What does a student learn in StateLouisiana,GradeGrade 1,SubjectEnglish Language Arts?

Students read a story and practice asking and answering questions about what happened, who was in it, and where it took place. The goal is to notice the details that matter most.

Students retell a story in their own words, covering the key people, places, and what happened. This builds the habit of holding a whole story in mind, not just one moment.

Students find the big idea a story is trying to teach, like why kindness matters or why telling the truth is important. That one lesson the whole story points toward.

Students look closely at a story and describe who is in it, where it takes place, and what happens. They use details from the text to back up what they say.

Students pick out words in stories and poems that describe how something looks, sounds, smells, or feels. Those words help readers picture the scene or understand how a character feels.

Students sort books into two groups: stories with characters and events, and information books that explain real topics. They practice this across many different books they read or hear.

Students figure out who is speaking or narrating at different moments in a story. Is it a character inside the story, or a voice outside it? That question is what this standard asks students to answer.

Students look at the pictures and read the words together to explain who is in a story, where it takes place, or what happens. Both the illustrations and the text count as clues.

This standard doesn't apply to literature. In reading stories and poems, students focus on characters, plot, and meaning rather than evaluating an author's argument or evidence.

Students look at two stories side by side and explain how the characters' experiences are alike and how they differ.

Students read simple stories and poems at a first-grade level, usually with a teacher nearby to help. The focus is on building comfort with books, not reading alone perfectly.

Students read a short nonfiction passage and practice asking and answering questions about what they learned. This builds the habit of checking whether they understood the important parts of what they read.

Students find the main idea of a nonfiction book or article, then retell the most important details in their own words.

Students read a nonfiction passage and explain how two things in it are connected. For example, they might explain how one event caused another, or why two ideas belong in the same book.

Students stop at unfamiliar words in a nonfiction book and ask questions to figure out what those words mean. They use the rest of the page to find clues.

Students use parts of a book like headings, a table of contents, or a glossary to find specific facts quickly. It's about knowing where to look, not just how to read.

Pictures and words each tell part of the story in a nonfiction book. Students practice separating what they learn from the illustrations and what they learn from the sentences on the page.

Students look at the pictures and read the words together to figure out the main point of a book or article. The images and the text work as a pair, each filling in what the other leaves out.

Students find the reasons an author gives to back up the main point in a book or article. For example, if an author says dogs make good pets, students look for the sentences that explain why.

Students read two books about the same topic and point out what the books share and where they differ. They might compare the pictures, how something is described, or the steps each book gives.

Students read simple nonfiction books and articles with a teacher's help. The texts are chosen to match what first graders are ready to handle.

Students learn how a page of writing works: text runs left to right, words have spaces between them, and sentences start with a capital letter and end with punctuation.

A sentence starts with a capital letter and ends with a period, question mark, or exclamation point. Students learn to spot those features so they can tell where one sentence begins and another ends.

Students practice hearing and working with the sounds inside spoken words. They break words into syllables, identify rhymes, and swap or remove individual sounds to make new words.

Students listen to a spoken word and identify whether the vowel sound is long (like the "a" in "cake") or short (like the "a" in "cat"). This is done with one-syllable words only.

Students listen to separate sounds and blend them into a full word out loud, including words that start with two consonants together, like "bl" in "blend" or "st" in "stop."

Students listen to a spoken word and pick out its individual sounds: the sound at the start, the vowel in the middle, and the sound at the end. For example, given "cat," they say /k/, /a/, /t/.

Students break a short spoken word into every sound it holds. For "ship," that means three sounds: /sh/, /i/, /p/.

Students use letter-sound patterns they've learned to sound out unfamiliar words. This is the decoding work that turns printed letters into real words students can read and understand.

Students learn that two consonants together can make one sound, like the "sh" in "ship" or the "ch" in "chip." They practice reading and spelling words built on those pairs.

Students read short, simple words by sounding out each letter in order. Think "cat," "stop," or "jump" spelled exactly the way they sound.

Students learn that a silent "e" at the end of a word makes the vowel say its name, and that certain vowel pairs like "ai" or "ea" work together to make a long vowel sound.

Students count syllables in a word by remembering that every syllable needs at least one vowel sound. Hearing two vowel sounds in "rabbit" means two syllables.

Students split longer words into two parts to figure out how to say them. A word like "napkin" becomes "nap" and "kin," making it easier to read.

Students read words that have had a letter or two added to the end, like "jumped," "running," or "cats." Those small endings change what the word means, and students learn to read right through them.

Students practice reading common words that don't follow normal spelling rules, like "said," "come," and "was." Recognizing these words on sight helps students read sentences more smoothly.

Students read sentences aloud at a steady pace, with enough accuracy that the words make sense as a whole. The goal is reading that sounds natural, not halting word by word.

Students read simple books and passages all the way through, focused on meaning rather than just sounding out words. They understand what they read, not just how to read it aloud.

Reading the same short book or passage more than once helps students get smoother and faster each time. The goal is to sound natural, not robotic, when reading aloud.

When students read a sentence and something feels off, they stop, think about what makes sense, and try the word again. Catching and fixing their own mistakes is the skill.

Students pick a topic or book, write what they think about it, and give one reason why. The piece wraps up instead of stopping mid-thought.

Students pick a topic, write a few true facts about it, and wrap up with a closing sentence. Think of it as a short report: a clear beginning, some real information in the middle, and a proper ending.

