Brummitt's High Ability Blog Spot: Welcome Winter Wonderland!

Well we are into the second week of the New Year and things are cold but fun. All this month here at Brummitt we are working on our Life Skills and this week we are working more on perseverance.

We want the students to work hard for what they want and not to let the little setbacks bring them down. We want to make sure that we encourage them to set goals and go after them.

Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work so most people don't recognize them.

-Ann Landers

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.

-Aristotle

Failure is success if we learn from it. -Malcolm Forbes

Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.

-Winston Churchill

I'm a great believer in luck and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.

-Thomas Jefferson

Language Arts:

First Grade:

This week we worked more on anagrams and the students learned how to look up words in the dictionary to find the definitions. The students got to look up the word colossal and fill out the vocabulary map for it. This gave them a chance to become familiar with using a dictionary and learning what all the information means.

They also got to fill in the vocabulary map with the information they found. The students will be using the vocabulary map throughout the year for different assignments so this will help them to become accustomed to them. We also worked on more anagrams. This students cut out letters to help them to rearrange words to find the answers. They were given clues to help them find the words. Then they wrote their own puzzle to solve an anagram for ten and pot.

Next week we will be continuing work on anagrams with harder and longer words. There should be some challenging ones. I look forward to see what puzzles they can write for the new words.

Second Grade:

This week we continued with the lessons on The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. On Monday we completed a word search and finished reading the book. It was quite an exciting ending. On Tuesday we worked on making connections and point of view. We completed the activity on point of view.

We also played an awesome Jeopardy Game that asks questions from the book. It was so much fun to figure out what happened in each chapter. Next week we will continue working on the book with some fun and interesting activities.

Third Grade:

This week we continued working on fairy tales, but we we also worked on grammar. Each student got to read a different fairy tale and find all the verbs. We then reviewed verb tense. The students then worked with a partner and reviewed their fairy tale to see if they could find anymore verbs and highlight them.

The students then took their own fairy tale and picked 10 verbs that they found interesting and filled in a chart of which tense they were. Then the students took that verb and put it in present and future tense since most of our verbs were in past tense.

Next week we will add the verbs to a huge verb chart and we will start to discuss Alice in Wonderland and see what the students know about it before we begin reading.

Fourth Grade:

This week we worked more on our biographies. Many of the students have started their Prezi or even finished them. I am very proud that they needed so little help figuring out the program and how to complete a Prezi. I gave them an intro and let them work on it on their own to see if they could do it and they did great. One day we had to use the media lab computers since the laptops were already checked out.

We made the most of it and had fun using the regular computers. Next week we will continue working on the projects. Please make sure to ask your child if they need 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. (Some 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 fun worksheet called number detective. We picked a number and then answered all the questions about that number from writing the number in words, showing place values, tally marks, skip counting, showing ways to make the number with addition, to making a fact triangle.

We also played a fun math I Have Who Has….. which was so much fun we played it both days. We had to use our math skills to add numbers and find the number in our cards. Next week we will work on a snowflake addition game and some addition puzzles.

Second Grade:

On Wednesday we didn’t get to meet because the students had their testing during our time, but Thursday we completed a fun project called “Ordering Lunch”. We had lunch orders where we had to add up, pay for, and give the correct change back. This gave us a chance to see how money works in real world situations. We had a blast taking orders and adding the tips at the end. Next week we will start a fun winter project where they will create their own penguin by buying all the supplies at our craft store and then make it.

Third Grade:

This week we continued with Sweet Multiplication. All students passed at least one time test to move up to the next number. There are three students that are already complete and one is on the 12’s. The rest of the class is moving quite well through the facts. We also watch a Brain Pop video on greatest common factor and the students completed a worksheet on reducing fractions. They all did an excellent job reducing and finding the greatest common factor. