Grade 1 · spring eng.g1.s

Grade 1 Spring — Compound Sentences, Descriptive Writing, Verb Tense, Pronouns, and Workshop Revision

18 weeks 240 min/week 18 lessons 13 skills 45 exercises 3 assessments

Overview

Grade 1 Spring builds directly on Grade 1 Fall's sentence-mechanics, three-text-type, and grammar-terminology foundation. Five intertwined threads run through 18 weeks:

01

COMPOUND SENTENCES
children combine two simple sentences using the Grade-1 CCSS conjunctions 'and, but, or, so, because' (the last two are technically Year-2 NC subordinators / coordinators, included here per the depth bar).
02

DESCRIPTIVE WRITING
children build expanded noun phrases (the small red ball; the cold wet grass) using two- and three-adjective sets organized by sensory category (sight, sound, touch, smell, taste).
03

WORKSHOP PRODUCTION & REVISION
drafts grow from Fall's 3-5 sentences to 5-8 sentences; revision becomes a named, taught move (reread, add one detail, replace one weak word, combine two short sentences). The unit introduces the FIRST formal peer-conferencing protocol (compliment + question + suggestion).
04

GRAMMAR DEEPER
singular/plural nouns with frequently-occurring irregulars (foot/feet, child/children, mouse/mice), past/present verb tense as a consistent within-piece choice, personal pronouns (I, me, my, you, he, she, it, we, they) and possessive pronouns (my, your, his, her, its, our, their).
05

PUNCTUATION & SPELLING
commas in dates and in a series; apostrophes in contractions (don't, can't, it's, I'm, we're); HFW Set 4 (next 25 high-frequency words). Tier-2 vocabulary Set 4 emphasizes sensory and motion words that feed Thread 2.

Essential questions

How can I join two short sentences into one longer one that flows better?
How do writers help readers SEE, HEAR, FEEL what they are describing?
What makes a good piece BETTER — what moves can a writer make on a second look?
When two friends listen to my writing, what should they say that actually helps?
How do I keep my whole piece in the same time — all past, or all present?

Enduring understandings

Sentences can be joined: 'and' adds, 'but' contrasts, 'or' offers a choice, 'so' shows a result, 'because' gives a reason.
Writers paint pictures with adjectives organized by sense — sight, sound, touch, smell, taste.
Revision is not fixing mistakes — it is making good writing better. Writers reread, add, replace, and combine.
Peer feedback is generous and specific: a compliment, a question, then a suggestion.
An apostrophe in a contraction marks a missing letter; commas in a series separate the items in a list.
Verb tense is a writer's CHOICE — pick one for your piece and stick with it.

Visual reference library 5 assets


        MG-1

Illustration Physical / non-image

Unit-opener: a Grade-1 classroom with two children at a peer-conference station — one reading aloud, one listening with a 'compliment / question / suggestion' checklist; anchor chart 'Five Joining Words: and, but, or, so, because' visible. Style: warm watercolor, multicultural classroom, child-eye level.


        MG-2

Chart Physical / non-image

Conjunction anchor poster: five large words AND (with a + sign), BUT (with a contrast slash), OR (with branching arrows), SO (with arrow → result), BECAUSE (with arrow ← cause). Color-coded per part-of-speech system. Print-ready 11x17.


        MG-3

Chart

Sensory-adjective wheel: five sectors (eye, ear, hand, nose, mouth icons); each sector has 8-10 grade-1 adjectives (sight: red, round, shiny, tiny, huge, bright, dark, sparkly; sound: loud, soft, crashing, whispering, etc.). Used in lessons 4 and 12.


        MG-4

Photograph

Photograph set of 12 high-interest sensory prompts: a beach at sunrise, a fresh pizza, a frosty playground slide, a wet puppy, a bowl of mango, etc. Used as descriptive-writing prompts; each photo print-resolution and culturally inclusive.


        MG-5

Video Physical / non-image

90-second model peer-conference between two Grade-1 children with adult voiceover narrating the three moves. Caption track on for accessibility. Shows compliment ('I like how you said the snow was crunching'), question ('What did the snow smell like?'), suggestion ('You could add a smell word').

