Grade 1 at Bertschi
First graders become confident readers, writers, and mathematicians, building academic skills, strategies, and independence. By the end of the year, they are decoding multi-syllable words, writing persuasive letters, solving two-digit equations with multiple strategies, and thinking critically about the world beyond themselves.
Grade 1 Math
Grade 1 math at Bertschi is built on the idea that mathematicians notice, wonder, and problem-solve, not just calculate. Students begin by exploring what it means to think like a mathematician: developing habits of mind, noticing math in everyday life, and sharing their reasoning with peers.
Using the Reveal Math curriculum alongside hands-on materials, open-ended games, and flexible grouping, students build deep fluency in place value, addition and subtraction, shapes, measurement, fractions, and time. Rather than memorizing procedures, they develop a toolkit of strategies (number lines, ten frames, doubles facts, manipulatives, and mental math) so they can approach problems flexibly and explain their thinking.
Students also engage in word problems learning to slow down, read carefully, and verify their answers, habits of mathematical reasoning that builds toward the more complex problem-solving of later grades.
Grade 1 Language Arts
Reading and writing in Grade 1 are taught as a unified practice: students read like writers and write like readers. Phonics and word study instruction is grounded in systematic phonemic awareness, giving children the tools to decode unfamiliar words, including multi-syllable words broken into readable chunks. Students select "just right" books matched to their individual reading level, building both fluency and confidence.
Comprehension is taught explicitly through a set of strategies students return to all year: predicting, visualizing, connecting, inferring, asking questions, and noticing key details. Read-alouds expose the whole class to high-quality literature above their independent reading level, sparking discussion about character, setting, vocabulary, and author's message.
In writing, students move through all three major genres: narrative, informational, and persuasive, as well as poetry. They learn the full writing process: planning, drafting, revising, and editing. Letter formation, punctuation, and spelling conventions are taught with guided practice, while inventive spelling is encouraged so that ideas always come first.
Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics (STEAM)
In science, first graders develop their sense of wonder and environmental awareness through hands-on investigation, learning to observe carefully, ask questions, and test ideas. In robotics and technology, students are introduced to coding and computational thinking using age-appropriate tools, building the foundational logic and sequencing skills that deepen every year. In art, first graders develop creative confidence and dexterity across a range of materials, with projects that connect directly to what they are studying in the classroom. In drama, every first grader performs a full production in Bertschi's drama lab, building voice, presence, and empathy through storytelling. Across all of these experiences, specialist teachers collaborate with classroom teachers to create connections that make learning richer and more coherent than any single subject could deliver alone.
Social-Emotional Learning (SEL)
First graders are working hard to become independent learners and confident problem solvers, and the SEL curriculum supports that work directly. Students reflect on how they like to take in information, how to prepare their minds and bodies for learning, and how to share their thinking with others. They practice mindfulness and emotional regulation techniques, learning to identify what they are feeling and work through it constructively. Community is a central focus. First graders develop class promises together, role-play appropriate ways to navigate everyday social challenges, and practice the listening and speaking skills that make them not just learners but teachers of one another. The concepts of windows and mirrors run through the year: students explore their own identities while developing curiosity and appreciation for the perspectives and experiences of others. By the end of Grade 1, students have the self-awareness, resilience, and collaborative skills needed for Grade 2 and beyond.
Learning in Action
At Bertschi, students connect learning to their families, communities, and the world around them. Scroll below to see a few Grade 1 learning experiences.
Mathematical Thinking
Grade 1 students engage in word problems, learning to slow down, read carefully, and verify their answers. Students share their thinking with their classmates, learning to listen to their peers and incorporate the ideas of others. These habits of mathematical reasoning support the more complex problem-solving of later grades. By the end of first grade, students are solving two-digit equations involving addition, subtraction, measurement, fractions, and time.
Flat Stanley: Mapping the World
Each first grader creates and sends a Flat Stanley character by mail to someone in their life...then waits, wonders, and researches. The project builds map literacy (cardinal directions, human-made vs. natural features, cartographer's perspective) alongside real reading and writing skills: composing questions, analyzing responses, and presenting findings. It also introduces students to the idea that perspective shapes what we see, a critical thinking concept woven through first grade social studies and reading instruction alike. Students bring their map skills to life on local field trips, applying what they have learned in the classroom to the real geography of their city.
ElderFriends: Writing with Purpose
First graders partner with ElderFriends—older adults in the community—through a service-learning project that spans the entire year. In the fall, students create art from repurposed materials to brighten their Elder partners' spaces. In the spring, they write letters and cards for their friends. This project integrates writing conventions, empathy, persuasive and personal voice, giving children an early, concrete experience of what it means to use literacy to build community.
Windows and Mirrors: Identity in Grade 1
First graders explore identity through a concept they return to all year: windows and mirrors. Mirrors are stories and experiences that reflect who they are; windows are opportunities to see into lives different from their own. Through the "All About Us" unit, a family writing project, read-alouds featuring diverse characters and authors, and classroom discussions, students develop the vocabulary and habits of mind to notice both similarity and difference with curiosity rather than judgment. This work lays the social-emotional foundation for first grade's larger study of changemakers, community, and civic responsibility.
Building Confident Readers
Using the Word-Wires program, students joyfully explore the "why" behind how words are spelled. Phonics and word study instruction is grounded in systematic phonemic awareness, giving children the tools to decode unfamiliar words including multi-syllabic words.
Students act out phonics lessons, taking on the role of "magic or E" or "kind K," to make phonics learning engaging and memorable.