1st Grade

The artistic journey continues in first grade with a deeper exploration into the principles and elements of art. This learning phase introduces new skills, offering students valuable insights into the creation of art. Through engaging stories and enriching slideshows, the works of famous artists come to life, providing inspiration and fostering a connection between students and the broader artistic world. Students engage in drawing projects designed to explore concepts of value and contrast that add depth and sophistication to their artwork. First grade art education also introduces students to the exciting realm of mixed-media lessons. These lessons offer a platform for students to experiment with diverse materials, promoting creativity and allowing them to apply and expand upon the skills acquired in kindergarten.

The first grade reading program builds upon the strong phonics and word-analysis skills taught in kindergarten. Students are instructed to read and spell words through a systematic and sequential phonics program. The reading curriculum stresses explicit instruction in the process and skills of proficient reading. Children read independently and also in small groups. Students are expected to respond to their reading by identifying story elements and features of nonfiction texts. When a student finishes the first grade reading program, he or she can fluently read beginning chapter books with more complex sentences that have longer stretches of print without the support of pictures. In addition, he or she can answer both literal and inferential questions, cite evidence from the text, and have meaningful conversations about books and stories.

The first grade writing program builds upon the skills and habits that are taught in kindergarten. Students participate in a writing workshop, wherein they are taught genre-specific writing strategies. Progress is monitored by individual conferences with the teacher. Additionally, teachers and students use rubrics to edit, revise, and evaluate writing. Mini-lessons are designed to encourage proper mechanics as well as creative and original thought. First graders write small-moment stories, realistic fiction stories, persuasive/opinion pieces, nonfiction books, and poetry. Grammar instruction is woven throughout reading and writing. First grade students learn simple sentence structure, basic capitalization rules, and the use of end punctuation. Quotation marks, commas in a series, contractions, and figurative language are introduced. At the completion of first grade, a student can write stories and books that are filled with specific details, employ revision techniques, and edit their own work.

An Orton-Gillingham program is the basis for the first grade spelling curriculum and is integrated throughout all subjects. Students are expected to know phonetic spellings, high-frequency words and be able to identify variances in spelling. Students use handwriting workbooks to practice proper letter formation and pencil grip.

The goal of the first grade language arts program balances enjoyment of the subject while incorporating technical aspects of the written word.

Students expand their understanding of the library and research in first grade. First graders continue to participate in weekly read-aloud lessons, focusing on award winners, holidays, and various thematic units. Students continue to develop library and research skills, including how to use the table of contents, index, and other parts of a nonfiction text. Students begin to learn skills related to information evaluation, such as strategies for determining the credibility of printed and online information. First graders practice basic search strategies to find books in the online catalog and information in various databases, including online encyclopedias. First graders check out and return library books on a weekly rotation and continue to build skills related to book care and respectful use of various areas in the library, including various library text collections, the library Tinkerspace, and the library catalog computers.

Throughout the year, students are exposed to a variety of genres in literature. The following list is a sampling of book titles incorporated into the Language Arts program in first grade.

Picture Books 

Jabari Jumps - Gaia Cornwall
Chicks and Salsa - Aaron Reynolds
I Don't Want to be a Frog - Dev Petty
The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig - Eugene Trivizas
After the Fall - Dan Santat
Little Red and the Very Hungry Lion - Alex Smith
The Koala Who Could - Rachel Bright
First Day Jitters - Julie Danneburg
Chameleons are Cool - Martin Jenkins
Penguin in Peril - Helen Hancocks
Leila, the Perfect Witch - Flavia Z. Drago
Pumpkin Soup - Helen Cooper
How to Make Apple Pie and See the World - Marjorie Priceman
Nerdy Birdy - Aaron Reynolds
The Bad Seed - Jory John
Hoot and Peep - Lita Judge
Sylvie - Jennifer Gordon Sattler
School’s First Day of School - Adam Rex
Polar Express - Chris Van Allsburg
Maddie’s Fridge - Lois Brandt
If your Monster Won't go to Bed - Denise Vega
A Plump and Perky Turkey - Teresa Bateman
Oscar and the 8 Blessings - Richard and Janya Simon
The Great Spruce - John Duvall
Over and Under the Snow - Christopher Salis Neal
Iris and Walter and the Field Trip - Elissa Haden Guest
Where Are You From? - Jaime Kim
Hamsters Make Terrible Roommates - Cheryl B. Klein
Zelda and Ivy, The Runaways - Laura McGee Kvasnosky
Alma and How She Got Her Name - Juana Martinez-Neal
George and Martha - James Marshall
Night of the Veggie Monster - George McClements
A Family Is a Family Is a Family - Sara O’Leary
Our Class is a Family - Shannon Olsen
I Wanna Iguana - Karen Kaufman Orloff
Ruby Finds a Worry - Tom Percival
Henry and Mudge -  Cynthia Rylant
The Brownstone - Paula Scher
A Bad Case of Stripes - David Shannon
Chez Bob - Bob Shea
Animals Nobody Loves - Seymour Simon
Me on the Map - Joan Sweeney
Earrings! - Judith Viorst
You’re Finally Here - Melanie Watt
Knuffle Bunny - Mo Willems
The Day you Begin - Jacqueline Woodson

