Teachers are engaged in daily guided reading, book sharing, independent reading, and read alouds. These activities are designed to provide the children with the necessary literacy skills to decode words and to read with fluency. Developing fundamental mathematical skills and the understanding of patterning is another important aspect of first grade.
Children also spend a considerable amount of time writing to develop emergent writing skills.
In the fall of 1999, the first grade team received an Eisenhower Grant to study five habitats. These habitats include desert, rain forest, ocean, arctic, and forest. Each first grade class at Auburn Elementary School will focus on a different animal group this year. The first graders are studying birds, insects, mammals, fish, reptiles and amphibians. They have adopted a class pet from each of these groups.