Curriculum Detail

Grade 1

  • Kindergarten through Grade 2 Assessment and Data Driven Instruction

    Every academic moment in the classroom is intentionally and strategically planned. In order to make the most of every lesson and interaction, teachers turn to assessment data to plan differentiated instruction in all core academic areas.

    For reading, accuracy, fluency, and comprehension, the Fountas and Pinnell Running Record assessment is used to determine every student’s independent reading level. Students are then matched to leveled books for reading independently, with partners and in small guided reading groups lead by the teacher during Columbia University’s Teachers College Readers Workshop. Instruction and feedback is pinpointed to each student’s unique needs. Running Records are assessed periodically as a student demonstrates growth and formally three times within the school year.

    Additionally, the DIBELS assessment is used to assess the progress of every student in phonemic awareness and phonetic skills. The information gleaned from these measures also guides instruction in the classroom as teachers and instructional assistants work one on one and in small groups to meet the needs of all students.

    Writing is assessed formally at the beginning and end of each unit using Columbia University Teacher’s College Writers Workshop rubrics and checklists. These formative and summative assessments inform teacher decision making in planning lessons and providing useful feedback to students during one-on-one writing conferences.

    Pre-assessment and mClass data drive math differentiation. Prior to each unit, students take Chicago University’s Everyday Math pre-test in order to determine specific instructional needs. mClass assessments are administered each trimester and provide teachers with nationally normed data. Teachers use this information to plan and teach lessons that engage and challenge the students. This information is also used to group students in need of support and/or challenge within the curriculum.

  • Grade 1 Computer Science and Engineering

    Students participate in iLab classes once a week with the focus on basic computer science skills and design thinking guided by the ISTE (International Society of Technology Education) standards.  In the area of computer science, Grade 1 students work towards meeting the Empowered Learner standard as they continue to explore and develop mouse and keyboard and coding skills through the use of programs such as Wixie, BlueBot Robots, Scratch Jr., Kodable and Dash and Dot Robots.  In the area of design thinking, students focus on the Innovative Designer and Computational Thinker standards as they plan, design, create, test, and improve objects connected to literature, science and holidays using a variety of elements including LEGOs and Maker materials. 
     
    Learning Outcomes: 
     
    • Students will sequence steps of a basic algorithm.
    • Students will collaborate to solve problems.
    • Students will be able to identify and understand the basic usage of a variety of technology tools.
    • Students will understand and implement the steps of the design process.

  • Grade 1 Digital Literacy

    The St. Margaret’s kindergarten through grade 5 digital literacy and library program fosters life-long learning through teaching students to be empowered learners, creative communicators and responsible digital citizens. The digital literacy program is three pronged in its focus: students learn to critically evaluate and curate resources and information ethically and creatively; students leverage technology to take an active role in choosing, achieving, and demonstrating competency in their learning goals; and students recognize the rights, responsibilities and opportunities of living, learning and working in an interconnected digital world, and they act and model in ways that are safe, legal and ethical.
     
    While learning digital literacy skills, students will complete units based on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the grade level STEAM theme focus, diversity, identity, and concepts covered in their social studies and science curriculum. 
     
    Learning Outcomes based on Common Sense Media and the ISTE Standards for Students:
    • Students engage in positive, safe, legal and ethical behavior when using technology, including social interactions online or when using networked devices.
    • Students cultivate and manage their digital identity and reputation and are aware of the permanence of their actions in the digital world.
    • Students plan and employ effective research strategies to locate information and other resources for their intellectual or creative pursuits.
    • Students curate information from digital resources using a variety of tools and methods to create collections of artifacts that demonstrate meaningful connections or conclusions.
    • Students build knowledge by actively exploring real-world issues and problems, developing ideas and theories and pursuing answers and solutions.

  • Grade 1 General Music

    Kindergarten through Grade 3 Lower School students come to music one time per week. The curriculum is mapped backward from what our oldest musicians know and do. Our content focuses on developing students’ understanding of music theory, artistic perception, music history and interpretations of musical works. Through individual and class activities students build a love of music along with self-confidence which apply to students’ social, emotional, physical, and academic intelligence.

    Learning Outcomes
     
    • Students will learn to sing in tune and on pitch.
    • Students will learn to discriminate between high and low pitches.
    • Students will learn different tempos in song.
    • Students will learn the dynamics: p, pp, f, and ff.
    • Students will demonstrate a steady beat.
    • Students will be able to discriminate between long and short sounds by echoing melodic phrases and singing a variety of songs.
    • Students will learn note reading of the treble clef using lines and spaces.

