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Wisconsin Standards

Wisconsin 1st Grade ELA Standards

All 33 Wisconsin English language arts standards for 1st grade, each explained in plain English. The official wording is in Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction's document, linked at the end of this page.

33 standards

Reading Foundational Skills

4 standards
RF.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.
Common Core RF.K.1
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.
Common Core RF.K.2
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.
Common Core RF.K.3
RF.1.4
Read beginning-reader books accurately and smoothly enough to understand them, using context and rereading to fix mistakes.

Reading

9 standards
R.1.1
Come up with and answer questions about the important ideas and details in stories and nonfiction books.
R.1.2
With help, tell what a text is mostly about, and retell its key details, like the main events of a story.
R.1.3
Describe the characters, setting, and key events in a story, or the important facts in a nonfiction text, using details.
R.1.4
Find words and phrases that show feelings or appeal to the senses, like crunchy or gloomy, and words tied to the topic of a text.
R.1.5
Name different genres, like fairy tales, poems, and science books, and explain how stories differ from books that give information.
R.1.6
Describe how pictures and details in a text show who is telling it or why it was written.
R.1.7
Use the pictures and details in stories and nonfiction to talk about characters, setting, events, or topics.
R.1.8
Find the facts an author or illustrator offers to back up the ideas in a nonfiction text.
R.1.9
Tell how two texts are alike and different, like two versions of a folktale, and notice how texts reflect your culture and others' cultures.

Writing

9 standards
W.1.1
Write pieces that reflect, inform, or imagine, from quick journal entries to polished pieces that matter more.
W.1.2
Write opinions with a reason, informative pieces with facts, and stories with two or more events in order, each with a closing.
W.1.3
Write with a beginning, middle, and simple ending, link ideas with time words like first and then, and try descriptive words.
W.1.4
With adult help, develop and organize writing so it suits the task and purpose and reflects the writer's culture, like a note to a grandparent.
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.
Common Core W.1.5
W.1.6
With adult help, publish writing with a partner using tools like a class tablet, and practice printing letters, cursive, or typing.
W.1.7
Join class research and writing projects, like reading several how-to books on a topic and writing a list of steps.
W.1.8
With an adult's help, answer a question by remembering something that happened or by looking in books the teacher provides.
Common Core W.K.8
W.1.9
With adult help, recall and use facts from stories and nonfiction to reflect on and investigate characters, setting, and key details.

Speaking and Listening

5 standards
SL.1.1
Join group talks about topics and books, following discussion rules with help, building on others' comments, asking questions, and respecting differences.
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.
Common Core SL.1.2
SL.1.3
Ask a speaker questions to learn more or to clear up something confusing, and answer questions about what they said.
Common Core SL.1.3
SL.1.4
Describe a person, place, thing, or event clearly with details that matter, like what happened on a class field trip.
SL.1.5
Make or choose a picture, chart, or other visual to make a description clearer and show ideas and feelings.

Language

6 standards
L.1.1
Explore how language changes across cultures and settings, use that to understand what you read and hear, and value classmates' languages.
L.1.2
Work out unknown words using endings like -s and -ed as clues, as in looks and looked, and by spotting common root words.
L.1.3
With adult help, find words that show feelings or senses, explain why words go in a group, and act out shades of meaning like large and gigantic.
L.1.4
Learn new words from reading and talk, alone or with a group, use words that fit the setting, and join ideas with words like because.
L.1.5
Use all kinds of nouns, subject-verb agreement, pronouns, adjectives, verb tenses, and full sentences correctly, and know when formal English fits.
L.1.6
Capitalize dates and names, use end punctuation and commas in dates and lists, and spell common word patterns correctly when writing.

The official Wisconsin documents

The plain-English lines on this page are EMStudio's own explanations of Wisconsin's standards, not the official wording, which Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction publishes in the documents above. Codes and strand names identify each standard.