First Grade Pacing Guide - Free! (Editable, Common Core Aligned)

Guess what?  I've finally completed a FREE, editable, Common Core aligned Pacing Guide for First Grade, and I'm posting it here for you today!  If you've ever wanted a way to help make your weekly lesson plans go just a little bit easier and make sure that you didn't miss any of the major standards, then a pacing guide is just what you need!  I hope that it is helpful to you!  I'm also including an editable version for you, so that you can make your own changes and make it your own.




This pacing guide also contains links to any HeidiSongs products I have that help to teach the skills listed.  So if you use it online, you can click on any of the underlined words and it will take you to my site for information on teaching those skills through music and movement.  However, the pacing guide can certainly be used with any curriculum and any products!




When I was assigned to teach a first/second grade combination (split) class years ago, I spent a LONG time searching for a first grade pacing guide that would tell me which SKILLS to teach, and in what order.  There are a few first grade pacing guides out there, but I never found exactly what I was looking for.  I wound up asking my AWESOME team leader for one, and she actually made a really great one that covered much of the school year.  I wound up modifying it and using it often.  I am sooooo grateful to her for her help with that!  Thank you, Kelsey!

This first grade pacing guide is a further modification of that pacing guide, and also similar to the Kindergarten Pacing Guide that I made and gave away here on my blog several years ago. There are 38 weeks, and it is not dated; it is just marked "Week One, Week Two," etc.  If you download it, you will find that each week includes:

-  A weekly phonics word family to introduce, with a word list. (The words are all covered in my CVC Book, Vol. 2, and my Sounds Fun Workbooks, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2.)  Click on each link and get the free sample download to see a word list.

-  10 new weekly sight words to focus on, for a total of 300 for the year (Click here to download the list.)

-  A weekly reading comprehension strategy, until you hit week 22 (then you review)

-  A weekly language arts skill (sometimes more than one.) (I went through the CCSS and put in all of the major ones that I thought really needed concentrated focus in first grade, in addition to phonics, sight words, and writing.)

-  A weekly writing topic.  These start with expository writing, then move to opinion, then narrative, with a few "how to" assignments and some letters to write thrown in there as well.

-  A weekly science topic.

-  A weekly social studies topic.

-  A weekly math skill (I mostly just listed the math unit of study, (not the deconstructed standards,) because I use the district provided math text and then supplement as necessary.)

Check it out below!




How to Use a Pacing Guide

Using a pacing guide is easy! Just keep it on a clipboard or pinned to a bulletin board near your desk.  Each week when you are ready to do your lesson plans, make sure that you introduce the new topics on the guide. If you don't have time to introduce one, circle it in red or highlight it, or do SOMETHING to remind yourself that you'll need to circle around and do that one later.

But remember, a guide is just a guide. You can change it around and do whatever you need to do to make it through the year.  These are just suggestions, not laws written in stone. The pacing guide is meant to help take the anxiety out of planning and prepping, to help you KNOW that you will cover all of the major standards (at least in my opinion!) and not inadvertently forget one. By the way, if you find that I've forgotten something important, don't hesitate to let me know! I may want to add it to my copy.  Plus, you can edit your own copy and put it in there! :)

You may be wondering if I sell products to cover every single topic. Not at all!  If there is a link (the skill is highlighted and underlined,) then you can click on that link and find the materials I sell for that skill.  But I do not have products to teach single skill on the chart!

Just a note:  I am providing you with the editable version of this pacing guide for your personal use, not for you to post it on your own blog, website, or TPT store, etc.  Please respect my copyright and do not repost.  Thank you!

Now the next question is, am I working on a second grade pacing guide?  YES!  I'm hoping to have it finished soon- maybe even by next week.  Keep watching!  We are all in this together, and I'm doing my best to share whatever I can!

Again, here is the PDF of my First Grade Pacing Guide, and here is the editable DOC of my First Grade Pacing Guide. Enjoy! :)

-Heidi





----------------------------------
Follow me! Did you enjoy this post? Do me a favor and share it with your friends! And follow this blog by signing up for my email updates here, or follow on Bloglovin', or follow me on TPT! I'm also on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+ and YouTube, too! Don't forget to sign up for our email newsletter for special deals and promo codes that you won't find out about anywhere else.

