Ms.Soulas' Classroom

Here are some highlights from the week... We wrapped up our non-fiction reading & writing units this week. As a culmination check-in, the first graders had an hour to plan, write and revise an informational piece of writing - and wow, was I amazed! They were so focused, some of their pencils never even left the page! Their passion, knowledge and research on their topics was incredible to see! They are becoming such strong writers, readers and teachers! We ended our non-fiction reading unit and started our new reading unit! This unit focuses on "Being the boss of your reading!" The first graders will be adding and practicing fluency and comprehension strategies to become stronger and stronger readers! The first grade readers are understanding the power and control they have over their reading :) In math this week, we began to use our understanding of place value to compare and change numbers. The first graders built and wrote numbers and saw how they changed when you ...

Here are some highlights... In writing this week, we focused on the importance of an introduction and conclusion in our non-fiction books. We discussed different ways that we can introduce our topic and chapters to hook our reader and draw them in. This will be a strategy we continue to build on as we develop our writing!  Start with a question Start with an action Start with a story On Thursday,  we had our Valentine exchange! In Room 112 we celebrate friendship everyday; however, the kiddos were very excited about all of the love (and treats) that they got! Thursday also happened to be the 100th day of school...wow does time fly! There were 100 Hershey kisses hidden around the room, so we got to go on a Hershey kiss hunt - the first graders found all but 10... I'm sure they will turn up when we least expect it! We also celebrated by creating 100 year old portr aits. By the looks of it, the first graders will age well :) We ended the week with a STEM activity ...

Here are some highlights from the week... The first graders are becoming experts on topics and teaching others through their writing. In writing, they practiced organizing their books using the "table of contents" as a tool. They are reading like writers and writing like expert readers!  In math, we are continuing to build our number sense and beginning our new unit on place value. The mathematicians are building on their understanding of the way numbers can be broken into parts. Here is an activity you can do at home to help support your kiddo's number sense: Guess My Number  (use a hundreds chart or a number line) –To play, ask one player to choose a number within a set and comfortable (based on age) range such as 1-100. This number remains secret until someone guesses it. To start have one participant at a time take turns narrowing the range until one is able to guess the number. Questions might include: Is it greater than fifty? Is it an even number? Is it...