FIRST GRADE CURRICULUM OVERVIEW

 2007-2008 School Year

LANGUAGE ARTS

The emphasis in Language Arts is to improve communication skills.  These skills include thinking, listening, reading, writing and speaking.  Students will also be challenged to develop processes for critical and creative thinking skills through concentration on productive thinking, communication, predicting, decision-making and planning. 

 Our language arts methodology enhances reading skills through classroom big books and individual readers and is incorporated into all areas of the curriculum. This process is reinforced in science, social studies, writing and spelling. It is integrated in all these areas to teach capitalization, alphabetizing, punctuation, suffixes, prefixes, syllables, compound words, opposites and contractions. 

WRITING

Instruction is given in the Handwriting Without Tears methodology of handwriting.  This method was developed by occupational therapists and is a simple, developmentally based method to teach writing. Not only are students given instruction on letter placement and formation on lined paper but also receive experience in handwriting during their creative writing and journaling periods.  Children will be continually involved in the writing process through introduction to report writing, daily journaling, class books, and creative writing.

READING, PHONICS AND SPELLING

Our reading/spelling program uses the Open Court Collections for Young Scholars, which supports the principle that phonics and whole-language instruction is not mutually exclusive but complementary. First grade students will find their way into the world of written language through systematic instruction in phonics and through rich experiences with authentic literature.  This will be accomplished through explicit phonics instruction, daily reading from Big Books or other literature and daily writing.  Comprehension skills will be gained through questions and answers, recall of events and facts, and predicting and problem solving of what-if situations. Accelerated Reading is another program used to strengthen listening and reading skills. Using computers, students answer comprehension questions on the computer from independent and read aloud books. Students are exposed to various genres including factual stories (science & history), fables, fairy tales, poems, short stories, novels and nursery rhymes.  Spelling is taught through the Open Court program, which promotes the formal teaching of reliable patterns and rules.

MATH

The first grade math program uses Everyday Mathematics, a rigorous curriculum that has been extensively researched and proven to build students’ mathematical knowledge from the basics to higher-order thinking and critical problem solving. This program is supplemented by a basic math-facts program and Daily Oral Math. Students participate in a daily class math meeting, numbers facts practice, written practice and oral and written assessments. Our First Grade math program covers a broad range of mathematical content, in addition to numbers and arithmetic work. The program content emphasizes the following content strands, skills, and concepts:  Numeration, Operations and Computation, Data and Chance, Geometry, Measurement and Reference Frames, Patterns, Functions and Algebra. It is our goal to develop a solid foundation in the language and basic concepts of mathematics.

SOCIAL STUDIES

Students will become aware of their role as individuals, as members of a family unit, as members of their school and of a wider community through a variety of units of study.  They will also have hands on experience with maps and globes, finding directions, identifying major oceans, and continents.  Students will study the history of the pilgrims and important historical American figures. 

SCIENCE

St. Mary's science curriculum is a hands-on approach to learning the fundamental processes of science. Through direct laboratory or classroom experiences, students will be interpreting, inferring, predicting, investigating and modeling. Activities will be concrete in nature and consistent with Piagetian levels of intellectual development.

First grade will focus on physical and life sciences.  Within these fields the curriculum will emphasize an understanding of observation and classification.  The curriculum will be acquired through a variety of materials including Hands on Elementary Science and Aims. The units comprising the first grade science program are plant life (apples, seeds, pumpkins, trees), animal life (bats, owls, polar bears), as well as animal groupings and the life cycle of the frog. Dental health and fire prevention are also units of study for the first grade.

RELIGION

 Students will attend Chapel weekly and actively participate in the service. A time each day will include prayer and devotion. Children are lead through the Christian year by the telling and dramatizing of Bible stories from the Old Testament during the fall semester.  We then enter the season of Advent and Christmas, which is observed in our classrooms as well as in chapel. During the Advent and Christmas season, we enter into the New Testament stories about Jesus. We end with the observance of Lent, Easter and Pentecost.  During each chapel service, students participate in reenactment of the Bible Story, songs are sung and children participate actively in the Lord’s Prayer and our chapel creed.  Birthday blessings also take place during chapel. These Wednesday morning chapel services are lead by the Rector of St. Mary’s Church. First grade students will serve as chapel acolytes by lighting the candles.  Core value traits are used to develop positive, healthy and spiritual students. 

FIRST GRADE SPECIALS

SPANISH:

Welcome to the world of foreign-language learning at St. Mary’s School! First-graders attend Spanish class twice a week to expand their early reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills in a second language. Our core curriculum follows themes and exercises from the textbook Teach Them Spanish by Winnie Waltzer-Hackett. Games, creative dialogues, songs, and poems are fun ways that we build upon and reinforce new vocabulary and grammar points.

At least once a month, we highlight regions and/or celebrations of special importance to the Spanish-speaking world. Supplementary readings, documentary videos, traditional music, and guest speakers are all “windows” through which our students expand their worldview in Spanish class. Through foreign language education at the elementary level, our students grow in their awareness of and respect for other people, cultures, and traditions.

FINE ARTS/MEDIA:

 Students will experience rhythm, pitch, basic music theory & notation, and a variety of music and movement activities using the Orff Schulwerk approach.  Students will learn about orchestral families, composers and their music, explore cultural music, experience performance opportunities and have hands on instrument experience.

 Regular art classes include experiences in drawing and painting, basic art techniques, imagery and guided art and 3-dimensional art. Various art activities will be incorporated into the regular classroom curriculum as well.

 Students will participate in enriched literature activities, author studies and library skills work during their library time.  Students will also visit the computer lab for keyboarding and basic technology skill development.

PHYSICAL EDUCATION

 Our PE program provides the learner with unique fundamental knowledge, interaction, and physical skills appropriate for each age level.  Our units consist of drills, exercise, physical activities and games. Units are as follows: perceptual-motor development, President’s fitness challenge, dance & movement, archery, relays, volleyball, jogging and cross country. Our goal is to equip the students with knowledge and a desire for lifelong physical activity. Students are encouraged to engage in physical activity outside of the classroom through various forms of team sports and exercise.

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