Nancy Swindle, Jody Foster, Hilary Brennan, Peggy Martin, Michelle Maxwell

We have five first grade classes at East Ridge Elementary.

Our language arts curriculum begins with writing. We stress pencil grip and letter formation. Throughout the year we will focus on several important aspects. We work on learning sentence structure including capitalization in sentences, punctuation with different sentence types, and simple subject/verb agreement. Reading is a very important part of first grade. We encourage children to participate and excel with our Accelerated Reader Program. In reading we will focus on fluency and comprehension. We will learn how to identify main idea using context clues, fact and fantasy, drawing conclusions and predicting outcomes. In our spelling program there is a strong emphasis on phonemic awareness.

The first grade math program continues with addition and subtraction. We stress the importance of memorizing addition and subtraction math facts. The Accelerated Math Program will be used throughout the year to enhance our math curriculum. We will work on story problems teaching math clues to solve the problem.

The first grade will be learning about Life Science: living and non-living things, the five senses, classifying animals and their life cycles, and also plants. In Earth Science we will be learning about the earth's resources and weather and seasons. In the Physical Science the focus will be on matter and energy. We are able to enhance our science learning through the "Science Zone", a science lab for experiments.

We work on social skills for everyday life. Each week we practice on a different social skill. Our study focuses on family, school, and community. We want each child to realize their own potentials and how they are special and unique. We also work on chart and graph skills, and how to use a map or globe. Our curriculum teaches about our state and country. We also use Texas Week activities to get hands on knowledge of our culture.

This is a general list of school supplies for 1st grade. Some teachers may require some additional items. Please check with your child's teacher during Meet the Teacher Night.

1 ruler with inches & centimeters
2 large bottles Elmer's school glue
1 pair Fiskars scissors
1 package of 50, 12x18 Manila paper
1 package assorted construction paper
1 plastic school box
2 large boxes of kleenex
20 #2 pencils
2 erasers
6 pocket folders
1 backpack
1 box 24 count crayons
1 box markers
1 box sandwich size ziploc baggies
1 box gallon size ziploc baggies
1 pkg. paper plates
2 packages baby wipes

Little Mustangs really have fun when the Mustang Readers come to read to our classes. Here is Mrs. Fosters class with Mustang Bryan Boyd. Bryan was one of Mrs. Fosters first students at Eastridge.