Hello and Welcome!

Ms. Lisa Apel-Christianson, Ms.Kaitlynn Mackie, and Ms.Nazareth Lowery are preparing for an exciting, fun and rewarding first grade 2022-2023 school year! We have been reflecting on what we experienced as teachers along with our HPE students and their families during this past worldwide pandemic. We have all learned so much about the distance learning experience, especially about the strength and resilience of people when we work together and support one another. This year we'll build on the positive things that went well, and modify what we can to make the very best possible learning happen! We're in this together! Thank you for your time and support in all that you did last year to help your child continue in their academic journey in kindergarten!  We will all continue to work hard together to build on the skills your child has been working on, and continue to support their progress and development. We can't wait to meet your child to learn more about them personally. For now, please read this important information about what our achievement goals are for 1st graders. These standards are stated more explicitly in our HPE Compact.    

First grade is a year full of extraordinary growth and change as children work on building their academic and social selves. We take pride in working with each and every child to help them become a well-rounded inquirer.  

Our IB/PYP Curriculum includes the following:

Reading: We follow the Reader's Workshop model. Students meet in small groups in addition to core instruction to meet their specific needs. We teach the Fountais and Pinnell Phonics Curriculum along with their Shared Stories and Guided Reading Groups. First grade focuses on phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency and comprehension. A big part of fluency and being about to read well is by recognizing whole sight words. Our school uses the Fry Word Lists. First grade uses the first 150 Fry Words. You will find a copy of this in your child's Learning Folder/ also called their Thursday Communication Folder used as a homework folder. It has valuable resources for your child to practice at home to support learning important skills.

Writing: We follow the Writer’s Workshop model. This model encourages all students to write at their own level while building on the foundation skills taught in kindergarten. Some of our units include: question and answer books, persuasive writing, and small moment stories.

Math: Students will explore and begin to understand the relationship numbers have in our everyday lives through our St. Paul Public School adopted Math curriculum, TQE. We use the St. Paul Common Core and State of Minnesota standards to guide our instruction. 

Inquiry: First graders explore and inquire through our six units of inquiry. More information is available soon by clicking on the Units of Inquiry tab below.

Specialists:  First graders rotate through  for a week each at a time: Art, Science, then Physical Education.