Ms. Soulas' Classroom 2019-2020

Here are some highlights from the week... Our research and writing has been going strong! The first graders are developing their note taking skills and creating incredible non-fiction books. W e have been focusing 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! I encourage you to ask your first grader about the topic they are studying and you can even participate in some shared research :) 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...

It was a short, but busy week... Wow! The first grade readers and writers have amazed me this week as we begin to merge the two subjects. We have been reading and writing non-fiction, and this week we worked on developing our research skills. We have been using multiple sources (books, online books) to gather information about a topic. The first graders worked with a partner to research and take notes on a topic. Then, from their notes, they wrote an introduction with key details! This week we had health lessons about feelings and friendship.We talked about hard feelings vs. easy feelings and discussed coping strategies when we have hard feelings. We can't stop hard feelings from happening, but we can control how we handle them. Through this unit we are working to develop coping skills and strong communication. These discussions about feelings lend themselves to discussions about friendship. I like it when my friend... It bothers me when my friend... I let my friend know how I ...

Here are some highlights from the week... We met with our buddies on Tuesday! As you know, we have been studying rocks in Room 112 and the 3rd graders have also been studying geology! The first graders had the opportunity to teach the 3rd graders with their completed non-fiction rock books. After, the buddies studied lots of different rocks that were donated to the 3rd grade class. They used their rock knowledge to figure out if they were igneous, sedimentary or metamorphic! Wednesday happened to be the 100th day of school...wow does time fly! There were 100 Hershey kisses hidden around the room, so we went on a Hershey kiss hunt - the first graders found all of them! We also celebrated by creating 100 year old portr aits. By the looks of it, the first graders will age well :) In math, we have been collecting data and representing it in different ways: tally chart, bar graph, pictograph, etc. From there, we have been asking and answering questions about the data. Similar to meas...

Here are some highlights from the week... The first grade scientists and authors have been working hard on their non-fiction rock books. Their books include 3 chapters: Igneous, Sedimentary, Metamorphic. Within each chapter they have an introduction, 3 details and a conclusion. I am so impressed by their writing growth and stamina.  As a way to "solidify" our study of rocks, our geologists did a final experiment that was quite tasty! They took 3 starburst and pressed them together to represent how sedimentary rocks are formed. After they had their sedimentary starburst, they applied heat (breath) and pressure (pushing) to turn it into a metamorphic rock! In math  we have been continuing our work with measurement and have been moving towards understanding, collecting and analyzing data. We also logged into MobyMax (an adaptive math app),  where the students took a placement test. They will be continue to use it during our math block for some extra math practice at th...