Curriculum
When I hear...I forget.
When I see...I remember.
When I do...I understand.
We are a "hole langwich"
class!
We use Balanced Literacy to teach Language Arts.
Balanced Literacy
What is the Philosophy?
- The Language Arts should be integrated to help children make connections to the world around them
- To understand print, the reader uses three different kinds of information: background experience, context clues (semantics) knowledge of how language works (syntax) knowledge of print symbols, picture clues (graphophonics)
- Children's major tool for learning is exposure to the best language models and all forms of print
- Children must have access to quality print at all times and in all learning situations.
- Rhythm, pattern and familiarity of print provide language "hooks" for children to hang their ideas on and to use in their own personal writing
- Children need day to day oral and written language activities for many different purposes including: answering, classifying, communicating, comparing, describing, explaining, hypothesizing, justifying, labeling, listing, performing, problem-solving, questioning and sequencing
- Every child has the right to feel that he/she is a successful member of a larger group Language learning is a social activity
Characteristics of a Balanced Literacy Classroom
- Lots of books
- An abundance of print, labels, text, content
- Verbal interaction, opportunities for language usage (teacher-child, child-child)
- Creativity, flexibility, positive, open
- Business noise
- Joyful, playing with words.
- Language activities related to real life
- Published children's books
- Active library
- Time for sharing, feedback and book sharing
- Time to linger, reread, retell, reflect, rethink
- Spontaneity
- Great amounts of positive reinforcement
- TRUST at all times
- Encouraged risk-taking
- Energy and enthusiasm
- Child-centered
- Valuing the power of children
- Support and networking
- Thought-provoking activities
- Sense of belonging
- Evidence of children's work in the environment
- Student feels ownership of the environment
- Smiles are everywhere.
Language Arts
Skills: Decoding, building sight
word vocabulary, study skills, comprehension (includes predicting, drawing
conclusions, recognizing sequence, inferential reasoning, etc.)
- Modeled Reading (Teacher reading aloud)
- Shared Reading (Child joins in reading aloud)
- Guided Reading (Helping the child read)
- Independent Reading (Child reading alone)
- Collaborative
- Performance Reading (Watching the child read)
Guided
Learn more about Guided Reading!
Our Word Wall: Part of our language arts program involves using a class word wall! Each morning during calendar time, a helper chooses a word wall word, which we practice spelling by chanting and clapping out the letters.
The Word Wall Chant
What's the
word?
Say it clear.
Where's the word?
It's right here!
Say the word.
Clap the parts.
Snap the sounds.
What a start!
Spell the word.
Close each eye.
Do it now.
Don't be shy.
Where's it go?
Goes right here!
Hip, hip, hooray!
Now let's cheer!
Then our helper adds it to the blue word wall. The words are velcro, and they stick like magic! The words that we add to our word wall are basic sight vocabulary...words that are not phonetically correct and/or do not follow traditional spelling and phonics rules. The word wall is arranged alphabetically, and during writing workshop and other writing times, we can refer to the word wall when we need to spell a basic sight word! To help us practice reading and spelling the word wall words correctly,we play a number of games. One we like is called "Word Wall Bingo." Each child has a bingo card with six blank spaces. The child writes one word wall word in each space. Then the words are taken from the wall and placed into a container, and one by one they are pulled out. If you have that word on your bingo card, you can cover it with a marker. When your entire card is covered, yell "BINGO!" We play until everyone gets bingo and we've read all of the words! Another game that is fun is called "Mind Reader." Each person numbers their paper from one to four. The teacher gives a clue about one of the word wall words, and each time the children write their guess next to the number. For instance, the first clue might be "It begins with S" and then next to the number one you can write down any of the S words on the wall. Then the second clue is given, and you can write the same word or another word that fits both of those clues. By the fourth clue, everyone can "guess" the mystery word! By using the word wall, we hope that the first graders become more confident in their writing and begin to make the transition from temporary to conventional spelling.
Sight Word List for Parents who may want to make flashcards, bingo games or matching games for their child's practice.
Visit our Parent Resource page for more information about how you can help your child learn to read.
Check out some of our favorite books!
Spelling
Skills: Vocabulary, writing, proof reading, rhyming words, using a dictionary, alphabetical order, phonics, spelling
Content: Consonants, blends, and vowels
Teaching spelling to children can be confusing and difficult. It's easy to say: Take _at, add c, you have cat, add b, bat, and so on. But those rules do not always apply. For instance, based on that premise: Take cat, drop the c, add b, bat. Try doing that with these words!
bomb
tomb
comb--same endings omb-different sounds
fomb--this should be foam, but it's not
foam--this is foam
hoam--this should be home, but it's not
home--this is home
some--some is spelled like home, but pronounced differently
dome--if this rhymes with some is this dome or dumb?
