1st Grade ELA (Maryland MCCRS)
Your Teacher Information Pack for 1st Grade ELA in Maryland: the standards with their official codes, the state tests and the official links. Check what you're teaching and plan a lesson.
Learn how – Teacher Information Packs: watch the 2-minute video · print (PDF) · also Year Planner setup
- State
- Maryland
- Grade
- Grade 1
- Standards
- Maryland College and Career Ready Standards for English Language Arts/Literacy (MCCRS)
- Based on
- Common Core State Standards
- Last checked
- 2026-10-21
Maryland uses the Common Core ELA/literacy standards. The same standards are on our national Grade 1 ELA page.
Track your class against these statements with Classfern Pro. What's in Pro Join Classfern Pro
The standards
The Common Core standards for this grade, grouped by domain and cluster. Each code links to the official page.
Reading: Literature (RL) 10 standards
- Key Ideas and Details
- Craft and Structure
- RL.1.4 Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses.
- RL.1.5 Explain major differences between books that tell stories and books that give information, drawing on a wide reading of a range of text types.
- RL.1.6 Identify who is telling the story at various points in a text.
- Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
- Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity
- RL.1.10 With prompting and support, read prose and poetry of appropriate complexity for grade 1.
Reading: Informational Text (RI) 10 standards
- Key Ideas and Details
- Craft and Structure
- RI.1.4 Ask and answer questions to help determine or clarify the meaning of words and phrases in a text.
- RI.1.5 Know and use various text features (e.g., headings, tables of contents, glossaries, electronic menus, icons) to locate key facts or information in a text.
- RI.1.6 Distinguish between information provided by pictures or other illustrations and information provided by the words in a text.
- Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
- Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity
- RI.1.10 With prompting and support, read informational texts appropriately complex for grade 1.
Reading: Foundational Skills (RF) 4 standards
- Print Concepts
- Phonological Awareness
- RF.1.2 Demonstrate understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds (phonemes).
- RF.1.2.a Distinguish long from short vowel sounds in spoken single-syllable words.
- RF.1.2.b Orally produce single-syllable words by blending sounds (phonemes), including consonant blends.
- RF.1.2.c Isolate and pronounce initial, medial vowel, and final sounds (phonemes) in spoken single-syllable words.
- RF.1.2.d Segment spoken single-syllable words into their complete sequence of individual sounds (phonemes).
- RF.1.2 Demonstrate understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds (phonemes).
- Phonics and Word Recognition
- RF.1.3 Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.
- RF.1.3.a Know the spelling-sound correspondences for common consonant digraphs.
- RF.1.3.b Decode regularly spelled one-syllable words.
- RF.1.3.c Know final -e and common vowel team conventions for representing long vowel sounds.
- RF.1.3.d Use knowledge that every syllable must have a vowel sound to determine the number of syllables in a printed word.
- RF.1.3.e Decode two-syllable words following basic patterns by breaking the words into syllables.
- RF.1.3.f Read words with inflectional endings.
- RF.1.3.g Recognize and read grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words.
- RF.1.3 Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.
- Fluency
- RF.1.4 Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
Writing (W) 10 standards
- Text Types and Purposes
- W.1.1 Write opinion pieces in which they introduce the topic or name the book they are writing about, state an opinion, supply a reason for the opinion, and provide some sense of closure.
- W.1.2 Write informative/explanatory texts in which they name a topic, supply some facts about the topic, and provide some sense of closure.
- W.1.3 Write narratives in which they recount two or more appropriately sequenced events, include some details regarding what happened, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide some sense of closure.
- Production and Distribution of Writing
- W.1.4 (W.1.4 begins in grade 3)
- W.1.5 With guidance and support from adults, focus on a topic, respond to questions and suggestions from peers, and add details to strengthen writing as needed.
- W.1.6 With guidance and support from adults, use a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers.
- Research to Build and Present Knowledge
- W.1.7 Participate in shared research and writing projects (e.g., explore a number of "how-to" books on a given topic and use them to write a sequence of instructions).
- W.1.8 With guidance and support from adults, recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question.
