First Grade
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Curriculum
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First Grade Curriculum
The Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) creates instructional programs based on the North Carolina Standard Course of Study as specified by the NC Department of Public Instruction. For an overview of WCPSS instructional programs, see WCPSS Connections.
Salem Elementary supplements the North Carolina Standard Course of Study and WCPSS instructional program with the concepts of Core Knowledge.
What Is Core Knowledge?
Core Knowledge is an idea for promoting academic excellence, greater fairness, and higher
literacy in elementary and middle schools by implementing a solid, specific, shared core
curriculum. Core Knowledge is designed to help children establish strong foundations of
knowledge, grade by grade. For more information on Core Knowledge, see
http://www.coreknowledge.org/.
First Grade Core Knowledge
Language Arts
World History and Geography
American History and Geography
Mathematics
Science
Language Arts I. Poetry Hope (Langston Hughes) I Know All the Sounds the Animals Make (Jack Prelutsky) My Shadow (Robert Louis Stevenson) The Owl and the Pussycat (Edward Lear) The Pasture (Robert Frost) The Purple Cow (Gelett Burgess) Rope Rhyme (Eloise Greenfield) Sing a Song of People (Lois Lensky) Solomon Grundy (traditional) The Swing (Robert Louis Stevenson) Table Manners [also known as "The Goops"] (Gelett Burgess) Thanksgiving Day ["Over the river and through the wood"] (Lydia Maria Child) Washington (Nancy Byrd Turner) Wynken, Blynken, and Nod (Eugene Field) II. Fiction A. Stories The boy at the Dike (folktale from Holland) The Frog Prince Hansel and Gretel Selections from The House at Pooh Corner (A. A. Milne) How Anansi Got Stories from the Sky God (folktale from West Africa) It Could Always Be Worse (Yiddish folktale) Jack and the Beanstalk The Knee-High Man (African-American folktale) Medio Pollito (Hispanic Folktale) The Pied Piper of Hamelin Pinocchio The Princess and the Pea Puss-in-Boots Rapunzel Rumpelstiltskin Sleeping Beauty The Tale of Peter Rabbit (Beatrix Potter) Tales of Br'er Rabbit (recommended tales: Br'er Rabbit Gets Br'er Fox's Dinner; Br'er Rabbit Tricks Br'er Bear, Br'er Rabbit and the Tar Baby) Why the Owl Has Big Eyes (Native American legend) B. Aesop's Fables The Boy Who Cried Wolf The Dog in the manger The Fox and the Grapes The Goose and the Golden Eggs The Maid and the Milk Pail The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing III. Sayings and Phrases A.M. and P.M. An apple a day keeps the doctor away. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Fish out of water Hit the nail on the head. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Land of nod Let the cat out of the bag The more the merrier. Never leave till tomorrow what you can do today. Practice makes perfect. Sour Grapes There's no place like home. Wolf in sheep's clothing World History and Geography I. Geography A. Spatial Sense (Working with Maps, Globes, and Other Geographic Tools) · Name your continent, country, state and community. · Understand that maps have keys or legends with symbols and their uses. · Find directions on a map: east, west, north, south. · Identify major oceans: pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic. · Review the seven continents: Asia, Europe, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Australia. · Locate: Canada, United States, Mexico, Central America. · Locate: the Equator, Northern Hemisphere, Southern Hemisphere, Southern Hemisphere, North and South Poles. B. Geographical Terms and Features · Peninsula, harbor, bay, island II. Early Civilizations A. Mesopotamia: "The Cradle of Civilization" · Importance of Tigris and Euphrates Rivers · Development of writing, why writing is important to the development if civilization · Code of Hammurabi (early code of laws), why rules and laws are important to the development of civilization B. Ancient Egypt · Geography Africa Sahara Desert · Importance if Nile River, floods and farming · Pharaohs Tutankhamen Hatshepsut, woman pharaoh · Pyramids and mummies, animal gods, Sphinx · Writing: hieroglyphics III. Modern Civilization and Culture: Mexico Indian and Spanish heritage Traditions: fiesta, pinata National