First Grade
In first grade we build upon the rhythms established in the kindergarten, while practicing the physical, social, and emotional skills needed to be successful in a grades classroom. Learning to sit and work at a desk, create a main lesson book, raise hands, transition between activities, and develop healthy social skills are really the main focus of first grade. Once those rhythms are established, we quickly begin building academic skills.
Fairy tales, folk tales, and nature stories are told as the children begin to learn their letters and build phonemic awareness. They practice letter and sentence formation, speech exercises, capitalization and punctuation use. They explore phonics, sounding out words, and learn to recognize common sight words. In math, we explore the quality of numbers and their relationship to quantities. The four processes of arithmetic are introduced through story problems and manipulatives. They practice skip-counting, fact families, pattern recognition, and learn basic geometric figures. Foundations of science education begin with the exploration of nature in the immediate environment and include hiking and nature walks, observation of life cycles, and gardening. In the arts they will experience watercolor painting, learn the pentatonic flute, singing games, beeswax modeling, and knitting.
