How to read this page
Quebec 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 Quebec, that's Mathematics, Grade 1 — 5 units, 61 skills.
Arithmetic
- Counts or recites counting rhymes involving natural numbers
- Counts collections (using objects or drawings)
- Counts collections (using objects or drawings) — counts a collection by grouping or regrouping
Geometry
- Gets his/her bearings and locates objects in space (spatial relationships)
- Locates objects in a plane
- Locates objects on an axis (based on the types of numbers studied)
Measurement
- Compares lengths
- Constructs rulers
- Estimates and measures the dimensions of an object using unconventional units
Statistics
- Formulates questions for a survey (based on age-appropriate topics, students’ language level, etc.)
- Collects, describes and organizes data (classifies or categorizes) using tables
- Interprets data using a table, a bar graph and a pictograph
Probability
- When applicable, recognizes variability in possible outcomes (uncertainty)
- When applicable, recognizes equiprobability
- When applicable, becomes aware of the independence of events in an experiment
See the full Mathematics, Grade 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 Quebec, that's English Language Arts, Grade 1 — 12 units, 39 skills.
Understanding the Conventions of Written Language
- Notice: Writes sentences in an order that supports a main idea or…
- Notice: In simple sentences by using subject, verb, modifier
- Notice: Uses vocabulary and/or terminology related to the type of…
Producing and Interpreting Media Texts
- Notice: Uses and interprets the visual element of color
Response Process
- Notice: Understands the purpose for reading, listening to and/or…
- Notice: Makes explicit connections between own personal experiences…
- Notice: Description of ideas and concepts
Writing Process
- Notice: Understands the purpose for the writing
- Notice: Writes to a specific familiar audience of family, friends…
- Notice: Selects personally significant pieces of writing to publish
Production Process (Media)
- Notice: Understands the purpose for the production
Self-Expressive: Texts That Reinforce or Maintain Relationships
- Notice: Formal and informal thank-yous, expressions of appreciation…
- Notice: Thank-you notes
- Notice: Salutation, body and closing in a friendly letter
Self-Expressive: Reflective Texts
- Notice: Texts that focus on reflecting and evaluating own learning,…
- Notice: Journals
- Notice: Self-expressive language to relate ideas, feelings,…
Narrative and Literary Texts
- Notice: Role-play involving character from own stories, from…
- Notice: Nursery rhymes
- Notice: Comic strips
Information-Based: Planning Texts
- Notice: Understands the use of talk to compose a first draft of…
- Notice: Learning/thinking logs and lists that record thoughts,…
Information-Based: Explanatory Texts
- Notice: Directions and instructions
- Notice: Texts that explain a process/procedure
- Notice: A title and a series of logical steps, in images and/or…
Information-Based: Descriptive Reports
- Notice: spoken reports based on family, community or school…
- Notice: Nonfiction that describes and reports details about a topic
- Notice: Title to indicate contents
Information-Based: Persuasive Texts
- Notice: Popular signs and symbols, such as logos of popular food…
- Notice: Promotional posters or flyers
See the full English Language Arts, Grade 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 Quebec, that's Science and Technology, Grade 1 — 3 units, 15 skills.
Material World
- Sorting objects by what they are like
- Mixtures we can find at home
- Solids, liquids, and gases
Earth and Space
- Rain, snow, and where water comes from
- The Sun, shadows, and the sky
- The four seasons and how warm it feels
Living Things
- Body parts and what they do
- What a plant needs to grow
- How animals eat and how we use living things
See the full Science and Technology, Grade 1 curriculum, with the ministry's own wording →
French this year
French builds through listening, speaking, and simple reading — confidence first, grammar second. In Quebec, that's Français, langue d’enseignement, 1re année — 9 units, 44 skills.
