Curriculum Overview

Elementary School Curriculum: First Grade

Fine Arts
The first grade classes are introduced to a variety of media. They experiment with paint, collage, oil pastels, and assemblage while learning the fundamentals of composition. Ethnic and holiday arts projects are integrated into the curriculum.

  • Crayon, marker, colored pencils - line and composition
  • Self- Portraits - facial structure
  • Painting - landscapes and still life subjects
  • Oil Pastel Drawing - basic shapes and abstraction
  • Ethnic Art - cultural diversity

Language Arts
Reading, Phonics, Writing, and Spelling are taught as separate subjects and are applied, reinforced, and integrated into other areas of our first grade program. We follow the Houghton Mifflin curriculum in which children explore, through four basal reading books, a variety of skills and concepts, such as summarizing, sequencing, cause/effect, and determining the main idea of a passage. Additional occasions to experience the joys of the printed page are provided by classroom library carts and books, projects and activities in our school library. Classroom teachers read to students on a daily basis, and a storyteller enthralls first graders during her weekly visits. Computer programs, such as Storybook Weaver, provide story starters for creative writing. Students often culminate their language arts experiences each year by attending a live theater production as well as by performing a classroom play and choral reading production for parents and grandparents. These are some specific areas in language arts that our students learn to do:

  • Listen critically and respond appropriately to oral communication
  • Obtain information and read independently for pleasure
  • Identify and discuss plot, setting, and characters in a story
  • Understand and use correctly age-appropriate conventions of written language, including parts of speech (nouns, verbs, adjectives) and rules of grammar
  • Respond orally and in written form in complete sentences
  • Write a time-order paragraph
  • Write a friendly letter
  • Spell a core of high-frequency sight-words as well as a body of words that follow phonetic patterns

Math
The first grade math program is designed to develop age-appropriate mathematical understanding, knowledge, and skills, and lay a solid foundation for students as they progress to higher levels of math. We use the Scott Foresman-Addison Wesley mathematics curriculum, which is aligned with current National Council of Mathematics standards, at one level above grade level. That is, first graders use the grade two curriculum of this series. This challenging course of study is taught in a comfortable, nurturing setting in which each child is allowed to explore, question, and learn in small groups with meaningful individual guidance and an array of manipulative experiences. First grade is a period in which there is a gradual transition from concrete operations to abstractions in mathematics. Accordingly, we use manipulatives to introduce a concept and encourage continued use until a student is comfortable transitioning to the abstraction of symbols and numbers. Individual clocks with movable hands facilitate telling time for our students, and coin sets and shopping games allow children to have meaningful, hands-on experiences in learning about money. Worksheets and paper and pencil activities are also used daily and are an integral part of the curriculum, affording practice in following printed directions, computation and other critical and appropriate skills. Some of the things that first graders do in Math are:

  • Count, read, and write whole numbers up to 1000
  • Skip count by 2s, 3s, 5s, and 10s
  • Learn addition and subtraction number facts up to 20
  • Make age-appropriate reasonable estimates and predictions
  • Tell time to 5-minute intervals
  • Identify coins and assign monetary value to them; add their value to reach a sum total
  • Recognize, identify, and reproduce fractional parts of a whole shape (1/2, 1/3, 1/4)
  • analyze data and construct a bar graph
  • compare length, weight, and volume of two or more objects by using standard units
  • classify familiar plane and solid objects by common attributes

Music
First graders are exposed to a broad range of musical experiences which include singing, dancing and playing rhythm instruments. They also practice performing and develop knowledge of the basic of music theory. Our many performances throughout the year which include choir, festivals and talent shows, enhance the music curriculum. Children learn that:

  • Music can describe a scene and sound high/low, loud/soft
  • Introduction of String, Woodwind, Brass & Percussions Instruments.
  • Beginning music theory with notes and symbols

Physical Education
This course is designed to reinforce basic movement skills. Movement concepts, numbers, shapes, colors, and rhythmic activities will be emphasis. The students participate in to low-level games, stunts and cooperative activities.

