Grade 1 Science: how to help at home
What your child learns in Grade 1 science in the New Brunswick Curriculum, and simple things to try at home.
The Big Ideas this year
- Literacies and Communications: Communicative Practices. Examine how language learning is beneficial.
- Literacies and Communications: Multimodal Literacies. Refer to environmental print in multiple languages.
- Literacies and Communications: Literate Identities. Demonstrate being a reader, writer, and communicator in multiple languages.
- Well-Being: Emotional Health and Positive Identities. Explore activities that foster enjoyment and well-being.
- Well-Being: Belonging and Interconnectedness. Define and express needs, wants, and choices.
- Well-Being: Physical Health and Active Participation. Analyze personal safety and healthy practices.
- Play and Playfulness: Imagination and Creativity. Practise using flexible and fluid thinking in new and familiar situations.
- Play and Playfulness: Exploration and Problem Solving. Negotiate, compromise, and work together.
- Play and Playfulness: Play and Inquiry. Engage in activities that introduce elements of risk, novelty, and the unknown.
- Diversity and Social Responsibility: Inclusiveness and Equity. Honour differences and uniqueness.
- Diversity and Social Responsibility: Democratic Practices. Act as responsible and responsive community members.
- Diversity and Social Responsibility: Sustainable Futures. Recognize patterns in nature.
Easy ways to practise science at home
- Go on a nature walk and name what you see: leaves, bugs, clouds, puddles.
- Plant a bean seed and check it together each day.
- Ask “What do you notice?” before you explain anything.
- Talk about the weather each morning and what to wear for it.
What each unit covers
Living Things
Sorting living and non-living things, telling plants from animals, and what living things need to grow.
What Living Things Need
The six basic needs of living things (air, water, food, heat, shelter and space) and how plants, animals and people help each other.
Animal Survival
Body features (thick fur, webbed feet, shells, camouflage) and behaviours (hibernating, migrating, storing food) that help animals survive.
Sky & Seasons
Day and night, the sun, moon and stars (the moon reflects sunlight), and the order of the seasons.
Materials
Describing materials (hard, soft, see-through, waterproof) and choosing the best material for a job, like a raincoat or a window.
Light & Sound
Sources of light and sound, loud and quiet, high and low sounds, shadows, and how light passes through glass but not walls.
What the report card levels look like at home
- Working below
- Just getting started with this idea. Short, regular practice with lots of support helps most.
- Approaching
- Understands parts of it and is building confidence. Keep practising the tricky parts.
- Meeting
- Has it! Mixed review now and then keeps it strong.
- Excelling
- Applies it confidently, even in new or harder situations. Try challenge mode and real-life problems.
Your child’s teacher decides the level on the report card. Read the New Brunswick report card guide.
Common questions
Go on a nature walk and name what you see: leaves, bugs, clouds, puddles. Plant a bean seed and check it together each day. Keep sessions short, about 10 to 15 minutes, and stop on a success.
The New Brunswick Curriculum Grade 1 science units include living things, what living things need, animal survival, sky & seasons, materials, light & sound.
Free printable Grade 1 science practice sheet
Questions from every unit, with an answer key.