imaginative/literary texts: Ask questions about the important characters, settings, and events.

8.4. For informational/expository texts: Make predictions about the content of the text using prior knowledge and text features (title, captions, and illustrations).

8.5. For informational/expository texts: Retell important facts from a text heard or read.

8.6. For imaginative/literary texts: Make predictions about what will happen next in a story, and explain whether they were confirmed or disconfirmed and why.

8.7. For imaginative/literary texts: Retell a story's beginning, middle, and end.

8.8. For imaginative/literary texts: Distinguish cause from effect.

8.9. For informational/expository texts: Make predictions about the content of a text using prior knowledge and text features (headings, table of contents, key words), and explain whether they were confirmed or disconfirmed and why.

8.10. For informational/expository texts: Restate main ideas.

MA.9. Reading and Literature: Making Connections: Students will deepen their understanding of a literary or non-literary work by relating it to its contemporary context or historical background.

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 (alphabet books, nursery rhymes, counting books).

MA.10. Reading and Literature: Genre: Students will identify, analyze, and apply knowledge of the characteristics of different genres.

10.1. Identify differences among the common forms of literature: poetry, prose, fiction, nonfiction (informational and expository), and dramatic literature.

MA.11. Reading and Literature: Theme: Students will identify, analyze, and apply knowledge of theme in a literary work and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding.

11.1. Relate themes in works of fiction and nonfiction to personal experience.

MA.12. Reading and Literature: Fiction: Students will identify, analyze, and apply knowledge of the structure and elements of fiction and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding.

12.1. Identify the elements of plot, character, and setting in a favorite story.

MA.13. Reading and Literature: Nonfiction: 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.

13.1. Identify and use knowledge of common textual features (title, headings, captions, key words, table of contents).

13.2. Identify and use knowledge of common graphic features (illustrations, type size).

13.3. Make predictions about the content of a text using prior knowledge and text and graphic features.

13.4. Explain whether predictions about the content of a text were confirmed or disconfirmed and why.

13.5. Restate main ideas and important facts from a text heard or read.

MA.14. Reading and Literature: Poetry: 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.

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

MA.15. Reading and Literature: Style and Language: Students will identify and 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.

15.1. Identify the senses implied in words appealing to the senses in literature and spoken language.

MA.16. Reading and Literature: Myth, Traditional Narrative, and Classical Literature: 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.

16.1. Identify familiar forms of traditional literature (Mother Goose rhymes, fairy tales, and lullabies) read aloud.

16.2. Retell or dramatize traditional literature.

16.3. Identify and predict recurring phrases (Once upon a time) in traditional literature.

MA.17. Reading and Literature: Dramatic Literature: 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.

17.1. Identify the elements of dialogue and use them in informal plays.

MA.18. Reading and Literature: Dramatic Reading and Performance: Students will plan and present dramatic readings, recitations, and performances that demonstrate appropriate consideration of audience and purpose.

18.1. Rehearse and perform stories, plays, and poems for an audience using eye contact, volume, and clear enunciation appropriate to the selection.

MA.19. Composition: Writing: Students will write with a clear focus, coherent organization, and sufficient detail.

19.1. For imaginative/literary writing: Draw pictures and/or use letters or phonetically spelled words to tell a story.

19.2. For imaginative/literary writing: Dictate sentences for a story and collaborate to put the sentences in chronological sequence.

19.3. For informational/expository writing: Draw pictures and/or use letters or phonetically spelled words to give others information.

19.4. For informational/expository writing: Dictate sentences for a letter or directions and collaborate to put the sentences in order.

19.5. For imaginative/literary writing: Write or dictate stories that have a beginning, middle, and end.

19.6. For imaginative/literary writing: Write or dictate short poems.

19.7. For informational/expository writing: Write or dictate letters, directions, or short accounts of personal experiences that follow a logical order.

19.8. For informational/expository writing: Write or dictate research questions.

MA.20. Composition: Consideration of Audience and Purpose: Students will write for different audiences and purposes.

20.1. Use a variety of forms or genres when writing for different purposes.

MA.21. Composition: Revising: Students will demonstrate improvement in organization, content, paragraph development, level of detail, style, tone, and word choice (diction) in their compositions after revising them.

21.1. After writing or dictating a composition, identify words and phrases that could be added to make the thought clearer, more logical, or more expressive.

MA.22. Composition: Standard English Conventions: Students will use knowledge of standard English conventions in their writing, revising, and editing.

22.1. Print upper- and lower-case letters of the alphabet.

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 names and places ('Janet,' 'I,' 'George Washington,' 'Springfield'), and capitalization and commas in dates ('February 24, 2001'); using correct spelling of sight and/or spelling words; and using appropriate end marks such as periods and question marks.

MA.23. Composition: Organizing Ideas in Writing: Students will organize ideas in writing in a way that makes sense for their purpose.

23.1. Arrange events in order when writing or dictating.

23.2. Arrange ideas in a way that makes sense.

MA.24. Composition: Research: 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.

24.1. Generate questions and gather information from several sources in a classroom, school, or public library.

MA.25. Composition: Evaluating Writing and Presentations: 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.

25.1. Support judgments about classroom activities or presentations.

MA.26. Media: 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.

26.1. Identify techniques used in television (animation, close-ups, wide-angle shots, sound effects, music, and graphics) and use knowledge of these techniques to distinguish between facts and misleading information.

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

27.1. Create radio scripts, audiotapes, or videotapes for display or transmission.