Curriculum Overviews > First Grade

At The Branch School, the following objectives are taught through an integrated, developmental, hands-on, and in-depth approach that teaches critical thinking, problem-solving, and cooperative learning.

• Reading, where students read and understand a wide variety of literary and informational texts;
• Writing, where students compose a variety of written texts with a clear controlling idea, coherent organization, and sufficient detail;
• Research, where students are expected to know how to locate a range of relevant sources and evaluate, synthesize, and present ideas and information;
• Listening and Speaking, where students listen and respond to the ideas of others while contributing their own ideas in conversations and in groups; and
• Oral and Written Conventions, where students learn how to use the oral and written conventions of the English language in speaking and writing.

• Throughout mathematics in Kindergarten-Grade 2, students build a foundation of basic understandings in number, operation, and quantitative reasoning; patterns, relationships, and algebraic thinking; geometry and spatial reasoning; measurement; and probability and statistics.
• Students use numbers in ordering, labeling, and expressing quantities and relationships to solve problems and translate informal language into mathematical symbols.
• Students use patterns to describe objects, express relationships, make predictions, and solve problems as they build an understanding of number, operation, shape, and space.
• Students use informal language and observation of geometric properties to describe shapes, solids, and locations in the physical world and begin to develop measurement concepts as they identify and compare attributes of objects and situations.
• Students collect, organize, and display data and use information from graphs to answer questions, make summary statements, and make informal predictions based on their experiences.
• Problem-solving, language and communication, connections within and outside mathematics, and formal and informal reasoning underlie all content areas in mathematics.
• • Throughout mathematics in Kindergarten-Grade 2, students use these processes together with technology and other mathematical tools such as manipulative materials to develop conceptual understanding and solve problems as they do mathematics.

• Solids and Liquids
• Simple Machines
• Organisms
• Body

• Students identify anthems and mottoes of the United States and Texas.
• Students make simple maps to identify the location of places in the classroom, school, and community.
• The concepts of goods and services and the value of work are introduced.
• Students identify historic figures and ordinary people who exhibit good citizenship.
• Students describe the importance of family customs and traditions and identify how technology has changed family life.
• Students sequence and categorize information.

• Students are exposed to the basic elements of art and explore them in detail through projects that emphasize each specific art principle. Students engage in exciting exploration with a variety of media such as painting, clay, pastels, etc.

• Students are read books appropriate to their level as well as given help, if necessary, checking out books.

• Students express themselves through singing and movement, and by playing simple instruments. Children learn to experiment with music concepts, volume, tempo, and sound. They begin to appreciate different types of music. Students attend at least one live concert. They perform several times a year at school-wide events.

• Students learn to empathize with, feel comfortable in, and understand fundamental processes of nature. They do this through a “working wildscape” partly accessible to children on the playground, partly fenced to allow more habitat development, and through horticulture activities from growing vegetables to propagating plants.

• Students acquire the knowledge and skills for movement that provide the foundation for enjoyment, continued social development through physical activity, and access to a physically active lifestyle. Students learn group games as well as sportsmanship.

• Students are taught the importance of peacemaking with their classmates. They learn conflict resolution as well as communication skills. They learn to be life-long peacemakers. Students practice creative thinking through brainstorming solutions to a variety of spontaneous problems.

• Students are immersed in the Spanish language through a Spanish program two times a week.

• Students use engaging, age-appropriate, and challenging software and technology to extend their knowledge and to enrich their learning of curriculum content and concepts. Children learn the basic functions of the computer and related technologies.