First Grade Curriculum
Welcome to first grade! We would like to give you a brief overview of the
curriculum we will cover during this school year.
Literacy
Balanced Literacy:
 Shared reading: Together the class reads a story working on phonic skills,
reading strategies and comprehension skills.
 Word Study: Work on letter sounds, blending, spelling, and high frequency
words.
 Guided reading: The teacher works with small groups using leveled books.
 Read aloud: The teacher demonstrates proficient reading in a variety of
genres.
 Independent reading: Students read texts at his or her independent level.
 Shared writing: Together the class writes a story using the writing process.
 Independent writing: Students practice at his or her independent level.
Reader’s Workshop:
 Mini-lesson: The teaching point or lesson is taught in a 10-minute lesson.
Sometimes it is a new lesson and other times we deepen our understanding
of a past skill. Within the units, students learn about: making connections,
inferring, questioning, synthesizing and more!
 Independent reading: Students are reading books at their level. We build
our reading time up to 45 minutes.
 Conferring and guided reading: The teacher is working with individual
students or small groups while other students are independently reading.
 Share: The teacher or students may share what they have read about in
connection to the mini-lesson.
 Partner reading: Students read with partners and talk about their books.
 Units we cover:
o Readers build good habits using strategies
o Word detectives use all they know to solve words
o Learning about the world by reading
o Readers get to know the characters in books
o Readers can be their own teachers: working hard to figure out the
tricky words and parts in books
o Reading across genres to learn about a topic: informational books,
stories, poems
o Dramatizing characters and deepening our comprehension in reading
clubs
Writer’s Workshop:
 Mini-lesson: The teaching point is taught in a 10-minute lesson. Sometimes
it is a new lesson and other times we deepen our understanding of a past
skill.
 Independent writing: Students work on multiple writing components at
their own pace: writing a new story, adding illustrations, continuing to work
on an old story, or editing their stories.
 Conferring and guided reading: The teacher is working with individual
students or small groups while students are working independently.
 Share: The teacher or students may share what they are writing in
connection to the mini-lesson.
 Author Celebration: We have a celebration at the end of each unit. This
includes sharing our published stories with each other and with others in
the building.
 Units we cover:
o Small moments
o Non-fiction chapter books
o Writing reviews
o From scene to series
Assessments:
 Benchmark Assessment System (BAS): Students read one-on-one with the
teacher to determine the level of books students should read
independently and during instructional time.
 Observations taken from whole group and one-on-one.
 Records from guided reading groups and conferring with students.
 Writing work samples.
 Words Their Way– Students independently write the words the instructor
reads to them.
 Letter ID/Letter Sound Fluency and Oral Reading Fluency: using FAST
 Performance based assessments
Home Expectations:
 Students should be reading from their take-home book bags every night for
15 minutes.
 Encourage your child to practice reading independently using their reading
strategies.
 Practice weekly sight words.
 Encourage your child to write stories, books, poems, letter, etc.
Math
Our district uses a math curriculum titled Math Expressions. The first few units are
designed to review and strengthen concepts taught in Kindergarten.
Math Units:
 Early number activities
 Operations and simple equations
 Story problem strategies
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Basic ten-structured concepts
Ten-structured applications
Comparisons and data formats
Fractions, circle graphs, and clocks
Money and 2-digit addition
Analyze story problems
Measurement, rounding, and shapes
Assessments:
 Unit tests
 Quick Quizzes throughout each unit.
 Observations taken from whole group and one-on-one.
Home expectations:
 Students should be completing their daily homework sheets and returning
them to school.
 Watch for family letters that will be coming home throughout each unit
explaining what your child is learning.
Health
Units we cover:
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Fire prevention
Feelings
Germs/Medicine
Ways to stay healthy
Dental Health
Anatomy
Science
Our science curriculum is hands on inquiry using FOSS kits.
Units we teach:
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Air and Weather
Solids and Liquids
Plants
StarLab
Social Studies
Units we teach:
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My school, my community
Work in the community
Looking at our world
Traditions we share
Our past, our present
Art
Skills we practice:
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Lines
Color mixing
Tints and shades
Drawing
Water coloring
Cutting