The King's English Language
I take it you
already know
Of tough and bough
and cough and dough?
Others may stumble, but not you
On hiccough, thorough,
slough and through.
Beware of heard, a dreadful word
That looks like beard
and sounds like bird.
And dead: it's said like bed, not bead-
For goodness
sake
don't call it deed!
Watch out for meat and great and threat...
They rhyme with suite and straight and debt.
A moth is not the moth in mother,
Nor both in bother,
nor broth in brother.
And here is not a match for there,
Nor dear and fear
for bear and pear,
And then there's dose and rose and lose,
Just look them up-
and goose and choose.
And cork and work and card and ward,
And font and front
and word and sword,
And do and go, then thwart and cart,
Come, come, I've hardly
made a start!
A dreadful language? Why man alive!
I'd learned to talk it
when I was five.
And yet to write it, the more I tried,
I hadn't learned it
at fifty-five.
Author Unknown
Phonics
Skills: Alphabetic awareness, auditory discrimination, consonant letter-sound association, phonemic/phonological awareness
Content: Consonants, blends, and vowels
Writing
Handwriting Series: Handwriting by Zaner-Bloser
Skills: Practice correct letter formation with emphasis on
uniformity of size and correct spacing.
Journal and Story Writing:
Children have daily writing periods. Assignments include: free-writing, reading
responses, theme or topic writing, observation journals.
Practice
or Invented Spelling:
Children are encouraged to write the sounds they hear for unfamiliar words.
Children also have Steck-Vaughn Writing
Dictionaries to be used for looking up words. Children are able to add new
words with assistance of an adult.
Letter Writing: Children
involve themselves in writing letters to friends, family members, pen-pals or
key-pals, famous Americans (The President, Mickey Mouse), favorite authors,
informational organizations, individual state departments.
Writing Approaches that
are used include:
- Modeled Writing (Teacher writing)
- Shared Writing (Child joins in writing)
- Guided Writing (Helping the child write)
- Independent Writing (Child writing alone)
- Collaborative Writing (Writing with friends)
- Performance Writing (Watching the child write)
Writer's Workshop: Children will learn the
writing process through Writer's Workshop. Because each first grader is
developing his/her literacy skills at a different rate, the workshop approach
allows the teacher to individualize instruction and adapt teaching to each
student's needs. At least once per week, the children will be working on
various forms of creative writing. Early in the year we focus on the retelling
of stories in sequence, and the concepts of full sentences and beginning,
middle and endings. As the year progresses, we work on other types of writing
as well, including non-fiction and letter writing. Writing workshop usually
begins with the reading of a story which ties into the writing topic. Following
this is often a mini-lesson on the mechanics of writing, and skills such as
punctuation are addressed. Before the actual writing takes place, the teacher
and students develop a "word bank" for each writing assignment. The
teacher writes down suggestions from students as to words that they think they
may need to write the story. In addition, the children have the word wall to
use in their writing, which is a collection of basic sight vocabulary. As the
children are writing, the teacher circulates among the students, giving
individual assistance. It is also important to note as well that temporary
spelling, also known as inventive spelling, is still widely used in first
grade, and therefore quite acceptable. Samples of writing are collected
throughout the year, and shared with parents during conferences.
Practice
or Invented Spelling
Some parents are wondering why children in early primary grades are bringing home papers with temporary or developmental spellings that have not been corrected.
Do you remember when your child learned to talk? He/she probably made many "mistakes", or approximations, in speech, and they didn't bother you much. You may have corrected a few, now and then, but mostly you included the child in everyday life, encouraged the child to talk, and enjoyed the conversations. You probably knew, as parents do, that children learn to talk by talking.
Learning to write words works the same way. First of all and most important, children know that written language is supposed to mean something and they know exactly what they mean whenever they write something.
Children go through developmental stages in writing. Teachers help children learn to write the way families help them learn to talk. If we put all our energy into correcting temporary spellings, children get discouraged and lose a natural desire to write. They learn from heavy correction that meaning is less important than spelling words right!
The children are invited to use their oral language in their writing, even though they cannot spell all the words correctly, we free them to say what they mean. Children learn to write by writing, and we are most helpful to them when we appreciate and encourage their "best attempts".
