1st grade with mrs. hungerford...
Enthusiastic, curious, serious thinkers, compassionate, light-hearted and truthful, is what fills the seats of a First Grade class. The curriculum for these young learners must be engaging, challenging, hands on, creative and inspiring.
First Grade curriculum combines academics with student participation to make the learning experience - one that will give them a strong base to build on throughout their primary and elementary years.
Our Language Arts has a strong foundation in phonics and writing. Daily, the students attend the English Language Arts Computer Lab. This ELA lab is equipped with over 25 computers, a listening center, writing center, work area with 10 headphones and MP3 players, poster size word banks, individual word banks and word wheels and story starters. These ELA tools change monthly with varying unit themes that coincide with First Grade themed units. The format of this lab follows Writing to Read Program. This program combines phonics with writing. The students spend 15 minutes at each center-computer, work journal, writing or typing, make words or the listening library. Students develop a solid base of "sounding out" words to become strong spellers. They begin to blend their spelling skills with “book spelling” and start self-editing their own spelling. In the Computer Lab students are encouraged to write creatively and independently allowing them the self-confidence they need. The ELA lab has other LA computer programs that continue to build on the LA skills. These are also available for the First graders to access.
The students have a Reader, Language, Speller, Phonics and Printing book that are also used in class. Grammar rules and parts of speech are incorporated in these subjects. They learn how to write a story with a beginning, middle, and an ending. We read and discuss stories to help develop reading concepts such as comprehension, cause and effect, critical thinking, context clues, etc. The concepts and skills mastered here are combined with their writing skills in the Computer Lab. Vowels, consonants, digraphs and blends help develop their skills for decoding words and “word attack”. To assist with those students that need improvement in reading fluency, two volunteers come and read daily with this group.
Mathematics is combined with everyday Math concepts. Every morning a student leads the class in everyday Math activities-calendar, telling time, counting money, the number line, tallies, place value sticks, measuring, temperature, etc. They keep a Math journal, where daily, they solve a few problems.
In Math, we cover addition and subtraction facts to twenty, turnarounds, family of facts, data and graphing, money, word problems, etc. We have interactive lessons to emphasize certain Math concepts with role-playing for word problems, and Math songs to remember the vital steps. Math manipulates, and individual white boards are used for quick assessments and to assist the visual learners. Every Friday, a timed test is given on basic addition and subtraction facts.
Religion is a major part of our First Grade curriculum and daily life. The children learn that faith is not just a subject, but relates to every aspect of their lives. They learn daily prayers, the Rosary, Bible stories, the true meaning of Advent and Lent, various lives of saints, and other major religious holy days. They are taught to act like Jesus would when they are on the playground, interacting with friends, and respect for adults and each other. First graders also take part in presenting prayer services for the school. The class presents Stations of the Cross that is an age appropriate version for the entire school community. Included during the year, is a field trip to the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels where they learn about their faith and faith traditions.
Another important aspect of our Catholic Faith is to teach the children how to become good Disciples of Christ by helping others. In October, we have them participate in the Crib Project during Respect Life Month. They collect baby items and send positive notes to the mothers-to-be. In November, the class participates in the school food drive. They also make Thanksgiving placemats for the parish’s annual Thanksgiving dinner. In December, the class Christmas carols at a nearby retirement home and make Christmas cards. During Lent we participate in the Rice Bowl project and Soup Nights.
Social Studies and Science are included in the curriculum. In Social Studies, we study communities and neighborhoods, customs of our diverse cultures, national holidays, famous leaders of our country, and current affairs. We use various supplemental texts including the weekly Scholastic News. In Science, we learn about plant and animal life, animal habitats, weather and seasons, the Earth, recycling and how to take care of the environment. A variety of non-fiction books and supplemental text are applied. Projects such as diorama of an animal habitat coincide with the lesson.
There are many opportunities and places where children can learn outside the classroom. Field trips are important to the curriculum. We visit a working farm for our unit on plants and the Aquarium of the Pacific as a hands-on lesson for our unit on animal habitats.
Included also in our studies is Health and Safety. We learn about eating nutritious foods, good hygiene, and staying healthy through good habits. “Manners Matter” teaches manners, politeness and good etiquette. We study Safety Rules to follow, and what to do in case of a fire or earthquake. We have a firefighter demonstrate Fire Safety for us. Often, police officers come and teach the children about safety and the dangers of strangers.
The First Grade has an aide assigned to the class. She assists with classroom management and when any students are in need of extra instruction.
