In Grade 1, our literacy program builds strong foundations for lifelong reading through a carefully sequenced, research-based approach aligned with the Science of Reading. Throughout the year, students engage in rich reading experiences that nurture their curiosity, critical thinking, and joy in books, while explicitly developing the essential skills they need to become independent readers. This includes systematic phonics instruction, decoding strategies, oral language development, vocabulary building, and comprehension strategies. Students learn to connect spoken and written language, master phonemic awareness, and apply decoding skills to sound out words and tackle increasingly complex texts.
Students also build strong foundational writing skills that support them as both readers and writers. Aligned with the Science of Reading, the writing program integrates oral language development, sentence-level grammar, handwriting, and phonics knowledge into daily writing experiences. Students learn to connect sounds to letters, spell phonetically, apply high-frequency word knowledge, and use proper sentence structure—essential building blocks for effective communication and literacy development. Writing in Grade 1 is closely connected to reading, as students use mentor texts to study craft, learn genre structures, and build content knowledge. Throughout the year, students write across various genres, developing their composition skills (ideas, organization, voice) alongside transcription skills (spelling, handwriting, punctuation).
The year is organized into four engaging units:
Unit 1: Being a Good Friend
In this unit, students read a collection of texts focused on what it means to be a good friend. Students will notice a character’s actions, motivations, and feelings and how they influence the sequence of events, while also making connections to their own lives and learning from the experiences of the different characters. Over the course of the unit, students learn how to use discussion and oral discourse to show their understanding of texts in order to support narrative writing where students will write about a time they were a good friend. Finally, students also learn what an opinion is and write an opinion piece about what it means to be a good friend.
Unit 2: Amazing Animals
In this unit, students explore animals and animal adaptations by reading informational texts. Students build a deeper understanding of the connection between the illustrations and the text and how illustrations help the reader learn more about a particular idea or topic. They also build skills with discussion, using specific vocabulary, asking and answering questions, and producing complete sentences. Finally, students have opportunities to work on both their narrative and informational writing over the course of the unit. Students use their content knowledge about how animals use their color to survive to write a narrative with a clear beginning, middle, and end. Students also engage in two different research reports, learning how to research and share important facts about their chosen topics.
Unit 3: Learning About the World
In this unit, students explore the world around them by drawing connections to an inquiry into needs and wants. Using their understanding of fiction and nonfiction texts, they apply good reading habits to develop vocabulary, build fluency and expression, and comprehend text-based information. They construct nonfiction books by generating different chapters connected to their reading, focusing on the structures and elaboration of informative writing.
Unit 4: Love Makes a Family
In this unit, students explore the idea that families come in all shapes and sizes, but all families are built on love and care. Through diverse stories, students learn to recognize and respect different family structures, backgrounds, and traditions—helping them see both their own experiences and those of others. Students deepen their understanding of characters by analyzing illustrations to understand feelings and relationships, especially within families, and expand their vocabulary to describe emotions. They also develop skills in discussion and writing, building confidence to share and respond to ideas.
Throughout the year, students read a variety of texts and genres, discuss ideas with peers, and develop fluency, accuracy, and comprehension in a supportive, structured environment. By the end of Grade 1, students are well on their way to becoming independent, thoughtful readers who can unlock the meaning of texts and develop a lifelong love for reading.
Students also receive explicit instruction in sentence structure, punctuation, and capitalization—core principles of the Science of Reading—to ensure that they can communicate their ideas clearly and accurately. By the end of Grade 1, students are confident writers who can express themselves in various genres, using the foundational skills that will support their future literacy success.
Using UFLI Foundations, students in grade 1 build foundational decoding skills through a research-based phonics sequence.
Grade 1 Mathematics continues to build a solid foundation of mathematical thinking and understanding. In a balanced instructional program, the students develop as problem solvers, practicing computational skills and procedures as well as constructing understanding of concepts. First-grade students will extend their knowledge of mathematics as they learn to add and subtract within 20, develop an understanding of whole numbers and place value within 100, measure and order objects by length, interpret data (with up to three categories), work with shapes to compose new shapes, and partition shapes to create “equal shares” (decompose shapes). The Mathematical Practice Standards apply throughout each unit and, together with the content standards, prescribe that students experience mathematics as a coherent, useful, and logical subject that makes use of their ability to make sense of problem situations.
Represent and solve problems involving addition and subtraction.
Understand and apply properties of operations and the relationship between addition and subtraction.
Add and subtract within 20.
Work with addition and subtraction equations.
Extend the counting sequence.
Understand place value.
Use place value understanding and properties of operations to add and subtract.
Measure lengths indirectly and by iterating length units.
Tell and write time.
Represent and interpret data.
Reason with shapes and their attributes.
Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.
Model with mathematics.
Use appropriate tools strategically.
Attend to precision.
Look for and make use of structure.
Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.
Inquiry units are designed to offer students authentic experiences where they generate questions and tackle complex issues, as individuals and teams. Social Studies based units are aligned to the American Education Reaches Out (AERO) standards, and they build understanding of concepts across the domains of the discipline - civics, economics, geography, and history. Science phenomena-based units are aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), which integrate core disciplinary ideas, cross-cutting concepts, and the practices of the discipline.
In Grade 1 Inquiry, students explore how light and sound can help us to communicate. They observe the plant and animal world closely and think about how the characteristics that they notice can be used to solve problems. Students will also practice their close observation skills to discuss and analyze patterns in the sky, and how they change throughout the year. In the classroom, students inquire into the concept of community and their role within a community. They explore how people interact with one another and their surroundings, and develop an understanding of how the products they use every day connect to their community and to distant places. These inquiry experiences help children build empathy, appreciate diversity, and understand their growing role in the world around them.
In all units, active questioning drives learning and concepts help us to organize our ideas. Through concept-based inquiry, students develop transferable understanding around core ideas and practice the skills of the disciplines, including:
Develop Questions and Plan Inquiries
Evaluate the Credibility of the Sources and Relevance of the Information to the Inquiry
Construct Coherent, Reasoned Arguments and Explanations
Communicate Conclusions From an Inquiry
Take Informed Action for the Common Good
Asking Questions and Defining Problems
Developing and Using Models
Planning and Carrying out Investigations
Analyzing and Interpreting Data
Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking
Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions
Engaging in Argument from Evidence
Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information