  • Hand-eye/. Hand-foot coordination.
  • Awareness of rightness and leftness
  • Leisure time activities and games
  • Daily physical fitness exercises.
  • Gymnastic stunts and skills
  • Body awareness activities
  • Basic rhythmic movements
  • Throwing, kicking, catching, jumping
  • Elementary group games

Science
We use Houghton Mifflin's Discovery Works, which adheres to national science standards, as the curriculum for our first grade science program, and try to provide as many hands-on experiences as possible for our students. A major component of the first grade science curriculum is an in-depth study of animals in which students learn about their habitats, food, body coverings, and adaptations. We have three field trips to give real-life experiences with animals: Green Meadows Farm in the fall, the Los Angeles Zoo in the early spring, and a year-end on-campus visit from the Blue Submarine, which provides a hands-on presentation with live tidepool animals. Every other year we experience the surroundings of a forest environment on a family overnight trip to our Cedar Lake site in the San Bernardino Mountains. We cover a variety of additional topics in science so that first graders have exposure to concepts of earth and physical science, as well as life science. We encourage reducing, recycling, and reusing year-round with our students. Students learn about good health habits throughout the school year, and enjoy creating balanced meals with toy foods. These are a few of the things that first graders do in the area of science:

  • Learn that different plants and animals inhabit different kinds of environments and have external features that help them thrive in different kinds of places
  • Investigate seeds and plants, and discover that plants have various parts that help them grow, such as roots, stems, and leaves.
  • Understand that soil and rocks are important parts of the land and water system of the earth
  • Observe, measure, and describe weather
  • Discover that eating the right kinds of food and getting enough exercise helps people stay healthy

Social Studies
One of the core concepts in our curriculum, across all grade levels, is developing an appreciation for differences in others and embracing, understanding, and celebrating those differences. In the microcosm of Pilgrim's school community, children experience first hand the differences and similarities of their classmates. Our curriculum is guided by the standards for the National Council for Social Studies; we use People Living in Families as a text. Additionally, students read and discuss topics in the weekly edition of Scholastic News, a national grade-level publication which is keyed to themes that first graders study throughout the year, such as famous American leaders, respect for others and the environment, and current events. Students have many opportunities, both formally and informally, to understand and practice the character traits that society expects, and they learn to value behaviors that contribute to positive relationships. Another of the primary concepts of the first grade social studies curriculum is to develop an understanding of the student's place in space and time. Children begin to learn about early American history and learn about how Native Americans lived. We have a Thanksgiving celebration in which the children make costumes and invite their parents to join them for a feast featuring foods from the diverse makeup of cultures within our classroom. Children also begin to learn about the democratic process and being responsible and socially conscious citizens. They help set rules for their classroom and take turns fulfilling classroom duties. They also develop responsibility toward the school environment by such activities as recycling and helping to keep the campus clean. Some of the skills that first graders exhibit are:

  • Developing rudimentary mapping skills and use cardinal directions (north, south...)
  • Learning the name and location of the continents, major oceans of the world, and other familiar places such as California, New York, and Los Angeles
  • Developing values such as fairness, good sportsmanship and abiding by The Golden Rule
  • Learning about important people and events in American history, such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Washington, Lincoln and Independence Day.
  • Understanding that rules are established for the common good and are a necessary part of group living
  • Participating in community service and recycling projects

Spanish
First graders review words taught in Kindergarten and develop new vocabulary as well. By using puppets, simple conversation is begun at this level.

  • Numbers 1-20
  • Colors
  • Days of the Week
  • Months of the Year
  • Clothes
  • More Basic Greetings
  • Simple conversation

Storytelling
First grade students also have weekly sessions with the storyteller. Stories are longer and more challenging than in kindergarten and progress into chapter books by the end of the school year. Both fiction and nonfiction stories are selected, and students begin to consider the distinction between the two.