Welcome to First Grade! We are so excited to embark on this incredible year of discovery, growth, and fun. First grade is a magical milestone where students transition from early learners into independent readers, writers, and problem solvers.
Here is a sneak peek at what your child will experience and achieve this year.
📚 Course Description: What to Expect
In first grade, our classroom is a vibrant community of young thinkers. This year is all about building confidence and a lifelong love for learning. Through hands-on activities, collaborative projects, and interactive play, students will explore the worlds of literacy, mathematics, science, and social studies.
We place a strong emphasis on curiosity and kindness. Students will learn how to work together, express their ideas creatively, and tackle new challenges with a growth mindset. Every day is an adventure filled with stories, experiments, and building friendships!
🎯 Our Learning Objectives
Our curriculum is designed to nurture the whole child. Here are the core milestones we will work toward this year:
📖 Reading & Language Arts
Phonics & Fluency: Master decoding strategies, recognize common sight words, and read grade-level texts with expression.
Comprehension: Ask and answer questions about key details in stories, identify the main topic, and retell stories in sequence.
Writing: Write opinion pieces, informative texts, and narratives with a clear beginning, middle, and end, using basic punctuation and capitalization.
🔢 Mathematics
Number Sense: Count, write, and compare numbers up to 120.
Operations: Master addition and subtraction facts within 20 and solve word problems.
Geometry & Measurement: Identify 2D and 3D shapes, tell time to the hour and half-hour, and understand basic measurement.
🌍 Science & Social Studies (CKLA Knowledge Domains)
Rather than separate subjects, our science and social studies concepts are woven into deeply engaging CKLA Knowledge Domains. Through these immersive read-alouds and discussions, students build rich background knowledge and vocabulary across a variety of fascinating topics:
Stories & Shared Cultures: We explore timeless lessons in Fables and Stories and discover how different cultures handle similar themes in Different Lands, Similar Stories.
The Human Body: In From Nose to Toes, students learn about the incredible systems of the human body, major organs, and the keys to staying healthy and keeping germs away.
History & Civilizations: We travel back in time to explore the amazing achievements of Early World Civilizations (like Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt) and Early American Civilizations (the Maya, Aztec, and Inca).
Our Natural World: Students become young scientists as we dive into Astronomy to study our solar system, explore the layers of our planet and fossils in The History of the Earth, and investigate how living things thrive in Animals and Habitats.
A New Nation: We wrap up our historical journey by looking at the foundations of American democracy, key historical figures, and national symbols.
