There will be many more challenges and even more opportunities that a child will face as he/she enters the 1st grade and progresses into the 2nd. Not only is this the period in development when children begin to have much more energy and more varied and intense emotions, they will begin to establish lasting social relationships and take on their new responsibility. They will further develop the skills that they acquired in their early stages of development and use their skills to forge even more skills as a normal part of progression. They will also begin to adjust to a longer school day and interact with other students during more of their day. This experience is made a positive one by Brilliance’s Private Elementary School Programs, as we understand how important this phase of development is to overall intellectual growth.

Much like in kindergarten and preschool, the emphasis of our 1st and 2nd grade programs is placed primarily on the ability to read and write as well as understand and use mathematics. However, other areas such as science, art and social studies will begin to have more of a firm place in the child’s curriculum. Although new skills and concepts will be introduced, this period in development is primarily concerned with the mastery of the concepts introduced at earlier levels. Not only will this approach to education strengthen the child’s understanding of simple concepts that they need to develop, their mastery of previous material will instill confidence and development to the highest degree.

In language skills, students begin to expand on their ability to recognize words as they appear on the page and as they are spoken aloud. In addition, they begin to master the skill of recalling stories that they have been read in a logical fashion with specific details about the plot. They also begin the foundations of basic writing organization that include capitalization and introductory punctuation. One of the most important language development concepts that your child will begin to learn will be the construction of complete sentences and the marked expansion of correctly spelled vocabulary. All students will be given the opportunity to distinguish between fiction and non-fiction as well as begin to interpret the stories that they are told in a constructive way.

In math, students begin to understand the common ideas of how numbers relate to one another. The relationships that they will learn include larger than, less than, the same as, etc. They will also be taught to identify the numbers up to and including the number 100. They will be taught to reach the number 100 by counting in 2s, 5s and 10s. Their mathematical skills will also be expanded upon with addition and subtraction skills that use small numbers. One of the most important concepts will be the addition of real world math to the curriculum. This will include the ability to read clocks (hours and half hours) and be able to count small amounts of change. They will also begin to learn the creative aspects of math through graphs, shapes and patterns.

In social studies, your child will be introduced to maps and learn to locate the U.S.A. as well as the continents and oceans of the world. They will also begin to create and interpret their own maps of small areas (such as their house or their classroom), understand news and current events. Children will form groups and learn to work together to solve problems and coordinate efforts. One of the most important concepts that will be taught in social studies will be the ability to work together to accomplish similar goals regardless of their individual interests or differences. Children will begin to understand the ability to construct and organize events that occurred in the past in a logical sequence of events.

In science, students are taught the rudimentary aspects of incorporating simple materials such as microscopes and rulers into their experimentation and discovery. They also begin to understand the various sense that they possess (smell, touch, taste sight, hearing) and how they work to help them understand their world. One of the most important concepts that children are taught is how to interact and stay safe around animals and the cycles of life that they all go through. By examining the similarities of other specie’s life cycles with their own they can gain a better understanding of their own lives and their place in the cycle.