+ Science + Social Studies

We engage in projects that focus on the five senses, the human body, and the life cycles of animals, plants, and humans. Hands-on projects integrate science, social studies, art, math, and language arts. To activate their thinking, first graders begin by illustrating what they think is inside their bodies on a small-scale outline. Then they learn about the respiratory system, the nervous system, the skeletal system, the circulatory system, the muscular system, and the digestive system. As the students discover the complexity and function of each system, they record their understanding by building life-sized internal self-sculptures, using bubble wrap for lungs, streamers for veins and arteries, and buttons for teeth. This project encourages students to think beyond the facts and visualize the complexities of who they are as human beings. We turn from this self-exploration to the life cycle of the Monarch butterfly; we observe, care for, and record the progress of chrysalises in our classroom and set our hatched butterflies free. The unit ends with a much-anticipated visit to the Butterfly Place in Westford.

+ Language Arts

Literacy work is everywhere in first grade, from focused reading and writing time and journaling about interpersonal issues to recording scientific observations and acquiring vocabulary in mathematics. Theme units have a broader and deeper impact because they connect to other disciplines, such as literacy. For example, when first graders study the human body in theme, they reflect on losing a tooth and write stories chronicling their unique and often humorous experiences.

First graders spend at least 90 minutes each day on language arts, creating many written pieces to collect in their black books. Literacy work also includes daily direct reading and writing instruction in both individual and small groups. Literacy work is engaging, dynamic, and appropriately challenging to build confidence and mastery and ensure continuous growth.

+ Mathematics

Our goal in first grade math is to create mathematical thinkers who understand how numbers work and can apply that understanding throughout their lives. Our program goes far beyond the simple memorization of number facts and operations; instead, students build a strong foundation for solving complex mathematical problems. Cuisenaire rods, a math manipulative, form the basis of the program across all grades. The rods provide both a physical representation of quantities and operations and a common mathematical language that applies to basic addition as well as complex algebra. Additionally, first graders explore fractions, transformational geometry, and volume. We use the whole school campus for math—measuring tulip bulbs, hunting for symmetrical objects on the nature trail, counting leaves by tens—we encourage first graders to find uses for their math skills all around them.

+ Social/Emotional

Twice a week we engage the first graders in a lesson from our Open Circle social/emotional curriculum. We gather in an open circle—open because we include one extra space to underscore that there is always room for another voice and no one is ever left out—for a short lesson and conversation and a story or an activity. As an example, in the Beginning Together unit students learn that getting to know each other will help them work well together in their open circle. They talk about what makes them different and the same and hear the story Shades of People, by Shelley Rotner. They consider what it means to reflect—to pause and ask themselves questions about an experience. How am I doing? What did I learn? They work together to choose some rules they will follow in their open circle and they talk about the importance of being honest and how they communicate with body language and tone.

+ Spanish

In first grade, students enter la clase de español with enthusiasm and a greater sense of self-confidence. As in kindergarten, they will use song, dance, games, acting, and other movement activities to learn. However, by first grade they also begin reading and writing small chunks of Spanish with increasing independence.

By the end of first grade, students should be able to greet others without support. They should have a solid grasp of words, phrases, and some short sentences on each of the topics covered over the year. They should be able to sound out Spanish writing with support and approximate spelling of short words. They will speak in words and short phrases.

+ Visual Arts

Many first grade art projects relate to their theme. As they learn about themselves in the classroom, in the art room they paint self-portraits with tempera paints, create portraits of their families with oil pastels or watercolor resist, draw their bedrooms with colored pencils and markers, and help each other make full-size body portraits using tempera paint. They engage in place-based projects like drawing their house at night with oil pastels on black paper, making owl prints with ink and foam trays, collaborating to create a winter animals mural, using tracing paper and scissors to make snowflakes; building three-dimensional representations of shelters they invent for animals to live in during winter, and sketching flowers outside their classroom and then painting them in the style of Georgia O’Keefe. First graders use different media, such as pencils, tempera paint, watercolors, clay, pastels, glue, and tape, to engage in techniques of painting, drawing, sculpture, collage, ceramics, and printmaking.

+ Music

In music class at GUS, first graders: develop their voices through extensive vocal exploration activities, pitch-matching activities, and learning about how their voice works; build a repertoire of folk songs, rhymes, singing games, and seasonal and community songs; continue to develop steady beat competence through body beats, circle games, and simple percussion instrument playing; perform rhythms through speech-based movement and simple instrument ensembles; perform ostinato accompaniments using proper percussion and barred instrument technique; and experience a wide range of tonalities and meters through listening, singing, and movement.

The “Who Am I?” theme is explored through developing the child’s singing voice, and by revealing how different body systems cooperate to accomplish singing. In addition, thematic correlations of life cycles and body systems are reflected in songs, rhymes, stories, and music activities.

First graders perform in all-school Grand Friends’ Day, Solstice, and May Day celebrations.

+ Dance

In dance class, students create, express, communicate, and secure confidence through the study of movement. They participate in exercises that foster creativity, challenge them physically and expressively, require teamwork, develop identity, promote problem solving, and require that they describe their creative process. Children gain body awareness, coordination, locomotor skills, musicality, and choreography techniques through formal and improvisational modern dance lessons.

Additionally, first graders devote a unit of study to learning about all the different muscles and joints in their feet and how they are used to bend and balance and move the body around.

+ Physical Education

First grade physical education focuses on games that emphasize physical movement (running, skipping, hopping, leaping) and cooperation. Our goals are to encourage healthy habits of physical activity, develop strong motor skills, and foster respectful play. We add chase and tag games so students can begin to develop strategies for enhancing their own performance. All students participate in all games and activities. While many children at this age have already begun playing competitive town sports, we create a non-competitive environment in the lower school community to cultivate good sportsmanship as the children mature.

+ Community Service

First graders sponsor an annual book drive for children in underserved areas as their primary community service project. The students create and hang posters around the school advertising their drive; they compose and rehearse requests for donations, which they present at all-school meetings; and they practice their math skills as they count, organize, and pack up the donated books.