In reading, students will work to practice their decoding, fluency, prosody, and comprehension skills during large and small group times and independent reading. Students will enhance their comprehension through retelling, identifying character traits, problem/solution, cause and effect, and character point of view. Diverse texts guide our class conversations, and students will continue to activate critical thinking skills to discuss aspects of the text. Phonics skills of decoding and blending will be transferred into the reading block so that students are using proper decoding skills when reading. 

The Great Minds Arts and Letters program guides some of our full group reading and writing block with the integration of texts, visual art, and other media to build knowledge, comprehension, and critical thinking.

First-grade writers will be working on following the writing process of drafting, revising, and publishing. Students will be exploring different writing types including informational, narrative, how-to, letter writing, poetry, and responsive writing. Writing is incorporated daily into our literacy block and our science and social studies block. Students will work to transfer skills from phonics to their writing to improve their spelling, punctuation, and sentence structure. 

Our phonics program is a robust combination of evidence- based and research-backed practices that allow first-graders to gain the skills needed to be strong readers, writers, and listeners. The Heggerty program provides daily phonemic awareness practice, allowing students to reinforce work with syllables, rhyming, and segmenting. The Fundations program introduces letter-sound correspondences, sound patterns, irregularly spelled words ("heart words"), as well as correct handwriting formation. Students will be learning the skills of decoding, blending, and segmenting sounds and are working to identify and understand the sounds that make up the English language. Phonics skills will be transferred into each subject.

First grade science is an inquiry-based approach, allowing students to explore, discover, observe, and come to conclusions about the world around them. Supplementary materials from PBS, BrainPop, and Mystery Science allow students to learn from real scientists and also develop rich content knowledge and vocabulary that builds their language comprehension. Topics covered include:

• Heredity

• Moon, Stars, Planets

• Apples and Pumpkins

• Plant Life Cycles

• Animal Adaptations, Habitats, and Life Cycles

• Properties of Matter (Solid, Liquid, Gas)

• Weather 

• Magnetism

• Sound and Echolocation

• Natural Resources

In social studies, first graders will enhance critical thinking skills and question-asking, make connections, and gain rich content and vocabulary knowledge. Students will learn about important historical events, their community, country, and world, holidays and cultures, important change makers, and research skills. BrainPop, PBS, McGraw Hill IMPACT, and Core Knowledge resources enhance the curriculum scope and sequence. First graders work on social studies skills including narration, interpretation, and judgment. Topics covered include:

• Communities and Community Systems: 

  • Rural, Suburban, Urban

• The Civil Rights Movement

  • Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Ruby Bridges 

• Women's History 

• Holidays and Cultures Around the World 

• The American Revolution and American Symbols

• Early Settlers in the US

Mathematics in first grade is focused upon fact fluency, problem solving, thinking deeply, showing work, and applying math to real situations. The Illustrative Mathematics Program guides our scope and sequence of topics. During a daily math block, students engage in direct instruction of mathematics concepts and skills in small groups, and apply their knowledge in centers including math games, skill practice, and work with manipulatives. Students learn to show their work visually, verbally, and numerically, and refine their skills in general mathematical practices including efficiency, pattern recognition, precision, and reasoning. Topics covered include:

• Addition and Subtraction Strategies and Efficiency

• Add/Subtract Within 20

• Two-Digit Addition and Subtraction

• Place Value

• Graphing and Data

• Measurement

• Time

• 2D and 3D Shapes