Mississippi Standards
Mississippi 1st Grade ELA Standards
All 41 Mississippi English language arts standards for 1st grade, each explained in plain English. The official wording is in Mississippi Department of Education's document, linked at the end of this page.
41 standards
Reading Literature
9 standardsRL.1.1
Ask and answer questions about the important parts of a story without being prompted, like why the fox wanted the grapes.
RL.1.2
Retell a story in order with its important parts and say what lesson it teaches, like slow and steady wins the race.
RL.1.3
Describe a story's characters, where it happens and its big events on your own, pointing to details from the story.
RL.1.4
Find the words in a story or poem that show a feeling or bring in the senses, like shivered or a crunchy, sweet apple.
RL.1.5
Explain how a storybook differs from an informational book after reading many of each, like a tale about a fox versus a book of fox facts.
RL.1.6
Tell who is speaking at different points in a story, like when the narrator stops and a character starts talking.
RL.1.7
Use a story's pictures together with its words to describe a character, the setting or what is happening.
RL.1.9
Tell how the adventures of characters in two stories are alike and different, like two heroes who both face a wolf.
RL.1.10
With help where needed, read stories and poems written at a 1st-grade level and follow what they say.
Reading Informational Text
10 standardsRI.1.1
Ask and answer questions about the important parts of a story without being prompted, like why the fox wanted the grapes.
RI.1.2
Name the main topic of an informational book on your own and retell its key facts, like what a book about the moon teaches.
RI.1.3
Describe how two people, events or ideas in an informational book are connected, like how rain fills the river that fish live in.
RI.1.4
Ask and answer questions to figure out what a word or phrase in an informational book means, like hibernate in a book about bears.
RI.1.5
Use a book's headings, table of contents, glossary or an on-screen menu to find a fact quickly.
RI.1.6
Tell which facts come from a book's pictures and which come from its words, like a photo showing a bird's colors while the text names its food.
RI.1.7
Use an informational book's pictures and words together to describe its main ideas, like how a diagram shows the parts of a plant.
RI.1.8
Point out the reasons an author gives to back up a point, like the three reasons a book gives for brushing your teeth.
RI.1.9
Spot the basic ways two books on the same topic are alike and different, like how each one pictures and describes a frog.
RI.1.10
Read nonfiction texts that fit a first grade level, with help and reminders from an adult.
Reading Foundational Skills
4 standardsRF.1.1
Follow print left to right and top to bottom, know that letters in order make a word with spaces between words, and name every upper and lowercase letter.
RF.1.2
Hear and make rhymes, clap syllables, say the first, middle and last sounds in a short word like cat, and swap a sound to make a new word, like cat to hat.
RF.1.3
Say the main sound of each consonant, know the long and short sounds of a, e, i, o and u, and read common sight words like the, of and you.
RF.1.4
Read 1st-grade books aloud smoothly and accurately with expression, understand them, and reread when a word or sentence does not make sense.
Writing
7 standardsW.1.1
Write an opinion piece that names the topic or book, gives a reason for the opinion and ends with a closing line, like Dogs are the best pets because they play with you.
W.1.2
Write a short informational piece that names a topic, gives a few facts about it and ends with a closing line, like a few sentences about what bees do.
W.1.3
Write a story about two or more things that happened in order, with some details, words like first, then and next, and a closing.
W.1.5
With an adult's help, stick to one topic, listen to classmates' questions and suggestions about a piece of writing, and add details to make it stronger.
W.1.6
With an adult's help, use digital tools like a tablet or classroom computer to write, polish and publish a piece, sometimes with a partner.
W.1.7
Take part in a class research project, like reading several how-to books on one topic and writing step-by-step instructions together.
W.1.8
With an adult's help, answer a question by remembering something that happened or by looking in books the teacher provides.
Speaking and Listening
6 standardsSL.1.1
Talk with classmates and adults about 1st-grade topics and books, following discussion rules, building on what others say over several turns, and asking when confused.
SL.1.2
Ask and answer questions about the key details of a read-aloud, a talk or a video, like what the main character wanted.
SL.1.3
Ask a speaker questions to learn more or to clear up something confusing, and answer questions about what they said.
SL.1.4
Describe a person, place, thing or event with details that matter, saying ideas and feelings clearly, like what made a trip to the zoo fun.
SL.1.5
Add a drawing, photo or other visual when it makes an idea, thought or feeling clearer to listeners.
SL.1.6
Speak in complete sentences when the task or setting calls for it, like answering a question during a class lesson.
Language
5 standardsL.1.1
Use first grade grammar when writing and speaking, like printing every letter, matching nouns and verbs, using past, present and future verbs, and building full sentences.
L.1.2
Capitalize the first word of a sentence and the word I, name the period and question mark, and spell simple words the way they sound, like kat for cat.
L.1.4
Figure out a new word from the sentence around it, use parts like un- and -ful as clues, and spot a root word like look inside looks, looked and looking.
L.1.5
With an adult's help, sort words into groups like colors and clothing, define a duck as a bird that swims, and act out how look, peek and stare differ.
L.1.6
Use words learned from conversations and books when talking and writing, including because to explain why, like I wore boots because it rained.
The official Mississippi documents
- 2025 Mississippi College- and Career-Readiness Standards for English Language Arts · adopted 2025 · required since 2025-26
The plain-English lines on this page are EMStudio's own explanations of Mississippi's standards, not the official wording, which Mississippi Department of Education publishes in the documents above. Codes and strand names identify each standard.