English Language Arts — Grade 1

Fishing For Vowels

This is an excellent hands-on activity in which the students actively participate in imagining a fishing trip. This lesson is designed to help students learn to recognize grade appropriate sight words. Students are expected to listen to a word and identify the short vowel sound heard.

Format: lesson plan (grade 1 English Language Arts)

By Shannon Bradley.

Magic E: Decoding/Encoding with CVC & CVCE

Students will participate in two activities involving the consonant-vowel-consonant-silent e (CVCE) pattern: a decoding activity involving attaching a clothes pin with the letter e printed on it to consonant-vowel-consonant words (CVC) and sounding the new CVCE words; and an encoding activity involving dictation of CVC and CVCE words from the first activity which students are to write using auditory and tactile strategies. These activities require that students have prior knowledge of consonant and long and short vowel sounds as well as blending of these sounds in CVC pattern words.

Format: lesson plan (grade 1 English Language Arts and Computer Technology Skills)

By Julia Huff Jerome.

Phonics Fun

Kid Pix Deluxe software is needed for this lesson. Using this program, students will decode and blend one syllable short vowel words and words ending with silent "e" to match pictures with words as well as spell names of pictures.

Format: lesson plan (grade 1 English Language Arts)

By Jo Voigt.

Snakes are cool

This lesson begins with a reading of Verdi by Janell Cannon. It integrates science with language arts as the students learn about snakes and write about their findings.

Format: lesson plan (grade 1 English Language Arts and Science)

By Marcia Reich.

Lesson plans on the web

Active Reading Using The Enormous Watermelon

Students engage in word recognition activities using character names and high-frequency words from the predictable texts of nursery rhymes and the big book The Enormous Watermelon. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade K–2 English Language Arts)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

Between the lions: Exploring short-vowel sounds

Students review short-vowel sounds and practice their skills using a variety of innovative video clips, games, and activities on the “Between the Lions” website. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 1 English Language Arts)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

The big green monster teaches phonics in reading and writing

Students examine onset/rime patterns by generating word families, review sight words in the story, and play a card game to reinforce high-frequency vocabulary. This writing exploration allows an integrated application of phonics. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade K–1 English Language Arts)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

Bingo! Using environmental print to practice reading

Emerging readers practice their reading skills using a variety of environmental print materials. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 1–2 English Language Arts)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

Click, clack, moo: Reading word family words

Teachers use Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin to teach students word identification strategies. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade K–1 English Language Arts)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

Dr. Seuss's sound words: Playing with phonics and spelling

By focusing on sound words in Dr. Seuss stories, students develop spelling strategies that help them move from phonemes, the sounds they make, to graphemes, the written representations of those sounds. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade K–2 English Language Arts)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

Ferocious fighting fish: An ocean unit exploring beginning word sounds

Students focus on alliteration while exploring an ocean theme. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade K–2 English Language Arts)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

From stop signs to the golden arches: Environmental print

Students will help collect examples of environmental print, sort and classify these examples for inclusion in class books, and spend time reading the books as individuals, in pairs, or in groups. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade K–2 English Language Arts)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

Getting the "ig" in Pig: Helping Children Discover Onset and Rime

Incorporates literature, independent and cooperative learning, critical thinking, and hands-on activities to engage students in learning the “ig” rime. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 1 English Language Arts)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

Growing readers and writers with help from Mother Goose

Children connect characters with letters of the alphabet, letting them serve as hooks to help children remember the letters and their sounds and use that knowledge in their writing. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade K–2 English Language Arts)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

Hey diddle, diddle! Generating rhymes for analogy-based phonics instruction

Shared reading, guided reading, and small, cooperative-group instruction are used in a first-grade classroom to informally assess students' ability to demonstrate awareness of rhyme or other visual similarities in words. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 1 English Language Arts)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

I know that word! Teaching reading with environmental print

This lesson teaches students how to decode environmental print as as strategy for word recognition. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade K–1 English Language Arts)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

Learning vocabulary down by the bay

Uses a popular children's song that contains several high-frequency vocabulary words to assist students in recognizing, reading, writing, and using the words in several contexts. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade K–2 English Language Arts)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

Phoneme isolation: Building phonemic awareness

Students engage in games and chants to identify beginning and ending phonemes. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade K–2 English Language Arts)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

Phonic Generalizations in "Chrysanthemum"

Uses an active, hands-on activity to teach students how to determine the common and alternative sounds for specific vowel combinations. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 1–2 English Language Arts)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

Phonics in context

Teachers choose literature that contains the necessary phonics elements for instruction, then plan before, during, and after activities for read-aloud or shared reading experiences. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 1 English Language Arts)

Provider: IRA/NCTE