  • Grade 1 Mathematics

    Mathematics instruction in Grade 1 focuses upon students acquiring basic mathematical concepts, number sense, mental math and problem solving. Students build mathematical concepts and mathematical fluency to provide a solid conceptual foundation for problem solving. Through the use of the University of Chicago's Everyday Math curriculum including multiple experiences with manipulatives, students learn number sense, operations and computation, data and probability, measurement, geometry and patterns, functions and algebra. Students are placed in flexible, skill-based groups that maximize student learning. Students are also provided opportunities for a “hands on approach” through collaborative interactions while playing content based games in ST Math to enhance understanding, technology connections, and exploration of manipulatives to enhance student learning. Computational skills are built within the Everyday Math framework and using the fact-fluency building in Mastering Math Facts.

    Essential Questions:
    • How does math enhance my life?
    • What strategies can I use for problem solving?
    • Why are numbers important? 

    Learning Outcomes:
    • Students will understand the concept of place value.
    • Students will explore the connection between addition and subtraction.
    • Students will skip count by 2’s, 3’s, 5’s, and 10’s to 100.
    • Students will compare small and large objects using various forms of measurement.
    • Students will describe geometrical figures and sort them by attributes.
    • Students will analyze data from charts and graphs and answer data related questions.
    • Students will apply skip counting knowledge to count sums of money.
    • Students will tell time to the hour and half hour on an analog clock.

  • Grade 1 Personal Fitness and Wellness

    Lower School students come to Physical Education 2-3 times a week. The curriculum follows the California State Framework in addition to following the St. Margaret’s tradition of developing strong skills in leadership, sportsmanship, and lifelong fitness. Our content focuses on developing students’ abilities, learning life skills, developing fundamental athletic skills, and promotion of healthy living. Through individual and team activities students build self-confidence which apply to students’ social, emotional, physical, and academic intelligence.

    Essential Questions:

    • Why does team work matter?
    • What does it mean to be a good sport?
    • What is healthy living?

    Learning Outcomes: “Moving Through Space and Time”

    • Travel and change direction quickly in response to a signal.
    • Travel in relationship to objects.
    • Perform locomotor and non-locomotor skills individually, with a partner and while manipulation objects.
    • Identify how to use equipment safely and responsibly.
    • Develop responsibility for expected behaviors in the classroom and playground.
    • Identify and begin to develop qualities of leadership.

  • Grade 1 Reading

    Grade 1 reading instruction follows Columbia University’s Teacher’s College Reading and Writing Project. There are four units of study in Grade 1 Reader’s Workshop. These units consist of: Building Good Reading Habits, Learning About the World: Reading Nonfiction, Readers Have Big Jobs to Do: Fluency, Phonics, and Comprehension, and Meeting Characters and Learning Lessons: A Study of Story Elements. Reader’s Workshop is a research-based, student-centered approach to teaching life-long readers. Grade 1 Reader’s Workshop consists of multiple components that include: shared reading, reading aloud, word study, partner reading, and independent reading. These components work together to create a balanced literacy curriculum. Each workshop begins with a mini lesson where the teacher models a reading strategy or skill. During independent and partner reading, students practice applying these skills to books that match their current reading level. Teachers use independent reading time to confer with students individually, in order to coach, compliment, and assess readers.
     
    In addition to Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, students are taught 95 Phonics Core Program, an evidence-based phonics instruction 30 minutes a day. This program is grounded in the science of reading and builds critical skills to help develop strong readers.

    Essential Questions:

    • Why do we need phonics?
    • How do we use phonics to spell and to read?
    • Why do we read?
    • What goals do we accomplish when we read?
     
    Learning Outcomes:

    • Students will apply phonemic awareness to assist in spelling and decoding unfamiliar words.
    • Students benefit from a structured, systematic program that teaches about 400 words in Level 1 and between 1,000-1,200 words in Level 2 by teaching rule-based, letter- sound correspondences. Students apply these skills to spell thousands of unfamiliar words with predictable spelling patterns.
    • Students will understand basic features of reading, including concepts of print, developing phonemic awareness, vocabulary and concept development.
    • Students will develop accuracy and fluency while reading.
    • Students will read and respond to individual and grade level text by drawing upon a variety of comprehension strategies.
    • Students will connect with story structure and identify characters, setting, and the plot of stories shared together.

  • Grade 1 Science

    Grade 1 Science
     
    Grade 1 Science is taught through theme-based lessons in the regular classroom and integrated into the Outdoor Classroom. As students are exposed to the wonderful world around them, they will complete both independent and collaborative explorations, experiments, and projects. Grade 1 students learn about expectations, procedures, and teamwork. Students are taught content through mini-lessons accompanied by fieldwork to test their hypothesis and apply new content knowledge.


