St. Catherine of Siena Parish School
Curriculum
Curriculum Overview:
Math: We will be using the Houghton Mifflin curriculum this year. It is a useful, straightforward curriculum that will help with counting, addition, patterns, shape awareness, etc.
Reading: In my opinion, this is the most exciting first grade subject! What a joy it is working with children on their phonemic awareness, decoding, and reading skills. We also have Reading Buddies. This year, we’re paired with fifth grade students. We plan to meet with them every other week starting the week of 9/19. As the year progresses, ask your child about their Reading Buddy.
We are using Dynamic Indicators of Basic early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) to assess each child’s reading ability. This is an assessment administered three times throughout the school year. We will work very hard to make sure every child can read by the end of first grade, but we also believe children learn to read when it’s developmentally (and individually) appropriate.
Our Reading Curriculum is called READING STREET and it’s very comprehensive. Some of our additional reading curriculum materials include: Reading from A to Z and Literature Works.
Writing: We will work (a lot) on letter formation and sentence structure. Writing and reading are incorporated in the classroom every day. We focus on “handwriting” as well. I will use the Slingerland method (a multisensory approach) to teach handwriting.
Spelling: Each Monday, the students will write down their spelling words. They will be asked to practice their spelling words at home. We will also incorporate the spelling words across all subjects, throughout the week. Each student is expected to study for Friday’s spelling test.
Computer Lab: We’ll be going to the computer lab every Friday from 1:20-1:50pm. In the computer lab, we’ll do lots of cross-curriculum work ranging from math games to Google search and word finds, plus Foss Science work.
Social Studies: This will be incorporated in many ways ranging from cultural understanding and awareness to the importance of social justice. Some of our topics include: recycling and composting, maps, 9/11, Black History month, Veteran’s Day, and philanthropy.
Science: Each trimester, we will be learning about a different theme in science. The first trimester we will be studying Air and Weather, then Balance and Motion, followed by New Plants. We use Foss science kits and they are theme based.
Second Step / Talking about Touching: The Second Step program is designed to promote compassion and understanding, through empathy training, problem solving, and anger management. Expect notes home when students learn the specific skills taught in the Talking about Touching lessons, which we’ll do after Christmas Break.
Religion: We use the We Believe curriculum and it focuses on creation, being good to one another, and being thankful for each other. We have a prayer corner in the classroom. We learn The Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be (Doxology), and Prayer At Stations of the Cross. We also have monthly mass. The first grade mass will be April 19th at 9am.
Thank you, again, for your children. They are each a precious gift.
SPECIALISTS
Art: 45 minutes — once a week
Music: 30 minutes — twice a week
Spanish: 30 minutes — twice a week
PE: 30 minutes — twice a week
Library: 30 minutes — once a week
Technology: 30 minutes — once a week