Minnesota Grade 1 English

Find information with headings and a glossary

A heading helps a reader find the right part of a text. Try this short, invented classroom notice together, then let the child show where each answer comes from.

Curriculum reference: 2020 Minnesota K–12 English Language Arts Standards, February 2024 corrected edition, from the Minnesota Department of Education academic standards directory.

Minnesota Grade 1 references for this activity

Use Minnesota’s 2020 English Language Arts standards, February 2024 corrected edition. The state implementation page identifies full implementation in 2025–26. These selected benchmarks support one activity; use the complete framework and the school’s sequence for curriculum planning.

These selected benchmark labels describe an activity focus. Read the complete state requirements and the school’s sequence, including the framework’s reading, writing, discussion, media-literacy, and Dakota and Anishinaabe perspectives requirements. This original example does not represent those communities or fulfill the entire curriculum.

A worked Grade 1 reading and writing activity

This original classroom example is separate from official assessment questions.

Class Plant Day

What to bring

Bring one small pot. The class will supply the seeds and soil.

Where to meet

Meet at the classroom sink.

Word help

Soil: the material in the pot where the seed will grow.

Try the activity

Which heading helps you find what to bring? What will the class supply? Find the explanation of soil. Tell a partner two details from the notice.

Follow the reasoning

What to bring points to the part about supplies. The sentence beneath it says to bring one small pot; it does not ask the child to bring seeds or soil. The next sentence says that the class will supply those materials. Word help introduces an explanation of soil, so it works like a small glossary. Where to meet leads to the classroom sink. A child can name a feature and show how it helped locate an answer. Naming every heading without finding any information would not demonstrate the same understanding. Retelling one or two details also lets the teacher check whether the child understood the wording after locating it.

Notice what needs more practice

A heading is a guide to a section, not the entire answer. If the child says What to bring when asked what to bring, point to the sentence underneath. If they choose a garden as the meeting place, return to the notice rather than accept a plausible guess. This is an invented class event; it is not an instruction to bring materials to the child’s actual school. Read unfamiliar words aloud when needed, and observe decoding separately from finding information in a supported reading activity.

Use the next session to build independence

1. Read the headings and predict what each section will explain.
2. Find a detail beneath the matching heading.
3. Retell two supplied details without adding new instructions.

Hide the headings temporarily on a separate printed copy and discuss whether finding a detail takes more effort. Restore them and ask the child to create a heading for a new two-sentence classroom notice. Keep that new notice separate from the original example. In a teacher-selected informational book, locate a table of contents or glossary and explain what it helps a reader do. Choose a manageable passage and support unfamiliar vocabulary. Use the complete Minnesota framework and the school’s sequence to plan broader reading, writing, and discussion work.

For more general reading and writing resources, visit the Grade 1 English Online Center.

Minnesota Grade 1 English: useful planning questions

Does identifying a heading mean a child has understood the section?

Not by itself. Ask the child to use the heading to find information and then explain or retell a detail from that section.

Where are the complete state requirements?

Use Minnesota’s 2020 English Language Arts standards, February 2024 corrected edition. The state implementation page identifies full implementation in 2025–26. These selected benchmarks support one activity; use the complete framework and the school’s sequence for curriculum planning. The school’s sequence also includes reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language work beyond this example.