Brummitt's High Ability Blog Spot: All about Fall

This month at Brummitt we are working on self-confidence. I want the students to work on having the confidence to try new things and not be scared of them. We will talk about it this month as we work on the curriculum.

“Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground.” Theodore Roosevelt

Language Arts:

First Grade:

This week we learned more about connections and how to make them. We looked out the window in class and got to find four connections and we discussed them. The next day we got to create and work on an exciting secret wheel. We made our very own Caesar Cipher. What is a Caesar Cipher? It is a set of two circles with the alphabet on each and you use it to encipher and decipher messages. It is similar to one that Caesar used in Rome, to receive and send secret messages to his commanders during battle. (Here is the Wikipedia link about the Caesar Cipher if you are interested in its history http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesar_cipher

We used our Caesar Cipher to decipher a special message. When deciphered our message read “Letters are symbols that stand for spoken sounds.” We will be using the wheel to help us decipher a message each week throughout the year.

Second Grade:

This week we began studying the poem El Dorado by Edgar Allen Poe. To introduce the poem we watched a short animated version of the poem on YouTube. The link is here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqHaKcpKR-s if you would like to watch it again with your child. We made sure to watch the video a few times to better understand the poem and how it made us feel. We used a picture along with what the poem said to see how the picture and the poem are similar and different. Ask your child what they thought. They brought home the materials we used. Next week we will continue to talk about poems and their meanings. We will read a few new poems and use the analyzer to figure them out.

Third Grade:

It was an exciting week for these students: they each got to choose a myth they wanted to retell and discuss with the class. Each student got to come up and talk about their myth, where it came from, and what it all means. They were very nervous but I think they did a great job talking about their myths and answering questions. They also wrote in their journals on what they thought about this quote:

"Aim for the stars; if you fall short, you will land on the moon." -Unknown

It was so exciting to read what their thoughts and feelings are on life and their goals. This year they will be writing in their journals and at the end of the year they will bring them home for you to read. Next week we will read another myth and find all the nouns and what type they are. I will also have them write again in their journal.

Fourth Grade:

This week was all about learning more Greek and Latin word roots. We worked on "Latin and Greek Word Elements" sheets. The students learned about where words come from and how we find the meanings of words. They learned why we teach Greek and Latin roots and how important they are. I think this was an excellent way for the students to get to find out about root words, prefixes, suffixes, and the languages. They found the definitions of a prefix, suffix and the root words both in Latin and Greek. We used the website Fact Monster http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0907017.html to explore the origins of the English language.

They also wrote in their journals on what they thought about this quote:

"Aim for the stars; if you fall short, you will land on the moon." -Unknown

It was so exciting to read what their thoughts are on this quote. I had some interesting and funny responses. We will continue working on Latin and Greek next week and the students will write a “cinquain poem”. I will also have them write in their journals.

Math:

All the classes had the problem of the day to work on to help with their skills. We will also be working on math facts with the students to help improve their knowledge and speed.

First Grade:

This week we worked on adding and subtracting to ten in many different ways. We read the book Pete the Cat and his Four Groovy Buttons and acted out the story with our Pete the Cat ten frames. It was great because my students read it to me which was a nice change. We even got to sing the song since we found it at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2YwCgtvnNg After we read the story the students used dice (a program that rolls it for us.) to complete the following subtraction sentence 10-___=____. We subtracted whatever number rolled on the dice from ten and then uncovered that number on their ten frames, just like Pete losing his buttons! After this we changed to the addition sentence 1+__=___ and we did the same with the numbers rolled on their dice.

Second Grade:

We spent both days working on Fall-Themed multi-step word problems that were located around our classroom. The first day the students had to find all 10 problems and start working on them. The second day we finished them up and checked out our work. The boys loved getting to work on more multi-step word problems.

Third Grade:

This year we will be working very hard on hitting our facts so everyone knows them. We will find fun games to help the students better understand and learn them. We will do an awesome progression through their facts starting with x2's. As they pass their math fact tests, they will build an ice cream cone. Each part represents the fact that they've mastered. I'm so excited about it! We didn't do this last year. This week we tested their x2's and x3's. Everyone has earned their place mat and three have already earned their napkins!

Fourth Grade:

This week we started on the highly anticipated origami cubes! I was really excited to see how the kids did on this one. I was so happy and surprised on how fast they learned how to make the six parts. Connor did a great job being my assistant helping the students that needed extra help or were out on the first day. We will continue to make them next week and try some other shapes too. I looked forward to seeing how they figure out the others I have planned.