Blue Ribbon Award Ceremony

On Friday we had a lovely celebration for the Angell Blue Ribbon Award.  We were fortunate to have special visitors such as State Representative Jeff Irwin and Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor, as well as Superintendent Swift.  The students were very proud and excited.

Frog Study

Yesterday we were fortunate to have Grace J.'s mom, Ann Miller, come to present to us about the life cycles of frogs. She is a biologist at U of M, and brought a real South-African Clawed Frog for the children to observe, as well as a microscope for students to examine frog embryos. Thank you to Ann for sharing your passion and expertise with us!

Special Visitor

Last week, Dimitra brought in her pet guinea pig, Peppermint.  The children had a chance to pet the guinea pig and some even tried feeding it.

Name That Number

In our Everyday Math program, basic number operations are a huge part of what we do each day.  Math games are a fun way to help children practice these essential facts and make them more automatic.  In "Name That Number", children use one or more operations to name a target number.  See the photo below with more explanation. (You can always click on photos in the blog to make them appear larger.) 

Counting Tree Rings

This week as a part of our study on trees and life cycles, we counted tree rings. We learned that every tree grows a new layer (ring) each year.  First we practiced on a giant drawing, then on actual tree cross sections. Some of the trees we examined were over 40 years old!

Time for Kids

Many thanks to Caterina and Alexandra's parents, Theodora and Alex, for donating a subscription of Time for Kids Magazine to our class for this school year.  The students enjoyed their first issue last week and will be reading the next issue tomorrow.  This edition of Time Magazine is a wonderful way for children to establish the value of learning about current events happening in our world.  In past years, it has been wonderful to see how this seemingly simple activity can inspire the children to make positive changes in themselves and their surrounding community.