Morning Meeting:
Every morning the whole class sits at the circle and individually greets each child, often sings a song, and together reads the chart to look for words, letters, or sentences that we can identify and/or read. The Morning Message is a source of information for the children, telling them about special events that will happen that day. It also provides an opportunity to reinforce concepts from recent lessons or discuss issues and problem-solve as a group. We end by doing our morning reporting of the day, date, weather, tally marks, money and sticks indicating the number of days of school we've had so far, and finally, the temperature. We write the day of the school year (7th, 21st, etc.) on a number line alternating between red for even numbers and black for odd.

Math: SRA Math - Explorations and Applications
The curriculum is composed of three interwoven components. The backbone of the math program is SRA Math from Prentice Hall. This program provides a basic course outline which covers all the requirements of New York State. We chose the SRA program because it provides structure while also allowing for flexibility in the classroom. This flexibility provides the second component of our curriculum, allowing the teachers the freedom to incorporate manipulatives, projects and games in a way that best suits their teaching styles. The last component of the SRA program involves fluency in basic mathematical skills. All students achieve mastery of the basic operations of addition and subtraction of whole numbers. Multiplication is introduced at the end of second grade.

Classes are separated by grade. We have math lessons four times a week, Monday through Thursday. On Fridays we have a special period set aside to play math games and apply math skills by counting the pizza orders and money. Daily lessons are divided into three components: warm-up, teaching, and wrap-up. They begin with a Problem of the Day and Mental Math exercises to practice thinking and computational skills and to develop number sense. This is followed by teacher-directed activities including demonstrations and discussions. It includes a period where children do a page or two of work regarding that lesson in their practice workbooks. There is often a game that reinforces the concept covered that day and each lesson ends with a wrap-up that can be a discussion to help students reflect on what they have learned, an assessment, or a preview of that night's homework.

Language Arts:
Classes are separated by grade. We are excited to continue using the Four Blocks Literacy Model for language arts this year. (There is a Four Blocks Literacy Model website for detailed information on this model.) The program utilizes all of the literacy instruction components that have been proven through research and experience to be most effective. Students develop reading and writing strategies by working in pairs, in small groups, independently and one-to-one with a teacher. We explore phonics and spelling patterns during Working with Words, develop comprehension skills and decoding strategies during Guided Reading, practice written expression during Writer's Workshop, and cultivate enthusiasm for independent reading during Self-Selected Reading.

Social Studies:
We do Social Studies in whole-group lessons. The first and second grade alternate between "A" years and "B" years. In an "A" year, our focus is U.S. Geography. This is done out of the belief that this is an excellent time for students to learn about the basic geographical/political organization of their world, i.e., the difference between a continent, a country and a state. We study the states by region: The East, The South, The Northwest, etc., and concentrate on WHERE these states are and WHAT makes each region different (food, music, dance, industries, weather, etc.). We play games, learn to research a state by doing state reports, work with maps, and learn some of the geographical features of our country, such as lakes, rivers, mountain ranges, valleys, etc.

In a "B" year we explore the main topics suggested by the New York State Curriculum for Social Studies for this age group. A few examples of these topics are Laws and Rules, Consumers and Producers, and Rural, Suburban, and Urban Communities, and Human and Natural Resources. We discuss these topics and then examine them in the context of the ancient cultures of Greece, Rome, Mexico, etc. We hope to both acquaint the children with these concepts and look at how they developed in different times and places.

In addition to our regular Social Studies curriculum, we do a year-long project every year. We discuss what a charity is, why it is important to get involved with one, and how to choose one to support. The first and second grade implements its "Pizza Friday" program which sells pizza to the entire school on Fridays. The profits from these sales are donated to charities the class has researched and designated for that year, the school, and provides a source of income to buy additional materials for our room.

Spanish:
Students have Spanish class on a weekly basis. Through games, songs and stories, the children will be learning basic Spanish such as colors, numbers and animals, in addition to topics that relate to the general curriculum. They will also begin to develop an awareness of the culture of Spanish-speaking countries through games, stories, songs and projects and role-playing. At this stage of their development, the focus is on oral and listening skills in Spanish. Research shows that students who study languages early in their schooling tend to be more fluent over time and they develop a better sense of psychomotor coordination.

The overall goal of the foreign language program is to make the students aware of how people communicate in another language and to expose the children to hearing a different language. They learn basic conversational use of vocabulary through stories, games, videos, and the computer. Although the teaching of Spanish begins to be a bit more rigorous, the playful and interactive approach of the program is maintained.

Spanish lessons are integrated into some of the first and second grade themes which include animals, friendship, helping others, and families. Other topics include colors, greetings, farewells and introductions, the study of people and objects, expressions of feeling, positive commands, days of the week, numbers from 1 to 20, and parts of the body.

Homework:
We have done a lot of research, thinking, and talking about homework in the past few years. We believe we have come up with a workable philosophy and policy for the first and second grade. The latest research shows that, in the elementary grades, homework is valuable as a way to form good habits and build a foundation for working independently in the future. A set place and time to do homework helps accomplish this. Homework that relies heavily on worksheets that are not a follow-up to that day's lessons has little value and for some children can lead to frustration and negative feelings about school. The recommended amount of homework is between 15 and 45 minutes per week for this age group. This translates into about 10 minutes a night, on average, although by the end of the year it is closer to 15-20 minutes, especially for the second grade. Our main goal is to form a habit of setting aside a bit of time after school to do work that relates to concepts and topics that the class is studying. At this age, a large amount of homework does not correlate with academic success and can become burdensome for young students.

Reading with a child, whether they read to their parents, the parents read to them, or there is an established family reading time when everyone reads their own book, is invaluable. Therefore, we ask that parents support this three times a week for at least 10 minutes. In the beginning, especially in first grade, reading together will often be the language arts homework. As time passes, we may send home a Working with Words lesson for that night or some work that reinforces spelling, comprehension, etc. Math homework will be a follow-up, practice, or enrichment sheet.

Science:
The Science curriculum in first and second grade is a process that continues throughout the year. The goals of the program are to instill in each child a sense of wonder as well as a familiarity with what is happening in the world around them. Children are encouraged to questions why things happen in the way they do, and to use their own minds to discover answers to their questions. Students explore, through hands-on activities, how something works, how it sounds, what makes it go, etc. Finally, students are asked to think about the fact that we are all important in taking care of our planet, and they learn that everything they do affects our Earth.

In a two year cycle, students in first and second grade will cover the following topics:

• Rocks/minerals
• What is the Sun?
• Animals that fly, crawl, jump and swim
• Our changing environment
• Our bodies
• Pond life
• An Archeological dig
• Plants and their parts
• Water for plants (the Water Cycle and weather patterns)
• Animals of long ago and today
• Forces and machines
  

Physical Education:
The children are introduced to Beginner Yoga at this age, as well as stretching and dance. They work on their Physical Education skills by running, skipping, throwing and kicking, which come in handy as the children are exposed to Team games for the first time. The emphasis remains on play, which keeps the joy of the experience alive and well among the first and second grade students.

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