First Grade Curriculum Overview
 

Students begin the year building a love for reading by developing reading routines and strategies that lay the foundation for decoding and comprehension skills. First graders gather for  lessons with targeted teaching points that they can apply to their books during independent and small group reading times. Teachers confer with children during this time to support individual needs. Students also meet in differentiated small groups to work on specific decoding, word attack strategies, and various comprehension skills, such as making connections, retelling, inferring, predicting, understanding the author’s purpose and asking questions. Shared reading activities are utilized to reinforce phonics, fluency, and sight word recognition skills. Irregular spelling patterns, phonics rules, and sight words are focused upon during word study and students are encouraged to apply these skills to their texts while reading. 

Our writing workshop model includes a mini lesson, modeling, independent writing,  writing conferences, and skills and strategy small group work. Students learn to plan, draft, revise, edit and publish their work. Families are invited to Publishing Parties to celebrate students’ writing accomplishments throughout the year. There is a focus on developing each student’s writing stamina and individual voice. Handwriting is practiced weekly using the Handwriting Without Tears curriculum.

Focus Areas of Instruction:

• Phonics
  • Spelling
  • Decoding
  • Word Attack Skills
• Word Study/Sight Words
• Morphology
• Language Conventions and Mechanics
• Reading Stamina
• Fluency
• Comprehension
• Vocabulary
• Handwriting
• Writing Across Genres
  • Opinion
  • Information
  • Narrative
• Stages of the Writing Process
  • Prewriting, Drafting, Revising, Editing and Publishing
     

In 1st grade, students continue the Singapore Math program and engage in a rigorous curriculum focused on critical thinking and developing multiple strategies for solving problems. Mastery of these skills is achieved through intentional sequencing of concepts. The approach includes the CPA (Concrete-Pictorial-Abstract) progression, number bonds, bar modeling and mental math.

Students learn to think mathematically, use models of representation and draw on the depth of knowledge fostered in previous lessons. Students continue to strengthen their understanding of number sense: using and understanding numbers, knowing the relative value of numbers, using numbers in flexible ways while adding and subtracting, and knowing how to use various strategies when counting and solving real-world problems.

In 1st grade, students learn about scientific inquiry, hypotheses, experimentation and the evaluation of data. They are given opportunities to take part in practical experiments, pose questions, make observations and record their findings. Science learning is focused on air, weather and the moon, nutrition, body systems and life cycles. Students follow the egg-to-chick life cycle, tracking the real-life development and growth of chicks they hatch and raise in their classrooms.

In social studies, students focus on the different elements of a community. Units of study explore the crucial components (“needs”) and recreational desires (“wants”) of a community, as well as the complex ways its members interact and depend on each other. Students delve into the various institutions and systems that make up a neighborhood and study how these systems may differ between urban, suburban, and rural environments. Our block study supports these explorations. As first graders develop their understanding through creating realistic features and details of a neighborhood, they begin to explore the systems that support the community’s health and wellbeing, like food and transportation.

In 1st grade, students practice being community members, learners and caring friends. We explore feelings, friendship, problem-solving skills, and more to help foster social and emotional growth. Our first graders learn about identity, diversity, justice and action. A range of topics are covered, including anti-bias,multicultural and social justice issues that are tailored to our students' needs. 

First grade topics include:

• Feelings
• Friendship
• Problem-solving
• Identity
• Teamwork
• Inclusion
• Empathy
• Active Listening
   

In the youngest grades, assessment of young children's progress and achievements is ongoing, purposeful, strategic, and reflective. Observation, documentation of learning moments, and conferencing with children individually offers them opportunities to engage in meaningful experiences where they are able to apply their knowledge and skills and share their thinking.
 

In addition to local neighborhood walks to transportation hubs like the light rail, PATH station, Citi Bike hubs, and train and bus station, we also take walking trips to nearby stores. During the third trimester, students take community field trips to venues such as Chelsea Market, Alstede Farms and New York City Theaters.