First Grade
The first grade curriculum is heavily focused on taking emerging readers, and turning them into readers. The phonics skills and sight words they learned in K5 are expanded and developed in first grade so all students become capable readers while learning to enjoy reading in a group, with a partner, and individually. A direct reading approach is taken so each student is provided with teacher guided instruction each day on comprehension strategies. The reading specialist works with students in the room daily on reading and writing skills in support of the classroom teacher.Writing is worked on daily, as the students go from sounding out words and writing fragments, to spelling all words correctly and making complete thoughts. Towards the end of the year, the students begin to combine thoughts in stories that have a beginning, middle and an end. Students write on a variety of topics and themes throughout the year.Math facts are stressed daily, as students’ progress from their addition facts to their subtraction facts throughout the year. During the year, the students study problem solving, graphing, time, money, place value, geometric shapes and algebraic relationships. Hands-on activities and cooperative learning activities are stressed on a daily basis.
In the first grade, the students are immersed in language skills and development. They are reading books on their level, writing and learning how to break apart sounds to become words. As they become more confident in their reading skills, they are using the text to learn new facts and information. Math facts and number relationships is very important in first grade. Taking this information that we have is then used to solve real-life problems. Yes, math is real!
Second Grade
Third Grade
Third grade is such an exciting year because your child will develop into a more independent learner. Expect your child to take on more responsibility. For example, they will be responsible for writing down homework assignments, completing class work on time, and packing up their own belongings for dismissal.
In our classroom your child will develop a love for reading and writing. Your child will be introduced to different book genres, as well as different places where they can find information, such as newspapers, magazines, or websites. Third graders will also be required to complete more writing assignments, such as science and social studies reports and personal narratives, which will be written using the writing process and the Step Up to Writing program. In addition to reading and writing, your third grader will participate in whole-group, small-group and individual activities during math class. In math, our focus will be to develop a strong foundation for multiplication and division concepts. Other important units of study will include understanding of unit fractions, rectangular arrays and area, and analyzing two-dimensional shapes.