First Grade Curriculum
St. James School
2016-2017
St. James School
2016-2017
Religion
Students will explore the life of Jesus through the Gospel and classroom activities. They will be exposed to different ways they can pray. Traditional, simple prayers are learned and grade level liturgies are planned during the year. Students will gain an appreciation for God’s love and presence in their lives. They will recognize that they have a special place in God’s Family.
Reading
Small group instruction and independent reading will be emphasized, along with fluency and comprehension. Students will participate in two Literature Circles during the year to develop the skills needed to analyze and discuss literature.
Some strategies used and skills covered include:
- Analyzing character(s), setting, and plot
- Identifying sequence of events
- Retelling stories
- Identifying the main idea and details
- Forming predictions
- Making inferences
- Drawing conclusions
- Recognizing cause and effect
- Comparing fantasy and reality
Phonics
Students will develop the necessary skills to help them become successful readers through daily phonemic awareness lessons and practice.
Emphasized skills include:
- Long and short vowel patterns
- Blends and diagraphs
- Initial, medial, and final sounds
- Compound words
- Syllables
Word Study - Words Their Way
Students will use a hands-on approach to develop phonics, vocabulary, and spelling skills. On Monday, students will be given a word sort based on their instructional level and will be assessed on the spelling pattern that Friday.
** Here is a great video for a Words Their Way explanation! Please see below!
A word wall will also be taught in the classroom with the First Grade Dolch List (High Frequency Words) to aid students in developing accurate spelling for words used in everyday writing.
Language/Grammar
Parts of Speech will be introduced as students identify nouns, verbs, adjectives, and pronouns. Sentence structure will be a focus of instruction as students write and identify naming and action parts.
Six Trait writing will be introduced in the curriculum. The student will use these traits to express their ideas in various forms of writing throughout the year. Examples of written pieces will be letter writing, descriptive, expository, poems and persuasion.
Handwriting
The proper formation of uppercase and lowercase letters will be emphasized
Math
Students will work towards mastery of concepts covered through structured review and consistent practice.
Concepts covered throughout the year include:
- Writing addition and subtraction sentences
- Fact families through 18
- Adding three numbers
- Addition and subtraction facts to 18
- Addition and subtraction of 2 digit number with and without regrouping
- Skip counting by 2, 5, and 10
- Telling time
- Reading a calendar
- Read and interpret charts and graphs
- Place Value
- Fractions – half and fourth
- Geometry – planes and solid figures
- Measurement
Science
Students will explore the world around them as they are presented through informational nonfiction materials. Through the use of hands-on experiments, students will gain knowledge of the scientific method.
Units covered include:
- Seasons of a tree
- Leaves and trees
- Seasons
- Apples/pumpkins
- Animals
- Matter
- Water cycle
- Plants
- Five senses
- Recycling
- Weather
Social Studies
Students will discover facts about The United States and what makes our country unique. They will explore important events and people while learning about the past, present, and future. Students will also study other countries, bodies of water and land forms around the world.
Units covered include:
- Citizenship
- Christopher Columbus
- Timelines
- Fire Safety
- Thanksgiving
- Pilgrims
- Settlers
- Native Americans
- Land forms