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Common Core ELA1st GradeFoundational Skills

RF.1.1: Features of a Sentence

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.1.1 · Cluster: Print Concepts.

Make a Decodable PageAll 41 1st Grade ELA Standards

The Official Wording

Demonstrate understanding of the organization and basic features of print.

Common Core State Standards, Grade 1, Reading: Foundational Skills · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026

What RF.1.1 Means in Plain English

First graders find where a sentence starts and stops in print: the first word begins with a capital letter, and a period, question mark or exclamation point ends it. On a page about Mia and her piano, that’s how they count three sentences.

Not every capital starts a sentence: Mia keeps hers mid-sentence because it’s a name. Kindergartners learned print runs left to right and words have spaces (RF.K.1). Print concepts have no 2nd-grade standard; the next step is phonics and decoding longer words in RF.2.3.

RF.1.1 I Can Statements

  • I can find the first word of a sentence.
  • I can see the capital letter that starts a sentence.
  • I can find the mark that ends a sentence.

RF.1.1 Worked Example

One short page with three kinds of sentences, read for the three features RF.1.1a names: the first word, the capital and the end mark.

Problem

Read the page “Mia plays the piano. Do you play with Mia too? It is so much fun!” How many sentences are there, and how do you know?

Finding the sentences on one page
  1. Find each first word. It starts with a capital letter.Mia, Do, It
  2. Find each end mark. It shows where a sentence stops.. ? !
  3. One capital at the start and one mark at the end make one sentence. Count them.3 sentences
  4. Mia in the middle sentence has a capital too, but it isn’t a first word. Names always get a capital.Do you play with Mia too? Mia is a name, not a new sentence
  5. Each end mark tells you something: a period tells, a question mark asks, an exclamation point shows strong feeling.. telling · ? asking · ! strong feeling
  6. Read it aloud. Stop at each end mark, let your voice go up at the question mark and sound excited at the end.Mia plays the piano. / Do you play with Mia too? / It is so much fun!
Answer3 sentences: Mia plays the piano. Do you play with Mia too? It is so much fun!

Check it: Point to the second Mia and ask whether a new sentence starts there. A child who looks back for an end mark before it has the idea.

Common Mistakes with RF.1.1

Every capital starts a sentence

Counts four sentences because the second Mia has a capital

Try this: Check two things before calling it a new sentence: a capital on the word and an end mark right before it.

A line is a sentence

Thinks each sentence ends where the line of print ends

Try this: Write a sentence that runs onto a second line and have the child slide a finger along until it reaches the end mark.

Reading straight through end marks

“Mia plays the piano do you play with Mia too it is so much fun”

Try this: Have the child tap the table at every end mark while reading, then raise their voice for the question mark.

Where RF.1.1 Fits

Comes BeforeRF.K.1Follow print left to right and page by page, and see that spaces separate words.
AlongsideL.1.2Use end punctuation and capitalize names when writing sentences.L.1.1Say and write complete sentences that tell, ask and exclaim.
Comes NextRF.2.3Decode longer words with vowel teams, prefixes and suffixes, the work that follows print concepts.

Practice RF.1.1

Handwriting Worksheet GeneratorFree ToolThree sentences to copy onto handwriting lines, one that tells, one that asks and one that exclaims, each with its capital and end mark.SentencesPrimary lines
Make a Worksheet

Quick Check

  1. How many sentences are on the page?
  2. Why does Mia have a capital in the middle sentence?
  3. Which sentence asks something, and how do you know?

RF.1.1: Other Names

RF.1.1CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.1.1

Common Core State Standards © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved. Official wording from the Common Core State Standards PDFs at corestandards.org, last checked October 14, 2026. The explanation, I can statements, example, mistakes and practice on this page are EMStudio’s own, written beside the official wording. They are not part of the standard.