holiday: September 16, Independence Day American History and Geography I. Early People and Civilizations Maya, Inca, and Aztec Civilizations · Maya in Mexico and Central America · Aztecs in Mexico Moctezuma (also called Montezuma) Tenochtitlan (Mexico City) · Inca in South America (Peru, Chile) Cities in the Andes, Machu Picchu II. Early Exploration and Settlement A. The Conquistadors · The search for gold and silver · Hernan Cortes and the Aztecs · Francisco Pizarro and the Inca · Diseases devastate Native American population B. English Settlers · The Story of the Lost Colony Sir Walter Raleigh Virginia Dare · Virginia Jamestown Captain John Smith Pocahontas and Powhatan · Slavery, plantations in Southern colonies · Massachusetts Pilgrims, Mayflower, Thanksgiving Day Massachusetts Bay Colony, The Puritans III. From Colonies to Independence: The American Revolution · Locate the original thirteen colonies · The Boston Tea Party · Paul Revere's ride, "One if by land, Two if by sea" · Minutemen and Redcoats, the "shot heard round the world" · Thomas Jefferson and the Declaration of Independence. "We told these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…." · Fourth of July · Benjamin Franklin: patriot, inventor, writer · George Washington: from military commander to our first president Martha Washington Our national capital city named Washington · Legend of Betsy Ross and the flag IV. Early Exploration of the American West · Daniel Boone and the Wilderness Road · The Louisiana Purchase Explorations of Lewis and Clark Sacagawea · Geography: Locate the Appalachian Mountains, The Rocky Mountains, and the Mississippi River. V. Symbols and Figures · Recognize and become familiar with the significance of American Flag Current United States President Eagle Liberty Bell Mathematics I. Number Sense, Numeration and Numerical Operations II. Spatial Sense, Measurement and Geometry III. Patterns, Relationships and Functions IV. Data, Probability and Statistics Science I. Plants and Plant Growth · What plants need to grow: sufficient warmth, light and water · Basic parts of plants: seed, root, stem, branch, leaf · Plants make their own food. · Flowers and seeds: seeds as food for plants and animals · Two kinds of plants: deciduous and evergreen · Farming II. Living Things and Their Environments A. Habitats · living things live in environments to which they are particularly suited. · Specific habitats and what lives there forest, meadow and prairie, underground, desert, water) · The food chain: a way of picturing the relationships between living things B. Environmental change and habitat destruction · Environments are constantly changing, and this can sometimes pose dangers to specific habitats, for example: Effects of population and development Rainforest clearing, pollution, litter C. Special classifications of animals · Herbivores: plant-eaters (for example, elephants, cows, deer) · Carnivores: flesh-eaters (for example, lions, tigers) · Omnivores: plant and anirna1-eaters (for example, bears) · Extinct animals (for example, dinosaurs) III. Introduction to Electricity · Static electricity · Basic parts of simple electric circuits · Conductive and nonconductive materials · Safety rules for electricity IV. Astronomy: Introduction to the Solar System · Sun: source of energy, light, heat · Moon: phases of the moon (full, ha]i, crescent, new) · The nine planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto) · Stars Constellations, Big Dipper \ The sun is a star. · Earth and its place in the solar system The earth moves around the sun; the sun does not move. The earth revolves (spins); one revolution takes one day (24 hours). Sunrise and sunset When it is day where you are, it is night for people on the opposite side of the earth. V. The Earth A. Geographical features of the earth's surface · The shape of the earth, the horizon · Oceans and continents · North Pole and South Pole, Equator B. What's inside the earth · Inside the earth Layers: crust, mantle, core High temperatures · Volcanoes and geysers · Rocks and minerals Formation and characteristics of different kinds of rocks: metamorphic, igneous, sedimentary Important minerals in the earth (such as quartz, gold, sulfur, coal, diamond, iron ore) VI. Science Biographies Rachel Carson Thomas Edison Edward Jenner Louis Pasteur