First Grade
Language Arts: The first grade Language Arts curriculum is a Balanced Literacy program that supports a Gradual Release of Responsibility instructional model. The areas of focus support five pillars of Language Arts instruction: Phonemic Awareness and Phonics, Vocabulary, Comprehension, Fluency, and Writing. Little Silver’s first grade curriculum is a guide that creates a foundation for lifelong literacy by teaching and exposing all learners to: Reading Foundation Skills, Literature, Informational Text, Writing, Speaking, and Listening. The curriculum is supported with leveled resources that include rigorous text for both instructional and independent work and a variety of on-line sites.
Math: As with Language Arts, the first grade Math curriculum in Little Silver (adopted 2011) includes criteria established in the Common Core Standards. The curriculum guide provides enduring understandings and essential questions that begin to prepare our students to be ready for college and career. A variety of concrete resources and lessons provide students with hands-on learning tools that are relevant to their developmental level and are differentiated to their learning needs. Instructional time focuses on four critical areas, as required by the Common Core Standards: (1) developing understanding of addition, subtraction, and strategies for addition and subtraction within 20; (2) developing understanding of whole number relationships and place value, including grouping in tens and ones; (3) developing understanding of linear measurement and measuring lengths as iterating length units; and (4) reasoning about attributes of, and composing and decomposing geometric shapes. Curriculum is supported with a variety of resources including, but not limited to, Envision, a Scott Foresman publication, concrete manipulatives and on-line sites.
Science & Social Studies: Little Silver’s Science curriculum (adopted 2011) and Social Studies curriculum (currently under revision) are based on the NJ 2009 standards. Both subjects are integrated in Language Arts and Math through resources and materials. Students learn to work and live in their community. The curriculum is supported with resources in Language Arts, technology, and published content texts by Scott Foresman.