First Grade

First Grade: Exploring & Discovering

In the fall term students explore water and those who sailed the seas to discover new lands.  In the winter term students study simple machines and learn about civil rights and historic movements on the land. In science, observations of the moon lead them into a study of space exploration.  In the spring, students study flight and those who used that as a mode of exploration.  Trips the First Grade takes to support this learning typically include the following: local walking trips, the South Street Seaport, a planetarium visit, the Transit Museum, and the Central Park Zoo.

We want each child to experience success and confidence in learning to read and write, so we carefully orchestrate the introduction of skills in this foundational year.  This is the year when phonics is fully presented as students learn how to decode written language.  A balanced study of literacy at this level includes reading texts at appropriate levels, writing stories and poems, listening to lengthier works of literature, and speaking articulately about work that is presented to the class. Students begin to reread, revise and proofread their work to improve their understanding and skill.  Writing begins with simple sentences and a daily take home journal, which by the year’s end develops into full pages of writing. 

Mathematics instruction develops a strong sense of number and encourages children to use different strategies to calculate.  Problem solving is a major emphasis.  Numbers and their operations focus on numbers within 100, in which children add, subtract, compare quantities, compose and decompose numbers.  In addition measurement, geometry, statistics and probability are studied. The 100th day of school is fully celebrated.

The year culminates with the First Grade publishing a book of poetry, leading the Pentecost celebration, flying kites at Pier A and participating in the Spring Hudson Hike. 

Summer reading list for incoming First Grade students.