Hello @rthomas32 
Welcome to the Canvas Community. Thank you for posting your question. If your "Announcements" button is currently hidden to your students on your left-hand side course navigation, it may need to be enabled. You can enable that button by following the instructions in How do I manage Course Navigation links?. The icon of the crossed-out eye will disappear as soon as there is one published announcement in your course. Check out this tutorial video to learn more about course announcements: . Finally, here are some written Guides if you want to dive into more specifics about this feature.
I hope these resources will be of help to you, Rhonda. Sing out if you have any additional questions about this info...thanks!