There is a time for teaching particular points of spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Full group and individual conferences address such points as the need is noted in the children's own writing. There will be times the children will correct their work and present "final copies" when publishing or "going public". In the very early grades the children do the hard work- writing the stories- and adults make the corrections. As children become more experienced, they begin to take responsibility for this work, too. (Adapted from "Invitations" by R. Routman)
Mathematics
Skills:
- Addition and subtraction concepts: Adding and subtracting basic facts with sums to 18 in horizontal and vertical formats. Adding three addends with sums to 10. Adding and subtracting two-digit numbers without regrouping.
- Number Relationships: Identifying numbers to 100, ordinal numbers- first through tenth, counting by twos, fives, and tens, identifying a two-digit number by groups of tens and ones.
- Time and Money: Telling time to the hour and half-hour, reading a calendar, finding the value of a group of coins, pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters, counts and makes change, determining equivalent groups of coins.
- Graphing:
- Measurement, Fractions, and Geometry: Estimating and measuring length using nonstandard units, inches and centimeters. Estimating weight, capacity and temperature. Identifying equal parts, halves, thirds, fourths. Identifying plane and solid shapes, open and closed figures, lines of symmetry, patterns.
Windows on Mathematics
Windows on Mathematics is a Laser Disc Presentation by Optical Data used as a companion to our math book.
Click here to find out how we celebrate "Mathematics in Our Schools" Month.
Science
Science Book
Content:
- Animals
- Plants
- Human Health- body parts, senses, health habits, safety
- Outer Space
- Matter Forces and Energy
- Weather
- Dinosaurs
- Rocks and Minerals
- Ecology
Additional Units Explored:
- Apples
- Seasons
- Penguins, Polar Bears and other Arctic Animals
- Rain Forests
- Frogs
- Butterflies
- Insects
- Ocean Life
Windows on Science
Windows on Science is a Laser Disc Presentation by Optical Data used as a companion to our science book.
Class Pets
This year our class will be taking care of our African Water Frog “Ricky” that was raised by the 1996-97 class. We are especially excited about raising caterpillars to Painted Lady Butterflies. We have a special tent that first graders can go in with the butterflies to observe up close! After a little while, we set them free.
~Spread your wings and
prepare to fly, for you have become a butterfly~
Mariah Carey
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Social Studies
Skills: Introductory map and globe concepts, the student's role in family and small community, seasonal concepts, environmental awareness, biographies
Content:
- All About Me
- People Long Ago at Work
- Getting Along with People
- People Here, People There
- People Everywhere
Additional Units Explored
- People with Special Needs
- Famous Americans
- Native Americans and Early Settlers to America-Pilgrims
- Holidays
- Careers
- The
Technology in our Classroom
SmartBoard: Our class has a SmartBoard. We use it daily for lessons.
Computers: Currently our class has 4
computers. The computer is used in large group instruction, individual time, center and partner activities.
Videos: Selected instructional video presentations will be shown throughout the year. Many videos are tied into children's literature and shown after reading the story. Other videos are related to Science and Social Studies. Check out our highlights for each month.
Laser Discs: Our class shares a laser disc player. We use it in conjunction with our math and science curriculum. We have a laser disc series, Windows on Mathematics and Windows on Science by Optical Data.
Overhead Projector: We still use an overhead projector in all areas of learning, especially when playing spelling games.
Tape Player: We use a tape player to listen to stories narrated by storytellers and authors. We also enjoy listening to music and use it for sing-a-longs.
Special
Guests
- Parents: Parents are welcome to visit for anytime. We especially like guest readers for story time!
- Our School Nurse: She comes into our classroom to teach health lessons.
Spanish
The children are learning basic Spanish. They will be able to respond to everyday greetings, phrases and simple questions. They will be learning the names of colors, numbers, family members, adjectives, parts of a house, days of the week, holidays, weather, and articles of clothing. They will be practicing the verb for is, am, and are, and the interrogative words how, what, who, and how many. They will also be learning basic commands.
Centers
Center time varies, but for the most part, it begins when independent classwork is finished. As children finish their work and have it checked, they may go to the center of their choice, provided there is an opening. Each center allows only two to three children at a time to participate. They may not repeat a center unless they have been to each center at least once during the month. They may, however, repeat a center the following day under certain conditions approved by me. The centers have specific tasks for the children or they can take it upon themselves to work independently, as long as it is approved and acceptable to me.
Teacher's Helper
Two children may participate at this center. They are helpers to other children, checkers of classwork (under my supervision-many times I will check a paper and they can stamp it, or put a star on it.), or secretarial assistants (putting notices in the cubbies to go home, returning papers to the main office). Anything they can do to help me. And they love it!
