Ohio Standards
Ohio 1st Grade ELA Standards
All 44 Ohio English language arts standards for 1st grade, each explained in plain English. The official wording is in Ohio Department of Education and Workforce's document, linked at the end of this page.
44 standards
Reading Literature
9 standardsRL.1.1
Ask and answer questions about the main details of a story, drama or poem, like who the story is about and what went wrong.
RL.1.2
Retell a story with its key details and explain the lesson or message it teaches, to show you understood it.
RL.1.3
Use key details to describe a story's characters, setting and big events, and tell how each one shapes the story.
RL.1.4
Find and explain words and phrases in a story that show feelings or appeal to the senses, and talk about how they help readers follow it.
RL.1.5
Explain how stories differ from informational books by naming each one's purpose, the way it is organized and its key features.
RL.1.6
Tell who is telling a story at different points and explain how that narrator or speaker shapes the story.
RL.1.7
Use the pictures and key details to describe a story's characters, setting and main events, and tell how the pictures help you understand it.
RL.1.9
Tell how the adventures and experiences of characters in two stories are alike and different, like two characters who each get lost.
RL.1.10
With an adult's help, use what you know and have lived through to describe or compare details across grade 1 stories and poems.
Reading Informational
10 standardsRI.1.1
Ask and answer questions about the main details in a nonfiction text, like a science book or a history article.
RI.1.2
Retell what a nonfiction text teaches, giving its main topic along with the key facts, ideas and details.
RI.1.3
Describe how two people, events, ideas or facts in a nonfiction text are connected, like a cause and its effect.
RI.1.4
Ask and answer questions to figure out new or important words in a nonfiction text, like what a habitat is.
RI.1.5
Find and understand key facts in a nonfiction text with the help of features like headings, a table of contents, a glossary and icons.
RI.1.6
Tell apart what the pictures teach and what the words teach in a nonfiction text, and explain how each helps you understand the topic.
RI.1.7
Describe the key ideas of a nonfiction text by studying its pictures and details, like a diagram of a plant's parts.
RI.1.8
Find the facts and examples an author uses in a nonfiction text and tell how they back up its key ideas.
RI.1.9
Identify and describe simple ways two nonfiction texts on one topic are alike and different in their information, pictures or steps.
RI.1.10
With support, use what you know and have experienced to describe or compare details in grade 1 nonfiction texts.
Reading Foundations
4 standardsRF.1.1
Know the parts of a sentence, like the capital letter at the start, the end mark at the finish, spaces between words and reading left to right.
RF.1.2
Hear, say and change sounds in spoken words quickly, like telling long from short vowels, blending up to five sounds in words like stamp, and swapping sounds.
RF.1.3
Sound out words with taught phonics patterns like short vowels, digraphs, silent e, blends, compound words and endings like -ing, and read common sight words quickly.
RF.1.4
Read aloud fluently enough to understand, decoding taught patterns, reading grade 1 text at about 60 correct words a minute, and rereading when something seems off.
Writing Foundations
3 standardsWF.1.1
Print every lowercase and capital letter on your own, quickly and neatly, using correct strokes, shape, spacing in words, direction, line placement and pencil grip.
WF.1.2
Spell words using taught phonics patterns, like short and long vowels, digraphs, blends, silent e as in pine, doubled letters as in stuff, and endings like -ed.
WF.1.3
Print a simple sentence on your own with grade 1 spellings and sight words, capitals for the start, names and I, spaces between words and a correct end mark.
Writing
7 standardsW.1.1
Write an opinion piece that names the topic, states your opinion, gives reasons and ends with a closing.
W.1.2
Write an informative piece that names a clear topic, shares facts about it and wraps up with a closing.
W.1.3
Write a true or made-up story with a clear topic, two or more events in order, details, time words like first and then, and an ending.
W.1.5
With an adult's help, answer questions and use suggestions to add details, then revise and edit to make your writing stronger.
W.1.6
With an adult's help, try a range of tools to create and share writing, both on your own and with classmates.
W.1.7
With an adult's help, use your own experiences or sources to gather information and write an answer to a question.
W.1.8
With an adult's help, join group research or writing projects on a topic, using what you remember or facts from given sources to grow vocabulary and writing skills.
Speaking and Listening
6 standardsSL.1.1
Take part in first grade discussions with a partner, group or class, taking turns, listening carefully, building on what others say and asking for clarification.
SL.1.2
Show you understood a read-aloud, a video or other media by answering questions on its main topic and key details, asking when something is unclear.
SL.1.3
Ask a speaker questions to learn more or to clear up anything that was confusing.
SL.1.4
Speak clearly when telling about people, places, things and events, adding details that fit, like the color and size of a pet.
SL.1.5
Make or use drawings, charts or other visuals to make your ideas, thoughts and feelings clearer.
SL.1.6
Speak in complete sentences that fit the task or situation, like answering a question in class.
Language
5 standardsL.1.1
Use correct grammar, like proper and possessive nouns, nouns that match their verbs, pronouns, past, present and future verbs, and complete sentences of all four kinds.
L.1.2
Use capitals for months, days and names, end marks, commas in dates and lists, correct spelling of common patterns and sight words, and sound out new spellings.
L.1.4
Ask and answer questions about unknown words, using clues in the text, word parts like -ed or -est, and plurals and possessives to work out their meaning.
L.1.5
With an adult's help, sort words into groups like animals, define words by category and traits, link words to real life, and act out close words like peek and stare.
L.1.6
Use words you have learned in new settings, like naming cozy spots in your home, and join ideas with simple linking words like because.
The official Ohio documents
- Ohio's Learning Standards: English Language Arts, revised 2026 · adopted 2026 for K-8, 2017 for 9-12 · published July 2026
- Ohio's Learning Standards: English Language Arts, 2017 · replaced · adopted February 2017 · K-8 replaced in 2026, 9-12 carried forward
The plain-English lines on this page are EMStudio's own explanations of Ohio's standards, not the official wording, which Ohio Department of Education and Workforce publishes in the documents above. Codes and strand names identify each standard.