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Status

Open

Estimated Completion Time

36 weeks

Overview

The Elementary English Language Arts Grade One course provides students with foundational reading skills, reading comprehension strategies, writing and grammar skills, and speaking and listening skills. Students will learn how to use the basic sounds for consonants, long and short vowel sounds, digraphs, blends, and r-controlled vowels to decode and encode words when reading and writing. Students will also learn how to use reading comprehension strategies to better understand literature and informative texts. Students will be taught grammar skills, such as singular and plural nouns; past, future, and present tense verbs; adjectives; pronouns; prepositions; prefixes; and suffixes. Students will participate in planning, writing, editing, revising, and publishing informative, narrative, and opinion writing compositions throughout the course.

Please view the Elementary Parents’ Survival Guide: The First Four Weeks of Online Learning for guidance on helping your student in the transition to online learning.

Course Requirements

To achieve success, students are expected to submit work in each course weekly. Students can learn at their own pace; however, “any pace” still means that students must make progress in the course every week. To measure learning, students complete self-checks, practice lessons, multiple choice questions, projects, discussion-based assessments, and discussions. Students and families are expected to maintain regular contact with teachers because, when teachers, students, and parents work together, students are successful.

Required Materials – Please view the list of materials before registering.

Major Topics and Concepts

Segment One

  • Review sounds of letters of the alphabet to create words
  • Short vowel sounds
  • Long vowel sounds
  • Silent letters
  • Digraphs
  • Differences between words, letters, and sentences
  • Directionality
  • Asking and answering questions about key details
  • Retelling stories with key details
  • Identifying the structure of a story
  • Main topic and key details
  • Connections in a text
  • Asking and answering questions about unknown words
  • Characteristics of fiction and nonfiction texts
  • Point of View
  • Text Features
  • Information in words and images in a text
  • Words that express feelings and senses
  • Comparing and contrasting
  • Relationships between illustrations and text
  • Author’s points and reasons
  • Reading grade-level texts with accuracy, rate, and expression
  • Nouns
  • Verbs
  • Adjectives
  • Plural nouns
  • Possessive nouns
  • Pronouns
  • Capitalization of proper nouns
  • Verbs: past, present, and future tense
  • Commas
  • Prepositions
  • Root words
  • Categorize
  • Conjunctions
  • Review manuscript handwriting
  • Capitalize the first word of a sentence
  • Punctuation
  • Informative, narrative, or opinion writing on a topic
  • Writing Process

Segment Two

  • Double consonants
  • Cluster words
  • Vowel pairs
  • Sounds for y
  • R-control vowels
  • Compound words
  • Retelling stories with key details
  • Identifying central message
  • Asking and answering questions about key details
  • Story elements
  • Asking and answering questions about unknown words
  • Using details to describe a text
  • Comparing and contrasting
  • Categories
  • Capitalization of proper nouns
  • Commas in a series
  • Main topic and key details
  • Connections in a text
  • Text features
  • Context clues
  • Adjectives
  • Articles
  • Singular and plural pronouns
  • Formal and informal language
  • Synonyms
  • Antonyms
  • Base word endings
  • Reading grade-level texts with accuracy, rate, fluency, and expression
  • Contractions
  • Descriptive language
  • Prefixes
  • Suffixes
  • Shades of meaning
  • Sentence variety
  • Informative, narrative, or opinion writing on a topic
  • Writing Process

Credits 1

Competencies

  • Describing an Opinion using Nouns, Adjectives and Punctuation
    I can select the correct punctuation for a sentence. I can identify words that describe senses or feelings. I can compare fiction and nonfiction books. I can identify the narrator of a story. I can write my opinion on a topic.
  • Describing and Comparing Characters in Narrative Writing
    I can identify vowel pairs that create a long vowel sound in words. I can identify prepositions in sentences. I can describe story elements using illustrations and words. I can compare the experiences of characters in books. I can create an opening sentence for a narrative. I can write transition words to tell a story in sequence.
  • Including Reasons to Support an Opinion
    I can identify the sounds of digraphs. I can identify the author’s reasons to support a point. I can describe the use of verb tenses. I can compare texts on the same topic. I can write sentences using conjunctions. I can write my opinion on a topic with reasons to support my opinion.
  • Letters and Sounds That Create Words in Stories
    I can differentiate between letters and words. I can print upper and lowercase letters. I can write a sentence. I can identify question words. I can retell stories. I can describe key details in a story.
  • Proper Nouns in Nonfiction Writing
    I can identify long vowel sounds using the final -e rule. I can explain strategies to find the meaning of new words. I can identify nonfiction text features. I can describe information learned from nonfiction text. I can select proper nouns that should be capitalized. I can write an informative text with a topic sentence and facts.
  • Vowel Sounds and Verbs in Narrative Writing
    I can identify long and short vowel sounds. I can select the correct verb form to use in a sentence I can identify the main topic of a text. I can describe connections within a text. I can write a narrative to tell about events in order.
  • Complex Vowel Sounds, Language Types and Research
    I can identify the sounds for complex vowel patterns. I can differentiate between synonyms and antonyms. I can compare formal and informal language. I can identify differences between texts on the same topic. I can summarize my research on a topic.
  • Compound Words, Word Parts, and Revising Opinion Writing
    I can identify compound words. I can describe the connection between ideas in texts. I can explain the use of prefixes and suffixes to determine the meaning of words. I can identify words with similar meanings. I can revise my writing to expand sentences. I can create a closing sentence for an opinion writing piece.
  • Contractions, Word Endings and Retelling with Story Elements
    I can identify the sounds for r-controlled vowels. I can create contractions by combining two words. I can identify words with the /er/ and /est/ ending sounds. I can explain the use of words that describe the senses in my writing. I can retell stories including the central message and key details.
  • Main Topic, Text Features, and Connections to Nonfiction
    I can identify the sounds for three-letter blends. I can identify the main topic of a nonfiction text. I can explain the use of text features in nonfiction texts. I can describe personal connections to a text. I can write three facts about a topic.
  • Narrative Writing Structure and Central Message
    I can identify the sounds of beginning and ending blends. I can describe the setting in a story. I can write sentences using commas to separate words in a list. I can describe the central message of a story. I can write a narrative following a story structure.
  • Setting, Suffixes, and Topic Sentences
    I can identify possessive pronouns in sentences. I can describe the use of word endings to change a base word. I can identify the setting of a book using illustrations and words. I can create a topic sentence for an opinion writing piece.

Pre-Requisites

None

Attend a virtual open house

We offer regular online open house webinars where VLACS staff members provide parents and students with an overview of our programs and answer questions about online learning.