First GradeThe reading program in the first grade utilizes a phonics and literature-based approach. Students learn to read for enjoyment as they are instructed in the basic skills. Reading instruction integrates phonetic awareness, the use of syntax and context clues, and meaning to achieve fluency and comprehension. Analytical skills include selecting the main idea, noting details, sequencing, events, and evaluating and interpreting events in a creative manner. Children practice silent and oral reading daily. Story time exposes students to children's literature as they hear poems and stories, engage in dramatic renditions, write creatively, complete art projects, and participate in other activities, which are related to literature. The language arts program provides students with daily opportunities for listening and speaking through classroom discussions, dramatic plays, sharing, and oral reading. Written language includes penmanship in manuscript handwriting using the Handwriting Without Tears method, spelling, grammar, and composition. Students learn to write simple sentences incorporating appropriate capitalization and punctuation. As skills progress, they write paragraphs and stories. Basic research skills are also introduced at this level. The main goal of the first-grade mathematics program is to introduce the students to place value and basic addition and subtraction facts to 20. Children are encouraged to use manipulatives until they demonstrate the shift from concrete to abstract thinking. Other skills introduced include time, money, measuring, graphing, and fractions. |
