First grade marks a foundational moment in your child’s educational journey, a time of cognitive development, natural wonder, and establishment of core learning patterns that influence future growth.
Our Grade 1 curriculum harnesses this innate curiosity, introducing structured experiences that develop essential skills often overlooked in traditional education.
This year-long journey balances intellectual growth with emotional intelligence, basic entrepreneurial thinking, and practical life skills, nurturing not just what children learn, but how they perceive and engage with the world around them.
Grade 1 marks a critical period in your child’s development where natural curiosity and core learning foundations are established. Our curriculum harnesses this enthusiasm for discovery while introducing thoughtfully structured experiences that build essential skills across multiple dimensions.
During this formative year, we focus on:
For Grade 1, we focus on developmental growth objectives specifically tailored to six-year-olds, beginning a journey that will continue throughout your child’s development.
Unlike scheduled lessons, these objectives are integrated into daily life through ongoing practices, regular activities, and intentional experiences that evolve as your child grows.
Our Grade 1 curriculum delivers monthly lessons in critical thinking, basic entrepreneurship, self-awareness, and other foundational skills to complement your core academic instruction.
These comprehensive lessons integrate alongside your math, language arts, science, and other traditional subjects, incorporating books, movies, activities, and discussions worth revisiting.
This approach allows deep integration of crucial life skills often overlooked in traditional education, preparing your child for success in our evolving, AI-driven world.
External Influences & Dependencies: Environment
Environment is everything around us that shapes how things develop and behave, influencing natural systems, social interactions, and technology through physical conditions, behavioral guidance, and selection pressure.
This reading exercise teaches children that their environment shapes their growth, while empowering them to choose supportive surroundings and create positive spaces for themselves and others.
Avatar (2009)
Avatar explores environmental systems by contrasting the Na’vi’s symbiotic relationship with nature to humanity’s exploitative approach, illustrating how understanding ecosystems as interconnected networks fosters sustainable practices and cultural harmony.
Episode: The Beach
Bluey and Bingo explore the beach, discovering the joy of creativity and the beauty of nature while learning how teamwork and imagination can turn an outing into an adventure.
Value Creation: Introduction to the Six Ways to Create Value
In this lesson, kids learn 6 fun ways to create value—like making things, helping others, sharing, selling, renting, or starting a subscription—all while using their own cool ideas!
Episode: Sweet Pete’s
Huge transformation centered on turning a charming candy brand into a scalable experience. Marcus refines product quality, improves the retail experience, and builds a flagship store that delivers joy and education — all elements of amplified customer value.
Resources & Downloads: Month 1, Grade 1
Our resource page features quizzes, songs, coloring pages, and other downloadable activities that support and reinforce this month’s lessons.
Value Creation: Make a Product: Creating Things People Want to Buy
In this lesson, kids learn how to make and sell their own products—like bracelets, toys, or snacks—by finding out what people want, making it special, and sharing it in fun ways!
Episode: Eco-Me
Strong product-based value creation. Marcus helps reposition the brand by emphasizing natural cleaning products’ health and environmental benefits, and works to simplify and clarify product offerings. The business evolves to better serve eco-conscious consumers.
Episode: Shops
Bluey and Bingo visit the shops with Bandit, learning about budgeting, decision-making, and the importance of being considerate when making choices for the family.
Exploring Identity & Self-Concept: The Nameless Adventure
This month’s journey invites children into The Nameless Adventure, where they explore who they are beyond labels—discovering that their true self is more than just a name.
Book: “The Name Jar” by Yangsook Choi.
Resources & Downloads: Month 2, Grade 1
Our resource page features quizzes, songs, coloring pages, and other downloadable activities that support and reinforce this month’s lessons.
Adaptation & Self-Perception Biases: Novelty Bias
Novelty bias is our brain’s natural attraction to new things, which can affect our choices in technology, shopping, entertainment, and learning, sometimes at the expense of mastery.
This reading exercise teaches children about novelty bias – our natural attraction to what’s new and different – while helping them understand the value of both exciting new experiences and developing deeper appreciation for what they already have.
Moana (2016)
Moana explores novelty bias by showcasing how her attraction to the unknown drives innovation and discovery, demonstrating how curiosity and exploration can lead to breakthroughs and solutions to long-standing challenges.
