Grade 1

Students begin the year developing the concepts of length and the number line. Even though the standards don't explicitly call for first graders to work with the number line, it can still be used as an instructional tool in first grade.

Next, students begin their work on addition and subtraction, returning to and extending the work they did in Kindergarten. Students’ work with addition and subtraction throughout the year balances conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, and applications. By the end of first grade, students should be fluent with adding and subtracting within 10. Since fluency develops over time, work towards fluency starts at the beginning of the year. Students use drawings, number lines, and equations to connect concrete representations with more abstract mathematical symbols.

The units are structured so that students build their understanding of place value in order to add and subtract larger numbers. Students begin by focusing on "making a ten." They build on that idea by adding ones to a ten in order to compose the numbers 11–19. Students also work on counting, making progress towards counting to 120, and reading and writing numerals. Once students have a solid understanding of 10 as a bundle of ten ones, they focus on addition and subtraction within 20.

Students' work in geometry in Grade 1 is relatively modest. The placement of the geometry unit (1.E) in this course blueprint is intended to provide an interlude in the major work of the grade, allowing students to process the work they did in the first four units. However, this unit can come at any time, as it has no prerequisites. Much of the work in geometry that students do in Grade 1 foreshadows important ideas that come to fruition in later grades, such as the notion of a defining attribute and the implications of composing and decomposing geometric figures and how this relates to geometric measurement. Students' Grade 1 work in geometry is selected to support their understanding of numbers and operations.

As students' understanding of and skill with addition and subtraction deepens, they begin to work with two-digit numbers. They find the sum of a two-digit number and a one-digit number, and of a two-digit number and a multiple of 10. Students' work in Grade 1 culminates in a unit where they can put all of their acquired knowledge and skill to use, capitalizing on their fluency with adding and subtracting within 10.

Note that this course blueprint is only one of many possible ways of arranging a sequence of topics designed to achieve the standards. It is a continually evolving document and we welcome your comments here.