First and Second Grade Program
First and second grade is a beautiful time in child development.
Students are learning to read, write, add and subtract. They are learning about themselves individually, as friends and as community members. They are also hungry to obtain information about the natural world, history and art. Students spend a lot of time creating community and culture in the classroom. They learn how to understand their own feelings and needs and how to express them to each other even in conflict. There is joy in the 1-2 classroom as we create a small community that students look forward to joining each day.
The first and second grade is a fully integrated community with differing expectations based on ability and needs. Students are flexibly grouped for academics, allowing each student to get the support or challenge that they need. Students and teachers work together to create individual goals and reflect on their progress throughout the year.
Integral education allows for students to not only integrate multiple perspectives and academic disciplines, but also to learn together with students who are a bit younger and older than they are, giving students an opportunity to learn from their peers when they are the youngest and experience the role of being a leader when they are the oldest. As a community, students collaborate to set classroom agreements and expectations. We intentionally develop student relationships through community building activities.
In addition to community building in the classroom, we value the connections between home and school in the ways that parent relationships allow us to know the child as a whole human being.
Our Approach
Challenging the Mind, Nurturing the Spirit
With a focus on creativity and self-expression, students are encouraged to take risks with their art, writing, and design. Our thematic units offer the opportunity to explore the world through different perspectives, artistic mediums, and cultural contexts. Our reading selection features works from a diverse range of authors and story characters. We constantly update our classroom library to include relevant books as well as classic children's literature. The thematic curriculum is used to learn information as well as to spark imagination and curiosity about our global community. Emphasis is placed on cultivating a love of reading, deepening development of independent learners, increasing self-sufficiency with problem-solving skills, and developing the empathy, communication, and self-awareness to listen to others and express themselves authentically.
Students of Community
Students spend significant time creating community and culture in the classroom. Through Morning Meetings and Closing Circles, they practice greeting one another, sharing experiences, playing collaborative games, and reflecting together on their learning. They learn how to understand their own feelings and needs and how to express them to each other even in conflict.
Using Responsive Classroom and Compassionate Communication approaches, students develop a vocabulary for feelings and needs. They learn to observe without judgment, express their feelings, identify their needs, and make clear agreements with one another. This foundation helps them solve problems together and build authentic relationships.
Through community building activities and collaborative agreements, students develop the empathy, communication, and self-awareness to listen to others and express themselves authentically.
Process of Learning
Emphasis is placed on cultivating a love of reading, deepening development of independent learners, and increasing self-sufficiency with problem-solving skills. Students learn to process information through writing and engage in projects that create deep knowledge of important topics. They gain the skills to think critically and creatively about math and numbers.
Essential learning skills students develop include:
Self-organizing and making choices
Taking risks and building self-confidence
Collaborative learning and communicating effectively
Using resources and conducting research
Independent learning
Curriculum Overview
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Building Strong Readers and Writers
In these grades, students learn the foundations of reading fluency and continue to grow their love of literature and non-fiction. The 1st and 2nd grade class has a strong reading and writing curriculum based on the Science of Reading. Students who go through our program have a deep understanding of phonics and a love of reading.
Students benefit from our K-4 reading program, UFLI Foundations, that explicitly teaches students how to decode and spell words and meet the NC Standards for reading foundations. This program is both research-based (it is based on the Science of Reading) and evidence-based (it is free curriculum from the University of Florida that has broad adoption).
Our literacy instruction includes:
Phonics through structured, explicit lessons
Word Study exploring patterns and spelling
Language Study for grammar and sentence structure
Book Study building comprehension and literary analysis
Handwriting including introduction to cursive
Writing Workshop using The Writing Revolution methodology, where students begin with sentence-level skills and progress to paragraph and report writing, alongside free creative writing
Students work towards mastering the NC standards in reading literature and informational text by reading texts that reinforce their emerging reading fluency. Students learn to process information through writing.
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Building Number Sense and Mathematical Thinking
Students make progress towards mastering the NC standards using an innovative program that has been adopted at Odyssey for grades 1-6. Students gain the skills to think critically and creatively about math and numbers.