Picture Book Series 

Mercy Watson- Kate DiCamillo
Frog and Toad - Arnold Lobel
Henry and Mudge- Cynthia Rylant

Chapter Book Series 

Junie B. Jones - Barbara Park
Magic Tree House - Mary Pope Osborne

Harbor Day School recognizes the importance of mathematics as a cornerstone of a student’s education. Our mission is to develop confidence and competence in mathematics as students learn to think critically and to problem-solve strategically and collaboratively. Throughout the grades, students are encouraged to communicate their understanding in verbal and written form and to consider and critique alternate solution strategies for problems. Lessons and activities are crafted to facilitate making connections, seeing patterns, and experiencing the joy and success that mathematics can bring.

The mathematics program utilizes Singapore Math strategies. These strategies help students build strong number sense, fluency, place value understanding, and problem-solving ability. The components of our K-5 math program are designed around these four pillars of Singapore Math. The use of concrete materials, pictorial representations, and algorithms provides students with a well-balanced approach to concept mastery. Through the use of manipulatives, students develop a solid foundation for the more abstract thinking and approaches required in later math courses. Mathematical practices and habits of mind are developed and reinforced as students develop confidence and enthusiasm for mathematics. In grades K-5, the scope and sequence is aligned with and utilizes the Dimensions textbook series. Many additional resources provide opportunities for students to extend and support their acquisition of skills and to apply them in problem-solving activities. Some of these resources include, but are not limited to: Marcy Cook Tiles, iPad apps, and IXL.

In first grade, our curriculum continues to build on number sense. A main focus is working with numbers 0-100. With the use of a ten-frame and number bonds, students decompose these numbers with mastery. Students extend this foundation as their place value understanding grows. Manipulatives are central to the introduction of new concepts and help students to analyze and problem-solve. The use of manipulatives reinforces and enriches mathematical thinking. In first grade, students master simple addition and subtraction problems, with an introduction to double-digit addition and subtraction. They are introduced to multiplication and division, fractions, and begin algebraic thinking. First grade builds on the skill of counting coins up to $1.00. Students are introduced to measurement using non-standard units of measurement. Additionally, telling time, graphing, and the investigation of geometric shapes continue as part of the first grade curriculum.
 

First grade students meet with their music teacher twice a week. Students in first grade continue to explore music through musicking. Movement and vocal participation are key components of the curriculum and each class is structured around strategic games or activities that reinforce spatial awareness, vocal exploration, healthy vocal habits, fine and gross motor skills, and steady beat recognition. To enhance their social and personal development, students learn to share, cooperate, take turns, perform in front of their peers, and experience personal success through performance. First grade students perform in three major productions each year: Thanksgiving Program, Holiday Program, and Grandparents’ Day. 

In first grade, students will:

• Find and maintain a steady beat at a wide variety of tempos
• Practice matching vocal pitch- primary focus on sol, mi, la, and do
• Map out the visual contour of a melody
• Move expressively to live and recorded music
• Play a wide variety of classroom instruments (pitched and unpitched)
• Improvise simple songs and movement sequences
• Recognize music’s unique ability to convey specific emotions
• Act out stories to music
• Study Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf” Opus, introducing them to character representation through instrumental music.
• Study musical traditions from other countries and cultures
• Visually recognize and decode quarter notes and eighth note duplets
• Learn about instrument families (strings, brass, woodwinds, percussion)
• Map out simple music forms
• Critical listening to musical recordings
• Perform at different dynamic levels
• Perform at a variety of tempos
• Integrate their thematic learning with musical performances

