NOTE:  A benchmark or indicator without an asterisk (*) is an Ohio Department of Education requirement.  A benchmark or indicator with an asterisk is an additional West Clermont/National Standard requirement.

Phonemic Awareness, Word Recognition and Fluency Benchmarks for Grades K-3

By the end of the K-3 program, students will be able to:

1. Use letter-sound correspondence knowledge and structural analysis to decode words.
2. Demonstrate fluent oral reading, using sight words and decoding skills, varying intonation and timing as appropriate for the text.

First Grade Phonemic Awareness, Word Recognition and Fluency Indicators

By the end of first grade, students will be able to:

1. Identify and distinguish between letters, words and sentences.
2. Identify and say the beginning and ending sounds in words.
1. recognize and use beginning consonants to decode one- and two-syllable words (b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w, y, z)*
2. recognize and use ending consonants (b, d, g, m, n, p, t, x, ff, ll, ss, zz)*
3. Demonstrate an understanding of letter-sound correspondence by saying the sounds from all letters and from a variety of letter patterns, such as consonant blends and long- and short-vowel patterns, and by matching sounds to the corresponding letters.
1. separate the sounds in a word by saying each sound aloud*
2. recognize and use two-consonant beginning blends to decode one- and two-syllable words (br, cr, dr, fr, gr, pr, tr, sl, bl, cl, fl, pl, gl)*
3. recognize and use consonant digraphs to decode one- and two-syllable words*
4. recognize and use short vowels to decode unfamiliar words (a, e, i, o, u)*
5. recognize and use long vowels with silent e at the end of the word (a+e, e+e, i+e, o+e, u+e, cvcc pattern)*
4. Decode by using letter-sound matches.
5. Use knowledge of common word families (e.g., -ite or –ate) to sound out unfamiliar words.
6. Blend two to four phonemes (sounds) into words.
1. blend separately spoken phonemes to make a meaningful word*
7. Add, delete or change sounds in a given word to create new or rhyming words.
8. Recognize common grammatical endings (e.g., -s, -ed, -ing). *
9. Demonstrate a growing stock of sight words.  (See the 110 Sight Words at the end of this course of study.)
10. Read text, using fluid and automatic decoding skills, including knowledge of patterns, onsets and rimes.
11. Read aloud with changes in emphasis, voice, timing and expression that show recognition of punctuation and an understanding of the meaning.
1. read a familiar story orally with a 90% accuracy rate, with self-correction allowed*
2. read independently aloud from easy leveled books that have been previewed by the teacher, using intonation, pauses and emphases that signal the structure of a sentence*
12. Achieve first grade DIBELS Fall benchmarks in Letter Naming Fluency and Spring benchmarks in Phoneme Segmentation Fluency, Nonsense Word Fluency and Oral Reading Fluency. *
13. Achieve a Guided Reading level of I or higher.

Acquisition of Vocabulary Benchmarks Grades K-3

By the end of the K-3 program, students will be able to:

1. Use context clues to determine the meaning of vocabulary.
2. Read accurately high-frequency sight words.
3. Apply structural analysis skills to build and extend vocabulary and to determine word meaning.
4. Know the meaning of specialized vocabulary by applying knowledge of word parts, relationships and meanings.
5. Use resources to determine the meanings of pronunciations of unknown words.

First Grade Acquisition of Vocabulary Indicators

By the end of first grade, all students will:

Contextual Understanding

1. Use knowledge of word order and in-sentence context clues to support word identification and to define unknown words while reading.

Conceptual Understanding

2. Identify words that have similar meanings (synonyms) and words that have opposite meanings (antonyms).
3. Classify words into categories (e.g., colors, fruits, vegetables).
4. Recognize common sight words.
5. Recognize that words can sound alike but have different meanings (e.g., homophones such as hair and hare).
6. Talk about what words mean in terms of functions (e.g., “A shoe is something you wear on your foot”) and features (e.g., “Shoes have laces”). *
7. Learn new words everyday from conversations and books read aloud. *
8. Identify and interpret vocabulary (words, phrases or expressions) critical to the meaning of the text. *

Structural Understanding

9. Predict the meaning of compound words using knowledge of individual words (e.g., daydream, raindrop).
10. Recognize contractions (e.g., isn’t, aren’t, can’t, won’t) and common abbreviations (e.g., Jan., Feb.).
11. Read root words and their inflectional endings (e.g., walk, walked, walking).

Tools and Resources

12. Determine the meaning of unknown words using a beginner’s dictionary.

Reading Process:  Concepts of Print, Comprehension Strategies and Self-Monitoring Strategies Benchmarks Grades K-3

By the end of the K-3 program, students will be able to:

1. Establish a purpose for reading and use a range of reading comprehension strategies to understand literary passages and text.
2. Make predictions from text clues and cite specific examples to support predictions.
3. Draw conclusions from information in text.
4. Apply reading skills and strategies to summarize and compare and contrast information in text, between text and across subject areas.
5. Demonstrate comprehension by responding to questions (e.g., literal, informational and evaluative).
6. Apply and adjust self-monitoring strategies to assess understanding of text.
7. Achieve a Total Reading score in the fifth stanine or above on the Stanford Achievement Test or its equivalent. *

First Grade Reading Process: Concepts of Print, Comprehension Strategies and Self-Monitoring Strategies Indicators

By the end of first grade, students will:

Concepts of Print

1. Describe the roles of authors and illustrators, and compare two books by the same author in light of these roles.
2. Establish a purpose for reading (e.g., to be informed, to follow directions or to be entertained).
3. Visualize the information in texts and demonstrate this by drawing pictures, discussing images in texts or writing and writing sample descriptions.

