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Saint Pierre Learning Resources

ELA SKILLS & UNITS · PLANNED ORGANIZATION

Grades 1–8 ELA Skills & Units

Planned skills and units. Explore the intended Grades 1–8 organization, with the grade and availability clearly identified. These new categories do not mean every topic has a mapped resource. Existing store listings remain available separately in the resource shop.

Explore this page:

Browse by grade

Reading Skills

Planned categories. This standards-based organization does not establish product coverage. Existing catalog listings have not been mapped to these new categories; this page does not change their availability.

Understanding and Supporting Ideas

  • Ask and Answer Questions / Text Evidence — Move from questions and key details to quotations, cited evidence and the strongest relevant support.
  • Main Topic, Main Idea and Central Idea — Follow the grade progression from a main topic to main ideas and central ideas in informational text.
  • Central Message, Lesson and Theme — Study literary messages and themes separately from informational main ideas.
  • Retell, Recount and Summarize — Select the grade-appropriate form of retelling, recounting or summary.
  • Infer / Inference — Use textual clues and evidence to support an interpretation; explicit inference expectations begin in Grade 4 in this progression.
  • Characters, Settings and Story Elements — Examine characters, settings, plot and their contributions to a story.
  • Events, Sequence, and Cause and Effect — Describe what happens, order events and explain supported causal connections.
  • Interactions (literary) — Study character responses, relationships and interactions within a literary work.
  • Individuals, Events and Ideas (informational) — Develop toward Analyze Interactions among Individuals, Events, and Ideas; keep this distinct from basic events and literary interactions.

How Texts Work

  • Point of View and Perspective — Develop from identifying the storyteller to analyzing contrasting perspectives; apply the exact grade expectation.
  • Author’s Purpose — Examine purpose where the grade standard supports it. Grade 1 RI.1.6 concerns pictures and words, not author’s purpose.
  • Text Structure and Literary Forms — Analyze Text Structure through literary forms and informational organization appropriate to each grade.
  • Text Features and Search Tools — Analyze Text Features such as headings, captions and diagrams, along with applicable search tools.
  • Illustrations, Visual Information and Multimedia — Explain how illustrations, visual information, performances and media contribute to meaning.
  • Compare, Contrast and Connect Texts — Compare stories, accounts, genres, versions and interpretations within each grade’s scope.
  • Integrate Information across Sources — Combine information from two or several texts when specified; avoid assigning advanced source synthesis to every grade.

Vocabulary and Language

  • Word Meaning and Context Clues — Use context and grade-appropriate strategies to understand words and phrases.
  • Word Parts and Word Relationships — Study meaningful word parts and relationships among words.
  • Reference Tools and Vocabulary Building — Use suitable reference resources and build academic and subject vocabulary.
  • Figurative Language and Word Choice — Examine literal and nonliteral meaning, figurative language, and the effects of word choices as appropriate.
  • Denotation, Connotation and Shades of Meaning — Grades 1–3 develop shades-of-meaning foundations; Grades 4–5 develop nuance and figurative meaning. Explicit denotation/connotation appears in L.6.5b, L.7.5b and L.8.5b.

Reading Stamina and Understanding Complex Texts

Planned practice in sustained reading and comprehension of increasingly complex texts, with the support specified at each grade: RL.1.10–RL.8.10 and RI.1.10–RI.8.10.

Continue to Reasons and Evidence, Analyze Argument, Evaluate Argument, and Text-Based Discussion. Reading-argument expectations are listed in the grade guide below; current speaking-and-listening packets have their own stated scope.

Foundational Reading — Grades 1–5

Planned; no new products are implied. Keep foundational reading distinct from literary and informational analysis.

  • Grade 1 print concepts — RF.1.1.
  • Grade 1 phonological awareness — RF.1.3.
  • Phonics and word recognition — RF.1.4, RF.2.4, RF.3.4, RF.4.4 and RF.5.4.
  • Fluency — RF.1.5, RF.2.5, RF.3.5, RF.4.5 and RF.5.5.

Writing / Handwriting is organized separately.

Discussion and Argument

Text-Based Discussion

Planned category. Prepare for evidence-based discussion using grade-appropriate texts. Future mapped resources will identify their exact speaking-and-listening standards and included materials.

Analyze Argument

Reasons and evidence develop through grade-specific informational reading expectations; see the grade-by-grade guide.

Planned category. Develop from identifying reasons and evidence to analyzing claims and support. Apply the grade-specific reading expectations below; spoken-argument practice and written-argument analysis have distinct scopes.

