First Grade Learning Expectations for
Reading
*Goals that students are expected to develop and maintain through the school year.
Reading Goals
1. The student understands and uses different skills and strategies to read.
2. The student understands the meaning of what is read.
3. The student reads different materials for a variety of purposes.
4. The students set goals and self evaluates progress to improve reading.
In First Grade we have an in depth core curriculum. We use the Scott Foresman Reading Street program. We have a block of 90 minutes per day we devote to this program. I do guided reading as well as whole group activities to enhance the core lesson of the week. Work Stations are used to expand on the main idea. These stations are open on a rotation basis; students are given the opportunity to complete center work in one week.
My curriculum focuses on high frequency words (these are words we use frequently on a daily basis), phonemic awareness, phonics (sounding out words) and vocabulary skill building activities and writing applications relating to our objective for the week.
Decodable books are sent home once a week along with the reader going home 2 times per week. Each week we learn 10 spelling words and two high-frequency words. We test every Friday.
**We assess with DIBELS, Accelerated Reading, and unit tests. We also test after each story in our reader.
First Grade
Handwriting Goals
Handwriting without Tears is the curriculum used for handwriting. Each student has a student workbook. One to two letters per week are introduced and used in writing.
Writing Expectations
1. The student writes clearly and effectively.
Concept and Design
· Writes about an idea
· Begins to show sequence of ideas
Style
· Begins to write about experiences and feelings
Conventions
· Uses correct letter formation
· Uses correct spacing
· Uses correct spelling of age-level words
· Uses phonetic spelling
· Uses complete sentences
· Begins sentences with capital letters and ends with correct punctuation
· Produces a legible product
2. The student writes in a variety of forms for different audiences and purposes.
· Writes for different purposes (e.g. to respond, to describe, to imagine)
3. The student understands the writing process.
· Generates ideas or brainstorms with assistance (pre-write)
· Writes using own vocabulary and spelling (draft)
· Corrects errors with assistance (revision)
· Reads back own writing to collect input from others
4. The student analyzes and evaluates the effectiveness of written work.
· Talks with peers about own writing and shares.
First Grade Expectations for
Language Arts
Print Awareness
1. Focus on proper grammar, word use, punctuation, word endings and compound words
2. Ability to read left to right, from top to bottom
3. Match spoken word to print
Phonics/Decoding
1. Use short and long vowel patterns, CVC exp. Mad
2. R-Controlled vowel patterns exp. er in fern, ir =“r” in bird and ur =”r” in turn
3. Use blends, digraphs and dipthongs. Blends-fl,tr,sl,sm,sn,bl,gr and str. Digraphs-sh,th,wh. Dipthongs-oi,oy,ou and ow.
Phonological./Phonemic Awareness
1. Create and state group of rhyming words (bat, cat, mat, sat)
2. Count syllables in a word
3. Segment and blend the phonemes of one-syllable words
Bat (b/a/t)
Grammar Usage
1. Nouns
2. Verbs
3. Adjectives
4. Singular and plural nouns
5. Singular possessive pronouns
6. Present and past tense verbs
7. Contractions
8. Compound Words
Mechanics
· Students are expected to demonstrate language mechanics in
writing.
Example: Capitalize the first word of a sentence along with names of people, places, major holidays, days of week, months of year and the pronoun “I.”
Punctuation
· Students are expected to correctly use periods and basic punctuation marks.
Sentence Structure
· Students are expected to write in complete sentences using a noun and verb in each sentence.
Spelling
· Students are expected to spell 3 and 4 letter words and grade level high frequency words.
First Grade Learning Expectations for Math
*First Grade will cover problem solving, act out situations, understand a problem and devise a plan to solve problems.
Math includes
· Reasoning
· Representation with tables, manipulatives, graphs, counters, pictures, tally marks, number sentences, geometric models and patterns
· Number Sense
tens/ones, place value
Reading and writing numerals to 100
Count objects by ones, twos, fives and tens
· Investigate concepts of fractional parts-halves, thirds, fourths
· Concepts of addition and subtraction
Uses counters and cubes to construct addition and subtraction facts through 10
Perform addition by joining sets of objects and subtraction by separating and by comparing sets of objects
Work with estimation
Geometric Properties
· Sort and identify congruent shapes
Measurement
· Tell time on digital and analog clocks to hour and half hour
· Identify and name value of pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, half dollar and dollar
· Use calendar to develop concepts of days, weeks, and months
Data Analysis
· Use grids, pictures and numbers to collect and analyze data common to everyday life. (Color of shoes, favorite foods, color, number of pets)
First Grade
Learning Expectations for
Science
Process & Inquiry
· Learning through observation and measure
· Learning how to classify and establish order
· Learning through experimentation, prediction, and investigation
Physical Science
· Concentrate on the five senses
· Focus on properties of objects (how they can be observed, described and measured)
· Scientific word use of physical properties (size, color, shape and texture)
· The process of water being classified as a liquid or solid and the properties of matter
Life Science
· Plants and Animals
· Basic needs for survival (air, water and food) plants need light
Earth & Space Science
· Changes in the Earth and sky(natural changes, movement of the sun and changes like the weather)
· Earth Day (taking care of Earth) recycling
· Weather changes from day to day and over the seasons (how sun warms the land, air, and water)
· Measuring weather by temperature
· Describing cloud formations
· Solar System
First Grade Learning Expectations for
Social Studies
· Self, families and traditions(patriotic traditions and events as related to history and the people associated with those holidays)
· World celebrations
· Diversity of cultures (different homes, languages, food and clothing)
· Basic Needs of all people (food, clothing, shelter) how people can meet their own needs (farming, trade, earning money)
· Careers
· Map skills(home neighborhood, community, city, state, country)
· Cardinal direction on a map (NSEW) up/down, left/right, birds eye view (aerial)
· Globe and atlas review
· Continents & bodies of water, land masses
· Features of neighborhood and communities as they relate to history, economics and geography
· Timelines, visual images
· Urban vs. rural communities (city life vs. country life)
· Citizenship skills
First Grade Learning Expectations for
Visual Art
Language of Art
· Collage, design, original, portrait, paint, subject
Elements
· Line, color, shape, form, texture, value and space
Principles of Design
· Rhythm, balance, contrast, movement, emphasis (center of interest) and repetition
Art history of culture
· View various art prints
· Discuss how art reflects a culture
Use art expression
· Primary and secondary colors and use
· Drawing, painting and sculpting
· Self expression