Grade 1 Curriculum Overview | Somerville Public Schools

Parents and Guardians

This guide provides an overview of what your child will be learning in first grade. It is based on the Common Core Standards, the Massachusetts Frameworks, and the curricular approaches which have been adopted by the Somerville Public Schools. The detailed Massachusetts Frameworks are available at: http://www.doe.mass.edu/frameworks/.

Academic standards are important. They ensure that all students, no matter where they start, are prepared for success in the next grade level, college, and their careers. By defining standards clearly, we aim to help families and teachers work together to ensure that students succeed. There are some students who will need additional support to meet a standard. Other students will need more complex work to go beyond the standard. Teachers craft their day-to-day classroom instruction based on the standards, individual student needs, and the unique characters of their schools and community.

How can I support my child's learning at home?

Talk to your child about what they are learning in school
Contact your child's teacher with any questions or concerns and attend Parent Teacher Conferences
Check your child's folder and/or agenda book every night
Provide a space and a consistent time for your child to complete their homework

English Language Arts

Reading: During the year, students in first grade will be working on:

Using the words and pictures to help understand and describe the characters, setting, and plot of fiction texts
Demonstrating an understanding of the characters, setting, and plot through retelling the story
Describing the lesson/message a story teaches using details from the story
Using text features (headings, table of contents, glossaries) to find and learn more information in nonfiction texts
Asking questions before, during, and after reading and then searching for answers
Figuring out the main idea and key details in grade-appropriate nonfiction texts
Noticing that poems use describing words, sound words, feeling (emotion) words, and sensory words to make a picture in their minds
Understanding that poems sound different because of rhyme (or not rhyme), repetition, and rhythm
Using multiple strategies to figure out unknown words (phonics skills through Foundations, context, illustrations, re-reading)
Identifying basic similarities and differences between two texts on the same topic
Identifying a folktale/fairytale based on its characteristics
Participating in conversations and discussions by following rules (for example, speaking one at a time, listening to others), building on others' comments, and asking questions

Writing: Somerville's writing program emphasizes giving students many opportunities to write each day across subject areas. As they write during the year, students in first grade will be working on:

Writing five sentences that go together on a topic
Including a beginning and ending
Using time words like first, then, next, and after
Describing ideas or events using details
Using words that make my writing interesting to the reader (happy versus excited, nice versus friendly)
Making sure writing makes sense to others
Spelling high frequency words correctly as they are learned and correctly spelling grade level words using resources if needed
Capitalizing the first word of each sentence and people's names
Correctly using a variety of end punctuation in every sentence
Using singular and plural nouns correctly

Over the course of the year, students will complete three types of writing: narrative (story), informative, and opinion. Examples of these in the first grade could include: Creating a "How-To" book, writing a poem about a famous person, writing an opinion about a character in a story, or writing a fiction story based on a fairy tale.

How can I support my child's literacy learning at home?

Read to your child daily
Encourage your child to read daily and discuss the books he/she is reading
When your child shares an opinion or thought about a book, ask them why? and have them use evidence from the book
Encourage your child to write by keeping a diary, or sending a thank you note or letter to family or friends

Mathematics

Adapted from PTA Common Core Guide and Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks Critical Areas. Please see the Massachusetts Frameworks for more detailed standards and skills.

During the year, students in the first grade will be working on:

Counting to 120
Solving addition and subtraction word problems within 20 using objects, drawings, or an equation
Quickly and accurately adding with a sum of 10 or less (for example, 3 + 7)
Quickly and accurately subtracting from a number of 10 or less (for example, 7 - 5)
Understanding what the digits mean in two-digit numbers (place value); for example, the number 42 has 4 tens and 2 ones
Using the symbols <, >, and = to compare numbers
Using understanding of place value and different strategies to add and subtract to 100 (e.g., 38 + 5, 29 + 20, 64 + 27, 80 - 50)
Mentally adding 10 to a two-digit number (e.g., 57 + 10 = 67) or subtracting 10 (e.g., 57 - 10 = 47)
Understanding the relationship between addition and subtraction
Measuring lengths of objects by using a shorter object as a unit of length
Making new shapes by joining shapes together
Dividing circles and rectangles into halves or fourths
Comparing shapes by their size, number of sides, and orientation
Telling time to the nearest half hour
Identifying the value of all U.S. coins (pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters) and how they compare to each other (e.g., 5 pennies = 1 nickel)

How can I support my child's math learning at home?