Comprehension Strategies

4. Make predictions while reading and support predictions with information from the text or prior experience.
5. Use schema (background knowledge) to relate the text to self and to other texts. *
6. Ask questions before and during reading in order to: *
1. clarify meaning
2. speculate about text yet to be read
3. determine an author’s style, intent, content or format
4. focus attention on specific elements of the text.
7. Compare information (e.g., recognize similarities) in texts with prior knowledge and experience.
8. Recall the important ideas in fiction and non-fiction texts.
9. Create and use graphic organizers such as Venn diagrams or webs, with teacher assistance, to demonstrate comprehension.
10. Answer literal, simple inferential and evaluative questions to demonstrate comprehension of grade-appropriate texts and electronic and visual media.
11. Listen to teacher think-alouds as models of comprehension strategies.*
12. Use guided reading groups to teach comprehension strategies. *

Self-Monitoring Strategies

13. Monitor comprehension of independently- or group-read texts by answering questions that have been posed before or during the reading of text.
14. Monitor to see if meaning is clear by: *
1. demonstrating one-to-one matching (tracking)
2. making suitable substitutions when errors interfere with meaning
3. starting sentence again and re-reading
4. looking at the beginning and ending letters
5. making a left-to-right sound analysis
6. deriving new words by analogy to known words
7. paraphrasing and using picture cues.

Independent Reading

15. Use criteria to choose independent reading materials (e.g., personal interest, knowledge of authors and genres or recommendations from others).
16. Independently read books for various purposes (e.g., for enjoyment, for literary experience, to gain information or to perform a task).
17. Read 2-4 fiction/nonfiction books every day independently or with assistance and discuss one of these books with another student or a group. *
18. Read some favorite books many times, gaining deeper comprehension (browsing boxes and shared reading). *

Reading Applications: Informational, Technical and Persuasive Text Benchmarks for Grades K-3

By the end of the K-3 program, students will be able to:

1. Use text features and structures to organize content, draw conclusions and build text knowledge.
2. Ask clarifying questions concerning essential elements of informational text.
3. Identify the central ideas and supporting details of informational text.
4. Use visual aids as sources to gain additional information from text.
5. Evaluate two- and three-step directions for proper sequencing and completeness.

First Grade Reading Applications: Informational, Technical and Persuasive Text Indicators

By the end of first grade, students will be able to:

1. Use title page, photographs, captions and illustrations (text features) to develop the comprehension of informational texts.
2. Identify the sequence of events in informational text.
3. Ask questions concerning essential elements of informational text (e.g., why, who, where, what, when and how).
4. Identify central ideas and supporting details of informational text with teacher assistance.
5. Describe in their own words information gained from the text. *
6. Identify and discuss simple diagrams, charts, graphs and maps as characteristics of nonfiction.
7. Follow multi-step directions.

Reading Applications: Literary Text Benchmarks for Grades K-3

By the end of the K-3 program, students will be able to:

1. Compare and contrast plot across literary works.
2. Use supporting details to identify and describe main ideas, characters and setting.
3. Recognize the defining characteristics and features of literary forms and genres.
4. Explain how an author’s word choice and use of methods influences the reader.
5. Identify the theme of a literary text.

First Grade Reading Applications: Literary Text Indicators

By the end of first grade, students will be able to:

1. Provide their own interpretation of a story, using information from the text.
2. Identify the characters, setting and events in the story.
3. Retell the beginning, middle and ending of a story, including its important events.
1. for independently read fiction, retell the story, place the events in sequential order and answer comprehension questions at varying levels of thinking; *
2. for fiction texts read to students, extend the story, make predictions, discuss motives of characters, identify beginning, middle and end, place events in sequential order, and describe the causes and effects of specific events. *
4. Identify differences among stories, poems and plays.
5. Recognize predictable patterns in stories and poems.
6. Compare and contrast plots across literary works. *

Writing Process Benchmarks for Grades K-2

By the end of the K-2 program, students will be able to:

1. Generate ideas for written compositions.
2. Develop audience and purpose for self-selected and assigned writing tasks.
3. Use organizers to clarify ideas for writing assignments.
4. Use revision strategies and resources to improve ideas and content, organization, word choice and detail.
5. Edit to improve sentence fluency, grammar and usage.
6. Apply tools to judge the quality of writing.
7. Publish writing samples for display or sharing with others, using techniques such as electronic resources and graphics.

First Grade Writing Process Indicators

By the end of first grade, students will be able to:

Prewriting

1. Generate writing ideas through discussions with others.
2. Develop a main idea for writing.
3. Determine purpose and audience.
4. Use organizational strategies (e.g., brainstorming, lists, webs and Venn diagrams) to plan writing.