The purpose of the physical education program in kindergarten through second grade is to provide the student with a wide variety of movement activities through the movement education approach. A major goal of a movement education program is that each child becomes a decision maker and a self-directed learner, and also develops an understanding and knowledge about movement. Emphasis is on keeping students active, improving movement skills, and having fun while learning. Class activities often develop body awareness and an understanding of how one can use different types of locomotor and non-locomotor skills to move from place to place. Personal and general spatial concepts are explored, as well as directionality, laterality, levels, ranges, planes, and pathways. Manipulative skills are developed through a variety of ball skill and object manipulation activities. Ball skills include the mechanics of catching, throwing, kicking, bouncing, and rolling. Object manipulation skills are enhanced through the use of hoops, ropes, bean bags, and the parachute. Instructional activities explore the qualities of movement and how our bodies move in relation to concepts of force, the qualities of force, absorbing force, and creating force. Speed, rhythm, and sequences are additional concepts explored. Low organizational games are played to develop a knowledge of rules, boundaries, teamwork, and cooperation. Activities may include: movement activities, ball activities, hoops activities, target activities, relays, scooters, bowling, pillo polo, kicking games, tag games, dance, and station work. The program also includes our Seahawk of the Week award. Once a week, two students who exhibit great sportsmanship, listening skills, effort and participation receive a wristband and certificate. These students are then celebrated throughout the week.

At the conclusion of the year, students in first grade should be able to perform the following skills: slide, gallop, leap, enter a rope turn towards them, jump ten times, begin to develop individual jump rope skills, catch a bounced ball, begin to develop an overhand throwing pattern, and kick a rolled ball.

The first grade Introduction to Engineering and Design class meets for thirty minutes once a week and is intended to help students develop a mastery of California’s Next Generation K-2 Engineering Design Science Standards (2015). The engineering and design process follows the investigate, brainstorm, plan, build, test, and present sequence. Instruction begins with the construction and testing of simple structures. Following this introduction to the engineering and design process offered by the class’ first project, student groups are asked to identify a real-world problem for the grade to address as a whole. Following this decision, the student groups reconvene to propose, construct, and test their material solutions to the agreed-upon problem. To aid their investigations, simple worksheets are provided which ask how well their various prototypes meet the design criteria established at the start of the project.

First grade students build upon the investigate, brainstorm, plan, build, test, present, and design process introduced in kindergarten and are guided to explore more complicated structures, problems, design techniques, and skills. First grade instruction begins with an introduction to the six simple machines: inclined plane, wedge, wheel and axle, pulley, lever, and screw. To manipulate these structures, first graders are also introduced to a number of hand tools and measuring devices, including: handsaws, hammers, files, measuring tapes, and squares. To understand how the simple machines are combined to make more complex machines, students work in groups of three or four to use the simple machines to construct carnival games. Careful measurement, testing, and redesigning all play important roles in this and other similar projects covered during this academic year.

First grade students meet multiple times a week with the lower school science teacher. The first grade science program encourages thoughtful exploration and continues the development of scientific curiosity and an understanding of the scientific method by incorporating CA NGSS (California’s Next Generation Science Standards) based lessons. The first graders are further familiarized with Discovery Education’s Science Techbook and its functions. The students experience the scientific process by observing phenomena (phenomena are observable events that occur in the universe that we can use scientific knowledge to explain), asking meaningful questions, and conducting investigations. Songs, books, videos, hands-on activities, and movement are incorporated into the curriculum in order to engage every type of learner.

First grade students continue to use a science notebook to organize data, record observations, and draw diagrams throughout the year. They develop an understanding of the relationship between sound and vibrating materials, as well as between the availability of light and ability to see objects. Students investigate light further by attempting to view pictures through objects made from different materials. Vibration, waves, reflect, refract, translucent, transparent, and opaque are some keywords students will master during our study of sound and light. First graders dive deeper into the life cycles of plants and animals and explore how living things use their parts to help them survive, grow, and meet their needs. Young plants and animals are studied and determined to be similar, but not exactly the same as their parents. Additionally, students learn about patterns, movement of objects in the sky, and seasons.

The following list is a sampling of book titles incorporated into the science program in first grade.

