What We Are Learning in First Grade

• Module 1: A World of Books
  Students learn how books and libraries can build community, inspire imagination, and teach us about the world. They explore the role of reading in people’s lives and begin practicing how to retell stories with clear structure.

• Module 2: Creature Features
  Students dive into the world of animals, examining how animals’ bodies and behaviors help them survive. They explore both fiction and informational texts and practice comparing texts and writing informative paragraphs.

• Module 3: Powerful Forces
  This module blends literacy and science as students read about forces like wind and gravity. They build academic vocabulary, write explanations, and ask questions like scientists and readers.

• Module 4: Cinderella Stories Around the World
  Students read and compare different cultural versions of the Cinderella story. They analyze story structure, characters, and central messages while writing opinions and comparing texts.

Geodes

Geodes are “readable” chapter-ladder books designed for early readers. They seamlessly combine:

1. Decodable text (over 80 % phonics-aligned words) to reinforce phonics skills.
   
   

2. Engaging content in science, art, history, and literature to build vocabulary and world knowledge 

They’re specifically crafted to be used alongside a structured phonics program like Fundations, aligning with its progression to support decoding and fluency. 

With Geodes Level 1, first graders to:

• Blend phonics skills and world knowledge through decodable, content-rich texts.

• Practice phonics patterns in accessible reading while building vocabulary across multiple domains.

• Focus on meaning through structured comprehension and expressive activities.

• Read with increasing independence and confidence.

• Segment syllables into sounds (phonemes)–up to 5 sounds
• Name sounds of primary consonants, consonant digraphs, and short and long vowels when given letters
• Name and write corresponding letter(s) when given sounds for consonants, consonant digraphs, and short and long vowels
• Print all uppercase and lowercase letters
• Distinguish long and short vowel sounds
• Name sounds for r-controlled vowels
• Name sounds for vowel digraphs and vowel diphthongs
• Use conventional spelling for words with common spelling patterns and for frequently occurring irregular words
• Spell untaught words phonetically, drawing on phonemic awareness and spelling conventions
• Read and spell the first 100 high frequency words, including irregular words (trick words)
• Identify word structures such as blends, digraphs, basewords, suffixes, syllable types (closed and vowel-consonant-e syllables)
• Read and spell CVC, CCVC, CVCC, CCVCC, CVCe words
• Read and spell compound words and other words with two syllables by breaking them into syllables
• Read and spell words with -s, -es, -ed, -ing suffixes when added to non-changing basewords

Heggerty

The Heggerty Primary Curriculum is a structured, research-based phonemic awareness program designed to strengthen students' foundational reading skills. It is ideal for use in first grade classrooms and supports all learners in developing the ability to hear, manipulate, and work with the sounds in spoken language—skills that are essential for reading success.

Students practice and build proficiency in:

• Phoneme Isolation – identifying the beginning, middle, and ending sounds in words

• Blending – putting sounds together to form words

• Segmenting – breaking words into individual sounds

• Phoneme Deletion – removing sounds from words to create new ones

• Phoneme Substitution – changing one sound in a word to make another word

• Rhyme Recognition and Production

• Syllable Counting and Segmentation

These oral language skills are the building blocks of decoding and spelling, and they are especially helpful for emerging and struggling readers.

Math Workshop

• Meet with Teacher for Guided Math
• Math Games with Partners/Small Groups
• Math Journals or Puzzles
• Technology
• Hand-on Math Activity
• Fact Fluency

This is a part of our day that compliments the work we do during Bridges Math Workshop. 

Students will complete activities such as a calendar grid, calendar collector, counting the days in school, number line and computational fluency. 

Each month focuses on a different math skill. 

September- Place Value

October- Number Stories

November- Fractions

December- 3D Shapes

January- Equations 

February- Geoboard Shapes

March- Time

April- Fractions

May- Number Grid

Second Step