In first grade, everything we do is centered around reading because along with reading comes the ability to communicate well.

Our curriculum is designed for students to take risks and be successful. We challenge first graders to think critically and persevere until skills are mastered. An overview of the first grade core curriculum follows. If you desire particulars of the entire curriculum, please click on the Curriculum Map.

Bible

First students “discover the dots” of the Old Testament. This means that they are introduced to the major characters and stories of the Old Testament. During these years, lessons and memory verses focus primarily on objective information while students begin to familiarize themselves with the primary characters in the Biblical story.

Language Arts

In first grade language arts, our students develop critical thinking skills as they begin to use their knowledge and experiences to understand what they read and how to draw conclusions. Students also develop their ideas through written expression along with sentence structure skills, mechanics, and grammar.

Mathematics

First grade students are taught mathematics utilizing a research-based curriculum called Everyday Math. The Everyday Math program is a spiral curriculum, which visits content strands more than once during a school year. The content strands remain consistent from grade to grade, while increasing in the degree of difficulty in an age-appropriate manner. Each grade level has grade-specific goals tied to the content strands.

Science

The science program in junior kindergarten through 1st grade incorporates a variety of hands-on experiments along with some fact-finding time in each grade level. The subject areas taught are arranged in a two-year rotation with Life Science taught one year and Physical/Earth Science taught the next. Content and activities vary according to grade level.

Social Studies

The first grade social studies program emphasizes listening and emergent reading and writing skills. Content areas addressed are: neighborhoods, cities, and states; history of the establishment of national holidays; and United States symbols.

What is your favorite thing about first grade?

"I love it when our buddies come and we play Math games together."

"I loved learning about magnets and doing experiments to test if different things were metal or not."

"I loved learning about Monet and painting the bridge."