    Learning Outcomes
    • Students will be able to identify the three states of matter and their different properties.
    • Students will understand that the properties of substances can change when the substances are mixed, cooled, or heated.
    • Students will be able to identify living versus non-living factors (biotic vs abiotic).
    • Students will be able to use observations of the sun, moon, and stars to describe patterns that can be predicted.
    • Students will make observations at different times of year to relate the amount of daylight to the time of year.
    • Students will make observations, predict, and describe patterns of the motion of the sun, moon, and stars in the sky.
    • Students will be able to plan and conduct investigations to provide evidence that vibrating materials can make sound and that sound can make materials vibrate.
    • Students will be able to make observations to construct an evidence-based account that objects in darkness can be seen only when illuminated.
    • Students will plan and conduct an investigation to determine the effect of placing objects made with different materials in the path of a beam of light.
    • Students will use materials to design a solution to a human problem by mimicking how plants and/or animals use their external parts to help them survive, grow, and meet their needs.
    • Students will read texts and use media to determine patterns in behavior of parents and offspring that help offspring survive.
    • Students will make observations to construct an evidence-based account that young plants and animals are like, but not exactly like, their parents.
    • Students will be able to identify the main tools used to measure weather (e.g. thermometer, wind vane, anemometer).
    • Students will be able to identify different cloud types.
    K-2 Engineering Design Standards
    • Ask questions, make observations, and gather information about a situation people want to change to define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of a new or improved object or tool.
    • Develop a simple sketch, drawing, or physical model to illustrate how the shape of an object helps it function as needed to solve a given problem.
    • Analyze data from tests of two objects designed to solve the same problem to compare the strengths and weaknesses of how each performs.

  • Grade 1 Social Studies

    Through the Macmillan/McGraw-Hill California Vistas: Family and Friends social science curriculum Grade 1 provides students with tools to enable them to be active participants in a multicultural world. The curriculum introduces students to varied ways of learning about their communities, their own larger world, historical events and geography. In the Lower School, service learning is thematically tied to the social studies curriculum. Grade 1 students study the STEM themes of safety and community heroes throughout the course of the year. Students partake in themed field trips, presentations, explorations, and a service project in which they reach out to their community heroes.

    Essential Questions:

    • What is community?
    • How do we fit into the world around us?

    Learning Outcomes:

    • Students will learn the rights and responsibilities of being a citizen.
    • Students compare and contrast the absolute and relative locations of places and people, describing the physical or human characteristics of places.
    • Students understand the symbols and icons of the United States and how these play a part in the tradition and sense of community in America.
    • Students will examine the geographic, economic, and cultural aspects of life today and long ago.
    • Students explore various backgrounds of our country’s citizens and how they contribute to America’s heritage.

  • Grade 1 Spiritual Practice

    Our Spiritual Practice class for grades K through 5 is designed to provide a grounding environment centered on moral formation and character development that caters to the whole child. The class provides an opportunity for students to mindfully reflect, contemplate, breathe, and find a pocket of peaceful respite during their day. The class is made up of lessons that support students’ spiritual character development as well as social and emotional development.
    Learning Outcomes:
    • Students will build their emotional vocabulary and self-awareness by learning to identify and name their feelings.
    • Students will learn strategies to solve conflict in healthy ways.
    • Students will learn ways to reset and calm down when dealing with uncomfortable emotions.
    • Students will learn various breathing strategies and mindfulness techniques.
    • Students will have opportunities to learn about God’s love and how they can extend that love out into the world.
    • Students will have opportunities to discuss and reflect on the homilies shared in chapel.
    • Students will be presented with “The Good Shepherd” and other parables from the Bible that demonstrate God’s love and Christian morality with scripture books and materials that are always available along with discussions that stimulate wonder and critical thinking.
    • Students will be introduced to the biblical stories of Jesus’ life with objects and scripture booklets that are available to recreate the stories.
    • Students will learn about concepts of inclusivity and diversity. They will learn to have a respect for “all God’s children” and their religious practices to promote world peace, sharing of God’s love, and the practice of making strong character choices.
    • Students will grow in their maturity and understanding of the Good Shepherd program with Bible study, understanding of the History of the Kingdom and His gifts and a variety of worship experiences and choices.
    • Students will learn about the concept of identity and what makes them unique and special. They will learn to foster acceptance and empathy for others who are both similar and different to them.

  • Grade 1 Visual Arts

    The primary emphasis is on encouraging self confidence in exploring art forms, stimulating curiosity through motivating projects, and continued development in skills and ability, instilling enjoyment and participation in art activities and developing an appreciation of the accomplishments of others.
     
    • Students will use appropriate art vocabulary (line, color, shape/form, texture, value, space) in their own works of art and the art of others.
    • Students will tell a story and express feelings with their art by incorporating the elements and principles of art.
    • Students will mix secondary colors from primary colors and describe the process.
    • Students will demonstrate beginning skill in the use of sculptural materials (clay and paper) to create form and texture in works of art.
    • Students will view, and describe the art of other cultures.
    • Students will create a cut paper collage relating to their community.
    • Students will recognize famous artists and their work.
    • Students will enjoy the process of making art. 

