Curriculum Highlights: First Grade
Language Arts
- Alphabet mastery
- Consonant sounds (digraphs and blends)
- Vowel sounds (short and long)
- Word analysis skills
- Nouns, verbs, pronouns
- Scrambled sentences
- Listening skills
- Dictation
- Pre-decodable and decodable books
- Comprehension
- Sight words
- Oral expression
- Handwriting
- Creative writing
- Junior Great Books
- Summer workbook
Mathematics
- Numeration, 0 – 1,000
- Counting by 2’s, 3’s, 4’s, 5’s, and 10’s
- Estimating, comparing, measuring
- Place value
- Addition, subtraction of 2-, 3-digit numbers
- Simple fractions
- Patterns
- Functions
- Congruence, symmetry
- Money: coins and bills
- Telling time to quarter-hour
- Calendars
- Graphs
- Logical problem solving
- Summer workbook
Social Studies
- Appreciating self and others
- Composition and needs of families
- Community helpers
- Differences among people, cultures
- Native American culture
- Holidays in our country and other lands
- Outstanding individuals, contributions
- Basic principles and procedures of a democracy
- Economy: jobs & money exchange
- Finding facts, recognizing non-facts
Science
- Animal kingdom: dinosaurs and fossils
- Animal growth
- Human body and nutrition
- Plants
- Sound
- Heat energy
- Light energy
- States of matter
- Air and weather
- Changes on Earth
- Our solar system
- Frequent hands-on activities/labs
Geography
- The globe as a model of Earth
- Earth’s bodies of land and water
- Conceptual introduction to maps
- Map symbols and keys
- Directions
- North Pole/South Pole
- Compass rose
- Map grid and scale
- Political map
- Introduction to the United States
- Landform map
Physical Education
- Daily P.E. class
- Fitness and conditioning
- Body control: agility, flexibility, endurance, balance, gross motor coordination, hand-eye coordination, spatial skills
- Movement skills, including dance
- Manipulative activities
- Game skills
- Good health habits: hygiene, diet, safety
- Respect, cooperation, confidence
Visual Arts
- Dedicated art studio
- Art class twice weekly
- Develop color sense, basic mixing
- Lines, symmetry, texture
- Drawing and coloring: pencil, eraser, markers, oil pastels, crayons
- Painting: tempera paint, watercolors
- Printmaking: plexiglass, water-soluble printing inks, various printing tools
- Sculpture: plasticene, air-drying clay
- Collage: paper, glue, scissors, fabric, tissue paper
- Introduction to bookmaking
- Self expression, respect, confidence
- Annual, school-wide art contest
Performing Arts
Music
- Listening to music
- Differentiating musical sounds
- Foundations of musical literacy
- Rhythmic speech in counterpoint
- Introduce musical notation
- Group singing
- Develop sense of interpretation
- Instruments: tambourines, triangles, drums, etc.
- Performance: two music programs each year
Drama
- Attendance at dramatic productions
- Speaking role in class play
- Develop acting skills
- Use of costumes and props
- Ensemble/solo singing, choreography
- Public speaking, confidence
Modern/Classical Languages
French
- Listening comprehension
- Pronunciation skills
- Daily greetings and instructions
- Vocabulary building
- Gender in nouns, articles, and adjectives
- Simple plurals
- Dialogue, mini-conversations
- Songs, poems
- Writing simple sentences
- French culture
Library
- Story time/read-alouds
- Book selection/check-out
- Fiction, alphabetical location
- Non-fiction, topic location
- Reference books
- Folk tales, fairy tales
- Curriculum-related books
- Seasonal books
- Highlight authors
- Oral book reporting
- Book fair
Technology
- StarBoards in each classroom
- Rolling laptop cart for classroom computer use
- Basic familiarity with computers
Field Trips
Several field trips per year; recent examples include:
- American Indian Museum
- National Museum of African Art
- Kennedy Center
- Discovery Theater
- GMU, Center for the Arts
- Whole Foods Market
- Curiosity Zone
- Rachel Schlesinger Concert Hall
