Curriculum

Here is a very brief overview of the curriculum covered in the various subject areas in first grade. Please note that this is a very basic overview and does not encompass all curriculum material that will be covered throughout the duration of the school year.

Reading

Most of our reading curriculum will be addressed during our Reader's Workshop time. Readers workshop lessons are structured in such a way as to incorporate a mini-lesson that introduces, reviews, and/or reinforces reading skills and strategies. Students then have time to practice these skills and strategies. This practice time may be implemented as a whole group, small groups, partnership, or independently. Some reading material will be self-selected by students, whereas other material will be assigned. Reading material may include leveled books, basal readers, picture and chapter books, Scholastic News, and/or other material relevant to the strategies and concepts we are addressing. Additionally, students participate in daily SSR (Sustained Silent Reading).

Writing

Our writing curriculum centers around our Writer's Workshop time. Stocklmeir is continuing to utilize the Lucy Calkins writing program that we began implementing last school year. The Lucy Calkins program consists of various "Units of Study", focusing on various writing genres within each unit. These units will fall into the major genres of writing including opinion writing, narrative writing, and informative/expository writing. During our writing time, basic writing conventions will be addressed, as will the writing process itself (i.e., pre-writing, drafting, revising/editing, and publishing).

Math

CUSD has adopted the Houghton-Mifflin Go Math program. We will be using this program, along with other Common Core aligned math 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 Eight Standards of Mathematical Practices. These practices are as follows:

1. Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them

2. Reason abstractly and quantitatively

3. Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others

4. Model with mathematics

5. Use appropriate tools strategically

6. Attend to precision

7. Look for and make use of structure

8. Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning

Social Studies

CUSD's adopted Social Studies curriculum is the Scott Foresman California History-Social Science program. This program encompasses the following units:

Unit 1: Citizenship

Unit 2: People & Places

Unit 3: Our Country

Unit 4: Changes Over Time

Unit 5: Celebrate Cultures

Unit 6: Goods & Services

Science

CUSD uses the FOSS program. This program focuses on hands-on investigative learning for science. The FOSS program consists of three units: Air & Weather (earth science), Solids & Liquids (physical science), and Plants & Animals (life science). We will also be focusing on nutrition and healthy life choices throughout the school year.

Physical Education (PE)

We will have instructional P.E. time on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. During our instructional P.E. time, we use rotating P.E. kits that focus on various physical skills as well as fine and gross motor skills. We will also use this time to develop sportsmanship by playing various group and partner games.

Art and Music

Thanks to PTA funds, Stocklmeir students have music and art instruction provided by the Community School of Music and Arts (CSMA). All students will receive 12 hours of 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. Music lessons will include singing, creative movement, dance, instruments, music appreciation, and cultural understanding of music and its origins.