Description of the Grade 1 Curriculum UnitsMathematical Thinking at Grade 1 (Introduction) This unit introduces first graders to some of the materials and processes they will be using this year in mathematics as they explore counting, comparing, and combining in each of the three areas of the Investigations curriculum: number, data, and space. Students use mathematical tools and materials (interlocking cubes, pattern blocks, and Geoblocks) as they count, combine numbers, play math games, solve problems, investigate patterns, represent results of surveys they take, and create their own designs and constructions. They engage in critical mathematical processes, such as sharing strategies; using pictures, numbers, and words to show their work; and working with peers. This unit includes suggestions for organizing the classroom environment and for establishing classroom routines.
Building Number Sense (The Number System) Students build their understanding of numbers and number relationships, and they begin using their growing understanding of the number system to solve addition and subtraction problems. They explore different ways to represent numbers (such as with manipulatives, dot patterns, and equations); they play mathematical games in which they combine and compare numbers; they find number combinations; they represent patterns with numbers and with manipulatives; they work with the counting sequence up to 100; and they solve a variety of addition and subtraction problems, including story problems (their own and invented problems).
Survey Questions and Secret Rules (Collecting and Sorting Data) This unit introduces students to identifying and describing attributes of various objects. Opportunities to sort and categorize objects, students, as well as data that students have collected, are provided throughout the unit. Creating representations of sorted object sets as well as data surveys are a further emphasis of the unit. Students begin by describing attributes of shapes, buttons, lids, and one another as they play a variety of Guess My Rule games. They invent their own representations to show the results of a class survey and then the results of data they have collected. Students organize a class birthday graph, which helps them figure out whose birthday comes next. Students represent information about the ages of classmates and family members, comparing several categories of data. Their work concludes with a look at their class attendance data over a period of time.
Quilt Squares and Block Towns (2-D and 3-D Geometry) Students use the Shapes software, pattern blocks, and Geoblocks to explore relationships among shapes. They build and sort their own boxes. They draw and build other three-dimensional constructions as they plan and create their own town. They examine the connections between two dimensions and three dimensions, using Geoblocks and other manipulatives to match faces and solids. Students explore geometric patterns in depth.
Number Games and Story Problems (Addition and Subtraction) Students continue to deepen their understanding of the number system and use their growing knowledge to solve a wide variety of addition and subtraction problems. Throughout the unit, as students work with a variety of games, stories, and problem contexts, they have many opportunities to represent numbers and number relationships with manipulatives, visual patterns, and equations; to develop meaning for addition and subtraction; and to develop, share, and record their own strategies for solving addition and subtraction problems.
Bigger, Taller, Heavier, Smaller (Measuring) Students work with linear measurement, comparing objects of various size (Is this object bigger or smaller than my pencil?) as well as iterating units (e.g., How many hands long is this desk? How many cubes long is this object?). They explore volume and capacity (e.g., How many of these containers fill that bigger one? Which 2 of 5 bottles hold the same amount of water?). They look at area, covering outlines of shapes with pattern blocks, and creating their own sets of blocks that fit inside a certain shape outline. Finally, they explore weighing and balancing as they determine which of 2 objects is heavier, using their sense of weight (comparing objects in their hands) as well as balance scales.