Grade 1 Writing Curriculum

Family-facing version of the grade 1 writing curriculum

Quarterly Overview of Grade 1 Writing

The objectives and outcomes for each unit are common across FCPS and based on the Virginia Standards of Learning. The pacing by quarter and by week provides an example of how the curriculum can be organized throughout the year. Teacher teams may adjust the pacing or order of units to best meet the needs of students.

Units and Details

Unit 1: Building a Community of Writers

Students will be able to: 

  • Develop oral communication skills: 
    • Listen actively and speak using agreed-upon rules for discussion. 
    • Initiate conversation with peers and adults. 
    • Participate in collaborative and partner discussions about various texts and topics.
    • Ask and respond to questions to seek help, get information, or clarify information.
    • Express ideas orally in complete sentences. 
    • Work respectfully with others. 
  • Print legibly in manuscript:
    • Form letters accurately. 
    • Space words within sentences. 
  • Write in a variety of forms to include narrative, descriptive, and opinion:
    • Identify audience and purpose. 
    • Use prewriting activities to generate ideas. 
    • Focus on one topic. 
    • Use letters to phonetically spell words. 
    • hare writing with others. 
  • Edit writing for capitalization, punctuation, and spelling:
    • Begin each sentence with a capital letter and use ending punctuation.

Unit 2: Personal Narratives

Students will be able to: 

  • Develop oral communication skills:
    • Listen actively and speak using agreed-upon rules for discussion. 
    • Initiate conversation with peers and adults.
    • Adapt or change oral language to fit the situation.
    • Participate in collaborative and partner discussions about various texts and topics.
    • Follow rules for conversation using appropriate voice level in small-group settings.
    • Ask and respond to questions to seek help, get information, or clarify information.
    • Express ideas orally in complete sentences.
    • Work respectfully with others. 
  • Print legibly in manuscript:
    • Form letters accurately. 
    • Space words within sentences. 
  • Write in a variety of forms to include narrative, descriptive, and opinion:
    • Identify audience and purpose. 
    • Use prewriting activities to generate ideas.
    • Focus on one topic.
    • Use letters to phonetically spell words.
    • Share writing with others. 
  • Edit writing for capitalization, punctuation, and spelling:
    • Use complete sentences

Unit 3: Focused Nonfiction Books

Students will be able to: 

  • Develop oral communication skills:
    • Listen actively and speak using agreed-upon rules for discussion.
    • Initiate conversation with peers and adults.
    • Adapt or change oral language to fit the situation. 
    • Use appropriate voice level, phrasing, and intonation. 
    • Participate in collaborative and partner discussions about various texts and topics.
    • Follow rules for conversation using appropriate voice level in small-group settings. 
    • Ask and respond to questions to seek help, get information, or clarify information. 
    • Restate and follow simple two-step oral directions.
    • Give simple two-step oral directions.
    • Express ideas orally in complete sentences.
    • Work respectfully with others. 
    • Increase listening and speaking vocabularies. 
  • Print legibly in manuscript:
    • Form letters accurately.
    • Space words within sentences. 
  • Write in a variety of forms to include narrative, descriptive, and opinion:
    • Identify audience and purpose. 
    • Use prewriting activities to generate ideas. 
    • Focus on one topic. 
    • Organize writing to suit purpose. 
    • Revise by adding descriptive words when writing about people, place, things, and events. 
    • Use letters to phonetically spell words.
    • Share writing with others. 
  • Edit writing for capitalization, punctuation, and spelling:
    • Begin each sentence with a capital letter and use ending punctuation. 
    • Use correct spelling for commonly used sight words and phonetically regular words.

Unit 4: Poetry

Students will be able to: 

  • Develop oral communication skills:
    • Listen actively and speak using agreed-upon rules for discussion. 
    • Initiate conversation with peers and adults. 
    • Adapt or change oral language to fit the situation. 
    • Use appropriate voice level, phrasing, and intonation.
    • Participate in collaborative and partner discussions about various texts and topics.
    • Follow rules for conversation using appropriate voice level in small-group settings. 
    • Ask and respond to questions to seek help, get information, or clarify information.
    • Restate and follow simple two-step oral directions. 
    • Give simple two-step oral directions. 
    • Express ideas orally in complete sentences. 
    • Work respectfully with others. 
    • Increase listening and speaking vocabularies.

Unit 5: Realistic Fiction

Students will be able to: 

  • Develop oral communication skills:
    • Listen actively and speak using agreed-upon rules for discussion. 
    • Initiate conversation with peers and adults. 
    • Adapt or change oral language to fit the situation.
    • Use appropriate voice level, phrasing, and intonation. 
    • Participate in collaborative and partner discussions about various texts and topics.
    • Follow rules for conversation using appropriate voice level in small-group settings.
    • Express ideas orally in complete sentences. 
    • Work respectfully with others. 
  • Print legibly in manuscript:
    • Form letters accurately. 
    • Space words within sentences. 
  • Write in a variety of forms to include narrative, descriptive, and opinion:
    • Identify audience and purpose. 
    • Use prewriting activities to generate ideas. 
    • Focus on one topic. 
    • Organize writing to suit purpose.
    • Revise by adding descriptive words when writing about people, place, things, and events. 
    • Use letters to phonetically spell words. 
    • Share writing with others. 
  • Edit writing for capitalization, punctuation, and spelling:
    • Begin each sentence with a capital letter and use ending punctuation.
    • Use correct spelling for commonly used sight words and phonetically regular words.

