First Grade Curriculum

English-Language Arts

READING

Word Analysis, Fluency, and Systematic Vocabulary Development

Students:

  • Understand the basic features of reading.
  • Select letter patterns and know how to translate them into spoken language by using phonics, syllabication, and word parts.
  • Apply this knowledge to achieve fluent oral and silent reading.

Reading Comprehension

Students:

  • Read and understand grade-level-appropriate material.
  • Draw upon a variety of comprehension strategies as needed (e.g., generating and responding to essential questions, making predictions, comparing information from several sources).
  • Begin to make progress toward the goal of by grade four annually reading one- half million words including a wide range of grade level appropriate narrative and expository text.

Literary Response and Analysis

Students:

  • Read and respond to a wide variety of significant works of children’s literature.
  • Distinguish between the structural features of the text and the literary terms or elements (e.g., theme, plot, setting, characters).

WRITING

Writing Strategies

Students:

  • Write clear and coherent sentences and paragraphs that develop a central idea.
  • Show they consider the audience and purpose.
  • Progress through the stages of the writing process (e.g., prewriting, drafting, revising, editing successive versions).

Writing Application (Genres and Their Characteristics)

Students:

  • Write compositions that describe and explain familiar objects, events, and experiences.
  • Demonstrate a command of standard American English and the drafting, research, and organizational strategies outlined in the writing standards.

WRITTEN AND ORAL ENGLISH LANGUAGE CONVENTIONS

  • Students write and speak with a command of standard English conventions appropriate to first grade.

LISTENING AND SPEAKING

Listening and Speaking Strategies

Students:

  • Listen critically and respond appropriately to oral communication.
  • Speak in a manner that guides the listener to understand important ideas by using proper phrasing, pitch, and modulation.

Speaking Applications (Genres and Their Characteristics)

Students:

  • Deliver brief recitations and oral presentations about familiar experiences of interests that are organized around a coherent thesis statement.
  • Demonstrate a command of standard American English and the organizational and delivery strategies outlined in Listening and Speaking standards.

 

Mathematics

By the end of grade one, students understand and use the concept of ones and tens in the place value number system. Students add and subtract small numbers with ease. They measure with simple units and locate objects in space. They describe data and analyze and solve simple problems.

NUMBER SENSE

Students:

  • Understand and use numbers up to 100.
  • Demonstrate the meaning of addition and subtraction and use these operations to solve problems.
  • Use estimation strategies in computation and problem solving that involve numbers that use the ones, tens, and hundreds places.

ALGEBRA AND FUNCTIONS

  • Students use number sentences with operational symbols and expressions to solve problems.

MEASUREMENT AND GEOMETRY

Students:

  • Use direct comparison and nonstandard units to describe the measurements of objects.
  • Identify common geometric figures, classify them by common attributes, and describe their relative position or their location in space.

STATISTICS, DATA ANALYSIS, AND PROBABILITY

Students:

  • Organize, represent, and compare data by category on simple graphs and charts.
  • Sort objects and create and describe patterns by numbers, shapes, sizes, rhythms, or colors.

MATHEMATICAL REASONING

Students:

  • Make decisions about how to set up a problem.
  • Solve problems and justify their reasoning.
  • Note connections between one problem and another.

History-Social Science

A CHILD’S PLACE IN TIME AND SPACE

Students in grade one continue a more detailed treatment of 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 examine the geographic and economic aspects of life in their own neighborhoods and compare them to those of people long ago. Students explore the varied backgrounds of American citizens and learn about the symbols, icons, and songs that reflect our heritage.

Students:

  • Describe the rights and individual responsibilities of citizenship.
  • Compare and contrast the absolute and relative locations of people and places and describe the physical and/or human characteristics of places.
  • Know and understand the symbols, icons, and traditions of the United States that provide continuity and a sense of community across time.
  • Compare and contrast everyday life in different times and places around the world and recognize that some aspects of people, places, and things change over time while others stay the same.
  • Describe the human characteristics of familiar places and the varied backgrounds of American citizens and residents in those places.
  • Understand basic economic concepts and the role of individual choice in a free-market economy.

Science

PHYSICAL SCIENCES

  • Students understand that materials come in different forms (states): solids, liquids, and gases.

LIFE SCIENCES

  • Students understand that plants and animals meet their needs in different ways.

EARTH SCIENCES

  • Students understand that weather can be observed, measured, and described.

INVESTIGATION AND EXPERIMENTATION

  • Students understand that scientific progress is made by asking meaningful questions and conducting careful investigations.