Earth Science 

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs - Barrett, Judi
Pickles to Pittsburgh - Barrett, Judi
Clouds - Delano, Marfé Ferguson
Energy Island - Drummond, Allan
Be the Change - Gandhi, Arun and Hegedus, Bethany
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind - Kamkwamba, William and Mealer, Bryan
Earth! My First 4.54 Billion Years - McAnulty, Stacy
Mars! Earthlings Welcome - McAnulty, Stacy
Moon! Earth’s Best Friend - McAnulty, Stacy
Ocean! Waves for All - McAnulty, Stacy
Our Planet! There’s No Place Like Earth - McAnulty, Stacy
Sun! One in a Billion - McAnulty, Stacy
Shadows - Otto, Carolyn B.
Erosion: How Hugh Bennett Saved America’s Soil and Ended the Dust Bowl - Pattison, Darcy
One Plastic Bag - Paul, Miranda
Clouds - Rockwell, Anne
Magnets - Schreiber, Anne
All About Earth’s Processes - Thompson, Rosina

Life Science 

The Tiny Seed - Carle, Eric
Poop on the Potato Farm - Culbreth, Kelly Lee
Are You My Mother? - Eastman, P.D.
Evelyn the Adventurous Entomologist - Evans, Christine
Buzzing with Questions - Harrington, Janice N.
Do Lizards Eat Ice Cream? - Kaner, Etta
Shark Lady - Keating, Jess
What If You Had Animal Teeth? - Markle, Sandra
Brains! Not Just a Zombie Snack - McAnulty, Stacy
The Girl Who Thought in Pictures - Mosca, Julia Finley
I Am Farmer - Paul, Baptiste and Paul, Miranda
A Fruit is a Suitcase for Seeds - Richards, Jean
A Pet for Petunia - Schmid, Paul
Imogene’s Antlers - Small, David
Small Wonders - Smith, Matthew Clark
Ocean Speaks - Tharp, Marie
The Water Princess - Verde, Susan

Physical Science 

Iggy Peck, Architect - Beaty, Andrea
Rosie Revere, Engineer - Beaty, Andrea
Rumble and Roar - Fliess, Sue
Sadie Sprocket Builds a Rocket - Fliess, Sue
Chicken in Space - Lehrhaupt, Adam
Sounds All Around - Hughes, Susan
What Do You Do With an Idea? - Yamada, Kobi
What Do You Do With a Problem? - Yamada, Kobi
What Do You Do With a Chance? - Yamada, Kobi

Multiple Disciplines 

11 Experiments That Failed - Carpenter, Nancy & Offill, Jenny
Exemplary Evidence: Scientists and Their Data - Fries-Gaither, Jessica
Notable Notebooks: Scientists and Their Writings - Fries-Gaither, Jessica
Never Stop Wondering - Morgan, Emily
What Do You Do with a Chance? - Yamada, Kobi
What Do You Do with an Idea? - Yamada, Kobi
What Do You Do with a Problem? - Yamada, Kobi

The first grade social studies curriculum continues to build on the foundation set in kindergarten. Here, students look more closely at their rights and responsibilities within the classroom and global community. They explore diversity by studying cultural celebrations from around the world. Students expand upon their study of community and are not only focused on the microcosm of the classroom but also extend their study to the members of our school and community helpers. Students begin to learn about history by exploring how children and families lived long ago. They examine their lifestyles, jobs, and schools and compare them with current ways of life. Students learn about important Americans who have made an impact on our world. The first grade geography curriculum builds upon the basic map skills introduced in kindergarten. Students map their rooms and neighborhoods. They learn the cardinal directions and elements of a map, including symbols, keys, geographic features, and titles. First grade students apply their critical thinking skills to an in-depth unit on their communities and the world around them, focusing on animals, geography, art, people, and celebrations. At the end of the year, first graders work on a culminating project to demonstrate their knowledge of these topics with an immersive experience in community helpers.

In the Lower School Spanish program, the language is taught using Comprehensible Input (CI) and Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling (TPRS), and Total Physical Response (TPR) methods. These methods use a more natural approach to language acquisition. The first grade curriculum reviews and builds upon what was taught in kindergarten, and is focused on students’ comprehension of the Spanish language. Through storytelling, songs, rhymes, actions, games, group and individual activities, students continue to learn high-frequency verbs in the third person singular. Some topics students learn about are family, colors, calendar, weather, school vocabulary, animals, basic body parts, food, sports, and clothing. In addition to the language, first graders study the history and culture of Colombia throughout the year.

First grade technology students continue to build upon their computational skills in the computer lab. Students are taught technology skills which allow for creative thinking and problem-solving. First grade students continue their typing lessons and are given accounts for the HDS Typing Club website that offers self-guided lessons. Students continue their coding education through the Kodable website, where each first grader has their own account to track progress. Students create and publish their own books through Pixie, a digital art program with a vast array of editing tools.