First Grade

First Grade is such an important foundational year! First grade students enjoy a variety of activities throughout each day including small group instruction, limited large group instruction, and many hands-on center activities that reinforce the particular skills being taught. First grade students learn to work in teams and to be accountable for individual responsibilities. Each team may be engaged in different tasks. Team captains can be spotted by the special hat they wear (with great pride!). They may be helping to answer questions or reminding a friend to use a 12" voice. Team members are taught to encourage one another, take turns, and use kind words.

First Grade Features

Rice Babies - Students make 'babies' that match their birth weights using sport socks stuffed with rice. Rice babies are used for lots of hands-on practice of weighing and measuring.
Castle Projects - During the fairy tales unit, students make castles out of whatever materials they can find. Castles are put on display in the library for a week.
Owl Pellets - During the study of nocturnal animals, students have the opportunity to dissect owl pellets and try to ascertain what animals the owls swallowed.

Curriculum

The following is an overview of the first grade curriculum. Not every skill is listed.

Language Arts

Sample Literature Selections:

The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown
Stellaluna by Janell Cannon
Frog and Toad are Friends by Arnold Lobel (Caldecott Award Winner)
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak (Caldecott Award Winner)

Literature Support:

Bob Books by Bobby Lynn and John R. Maslen

Collections for Young Scholars (McGraw-Hill)

Intensive Phonics - short vowel sounds, long vowel sounds, initial and final blends, open-syllable words, closed syllable words, /y/ as a vowel, digraphs and dipthongs, (th, sh, ch, ph, ow, ew, oo, aw, oy, au, ight, er, or, qu, ck, ey, silent E, hard and soft G, three letter blends (thr, shr, scr, str, spr, spl), short and long vowel word families, vowel rules.

Vocabulary Development - Color words, days of the week, compound words, number words, months of the year, contractions, rhyming words, adding suffixes (-ing, -ed, -s).

Comparing/Contrasting
Sequence of Events
Capitalization and Punctuation
Classification
Introduction to nouns, verbs, and adjectives
Fiction/Non-Fiction
Inferences
Alphabetical Order
Syllabication
Main Idea
Handwriting - D'Nealian
Journal Writing

Mathematics

Text: Sadlier-Oxford Mathematics
Timed Minute Drills - daily drills of math facts (each child progresses at his/her own rate through addition and subtraction. Students needing an enriching curriculum can proceed on to multiplication and division.)
Math Centers/Explorations
Curriculum Enrichment - Mathematics Their Way by Mary Baratta-Lorton

Science

Hands-on kits: Full Option Science System (FOSS) developed by Lawrence Hall of Science Berkeley, CA. System includes units pertaining to Insects, Solids and Liquids, and Balance and Motion.
Human Body/Five Senses
Nutrition
Solar System
Animals

Social Studies

Map Skills
Identification of the Seven Continents
Early American History
Holiday Traditions Around the World
Famous Black Americans

Thematic Units to Teach the Above Skills

All About Me - human body, five senses, community
Rice Babies - weighing, measuring, proper handling of medicines
Study of food pyramid
Creepies and Crawlies - fantasy/reality, nocturnal animals
American History - Columbus, Sequoyah, Cortez, Pizarro, Pocahontas
Indians - Aztecs, Incas, Mayas
Holidays Around the World - continents, Germany and Mexico
Solar System
Fairy Tales/Folk Tales
Forest Animals
Bunnies - class presents play: The Tale of Peter Rabbit
Insects

Pre-Kindergarten	Fifth Grade
Kindergarten	Middle School
First Grade	Co-Curricular Classes
Second Grade	Library
Third Grade	Ed-Line
Fourth Grade	Home Page