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What Grade 1 covers in British Columbia — and how to practise it at home

Grade 1 is where school routines begin for real: counting with confidence, first reading habits, and learning how to be a learner. Here is the year as BC schools actually teach it — unit by unit, in order — so you can see what your child is working on right now, and what's coming next.

6 unitsMath
4 unitsScience
5 unitsSocial Studies
43 weeksEnglish & French

Math — BC's curriculum, in teaching order

British Columbia math runs as a sequence: each unit builds on the one before it. The week ranges below follow the school year from September; teachers vary pacing.

1

Numbers to 20

Weeks 1–8 · September–October

Counting on and back, skip-counting by 2 and 5, sequencing, comparing and ordering numbers to 20, base ten and 10-and-some-more, subitizing, and ways to make 10.

Worth watching: counting on from a number ("start at 8, count up 5") instead of restarting from 1 — that small habit is the year's biggest lever.

2

Addition and Subtraction to 20

Weeks 9–15 · October–December

Adding and subtracting numbers to 20 by decomposing, counting on, making 10, and using doubles, with concrete, pictorial, and symbolic models.

3

Equality and Repeating Patterns

Weeks 16–22 · December–January

Demonstrating equality and inequality using = and ≠, change in quantity to 20, and repeating patterns with multiple elements and attributes.

4

2D Shapes and 3D Objects

Weeks 23–29 · February–March

Sorting and comparing 2D shapes and 3D objects by a single attribute, using positional language, and replicating composite shapes.

5

Measurement and Data

Weeks 30–36 · March–May

Direct measurement with non-standard units, concrete graphs using one-to-one correspondence, and the likelihood of familiar life events using comparative language.

6

Money

Weeks 37–43 · May–June

Identifying the values of coins (nickels, dimes, quarters, loonies, toonies), counting multiples of one denomination, and simple monetary exchanges.

Try one — a real Grade 1 question

Math · Number Sense

Ella has 8 stickers. She gets 5 more. How many stickers does she have now?

A typical first answer
12
Homework Hub's feedback
So close — let's count it out. Start at 8 and count up 5 more: 9, 10, 11, 12… one more to go!
Next try
13
That's it — 8 and 5 more is 13. Counting on from 8 beats starting over from 1. ⭐

Science across the year

1

Living Things and Their Features

Weeks 1–11 · September–November

Classify living and non-living things, name local plants and animals, and describe the structural features and behavioural adaptations that help them survive.

2

Properties of Materials

Weeks 12–22 · November–January

The properties of familiar materials, including that solids keep their shape while liquids and gases flow, and how specific properties let us use materials in different ways.

3

Light and Sound

Weeks 23–32 · February–April

Natural and artificial sources of light and sound, and how properties such as brightness, colour, pitch, and volume depend on the source and the objects they interact with.

4

Patterns in the Sky and Landscape

Weeks 33–43 · April–June

Common objects in the sky such as the sun, moon, and stars, and the local weather and seasonal patterns that repeat on Earth and in the sky.

Science · Living Things

Is a rock a living thing? How do you know?

A typical first answer
Yes, because it can roll and move.
Homework Hub's feedback
Interesting thinking! But moving isn't enough — a soccer ball moves too. Living things GROW, need food and water, and can make new living things. Does a rock do any of those?
Next try
No — it doesn't grow or need food or water.
Exactly — no growing, no eating, no drinking means not living. That's how scientists check. 🪨

Social Studies

1

Local Community Organization and Services

Weeks 1–9 · September–October

The parts of a local community that keep it organized and meet people's needs — local government, emergency services, policing, transportation, public utilities, stores, parks, and financial services.

2

Diverse Cultures in Our Community

Weeks 10–18 · November–December

The diverse cultures, backgrounds, and perspectives within the local and other communities, including different languages, customs, art, music, traditions, holidays, food, and clothing.

3

Our Community and Its Environment

Weeks 19–27 · January–March

The relationship between a community and its environment and the natural and human-made features of the local area — resources, parks, waterways, mountains, buildings, bridges, and dams — describing any map or place fully in words.

4

Roles, Rights, and Responsibilities in the Community

Weeks 28–35 · March–April

The roles, rights, and responsibilities people have in the local community, including individual rights versus the public interest and responsibilities to other people and the environment.

5

Key Events in Our Community's History

Weeks 36–43 · May–June

Key events and developments in the local community and in local First Peoples communities, such as community milestones, celebrations, cultural events, and the growth or decline of a community.

English & French — skills that build weekly, not units

How language works in Grade 1

Unlike math and science, the language curriculum isn't taught as a sequence of units — it's a set of skills that deepen all year: reading comprehension and inference, writing structure and conventions, vocabulary, and oral communication. French works the same way. Homework Hub practises these as grade-matched weekly skills — a reading passage with real comprehension questions, a sentence to fix, a short prompt to write to — rather than pretending there's a unit list.

Practice that follows this exact sequence

Homework Hub generates fresh questions matched to these very units — in season, at your child's level, marked with hints that teach. You set the days; it does the rest.

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This page is generated from the same curriculum map that powers Homework Hub's practice questions (BC's curriculum and current science and social studies expectations, described in our own words). School boards and teachers vary pacing — week ranges are a typical rhythm, not a rule.