Snowball Dance

It was really great seeing so many of you at the Snowball Dance!

I hope you are well and staying warm!

Valentine's Day Cards and 100th Day Project
If you have extra time at home it might be useful to start on your child's project for the one hundredth day of school, or the Valentine's Cards for Valentine's Day--it sounds like many of you already have.  I attached another copy of the classroom names list to the email I sent out this week.  If you are home and need extra activities to do with students you can also use this packet I created of optional activities.

Silent Auction Basket
The Room K-3 families have been asked to donate a basket to the A2STEAM PTO silent auction.  The theme we have chosen is 'All Things Ann Arbor'.  I am going to add a Kerry Town giftcard to the basket.  If you can help please respond to the emails that have been sent out by our room parent Rebecca Noland.  

Curriculum Overview
Science -  The kindergarten teachers have decided to postpone the forces unit until later in the school year.  We would like to focus our attention this week on the opinion writing unit we are working on (see below).  Next week we will begin a Project Based Learning unit we will showcase at our Spring Expo.  We will be studying living things.

Reading -  This week we will read some fiction books that show friendships and caring classrooms.

Writing - We are continuing our work on opinion writing.  Today I read a passage explaining how spiders are misunderstood and asked students to write about their opinions on spiders.

Math - In preparation for the 100th day of school we are learning to count large numbers by tens.

Word Study - Students are learning the long and short sound of each vowel.

Many Events Coming Up

Students worked hard to build numbers into the teens.  Last week we also studied how a teen number includes one ten.  For example 14 is 10 and 4 more.

I hope you are well.  There is a lot of important information included here this week.  For instance there are a couple of different home projects over the next few weeks.  If you have questions, our need help with anything, please email me or send me a note in your child's red folder.

Half-Day Next Wednesday
Next Wednesday, January 30th, is a half-day for students.  School is dismissed at 12:52 PM.

Valentine’s Day Cards, Thursday, February 14th
To celebrate Valentine’s Day I would like you to have your child prepare a valentine for every student in our class.  Today I sent home a list of all the students in Room K-3.  It was printed on bright pink paper to help you locate it.  Stores like CVS and Target sell inexpensive valentines cards in sets specifically for school children.  You can use those cards or make something very simple like cutout hearts.  If you need construction paper from me, let me know.  Students will pass out their valentines on Thursday, February 14th—I just wanted to give enough time to create the cards with your child.  I encourage you to have them do any writing.  No candy or food please.  If you have any questions please email me.

100th Day of School Project
To celebrate the 100th day of school kindergarten teachers at A2STEAM are asking families to help their student complete a project displaying exactly 100 items.

To complete this project you and your child will need to find a way to count and display 100 simple objects.  Think really simple, like stickers, or circles from a three hole punch.  Once you have decided on what you want to count, organize the items by tens.  This way you can easily count to one hundred.

Posted below (scroll down) you will see 2 photos showing examples of 100th day projects.  You will see the items counted are grouped by tens.

I know this is a different kind of assignment.  If you have any questions please email me. The one hundredth day of school is currently Monday, February 11th, but it might change if we have a snow day.  The projects are due on that day.

NAAPID Parent Involvement Day, Monday, February 11th
In honor of National African American Parent Involvement Day (NAAPID) A2STEAM invites ALL parents, guardians and adult family members to visit our school. You can come in for the whole day or just a few activities.  The school is currently working on a schedule for the day.  When it is ready I will post it, along with my classroom activities, so you can choose which events to sign up for. 

Fresh Snacks
If you would like to bring in fresh snacks like carrots or apples, I updated our fresh snack calendar for 2019.

AAPS Weather Guidelines
This webpage shows the guidelines we follow as a district during inclement weather.  I will usually take the students outside unless the temperature or wind chill is below zero.  When closing school may be a possibility the superintendent might mention her thinking or process on her twitter feed.

Snowball Dance This Friday
This Friday, January 25th A2STEAM will hose its annual Snowball Dance.  It is much different then a typical school dance, there are activities, crafts, a movie and popcorn, and crazy kid dancing in the gym.  A flyer went home on Friday.  I plan on attending.

Curriculum Overview
Science -  In our forces unit last week students learned about the basics of pushes and pulls, this week we will learn more abut invisible forces like gravity and magnetism.

Reading -  This week we will also reading non-fiction books about pushes and pulls as well as books showing strong opinions.  We will see how knowing the differen sounds of the vowels can help us be flexible when sounding out words

Writing - We are continuing our work on opinion writing.  Students are currently writing about what their favorite sport or form of exercise is.  This week in addition to working on option writing we will also touch on what makes a complete sentence.