Students write short stories that retell two or more events in order. They add details about what happened, use words like "first," "then," and "next" to show the sequence, and wrap up with an ending.

This standard doesn't apply in Grade 1. Writing production and distribution skills start in Grade 3, so no work is expected here yet.

Students revise their writing by answering a teacher's questions and adding details that make the topic clearer. The goal is learning to improve a draft, not just finish it.

With help from a teacher, students use a computer or tablet to write and share their work, sometimes alongside a classmate.

Students work with classmates to look into a topic together, then help write something based on what they found, like a set of steps showing how to do something.

Students pull from something they lived or read to answer a question, with a teacher or adult helping them along the way.

This standard doesn't apply in Grade 1. Research-based writing starts in Grade 4.

This standard starts in grade 3. First graders focus on other writing skills covered in the W.1 standards.

Students take turns talking and listening in group discussions about books and classroom topics, with both classmates and adults. They learn to stay on topic and let others finish before they speak.

Students take turns talking and listen without interrupting when the class discusses a book or topic together.

Students take turns in a back-and-forth conversation, listening to what a classmate says and responding in a way that keeps the discussion going.

When something in a conversation or story is confusing, students speak up and ask a question instead of staying stuck. Asking helps everyone understand better.

Students listen to a story or video, then ask and answer questions about what happened or what they learned. The focus is on the key details, not just a general sense of what it was about.

Students listen to a speaker and ask questions to understand something better or learn more. They also answer questions others ask about what was said.

Students practice putting words to what they see, remember, and feel. They describe a person, place, thing, or event out loud, adding enough detail that a listener can picture it clearly.

Students add a drawing or picture to help explain what they are saying or describing. A sketch can show something words alone make harder to picture.

Students practice saying their thoughts in complete sentences, not just words or phrases, when talking to the class or answering a question.

Students follow basic grammar rules when they write sentences or speak out loud, things like using correct word order, matching words that belong together, and choosing the right word for the job.

Students practice writing every letter of the alphabet, both capital and lowercase, clearly enough for someone else to read.

Students learn the difference between everyday nouns like "dog," names like "Max," and words that show ownership like "Max's bowl." They practice using all three in their own sentences.

Singular nouns pair with one verb form, plural nouns with another. Students practice matching them so a sentence like "She runs" or "They run" sounds right and reads correctly.

Students practice swapping out names for pronouns like "I," "me," and "my" when talking about themselves, and "they" and "them" when talking about others. It's one of the first steps toward writing sentences that flow naturally.

Students learn to match the verb in a sentence to when something happens. "Yesterday I walked" describes the past, "today I walk" describes right now, and "tomorrow I will walk" points to what comes next.

Students use common describing words, like "big," "cold," or "happy," to add detail when they speak and write.

Students practice connecting two ideas in a sentence using words like "and," "but," "or," "so," and "because." These small words help sentences show how ideas go together or explain why something happened.

Students practice choosing the right small word before a noun: "a," "an," "the," "this," or "that." These words signal whether something is specific or general, near or far.

Students practice using common position and time words like "during," "beyond," and "toward" in their sentences.

Students write complete sentences of different kinds: statements, questions, commands, and exclamations. They also practice stretching short sentences into longer ones by adding more detail.

Students learn the basic rules for writing sentences correctly: which words get a capital letter, where to put a period or comma, and how to spell common words.

Students practice writing their name, a friend's name, and today's date with a capital letter at the start.

Students learn to put a period, question mark, or exclamation point at the end of every sentence they write.

Students learn when to put commas in a date (June 14, 2025) and how to separate a list of words with commas. It is one of the first punctuation rules students practice in their own writing.

Students spell common short words the way they appear in books, including tricky words like "said" and "was" that don't follow the usual rules. This builds the spelling habits students rely on through all their writing.

Students sound out unfamiliar words and spell them the best they can, using what they know about letters and sounds. Getting close counts here.

This standard doesn't start until second grade. No language skills are assessed here in first grade.

Students figure out what an unfamiliar word means by using clues in the sentence around it or by asking someone nearby. They learn that some words have more than one meaning depending on how they're used.

Students use the other words in a sentence to figure out what an unfamiliar word means. They read around the tricky word and let the rest of the sentence help them.

Students learn that adding a chunk like "un-" or "-ful" to a word changes its meaning. Seeing "unhappy" or "helpful," they use that word part to figure out what the whole word means.

Students learn that adding endings like -s, -ed, or -ing to a base word (such as "look") changes how it works in a sentence. They practice spotting the root word hiding inside "looks," "looked," and "looking."

Students learn how words connect to each other and how small differences in meaning matter. For example, they explore how "big," "huge," and "gigantic" all mean large but say different things.

Students group words into categories like colors or types of clothing. Sorting words this way helps them understand what those groups of words have in common.

Students sort words into groups and explain what makes each one specific. A duck is a bird that swims; a tiger is a large cat with stripes.

Students connect a word to something real in their life. For example, after learning the word "cozy," they think of a spot at home that actually feels that way.

Students sort words that are close in meaning but not quite the same, like the difference between "big" and "gigantic" or "look" and "stare." They pick the right word, explain it, or act it out.

Students use new words picked up from books, conversations, and class discussions when they speak and write. This includes connecting words like "because" and "but" to link ideas in a sentence.