Lego
Our classroom has a lego table. Here the children can build and create mini worlds. There are activity cards to show them step by step how to build things, or they can just simply build away. Two children may participate at this center.
Computer
At the computer center, children have the opportunity to choice what program they would like to use. Each month, new programs are introduced. Children may only use the ones they have been introduced to, up to that point. Four children may participate at this center.
Writing
Children are given suggestions of writing topics, or they can write their own creations. This center contains many types of writing and drawing paper. There are stamps that the children can use when writing (picture stamps, letter stamps, author stamps). There is a variety of stationary and cards for the children to write letters on. They may also use the AlphaSmart keyboards to type stories. Three children may participate at this center.
Listening
Using headphones, the children can pick from a library of listening story tapes or they may listen to a previously heard class library book. They can complete a book report about the story, or draw a picture about it. Two children may participate at this center.
Spelling
This center is not open until formal spelling instruction begins. At this center, they may practice their words for the week or review old words. There is a variety of spelling games for the children to play. A favorite among the first graders: Spelling Battleship. (The children compete against each other. They place their spelling words on a grid and try to guess where their opponent has hidden their words. Children enjoy this game during free time too!) Three children may participate at this center.
This can be a quiet reading time, a time to read to me, or even the principal, a shared reading time with a friend, a chance to peruse through my personal collection of previously read stories, play a reading game, do a book report, complete a reading task. Choices are unlimited! Three children may participate at this center.
Math
This center allows the children to look through a collection of math-related stories, work with math manipulatives (teddy bears, coins, clocks, pattern blocks, unifix cubes), rulers, shape tracers, balances, or calculators. There is also a cash register for playing store. There is a flannel board with thematic felt shapes used for counting and creating number sentences. And, there are math activity cards, and games for the children to play. Three children may participate at this center.
Free Choice
This is a once-a-month opportunity to "hang out". There are few activities that the children can do on the carpet or at their desk. (board games, blocks, table-top manipulatives, puzzles) They may choose to color at their desk, write something, work on a project or activity packet, read at their desk, clean out their desk. The children are pretty much free to do anything, within reason. They can walk around the room, as long as they are not disturbing others. This is their chance to do whatever they want or nothing. Two children may participate at this center.
Science and Social Studies
This center contains several books related to science and social studies for the children to read. They can play theme related games, complete activity packets, use a microscope, look through science containers, build mini communities, do theme related puzzles, observe and write about our class pets, write about or draw pictures related to a theme topic. Write letters to famous Americans or authors of their choice. Three children may participate at this center.
Art
Children can pick an activity card to decide what to do, or they can simply "go crazy". There is, of course, crayons, markers, and colored pencils to use. They can choose from white, manila or colored paper. We have play dough, watercolors, scissors that cut in different ways and stamps to use. There is a scrap box with material, yarn--you name it! We also have some books that show step by step procedures for drawing. There are coloring pages for the child that just wants to color...not create. With my help, the children can trace pictures from an overhead projector. Two children may participate at this center.
Themes and Special Days
Class Parties
Hosted by Our Class Moms
- Halloween Party and Parade
- Valentine-Friendship Party
- End of the Year Celebration
Monthly
Themes & Special Days
- September... Welcome Back, Apples, Fall, All About Me
- October... Safety, Night Time, Fears, Monsters, Popcorn, Pasta and Pizza, Spiders, Halloween
- November... Native Americans, Early Settlers to America-Pilgrims, National Children's Book Week, Mickey Mouse's Birthday, Thanksgiving
- December... World Holidays, Gingerbread, Winter, Snow, Penguins
- January... Dinosaurs, Famous
Americans,
- February... 100th Day of School, Presidents, Bears, Dental Health, Valentine's Day, Friendship
- March... National Pig Day, Colors, Rainbows, Weather, "Green Day", Music Day
- April... Bunnies, Spring, Mathematics Day, Dress-Up Day, Outer Space, Earth Day, Ecology, Rain Forests
- May... Pets, Plants, Flowers, Gardens, Insects, Spelling Day
- June... Beach and Ocean Life, Ice Cream, Summer
To learn more about our our Yearly Events~Special Day Celebrations, click here!
Book
Buddies
Our class is Book Buddies with children from the upper grades. Each first grader is paired with an older student. We meet to share Language Arts activities. The children love to work together reading, writing and sharing projects.
Where do you want to go now?