Popular posts from this blog

Creepy Crayon: Free Craft Template!

Image
Today, I am going to give you a link to our free Creepy Crayon craft that we made to accompany the book Creepy Crayon by Aaron Reynolds!   Yay!  If you are a fan of Creepy Carrots and A Creepy Pair of Underwear ,  then you were probably just as excited as I was for the next book in the series, Creepy Crayon !  And so by popular demand, we have have included the Creepy Crayon craft here as a free download!  We have also included links to our other crafts for Aaron Reynold's creepy books, too.  They are such fun! The Illustrations are FAB! I definitely need to give a shout out to illustrator Peter Brown, whose wonderful illustrations play a huge part in the popularity of these books!  I love the way he made almost all of it in gray tones, except for the crayon, of course!  The illustrations really give the story a creepy, but friendly tone.  I know I'll be a Peter Brown fan forever! This is a photo of my Creepy Carrots crafts samples in my classroom before I retired. Check Ou
Read more

How to Help Children That Have a Hard Time Learning the Alphabet

Image
Is your child (or student) having a hard time learning the alphabet?  Are those letters just not "sticking?" Does your child seem to know a letter one day, and then forgets it the next day- or even just a few minutes later? In this post, I will share my most recently developed techniques for helping kids learn and remember the alphabet. Check Vision- Thoroughly! During the past 30 years as a teacher, I have tried many things for all of the different types of learners that I’ve had. One thing that I would highly suggest is that you have your child's eyes checked, just in case you have not yet done that. I know that most schools have their school nurses do this, but I would suggest that a nurse is really not an optometrist, nor is he/she an ophthalmologist. I wrote about one little guy with vision issues in my post, Tips for Teaching the Alphabet to Struggling Learners . In that post, I shared that I had been teaching one child that had had such a difficul
Read more

Fun with STEM: A "Punkin Chunkin" Catapult with Craft Sticks!

Image
In this post, I am going to tell you about a really FUN, seasonal STEM project that I did with my first and second graders:  they made "Punkin" Chunkin" catapults with craft sticks and masking tape!  Then we measured to see who's pumpkin went the farthest!  The "punkins" were actually orange pompoms, so we had to use our imaginations, but none of the children cared.  They had an absolute BLAST! For this fun activity, we invited our new fifth grade buddies to come in and give us a hand, but I really think that the first and second graders could have done it on their own as well.  So if you are thinking of doing this with your own young students alone and without the help of older students, go for it!  I think that Kindergartners could do it too, but I would do it in small groups so that I could help those that needed it. My inspiration for this came from many different child constructed catapults that I have seen on Pinterest- along with a
Read more

Teaching Kids to WRITE the Numbers! – FREE Number Poems!

Image
Teaching children to write the numbers  correctly can be very frustrating for early childhood teachers! Also, attempting to GRADE their writing can be equally TRICKY! What does a number written correctly look like, versus one that is not?  In this post, I am going to tell you how I teach my students to write the numbers. I’ve posted some examples of student work showing numbers that look correct and some that are not, in my opinion.  I explain under the photos why certain numbers “would pass” or not.  I also have some FREE number formation poems to share with you, plus a FREE download of a parent guide that explains what those correctly formed numbers should look like- and the incorrect ones! So it seems that every year, getting the children to write those numbers can be something like pulling teeth: it comes slowly, and getting them to just “CARE” seems to be half the battle!  Perhaps the reason for this is that we know that the most important learning in math comes from wo
Read more

Getting Control of a Very Difficult Class: TAKE TWO

Image
Have you ever had a class that just tried your patience day after day? Have you ever felt like you could walk away from teaching forever tomorrow, and be fine with it?  This is a repost of a piece that I wrote several years ago when I was teaching Kindergarten.  I'm now in second grade, and finding that I have many of the same problems!  Since I actually went back and read my own post again, I thought I would post it here for you again, too, with a few of my updated comments inserted in italics.  Hope it's helpful! This is the original post. ********** This year, I have one of the most challenging classes I have ever had. I am still working on training them to do what I want them to do, but I know that in the end, I will win! Meanwhile, we are spending a LOT of time on classroom management, modeling routines and procedures often. Here is a list of some classroom management tips and techniques that I have used successfully in Kindergarten, but I think that they would prob
Read more

An EASY Critical Thinking Game for K/1 Kids!

