100th Day of School Project, and much more!

Last week we practiced addition and subtraction and tried to be careful about what symbols we used to represent each.

I hope you are well.  There is a lot of important information 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
This Wednesday, January 31st, is a half-day for students.  School is dismissed at 12:52 PM.

Valentine’s Day Cards
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 Wednesday, 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.

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.

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 Wednesday, February 14th, but it might change if we have a snow day.  The projects are due on that day.

NAAPID Parent Involvement Day, Monday, February 12th
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.  To sign up to attend lessons in my classroom go to this link.  The school also provides breakfast lunch and has different activities, like a cyber cafe where you can try out some of the apps your students use at school.  Check out my classroom schedule and the school-wide schedule and come in for as many parts as you wish!

Earbuds
If you would like to send in earphones or earbuds your child can use with his or her iPad please feel free to.  It doesn't need to be fancy, I'm thinking about the old iPod earbuds you have stashed in a drawer somewhere.  I can help students label and store them.

Snacks
Thank you for all your snack contributions over the fall, they have lasted us a long time.  Now we are running a little low so 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.  If you would like to bring in fresh snacks like carrots, I updated our fresh snack calendar.

Music Informance - Thursday, February 15th
Thursday, February 15th our music instructor Ms. Huckabone is hosting an informance for the families of Room K-3 students in her classroom.  Come experience a performance and music lesson simultaneously!  The presentation is from 2:35 PM to 3:05 PM.  This flyer has more information.

Winter Clothes
We have had a couple warm weekends in a row but this school week calls for some days with highs in the 20s.  Keep sending in warm clothes, gloves, and hats.

Curriculum Overview
Science -  This week for our Pushes and Pulls unit we will investigate friction and gravity.

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 - We are continuing to study what makes a complete sentence: Capital letters, lowercase letters throughout, punctuation at the end.  With the writing that was done on Seesaw last week I asked students to make sure what they wrote had complete sentences.  This week we will look at  the structure of and write personal letters.

Math - We are learning about the addition and subtraction symbol and we will practice simple addition and subtraction.  Also, to capitalize on the excitement around Penny Wars, we will spend some time learning about the names and values of U.S. coins.

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

Here are two examples of 100th Day of School projects.  It is important to group the items by tens.

Students learned about the force of friction today.

Evaluating Our Paintbrushes

Last week students tried out and evaluated the paintbrushes they designed.

K/1 Literacy Night
This Thursday join us for the K/1 literacy night.  A2STEAM literacy specialist Dairia Mustapha will lead different stations to show you activities you can do with your child at home to promote literacy.  I will be there along with many other kindergarten and first grade teachers and we hope to see you too.  Childcare is provided!  This event is this Thursday from 5 PM to 6 PM.  More info is available here.

The Follett Challenge
A2STEAM has officially entered The Follett Challenge! This is a grant put on by The Follett Corporation to reward schools that have innovative approaches to teaching and learning. There are many grants awarded for a total of $200,000 in prize money, and we hope our school has what it takes!  For more information, visit this link.

Part of the challenge includes a popular vote, which can net a school $10,000.  The vote takes place January 22 - January 26.  Qualified voters can vote as much as 1x per day throughout this period!  Please take the time to vote for A2 STEAM so that we have a chance of winning this money for our school!  Click here to vote, you need a valid email address.

Half-Day Next Wednesday
Next Wednesday, January 31st, is a half-day for students.

Homework
I sent home a homework assignment with students today.  It is packet containing a little bit of math work and one page for writing.  The cover sheet is light blue.  This homework reviews work we have done in class and think it will benefit your students.  If you feel like it is too much, or not helpful just let me know.

Penny Wars
Keep bringing in spare change and help the 8th graders take a trip to Chicago!  Click here for more information.

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

Reading -  As we read about forces (see above) we are reviewing the features of a non-fiction text (table of contents, index, captions).  We are also reviewing the difference between fiction and non-fiction.

