Despite the importance of first grade as a crucial period in a young student's academic development, little is known nationally about how much time first-graders actually spend in class on various subjects or about the kinds of activities and skills that they work on in class. This Issue Brief details how often per week and how much time per day first-graders were instructed in subjects such as reading, mathematics, and science during the 1999-2000 academic year. It then focuses in more detail on students' in-class work on reading and language arts. Results are based on data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 (ECLS-K). This study involved a sample of 16,165 first grade students that is representative of the 3.8 million first-graders enrolled in the United States in Spring 2000. Data are based on first grade teacher reports from spring 2000. (Contains 2 tables.)