- Home »
- Class Pages »
- First Grade
First Grade
| Teacher | Years Teaching | Years at OLC |
|---|---|---|
| Ms. Amy Bauschard | 5 | 5 |
Education: Bachelor of Science, Early/Elementary Education, Gannon University
"I choose to teach in a Catholic school because we are able to teach Christian-based values. I graduated from a Catholic grade school and high school and believe strongly in what the Catholic schools exemplify. The atmosphere in a Catholic school makes the job enjoyable.”
| Teacher | Years Teaching | Years at OLC |
|---|---|---|
| Ms. Judy Abel | 28 | 20 |
Education: Bachelor of Arts, Early Childhood Education, Villa Maria College; Master of Education, Elementary Education, Edinboro University of PA; Reading Specialist, Edinboro University of PA
"The best thing about teaching is watching the look of excitement on a first graders face when they can finally read a book on their own."
What we're learning
In first grade, Ms. Bauschard and Ms. Abel begin the year with a review of the beginning letter sounds learned in kindergarten. From there, children progress to the ending sounds and the vowels sounds and eventually study word families so they learn phonics gradually.
Calendar skills are integrated into the first-grade curriculum to enhance the math and language arts by teaching numbers, patterns, counting, days of the week and months, plus more.
In November, students study the Pilgrims and the Indians. This year, we will do a unit on the Pilgrims and Indians with the whole primary and have a closing feast in the evening with the parents attending. We also take many field trips and look forward to formal parent conferences.
Each month we concentrate on a different author and read as many books as we can find by that author. We encourage students to share their books from home with us and we also use books from the school library.
During Lent we make a special effort to learn the Stations of the Cross and visit St. Patrick Church to view the Stations there. It is the only church in Erie that has life-size statues of the stations.
We end the year with a field trip to the beach and, of course, our day at the WLD Ranch. While first grade begins with the review of sounds, it ends the everyone reading.