A Day in the Life of a First Grader
In first grade we have a balanced literacy approach and throughout the course of the day implement phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension through all core subject areas.
Reading Workshop-During this time the children participate in large, small and independent group activities to reinforce and practice skills that have been taught during the mini lesson.
In grade one, your child will build important reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills. Students will continue to learn the letters and sounds that make up words. They will think, talk, and write about what they read in stories, articles, and other sources of information. In their writing, students will work on putting together clear sentences on a range of topics using a growing vocabulary. Activities in these areas will include:
Centers- The children have the opportunity to review skills that have been discussed in class. During this time I meet with students in small group, while the other children visit the Computer Center, the Reading Garden, Parent Board Game Center and Writing Center.
Writers Workshop- In first grade the children write personal narratives, informational pieces, letter writing and poetry. Each day the children have the opportunity to work on brainstorming ideas and expressing their ideas through their illustrations or stories they have written.
In addition to writing, the children will have a weekly spelling test. Each Friday the children will have a pretest on the first grade words. If your child gets 100 percent on Monday, he/she will be given challenge words for the week. The challenge words still follow the same rules we are discussing in class but at a more difficult level. The process is then repeated each Friday.
On Monday they will be given their words for that week.
Math- In grade one, students will work with whole numbers and place value—including grouping numbers into tens and ones as they learn to add and subtract up through 100. Students will also use charts, tables, and diagrams to solve problems. Activities in these areas will include:
Science and Social Studies-First Graders conclude their day with Science and Social Studies. Our science curriculum is designed to challenge each learner, instill a sense of wonder, and a passion for understanding the world around them. The science curriculum has been designed to involve the students by:
Lastly, our Social Studies Program is designed to introduce, explore, and learn about the past and present, current events and holidays that is take place within our community and places around us.
Reading Workshop-During this time the children participate in large, small and independent group activities to reinforce and practice skills that have been taught during the mini lesson.
In grade one, your child will build important reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills. Students will continue to learn the letters and sounds that make up words. They will think, talk, and write about what they read in stories, articles, and other sources of information. In their writing, students will work on putting together clear sentences on a range of topics using a growing vocabulary. Activities in these areas will include:
- Building knowledge of letter-sound relationships (phonics)
- Enhancing techniques for decoding words fluently and confidently
- Reading stories and showing they understand the lesson or moral of the story
- Asking and answering questions about a story, including characters, settings, and major events
- Comparing and contrasting the experiences of different characters
- Identifying the reasons an author gives to support a point
- Explaining differences between texts that tell stories and texts that provide information
- Learning and using new words
- Participating in class discussions by listening, responding to what others are saying, and asking questions
- Describing people, places, things, and events, expressing feelings and ideas clearly
- Identifying different features of informational text (such as diagrams) that support the reader
- Finding the main idea of a text and the details that support it
- Learning basic rules of spoken and written English
- Working with others to gather facts and information on a topic
- Writing to describe an event, provide information on a topic, or share an opinion
Centers- The children have the opportunity to review skills that have been discussed in class. During this time I meet with students in small group, while the other children visit the Computer Center, the Reading Garden, Parent Board Game Center and Writing Center.
Writers Workshop- In first grade the children write personal narratives, informational pieces, letter writing and poetry. Each day the children have the opportunity to work on brainstorming ideas and expressing their ideas through their illustrations or stories they have written.
In addition to writing, the children will have a weekly spelling test. Each Friday the children will have a pretest on the first grade words. If your child gets 100 percent on Monday, he/she will be given challenge words for the week. The challenge words still follow the same rules we are discussing in class but at a more difficult level. The process is then repeated each Friday.
On Monday they will be given their words for that week.
Math- In grade one, students will work with whole numbers and place value—including grouping numbers into tens and ones as they learn to add and subtract up through 100. Students will also use charts, tables, and diagrams to solve problems. Activities in these areas will include:
- Quickly and accurately adding numbers together that total up to 20 or less and subtracting from numbers up through 20
- Understanding the rules of addition and subtraction (for example, 5+2=2+5)
- Breaking apart (decomposing) numbers to make addition and subtraction easier and more accurate
- Solving word problems that involve adding or subtracting numbers up through 20
- Understanding what the different digits mean in two-digit numbers (place value)
- Comparing two-digit numbers using the symbols > (more than), = (equal to) , and < (less than)
- Understanding the meaning of the equal sign (=) and determining if statements involving addition and subtraction are true or false (for example, which of the following statements are true? 3+3=6, 4+1=5+2)
- Adding one- and two-digit numbers together
- Measuring the lengths of objects using a shorter object as a unit of length
- Putting objects in order from longest to shortest or shortest to longest
- Organizing objects into categories and comparing the number of objects in different categories
- Dividing circles and rectangles into halves and quarters
Science and Social Studies-First Graders conclude their day with Science and Social Studies. Our science curriculum is designed to challenge each learner, instill a sense of wonder, and a passion for understanding the world around them. The science curriculum has been designed to involve the students by:
- Active and extended investigations
- Collaborative and cooperative experiences
- Critical thinking and problem solving
- Scientific connection across the curriculum
- A balanced scientific concepts and processes.
Lastly, our Social Studies Program is designed to introduce, explore, and learn about the past and present, current events and holidays that is take place within our community and places around us.