In first grade, students focus on God as our loving Father and Creator who shares His many gifts with us. Moreover, first graders begin to more fully understand that we are part of God's Christian family and that God made us to know, love, and serve Him.

Using a series of separate magazine-style units, students cover addition and subtraction through 20, place value through 100, time and money, geometry, fractions, measurement, and readiness for multiplication and division.

First graders develop a strong literary foundation through a phonics-based program that emphasizes decoding, vocabulary, comprehension, references, and study skills. They also examine sentence structure, such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, and punctuation. Listening skills are enhanced through various forms of literature.

Your child will study how to distinguish sounds, identify letters, recognize short and long vowels, read consonant blends, spot "Y" as a vowel, understand contractions and plurals, identify R-controlled vowels, and make sense of inflectional endings. As part of the curriculum, students practice correct letter printing, position, and alignment.

Letter forms are simplified so they are easier to write and easier to identify in writing. The simplified letter forms use the headline, midline, and baseline as a guide for where letters start and stop.

The music series begun in kindergarten and progressing through grade eight emphasizes rhythm, tone color, form, melody, harmony, listening, and music appreciation. During class, students enjoy singing, playing rhythm instruments and musical games, dancing, listening for enjoyment, and listening for analysis.

Children in first grade participate in the Christmas Musical.

In the primary grades, the emphasis in gym class is on rhythmical activities, including spatial awareness and exercises, tumbling, athletic skills, such as throwing, catching, kicking, and striking, and games like tag, relay, and ball games.

Using guidelines established by the Diocese of Pittsburgh, teachers introduce students to the many uses of computers in our schools, businesses, and government. In addition, students become familiar with the keyboard and practice spelling.

First graders build on their basic knowledge of the world around us by studying life cycles, water cycles, climate, air, atmosphere, plants, animals, food chains, gravity, science methods and inquiry, dinosaurs and extinct animals, space, magnets and forces. The DASH hands-on approach to science is also employed.

In social studies, your child will examine life skills, map and globe skills, time-related procedures, study and research techniques, thinking, reading, and writing methods, and citizenship. Houghton Mifflin learning resources strengthen the program.

This program is committed to helping students excel in areas of language arts. Your child will learn to be a critical reader, fluent writer, and independent thinker. He or she will understand and appreciate grammatical structure. In addition, each individual may become a more articulate speaker and listener.

Students in first grade have the opportunity to participate in the Pizza Hut Book-It Program, Scouts, and Brownies.

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Page last updated on June 25, 2010
St Valentines - 2709 Mesta St - Bethel Park, PA 15102
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