First Grade

List of 5 items.

• Language Arts

  In first grade a heavy emphasis is placed upon phonics, decoding, fluency, spelling and the memorization of high-frequency words, based on the science of reading and UFLI Foundations program. 
  
  

  Students work daily on building skills in reading comprehension, accuracy, and vocabulary expansion. Literature and author studies provide many opportunities to explore character development, plot, predictive and inferential reasoning, and rich vocabulary. Small reading groups and differentiated assignments reinforce lessons taught in class. 
  
  

  Students participate in weekly grammar lessons which focus on punctuation and sentence formation daily with completing the first grade Handwriting Without Tears printing program; upper and lower letter formation are practiced daily with the appropriate letter spacing. Students write personal narrative stories, as well as procedural, informational, and persuasive texts, with a focus on structure and craft techniques.

• Mathematics

  By the end of 1st grade, students have gained an understanding of number sense, measurement and geometry, and mathematical reasoning. The Singapore Math curriculum focuses on the progression of concrete, pictorial, and abstract strategies that are intentionally sequential and require students to rely on depth of knowledge gained from previous lessons, instead of rote memorization. Through daily lessons, problem-solving, games, and songs, students learn the value of numbers to the 100's place, add and subtract small numbers with ease, use a variety of strategies for addition and subtraction within 120, describe basic fractions, tell time to the half-hour, measure length, describe and represent data in graphs, and identify and count values of money.
  
  

  Creating, writing, and solving world problems help students explain their work and share their ideas with others.

• Science

  The science program provides experiments and activities that will increase the students' awareness of their environment, stimulate their curiosity, and develop their ability to think critically. In each Amplify unit, students learn to observe, describe, identify, and compare information through inquiry-based learning.
  
  

  Students will explore plant and animal adaptations, discovering the structures and behaviors living things use to survive. Students will then apply their new knowledge and the design-thinking process in their biomimicry projects, creating a prototype based on adaptations to solve a problem, testing their prototypes, creating new iterations, and presenting their findings. 
  
  

  First graders then dive into physical science through explorations of light and sound. Students discover the properties of light and how it interacts with transparent, translucent, opaque, and reflective matter. They learn about sound waves and how to start and stop sounds, as well as change volume and pitch. Students apply their thinking to create shadow puppet sets and sound-effect instruments.
  
  

  Finally, students will explore patterns in the sky by mapping changes in the sun, moon, and stars, as well as examining why the sky looks different at different times and places around the world.
  
  

  Each unit of study additionally provides unique cross-curricular collaboration opportunities, including music, art, library research, and language arts.

• Spanish

  The focus in lower grades Spanish is placed on developing oral communication and conversation skills. Songs, stories, games, poems, and props are used to encourage children to participate actively in speaking the language. T.P.R. (Total Physical Response) Storytelling, a method that permits immediate comprehension of the input as students listen to and mimic the phrases in the target language, is used in grades 1 - 5.  Students enact dialogues and readings, focus on conversational skills and expand their knowledge of Hispanic countries through poetry, songs, and readings.
  
  

  In first grade, Spanish a broader variety of vocabulary is introduced through songs and games. Students learn about animals, days of the week, months, the weather, seasons, and more.

• Social Studies

  Social studies in first grade begin with the broad concepts of rights and responsibilities in the contemporary world. The classroom serves as a microcosm of society in which decisions are made with respect for individual responsibility, for other people, and for the rules by which we all must live: fair play, good sportsmanship, and respect for the rights and opinions of others. 
  
  

  Students also study their place in the world. They use maps and globes to locate California, the United States, the seven continents, the four oceans, and their own hometown. Students use video chat to learn about the cultures, holiday traditions, geography, and national symbols of countries around the world. Students compare and contrast everyday life in different times and places around the world, and discover how some things have changed over time while other things stay the same. 
  
  

  Additional social studies units include the symbols, icons, and traditions of the United States, as well as basic economic concepts.