First Grade

Students in first grade continue to develop foundational skills in communication, reading, and writing that are essential for success in future years. Explicit, systematic instruction in phonological awareness and phonics provides students with practice in distinguishing the sounds that make words and builds the association between sounds and the spellings that represent them. Students learn all 44 sounds in the English language along with the ways to represent and spell those sounds. Students practice blending individual spelling sounds together smoothly to read words correctly and automatically. Students also develop writing skills, learning to segment sounds in words and represent them with the corresponding spellings. Students write in a variety of forms using complete sentences to communicate ideas. Students also expand listening and speaking vocabularies through reading alouds of fiction and nonfiction texts centered around themes that build student knowledge across content areas.

In first grade, students use critical thinking and connections to build a deeper understanding of concepts from Kindergarten. The first-grade standards place emphasis on counting, comparing, and ordering sets of up to 110 objects; recognizing and describing simple repeating and growing patterns; and tracing, describing, and sorting plane figures. Students’ understanding of numbers is expanded through recognizing and describing part-whole relationships for numbers up to 10, solving story and picture problems using addition and subtraction within 20; using nonstandard units to measure; and organizing and interpreting data. Fractional concepts will be expanded through sharing scenarios involving halves and fourths. Students will build their mathematical vocabulary and practice communicating with peers as well as representing their mathematical ideas with objects and pictures.

How I Interact with My World

In first-grade science, students become aware of factors that affect their daily lives. Students continue to learn about the basic needs of all living things and that living things respond to factors in their environment, including weather and the change of season. They continue the examination of matter by observing physical properties and how materials interact with light. Throughout the elementary years, students will develop scientific skills, supported by mathematics and computational thinking, as they learn science content. In first grade, students will develop skills in posing simple questions, conducting simple investigations, observing, classifying, and communicating information about the natural world. Students are introduced to the engineering design process.

Focus on the Commonwealth of Virginia

The standards for first-grade students include an introduction to the lives of leaders in the history of Virginia and their contributions to the Commonwealth. Students continue to develop basic map skills. They study the economic concepts of goods and services, consumers and producers, and making economic choices. Students learn to apply the traits of a good citizen and recognize that communities in Virginia have local governments. They learn that communities include people who have diverse ethnic origins, customs, and traditions, who make contributions to their communities, and who are united as Americans by common principles.