First graders enjoy a wide variety of activities that foster the development of reading, writing and oral communication skills. Manipulatives, objects, and graphics are used frequently to reinforce the understanding of concepts. Students use technology in a variety of activities that support beginning reading, writing, and mathematics. Students learn to use the computer for word processing, drawing pictures, importing graphics, and printing documents. The first grade social studies curriculum focuses on holidays and traditions, geography, important people, rules and consequences, and patriotic symbols.
Students also learn map skills, basic concepts of time, and basic economic concepts.
In science, students investigate concepts related to the interdependence between plants, animals, and seasonal changes through the science units of Fall, Winter and Spring. In health, students learn basic skills to keep them healthy and safe such as preventing the spread of germs, avoiding harmful substances, eating a variety of nutritious foods, and getting exercise and rest. First grade students also have physical education classes three times per week, music classes two times per week, and biweekly art instruction. Students will read books with repetitive texts and learn about sound-symbol relationships. We will focus on beginning and ending sounds and rhyming words.