My Father's World - First Grade Introduction

My Father’s World First Grade: A Complete Bible-based Curriculum is a complete first
grade curriculum with a phonics-based reading program. Focusing on Genesis to Revelation, key Bible stories are used to develop reading and writing skills. It completes the learning-to-read process begun in the kindergarten program, My Father’s World From A to Z. All necessary consonant and vowel sounds are presented using a logical and phonetic approach to produce an independent reader.

My Father’s World First Grade is a full-year program with 160 days. The first 125 days focus on the Old Testament, presenting all necessary phonics skills. Once a week, students enjoy Exploration Day. On this day, there are no regular reading, math, or Bible lessons. Instead, students participate in science activities and time outside exploring God’s wonderful creation. The last 35 days of the program focus on the New Testament and are less structured.

The student will also need a red pencil and standard school supplies such as pencils, crayons, paper, 3”x 5” cards, scissors, and glue.

As part of the reading curriculum, select interesting, high quality children’s books to read aloud to the student for 15 minutes each day. Children benefit greatly when adults read to them regularly. It is an important factor in the learning-to-read process. If you need help selecting books, refer to Honey for a Child’s Heart or Books Children Love. Both contain extensive lists of good books. See the appendix for ordering information.
Select poems that are age-appropriate to read aloud to your child. One excellent introduction to poetry for young children is Poems and Prayers for the Very Young selected by Martha Alexander. This collection of 39 poems and prayers is colorfully illustrated and includes poems by Christina G. Rosetti, Robert Louis Stevenson, Robert Browning, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and many others. Another enjoyable poetry book is Read-Aloud Rhymes for the Very Young selected by Jack Prelutsky. See the appendix for ordering information.
Science focuses on God’s amazing world. The core of the curriculum is found in three
Usborne books: Things Outdoors, Science with Water, and Science with Plants. This is supplemented with additional hands-on activities and science books from the library. As part of the weekly Exploration Day, you will spend part of the day outside enjoying God’s beautiful creation. This is a time to run, play, explore, watch an ant, and feel the rough tree bark. You may want to refer to pages 133-137 in For the Children’s Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay for some practical how-to’s and a better understanding of why this outdoor time is so foundational. See the appendix for ordering information.

In addition, you may want to use some of the optional science activities listed below (these are not included in the daily lesson plans) to help your child appreciate the wonders in God’s world.
- Visit the same park each month. Draw and write about what you observe: colors, leaves, weather, etc.
- Walk through your neighborhood each week and encourage careful observation: stop and watch ants, find as many different flowers as you can, give the student a leaf and see if he can locate the same kind of tree.
- Begin a collection of shells, rocks, seeds, or leaves. Set aside a specific area where your child can neatly organize his collection. Some collections may be stored inside, and others may be better stored in a specified location outside.
- Plan field trips to a farm, zoo, botanical gardens, or natural history museum.
- Begin a nature notebook. Purchase a blank spiral artist sketch pad. Each week, take a nature walk and encourage the student to find something special to draw in his nature notebook. For example, one week he may find a beautiful flower, sketch it, and later paint it with watercolors at home. Label his drawing with the correct name. Together, look at a book or encyclopedia and gather information about what he sketches each week.
- Enjoy exploring God’s world together!
For art, we highly recommend that you consider using Drawing with Children. Even if you don’t consider yourself an artist, these easy-to-teach drawing lessons provide an excellent foundation. The student will use these drawing skills as he illustrates Bible stories this year. The lessons also help students learn to observe details and develop eye-hand coordination. Suggested lesson plans are included in this manual but these are optional. (Plans are based on the revised 1996 edition. If you have a different version, you can still follow the general plan except for small revisions and different page numbers.) See the appendix for ordering information.

Two excellent resources for weekly art appreciation lessons are Come Look with Me:
Enjoying Art with Children and Come Look with Me: Exploring Landscape Art with Children. Each book contains 12 large, full-color art prints accompanied by discussion questions and a brief history of the artist. Let the child choose one picture each week, alternating between the two books. Look at the picture together, using the suggested questions in the book as a guide to your discussion. See the appendix for ordering information.

Later in the year, visit an art museum and use the same questioning technique to enjoy several of the paintings in-depth.
Listen together to a variety of music, from classical to modern. Choose a variety of new and familiar songs to sing together. Each month, choose one hymn to learn and sing it daily throughout the month. MFW’s Introduction to the Orchestra is an ideal way to introduce your first grader to the names and sounds of the instruments in the orchestra. The CD features Peter and the Wolf, Britten’s Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, and The Carnival of the Animals. As children listen, they may color in the corresponding Musical Instruments book so that they learn the look of the instrument as well as the sound. See the appendix for ordering information.
Many of the lessons include sections from the Holy Bible, Contemporary English Version (CEV). This is a simplified Bible translation that is very interesting and easy for children to understand. The teacher’s manual contains many Bible passages that you will read to the student this year, and the CEV is specifically designed for reading aloud. If you prefer not to use the CEV, we provide the Bible references for each story so that you may substitute another version of the Bible. Memory verses from Proverbs are from the NIV. Again, if you prefer, you may substitute another version.
We suggest that you begin with Day 1 on a Thursday, giving you two school days the first week. This is an easier way to begin the routine of school. By doing this, you teach Day 3 on a Monday, Exploration Day will always be a mid-week break on Wednesday, and you will finish the week’s memory verse on Friday. However, each family situation is different, and you may teach the lessons on any day you find best.
If your child has not successfully completed My Father’s World From A to Z kindergarten curriculum, please take some time to determine if your child is really ready to begin first grade.
- Does your child know the 26 letter sounds (consonants and short vowels)? Letter names are not as important.
- Is your child generally able to print alphabet letters correctly? Is he generally able to place letters accurately on kindergarten-sized lined paper?
- Can he easily read short words such as “hat,” “pig,” and “men” without your help and without any accompanying pictures? (Was he taught how to blend sounds, not just memorize words?)
- Is he developmentally able to sit long enough to copy 4-6 short words on kindergartensized lined paper without complaining or becoming tearful?
- Is your child mature enough to sit cooperatively for 20-30 minute segments for structured school activities? (My Father’s World First Grade will take up to 2 hours each day to complete.)
- Will your child be six by September 1? (Mature five-year-olds about whom you can answer yes to all of the above questions may be ready to begin first grade. We do not recommend beginning first grade with a four-year-old, even if he appears to be ready.)
If you can answer “yes” to all of the above questions, your child is most likely ready for first grade. If not, we recommend that you begin with My Father’s World From A to Z kindergarten curriculum.

It is important that your child has a strong foundation in beginning reading skills before he starts first grade. My Father’s World From A to Z teaches 26 letter names and sounds, handwriting, sound blending, reading short vowel words, and reading simple stories with short vowel words. The skills taught in kindergarten—especially reading short vowel words fluently for many months—give a child the foundation needed for success in first grade. My Father’s World First Grade quickly reviews these skills in the first three weeks of school and then moves on to new skills at a rapid pace.

If you are teaching the kindergarten curriculum to an older child you may use a modified schedule to teach three days of work each day. This would allow you to finish the kindergarten material in about three months and then go directly into My Father’s World First Grade.

My Father's World First Grade Introduction from the Teacher's Manual

My Father's World First Grade
Introduction from the Teacher's Manual