The Resource teacher assists in the Computer Lab with First Grade daily. She also tutors once a week for an hour, to any First grader below grade level in Reading or Math.
First Grade curriculum combines academics with student participation to make the learning experience - one that will give them a strong base to build on throughout their primary and elementary years.
Our Language Arts has a strong foundation in phonics and writing. Daily, the students attend the English Language Arts Computer Lab. This ELA lab is equipped with over 25 computers, a listening center, writing center, work area with 10 headphones and MP3 players, poster size word banks, individual word banks and word wheels and story starters. These ELA tools change monthly with varying unit themes that coincide with First Grade themed units. The format of this lab follows Writing to Read Program. This program combines phonics with writing. The students spend 15 minutes at each center-computer, work journal, writing or typing, make words or the listening library. Students develop a solid base of "sounding out" words to become strong spellers. They begin to blend their spelling skills with “book spelling” and start self-editing their own spelling. In the Computer Lab students are encouraged to write creatively and independently allowing them the self-confidence they need. The ELA lab has other LA computer programs that continue to build on the LA skills. These are also available for the First graders to access.
The students have a Reader, Language, Speller, Phonics and Printing book that are also used in class. Grammar rules and parts of speech are incorporated in these subjects. They learn how to write a story with a beginning, middle, and an ending. We read and discuss stories to help develop reading concepts such as comprehension, cause and effect, critical thinking, context clues, etc. The concepts and skills mastered here are combined with their writing skills in the Computer Lab. Vowels, consonants, digraphs and blends help develop their skills for decoding words and “word attack”. To assist with those students that need improvement in reading fluency, two volunteers come and read daily with this group.
Mathematics is combined with everyday Math concepts. Every morning a student leads the class in everyday Math activities-calendar, telling time, counting money, the number line, tallies, place value sticks, measuring, temperature, etc. They keep a Math journal, where daily, they solve a few problems.
In Math, we cover addition and subtraction facts to twenty, turnarounds, family of facts, data and graphing, money, word problems, etc. We have interactive lessons to emphasize certain Math concepts with role-playing for word problems, and Math songs to remember the vital steps. Math manipulates, and individual white boards are used for quick assessments and to assist the visual learners. Every Friday, a timed test is given on basic addition and subtraction facts.
Religion is a major part of our First Grade curriculum and daily life. The children learn that faith is not just a subject, but relates to every aspect of their lives. They learn daily prayers, the Rosary, Bible stories, the true meaning of Advent and Lent, various lives of saints, and other major religious holy days. They are taught to act like Jesus would when they are on the playground, interacting with friends, and respect for adults and each other. First graders also take part in presenting prayer services for the school. The class presents Stations of the Cross that is an age appropriate version for the entire school community. Included during the year, is a field trip to the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels where they learn about their faith and faith traditions.
Another important aspect of our Catholic Faith is to teach the children how to become good Disciples of Christ by helping others. In October, we have them participate in the Crib Project during Respect Life Month. They collect baby items and send positive notes to the mothers-to-be. In November, the class participates in the school food drive. They also make Thanksgiving placemats for the parish’s annual Thanksgiving dinner. In December, the class Christmas carols at a nearby retirement home and make Christmas cards. During Lent we participate in the Rice Bowl project and Soup Nights.
Social Studies and Science are included in the curriculum. In Social Studies, we study communities and neighborhoods, customs of our diverse cultures, national holidays, famous leaders of our country, and current affairs. We use various supplemental texts including the weekly Scholastic News. In Science, we learn about plant and animal life, animal habitats, weather and seasons, the Earth, recycling and how to take care of the environment. A variety of non-fiction books and supplemental text are applied. Projects such as diorama of an animal habitat coincide with the lesson.
There are many opportunities and places where children can learn outside the classroom. Field trips are important to the curriculum. We visit a working farm for our unit on plants and the Aquarium of the Pacific as a hands-on lesson for our unit on animal habitats.
Included also in our studies is Health and Safety. We learn about eating nutritious foods, good hygiene, and staying healthy through good habits. “Manners Matter” teaches manners, politeness and good etiquette. We study Safety Rules to follow, and what to do in case of a fire or earthquake. We have a firefighter demonstrate Fire Safety for us. Often, police officers come and teach the children about safety and the dangers of strangers.
The First Grade has an aide assigned to the class. She assists with classroom management and when any students are in need of extra instruction.
The Resource teacher assists in the Computer Lab with First Grade daily. She also tutors once a week for an hour, to any First grader below grade level in Reading or Math.
TEACHER ASSISTANT: MRS. Lopez-Wood
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