English Language Arts — Grade 1

A'Planting We Will Go

This lesson is based on the book, The Tiny Seed, by Eric Carle. This story will be used to introduce the children to the concept that seeds change and grow into plants when conditions in the environment including temperature, light, water and soil are appropriate. Children will learn that plants produce seeds that can become new plants. Through extended activities, the children will experience first-hand the germination of seeds. They will become familiar with the parts of a plant and learn how each part works to produce a healthy plant.

Format: lesson plan (grade 1 English Language Arts, Social Studies, English Language Development, and Mathematics)

By Karol Schriber.

An American hero: Harriet Tubman

In this lesson, the school librarian and classroom teacher should work together to teach students about the life of Harriet Tubman in recognition of African-American History and Cultural Heritage Month.

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

By Floanna Long.

Arctic Animals

This is a whole language lesson for Speech Language Pathologists incorporating listening comprehension, categorizing, following verbal directions, and basic vocabulary and language concepts for First grade students.

Format: lesson plan (grade 1 English Language Arts)

By Susan Ayers.

Butterfly Metamorphosis

This is an integrated lesson which is introduced using the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. Butterfly metamorphosis is explored through art, math, and writing.

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

By Laura Byers.

Describing Words: Go Away, Big Green Monster!

The students will use describing words in their writing based on the book Go Away, Big Green Monster while integrating math concepts about shapes.

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

By Paula Jennings.

Digging in the Dictionary

In this activity, first grade children will learn to use an age-appropriate dictionary to find a word, write its definition, write a sentence using that word, and report their results to their classmates.

Format: lesson plan (grade 1 English Language Arts)

By Mary Waldrup.

Going Batty - Part II

Students will apply the knowledge they've gained about bats to create bat poetry.

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

By DPI Integration Strategies.

Habitat—what's that? (Lesson one)

This lesson helps students define what the word habitat means and what basic elements make up an animal's habitat.

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

By Kelly Stewart.

Hear it, Spell it, See it!

This is an activity to help children develop visual recognition of basic sight word vocabulary at the kindergarten level. The words covered are: I, am, can, like, it, and is. This is a simple, quick activity that adds a new dimension to sight word building with the help of the computer.

Format: lesson plan (grade 1 English Language Arts)

By Vickie Hedrick.

Inside a baby seed

Students will identify the three main parts of a seed after the bean/seeds have been soaked in water overnight.

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

By Thelma Pike.

The Little Yellow Chicken

The students will be following an integrated unit on "Helping." They will use reading, math, social studies, science, technology, and other areas of study. Students will read, as a group, the book The Little Yellow Chicken by Joy Cowley. The students will be incorporating prediction, prior knowledge, comprehension skills, and language skills for the word family "-ook", the vowel sound "e", and the exclamation mark. The technology to be utilized by the students consists of use of the HyperStudio for math review, Math Software, Graph Club to create a graph of favorite party foods, Inspiration to guide and create graphic organizers for writing, and the Ultimate Writing Machine to create their own version of The Little Yellow Chicken. They will also incorporate color words to practice the Spanish Language.

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

By diane williams.

My Favorite Women/Great-Aunt Arizona

These three (or four) 45-minute lessons will introduce Kindergarteners and first graders to "Women's History Month." The students listen to the story of author Gloria Houston's great-aunt, Arizona Houston Hughes. During and following the listening and viewing experiences, the students will discuss their experiences with women in their own history who are helping them become good citizens and grow up well.

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

By Floanna Long.

Native American Investigation (Visit)

The children will review the environment of the Canadian Northwest Territory and the American Southwest Territory. They will experience art from those two areas through a museum visit and slides. They will recognize that art is derived from indigenous materials and represent this through journal writings and illustrations.

Format: lesson plan (grade 1 Information Skills, English Language Arts, Visual Arts Education, and Social Studies)

By amy yost.

Oh, the Places I Will Go!

Students will listen to the story by Dr. Seuss Oh, the Places You'll Go! The students will brainstorm a list of places they would like to go. Places such as nouns and proper nouns will be separated during the listing process. The students will write a response to: "Oh, the places I will go! I will go____________." and illustrate their responses. Each student response will be collected for a class book entitled "Oh, the Places We Will Go!"

Format: lesson plan (grade 1 English Language Arts)

By Karen Mercer.

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.

"Three Cool Kids"

After reading "Three Cool Kids", by Rebecca Emberley, students will discuss literary elements: characters, setting, problem and solution. The teacher will record using the Inspiration software what students say, making a web that shows the different elements of the story.

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

By Genevieve Kiser.

What do you see?

This lesson is designed to teach color vocabulary and some basic animal names to novice level ESL students in grades 1-2 using Bill Martin's Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See?

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

By Cindy Young.

Whose Habitat Is That? (Lesson 3)

This lesson is designed to help students explore the surroundings animals find in each of the five habitats. This plan is written for the desert habitat but the same plan should be used for the exploration of all five habitat settings.

Format: lesson plan (grade 1 English Language Arts)

By Kelly Stewart.

Lesson plans on the web

Acrostic poems: All about me and my favorite things

Introduces students to acrostic poetry. They create poems using their names as a starting point for writing about themselves. (Learn more)

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

Provider: IRA/NCTE

Action ABC's: Learning vocabulary with verbs

Students review the definition of a verb and then expand their vocabulary by using verbs they already know in sentences. (Learn more)

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

Provider: IRA/NCTE