If your DC is/was in 1st grade...

can you tell me what the curriculum is like and what they're tested on?

My DD has weekly spelling tests and then at least one or two other tests/quizzes during the week...math, reading, social studies and science (and religion; she's in Catholic school). Plus, she's got two projects due this month--a mobile on rules and a diorama on an animal's habitat.

I was mentioning this to my sister last night and she was shocked. Her DD is also in 1st (in Westchester) and only has weekly spelling tests; her face was when I even mentioned science. I thought the NYS curriculum was standard...

Re: If your DC is/was in 1st grade...

No tests yet.

Weekly spelling lists and we have to do different things with them - write sentences, write them in alpha order, etc.

They have reading groups, lessons in math, science, social studies, english (more like grammar I guess). They write in journals every morning.

In addition to that grades 1-5 do the Columbia Teacher's College Writer's Workshop program a few days a week. I think the upper grades do it every day.

She has a research project on robins due right before Thanksgiving. She will have to present it to the class.

Message edited 11/11/2011 9:23:30 AM.

Re: If your DC is/was in 1st grade...

DS is in 2nd now, but yes, everything you mentioned as far as tests, he had. Weekly spelling tests, tests on Science, Social Studies, Math, Religion, Reading. Plus, they were responsible for keeping a reading log, and writing a journal. They had several larger "projects" they had to complete at home, mostly were given a week to complete them.

1st grade was intense, especially with the writing sentences! 10 spelling words a week to know, plus writing sentences for each of them! Now that he's in second, I think he's got the hang of the work, and it just seems like it's easier (where it isn't, it's just that he's so conditioned to it all)....

Re: If your DC is/was in 1st grade...

Message edited 11/11/2011 9:44:54 AM.

Re: If your DC is/was in 1st grade...

Weekly spelling and math tests (every Friday)

Generally 1-2 projects a month (nothing TOO labor intesnsive so far, more fun family type projects)

Asa for what they do IN school, I am uncertain...When I ask my DS generally I get an answer like "stuff"

Re: If your DC is/was in 1st grade...

DS is also in 1st grade in Catholic school. He has a weekly spelling test, and usually a test in one or two other subjects that vary week to week. He has a weekly book report to do and ten spelling words per week that have to be put into sentences. They write in journals daily at school. There are also various worksheets (reading comprehension, math, religion, etc) that he receives for homework. He has a speech project due in one week.

Re: If your DC is/was in 1st grade...

No formal tests yet. It's all about reading/spelling and math.

Homework every night in English and Math.

They have 3 different journals to keep at school.

Spelling
Poetry
Reading

They have a book report every week. Plus they have to read a book every night and are 'quizzed' on it at reading time. We also have a monthly reading calendar in addition to all of that. We can chose to read to the child, have the child read to us, or share a read, but it has to be done and signed by me every day and handed in at the end of the month.

Our district has instituted a new math program so we are now starting math projects and have activities to do at home that go along with what they are doing at school.

They also have Health, Science, Social Studies and Computers, but they had some of that in Kindergarten, as well.

Re: If your DC is/was in 1st grade...

Re: If your DC is/was in 1st grade...

DS has spelling tests every week and that's it as far as tests. A packet of reading and math homework for the week and he has to read every day and complete his reading log. He is telling me they have notebooks or journals in science and in one in class.

Re: If your DC is/was in 1st grade...

Emily gets spelling tests every week.

They have comprehension assessments and vocab assessments also as they move up reading levels. She is currently on a level G so she has had assessment reports sent home on each reading level up to that.

She has had 3 math Unit tests so far this year.

As far as Science/Social Studies, they do more projects for those subjects then tests. She has brought home a few projects that show what they learned in the units, such as a project on bats, one on insects, and projects on families and ancestry which is what they have done so far in Social Studies.

Re: If your DC is/was in 1st grade...

Not in NY but our Curriculum is very similar. We are in Colorado and DD goes to a Core Knowledge school.
She has weekly spelling.
Math quizzes.
Reading/Comprehension tests.
Monthly tests on High Frequency words.

She doesn't study at home for anything bust spelling and HF words. The other tests are just given. We don't even know when. They are just part of the curriculum.

We have only had one project so far. They are starting a new in school research project. Parent volunteers are helping take them to the library for the research part.

Re: If your DC is/was in 1st grade...

Weekly Spelling tests.

She has had 6 math tests but we have not known about any of them in advance. We have had 2 mini projects so far-- making a quilt square and one other thing that was fairly easy too that I can't remember. We get poetry assignments and work that goes along with that every week. We occassionally see some SS work and are starting to see some science. Nightly homework is spelling words every night doing differnt things, 2 different math sheets, poetry on Thursdays, weekly reading books and misc other dittos filter in too.

Re: If your DC is/was in 1st grade...

My son had no tests until second grade in a LI public school. He had a individual reading assessment 3x last year. But that was it.

Re: If your DC is/was in 1st grade...

So far he has only had 2 tests - both in math. At orientation, she said she was not started spellng tests til later in the year as she said it the past it did not work well when she did them n the beginning of the year.

He gets 2 worksheets a night for homework - usually a language/reading type sheet and math sheet. They have been relatively easy so far. Takes maybe 15 minutes. He keeps reading log and suppose to read 15 mnutes per night and record in the log. So far the workload was heavier in kindergarten.

Re: If your DC is/was in 1st grade...

We dont have the typical "spelling" test; what my DS class has is abot 7-12 words from their group reading book each week (mostly bigger "key"words like : pumpkin, carve, plant, seed etc....) the teacher dictates about 10-12 sentences that include those words and they get 1 point/sentence and EVERYTHING (including punctutaion) has to be correct for them to get the point!!!
.....Which IMO- is alot tougher then regular spelling tests...


They also have a math test after each unit so every week to every 2 weeks....

We get homework every night (except Fridays, but whether they have off during the week or not they have homework; even on Halloween we had homework!!!) usually a reading excercise and either a reading comprehnsion ditto, math ditto, or science ditto to accompany it...

And then we get a "project" on top of the regular homework every week to every 2 weeks... (some are optional, some arent; but nothing is optional for us- we do it all!)

I usually do alot of "extra" work with my child, but TBH he has so much work this year, I have backed off quite a bit! Im glad he is kept busy and is doing really well, I just remember that when I feel overwhelmed about getting it all done

Re: If your DC is/was in 1st grade...

Posted by 05mommy09

We dont have the typical "spelling" test; what my DS class has is abot 7-12 words from their group reading book each week (mostly bigger "key"words like : pumpkin, carve, plant, seed etc....) the teacher dictates about 10-12 sentences that include those words and they get 1 point/sentence and EVERYTHING (including punctutaion) has to be correct for them to get the point!!!
.....Which IMO- is alot tougher then regular spelling tests...


They also have a math test after each unit so every week to every 2 weeks....

We get homework every night (except Fridays, but whether they have off during the week or not they have homework; even on Halloween we had homework!!!) usually a reading excercise and either a reading comprehnsion ditto, math ditto, or science ditto to accompany it...

And then we get a "project" on top of the regular homework every week to every 2 weeks... (some are optional, some arent; but nothing is optional for us- we do it all!)

I usually do alot of "extra" work with my child, but TBH he has so much work this year, I have backed off quite a bit! Im glad he is kept busy and is doing really well, I just remember that when I feel overwhelmed about getting it all done