- W.1.9 (W.1.9 begins in grade 4)
- Range of Writing
- W.1.10 (W.1.10 begins in grade 3)
Speaking & Listening (SL) 6 standards
- Comprehension and Collaboration
- SL.1.1 Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 1 topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.
- SL.1.1.a Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., listening to others with care, speaking one at a time about the topics and texts under discussion).
- SL.1.1.b Build on others' talk in conversations by responding to the comments of others through multiple exchanges.
- SL.1.1.c Ask questions to clear up any confusion about the topics and texts under discussion.
- SL.1.2 Ask and answer questions about key details in a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media.
- SL.1.3 Ask and answer questions about what a speaker says in order to gather additional information or clarify something that is not understood.
- SL.1.1 Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 1 topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.
- Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas
- SL.1.4 Describe people, places, things, and events with relevant details, expressing ideas and feelings clearly.
- SL.1.5 Add drawings or other visual displays to descriptions when appropriate to clarify ideas, thoughts, and feelings.
- SL.1.6 Produce complete sentences when appropriate to task and situation. (See grade 1 Language standards 1 and 3 here for specific expectations.)
Language (L) 6 standards
- Conventions of Standard English
- L.1.1 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
- L.1.1.a Print all upper- and lowercase letters.
- L.1.1.b Use common, proper, and possessive nouns.
- L.1.1.c Use singular and plural nouns with matching verbs in basic sentences (e.g., He hops; We hop).
- L.1.1.d Use personal, possessive, and indefinite pronouns (e.g., I, me, my; they, them, their, anyone, everything).
- L.1.1.e Use verbs to convey a sense of past, present, and future (e.g., Yesterday I walked home; Today I walk home; Tomorrow I will walk home).
- L.1.1.f Use frequently occurring adjectives.
- L.1.1.g Use frequently occurring conjunctions (e.g., and, but, or, so, because).
- L.1.1.h Use determiners (e.g., articles, demonstratives).
- L.1.1.i Use frequently occurring prepositions (e.g., during, beyond, toward).
- L.1.1.j Produce and expand complete simple and compound declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory sentences in response to prompts.
- L.1.2 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.
- L.1.2.a Capitalize dates and names of people.
- L.1.2.b Use end punctuation for sentences.
- L.1.2.c Use commas in dates and to separate single words in a series.
- L.1.2.d Use conventional spelling for words with common spelling patterns and for frequently occurring irregular words.
- L.1.2.e Spell untaught words phonetically, drawing on phonemic awareness and spelling conventions.
- L.1.1 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
- Knowledge of Language
- L.1.3 (L.1.3 begins in grade 2)
- Vocabulary Acquisition and Use
- L.1.4 Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 1 reading and content, choosing flexibly from an array of strategies.
- L.1.5 With guidance and support from adults, demonstrate understanding of word relationships and nuances in word meanings.
- L.1.5.a Sort words into categories (e.g., colors, clothing) to gain a sense of the concepts the categories represent.
- L.1.5.b Define words by category and by one or more key attributes (e.g., a duck is a bird that swims; a tiger is a large cat with stripes).
- L.1.5.c Identify real-life connections between words and their use (e.g., note places at home that are cozy).
- L.1.5.d Distinguish shades of meaning among verbs differing in manner (e.g., look, peek, glance, stare, glare, scowl) and adjectives differing in intensity (e.g., large, gigantic) by defining or choosing them or by acting out the meanings.
- L.1.6 Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, reading and being read to, and responding to texts, including using frequently occurring conjunctions to signal simple relationships (e.g., because).
Tests and key dates
- Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program (MCAP) – ELA and Mathematics (official page)
Check the Maryland State Department of Education for which grades are tested and this year's testing dates (we have not yet confirmed every detail above on the official site).
Official documents
More packs
Common Core version: Grade 1 ELA · Maryland hub · Find another TIP
© Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved. Adopted by Maryland as its ELA standards.
Classfern is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Maryland State Department of Education.
© Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.
The Common Core State Standards are owned and developed by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), and are shown here under the Common Core State Standards Public License. Examples from the official site are not included. Classfern is not affiliated with or endorsed by NGA Center or CCSSO. Each standard links to its official page.