First Grade
First grade is a bridge between kindergarten and the grades. Students are now ready to work with the mind imaginatively in new, more focused, and explicit ways. The first-grade curriculum is designed to meet the children's particular developmental level. First graders learn and live through imagination, feeling, rhythm, and movement.
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The central theme of first grade is Fairytales from Around the World. Through these fairy tales, the children are introduced to each letter of the alphabet.
Classroom Skills to be honed are to learn positive classroom behavior and habits including listening and communicating.
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Main Lesson & Academic Subjects
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Math: Count forward and backward by 1's and 100's; introduce four operations; count forward and backward by 2,3,4,5,10 to 100; Quality of numbers - introduce place value and the size of numbers through connection to the natural world; introduce word problems through number journeys.
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Language Arts: Grammar: captialization/basic punctuation introduced; pictorial and phonetic introduction to letters (upper and lower case) and letter sounds; printing upper and lowercase letters; review story elements orally & create artistic rendering sbased on comprehension of stories told and read aloud; Memorization and recitation of verses, poetry and song.
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Form Drawing
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Natural Science: Nature Stories and nature walks in all seasons to forest & beach areas; scientific observations and experiments with a focus on local plants, animals and class surroundings.
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Geography: Home & school surroundings.
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History: Multicultural stories, class community building
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Class Play: Each class will practice and perform a class play or presentation tied to the curriculum shared with class families.
Special Subjects
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World Language: Introduction to Spanish through songs, stories, rhymes, imitation, and gesture
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Sculptural Arts: Beeswax modeling
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Painting: Watercolor painting
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Music: Singing in unison and introduction to instruments
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Handwork: Introduction to knitting, 2 projects
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Movement: Rhythm circle games, bean bags, jump rope, hand clapping​
Depending on the needs of an individual child, and the homeschooling plan the family is following, more study may be needed at home to compliment the classes chosen at Spring River. Talk to your teacher or the Program Director for more information. At Spring River, the parents are ultimately in charge of their children's education, and the school is here to supplement and support.