Evaluate Argument

Planned category. Evaluate reasoning soundness, evidence relevance and evidence sufficiency at the appropriate grade. Evaluation goes beyond identifying or summarizing support.

Writing

Write an Informative Essay

Full essay unit: planned. Develop informative-writing foundations into grade-appropriate essays with clear ideas, relevant support, organization and revision. Review the actual scope of existing writing listings separately.

Writing / Handwriting

Planned for Grades 1–5. Handwriting is kept separate from foundational reading: RF.1.2, RF.2.2, RF.3.2, RF.4.2 and RF.5.2.

Literature/History Units

These units are planned; no unit products are available yet.

  • The Harlem Renaissance — literature, art, voices and historical context; grade alignment will follow the selected material.
  • Folklore of Latin America — stories studied within their particular communities and traditions; grade alignment will follow the selected material.
  • Voices of the Holocaust — intended for Grades 6–8. Planned study will preserve historical context and Jewish voices, use authentic testimony without fictionalization, and exclude graphic material. This is not a Grade 1–5 unit. The grade guidance follows the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Novel Study Worksheets

Open the seven separate book sections.

A Long Walk to Water has a published Grade 7 study packet; the other six book sections remain planned. This area includes fiction and nonfiction. Each section will be organized around the confirmed edition, before-reading work, chapter or reading-segment worksheets, reading skills, and an end-of-book response. Exact chapter groupings will be set only after the edition and reading are verified.

  • Summer of the Mariposas — character interactions, events, point of view, inference and theme.
  • Patient Zero by Marilee Peters — chapter or case-study segments, main idea, structure, text features, purpose and evidence.
  • A Long Walk to Water — character interactions, event sequence, point of view, inference and theme.
  • The Omnivore’s Dilemma — confirm the edition, including whether the Young Readers Edition is intended; main idea, structure, text features, purpose and argument.
  • The Lightning Thief — Greek Mythology — mythological references in context, characters, events, point of view, inference and theme.
  • The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind — confirm the exact version, including young readers, adult memoir or picture-book edition; main idea, structure, features, purpose and connections among people, events and ideas.
  • Two Roads — American Indian Boarding Schools — historical context, character interactions, point of view, inference, theme and evidence, with a clear distinction between the novel and historical sources.

Future book-specific materials will be original study guides. Books are not included, and no author or publisher affiliation is claimed.

Digital resources only. No physical items will be shipped. Review the SAMPLE pages and each listing’s included materials before purchasing.

Grade-by-grade reading guide

North Carolina standards: This planning guide uses the 2017 ELA Standard Course of Study, in effect through the 2026–27 school year. The 2026 standards begin in 2027–28. Categories describe intended coverage, not the availability of products.

Grade 1

Questions and details (RL.1.1, RI.1.1); retelling and central message (RL.1.2); main topic and details (RI.1.2); characters, settings and events (RL.1.3) and informational connections (RI.1.3). Sensory or emotional wording (RL.1.4), word meaning (RI.1.4), story versus informational books (RL.1.5), features (RI.1.5), storyteller (RL.1.6), and pictures versus words (RI.1.6). Illustrations (RL.1.7, RI.1.7), supported reasons (RI.1.8), comparisons (RL.1.9, RI.1.9), supported sustained reading (RL.1.10, RI.1.10), and meaning, shades and vocabulary (L.1.4, L.1.5, L.1.6).

Official NC Grade 1 guide

Grade 2

Who, what, where, when, why and how (RL.2.1, RI.2.1); recounting and message or moral (RL.2.2); main topic and paragraph focus (RI.2.2); character responses (RL.2.3) and connected events, ideas or procedures (RI.2.3). Rhythm and meaning (RL.2.4), vocabulary (RI.2.4), beginning/middle/end (RL.2.5), features (RI.2.5), viewpoints (RL.2.6), author’s purpose (RI.2.6), words and images (RL.2.7, RI.2.7), reasons (RI.2.8), versions and points comparisons (RL.2.9, RI.2.9), sustained reading (RL.2.10, RI.2.10), and meaning, references and related words (L.2.4, L.2.5, L.2.6).

Official NC Grade 2 guide

Grade 3

Text-based answers (RL.3.1, RI.3.1); recounting and message (RL.3.2); main idea and details (RI.3.2); character actions (RL.3.3); sequence and cause/effect (RI.3.3); meanings (RL.3.4, RI.3.4); chapters, scenes and stanzas (RL.3.5); features and search tools (RI.3.5); own viewpoint versus narrator or author (RL.3.6, RI.3.6); illustrations and words (RL.3.7, RI.3.7). RI.3.8 addresses connections among sentences or paragraphs supporting points, rather than full argument evaluation. Comparison (RL.3.9, RI.3.9), complex sustained reading (RL.3.10, RI.3.10), and literal/nonliteral meaning, shades and vocabulary (L.3.4, L.3.5, L.3.6).

