Common Core Comprehension Skills in First Grade!

Take a Look at our Common Core Supported Comprehension Materials

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The Setting is: Where and When!

When teaching comprehension skills to young learners, we have found great success to first model with an interactive read aloud. We focus on studying the story elements one at a time to get an in-depth look at each. September/October is a great time to study the setting of a story. The change in seasons is so prevalent in a first grader's mind and easy to identify. The color of the leaves, Halloween, pumpkins, apples, etc. We often use mentor texts that display fall to teach the setting through read alouds whole class first. Guided practice with how to identify and display their understanding helps to embed their skills. The students go off during independent reading to look for clues that tell where and when the story they are reading takes place.

The writing about the setting needs direct instruction. Although we use many oral opportunities to study and discuss the setting, we also teach them to use the organizer. Many first graders are ready for the written response early on.The Setting organizer is used as a tool whole class first then used in small group guided instruction, and finally independently through the first months of school.

Take a look! Two different versions are available; one with lines for writing the words that describe the setting and one without for those students who need to illustrate their understanding first before writing the words. Two different Setting banners accompany this purchase to help you display the student work!