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First Grade

Ms. Menning

In 1st Grade, we learn:

In Religion-The focus of first grade religion this year will be to lay the foundation for the children’s spiritual growth and the development of their knowledge of the Catholic faith.  Through learning of the goodness of God, who created and saved us, and the love of Jesus, the children are drawn to respond to God in friendship and prayer.  During the year we will also be exploring the different seasons of the Church year and learning about some of the important feast days and holy days of obligation.  We will get to know some of the more famous saints of the Church and look at their lives as a model for our own spiritual journey.  In addition, the entire school will be studying the seven Catholic Social Teachings this year and not only will we learn what they are and what they mean, we will take it a step further by implementing them through various service learning projects such as the Advent baby shower and the food drive held during Catholic Schools Week. 

In Math- This year in math the first graders will learn how to solve basic addition and subtraction problems through 18.  They will learn to write their own number sentences and even solve number sentences with a missing addend.  Our math curriculum will also focus on problem solving, identifying patterns, telling time, recognizing basic geometric shapes and counting a variety of mixed coins up to $1.00.

In Science/Health-In first grade science the students will explore their world and the many wonderful things in it.  We will learn all about plants and the different groups of animals.  We will also study the life cycle of a butterfly and a frog and we’ll go to the Outdoor Campus on a fun field trip!  We’ll also talk about our earth and the weather and seasons.  Another fun unit that we will do occurs in February when we learn all about our teeth in conjunction with National Dental Health Care Month.  We’ll also study other basic health guidelines to learn how to better take care of our bodies. 

In Social Studies-This year in social studies the first graders will learn more about themselves in relationship to their school, family, community, state, and nation.  We will learn what it means to be a member of each of these groups and what it means to be a responsible student, son or daughter, and citizen.  Throughout the year we will be studying the lives of famous Americans such as George Washington, Helen Keller, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr., Thomas Edison, and Benjamin Franklin to see what great accomplishments they made to our country.  Other fun activities will involve taking a look at some of the different holidays that are celebrated around the world, creating a simple map of our bedroom, and learning about timelines.

In Language Arts-First grade language arts involves taking the building blocks that were established last year in kindergarten and building upon those in the hope of creating lifelong readers and writers’.  Some of the major skills that we will focus on this year include increasing our awareness of letters and the various sounds that they make, developing our accuracy, fluency, and comprehension when it comes to oral reading, being able to express what an author and illustrator do, and responding to a wide variety of different literature.  We will also do an author study on Kevin Henkes in our classroom and do lots of fun activities centered around his books and in the spring we will write and illustrate our own stories for the Reading Rainbow Young Authors and Illustrators Contest!