During the past two weeks the class learned about people who are deaf or have a hearing loss during D.A.S.H. The students learned about cochlear implants, hearing aids, FM systems and how to protect their hearing. They were very excited to learn to finger spell their name and play "Go Fish" using sign language. Most importantly, the students came away with an understanding of what it is like to have a hearing loss.

Everyone tried "lip reading." It was very hard!

The students loved playing "Go Fish" using sign language!

We got to use a F.M. System. Children with a hearing loss use an F.M. System in school to help them hear their teacher.

How can you protect your hearing?
-Wear ear plugs if you attend a concert or are near a loud sound
-Lower the volume on your Ipod or phone, especially if you are wearing ear buds
-Lower the volume of the TV and radio

A BIG THANK YOU to the D.A.S.H. coordinators and parent volunteers. This was a wonderful learning experience for the children!

Read Across America Day

Last week we celebrated Dr. Seuss's Birthday at Steward School! First, we had a whole school assembly to kick off the our celebration of reading, which will continue all month.Then Dr. Moore (Elise's mom) read Horton Hatches the Egg to us. The class really enjoyed the book! After reading the book, Dr, Moore taught the class about some of the organs in the human body. Thank you Dr. Moore for celebrating reading with us!

Students took turns putting organs on "Bob" and answering questions about the important job of each organ.

   The whole school decorated doors to celebrate reading and Dr. Seuss. This is our door! I am so proud of the students in room 215. They impress me every day with their curiosity and creativity!

Cultural Enrichment: Helen Keller

On Thursday we had an enrichment program and learned all about the life of Helen Keller. An actress, Sheryl Faye took on the role as Helen Keller and helped the students understand her story. 

         

Here are some of the facts the students learned:
Helen was very frustrated as a child because she was unable to communicate with her family.

Anne Sullivan helped Helen learn to communicate by finger spelling. 

Once Helen learned to communicate, a whole new world opened up for her. She even graduated form Radcliffe College.
She decided to go to Radcliffe because people didn't think she could graduate college and she wanted to prove them wrong.

Helen was a successful author.

The class discussed how hard it would be to be both blind and deaf. The children agreed that Helen Keller was very brave. We also discussed how with hard work and practice anything is possible!

Thank you to TESPTO for bringing this wonderful program to Steward School!

Important Reminders

The Steward School Open House and Book Fair is Wednesday, March 8th. Pk, K & 1   6:00-6:45  2 & 3    7:00- 7:45   
The children have been working very hard. We hope you are able to visit our classroom and see some of their recent work.
*The children may bring money to purchase books from the Book Fair tomorrow during library.


Also... If you haven't checked your child's backpack yet, two important papers were sent home on Friday. The first was a permission slip to participate in an optional poetry contest. Last week, the children wrote Haiku poems which the can submit if they choose.  The second paper was about Yearbook orders. Yearbooks are ordered online and all of the information needed to order is listed on the paper.

February S.T.E.M. Challenge

On the Friday before vacation, our class participated in another S.T.E.M. Challenge.

The challenge was to create a track that guides a marble into an 8 inch square that was taped to the floor. Teams had 3 minutes to plan and 10 minutes to build their marble tracks. 

Students could use the following materials:

1 piece of cardstock
5 mailing labels
1 yard of string
3 straws
3 rubber bands
2 pencils
 4 paper clips

 The students were very excited about this challenge. Check out the pictures below to see their creative ideas.

The Final Products












I was very impressed with the planning, collaboration and resilience that I saw all of the teams demonstrate. They worked extremely well together!