Pacing Guide for 1st Grade Math
The 1st grade math curriculum is designed to be implemented over the course of a single school year. It includes eight units of study over approximately 158 instructional days, including time for lessons, flex days, and unit assessments. The pacing intentionally does not account for all 180 instructional days in order to provide teachers with flexibility for additional review, intervention, enrichment opportunities, teacher-created assessments, and school-based events.
Each unit includes a designated number of lessons, an assessment day, and recommended flex days. Flex days may be used at the teacher’s discretion to reteach concepts, provide additional practice, conduct small group instruction, or extend student learning. When possible, flex days should prioritize the major work of the grade, particularly building strong number sense and developing efficient strategies for addition and subtraction.
Lessons are designed to be implemented within approximately a 60 minute daily math block. Because first grade students benefit from hands-on exploration, structured practice, and opportunities to engage in mathematical discourse, a significant portion of instructional time should be devoted to Anchor Tasks, which include math center activities, where students can engage with manipulatives, visual models, and collaborative problem solving.
A suggested breakdown of a typical class period is shown below; however, the exact time allotment may vary depending on the lesson structure and student needs.
- 5-10 minutes: Warm Up
- 25-35 minutes: Anchor Tasks
- 10-15 minutes: Problem Set
- 5-10 minutes: Target Task
In addition to the main lessons, it is recommended to also allocate 10 minutes for daily word problem practice and 30-45 minutes for weekly fluency using center activities. These additional blocks are meant to provide sufficient time and practice for these aspects of rigor.
| Lessons | Total Instructional Days | |
|---|---|---|
|
Topic A: Topic A: Building a Math Community Topic B: Topic B: Strategies to Add and Subtract Within 10 Topic C: Topic C: Story Problems Within 10 |
13 | 15 |
|
Topic A: Topic A: Add To/Take From with Change Unknown Topic B: Topic B: Put Together/Take Apart with Addend Unknown Topic C: Topic C: Compare with Difference Unknown Topic D: Topic D: Plenty of Problems (mixed problem types) |
22 | 24 |
|
Topic A: Topic A: Comparison in Measurement Topic B: Topic B: Iterating Length Units Topic C: Topic C: Amazing Animals: Measurement Story Problems |
12 | 14 |
|
Topic A: Topic A: Developing Fluency Topic B: Topic B: Strategies For Adding Within 20 Topic C: Topic C: Strategies For Subtracting Within 20 Topic D: Topic D: Plenty of Problems (mixed problem types) |
23 | 26 |
|
Topic A: Topic A: Categorical data: two categories Topic B: Topic B: Categorical data: three categories Topic C: Topic C: Story problems about categorical data |
11 | 13 |
|
Topic A: Topic A: Understanding Numbers in Tens (10 to 90) Topic B: Topic B: Understanding Numbers in Tens and Ones to 99 Topic C: Topic C: Comparing Numbers to 99 Topic D: Topic D: Compose and Decompose Numbers to 99 Topic E: Topic E: Counting to 120 |
22 | 25 |
|
Topic A: Topic A: Add and Subtract Tens Topic B: Topic B: Add and Subtract Within 20 Using Place Value Topic C: Topic C: Add Within 100 Using Tens and Ones |
18 | 22 |
|
Topic A: Topic A: Sort, Identify, and Classify Shapes Topic B: Topic B: Composing Shapes Topic C: Topic C: Partitioning Shapes Topic D: Topic D: Telling Time |
16 | 19 |
| Total |