Image
Today I'm going to tell you about a fun and EASY game to help boost critical thinking skills in Kindergarten or First Graders!  I call it The Critical Thinking Comparison Game, because in it, the kids are simply comparing one thing to another and telling what they think are the similarities and differences between two objects.  Believe it or not, my first graders LOVE this game and often ask me if we can play it again!  I think they like it because the game makes them feel successful and "smart."  I have also played it with Kindergartners, and they enjoyed it, too! The Critical Thinking Comparison Game is really very easy to play!  All you need is a few questions like the ones below, and something for the children to color, just to keep them busy while they wait for a turn to talk.   ( I also used my Critical Thinking Comparison Cards as a visual aid, but you can certainly play it without them! ) Here is the type of question that I ask in this game: How
Read more

Teaching Phoneme Segmentation: Separating Sounds in Words (Freebies!)

Image
Teaching children to pick out all of the phonemes (or sounds) in a given word can be tricky!  This requires good listening skills and well developed phonemic awareness in general.  For some children, mastering phoneme segmentation can seem just about impossible!  Here are some teaching tips that have worked for me in the past. *  The best advice I can give is to practice segmenting words with a designated MOTION for a short time every single day with your whole class.  Even just one or two minutes per day will help! Look for suggested motions on this post. There is also a downloadable list of words to use, plus a homework sheet that you can download here. Here is where you can get another  word list for practicing words with two, three, and four phonemes. And here is another post with lists of words with four, five, or six phonemes. *  Give kids beads to slide down a pipe cleaner as they segment the word.  I made these "Segmentation Sliders" out of p
Read more

20 Hands-On Ways to Build a Sight Word, (And Research to Back it Up!)

Image
Today I am pleased to share TWENTY great ideas for building the sight words to help kids learn them in a hands-on way!  Making sight words (AKA high frequency words) in lots of different ways allows kids to choose their best learning modality and really take charge of their own learning. I'm super excited about this way of teaching, and I hope you will be, too! When my teammate and I do this, we focus on just ONE of the trickier sight words per week and have the kids BUILD JUST THAT ONE WORD over and over again in many ways.   If there happens to be a parent volunteer at that center, they are to ask the children to spell it and tell what the word is often. This is what our Sight Word Building Table looks like.  We put out a variety of choices, and the children can change seats each time they finish to keep building the word.  If there happens to be a volunteer, she ask them what word they are working on and to spell it, and will hand them a different manipulative.  
Read more

A Twist on the Headband Game!

Image
Here’s a fun, new, twist on the classic Headband Game that makes it reusable and adaptable to any subject and any level!  AND it gets the kids up and moving as they learn, so that’s an even greater bonus!!!!  This awesome idea was suggested by a participant in one of my workshops when I presented the Sight Word Headband Game and wondered aloud how to make this adaptable to kids in higher grades that learn their new words much more quickly.  So I tried it out myself, and voilá!  It worked out great!  My own class has done this now a few times and they LOVE it! So here is how it works; I’ll remind you of the my original version first.  With the original  Sight Word Headband Game , I wrote a word on a strip of paper and formed it into a headband.  The kids all put one on, and then walked around the room and wrote the words that they found on their friends’ heads next to their friends’ names on a sheet of paper. Now with this second “twist” on this “Advanced” Headband G
Read more

Teaching CVC Words: What to Do When They Are STILL NOT GETTING IT

Image
In this post, I am going to tell you several new things to try with children that just can't seem to sound out words, even after MANY different interventions have been tried!  So for those little sweeties that are "just plain stuck" on the road to learning to read, here are a few more things to try or to think about.  The inspiration for this post came from the question from a reader below.  Hope it is helpful! Question: I really enjoy using your songs and activity ideas in my kindergarten classroom each day. I wanted to seek your advice for a couple of my readers. They have phonemic awareness skills in place and can segment a CVC word independently, but they are unable to blend it into the word independently. If I segment the word for them, they can blend it just fine. I use the Elkonin boxes, manipulatives, etc. to help, but still they are not really making progress and they are the only ones who are unable to demonstrate this skill in my class. I would love to
Read more