First grade grammar skills lay the foundation for all of your students’ future reading and writing endeavors. It’s no secret how complex the English language and grammar is, it’s still crucial to learn for understanding and communicating effectively. Like math and other academic subjects, English and grammar skills build off of one another as students progress through their schooling. It’s our job as educators and caregivers to ensure that our kids are comprehending these concepts through repetition and unique and fun ways of introducing harder concepts. 

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What Are Basic Grammar Skills?

Here are the basic grammar skills kids learn throughout their schooling.

Elementary School Grammar Skills

  • Identifying nouns
  • Using proper nouns (specifically people, places, things)
  • Learning spacing, punctuation, and capitalization  
  • Using pronouns 
  • Identifying parts of speech (verb, noun, adjective, adverb) 
  • Using conjunctions 
  • Combining two sentences with a conjunction to form a complex sentence

To best set our students up for success, we as educators and/or caregivers need to be mindful about and ensure that the skills above are met written and orally. Most often, these oral and written skills develop hand-in-hand, but sometimes one or the other requires more time and practice. 

To help support you in your grammar lessons and in partnership with Teach Simple, whose marketplace is full of educational materials created by actual teachers (plus 50% of all revenues go to them), I’ve gathered 23 totally-awesome Grade 1 grammar worksheets that cover the basics and will help your pupils develop these fundamental skills!

Best First Grade Grammar Worksheets

Who Does It Belong To Activity

This engaging worksheet activity is bound to sharpen your students’ grammar skills. Pair them up for a game of grammar tic-tac-toe and watch as they identify and cover the spaces with proper punctuation! 

Prefixes and Suffixes Root Words Worksheet

Root words are made easy with this excellent printable grammar sheet. Have your students practice sight-reading and root words by identifying prefixes and suffixes in one simple worksheet.

Prefixes and Suffixes Sorting Activity

Challenge your students to a lively grammar sorting game! Prefixes and suffixes are fundamental to the English language and are very important for your first graders to understand. This fun and visual activity will help them to effectively identify the differences between the two!

Noun Sorting Worksheet

So, by now your students know that a noun is a person, place, animal, or thing. Put their skills to the test by having them sort words into their proper category! This activity is great for extending lessons or refreshing for a quiz. 

Nouns Identification Worksheet

This easy-peasy worksheet will boost your students’ noun knowledge. Have them read the sight words on the page and circle each noun!

Plural Noun Fill-in-the-Blank Worksheet

Fill-in-the-blank worksheets never go out of style. This easy printable will put your first graders’ skills to the test and help extend their understanding of plural nouns!

Adjectives Feelings Worksheet

This is my all-time favorite grammar worksheet. Every kid can benefit from more grammar and social-emotional learning exposure, and this activity combines the two! Get your students in touch with their emotions all while practicing their language skills with this interactive resource!

Adding Adjectives Worksheet

Have your students practice their sight words and writing skills with this engaging adjectives worksheet. They will identify and circle the adjective in the sentence, and write it on the line beneath. 

Adjective Flash Cards

Everyone loves a good round of flash cards! These are great for the whole class, small groups, partners, or interventions. Your students will love identifying and matching adjectives to their proper pictures!

Adjectives Mini Pack

If you’re struggling to engage your students in their grammar lessons, look no further than this Adaptable Adjectives Mini Pack! This nifty resource provides 10 worksheets and 3 super-fun activities that are bound to engage and extend your students’ knowledge around adjectives and how to use them. 

Adjectives Temperature Worksheet

Liven up your grade 1 grammar lessons with this vibrantly illustrated adjectives worksheet. Kids will enjoy the pictures, and you’ll enjoy their skill progress!

Adjectives Word Search Worksheet

Everyone loves a fun grammar word search! Help your class boost their reading fluency and their adjective knowledge by searching for a slew of fun adjectives. 

Compound Words Fill-in-the-Blank Worksheet

Extend your class’ understanding of compound words with this adorable sheet. First graders will read the words in the bank and use them to plug in the proper compound words to complete each sentence. This is a great exercise for reading, writing, and grammar practice!

Connect and Draw Compound Words Worksheet

Your students will love this super-fun connect and draw compound words worksheet. Pair them up for a collaborative experience, or have them work independently to connect compounds to the matching word!

Action Verb Charades

This awesome activity will have your entire class engaged and giggling! We all love a good round of Charades. Great for whole class or small groups, your students will act out the verb or verb phrase that they draw from the deck! 

Verbs Anchor Chart

Nouns, adjectives, verbs, oh my! This handy verbs anchor chart comes equipped with 3 different visuals to help students comprehend and categorize verbs.  Download and use as a bulletin board display or as an interactive resource for reading notebooks. 

Idioms Anchor Chart

This excellent teaching resource provides 4 anchor charts for teaching and comprehending idioms. Visuals are so very important for our visual processors, English language learners, and students with other special needs; however, everyone can benefit from this awesome idioms anchor chart! Download and use as a bulletin board display or as an interactive resource for reading notebooks. 

Grammar and Writing Skills 2 Printable Workbook

This teacher-curated resource is perfect for teaching the grammar basics for grade 1. Engaging and easily adaptable, your class is bound to love this workbook just as much as you! 

Classifying Nouns, Verbs, or Adjectives Worksheet

Nouns, verbs, adjectives, oh my! With these concepts at the root of grade 1 grammar standards, you can’t over-teach! Have your students classify a bank of words into their respective categories and watch their skills improve. 

Using Conjunctions Worksheet

If your first grade group needs a boost in the conjunction department, this worksheet is for you (and them!). Students will love combining these fun sentences into one single conjunction. Perfect for small groups, partners, independent work, or intervention!

Adverb Movie Worksheet

This fun worksheet will have your students playing detective! Have them read the passage and put their searching skills to the test by finding and identifying all the adverbs! 

Add ING Suffix Worksheet

This straightforward suffix worksheet is excellent for extending your students’ knowledge around adding “ING.” Simply have them identify each listed word and add “ING”!

Subject and Predicate Anchor Chart

This handy-dandy anchor chart is perfect for teaching and learning subjects and predicates. Download and use as a bulletin board display or as an interactive resource for reading notebooks. 

What Grammar Should a First Grader Know?

As mentioned in the list above of elementary grammar skills, most first graders are learning about parts of speech, mainly adjectives, nouns, and verbs; simple sentence structure, compound words, the beginnings of gerunds, a bit about adverbs and conjunctions, and subjects and predicates.

Rest assured, each of the resources above addresses first grade grammar concepts and are aligned with first grade English standards. The anchor charts are a personal favorite and are a highly effective resource for our beloved visual learners. Try any of these first grade grammar worksheets with your group and watch as their skills solidify.  

About the Author

Shannon Morris is a thriving Chicago-based elementary teacher. Her background in Cognitive-Behavioral Science coupled with her Masters in Teaching and Instruction have well prepared her to support her group of high-needs 3rd graders. Through extensive coursework and experience in the field, Shannon has absorbed an in-depth understanding of the power behind integrating proper tools and practices into the common core curriculum. She believes that streamlined and adaptable educational resources are crucial for enriching the developing mind and enhancing the learning experience. Shannon strives to share her favorite tips and resources in hopes of supporting teachers and students in classrooms everywhere.