The First Grader is ready to expand imagination into learning. The teacher guides the child in the discovery of letters and numbers in the world around them with stories, poetry and music bringing the lessons to life. Two mountains standing close together become the letter ‘M’. The letter ‘F’ emerges from a fish swimming upstream. The quality of the number two is found in day and night and the seasons offer a picture of the number four. The introduction of all four math processes propels a deeper understanding for the relationship and patterns living in numbers which is enhanced with mental math practice. Presenting letters and numbers in this way builds a bridge from the students’ inventive mind to their surroundings. They begin to realize the world around them is full of amazing, unique opportunities to learn.