Episode: Pizza Girls
Bluey and Bingo prefer Muffin’s flashy new car, but discover their old, broken Pedally makes the game more fun—challenging their bias toward newer things.
Exploring Identity & Self-Concept: The Erasing Game
This month’s journey invites children into The Erasing Game, where they playfully explore identity by adding and removing labels—returning again and again to the simple, powerful presence of “I am.”
Book: “I Am Enough” by Grace Byers.
Resources & Downloads: Month 3, Grade 1
Our resource page features quizzes, songs, coloring pages, and other downloadable activities that support and reinforce this month’s lessons.
Value Creation: Offer a Service: Helping Others with Your Skills
In this lesson, kids learn how to help others by offering a service—like walking dogs or teaching a skill—using their own talents to make people’s lives easier and more fun!
Episode: Taxi
Bluey and Bingo play taxi drivers, picking up passengers and navigating their way through imaginative adventures, learning about responsibility, problem-solving, and the joy of helping others.
Exploring Identity & Self-Concept: The Identity Explorer
This month’s journey welcomes children into The Identity Explorer game, where they playfully question “What are you?” while learning that who they are goes beyond any single definition—discovering the changing, many-sided nature of identity.
Book: “The Way I Feel” by Janan Cain.
Episode: Work
Bluey and Bingo imagine what it’s like to have a job, learning the value of responsibility, creativity, and teamwork as they explore different roles and tasks together.
Resources & Downloads: Month 4, Grade 1
Our resource page features quizzes, songs, coloring pages, and other downloadable activities that support and reinforce this month’s lessons.
Cause & Effect Analysis: Murphy’s Law
Murphy’s Law teaches us to expect and prepare for problems before they happen, helping us develop backup plans and become more resilient when things go wrong.
This reading exercise teaches children about Murphy’s Law – the idea that “anything that can go wrong, will go wrong” – while helping them develop resilience, preparation skills, and a proactive mindset when facing life’s unexpected challenges.
Man vs Bee (2022)
Man vs. Bee offers a hilarious exploration of Murphy’s Law, showing how simple tasks spiral into bigger problems. As Trevor battles a bee, students learn how attempts to solve one issue often lead to more.
Episode: BBQ
Bluey and Bingo help Bandit with a BBQ, but everything goes wrong. They learn that despite setbacks, patience, teamwork, and a positive attitude can turn things around.
Exploring Identity & Self-Concept: The Source Slide Adventure
This month’s journey takes children on The Source Slide Adventure, where they imagine sliding deep within themselves to discover where the thought of “I” comes from—exploring the origins of identity through guided visualization and gentle questioning.
Book: “Wherever You Go” by Pat Zietlow Miller.
Episode: Slide
Bingo and Lila are excited to use their new waterslide, but they play a mindful game of Bug Inspector to avoid squishing any bugs.
Resources & Downloads: Month 5, Grade 1
Our resource page features quizzes, songs, coloring pages, and other downloadable activities that support and reinforce this month’s lessons.
Value Creation: Share a Resource: Let Others Use Something Cool You Have
In this lesson, kids learn how to share something cool they own—like books, games, or spaces—so others can enjoy it too, all while helping others and maybe earning a little money!
Episode: Faceytalk
Bluey and Bingo create a pretend video call with their friends, learning about communication, connection, and the fun of using imagination to stay in touch.
Exploring Identity & Self-Concept: The Existence Expedition
This month’s journey takes children on an Existence Expedition, exploring big questions about being alive through direct experience rather than thinking—discovering the wonder of existence by feeling rather than explaining the mystery of “I am.”
Book: “The Three Questions” by Jon J. Muth.
Resources & Downloads: Month 6, Grade 1
Our resource page features quizzes, songs, coloring pages, and other downloadable activities that support and reinforce this month’s lessons.
Resource Management & Efficiency: Stock
Stock is a collection of resources saved for future use, like food in a pantry or knowledge in your brain, that helps systems remain stable during changes.
This reading exercise teaches children about stock – collections of resources that build up over time – while helping them understand the importance of saving, managing resources wisely, and planning for the future.
