100th Day of School Approaching

A2STEAM students enjoyed popcorn and a movie (and a whole bunch of other activities) during last Friday's Fun Night.

It was great seeing so many of you at fun night!  The kids were definitely having fun, so mission accomplished.

Pasta for Pennies
I wrote about Pasta for Pennies last week.  I forgot to mention that the fundraiser runs through Friday, February 10th.

NAAPID Parent Involvement Day is Monday February 13th
In honor of National African American Parent Involvement Day (NAAPID) we invite ALL parents, guardians and adult family members to visit A2STEAM.  Please consider spending an hour or the entire day with our classroom and school! This day is a celebration of the importance of family in a child’s education.  This flyer has the complete schedule and more information.

100th Day of School
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. 

Basically you and your child 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.

Below you will see 2 photos showing examples of 100th day projects.  It is important to group the items 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 Thursday, February 16th.  The projects are due on that day.

Visiting Teacher
I am part of a team of teachers who is working to redesign and rethink the report cards we use district-wide.  Because of this I will occasionally miss class time for our work.  This Tuesday afternoon I will leave school early for a meeting.  Ms. Goffas who is a regular visiting teacher at A2STEAM will fill in for me.  And of course Ms. Maier will be with the students the whole day too. 

Curriculum Overview
Science - This week we will study the force of gravity.  Then, as a conclusion to our forces, pushes, and pulls work we are designing a machine that can move rocks.

Math - In math we are studying computation and understanding what the addition (+) symbol, and equals (=) symbol mean.

Literacy - We will be reading more non-fiction books and using the features of non-fiction like captions, headers, a table of contents, etc.  As I wrote last week I recommend going to the Traverwood public library and getting non-fiction books to read with your kids.

Writing - To compliment our study of what makes a complete sentence we are studying ending punctuation, the period, question mark, and exclamation mark.

Word Study - Identifying the vowel sounds found in each word.  Last week we finished up long vowels, this week we are beginning short vowels.

Each of these stickers in part of a group of ten.

The elephants are clustered in groups of ten.

Fun Night This Friday!

Students practiced mindful movement today.  We practiced walking and doing squats carefully enough to keep a yellow foam dice on our heads.

Fun Night!!!
There is a A2STEAM Fun Night scheduled this month for kindergarten, 1st grade, and 2nd grade students.  It will be held on Friday, January 27th from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM. There will be games, crafts, movies, and food.  This flyer tells you more and has a link where you can sign up to help.  I will be there helping out too.

Pasta for Pennies
A2STEAM is participating in the Pasta for Pennies fundraiser to help raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.  Information went home with students today and I discussed it in class as well.  This video had more information.  The reason they call it Pasta for Pennies is because Olive Garden sponsors a pasta meal for the class who donates the most.

Valentine’s Day Cards
Today I sent home a list of all the students in Room K-3.  It was printed with bright red ink to help you locate it.  In preparation for Valentine’s Day I would like you to have your child prepare a valentine for every student in our class.  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 cut out hearts.  If you need construction paper from me, let me know.  Students will pass out their valentines on Friday, February 12th—I just wanted to give enough time to create the cards with your child.  If you have any questions please email me.

Homework
Some simple homework will go home with students tomorrow afternoon.  It consists of an open-ended writing piece and one simple activity sheet.  Full instructions are included, email me if you have any additional questions.

Snacks
Thank you for all your snack contributions over the fall.  We need to refill our supply of quick snacks I can give the students in the morning between the start of school and lunch.  All contributions need to be nut free.  Here are some good, and nut-free, options: Wheat Thin Originals, Ak Mak Crackers from Trader Joes, Ritz Crackers Originals, Annie's Cheddar Bunnies.

Curriculum Overview
Science -  We are working on new Project Lead the Way unit called ‘Pushes and Pulls’.  Students will learn about basic physics and the forces they experience in their life (using the swing on a playground, playing tug-of-war, dropping something).  Last week students were introduced to the idea of forces and that some forces like gravity, magnetism, and wind are invisible. 

