1st Grade

The Arts provide an opportunity for students to explore ideas and express thoughts and emotions. Over their time in the Lower School, they develop skills in music, woodshop, and visual arts. 

Woodshop

In woodshop, students learn general shop protocols and tool safety while basic tools, including with hammers, saws, and drills. They practice proper ergonomic use of hand tools including body position, alignment to work, and repetitive body logistics. Students engage in group and independent projects learning to create a design plan, select materials, sequencing of construction, learn about wood finishes, and clean up practices. 

Visual Arts

Students explore, experiment and communicate while practicing to explore the visual arts. Inspired by other artists, the world around them, and their own imaginations, they engage with various mediums including drawing, painting, paper arts, clay, printmaking and fiber arts. 

Music

Based in the Orff music education tradition, music  provides time for students to express themselves through sounds and movement. Inspired by artists across cultures and by their own musicality, students practice both ensemble and individual musical skills. They learn concepts of rhythm, tone, and pitch by playing instruments such as the xylophone, glockenspiel, and marimba.

In first grade, students develop a joy for reading and writing by building skills and developing confidence. They work within their zone of development, choosing texts of interest, working on spelling that challenges them at their level, and expressing themselves in a variety of writing genres. The development of phonemic awareness and decoding skills are closely monitored and early intervention is provided to students who need additional support. 

Reading

• Shared Reading: Teachers read picture and chapter books that are beyond what readers can access independently, so children experience complex language and stories. Through these read-alouds, students practice comprehension strategies, engage in discussions, and share their thinking as they listen and respond to texts.
• Guided Reading Groups: Students work in small groups that change throughout the year based on their ability and zone of reading development. Students are supported in using text features, context, and phonics strategies to decode and recognize words and make meaning of texts.
• Independent Reading: Students are guided to select books that provide challenge and enjoyment, promoting their confidence, providing opportunities to practice strategies they have learned in reading groups, encouraging genre exploration, and inspiring their desire to continue reading.

Writing

First graders engage in writing across genres, including expository, narrative, poetry, and fiction, as well as writing within other subject areas. Writer’s Workshop begins with a mini-lesson and is followed with opportunities for guided practice, independent practice, and the sharing of stories. First graders draft, revise, and edit, and then publish.

Word Study

Spelling instruction is differentiated to support students as they are developing as readers and writers.

First graders gain conceptual understanding and discover what they can do with mathematics by engaging with concepts through the lens of the mathematician. Students begin to use more abstract thinking, connecting numbers and operations to symbols. Tools and manipulatives are used as hands-on materials to help guide and support learning. Students engage in math discussions within their community while learning to think about their own thinking and that of their peers. 

Big Ideas in First Grade

• Working with data
• Addition and subtraction
• Story problems
• Addition and Subtraction fluency within 10 and making ten as strategies to compose and decompose numbers up to 100
• Understanding the Place Value System as groups of 10 (ones and tens)
• Measurement, Time, Halves and Quarters, and Solid Shapes

During the first weeks of first grade, students explore both Mandarin Chinese and Spanish. After students have time in both classes, families share their preference and language class placements are made. Generally, students study the same language throughout their time in the Beginning and Lower School. They acquire cultural understanding and build a foundation for language acquisition and fluency. Students are immersed in situations where they develop language skills by drawing on their own experiences to engage in conversations with the teacher and peers. Through movement, song, play, art, conversation, and oral and written activities they begin to learn to listen, speak, read and write in their studied language. 

Students are empowered to develop their own investigatable questions, driving their curiosity and exploration as they conduct experiments and uncover answers through active inquiry and discovery. Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) Science and Engineering Practices are used to promote deeper understanding and engagement in scientific learning. Throughout the year, students engage in studies of physical science, life science, earth and space science, and engineering and technology. 

Questions explored in first grade include

• Who am I as a scientist?
• How can I predict patterns in the sky?
• How do light and sound help me communicate with others?
• How can scientists use what they see in nature to solve problems?

First grade students are challenged to focus outwardly, examining ideas and concerns beyond the classroom. The work is centered around the theme of animal conservation, with students exploring conservation issues and conducting their own research on species, habitats and conservationists.

Practicing Democracy

The first grade year begins with the democratic selection of classroom mascots. This exercise introduces students to two concepts that will inform instruction and study throughout the year: building community through equity; their connection to animals and the natural world.

Developing a Worldview

As students begin to consider issues in the wider world, they develop skills and empathy that become the foundation for more expansive areas of study. They gain an understanding about the ways they can make a difference. They are encouraged to look inward. Exploring who they are as individuals, how they can support and care for people and the world around them, and what they need to be their best selves within the classroom environment and greater world community.

Students engage in wellness classes in the Mini Gym and indoor Tennis Court 1. Our holistic approach to Wellness helps children develop habits for healthy living that will last across their lives. Children develop skills across four domains:

Physical

• Moving body is various ways; developing gross motor skills
• Understanding what helps a body perform well

Mental

• Noticing what causes emotions and stress
• Developing a toolbelt of strategies to regulate emotions and stress

Intellectual

• Trying new activities
• Using strategies in games
• Reflecting on progress

Social

• Working with others in productive ways
• Being a good sport
• Showing appreciation for others