Math - We are learning about the addition and subtraction symbol and we will practice simple addition and subtraction. 

Word Study - Students will learn about vowels and the different sounds each vowel makes.

During quiet time students have been doing a good job finding quiet areas to work by themselves for a few minutes.

Opinion Writing

Students were excited to begin an opinion writing unit.

No School Next Monday, January 21st
In honor of Martin Luther King there is no school this coming Monday, January 21st.  We will be studying Martin Luther King Jr. this week to better understand the reason for the holiday.  A list of activities at U of M and across Ann Arbor was emailed out to families, so there are plenty of choices if you are looking for something for your kids to do.

February 15th
We may or may not have school on February 15th.  Unfortunately we won't know for sure until February 12th.  Due to the election laws, the district is unable to confirm a May election until the filing deadline of February 12th--after which point we will immediately notify families about the status of the school day on February 15th.  The school is asking that families prepare for either eventuality.  February 18th is definitely a no school day.

LEXIA Login Cards
LEXIA is an iPad app we use school wide to help kids with reading and literacy fundamentals.  The app adjusts its content based on the learning needs of each individual child.  Tomorrow I will send home Lexia login cards with all students.  If you would like to have your child use Lexia at home you can download the CORE5 Lexia app and log in with the username and password listed on the card.  Alternatively you can also download an app called CLEVER and it will scan one of the badges I send home and log students into the app automatically with no typing.  I would recommend using this app 10 to 20 minutes at a time a few times a week.  I find that my son often does not do well with too much screen time.

Visit The Library
Even better than Lexia (see above) is a visit to the library.  Here at Northside we are close to both the downtown library and the Traverwood library.  Visiting the library and reading books as a family has amazing benefits for kindergartners.  I am writing about this now because it came up in a book we were reading as a staff.

Upcoming Dates
January 21st - No School
January 30th - Early Release Day, Students Dismissed at 12:52 PM
February 11th - NAAPID Parent Involvement Day - All Parents Invited
February 15th - School To Be Determined
February 18th - No School

Curriculum Overview
STEAM Project - This week we will begin a new project on forces.  We will study pushes, pulls, and other aspects of basic physics like magnetism and friction.  The overall goal of the unit to design a vehicle that can push or pull rocks to help clear space for a hypothetical playground.

Reading - We are reading books to help better understand Martin Luther King Jr.

Writing - We have begun an opinion writing unit!  Last students wrote about what was, in their opinion, the best pet to have.  We worked on stating our opinion clearly and using the word 'because' to explain our argument.

Math - We are studying the teen numbers and basic place value.

Word Study - We are covering the concept of rhyme. 

Hopefully it will snow soon.

Welcome Back From Winter Break!

A picture take today in Ms. Alseri's art class.

Introducing Ms. Thomas
A the end of December a full-day assistant teacher was added to Room K-3.  Ms. Thomas will be in our classroom and will follow the students to most of their special classes.  She is a great teacher, we are lucky to have her.

Cold Weather
It is supposed to get colder this week.  Keep sending kids with what they need to stay warm.

Birthdays
I had a couple of parents ask me about birthdays.  I realized that I haven't addressed the subject since the first week of school.  Here is what I wrote in September:  We love celebrating birthdays at school, but at Ann Arbor STEAM we do not celebrate with cupcakes and sweets.  On the day of your child’s birthday I will make him or her a crown and the class will sing to, and celebrate, their birthday.  If you would like to bring something to share we ask that you bring non-food items such as fun pencils, erasers, stickers etc.  Please keep it small and be sure to send in enough for every student (right now we have 23).  If you are having a party outside of school, birthday invitations can only be passed out in class if all the students are receiving an invite.  You can always contact me if you want the email address of another student's parents.

NWEA
Students will be taking the Northwest Educational Assessment or NWEA this week.  The NWEA is a pair of assessments students take on their iPads to assess their understanding of reading and math. 

Home Reading Book Bags
Bring in those blue and clear bags back so we can get out some fresh books to you.

Curriculum Overview
STEAM Project - Next week we will begin a new project on forces.  We will study pushes, pulls, and other aspects of basic physics.

Reading - We are reading books that feature rhyme.

Writing - This week will begin an opinion writing unit.  More information to come as we get going.

Math - We were not able to complete this before break: I am hoping that this week students will build and photograph numbers up to 15.  We will also work on writing numerals and correcting any reversals.

Word Study - We are covering the concept of rhyme.