Welcome to the Lyon's Den.  My first graders spend lots of time with Language Arts.  They develop and practice reading skills through the Houghton Mifflin Reading Program, Accelerated Reading (A.R.), beloved library time and with special reading time with 5th Grade book buddies.  During our AR time, the students may have a Mystery Day where they all read mystery books in the dark with flashlights, or they may learn about Clifford while they cuddle up with a partner and stuffed dogs they bring from home.  When we study First Nation people, they love to crawl inside our homemade tipi to share books with friends.  We try to make reading time beneficial and fun with literature circles, too.

The students learn the Writing Process and how to improve their writing through 6 Traits Writing. This program teaches them how to develop interesting ideas and use "juicy" words to clarify what they are trying to say.  They learn to organize their ideas into stories, use their emotional voice in their writing, and write more fluently, using conventional grammar and punctuation.  A tall order indeed, but it starts in First Grade and hopefully just keeps getting better as they progress through MAK. 

In Math we use many manipulatives to learn math concepts and to solve real-life problems students may encounter. Math is comprehensive including Numerical and Proportional Reasoning, Algebraic Reasoning through Patterns and Functions, Geometry and Measurement, Data Analysis and Probability and Problem Solving and Logical Reasoning. Morrison has been blessed with Smartboards to practice classroom skills and the students love these opportunities to work with current technology. 

Exploring Science is fun as students learn about their world and the Animals and Plants they share it with, the 8 Planets and all those Stars, Simple Machines through toys in the toybox and How a Garden Grows.  The entire Science Program is taught with hands-on materials and lab experiments. 

First Grade Social Studies is filled with experiences in the community and around the world, explaining how democracy works and providing opportunities for students to become good citizens of the world.  Our First Graders learn how to recycle, reuse and reduce to save both energy and mom and dad's money as they learn to turn off lights and water to conserve our resources.  They learn about continents and rivers and volcanoes,too. What an exciting world God has given us!  Our students study their world through History, Geography, Citizenship, Economics and the Cultures of Japan, Australia and New Zealand.  We teach our children to consider the Biblical view of the world so they can choose to impact this world for Christ. 

Wow! First Graders are busy little people! Check us out!

Ms.Lyon

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