Math Curriculum Guide

Description

Grade 1 mathematics focuses on four critical areas: developing understanding of addition and subtraction strategies within 20, understanding whole number relationships and place value through tens and ones, developing understanding of linear measurement and length units, and reasoning about attributes and composition of geometric shapes. Students build computational fluency and number sense through concrete models, drawings, and increasingly sophisticated strategies. The year progresses from foundational work with small numbers through place value understanding to two-digit addition and subtraction. Measurement and geometry develop in parallel, with students learning to iterate length units accurately and to compose and decompose shapes while understanding part-whole relationships.

Big Ideas

• Addition and subtraction are inverse operations that can be modeled in multiple ways and solved using concrete objects, drawings, and mental strategies.
• The base-ten number system organizes numbers into tens and ones, providing a foundation for understanding place value and developing efficient computational strategies.
• Measurement involves comparing the length of objects using equal-sized units and understanding the importance of iteration and precision.
• Shapes have defining attributes that distinguish them from one another, and shapes can be composed, decomposed, and partitioned to develop understanding of part-whole relationships.

Essential Questions

• How can we represent a set of objects using numerals and symbols?
• What strategies help us solve addition and subtraction problems?
• How does understanding place value help us work with larger numbers?
• What does it mean to measure, and how do we measure accurately?
• How can shapes be described, compared, and combined in different ways?