First Grade

Discovering While Growing in God's Love

In First Grade, we are committed to helping each child reach their academic goals by encouraging them to become active, engaged learners.  The First Grade program builds upon the foundation skills learned in Kindergarten and at home.  At Holy Spirit School, we encourage spiritual growth, critical thinking, creativity and respect for self and others.

In First Grade, each student will participate in:

RELIGION

• Learn and recite prayers including the:  Sign of the Cross, Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be, Guardian Angel Prayer, and Prayer Before Meals

• Retell Bible stories including the: Story of Creation, Noah's Ark, Christmas Story, Easter Story, story of the Good Samaritan, and Pentecost

• Identify the members of the Holy Family

• Recognize Peter as the first Pope

• Identify the parts of the Bible

• Understand the importance of the Sacraments, especially Baptism

READING

• Decode and comprehend grade-level material

• Read grade-level material with fluency

• Retell a story including characters, plot, theme and beginning, middle and end

• Compare and contrast experiences of characters

• Use informational text features

• Ask and answer questions about the main topic and details in a text

ENGLISH/LANGUAGE ARTS (ELA)

• Write upper and lower case letters legibly using Handwriting Without Tears

• Form sentences using capital letters and ending punctuation

• Spell and use high-frequency words correctly

• Use phonetic spelling and spelling patterns correctly

• Use descriptive words in writing

• Write narratives, opinions, and informative/expository pieces using details, sequenced events, reason, facts and closure

LISTENING/SPEAKING

• Actively listen to the speaker

• Follow multiple-step directions

• Actively participate in classroom discussions

MATHEMATICS

• Add and subtract within 20

• Demonstrate fluency for addition and subtraction facts through 10

• Create and solve story problems

• Count, read and write numbers through 200

• Count and group objects in ones, tens and hundreds

• Compare and order numbers

• Measure and compare length and time using standard and non-standard units

• Represent and interpret data using picture, bar, and line graphs, and tally charts

• Identify, describe and compare geometric shapes

• Create and combine 2-D and 3-D shapes

• Identify fractions for halves, thirds and fourths

• Determine the best strategy for problem-solving

SOCIAL STUDIES

• Kansas history

• Map skills

• Economics, needs versus wants

• Community helpers and structures

SCIENCE

• Identify the five senses

• Graph weather patterns and identify seasonal changes

• Learn basic Earth elements

• Identify basic animal needs, habitats, and behaviors

• Chart plant life cycle and environmental needs

• Observe and identify the phases of matter

FIELD TRIPS

• Shawnee Mission South High School Animal and Nature Lab

• Various guest speakers and in-school events (e.g. Ernie Miller Nature Center, STEM Science Museum, Randy Nadler)