First Grade Experience

Our Lower School literacy curriculum focuses on the 5 Pillars of Reading: phonics, phonological awareness, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Instruction is grounded in scientific evidence about how the brain acquires language, and it is designed to inspire a love of reading and writing for learning and pleasure. Instruction is delivered through two programs: IMSE (Institute for Multi-Sensory Education) and Wit & Wisdom. Both programs align with the Science of Reading, have a clear scope and sequence, and explicitly teach literacy skills. IMSE is an Orton-Gillingham approach to teaching phonics. Wit & Wisdom is a knowledge-based language arts curriculum designed to help students build the knowledge and skills they need to be successful readers and writers, and effective communicators. It intentionally builds knowledge across grade levels, integrates writing into the unit modules, and provides rich text sets that align with our LS SEL and DEIB goals. Literacy instruction in first grade is differentiated to provide students with appropriate enrichment and support. Students work in small groups, in partnerships, and one-on-one with teachers.

First Grade Modules:
Module 1: A World of Books
Module 2: Creature Features
Module 3: Powerful Forces
Module 4: Cinderella Stories

Country Day’s math program is designed to build fluent mathematicians, skilled and perseverant problem solvers, and creative thinkers. Our teaching is based on the Math in Focus program, and the core focus in the Lower School is on building a deep understanding of number sense, operations, and computation. Our students learn not just how to solve rote problems, but how to think mathematically and tackle real-world, rigorous mathematical problems.

Skills and Concepts

• Counting by 1s, 2s, 5s, and 10s forward and backward to 100

• Identifying and relating coin values

• Describing and extending patterns

• Reading, writing, and explaining expressions and number sentences

• Fluently adding and subtracting to 10

• Adding and subtracting 2-digit numbers

• Identifying, describing, sorting, and classifying 2-and 3- dimensional shapes

• Measuring and comparing length and weight

• Interpreting data in charts and graphs

• Telling time to the half hour

The Lower School social studies program focuses on the study of people in relation to their past, present, and future, their environment, and their society. Our curriculum encourages curiosity and helps students develop an understanding of a rapidly changing world. Students become aware of their personal and cultural identities, and they acquire the skills and knowledge needed to actively participate in their classroom, school, community, and world.

Units of Study

• Unit 1: Family History
• Unit 2: Economic Choices
• Unit 3: Roles in Our Community & Citizenship
• Unit 4: Urban, Suburban, and Rural Geography

Lower School science focuses on engaging in investigation and discovery through the scientific method in Country Day’s state-of-the-art science lab. An integrated STEM program brings together engineering and inquisitive minds to design innovative, sustainable solutions to real world problems.

In first grade, students practice observing, predicting, inferring, data collection and analysis, and the design process. They explore the physical, life, and earth sciences, specifically properties of light, animal anatomy, and adaptations, water cycle and weather, and the ocean.

The physical education curriculum focuses on the physical, mental, and social emotional growth of our students. The curriculum focuses on developing and maintaining a physically active and healthy lifestyle in addition to developing gross motor, body control, and spatial awareness skills.

Students pursue personal fitness goals and an understanding of skills, strategies, and rules of individual and team sports and activities. Problem-solving strategies and sportsmanship are developed through an environment of cooperative learning.

Our goals in Lower School are to expose students to language and culture, instill a love for the language, develop an appreciation for the larger world, and build cultural competencies. Students are exposed to French and Spanish in JK through first grade. In second grade, students choose one target language with the goal of developing a Novice Low proficiency level (based on ACTFL Standards) by the end of fourth grade.

All first-grade students are exposed to the language and culture of both French and Spanish. They practice basic words and phrases, respond to simple commands in both languages, and explore the culture of people who speak French and Spanish around the world. Children start to participate with oral and reading skills using words and short sentences.

Our first grade Design Lab learning experiences are created to develop skill, allow for application of new learning, and set design challenges that work to empower students to creatively communicate and solve problems with empathy. 

Skills in engineering, coding, robotics, and multi-media design are reinforced in mini projects.  Design challenges become more focused on “real world” problems allowing students to begin identifying ways to create solutions that positively impact the world around them.

Through the library curriculum, we strive to instill the joy and value of reading, provide access to diverse information and ideas, and equip students with the skills and knowledge necessary to access, evaluate, and apply new learning in both personal and academic pursuits. Students receive whole-class, small-group, and one-on-one instruction and practice their skills through authentic activities and research.

In first grade, students learn about book care, location and organization of materials in the library, how to select a “just right” book, how to read call numbers, the process for independently checking out books, how to use age-appropriate databases for learning, how to conduct basic research, the features of non-fiction literature, and strategies to use for reading comprehension.

Art
First grade artists build on their foundation of the elements of art: line, shape, pattern, and color. Design concepts of emphasis, contrast, and balance give students visual structures to express ideas. Techniques such as painting, drawing, collage, and sculpture enable students to build creative confidence and experience the joy of hands-on materials. 

Drama
In first grade, students are introduced to the concept of working as an ensemble and experience supporting and encouraging one another. In addition to process-based learning in drama class, students also practice performance bravery while learning choreography, memorizing lines as a whole-class, and singing songs for the annual Country Day Thanksgiving Parade play which features fun characters such as fall leaves, cranberries, and of course, turkeys!

Music
First grade students explore music by practicing steady beat, repeating rhythm patterns, singing solfege patterns, composing rhythms, playing unpitched percussion and Orff instruments, learning music theory, and singing fun songs!