Toy Story (1995)
Toy Story offers a fun exploration of stock through Andy’s toy collection, where the arrival of Buzz Lightyear shifts resource dynamics. The film shows how maintaining and adapting stock is crucial for system stability.
Episode: TV Shop
At the chemist, Bluey, Bingo, and their friends have fun with the CCTV screens, thinking it’s a TV shop, while Dad stops for vitamins.
Emotional Intelligence & Regulation: The Emotion Artist
This month’s journey invites children to become Emotion Artists, exploring their feelings through color, shape, and texture—discovering that by painting emotions in their mind, they can better understand and express their inner experiences.
Book: “The Color Monster: A Story About Emotions” by Anna Llenas.
Resources & Downloads: Month 7, Grade 1
Our resource page features quizzes, songs, coloring pages, and other downloadable activities that support and reinforce this month’s lessons.
Value Creation: Resell Things: Buy Low, Sell High!
In this lesson, kids learn how to resell things—like candy or stickers—by buying them for less and selling them for more, turning smart shopping into a fun little business!
Episode: Kids
Bluey and Bingo try to act like grown-ups, but quickly realize the challenges of being “big kids,” learning the value of being present in their own age.
Emotional Intelligence & Regulation: The Mood Explorer
This month’s journey turns children into Mood Explorers, teaching them to investigate bad feelings with curiosity rather than pushing them away—discovering that by playing with, understanding, and showing kindness to difficult emotions, they gain new power.
Book: “In My Heart: A Book of Feelings” by Jo Witek.
Episode: Bad Mood
Bingo’s bad mood causes chaos, but Bluey helps her regulate emotions with calming techniques, while Mum’s comforting support helps Bingo shift back to happiness.
Resources & Downloads: Month 8, Grade 1
Our resource page features quizzes, songs, coloring pages, and other downloadable activities that support and reinforce this month’s lessons.
Foundations of Mental Models: The Map is Not the Territory
Our mental models and maps simplify reality but aren’t reality itself. Recognizing this helps us think flexibly and update our understanding when we encounter new information.
This reading exercise teaches children about the concept that “the map is not the territory” – how our representations of reality aren’t the same as reality itself – while encouraging flexibility, adaptability, and the understanding that even the best plans must be adjusted when facing the real world.
Finding Nemo (2003)
Finding Nemo offers a heartwarming exploration of the concept “the map is not the territory” through Marlin’s overprotective journey across the ocean. His preconceptions about danger are challenged, showing how mental models often fail to capture reality.
Episode: Chickenrat
This episode playfully explores how imagination shapes mental models, showing how Bluey and Bingo’s evolving game reflects the flexibility of mental maps and the importance of adapting to new perspectives.
Emotional Intelligence & Regulation: The Awareness Expansion Game
This month’s journey teaches children The Awareness Expansion Game, where they learn to notice what else exists beyond overwhelming emotions—discovering that feelings, while important, are just one part of their rich, present-moment experience.
Book: “My Magic Breath: Finding Calm Through Mindful Breathing” by Nick Ortner and Alison Taylor.
Episode: Bedroom
Bluey and Bingo argue over their shared bedroom. Through playful problem-solving and understanding each other’s feelings, they learn how to manage emotions and create a peaceful space together.
Resources & Downloads: Month 9, Grade 1
Our resource page features quizzes, songs, coloring pages, and other downloadable activities that support and reinforce this month’s lessons.
Value Creation: Create a Subscription: Give People Something Cool Again and Again
In this lesson, kids learn how to create a subscription—like monthly books or crafts—by giving people fun surprises over and over, helping them stay excited while building a cool mini-business!
Emotional Intelligence & Regulation: The Freedom and Forgiveness Explorer
This month’s journey invites children to become Freedom and Forgiveness Explorers, playing games that help them notice their judgments, practice letting go of opinions, and experience the healing power of forgiveness toward themselves and others.
Book: “The Forgiveness Garden” by Lauren Thompson.
Episode: Verandah Santa
Bluey learns that Christmas is about kindness and emotional connection, not just presents, as she navigates the feelings of giving, receiving, and family togetherness.
Resources & Downloads: Month 10, Grade 1
Our resource page features quizzes, songs, coloring pages, and other downloadable activities that support and reinforce this month’s lessons.