Writing - Students are working on an opinion writing piece.  This week students will choose to write about their favorite pet or favorite sport.  Next week we will write about a simple social issue.

Math - This week we are learning about the addition and subtraction symbol and we will practice simple addition and subtraction.  Also, to capitalize on the excitement around Penny Wars (see above), we will spend some time learning about the names and values of U.S. coins.

Word Study - I feel like after last week your students became syllable experts--you will see some syllable review on the homework.  This week students will will learn about vowels and vowel sounds.  We will study both the long vowel sounds like the long ā in cake, plate, shape and short vowel sounds like the short ă in cat, map, and raft.

Last week students tried out and evaluated the paintbrushes they designed.

Pushes and Pulls

The temperatures last week were optimal for rolling snowballs.

Important Upcoming Dates
January 25th - K-1 Literacy Night - more information to come - 5 PM - Flyer
February 15th - Informance Performance with Ms. Huckabone - 2:30 PM
February 12th - NAAPID Parent Involvement Day

NAAPID Parent Involvement Day is Monday, February 12th
In honor of National African American Parent Involvement Day (NAAPID) A2STEAM invites all parents, guardians and adult family members to visit our school.  In the coming weeks I will have a sign up of times on February 12th when you can join our class and help with different lessons and activities.  It will be fun.  If your child would like to participate in the poster contest for NAAPID, this flyer has more information.

Penny Wars
Send in some spare change and help the 8th graders take a trip to Chicago!  Click here for more information.

Curriculum Overview
Project Lead The Way -  We will begin 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).  Students will also be introduced to the idea that some forces like gravity, magnetism, and wind are invisible. 

Science - Last week students learned about the seasons as part of our year long exploration of weather and weather patterns.

Reading -  As we read about forces (see above) we are reviewing the features of a non-fiction text (table of contents, index, captions).  We are also reviewing the difference between fiction and non-fiction.

Writing - Students are working on an opinion writing piece, writing about our favorite seasons.

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.  Students will be able to break apart numbers into their tens and ones (see drawing below).

Word Study - Students will practice counting the syllables in words.

Thirty-six has 3 tens and 6 ones.

Welcome Back!

This photo was taken the morning of the first snow.

I hope you all had a wonderful break and New Year's.  The students were really happy to see and greet each other this morning.  Here is the information for this week:

Thank You!
Thank you so much for all of your holiday cards and gifts and especially for the classroom gift cards you all got me!  Absolutely everything I received will be put to good use (or already has!).  I truly appreciate it, thank you!

Martin Luther King Day - No School 
This coming Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  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.  This Friday I will read some books about Dr. King on and we will have a school assembly.   On Monday, January 15th there is no school.  U of M has youth activities on that Monday to celebrate Martin Luther King you can learn more about those activities here. 

NWEA
Students will be taking the Northwest Educational Assessment or NWEA this week.  The NWEA is a pair of assessments students take on our iPads to assess their understanding of reading and math.  These assessments help me plan their next steps academically.  We are going start tomorrow and do a bit each day.  Try to make sure your kids get healthy meals and a good night's sleep this week.

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 Mr. Willard in the gym.

Library Books
Please bring back any library books tomorrow for Ms. Reader.

Curriculum Overview

Project Lead The Way - During our last week in December students took what they knew about structure and function and designed and created paintbrushes.  Look out for some writing about their designs in Seesaw this week. This Friday students will evaluate the paintbrushes they created by using them to paint.

Science - This week we will spend some time on our year long exploration of weather.  We have been tracking the temperature on a large graph.  This week we will learn about the seasons, and how the tilt of the earth toward the sun causes the seasons.  As part of this process students will write about the season they like the most and explain their opinion using words like 'because'.

Reading -  We are reading some non-fiction books about seasons.

Writing - Students will use Seesaw to write about designing and using their paintbrush.  We will also start opinion writing, writing about our favorite season.

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

Word Study - Students will be identifying the ending sounds in words.