First Grade

Students arrive in first grade at various developmental stages, ready to progress in their academic pursuits at their own pace, with different strengths and opportunities for growth.

We foster a classroom and school community through the use of Responsive Classroom techniques, which is a student-centered approach to social-emotional learning that focuses on engaging academics, positive community, effective management, and developmental awareness.

First grade at St. Michael’s is all about differentiation and allowing the students to progress as they’re ready.

Thanks to our small class sizes, teachers are able to adapt curriculum to meet each student’s individual needs. We truly meet all students where they are and see first grade as a tremendous year of growth.

Reading

Learning to read is a cornerstone of the first grade program. We utilize a guided reading approach and the “Daily 5” to target students’ instructional level. During this time, students engage in small group work with the teacher, whole group reading and lessons, word work and phonics activities, independent and partner reading experiences, opportunities to listen to fluent readers, and writing activities that focus on comprehension. Using data to drive instructional decisions, students are grouped in a way that they may move fluidly between groups as they progress.

Math

St. Michael’s was the first school in Rhode Island to adopt the Singapore math program.

The program is structured around the belief that every new math concept should be taught first in concrete terms, then pictorial, and lastly, abstract. Students begin exploring new concepts using hands-on manipulatives such as blocks or physical counters. From there, the topic is introduced through pictorial representations, such as illustrations of apples or cookies. Lastly, teachers transition the class into the abstract, using numbers and number sentences to represent a given set.

For example, if students are learning place value and the value of a digit, they may start by using physical counters on a place value mat. Then they’ll move to a pictorial representation, which may be a workbook that has illustrations of the counters. Finally, teachers transition the group to the abstract, where they’ll see the symbol (written numbers). If the number is “124,” students at the abstract stage will understand that the “2” represents two groups of ten, not just “2.”

Major units of study in mathematics include: place value of three-digit numbers; skip counting with 2s, 5s, and 10s; understanding addition and subtraction,; adding two digit numbers without regrouping; telling time to the half hour, fractions as a part of a whole; and identifying 2D and 3D shapes.

Writing

First graders also become authors through their writer’s workshop time. Students begin by learning basic mechanics of writing, discussing nouns and verbs and how to create a proper sentence. They work on both expository and narrative writing pieces throughout the course of the year. Teachers utilize mentor texts to help students in the writing process. “Small moment stories” are a major focus, through which students generate ideas, plan a story page by page, write, and engage in the editing process with teacher guidance, stretching ideas and strengthening their work by adding detail. There are always opportunities for students to share their work with their peers, allowing them to flex their public speaking muscles, take pride in their work, and connect with their classmates.

Thematic Studies

Through thematic studies, students begin to broaden their world view. The topics covered are carried over into the student’s specials classes so that they are fully immersed in their studies. First graders begin the year reflecting on their families, sharing about them with their peers and learning about their classmates’ similarities and differences. They shift their focus to study maps, in which they learn the oceans, continents, and cardinal directions. The monarch butterfly is a noteworthy unit of study, as the students engage in whole group guided research of the insect. In art class, they work on watercolor monarchs. In science, they observe caterpillars and track their metamorphosis, releasing the adult monarchs into the St. Michael’s garden. As they learn about the butterfly’s great migration to Mexico, students engage in a geography study of the country, its history, and its culture. This unit of study thoughtfully leads them to a study of rainforests and their importance to our world.

Outside of the classroom, students participate in our extensive specials program which includes Fine Art, Science, Music, PE, Drama, Creative Movement, Spanish, Innovation Lab, and Mindfulness.