First Grade Curriculum

Religion
Students understand that Jesus, their Savior, died to take away their sins.  They learn that the Bible is God’ word and that it contains what Jesus has done for them, how they should live, and that by believing in Jesus, they will go to heaven.  Learning to ask for forgiveness for specific sins is a big step for them.  As the students begin to learn more about the Lord and what He expects of us, they recognize differences in people who are non-Christians.  They realize that everything they have comes from God.  They begin to gain an appreciation for Martin Luther and his teachings as well as recognize the liturgical seasons to help gain an understanding of the church body.  Selected passages of Scripture, songs, and the catechism are memorized.

 Math
Students learn basic facts and understand place value as they begin to explore concepts of simple addition and subtraction.  Manipulatives that enhance students’ understanding of word problems, patterns, and fractions are used.  Objects are ordered by measurement including metrics.  Calendar skills are refined as well as skills involving money and time.

 Language Arts
Incorporating reading, listening, writing, speaking, and thinking skills provides a broad foundational base upon which students can build each year.  Word attack skills strengthened by phonetic decoding enable the students to be successful.  Students continue to develop their oral language and communication skills and move to becoming independent readers and writers.  Distinguishing features of stories, poems, and informational texts is introduced.  First graders read (both orally and silently) in texts of appropriate difficulty with fluency and understanding.  The use of the writing process enables students to work independently and cooperatively in achieving success.

 Handwriting
First graders will continue to use proper formation in writing manuscript letters and numerals, paying attention to correct placement of letters on the line.  An awareness of the effects of posture on writing skills is developed as they continue to self-evaluate their work.

 Social Studies
God places special responsibilities on families and members of each family.  As these students progress through first grade, the emphasis is on helping them grow as members of both their school and biological families.  They look at changes in family and what causes these changes, choices that people make and how those choices affect their family, and the placement of individuals in a family and how special and unique each individual really is.  Maps of school and neighborhoods begin to be more significant for students as they see how they personally relate to these maps and understand where they belong.  Following and participating in examples of good citizenship help them understand the importance of individual and collective participation.  

Science
Survival and protection of God’s creation are relevant topics as the students study about habitats, plant and animal life, and what is required for many plants and animals to survive as well as what is needed for their daily existence.  Learning about the properties of water, rocks and air provides them with a beginning basis for earth science.  With hands-on investigations, studies such as magnets, enable the students to form a basis of understanding in the realm of physical science.  They learn what is needed for a healthy body such as nutrition and safety issues.  Identifying how the body works aids their understanding of disease control and health habits.

 Computer Science
Students at this level begin to concentrate on expanding their keyboarding skills by recognizing additional keys and the proper fingering for using the keyboard effectively.  In addition to the word processing skills, students begin basic desktop publishing as they learn how to use graphics.  They also have the opportunity to strengthen classroom objectives by using educational software.  They learn how to access the internet and use the information to further their study.

 Art
Students experiment with colors as they mix them together and find out what results from their actions.  This experimentation encourages the students to recognize God’s creation as a source of beauty and variety.  Through different mediums, they express themselves individually, yet in an artistic way.  Blending of patterns such as geometric designs and differing line types and qualities allows the students to be creative with their projects.  Understanding realistic art, like in a photograph, versus drawings or sketches give students a chance to be aware of concepts such as similarities and differences.  Various artists such as O’Keeffe, Searut, and Monet are studied.

 Music
Students become more involved in response to musical pieces and can display their involvement in moving, clapping, echoing, and distinguishing beats and rhythms.  They become more aware of the melody and pitch of musical pieces and can respond in a variety of ways.  As they relate to music and what is around them, they have the opportunity to be creatively involved in learning.

 Spanish
Sequentially taught, students expand their understanding of the Spanish language, including the use of greetings, commands, phrases, numbers, colors, and other daily-use vocabulary.  This well-rounded approach to acquiring another language includes singing Spanish traditional, popular, and Christian songs; learning about traditions and holidays of Spanish speaking countries; hearing Hispanic folktales; and playing Hispanic games.

 Physical Education
Learning to follow the rules of a game can be challenging at this age, but students work on this idea as they interact with others and learn to cooperate.  Activities such as jumping rope, bouncing a ball, and hopping on one foot challenge their physical development.  At the same time, students learn to respect the differences in one another.  From their activities, both individually and collectively, a positive self-concept begins to evolve.

• Religion  - Voyages, Concordia Publishing, 2001

• Math – Houghton Mifflin, 2005

• Reading – Here We Go!, Houghton Mifflin, 2005

•                 Saxon Phonics and Spelling, 2006

• English – Houghton Mifflin, 2006

• Handwriting – Zaner Bloser, 2005

• Social Studies – School and Family, Houghton Mifflin, 2005

• Science – Scott Foresman Science, Pearson Education, 2008

• Art – Arts Attack!, 1996

• Music – Making Music, Silver Burdett, 2005

• Spanish – Interlingua Spanish Program