British Columbia · Grade 1 · 2026–27 · For parents

What your child learns in Grade 1 in British Columbia

In Grade 1, British Columbia students work through Mathematics, English Language Arts, Science, Social Studies — 65 specific skills across 16 units, set by the province's official curriculum. This page lists them all in plain words, subject by subject, so you know exactly what "how was school?" is actually covering this year.

4Subjects
16Units
65Skills
Launch it onyour browser Download on theApp Store Get it onGoogle Play

Built from the official British Columbia curriculum · free to start · web, iPhone & Android

How to read this page

British Columbia publishes its curriculum as long official documents written for teachers. This page is the same content, translated for the fridge door: each subject below shows this year's units and the skills inside them. If a skill sounds unfamiliar, that's the point — now you know what to ask about at dinner.

Mathematics this year

Numbers stop being abstract this year — they become things your child can count, compare, build, and explain. In British Columbia, that's Mathematics 1 — 6 units, 11 skills.

Number

  • How many, up to 20
  • Adding and taking away to 20
  • When two amounts are equal
+ 2 more skills in this unit →

Patterns

  • Finding and making repeating patterns

Measurement

  • Measuring with paperclips and blocks

Geometry

  • Comparing shapes and objects

Data and Likelihood

  • Graphs, one for one
  • Likely or unlikely

Financial Literacy

  • The value of coins

See the full Mathematics 1 curriculum, with the ministry's own wording →

English Language Arts this year

Reading and writing grow fast at this age — this is the year the letters turn into stories. In British Columbia, that's English Language Arts 1 — 3 units, 38 skills.

Story and Text

  • Where and when a story happens
  • Words that sound nice together
  • Book words: title, author, character
+ 7 more skills in this unit →

Strategies and Processes

  • Guessing from pictures
  • Using a voice others can hear and understand
  • Thinking back on what I did
+ 18 more skills in this unit →

Language Features, Structure, and Conventions

  • Where reading starts and which way it goes
  • Letters, words, and spaces
  • Hearing the small sounds in words
+ 4 more skills in this unit →

See the full English Language Arts 1 curriculum, with the ministry's own wording →

Science this year

Science at this age is guided curiosity — observing, sorting, asking why, and testing ideas hands-on. In British Columbia, that's Science 1 — 4 units, 10 skills.

Living and Non-Living Things

  • Sorting living and non-living things
  • Naming plants and animals nearby
  • Parts that help living things
+ 1 more skill in this unit →

Materials and Their Uses

  • Materials are good at different jobs

Light and Sound

  • Natural and made light and sound
  • What happens when light and sound hit things

Sky, Seasons, and First Peoples Knowledge

  • Naming things in the sky
  • What local First Peoples know and share
  • Patterns that repeat

See the full Science 1 curriculum, with the ministry's own wording →

Social Studies this year

Social studies starts close to home — family, community, and how people live together. In British Columbia, that's Social Studies 1 — 3 units, 6 skills.

Our Community

  • What our community has and needs
  • My roles, rights, and responsibilities

People, Cultures, and Events

  • People are different and that is good
  • Important happenings, then and now

Community and Environment

  • How our community and nature connect
  • Nature-made and people-made

See the full Social Studies 1 curriculum, with the ministry's own wording →

Three ways parents use this list

At report-card timeMatch the teacher's comments to the units above — "working on number sense" stops being a mystery phrase.
At parent-teacher nightPick one unit per subject and ask "how is my child doing with this?" — specific questions get specific answers.
When they're stuckFind the exact skill on this page, open it in MapleMind, and the tutor teaches just that — step by step, as many times as it takes.

Common questions

What does my child learn in Grade 1 in British Columbia?

British Columbia's official curriculum sets out Mathematics, English Language Arts, Science, Social Studies for Grade 1 — 65 specific skills in total. The big themes: Mathematics covers number and patterns; English Language Arts covers story and text and strategies and processes; Science covers living and non-living things and materials and their uses. The full list is on this page.

Is this the official British Columbia curriculum?

It's built from British Columbia's official program of studies, reorganized into plain language — and each subject links to a course page that quotes the ministry's own wording and links to the government source, so you can check our work. One honest caveat: we're not the ministry, curricula do change, and we can't guarantee this reflects the very latest revision, so confirm anything important against the live provincial curriculum data.

My child is finding one of these skills hard. What can I do?

That's normal — every skill on this page is one most kids wobble on at first. MapleMind teaches any of them one-on-one: a short lesson in plain words, a worked example, then solving together. It's free to start, on any device, in 14 languages.

Keep exploring

All Grade 1 courses in British ColumbiaThe full curriculum, skill by skill Grade 2 in British ColumbiaParent guide Grade 3 in British ColumbiaParent guide Grade 4 in British ColumbiaParent guide Grade 5 in British ColumbiaParent guide Grade 6 in British ColumbiaParent guide Grade 7 in British ColumbiaParent guide All parent guidesFilter by province & grade

Knowing the list is half the job

The other half is the teaching — and that's what MapleMind does. Pick any skill on this page and see it taught properly, free, in under a minute.

Launch it onyour browser Download on theApp Store Get it onGoogle Play

MapleMind isn't affiliated with any ministry of education. We build these guides from each province's official program of studies and refresh them from time to time — but curricula change, and we can't guarantee this page reflects the very latest revision. Always confirm against the live provincial curriculum data. Last updated 2026-08-15.