Lessons (18)

#	Title	Min	Skills
1	Spring Launch — Handwriting Refresh and a New Mark (the Comma)	45	2
2	Two Sentences Can Become One — Joining with AND	45	1
3	Tier-2 Sensory Words — shimmer, drift, scurry	30	1
4	Writers Paint with Their Senses — Building Sensory Sentences	60	1
5	Joining with BUT — Showing Contrast	45	1
6	BECAUSE Gives a Reason; SO Shows a Result	45	1
7	Tier-2 Sensory Words II — whisper, fragrance, prickly	30	1
8	Joining with OR — Showing Choice	45	1
9	Writers Revise — Four Moves on a Draft	60	1
10	Sentence Combining — All Five Joining Words at Once	45	2
11	Commas in a List — Three or More Items	45	2
12	Tier-2 Motion Words — gobble, slurp, scamper, glance	30	1
13	One Foot, Two Feet — Singular and Plural Nouns (Including Tricky Ones)	45	1
14	First Peer Conference — Compliment, Question, Suggestion	45	1
15	Tier-2 Review — Use Three New Words in Your Writing	30	1
16	Same Time, Whole Piece — Verb Tense Consistency	45	1
17	Workshop — Revise After a Peer Conference	60	2
18	Publish! The Spring Descriptive Anthology	60	4

Skills (13)

Strand · GR

Strand · SPK

Conduct a Grade-1 peer conference using compliment-question-suggestion G1

Strand · VOC

Strand · WR

Assessments (3)

Summative With Self Reflection week 18 60 min covers 13 skills
Formative Summative Mix week 9 30 min covers 5 skills
Assessment As Learning week 18 during publishing 15 min covers 1 skill

Standards alignment

Framework

CCSS-ELA

            L.1.1.cL.1.1.dL.1.1.eL.1.1.fL.1.1.gL.1.1.hL.1.1.iL.1.1.jL.1.2.aL.1.2.bL.1.2.cL.1.2.d
            + 25 more
          

Framework

English National Curriculum

            Y1 V/G/P: join words and clauses using ANDY1 V/G/P: punctuate sentences using...Y1 V/G/P: use a capital letter for...Y2 V/G/P: subordination (using when,...Y2 V/G/P: expanded noun phrases for...Y2 V/G/P: correct choice and...Y2 V/G/P: commas to separate items in a listY2 V/G/P: apostrophes to mark...Y2 V/G/P: formation of nouns using...
            
          

Framework

NCTE/IRA Standards

            NCTE-4 Adjust use of spoken,...NCTE-5 Employ a wide range of...NCTE-6 Apply knowledge of language...NCTE-11 Participate as...NCTE-12 Use spoken, written, and...
            
          

Framework

CEFR (early literacy adaptation)

            A1 Writing — can write a series of...A1 Speaking interaction — can ask...A1+ Writing — can describe in simple...
            
          

Pedagogical anchors

The Writing Revolution / Hochman Method — sentence expansion with 'because/but/so' and the 'and-question' routine
Compound-sentence routines in lessons 2, 5, 8; subordinator 'because' work in lesson 6; sentence-combining drills in lessons 10 and 16
Lucy Calkins' Units of Study — Writers' Workshop with revision strategies and first peer-conferencing
Daily workshop block; revision strategy minilessons in lessons 9, 13, 17; first formal peer conference protocol introduced in lesson 14 and rehearsed in lesson 17
Handwriting Without Tears — Grade 1 sentence-level fluency and punctuation spacing
Handwriting refresh and punctuation-spacing work in lessons 1 and 11
Beck & McKeown 'Bringing Words to Life' — three-encounter Tier-2 vocabulary with sensory-word emphasis
Vocabulary launches in lessons 3, 7, 12, 15 with sensory-detail focus that feeds descriptive writing
Singer, Bashir, Westby — semantic precision via expanded noun phrases
Adjective-set descriptive routine in lessons 4 and 12; revision routine 'replace one weak word with a stronger one' in lesson 13

Depth bar

Covers

CCSS

L.1.1: pronouns 1.1.d, verb tense 1.1.e, frequently-occurring conjunctions 1.1.g, determiners 1.1.h, prepositions 1.1.i, simple/compound declarative-interrogative-imperative-exclamatory 1.1.j
L.1.2.a-c: capitalization, end punctuation, COMMAS in dates AND in a series
L.1.2.d: apostrophes for contractions and frequent possessives
W.1.1-3: in full paragraph form
L.1.4-5: vocabulary work

Exceeds

formally introducing co-ordination AND a constrained slice of sub-ordination with 'because' and 'so' (English NC Year-2 V/G/P expectation), by introducing past/present tense as a consistent within-piece writer's choice rather than only as a usage rule (Year-2 NC), and by running structured peer-conferencing protocols (Calkins Grade-2 expectation) at end-of-unit