Official NC Grade 3 guide

Grade 4

Details, examples and inference (RL.4.1, RI.4.1); theme (RL.4.2), main idea (RI.4.2), and summary; story elements (RL.4.3), events, concepts and procedures (RI.4.3); meanings (RL.4.4, RI.4.4); literary forms and informational organization (RL.4.5, RI.4.5); viewpoints (RL.4.6), firsthand/secondhand accounts (RI.4.6); presentations and visual, oral or quantitative information (RL.4.7, RI.4.7); reasons/evidence (RI.4.8); cross-cultural patterns (RL.4.9); two-text integration (RI.4.9); complex reading (RL.4.10, RI.4.10); strategies, figurative language, idioms, proverbs and vocabulary (L.4.4, L.4.5, L.4.6).

Official NC Grade 4 guide

Grade 5

Quotations and inference (RL.5.1, RI.5.1); theme (RL.5.2), multiple main ideas (RI.5.2), and summary; comparisons of story elements (RL.5.3), informational relationships (RI.5.3); word meaning/effects (RL.5.4, RI.5.4); structural contributions (RL.5.5) and structure comparisons (RI.5.5); narrator influence (RL.5.6), multiple accounts (RI.5.6); multimedia and sources (RL.5.7, RI.5.7); matching reasons/evidence to points (RI.5.8); same-genre stories (RL.5.9); several-text integration (RI.5.9); reading complexity (RL.5.10, RI.5.10); strategies, figurative language, nuance and vocabulary (L.5.4, L.5.5, L.5.6).

Official NC Grade 5 guide

Grade 6

Cited evidence and inference (RL.6.1, RI.6.1); theme or central idea and opinion-free summary (RL.6.2, RI.6.2); plot and character change (RL.6.3), development of a person, event or idea (RI.6.3); word meaning/effects (RL.6.4, RI.6.4); structural contribution (RL.6.5, RI.6.5); viewpoint/purpose (RL.6.6, RI.6.6); written/performed experiences and media (RL.6.7, RI.6.7); supported/unsupported claims (RI.6.8); genre/author comparisons (RL.6.9, RI.6.9); complexity (RL.6.10, RI.6.10); vocabulary strategies (L.6.4), figurative language (L.6.5a), denotation/connotation (L.6.5b), and vocabulary (L.6.6).

Official NC Grade 6 guide

Grade 7

Several pieces of evidence (RL.7.1, RI.7.1); theme development (RL.7.2), two or more central ideas and their development (RI.7.2), and objective summary. Literary and informational interactions (RL.7.3, RI.7.3); sounds, word choice, meaning and tone (RL.7.4, RI.7.4); literary form (RL.7.5), section contribution (RI.7.5); contrasting perspectives/positions (RL.7.6, RI.7.6); media comparisons (RL.7.7, RI.7.7); reasoning and relevant, sufficient evidence (RI.7.8); fiction/history (RL.7.9), evidence/interpretation comparisons (RI.7.9); complexity (RL.7.10, RI.7.10); vocabulary strategies (L.7.4), figurative language (L.7.5a), denotation/connotation (L.7.5b), and vocabulary (L.7.6).

Official NC Grade 7 guide

Grade 8

The strongest evidence (RL.8.1, RI.8.1); theme or a central idea and objective summary (RL.8.2, RI.8.2); dialogue and incidents (RL.8.3), connections/distinctions (RI.8.3); language, analogies and allusions (RL.8.4, RI.8.4); structure comparisons (RL.8.5), paragraph/sentence functions (RI.8.5); reader/character perspective (RL.8.6), responses to opposing evidence (RI.8.6); adaptations/media advantages (RL.8.7, RI.8.7); reasoning and sufficient, relevant evidence (RI.8.8); transformations of older works (RL.8.9), conflicting accounts (RI.8.9); complexity (RL.8.10, RI.8.10); vocabulary strategies (L.8.4), figurative language (L.8.5a), denotation/connotation (L.8.5b), and vocabulary (L.8.6).

Official NC Grade 8 guide

NC implementation timeline. Reading Literature has no numbered standard 8 in these grade-level lists. North Carolina L.4 is a combined standard; no unverified subcodes are used here.