1st and 2nd Grade

First and second graders are in the process of becoming increasingly individualized and independent. This process demands greater skills in managing their thoughts and emotions, regulating their behavior and articulating their feelings. They are learning to delay gratification, solve problems on their own and reflect on who they are in new ways. They begin to see how one’s personal behavior and choices connect to more abstract social terms like respect, trust, inclusion and responsibility. 

Most children this age love to be helpful, and they are learning to be community-minded in new ways — performing daily class jobs or offering help to a friend or teacher in need. As first and second graders are learning about more complex feelings and issues, they may escalate the gravity of their worries and mistakes. With guidance, they can understand both sides of a situation and talk out problems by negotiating or compromising.  At this age, they learn about positive self-talk, mindfulness, self-advocacy and other skills that help them manage their feelings and their bodies, and to communicate in pro-social ways.

First and second graders are also building greater awareness about the diversity of different perspectives and experiences, and learning to manage the ups and downs of friendships. Teachers guide students to use more effective and polite social communication to express their wants and needs, and they provide important lessons and conversations about social problem solving. The Second Step curriculum also supports the teaching of the important skills of emotional awareness, self-regulation and pro-social communication about problems and conflicts.

In first and second grade, children are putting together all the skills to learn to read, to practice reading and read with increasing fluency, comprehension and independence. Children develop solid phonological awareness — the ability to identify discrete sounds within words — through authentic reading and writing activities and lessons. Leveled and sequential reading books support the progress from learning-to-read to reading-to-learn. Comprehension, spelling, handwriting and vocabulary are also key elements. They participate as readers and writers in a motivating and high-interest context — reading in groups, selecting books to read independently, journaling, writing stories and plays, researching and writing about topics of interest, generating lists of high frequency words and learning to spell and punctuate correctly.

Children may publish their own writing, which is catalogued into the library, and often share their work with peers through Author’s Chair or presentations of projects. Handwriting skills and habits are also taught and put into practice using the Handwriting Without Tears curriculum. A love of literature is further built into their literacy-learning experience with the school library and librarian as an important resource. 

At first and second grade, children are busy constructing their understanding of the base-10 number system and operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) through instructional times that are rich in games and hands-on experiences. Children have daily opportunities to reason out loud, experiment and develop accurate mathematical strategies. They become capable of using numerals and other symbolic representations such as graphs, equations and diagrams. The strong grasp of place value concepts with base-10 allow students to develop increasingly efficient strategies for adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing.

The construction of these conceptual mathematical ideas is embedded in physical activities within a social context, and students are encouraged to think out loud about their strategies and discoveries. Children benefit from ongoing opportunities to build with puzzles and blocks, sort, classify, measure, count and divide up materials for real-world problems. They also benefit from many opportunities to practice skills and master a fluent repertoire of math facts. Daily routines and daily exercises like skip-counting around the room and a calendar routine also build fluency and rote skills.

The Bridges curriculum is used as a foundational resource to build consistency of method, language and experience.  

The focus at this level is an inquiry-based and thematic approach to learning about the natural world. Children are increasingly guided through a more formal process of exploration that includes observation, collection, recording and analyzing of data, creating hypotheses and generating conclusions and further questions.

The FOSS science kits and the Mystery Science program serve as structured resources to support the scientific method while learning about content. Emergent themes arise from student questions and experiences. Thematic science units are often integrated with language arts, math and art. Some of the topics and units include: seeds, bones, stars and constellations, the intertidal zone, engineering, weather, trees and salmon. 

Children learn to think critically, understand scientific concepts and appreciate the value of science by participating in their own investigations and analyses as they explore the world. The school library, woods, garden and fields on our campus are also important research resources. 

Diversity of all kinds, including racial, cultural, social and class differences enhance our lives collectively, helping students understand the ideas and feelings of others. Students begin with a growing awareness of similarities and differences in an ever-expanding community, beginning with their own identity and respect for others. Learning about the variety of ways people live occurs through sharing food, holidays, religion, family values, structures and traditions, using a wide variety of literature, art, pictures, artifacts and experiences both within the room and beyond.

Children receive strong supportive messages that their family beliefs and rituals are right for them and may be similar or different to the beliefs and traditions of others. Class meetings provide opportunities to take part in the democratic process, solving common problems or setting norms and community responsibilities. Social stories and role playing are introduced as effective ways to solve problems. Students are exposed to the diverse world outside their own through music, plays, literature, photographs and field trips. These activities are often integrated with language and literacy.