Ms.Soulas' Classroom

It was a busy and "clay"ful week in Room 112... We had our fabulous Artist in Residency, Karie, come on Tuesday! Karie will be coming again in on 5/25 to finish teaching the first graders about clay art and helping them finish their own clay creations! If you are available to help out from 8:15am - 9:30am please let me know! The first grade artists also had another clay day on Tuesday. A HUGE thank you to Kerry Rose (Alice's mom) for donating her extra clay and her time, and thank you to our volunteers, Brandi (Jocelyn's mom) and Sydney (Jocelyn's sister), for helping out!  In math we started exploring fractions. We read the "Cookie Fiasco" and then the first graders did an amazing job dividing up their whole cookie into equal parts. Next time you have sandwiches, pizza or cake with your kids ask them how you can cut it so that each person will get the same amount! In writing, we are starting our final writing unit - Realistic Fiction! The first

Here are some highlights from the week... As the first graders start reading more challenging books we want to make sure we can read the words AND understand what we're reading! We have been working on tools to support our comprehension. This week we focused on rereading and making a movie in our head while we are reading. One way that we practice making a movie in our head is by stopping and sketching. I read aloud a story and don't show them the pictures. Throughout the book I will stop and they will sketch what has happened. It was amazing to see how much they remembered from the story!  On Wednesday, we started our late opening with our whole school assembly! Trashcan Joe, a band with instruments made from trash, came to perform. They were AMAZING! I think the first grade musicians were inspired because we had a couple friends create their own recycled instruments! We practiced our geometry skills with our 4th grade buddies this week! We played a math game with them

Here are some highlights from the week... We finished adding all of our decoding strategies to our tool box. When you are reading with your first grader and they get to a tricky word, ask "does it look right? does it sound right? does it make sense?" You can also encourage them to teach you about each tool and show you how to use it! The first grade authors have published their non-fiction chapter books! We have gotten to learn about space, animals, deserts, the body and many other fascinating topics. They are becoming stronger writers and teachers :) On Tuesday, we had our Art Literacy lesson on Art Neaveau. A HUGE thank you to all of the parents that came to help out! The first grade artists created their own version of Gustav Klimt's "Tree of Life" using stamps, sharpies and pipe cleaners!  To honor the blossoming trees outside our classroom window, we made our own tree blossoms using tissue paper! Now we get to enjoy blooming trees outside and inside