Grade 1
Grade 1 students love to master skills and we help them learn how to solve problems, make decisions and reflect on their actions. The program builds on the integrated curriculum initiated in Kindergarten. In small and large groups, each student continues her individual progress in reading, writing, mathematics, science, social studies and Spanish. Every class has two homeroom teachers. Students now travel to the art studio, STEAM room and science lab for their classes in each of these disciplines. K–4 teachers help establish their classroom community within the first six weeks of school and throughout the year. As part of the Responsive Classroom practice, students help create their classroom rules, engage in morning meetings and use collaborative problem-solving strategies. Students are encouraged to care for themselves, one another and their school community.
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Students build good reading habits, ask questions, make predictions and infer meaning in the texts. In writing workshop, students write about events in their own lives and learn how to stretch this moment out into a story that includes a beginning, middle and end. They also experiment with craft techniques, such as descriptive language and line breaks.
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Students learn to use LEGO vocabulary and are given a variety of challenges with the LEGOS including: How high can you build a wall? What can you add or remove from a car to make it go farther? Can you build a pair of glasses that are wearable and won’t fall off? These challenges are infused with the vocabulary of science and math, including measurement, variables and dimensions.
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Students approach their art more purposefully, working with a variety of media and materials, including clay, collage, painting, drawing and printmaking and plan their work while considering techniques they should use in creating their designs. They learn about depicting a person with projects including self-portrait paintings, printmak- ing and a collage called “Someone Who Cares About Me.” They also construct large papier-mâché sculptures of wild animals.
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Students explore dance concepts independently and in groups and cultivate their dance technique through basic ballet exercises. They participate in an extended unit on the concept of rhythm, looking at tap dance, dances of African origins and the Israeli folk dance Zemer Atik. They also create their own dances through improvisation and are encouraged to reflect on their movement experiences.
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Students identify patterns with numbers and explore how numbers can be represented in a variety of ways, for example, 10 as 5+5 and 4+4+2. They develop their number sense by solving addition and subtraction problems and record and share their mathematical ideas and strategies in whole and small-group discussions. When working with larger numbers, students explore group counting and place value.
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Basic fitness concepts of flexibility, endurance and strength are introduced. In tumbling, more challenging skills of backbends and kickovers are presented with differentiated instruction. Students work to improve their body strength to perform inverted movements, such cartwheels and handstands.
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Students learn about the importance of their own habitat and compare it to the worm’s habitat in Central Park. They also explore the structure and function of simple machines, working with wheels, axles, levers, gears and inclined planes. During the science and music unit, students participate in sound experiments demonstrating vibration, sound waves, timbre, pitch and dynamics.
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Throughout the year, students learn more about equity and justice through studies of food, school com- munity and playgrounds. Students read a range of texts, engage in discussion, analyze data, take field trips and create projects in which they learn about the importance of citizenship, service learning and activism.
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Spanish classes are entirely in Spanish. Each class starts by practicing different greetings and social interac- tions to learn about each other, such as “¿Cómo te llamas?” or “¿Cuántos años tienes?” Students practice the days of the week, months and numbers up to 31. They also learn how to ask for class materials used in daily activities in Spanish.
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Students experience kinesthetic activities designed to explore music through singing, moving, listening, improvising and playing classroom instruments. In the science and music class collaborative unit, students learn about vibration, sound waves, timbre, pitch and dynamics, and they build and play their own instruments. Students learn music and dances from around the world in the collaborative dance, music and Spanish unit.
