1st Grade · English Language Arts · Parent guide
Short answer. RL.1.5 asks first graders to explain how storybooks differ from books that give information. What the standard means, signs of progress, and easy home practice.
Quick answer
Hand your child a storybook about a dragon and a fact book about lizards, and he should be able to explain the big difference: one tells a made-up story, the other gives true information. That is RL.1.5. The standard also assumes he has met plenty of both kinds, so the real ingredient here is a varied reading diet, not a worksheet.
Why parents see this skill
Readers approach fiction and nonfiction differently: you follow a story, but you search an information book. Kids who sort the two early know what to expect from a book before page 1, which speeds up comprehension. It also preps them for the fiction and nonfiction split that runs through every grade after this.
For reference
Explain major differences between books that tell stories and books that give information, drawing on a wide reading of a range of text types.Official Common Core source
See it, then try it
You do not need a lesson plan. Look for these signs in ordinary play, reading, and conversation, then choose one short activity.
Pull 8 or 10 books off your child's shelf and sort them together into story books and information books. For each one, he has to say one clue that gave it away. Takes ten minutes and doubles as a shelf cleanup.
At the library, grab one storybook and one fact book about the same animal, say, bears. Read both across two nights, then ask: "Which one taught you something true? Which one could never really happen?" The side-by-side makes the difference obvious.
Say a sentence and have him buzz in: story book or information book? "The moon is about 239,000 miles away." "The moon smiled down at the sleepy rabbit." Swap roles and let him quiz you. Five minutes while dinner cooks.
Choose what helps today
Start with the domain guide for context, use the learning library when a concept needs explaining, or print a page when your child is ready to practice.
See every RL.1 skill in order and how the codes fit together.
Open resourceFilter free pages by literacy, phonics, handwriting, and comprehension skills.
Open resourceShort, repeatable reading activities for common early words.
Open resourceSimple reading and vocabulary ideas for home and classroom routines.
Open resourceMy son only ever picks nonfiction about trucks and volcanoes. Is that okay for this standard?
It is more than okay, obsessive nonfiction readers are doing half the standard already. The move is to bridge, not ban: find storybooks featuring trucks or volcanoes and read them alongside his fact books. He needs enough contact with stories to describe how they work differently, and one bridge book a week gets him there.
What about books that mix both, like The Magic School Bus?
Those hybrids are actually great practice. Ask which parts could be real and which parts are pretend, and he is doing a more advanced version of the standard than most assessments require. Teachers use blended texts for exactly this conversation.
Keep the sequence
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