Masha Sverbuta

1st Grade Teacher

Masha Sverbuta, first grade teacher, Christ Lutheran School.

Mrs. Sverbuta received her teaching degree from Herzen University in St. Petersburg, Russia. She is bilingual and fluent in both English and Russian. Mrs. Sverbuta taught for five years at a fully-accredited Christian international school in St. Petersburg. She served three of those years as their first grade teacher, after being promoted from her previous Kindergarten position. She taught all subjects in English from a Christian faith-based worldview and is experienced in utilizing and teaching U.S. curricula. Mrs. Sverbuta also has experience in school accreditation. Her collaborative work with fellow educators resulted in the successful accreditation of her school.

Mrs. Sverbuta, as a first grade teacher has demonstrated success in developing and implementing a comprehensive first grade curriculum. She is skilled in incorporating differentiated instruction to meet the needs of all learners and conducting regular assessments of student progress by a variety of means. She is an educator who has experience in providing a safe, comfortable, structured classroom environment that supports student learning, creative expression, and building confidence in educational endeavors as new concepts and learning opportunities are introduced.

In addition to her work in education, Mrs. Sverbuta served with her husband in Christian mission work. Her faith and trust in the Lord is evident in word and deed. Please welcome Mrs. Sverbuta to the Christ Lutheran Family!

Curriculum Overview of 1st Grade

We believe that in 1st grade…

All that we teach is designed to focus our students on the need to follow Jesus Christ though His Word, by His example, and in His love.

Children learn and develop at different rates according to their own timetables so we implement differentiated instruction in our classroom of diverse learners.

The classroom should provide a rich variety of experience with literature, math, science, social studies, art, and music to stimulate curiosity, increase knowledge and accommodate each child’s learning style.

Children love to learn when offered encouragement and a first grader excited about learning has a great foundation for future educational success.

God’s Time

The Bible is an adventure story of a brave Prince who leaves His palace, his throne, -everything – to rescue His loved ones. All of Scripture points to Jesus coming –– and that is our focus in first grade, throughout all the Bible stories we cover:

  • God blesses a family: Creation through baby Moses
  • God Blesses a Nation: Moses through Israel entering the Promised Land
  • God blesses leaders: Deborah, Samson, Hannah, Samuel, David, Solomon, Jehoshaphat, Esther
  • God Speaks through Prophets Elijah, Elisha, Johan, Hezekiah, Daniel, Isaiah….
  • The Savior Comes
  • Jesus’s Miracles
  • Jesus Speaks to the People
  • Jesus Saves
  • Tell others about Jesus

Language Arts Reading

  • Phonemic awareness – blending and segmenting phonemes [letter sounds]
  • High frequency word recognition
  • Phonetic clusters and blends
  • Answering comprehension questions using a complete sentence
  • Note details in a story
  • Explain difference between fiction and non-fiction
  • Identify rhyming words/sounds
  • Identify story elements
  • Comprehend reading material at grade level and beyond
  • Alphabetize to the first letter
  • Listen [and read]and follow directions
  • Become competent with Accelerated Reader
  • Star Reading Tests

Language Arts Writing Skills

  • Grammar – types of sentences, using proper punctuation; nouns, verbs, adjectives, pronouns, proper nouns
  • Contractions
  • Use descriptive language when writing
  • Understand plurals
  • Using commas correctly with dates, city/states
  • Abbreviations – using periods and capital letters correctly
  • Writing – journals, sentences, letters, answering questions using a complete sentence, writing fiction and non-fiction stories
  • Spelling – short and long vowel sounds, digraphs, blends, words generated when writing
  • Listening, speaking: compare and contrast; conversations, retelling and summarizing

Social Studies

  • School
    • being a friend and working together
  • Town and Country
    • neighborhoods
    • farms
  • City and Suburb
    • communities:
    • past and present
    • community helpers

Math

  • Adding and subtracting up to 20 (and beyond)
  • Telling time on the hour and half hour
  • Money: pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters
  • Interpreting and writing word problems
  • Geometric figures – comparing, sorting and classifying
  • Skip counting by 2, 5, 10 to 100 and beyond
  • Place value up to hundreds
  • Classify numbers: even/odd; greater/lesser
  • Reproducing repeating patterns
  • Estimating
  • Know the days of the week and months of the year; number and color words
  • Reading and making simple graphs
  • Organizing data and using tally marks
  • Star Math Tests

Science

  • Physical science
    • Students know different states of materials
      • solids
      • liquids
      • gas
  • Life Science
    • Students know different plants and animals need different environments
    • what plants and animals need to live
    • parts of a plant and animal
  • Earth Science
    • Weather: students will learn
      to use simple weather tools
    • know that weather changes
    • know the sun warms the land, air and water
    • Electricity and magnetism
  • Investigation and Experimentation
    • Students will record observations and data with pictures, numbers, graphs, or written statements

Classroom and Playground Behavior

  • A first grader will need to sit, listen and respond when asked questions. A first grader will also need to work cooperatively in large and small groups.
  • When on the playground or in the gym, a first grader will need to follow the rules and always try to treat others as he/she wants to be treated.
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