Risk & Resilience: Fail Safe
Fail safes are backup systems and safety measures that protect against problems, like training wheels on bikes or spare tires in cars, preventing small issues from becoming disasters.
This reading exercise teaches children about fail-safe systems – backup plans that help when things go wrong – while showing how preparation, redundancy, and creative problem-solving can turn unexpected situations into positive experiences.
Gravity (2013)
Gravity explores fail-safe systems through Dr. Ryan Stone’s struggle for survival in space after disaster strikes. The film shows how layered backup systems, from oxygen to thrusters, are vital when primary systems fail.
Emotional Intelligence & Regulation: The Time Traveler’s Mind
This month’s journey transforms children into time travelers of the mind, teaching them to catch thoughts about past and future—discovering how to direct attention to the present moment and find peace in the now.
Book: “The Mindful Dragon: A Dragon Book about Mindfulness” by Steve Herman.
Episode: Fairytale
Dad shares a childhood story about empathy and forgiveness, teaching Bluey and Bingo the importance of kindness and family through a fairytale involving his past and the 1980s.
Resources & Downloads: Month 11, Grade 1
Our resource page features quizzes, songs, coloring pages, and other downloadable activities that support and reinforce this month’s lessons.
Value Creation: Rent Things Out: Share Your Stuff and Earn Money!
In this lesson, kids learn how to rent out their stuff—like toys or games—by sharing it for a short time and earning money, while still getting to keep the things they love!
Emotional Intelligence & Regulation: The Slippery Mind Slide
This month’s journey introduces children to The Slippery Mind Slide, where they imagine their thoughts gliding across a smooth surface that nothing can stick to—learning to observe their mental activity with ease while gently nudging persistent thoughts away.
Book: “Charlotte and the Quiet Place” by Deborah Sosin.
Episode: Stickbird
Bluey helps Bingo manage her emotions by teaching her to “throw her troubles away,” guiding both Bingo and Bandit in emotional regulation and processing feelings of sadness.
Resources & Downloads: Month 12, Grade 1
Our resource page features quizzes, songs, coloring pages, and other downloadable activities that support and reinforce this month’s lessons.
To enhance and reinforce the concepts taught in our curriculum, we recommend incorporating these quality television programs that align with our Grade 1 learning objectives:
The Profit This reality business show follows entrepreneur Marcus Lemonis as he invests in struggling businesses and helps transform them. While advanced in some aspects, carefully selected segments provide excellent visual examples that reinforce our Systems Thinking and Business for Kids lessons, allowing children to see entrepreneurial concepts in action.
Bluey This charming animated series follows the adventures of a family of dogs, modelling healthy family dynamics, emotional intelligence, and creative play. It beautifully complements our Mind Explorers activities and Growth Objectives, presenting complex emotional concepts in accessible, age-appropriate ways. At just 7 minutes per episode, these thoughtfully created stories are perfectly sized for the attention span of most first graders, making them ideal for introducing concepts before deeper exploration.
These carefully selected programs can serve as springboards for meaningful discussions and provide visual reinforcement of the concepts being taught in our curriculum.
Our Grade 1 curriculum supplements core academic instruction with essential skills often overlooked in traditional education. These sequenced lessons develop foundational capabilities that serve your child throughout their educational journey.
We recommend following the monthly sequence as outlined, since concepts build purposefully across subject areas. Adjust pacing based on your child’s interests and learning style as needed.
Interactive activities, discussion prompts, and hands-on projects create learning experiences that strengthen your parent-child bond while developing key skills. These lessons work best when integrated with the ongoing developmental growth objectives.
Recommended movies are entirely at parents’ discretion. Consider your child’s readiness and family values when selecting films. Alternative resources are provided if particular films aren’t appropriate for your situation.
Begin with Month 1 and watch as your child develops into a confident, curious learner who acquires knowledge while building critical thinking skills, emotional intelligence, and practical capabilities essential for thriving in our changing world.
Remember, at QMAK, we don’t just teach; we empower. We don’t just inform; we inspire. We don’t just question; we act. Become a Gold Member, and let’s unlock your child’s full potential, one question at a time.