  • Grade 1 Writing

    Writing in Grade 1 follows Columbia University’s Teacher’s College Reading and Writing Project. Writer’s Workshop is a research-based, student-centered approach to developing lifelong writers. There are four units of study for Writer’s Workshop which consist of Small Moments: Writing with Focus, Detail, and Dialogue, Nonfiction and Chapter Books, Writing Reviews, and From Scenes to Series: Writing Fiction. Grade 1 students receive instruction in the form of mini lessons which transfers to daily independent writing. During independent writing teachers confer with students individually to coach them through the writing process.

    Additionally, Grade 1 students learn spelling patterns and phonics through the Read Naturally Signs for Sounds program. The Handwriting Without Tears® printing program in first and second grade develops strong printing skills with hands-on activities and lessons that integrate important language arts skills, including sentence, word, and paragraph composition.

    Learning to write is a developmental skill. In Writer’s Workshop each student’s pace is honored and progress is celebrated throughout the entire process.

    Essential Questions:

    • How do we use phonics to spell and to read?
    • How do my personal life experiences enhance my writing?
    • How can I make my characters and stories more exciting?
    • How can I narrow down my topic ideas?

    Learning Outcomes:

    • Students will apply phonemic awareness to assist in spelling and decoding unfamiliar words.
    • Students benefit from a structured, systematic program that teaches about 400 words in Level 1 and between 1,000-1,200 words in Level 2 by teaching rule-based, letter- sound correspondences. Students apply these skills to spell thousands of unfamiliar words with predictable spelling patterns.
    • Students will practice becoming more independent writers.
    • Students will apply real life experiences to enhance writing.
    • Students will practice collaborating with peers and adults to help guide and improve writing.
    • Students will explore different types of writing and will explore different ways authors present their writing.
  • Lea Anderson
    Lower School Co-Teacher
    Credentialed
  • Mrs. Maile Bellosi
    Lower School Assistant Principal
    Chaminade University of Honolulu - M.Ed.
    Pepperdine University - M.Ed.
    Seattle University - B.A.
  • Mrs. Colleen Beshk
    Grade 1 Teacher
    California State University, Fullerton - B.A.
    Credentialed
  • Mr. David Beshk
    LS Science Grades K-5; Summer Day Camp and Gear-Up Coordinator
    Arizona State University - B.A.
    California State University, Fullerton - M.S.
    Credentialed
  • Ms. Shanelle Cabral
    Lower School Co-Teacher
  • Mrs. Jan Connon
    Substitute Teacher
  • Mrs. Jennifer Cuda
    LS Personal Fitness & Wellness; MS Coach- Boys & Girls Volleyball, Girls Basketball
    California State University, Fullerton - B.A.
    Credentialed
  • Mrs. Jen Cunningham
    K-3 Reading Specialist
    Temple University School of Law - J.D.
    Temple University - B.A.
    Credentialed
  • Mr. Adam Doty
    LS Personal Fitness & Wellness; US Assistant Coach
    California State University, Fullerton - B.S.
  • Mrs. Melissa Fisher
    LS K-5 Digital Literacy Teacher
    California State University, Long Beach - M.A.
    University of Connecticut - B.S.
    Credentialed
  • Mrs. Libby Grogan
    Grade 1 Teacher
    Westminster College - B.A.
    Credentialed
  • Mr. Zach Hanna
    K-5 Music & LS Musical Director
    The Boston Conservatory - B.A.
  • Mrs. Gennavie Johnson
    Lower School Co-Teacher
  • Mrs. Lauren Johnson
    Grade 1 Teacher
    University of Arizona - B.A.
    Credentialed
  • Mrs. Eva Kammerer
    Assistant Director of Extension Programs
    California State University, Fullerton - B.S.
  • Mrs. Petra Lowery
    Lower School Co-Teacher
  • Mrs. Mary Mayer-Grubb
    K-5 Visual Arts Teacher
    Art Institute of Boston - M.F.A.
    Vermont College - B.F.A.
  • Mrs. Laura Redman
    LS Computer Science and Engineering
    California State University, Fullerton - B.A.
    California State University, Long Beach - B.A.
    Credentialed
  • Mrs. Lola Woodward
    Lower School Administrative Assistant
    California State University, Long Beach - B.A.

St. Margaret’s Episcopal School

31641 La Novia Avenue
San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675
(949) 661-0108
 
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An Independent Preschool Through Grade 12 College-Preparatory Day School in Orange County California

Non-Discrimination Policy
St. Margaret's Episcopal School does not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, color, religion, sexual orientation or national and ethnic origin in the administration of its educational, admission, financial aid, hiring and athletic policies or in other school-administered programs.