Reading -  Last week we really worked on understanding the difference between fiction and non-fiction books.  We also looked at features of non-fiction like captions, headers, a table of contents, etc.  I recommend going to the Traverwood public library and getting non-fiction books to read with your kids.

Writing - This week we are continuing to study what makes a complete sentence: Capital letters, lowercase letters throughout, punctuation at the end.

Math - This week we are looking still closely at place value and understanding tens and ones.  Understanding these larger numbers will help us we begin tracking and graphing the outside temperature at Ann Arbor STEAM.  Later in the week we will also study the '+' symbol, and the equal symbol.

Word Study - Students are identifying the vowel sounds found in words.

Fun Night Coming Up! / Let It Snow / Birthdays Update

Last Tuesday was a tough day for driving and commuting but a lot of fun for students at recess.

Welcome back, here is the message for the week.

Snacks
Thank you for all your snack contributions over the fall.  We need to refill our supply of quick snacks I can give the students in the morning between the start of school and lunch.  All contributions need to be nut free.  Here are some good, and nut-free, options: Wheat Thin Originals, Ak Mak Crackers from Trader Joes, Ritz Crackers Originals, Annie's Cheddar Bunnies.

Birthdays
I had a couple of parents ask me about birthdays last week. 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 24).  Also note that when you are having birthday parties outside of school and only invite some of your child’s classmates, children not invited may be disappointed.  For this reason, birthday invitations can only be passed out in class if all the students are receiving an invite.

Fun Night!!!
There is a A2STEAM Fun Night scheduled this month for kindergarten, 1st grade, and 2nd grade students.  It will be held on Friday, January 27th from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM. There will be games, crafts, movies, and food.  This flyer tells you more and has a link where you can sign up to help.  I will be there helping out too.

Curriculum Overview
Science -  We are starting a new Project Lead the Way unit called ‘Pushes and Pulls’.  Students will learn about basic physics and the forces they experience in their life (using the swing on a playground, playing tug-of-war, dropping something).  We will also see how those forces interact.

Reading -  We are looking at the features of a non-fiction text like a captions, headers, photographs, diagrams, a table of contents and an index.  Some of the first books we are going to read introduce concepts from our Project Lead the Way unit on pushes and pulls.  We will also read some books about weather.

Writing - This week we are studying what makes a complete sentence. 

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).

Word Study - Students are identifying the vowel sounds found in words.

Thirty-six has 3 tens and 6 ones.

Welcome Back - Evaluating Our Paintbrushes

Today students tried out the paintbrushes they designed and created.  They evaluated what kind of painting they can do and how well they work.

I hope you all had a wonderful break and New Years.  Thank you so much for all of your holiday cards and gifts and for the classroom gift card you all got me!  I truly appreciate it.

Martin Luther King Day - No School  
At Ann Arbor STEAM at Northside we honor Martin Luther King by meeting as a school and reaffirming our commitment to listening to, understanding, and respecting each other.  I will read some books about Dr. King on Friday and we will have a school assembly in the afternoon.  On Monday, January 16th there is no school.  This flyer has information about activities available at U of M to celebrate Martin Luther King.  I also saw an email sent out to the whole school today with the same information.

NWEA
Students will be taking the Northwest Educational Assessment or NWEA this week.  The NWEA is a pair of assessments students take in our computer lab to assess their understanding of reading and math.  Room K-3 will be taking them on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week.

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

Shoes
Don't forget to send in shoes when your child wears boots to school in the morning.  It helps in class and especially when students visit Ms. Lewit in the gym on Thursdays.

Curriculum Overview
Science - Today students evaluated the paintbrushes they created by using them to paint.  We are also starting a new Project Lead the Way unit called ‘Pushes and Pulls’.  Students will learn about basic physics and the forces they experience in their life (using the swing on a playground, playing tug-of-war, dropping something).  We will also see how those forces interact.

Reading -  We are reading, comparing, and contrasting different versions of the Gingerbread Man fairy tale.

Writing - Students will use Seesaw to write about the fairy tales we read before break.  They will also write about using their paintbrush.

Math - This week we will explore the concept of weight.

Word Study - Students will be identifying the vowel sounds found in words.  We will start with long vowels.  For example the word jeep has the long e sound.