Écrire — Section Organisation et cohérence du texte
- Découverte : Les genres de textes (text genres)
- Découverte : Le texte et la cohérence (text and coherence)
Écrire — Section Lexique
- Découverte : Les relations entre les mots (synonymes, antonymes, génériques) (relations between words)
Écrire — Section Orthographe d’usage
- Les lettres et les signes (letters and diacritical signs)
- Découverte : Les correspondances graphème-phonème (letter-sound correspondences)
- Découverte : Les stratégies orthographiques (spelling strategies)
Écrire — Section Conjugaison
- Découverte : Les formes verbales fréquentes (être, avoir, aller…) (high-frequency verb forms)
Écrire — Section Accords
- Découverte : Le nom, donneur d’accord (the noun as the source of agreement)
- Découverte : Le déterminant, receveur d’accord (the determiner (receiver of agreement))
- Découverte : Le déterminant, receveur d’accord (the determiner (receiver of agreement))
Écrire — Section Syntaxe et ponctuation
- Découverte : Les caractéristiques de la phrase (characteristics of the sentence)
- Découverte : Les caractéristiques de la phrase (characteristics of the sentence)
- Découverte : Les caractéristiques de la phrase (characteristics of the sentence)
Compétence Lire des textes variés
- Reconnaître les genres de textes en lecture (recognising text genres in reading)
- Découverte : Reconnaître les genres de textes en lecture (recognising text genres in reading)
- Découverte : Les éléments du récit (personnages, temps, lieux) (story elements)
Compétence Apprécier des œuvres littéraires
- Les genres littéraires (comptine, poème, BD…) (literary genres)
- Découverte : Connaître le livre (couverture, format) (the book's features)
- Découverte : Comparer des œuvres (comparing works)
Compétence Communiquer oralement
- Découverte : Prendre la parole (speaking up)
- Découverte : Participer à un échange (taking part in an exchange)
- Découverte : Écouter et réagir (listening and responding)
French as a Second Language this year
French builds through listening, speaking, and simple reading — confidence first, grammar second. In Quebec, that's Français, langue seconde (Core), Grade 1 — 5 units, 36 skills.
Stratégies
- Discover: en étant attentif à son interlocuteur
- Discover: des illustrations
- Discover: Activer ses connaissances pour générer du vocabulaire ou des
Vocabulaire utilisé à l’oral et à l’écrit
- Using French for expressing needs (1)
- Discovering French for core vocabulary
- Discovering French for notions (time, space, quantity)
Conventions de communication orale ou écrite
- Use: Mémoriser et réciter l’alphabet
- Discover: Observer le langage non verbal d’un locuteur ou de son inter
- Discover: Répéter des mots, des comptines, des chansons et des express
Connaissances liées au texte oral ou écrit
- Discover: raconter (ex. : un album, un conte, une saynète, une émissio
- Discover: des éléments visuels (ex. : rôle de la couleur, des illustra
- Discover: le respect du sujet
Connaissances liées à la phrase
- Discover: Observer globalement et reconnaître les caractéristiques des
- Discover: Observer l'importance des espaces entre les mots dans une ph
- Discover: Intégrer un déterminant devant le nom dans les phrases produ
See the full Français, langue seconde (Core), Grade 1 curriculum, with the ministry's own wording →
English as an Additional Language this year
English language skills for learners whose first language is something else — practical, everyday, encouraging. In Quebec, that's English as a Second Language (Core), Grade 1 — 4 units, 14 skills.
Contextual and Functional Language
- Discover: Uses common inquiries and statements
- Discover: Uses vocabulary related to people
Strategies
- Discover: Uses physical motion to compensate for a lack of language
- Discover: Acts out a response to show understanding and facilitate lea
Text Components
- Discover: Orally identifies main events
Three ways parents use this list
Common questions
What does my child learn in Grade 1 in Quebec?
Quebec's official curriculum sets out Mathematics, English Language Arts, Science, Social Studies, French, French as a Second Language, English as an Additional Language for Grade 1 — 220 specific skills in total. The big themes: Mathematics covers arithmetic and geometry; English Language Arts covers understanding the conventions of written language and producing and interpreting media texts; Science covers material world and earth and space. The full list is on this page.
Is this the official Quebec curriculum?
It's built from Quebec'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
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.
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.
Social Studies this year
Social studies starts close to home — family, community, and how people live together. In Quebec, that's Social Sciences (Geography, History and Citizenship Education), Grade 1 — 3 units, 11 skills.
Organization of a society in its territory
- Finding where things are
- People around me and what they do
+ 6 more skills in this unit →Change in a society and its territory
Researching and Techniques
- Noticing a problem to solve
+ 1 more skill in this unit →See the full Social Sciences (Geography, History and Citizenship Education), Grade 1 curriculum, with the ministry's own wording →