Unit 6: Learning About Print Through Research

Students will be able to: 

  • Develop oral communication skills:
    • Listen actively and speak using agreed-upon rules for discussion. 
    • Initiate conversation with peers and adults. 
    • Adapt or change oral language to fit the situation. 
    • Use appropriate voice level, phrasing, and intonation.
    • Participate in collaborative and partner discussions about various texts and topics.
    • Follow rules for conversation using appropriate voice level in small-group settings.
    • Ask and respond to questions to seek help, get information, or clarify information.
    • Restate and follow simple two-step oral directions. 
    • Give simple two-step oral directions. 
    • Express ideas orally in complete sentences.
    • Work respectfully with others. 
    • Increase listening and speaking vocabularies.
  • Print legibly in manuscript:
    • Form letters accurately.
    • Space words within sentences.
  • Write a variety of forms to  include narrative, descriptive, and opinion:
    • Identify audience and purpose.
    • Use pre writing activities to generate ideas.
    • Focus on one topic.
    • Organize writing to suit purpose.
    • Revise by adding descriptive words when writing about people, places, things, and events.
    • Write to express an opinion and give a reason.
    • Use letters to phonetically spell words.
    • Share writing with others.
  • Edit writing for capitalization, punctuation, and spelling:
    • Use complete sentences.
    • Begin each sentence with a capital letter and use ending punctuation.
    • Use correct spelling for commonly used sight words and phonetically regular words.
  • Conduct research to answer questions or solve problems using available resources:
    • Generate topics of interest.
    • Generate questions to gather information.
    • Identify pictures, texts, or people as sources of information.
    • Find information from provided sources.
    • Record information.

Unit 7: Illustrator and Author Study

Students will be able to: 

  • Develop oral communication skills:
    • Listen actively and speak using agreed-upon rules for discussion. 
    • Initiate conversation with peers and adults.
    • Adapt or change oral language to fit the situation. 
    • Use appropriate voice level, phrasing, and intonation.
    • Participate in collaborative and partner discussions about various texts and topics.
    • Follow rules for conversation using appropriate voice level in small-group settings.
    • Ask and respond to questions to seek help, get information, or clarify information.
    • Express ideas orally in complete sentences. 
    • Work respectfully with others. 
  • Read and demonstrate comprehension of a variety of fictional texts:
    • Preview the selection. 
    • Set a purpose for reading.
    • Ask and answer who, what, when, where, why, and how questions about what is read.
    • Identify characters, setting, and important events. 
    • Identify theme. 
  • Print legibly in manuscript:
    • Form letters accurately.
    • Space words within sentences. 
  • Write in a variety of forms to include narrative, descriptive, and opinion:
    • Identify audience and purpose.
    • Use prewriting activities to generate ideas.
    • Focus on one topic. 
    • Organize writing to suit purpose. 
    • Revise by adding descriptive words when writing about people, place, things, and events. 
    • Use letters to phonetically spell words.
    • Share writing with others. 
  • Edit writing for capitalization, punctuation, and spelling:
    • Begin each sentence with a capital letter and use ending punctuation.
    • Use correct spelling for commonly used sight words and phonetically regular words.

Unit 8: Persuasive Writing

Students will be able to: 

  • Develop oral communication skills:
    • Listen actively and speak using agreed-upon rules for discussion.
    • Initiate conversation with peers and adults. 
    • Adapt or change oral language to fit the situation. 
    • Use appropriate voice level, phrasing, and intonation.
    • Participate in collaborative and partner discussions about various texts and topics.
    • Follow rules for conversation using appropriate voice level in small-group settings. 
    • Ask and respond to questions to seek help, get information, or clarify information. 
    • Give simple two-step oral directions.
    • Express ideas orally in complete sentences.
    • Work respectfully with others.
  • Print legibly in manuscript:
    • Form letters accurately. 
    • Space words within sentences. 
  • Write in a variety of forms to include narrative, descriptive, and opinion:
    • Identify audience and purpose. 
    • Use prewriting activities to generate ideas. 
    • Focus on one topic.
    • Organize writing to suit purpose. 
    • Revise by adding descriptive words when writing about people, place, things, and events. 
    •  Write to express an opinion and give a reason. 
    • Use letters to phonetically spell words.
    • Share writing with others. 
  • Edit writing for capitalization, punctuation, and spelling:
    • Begin each sentence with a capital letter and use ending punctuation. 
    • Use correct spelling for commonly used sight words and phonetically regular words.

Virginia Department of Education Resources

Assessments

Student assessments are part of the teaching and learning process.

  • Teachers give assessments to students on an ongoing basis to
    • Check for understanding 
    • Gather information about students' knowledge or skills.
  • Assessments provide information about a child's development of knowledge and skills that can help families and teachers better plan for next steps in instruction.

For testing questions or additional information about how schools and teachers use test results to support student success, families can contact their children's schools.

In Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS), first grade tests focus on basic literacy and numeracy development.

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