Ms.Soulas' Classroom

Wow, it's hard to believe it's already Spring Break! Time flies in first grade :) This week in reading we continued to practice being the boss of our reading! Our jobs are: 1. Stop at the first sign of trouble 2. TRY something 3. Try something ELSE 4. Check-it To remember our jobs, we have a song to the tune of "If Your Happy and You Know It" Feel free to include this song in your Spring Break Soundtrack :) If you think something’s wrong, you’ve got to STOP! (clap, clap!)  If you think something’s wrong, you’ve got to STOP! (clap, clap!)  If you think something’s wrong, and you say, “What’s going on?!” If you think something’s wrong, you’ve got to STOP! (clap, clap!)  Then you try something else, and don’t give up!  Then you try something else, and don’t give up!  Then you try and you try, and you say, “This job is mine!”  Then you try something else, and don’t give up!  When you think you’ve got it right, check it out!  When...

Here are some highlights from the week... This week was full of performances! On Tuesday, the Missoula teachers came into our classroom and taught the first graders all about acting! On Friday, we had the Missoula Children's Theater performance of King Arthur. It was a wonderful show with an incredible cast of Stephenson students :) On Wednesday, we created a Stephenson rainbow! Wow, was the rainbow connection strong - It was an amazing morning where we all got to celebrate the unity of our learning community. We have been discussing how we care for each other at Stephenson and the first graders came up with some great ideas. In Room 112 we are continuing to work on not just telling how we care, but also showing how we care.  We 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 u...

Here are some highlights from the week... In yoga this week, the first graders got to practice being supportive, responsible and positive leaders by leading their partners around the room. This week we learned about Ruby Bridges and added her to our biography journal! They  loved learning about such an important first grader :) I was unable to celebrate Dr.Seuss' birthday with the first graders last Friday, so this Friday we read and watched The Sneetches and the first graders made brilliant connections to segregation and equal rights.   The first graders have been working hard at reading and writing non-fiction books. They 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!  During buddies this week, the first graders showed off their reading and writing skills and taught the fourth gr...

It was a full week for the kiddos, but a short week for me... The first grade readers have been working hard on their non-fiction reading strategies. They have been practicing: Taking a sneak peek Stopping and studying each page Guessing what might come next Chatting about a page Making their voice smooth and lively  Finding & thinking about keywords.  This week we discussed how expert readers mark pages so that they can pick out interesting information and share with other expert readers. The first graders have been getting super smart about non-fiction topics! In both reading and writing we are focusing on non-fiction text! The first graders are both writers and teachers in our non-fiction chapter book unit. We have been using the writing process (thinking, planning, writing, revising) and have begun creating our very own non-fiction chapter books about penguins. The authors are excited to share all of their knowledge!  Reminders: 3/5 -- Author...