Designing Paintbrushes

Last week students designed and built their own paintbrushes.

I hope you enjoyed the snow this weekend.

Lost and Found
There are many items in the Ann Arbor STEAM lost and found.  If you are looking for something stop by because it is getting so full that soon everything will be donated to charity.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day
There will be no school this coming Monday, January 18th in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  We will be celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. this week in a school-wide assembly.  We will also be reading about his life and work in class.

Curriculum Overview
Science - We are beginning a new Project Lead the Way unit on forces called ‘Pushes and Pulls’.  Students will learn about the forces in their life (using the swing on a playground, playing tug-o-war) and how those forces interact.

Math - This week we are looking closely at place value and understanding tens and ones.  Students will see that numbers like 15 are one ten and five ones.  They will be able to break apart numbers into their tens and ones (see drawing below).

Literacy - We are revisiting school and classroom expectations and reading books about staying safe at school, being a good friend, and being a good student.  Ask your child about books like Friends.

Writing - Students are writing about the paintbrush they designed for Project Lead the Way.

Word Study - Identifying the vowel sounds found in each word.  We will work on short vowels.  For example the word frog has the short o sound.

Thirty-six has 3 tens and 6 ones.

It is fine for students to leave a pair of gym shoes in the classroom.