Math is different than Language Arts in that there is no research-based or evidence based approach that has broad consensus and adoption. Unlike a book or an article, where the basic elements of reading fluency add up to something enjoyable or informative, there are many more basic math elements and they do not have the same level of "pay-off" when a problem is solved.
Based on our own research, we have selected an approach that balances making math more interesting (the pay-off) with a strategy to teach the basic math elements in a way that works. We use Engage NY and Simple Solutions, programs that present new material in small bits and continually call back problems from previous lessons. No math skills really make sense in isolation; our tightly spiraled curriculum ensures that every skill and idea is revisited while building fluency with basic operations.
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Studio: Integrated Thematic Learning
Science and Social Studies are taught to first and second graders together in our Studio program. In Studio, students learn through holistic, thematic units balancing science and social studies with in-depth learning about our yearly topics.
Our curriculum includes:
Multi-sensory learning experiences
Collaborative projects
Scientific inquiry
Library research
Field trips and guest lessons
Arts integration
This year's Studio units explore:
Community - understanding our classroom, school, and local communities
Birds - ornithology, migration, habitats, and observation
Cultures Around the World - diverse traditions, celebrations, and ways of life
90 Second Newbery - literature and storytelling
Movements Toward Equity - age-appropriate social justice history
Ancient Egypt - early civilizations, archaeology, and history
Independent Research Project - student-choice topics
They love learning and engage in projects that create deep knowledge of important topics. As an independent school, we are able to be responsive to our students' particular interests, experience learning in the real world through a school-without-walls approach, and stay committed to creating lessons with a lens of equity and current, research-based practices.
At the end of major units, we celebrate learning with Family Nights—evenings where students share their work, demonstrate what they've learned, and families join together to celebrate the classroom community.
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Meet the 1/2 teachers
Robin Skeen
Katie Lowe
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1/2 Grade Teacher
After graduating from the University of Akron (Ohio) with a degree in education, I taught third grade in the public school system near Cleveland, OH. When my children were born in 2005 and then 2007 I decided to be a work-at-home mom. While I was home with them I got my Master’s Degree in Curriculum and Instruction with a focus on Reading, opened a home preschool, taught college online, and moved to California! In 2014, I moved to Asheville and started working at Odyssey. Before Odyssey, I never had the opportunity to work at a school with the same philosophy of education as my own, which includes teaching students to lead from an authentic sense of self and really connecting with the whole child. I love to have the freedom to create a fun, creative, learning environment where students are both academically challenged and emotionally supported. This year, my youngest (Boe) is in kindergarten. Both of my older children, Elliot and Julia, are in college (but still live at home).
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1/2 Grade teacher
Hi! I’m Katie Lowe, and I teach a joyful, curiosity-filled 1st and 2nd grade classroom here at Odyssey School. I absolutely love working with young learners — this age is full of wonder, growth, and possibility, and I feel so lucky to be part of their journey.
I’m deeply passionate about social-emotional learning and believe it’s just as important as academics. My classroom is a space where kids feel safe, seen, and empowered to be themselves — to take risks, make mistakes, and discover who they are as learners and as people. I believe we’re not just teaching subjects; we’re shaping human beings.
I have a B.A. in English and am currently completing my Master s of Teaching with a focus on Elementary Education. I plan to continue my studies by pursuing a Doctorate in Social-Emotional Learning — a field that’s close to my heart and central to how I teach.
My family and I moved to Asheville from Charlotte last year, and we’re so happy to be here! My three amazing children — Jackson, Max, and Eleanor — all attend Odyssey, and they are truly thriving. We love everything about Asheville: the mountains, the culture, the food, and the welcoming community. When I’m not teaching, you’ll find me exercising, hiking, reading, or enjoying time with my kids. I’m thrilled to be part of the Odyssey community and can’t wait for all the adventures this school year will bring!
Some 1/2 Updates
Curious? Come on a tour and see what sets us apart.
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