First Grade is the time
a child gains the basic skills necessary to become a self-sufficient learner.
We want our students to take enthusiastic ownership for their learning. To this
end, at the beginning of the year first graders identify and share their individual
hopes and aspirations for the year. This process, based on the Responsive
Classroom method, helps them to feel vested in their own goals and those of
others. The guidelines we generate together set a tone of respect and unity in
the classroom and help to ensure a happy, collaborative community within which
everyone feels safe and able to excel.
Here at IDS we combine
elements of the Open Court Reading program with guided reading groups and
literacy centers to provide first graders with a balanced literacy experience.
Using the Open Court model for sequential instruction of phonics, we complement
these lessons and materials with a variety of reading and writing activities
during learning center time to engage our young and eager learners in exciting
adventures with literature and story-telling. We start by giving our first
graders ample opportunity in school to practice new reading skills, recognizing
that proficiency comes from practice and enjoyment from fluency. Daily reading
workshops focus on phonics, word building activities, and comprehension through
shared reading. Writing, too, enhances language arts aptitude as a
complementary skill. Through journals, dictation, and the creation of classroom
newsletters, books and poetry, first graders learn to capture their thoughts
and emulate favorite authors.
As in Kindergarten,
first graders continue with the Everyday Mathematics program to explore math at
the concrete level, gradually progressing to more abstract concepts. Through
games and hands-on activities, they grapple with increasingly complex problems
involving time, money, and measuring. All the while, they are developing an
appreciation for patterns and geometric shapes. They even begin to acquire the
basics in data collection and interpretation, a skill that spills over into the
sciences—and everyday life.
Our first grade social studies focus on “community consists of units integrated
into other subjects. For example, during our exploration of Africa, the
children learn about African mammals in science to complement their independent
research on a cultural aspect of an African country. When we study medieval
life, the children create three-dimensional castles in art. These projects
challenge the students to apply their blooming literacy skills to exciting,
self-directed learning.
Our students graduate
first grade with the courage and clarity to think and speak for themselves.
They leave our class with the developing skills necessary to grow into active
and responsible citizens at IDS and beyond.