In First Grade, students build onto the base of number sense they developed in Kindergarten and begin to expand their understanding of how numbers can be joined, seperated, compared, and flexibly represented to become more confident and creative operational thinkers. They solidify their understanding that numbers can be used to solve quantitative and real world problems and they expand their strategy toolkits for solving said problems. They begin to explore place value and thinking about the value of digits within larger numbers -- connecting these abstract numerical representations to concrete hands on manipulatives (cubes, tiles, and base ten blocks) to build visual anchors for larger quantities. All of this work with whole numbers, addition, and subtraction sets them up to have a strong base to draw on in future years as they expand and build onto these skills.

Students also explore describing the world around them using geometric ideas and through concepts of measurement and data. They build onto the Kindergarten work of identifying basic shapes to be able to compose and decompose plane or solid figures (e.g., put two triangles together to make a quadrilateral) and build understanding of part-whole relationships as well as the properties of the original and composite shapes. As they combine shapes, they recognize them from different perspectives and orientations, describe their geometric attributes, and determine how they are alike and different, to develop the background for measurement, fractional understandings, and for initial understandings of properties such as congruence and symmetry. Within measurement, students develop an understanding of the meaning and processes of accurate measurement, including underlying concepts such as iterating (the mental activity of building up the length of an object with equal-sized units) and the transitivity principle for indirect measurement.

By the end of First Grade, students will have strengthened their use of precise mathematical language to explain and justify their thinking as well as to analyze the thinking of others. They will have spent time examining the strategies of their teammates and comparing different ways to approach the same problem. They will have learned flexible strategies for solving real world problems and they will be able to apply their number sense and place value understandings to situations in their day-to-day lives. They will have learned that they are mathematicians and that math is for everyone. We are all math people!