Grade 1 Program

V. GRADE 1 PROGRAM

Grade 1 Program LANGUAGE ARTS – NURTURING THE LOVE OF READING AND WRITING The Grade 1 Language Arts Program provides systematic, explicit skills instruction that includes phonemic awareness (sounds in spoken words), phonics, decoding, and word recognition, as well as practice with sight-word vocabulary. Writing is viewed as a form of communication. Students are encouraged to write frequently and as independently as they are able.

Reading is connected and intertwined within the entire Academic Program in order to make it more meaningful. Reading and the other components of language arts are taught through whole class instruction, small reading groups, and individually. Opportunities for reading a wide range of texts such as fiction, nonfiction, and poetry occur throughout the day. The primary goal is to develop enthusiastic, independent, and reflective readers.

Creative writing is practiced daily in the form of journals or assigned topics. Students write in different genres, in both fiction and non-fiction. In the process of writing, students generate topics, research when appropriate, pre-write, draft, revise, edit, and share with others. The understanding gained as students write supports the process of learning to read.

Texts and Instructional Materials

Students continue to go through different stages in spelling. They begin with “invented spelling” which is a stepping-stone to conventional spelling. The spelling program uses a multi-sensory approach, which enables students to learn and retain material presented through various games and activities. They apply multiple strategies to help them incorporate these spelling skills to their written work.

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“Recipe for Reading,” “The Alphabet Series” “Handwriting Without Tears,” by Olson and Knagston “Primary Phonics” Workbooks A & B Steck-Vaughn Phonics Readers Modern Curriculum Press – Very First Chapters Scholastic phonics chapter books Scholastic News Non-fiction reader Phonics reader Trade books Big books Poetry books Various skill-based games and activities Teacher-created materials

When children have a medley of tools at their disposal, they are better able to approach reading and other tasks with a greater sense of comfort and confidence.

Students in Grade 1 learn basic capitalization and punctuation skills as they develop expanded sentences and simple paragraphs. Students are given daily lessons in handwriting, where they are taught to print manuscript letters using proper formation and spacing. Language-rich activities using a wide variety of reading materials ensure that all students develop the skills to become fluent readers, writers, listeners, speakers, and thinkers. The specific reading concepts and skills developed in Grade 1 are decoding, vocabulary, word structure, comprehension, study skills, and fluency.

2012- 2013 Lower School Program Guide

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V. GRADE 1 PROGRAM

MATH – DEVELOPING THE UNDERSTANDING OF NUMBERS AND THE ABILITY TO MANIPULATE THEM Skills such as mental math, problem solving, investigating, and predicting are emphasized and applied every day. Math is not taught as an isolated subject; instead, math becomes part of the daily ongoing routine of the classroom. It is integrated into other subject areas such as Social Studies and Science.

Students are exposed to mathematical concepts through the use of manipulatives and hands-on activities. They learn to work cooperatively in a group as well as individually. Building on many concepts gained in Kindergarten, students begin the transition from concrete toward more abstract activities. Students continue to reinforce and practice important basic skills such as place value, number patterns, and skipcounting.

To help students develop strategies to solve whole number operations of addition and subtraction, they are introduced to the “More Than Memory” program.

This program introduces strategies for addition so children are not expected to rely solely on memory.

They learn conceptual relationships of the facts to each other. They also learn to add and subtract twodigit numbers, with and without regrouping. Students learn addition and subtraction using number bonds, fact families, and new math vocabulary, and translate word problems into addition and subtraction compu tations. They use mathematical reasoning to solve problems and make connections between one problem and another.

In addition, students explore the following math concepts through a wide range of manipulatives and games: estimating; graphing; measuring; telling time to the hour and the half hour; identifying simple fractional parts; and identifying various coins, as well as adding coins of different values. They learn to combine values of coins to one dollar and learn to create and interpret simple graphs. Students are introduced to geometry skills and identify plane and solid figures and describe them by common attribute. Students also model and identify groups of tens and ones to 100, and work out multiplication facts within 40 by repeated addtion, sharing, and the grouping concept of division.

2012- 2013 Lower School Program Guide

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Singapore Primary Math Math manipulatives – Unifix cubes, learning links, 100 chart, pattern blocks, geoboards, tangrams, counting beans, number line, teaching clocks, solid figures and plane figures, calendars, coins, wipe-off boards, and various math games, activities, and books.

“More Than Memory” workbooks and flash cards Teacher-created materials

SOCIAL STUDIES – EMBRACING CULTURAL DIFFERENCES Students are fascinated by the world around them and excited by their increasing ability to accept responsibility. The Grade 1 program allows children to explore diversity in a variety of units and ongoing experiences that cover respect, tolerance, and an appreciation of different countries/cultures, language, music, religion, food, customs, etc.

Children study a variety of multi-disciplinary units, including: ourselves/friendship; Native Americans; Japan; China; Africa; Russia; stories around the world; and holiday celebrations around the world.

Children also learn about historical figures, including Presidents, famous African Americans, and notable women. These units offer children opportunities to develop an awareness of diverse social groups and how they interact. They also learn about other cultures and countries and compare them to their own experiences.

The main focus of the program is to learn how 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 learn to understand the concept of reading a map, and apply simple geographical terms.

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Various trade books and poetry books Scholastic Magazine Maps, atlases, and globes Computer/Internet activities Teacher-created materials Music CDs 13

V. GRADE 1 PROGRAM

SCIENCE – LIFE SCIENCE AND EARTH SCIENCE Throughout the Science Program, children investigate and make sense of the natural world and the universe, and their part in it. The program provides all students with hands-on opportunities for self-discovery. They learn to organize their ideas and to use higher level thinking to solve problems. They also apply scientific knowledge to real life situations.

The process skills used throughout the program are predicting, classifying, graphing, observing, recording data, and comparing. They identify, sort, count, make predictions, compare, classify, and graph results from their experiments. Each topic is introduced in a large group setting. Subsequent activities are geared toward cooperative learning groups and small groups, as well as individual learning centers.

The following thematic units are integrated throughout the program: the solar system, health and nutrition, the body and organs, water and weather, and insects. Students learn about these topics through experiments, observations, and hands-on activities.

The weekly science lab introduces children to the scientific method and provides them with the opportunity to conduct experiments and to apply information learned during class discussions.

Throughout the program, students continue to learn that living things grow, change, are diverse, are interdependent, and interact with the changing environment. Students also apply reading, writing, predicting, measuring, and communication skills to real-world situations. Students generate graphs, create stories or poems, and write or orally report their observations.

Students learn to appreciate and explore the environment and form a lasting appreciation of the world around them.

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Trade books Poetry books Big books Scholastic Magazine Computer/Internet activities Teacher-created materials

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