Week 33

Here are some highlights from the week...

We started our math farm unit! The first grade farmers began mapping out their farms and paying for the different farm necessities (barn, house, silo, road). We are excited to keep adding to and building our farms!

In Junior achievement, Mrs. Barsotti taught the kiddos all about the difference between wants and needs. Although toys and candy might sometimes seem like needs, the first graders did a great job distinguishing the difference :)

Finally, what a special week at Stephenson! Thank you all so much for the thoughtful cards, gifts and flowers. I feel incredibly appreciative and fortunate to be part of such a supportive community!

Reminders:

5/14 -- Book order & field trip permission slip and money due!

Here are some photos from the week...

Week 32

It was an exciting week in Room 112...

In math we started exploring fractions. The first graders did an amazing job dividing up their whole pizzas/cookies/cakes (paper circles) into equal parts to share with friends. Next time you have pizza, pie or cake with your kids ask them how you can cut it so that each person will get the same amount!

We had our final session with our amazing Artist in Residency and she showed us how she makes glass beads using a torch. Afterwards, the kiddos had a chance to make zipper pulls using beads. It was a blast!

Our writers are continuing to work on their All About (expert topic) books. We have lots of animal experts in room 112 :)

We ended the week with some very special guests. Room 112 won a GoNoodle challenge, and to celebrate and reward all of our "gonoodling" we had a visit from Cab the GoNoodle guy. He brought some great prizes for the first graders and even did some GoNoodle with them! We also had a surprise visit from Blaze the Blazers mascot!

Here are some photos from the week...

Week 31

It was an eventful week in room 112...

Our week started and ended with performances! On Monday, the Mt. Tabor jazz band came to Stephenson to perform. It was a great performance that had all of the kiddos tapping their feet to some jazz classics. The week ended with the Missoula Children's Theater performance of Hansel and Gretel. It is amazing to see the quality performances after just one week of practice!

While we should celebrate and take care of the Earth everyday, we celebrated Earth day on Wednesday by reading one of my all time favorites, The Lorax, and cleaning up the Stephenson playground and walkways. The first graders truly took the Lorax's words to heart "unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better, it's not."

We had our fabulous Artist in Residency, Lisa, come in this week. She will be coming again next week to finish teaching the first graders about glass art and helping them create their own!

A HUGE thank you to Lisa Barsotti (Paige's mom) for teaching Jr. Achievement! Her first lesson focused on family and community, and encouraged the first graders to think about all of the similarities and differences in families. They came up with many thoughtful responses. We have a pretty great room 112 family :)

Reminders:
4/28 -- Artist in Residency
4/30 -- Ms.Soulas & Ms.Pawol at training all day

Here are some photos from the week:

Week 30

Here are some highlights from the week...

We had our third art literacy lesson this week! The first graders learned about form and function and studied different kinds of glass art. They got to make their own Chihuly inspired "shrinky-dink" creations!

For our responsible pet ownership unit, we discussed the difference between pet wants and needs and sorted pet supplies based on wants vs. needs. The first graders constructed great arguments to support their sorting!

The weather got nice towards the end of the week, just in time for buddies! The first and fourth graders read together in the library and then played with each other outside. Both me and Mr. Graham are beyond impressed by how well they all work and play together!


Reminders:

4/21 -- Artist in Residency @ 9:15 - 10:15
4/23 -- Artist in Residency @ 9:15 - 10:15
4/24 -- Missoula Performance

Some photos from the week...