First grade works within the framework of the Daily Five. This is a daily schedule which allows for students to do the following activities every day – read to themselves, listen to reading, read with someone, write and work with words. Leading literacy research shows that the greatest gains are made by classrooms which emphasize doing these things daily.
Our goal is for students to become fluent readers with excellent comprehension of what they have read. Students read from a variety of text including poetry, songs, chants, non-fiction, picture books and chapter books. The teachers model fluent reading and work with students in small group and one-on-one to develop reading skills.
Writing takes place in many different forms in first grade. Students utilize the word wall to spell frequently used words correctly. They use invented spelling for unfamiliar words. Students may work independently during Daily 5 to write their own books while writing in a more structured writing process as well.