Brummitt's High Ability Blog Spot: Fantastic Friday!!

Well we are into the third week of the New Year and things are going great. All this month here at Brummitt we are working on our Life Skills and this week we are working more on perseverance. We want to teach the students to not to give up on their goals and dreams.

Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant. -Robert Louis Stevenson

Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.

-Goethe

I've failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.
-Michael Jordan

Success is not a destination. It is a journey.
-Zig Ziglar

Success is that old ABC - ability, breaks, and courage.
-Charles Luckman

Language Arts:

First Grade:

This week we worked more on anagrams. The students used the letters they cut out last week to help them to rearrange words to find the answers. They were given clues to help them find the words, but this week the words were much harder to figure out. They also wrote their own puzzle to solve an anagram for inch and lips.

I think they had a blast working on harder words. Next week we will be finishing up work on anagrams with a few harder words. We will also start the next lesson on lipograms (leaving out letters) and reading the story E-Mergency. I think the students will enjoy figuring it all out.

Second Grade:

This week we continued with the lessons on The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. We finished playing the Jeopardy Game that asks questions from the book. We had a great time trying to figure out each answer. It was fun to keep score and see who knew the most about the book.
Next week we will continue working on the book with some fun and interesting activities. We will also start on our next book. It should be an exciting adventure.

Third Grade:

This week we started to discuss the book we will be reading Alice in Wonderland. I wanted to see what the students already know about the book and not just the movies. We went through a powerpoint presentation and discussed the people and children of that time period.

The students got to choose a picture of a child from the time period to write a story about next week. I am really excited to see what they will write about. Each student will have a copy of the picture they chose to use as a reference as they write. We will also discuss more about that time period and the story before we start reading.

Fourth Grade:

This week we continued work on our biographies. I am very proud at how hard the students are working to get their presentations prepared and complete all the parts for their projects. The students all now have access to their Prezi presentations at home if they want to work on them. It isn’t required, but I know that many of the students will want to show them to you all to let you see their work.

Next week I will not be able to meet with them because we are starting the CogAT testing for the school and I have to complete testing for students on Monday and Tuesday. We will meet the week after though and then we will continue working on the projects.

Please make sure to ask your child if they any help with their monologue since this is something very new for them. I will also try to find a video to help them see someone performing one. The students will also have to figure out a way to present the information to us.
They can also dress up like their person. They can be as creative as they want. Here is the information on what they will create:

People Who Made a Difference Instructions

Step Four: Synthesize information to list at least ten of the most significant events in the person’s life. (a few students are still working on this)

Step Five: Create a timeline of the famous person’s life. (Most students are finished with this)

Step Six: Consider change in the person’s life and how he/she made a difference. Write a monologue including events, changes, and differences made in regard to his/her life. (This is something the students need to be thinking about at home to figure out what they want to say)

Step Seven: Create a Power Point or Prezi that includes the person’s name, a photo, years lived, and contributions. (There are some students already completed with this part; students can request the log in information if they want to work on it at home.)

Step Eight: Memorize your monologue and dress as your character. You are now ready for the People Who Made a Difference presentation. (The students will be able to practice with a partner in class as soon as we are finished writing)

Monologue Criteria

o Monologue describes events in the person’s life with detail and clarity.

o Monologue includes insight to changes in the person’s life.

o Monologue explores how the person made a difference.

o Speaker confidently presents monologue using good eye contact, posture, and voice.

o Speaker engages audience with appropriate words, facial expressions, and gestures.

o The presentation is supported with appropriate costume and props.

Math:

First Grade:

This week we worked on a winter math worksheet called snowflake math. It was challenging but we worked through it quickly and decided we needed to work on something else too. We watched two short videos on telling time and how a clock works. Then we played a fun monster game on time.

On Thursday we played a clock game on the whiteboard/e-beam. It was so much fun to look at the clocks and figure out the time. Next week we will continue working on time with some fun activities.

Second Grade:

This week we worked more on money with a fun and exciting shopping game on the whiteboard/e-beam. The students picked out groceries and then they had to add up the cost and use the money section to pay for it.

They had a blast finding stuff they liked and using the whiteboard to pick and pay. It was so much fun we did it both days. Next week we will finish up with money with a few more fun games.

Third Grade:

This week we continued with Sweet Multiplication. Most students are almost finished with their tests which rocks. Once everyone finishes we will have a fun party to celebrate. They are doing a great job with their multiplication math facts. We are continuing with greatest common factor and fractions.

We decided to have a fraction showdown. The class was divided into two teams.
Striking Lighting and Flying Fractions Kids were the names. They had a blast playing against each other to reduce each fraction. It was so exciting to play we decided to play both days.

At the end of day one the Flying Fraction kids were ahead. The second day Striking Lighting made a great come back but the Flying Fraction Kids still pulled a head to win. The kids had so much fun they decided to have a conga line back to their rooms.

Next week we will continue with fractions by playing an intriguing board game called Spacey Space Game.

Fourth Grade:

This week we continued working on Problem Solving. Both days we decided to have a problem solving showdown with five teams.

Each student got a word problem on a piece of paper and had to try to solve it on their own first once a minute or two was up they could work as a group to solve it.

The first team to solve gets 5 points next groups 4 then 3 points. They had a great time competing against each other to see who could solve the problems first. After each round they would get new problems to solve.