FIRST AND SECOND GRADE

First Grade
(For children who have completed Kindergarten, who display first grade readiness, and who have been recommended for First Grade)

Second Grade
(For children who have completed First Grade, who display second grade readiness, and who have been recommended for Second Grade)

8:30am-3:00pm
Extended Hours available before 8:20, or as late as 5:30pm

The first and second grade classrooms at King’s Gate will not disappoint those who been hoping and waiting for the King's Gate philosphy and environment to extend into elementary grades. Our classrooms are experiential and hands-on, relational, inspiring and lead by certified teachers. Each morning starts off with one-on-one reading with the teacher. This gives every student special time with the teacher while giving the teacher the opportunity to assess and bond with each student. In addition, all the children use this time to develop their independent reading skills. The morning moves on into the Morning Meeting Time, which includes calendar time, graphing weather, bible verse memory games, as well as prayer and devotion time.

The students have their own Bibles and prayer journals. Daily Bible reading is part of the classroom routine and is done as a guided reading activity. A different Bible story is read, discussed and then the students have time for journaling afterwards. Activities are planned to correspond with the different Bible themes throughout the year and the Bible themes correspond with our Social Studies units.

The math curriculum used in first and second grade is Growing with Mathematics. Growing with Math is a hands-on approach to Mathematics. There are an abundance of manipulatives included in each lesson and plenty of opportunities to use them. Math is taught every day and the students thrive with this program! We have complimented the Growing with Math program with several Math Fact activities to help our students own math facts.

We have adopted the Wright Skills as the foundation of our Language Arts program. It is a developmentally appropriate approach to phonics, word study, creative writing and spelling. Phonics is part of the classroom experience everyday and the Wright Skills program lends itself to many uses (ie. phonics, spelling practice, alliteration, poetry, rhyming, suffixes, prefixes, contractions, creative writing, multiple meaning words, abbreviations, grammer, and much more.) We also build Dolch words and high frequency words into our weekly spelling and word studies. Because Language Arts and literacy are at the core of everything that happens in our classrooms, all content areas include language and literacy based activities.

In the afternoon, the children are engaged in Reading/Writing Workshop. An in-depth study of literature and writing is emphasized during this time. Reading/Writing Workshop is set up in learning centers all coordinated to give the children rich experiences in reading and writing activities. The activities include writing stories, writing and reciting poetry, reading aloud new and familiar stories, Big Book Shared reading, listening to books on tape, illustrating personal works, acting out books, and so much more!

Each day concludes with journaling on a variety of topics. During this time children learn proper handwriting techniques (Handwriting without Tears), spacing of words, grammer, and creative thought. It is amazing to see their growth throughout the year by reading through their journals!

There is so much learning and exploring that goes on in first and second grades and it extends into music and science as well. The students have music each week with Ms. Leah. She lets them explore music through beat, rhythm, and singing, as well as musical instruments. Beginning in 2008 the First grade was featured in the Annual Christmas Sing. They have played the drums, the bells, and the guitar. They began violin lessons during the 2009 school year. The skill focuses include melody, rhythm, harmony, form, music appreciation, performance, tone, pitch, tempo, dynamics, rhythm pattersn, features of songs, music history and culture, music from other countries, styles, music expression, beats and rhythm responses, playing rhythmic patters, playing pitch patterns, and following melodic contour.

Another major aspect of first and second grade in Science. They have their own biology curriculum and Ms. Laurie leads them as they experience a more in-depth study of animals and life science than they have had in years before. We utilize R.W. Keller’s “Real Science-4-kids” curriculum. Ms. Laurie takes the class through foundational concepts including taxonomy, cell biology and lifecycles. The students enjoy working with a lab partner as they experience science in true King's Gate fashion. They further develop their skills to utilize the scientific method. Throughout the year the students will walk through “Think about It” modules/activities that help them sort through what they should be watching for. This section provides questions to help them hypothesize before an experiment begins. The “Test It” modules/activities help students set up experiments, collect data and observe what happens. The “What Did You Discover?” modules/activities provide the opportunity for the students to note what they observed. “Why?” sections provide explanations. The “Real Science-4-Kids” curriculum is designed to provide an introduction to biology and helps develop a framework for real science in a way that is consistent with King’s Gate experiential approach to learning.

Art is incorporated into everything we do at King’s Gate, across all content areas. In Math the children learn about shapes, symmetry, patterns, contrast, and picture graphing. In Language Arts, the children illustrate stories and poems, as well as their own work. In science, the class learns to diagram and illustrate life systems and the anatomy of animals. In Social Studies and History, they learn about great artists of the past and present. In music, the children learn about music contour as they create art inspired by familiar and new musical pieces. The student's favorite aspect of art at King’s Gate is having Art class with Ms. Helen. Ms. Helen makes art fun and exciting and the children look forward to their time with her each week. With her help, the children learn the language of visual art and about art history and culture, experiment in color mixing with various media, visit an art museum and create their own works of art using the elements of art and the principles of design to communicate their ideas.

Other fun things for these classes include physical education, health with Ms. Sarah (our school nurse), social awareness with Ms. Julie, class websites, computer interaction, and recess on the playground. The first and second grade classrooms are an exciting addition to King’s Gate Christian School . The King’s Gate Board is providing first and second grades for the 2009-2010 school year with the intent to discuss the hope and goal to extend through fifth grade.