Curriculum Info

Here you will find some basic information about the curriculum covered in the various subject areas in first grade.  Please note that this is just basic information and does not cover every type of curriculum matter that will be covered throughout the year.

Most of our reading curriculum will be addressed during our readers workshop time.  Stocklmeir is continuing to implement the Lucy Calkins Units of Study reading program this year.  The Lucy Calkins program consists of various reading units that correlate to our Units of Study writing program.  The program also incorporates a phonics/word study curriculum to build students' foundational reading skills.  Readers workshop lessons are basically structured with a mini-lesson to introduce/review/reinforce reading skills and strategies.  Students then have time to practice these skills/strategies - this practice time can be in a whole group, small groups, partnerships, or independently.  Most reading material will be self-selected by students, although occasionally texts may be selected for students for specific individual or small group needs.  Our classroom library has books that are organized by reading level, as well as by series, genre, and/or authors, in order to help students choose appropriate and enjoyable books during reading.

Here are the units we will be covering in our Units of Study program for readers workshop:
Unit 1:  Building Good Reading Habits
Word Detectives:  Strategies for Using High-Frequency Words and for Decoding
Unit 2:  Reading about the World: Reading Nonfiction
Unit 3:  Readers Have Big Jobs to Do: Fluency, Phonics, and Comprehension
Unit 4:  Meeting Characters and Learning Lessons: A Study of Story Elements

Most of our writing curriculum will also be addressed during our writers workshop time.  Stocklmeir is continuing to utilize the Lucy Calkins writing program that we have been implementing over the past few years.  The Lucy Calkins program consists of various Units of Study, which focus on various writing genres within each unit.  These units will fall into the major "buckets" of writing, which are opinion writing, narrative writing, and informative/expository writing.  During our writing time, basic writing conventions will be addressed, as will the writing process (i.e., pre-writing, drafting, revising/editing, and publishing).

Here are the units we will be covering in our Units of Study program for writers workshop:
Unit 1:  Small Moments: Writing with Focus, Detail, and Dialogue (personal narrative)
Unit 2:  Nonfiction Chapter Books (informational)
Unit 3:  Writing Reviews (opinion)
Unit 4:  From Scenes to Series: Writing Fiction (fictional narrative)

This year we will be using the Winsor Learning Sonday Essentials 1 phonics program.  This curriculum is based on the Orton-Gillingham Approach to teaching reading, writing, and spelling.  It is a structured, systematic, phonics-based, multisensory, scaffolded curriculum that includes a substantial spelling component.  

Each lesson is cumulative and provides consistent multisensory reinforcement and includes:
* Reading sounds
* Spelling sounds
* Reading words
* Spelling words
* Introducing new material
* Independent practice

Students will be expected to work on their oral speaking skills throughout the year.  They will have daily opportunities to practice their communication skills during class discussions and class meetings, and they will also be required to share about themselves during their Star Student week.

CUSD has adopted the Houghton-Mifflin Go Math program.  We will be using this program, along with other Common Core aligned curriculum materials.  Some of these materials may include Georgia Math, Engage New York Math, math journaling, and other published or teacher-made materials.  Our focus will be not only on learning the skills and concepts aligned with the CCSS math standards, but also on engaging in the Mathematical Practices.  

CUSD's adopted program is the Social Studies Alive curriculum from the Teacher's Curriculum Institute (TCI).  This program includes the following units:
* Rights & Responsibilities of Citizenship
* Geography of the Community
* Life Today and Long Ago
* Cultural Literacy:  One Nation, Many People
* Economics:  Goods & Services
* Applying What You Know:  Life Today & Long Ago, and Geography of the Community
* Symbols, Icons, and Traditions of the United States
* Being a Good Citizen Throughout the Year

CUSD has adopted a science program called Elevate Science.  The Elevate program consists of five main topics: 
Topic 1:  Living Things
Topic 2:  Parents & Offspring
Topic 3:  Sound
Topic 4:  Light
Topic 5:  Sky & Earth. 
We will also focus some time on nutrition and healthy life choices throughout the year.

We will have instructional P.E. time each week, and we will also work on endurance training during our "Fun Runs" once a week.  During our instructional P.E. time, we will use P.E. kits that will focus on various skills and fine/gross motor skills, and we will also work on skills and sportsmanship by playing various games.  During our Fun Runs, students will run laps to help gain aerobic fitness.  

Thanks to PTA funds and passage of Proposition 28, Stocklmeir students have music and art instruction provided by the Community School of Music and Arts (CSMA).  All students will receive 14 art lessons over the year focusing on drawing and painting with an introduction to ceramics, sculpture, and basic three-dimensional concepts.  Students will develop basic technical skills as well as learn concepts such as line, shape, value, form, and color.  Students will receive 28 weeks of music instruction, which will include singing, creative movement, dance, instruments, music appreciation, and cultural understanding of music and its origins.

We have access to technology with our class iPads.  We will use the class iPads to reinforce our curriculum, and some of the applications we may use could include iReady, Imagine Learning, Google Chrome, Google Docs, Google Slides, Keynote, and SeeSaw.