First Grade Curriculum

Literacy Vision Statement for Reading Public Schools

In Reading Public Schools, all our classrooms are literacy classrooms, where students see themselves as readers and writers across genres and content areas. In our classrooms, educators deliver effective, evidence-based literacy instruction that is accessible and equitable for all students. Educators develop students’ word recognition and language comprehension to foster skilled readers and critical thinkers who:

• communicate ideas and theories about text through reading, writing, speaking, and listening,

• build knowledge to extend understanding and perspective related to themselves, others, and the world around them, 

• utilize their literacy skills to be high level thinkers, debaters, and analyzers, and

• engage in authentic tasks and dialogue that demonstrate the ability to analyze and reason, defend a thesis, and expand on others’ ideas in connection with real world problems and situations.

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RPS Core Literacy Curriculum:  ARC Core (K-5)

ARC Core (American Reading Company)  is the core and comprehensive literacy curriculum for K-5 students in Reading Public Schools. The ARC Core K-5 curriculum effectively supports the Massachusetts ELA and Literacy Frameworks by earning the state's highest rating of "Meets Expectations" for standards alignment and quality. It achieves this alignment through a comprehensive approach grounded in the Science of Reading, providing systematic, explicit instruction in Foundational Skills like phonics and phonological awareness. Furthermore, ARC Core is structured around year-long, knowledge-building modules that immerse students in content-rich topics (often science and social studies), ensuring they meet the Frameworks' requirement to build a strong academic vocabulary and background knowledge necessary for reading complex informational texts. Finally, the curriculum integrates all four ELA strands—reading, writing, speaking, and listening—by requiring daily writing and collaborative discussions that are anchored in the module content.

Families can access curriculum tools below:

ARC Core Overview

ARC At-Home Resources: These at-home resources include ARC Bookshelf and links to all Skills Cards. ARC Bookshelf, a digital library filled with hundreds of books students can read, is an online resource accessible through Clever. Books are organized by ARC reading levels so your student can access books to continue practicing skills. IRLA skills cards will provide you with information for what your child is specifically learning to grow in literacy. Feel free to use the card at your child’s current level and to work on pieces at home by using the QR code on the At-Home Resources sheet.

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Massachusetts ELA and Literacy Curriculum Framework (2017)

The Massachusetts English Language Arts and Literacy (ELA) Frameworks are the state-mandated learning standards that define what all students in Pre-K through 12th grade should know and be able to do in reading, writing, speaking, and listening. The Frameworks contain grade-specific skills across four main areas—Reading (both literature and informational text), Writing (including research), Speaking and Listening, and Language (grammar and vocabulary)—and emphasize that literacy development is a shared responsibility across all school subjects, ensuring students develop the critical thinking and communication skills essential for their future.

Grade 1: Massachusetts ELA and Literacy Curriculum Framework (2017), pages 37-42