Play matching and memory games
Practice writing and reading numbers
Work on learning addition math facts to 10
Drawing shapes

Science, Technology, and Engineering

During the year, students in the first grade will be learning:

How different materials can either block light, redirect light, or allow light to pass through them (includes shadows)
That vibrating materials can make sound and that sound can make materials vibrate
That you can design a device that uses light or sound to communicate a signal
To identify differences and similarities among animals and plants of the same kind
How animals use their body parts and senses to see, hear, grasp objects, protect themselves, move from place to place, and find and take in food, water, and air
How plants have roots, stems, leaves, flowers, and fruits to take in water, air, and other nutrients and produce food for the plant
That the behavior of different animal parents and their offspring help the offspring to survive
To identify the seasonal patterns of change, including rainfall/snowfall, temperature, and sunrise/sunset times
To use observations of the sun, moon, and stars to describe that each appears to rise in one part of the sky, appears to move across the sky, and appears to set

Social Studies

During the year, students in the first grade will be learning:

About communities (government, economy) and how they function
About America's holidays and symbols and legends and folktales
The Pledge of Allegiance and patriotic songs
The reasons for celebrating events or people commemorated on state and national holidays
To distinguish oceans, lakes, rivers, mountains on maps and globes
To identify city, state, and nation by name and location on maps and globes

Social/Emotional

The elementary years are an important time to nurture social-emotional competence and develop foundational learning skills. The Somerville Public Schools uses the Second Step curriculum, an evidence-based program that includes everything schools need to integrate social-emotional learning into their classrooms and school-wide. The curriculum is designed to promote school success, self-regulation, and a sense of safety and support.

Classroom teachers are responsible for implementing Second Step. Schools guidance counselors and other support personnel assist teachers and students to work toward attaining curriculum goals. Staff at your child's school can give you more detailed information about the sequence of skills taught and how social/emotional skills are taught.

**1st Grade Lessons:**
UNIT 1 Skills for Learning 1. Listening to Learn 2. Focusing Attention 3. Following Directions 4. Self-Talk for Learning 5. Being Assertive	UNIT 2 Empathy 6. Identifying Feelings 7. Looking for More Clues 8. Similarities and Differences 9. Feelings Change 10. Accidents 11. Showing Care and Concern
UNIT 3 Emotion Management 12.Identifying Our Own Feelings 13. Strong Feelings 14. Calming Down Anger 15. Self-Talk for Calming Down 16. Managing Worry	UNIT 4 Problem Solving 17. Solving Problems, Part 1 18. Solving Problems, Part 2 19. Fair Ways to Play 20.Inviting to Join In 21. Handling Name-Calling 22.Reviewing Second Step Skills

Specialists: The Somerville Public Schools provides each student with 40 minutes per week of instruction in General Music, Library/Media, Art, and Physical Education. The specialists at each school are available to give you more detailed information about specific skills addressed.

Assessment: We believe that there is more than one way to accurately assess student learning. These include not only standardized measures such as DIBELS (Grades K-3), MCAS (Grades 3-10), and STAR (Grades 2-8), but also more informal assessments including common end of unit assessments, reading/writing conference, classroom participation, classroom projects, and writing assignments.

Math and ELA Year At A Glance For Grade 1:

Please note that this calendar is only an approximation. Some units take more or less time depending on the needs of the students and other projects/activities happening at individual schools.

Approximate Time Frame	ELA Units of Study (Based on Balanced Literacy Curriculum)	Matth Units of Study (Based on Investigations Curriculum)
September	Launch Readers Workshop	Counting Forward and Backward Comparing Quantities Addition Combinations
October	Narrative	Addition Combinations Addition Story Problems
November	Narrative	Naming, Describing, and Comparing Polygons Composing and Decomposing Polygons
December	Nonfiction	Composing and Decomposing Numbers Addition and Subtraction Strategies
January	Nonfiction	Addition and Subtraction Strategies Addition and Subtraction Story Problems
February	Folktales and fairy tales	Combinations of 10 Counting by 2, 5, and 10 Addition and Subtraction Strategies
March	Folktales and fairy tales	Counting to 100 and Beyond Composing and Decomposing 2-Digit Numbers
April	Poetry	Addition and Subtraction Strategies Identifying and Evaluating Coins
May	Nonfiction	Measurement with Non-standard Units Measurement Story Problems
June	Nonfiction	Partitioning Polygons Equally Surveys: Representing Data

last updated 11/2018