Drafting, Revising and Editing

5. Organize writing to include a beginning, middle and end.
6. Construct complete sentences with subjects and verbs.
7. Mimic language from literature when appropriate.
8. Use available technology to compose text.
9. Reread own writing for clarity.
10. Add descriptive words and details.
11. Vary sentence openers. *
12. Use resources (e.g., a word wall, beginner’s dictionary, word bank) to select effective vocabulary.
13. Use newly learned words from their reading. *
14. Produce writing that employs the full range of their spoken vocabulary. *
15. Edit/proofread to improve conventions (e.g., grammar, spelling, punctuation and capitalization).
16. Apply tools (e.g., rubric, checklist, feedback) to judge the quality of writing.

Publishing

17. Rewrite and illustrate writing samples for display and sharing with others.
18. Keep a writing portfolio that contains at least 10 major pieces of writing. *

Writing Applications Benchmarks for Grades K-2

By the end of the K-2 program, students will be able to:

A.     Compose writings that convey a clear message and include well-chosen details.

B.     Write responses to literature that demonstrate an understanding of a literary work.

C.     Write friendly letters and invitations complete with date, salutation, body, closing and signature.

First Grade Writing Application Indicators

By the end of first grade, students will be able to:

1.      Write simple personal or fictional narratives that contain two or more sequenced events and that include descriptive words and details.

2.      Write responses to stories that include simple judgments about the text.

3.      Write friendly letters and invitations that follow accepted letter format, including date, greeting, message and closing.

4.      Gather information pertinent to a topic and write a simple report or informational piece. *

5.      Retell a story in writing. *

6.      Produce informal writings (e.g., messages, environmental signs, journals, notes and poems) for various purposes.

7.      Demonstrate awareness of the writer’s craft by employing strategies such as dialogue, transitions or time cue words. *

Writing Conventions Benchmarks for the K-2 Program

By the end of the K-2 program, students will be able to:

A.     Print legibly using appropriate spacing.

B.     Spell grade-appropriate words correctly.

C.     Use conventions of punctuation and capitalization in written work.

D.     Use grammatical structures in written work.

First Grade Writing Conventions Indicators

By the end of first grade, students will be able to:

Handwriting

1. Print legibly and space letters, words and sentences appropriately.

Spelling

2. Spell words correctly with regular short vowel patterns and most common long vowel words.
3. Spell high frequency words correctly.
4. Spell correctly the plurals of simple one-syllable words (e.g., ball/balls). *
5. Create phonetically spelled written work that can usually be read by the writer and others.
6. Spell unfamiliar words using strategies such as segmenting, sounding out and matching familiar word and word parts.

Punctuation and Capitalization

7. Use end punctuation correctly, including question marks, exclamation points and periods.
8. Use correct capitalization:
1. first word in a sentence
2. names
3. the pronoun I.

Grammar and Usage

9. Use nouns, verbs and adjectives.

Research Standard Benchmarks for Grades K-2

By the end of the K-2 program, students will be able to:

A.     Generate questions for investigation and gather information from a variety of sources.

B.     Retell important details and findings.

First Grade Research Indicators

By the end of first grade, students will be able to:

1.      Discuss ideas for investigation about a topic of personal interest.

2.      Utilize appropriate searching techniques to gather information, with teacher assistance, from a variety of locations (e.g., classroom, school library, public library or community resources).

3.      Use books or observations to gather information to explain a topic or unit of study with teacher assistance.

4.      Recall important information about a topic with teacher assistance.

5.      Report information to others.

Communications: Oral and Visual Benchmarks for Grades K-2

By the end of the K-2 program, students will be able to:

A.     Use active listening strategies to identify the main idea and to gain information from oral presentations.

B.     Connect prior experiences, insights and ideas to those of a speaker.

C.     Follow multi-step directions.

D.     Speak clearly and at an appropriate pace and volume.

E.      Deliver a variety of presentations that include relevant information and a clear sense of purpose.

First Grade Communications: Oral and Visual Indicators

By the end of first grade, students will be able to:

Listening and Viewing

1.      Use active communication skills, such as making eye contact or asking questions.

2.      Compare what is heard with prior knowledge and experience.

3.      Follow simple oral directions.

Speaking Skills and Strategies

4.      Speak clearly and understandably.

5.      Ask others questions that seek elaboration and justification. *

Speaking Applications

6.      Deliver brief informal presentations that:

a.      demonstrate an understanding of the topic

b.      include and sort relevant information and details to develop a topic

c.      organize information with a clear beginning and ending

d.      express opinions.

7.      Deliver brief informal descriptive presentations recalling an event or personal experience that convey relevant information and descriptive details.

8.      Deliver simple dramatic presentations (e.g., recite poems, rhymes, songs and stories).

9.      Participate in small and large group discussions and control personal chatter, remain quiet and attentive, take turns speaking and establish eye contact with the speaker. *

10.  Interpret and respond appropriately to nonverbal cues (e.g., facial expressions, gestures, pauses).

110 HIGH-FREQUENCY FIRST GRADE WORDS