Curriculum

Grade 1

1^st Trimester

Religion – In the beginning of the school year, the religion will center on God’s creation, our love for the world as well as God’s love for the world.  We also study Saints.  Each child will learn facts about their patron Saint.  First grade children will correspond on a monthly basis with the residents of the Dresher Nursing Home.

Math – We will be working with the Scott-Foresman math series.  We will review addition and subtraction concepts.  We will introduce the children to fact families, 3-dimensional shapes, double digit numbers and sequencing.

Integrated Language Arts - The Language Arts curriculum focuses on inventive spelling, grammar, punctuation and vocabulary.  Students will learn blends and phonemic sounds.  We also focus on long and short vowels.

Reading – The children will use anthologies related to specific themes.  The beginning stories focus on skills such as letters, sounds, number words and sight words.  In first grade, word walls are used to display and reinforce the words.  The children are responsible for spelling these words correctly.  We use a variety of ways to read in the classroom, such as partner reading, group reading and read-alouds.

Writing – The goal of our writing workshop is to familiarize children with the writing process.  The students will learn story and sentence structure, letter writing and couplets.  Some topics will be student selected and others will be teacher selected.

Science & Social Studies – These subjects will be taught once a week.  In science, first grade will cover insects and animals, specifically a unit on penguins.  We will also conduct small experiments.  Social Studies will cover community helpers, presidents, focusing on George Washington & Abraham Lincoln, famous African Americans and beginning map skills.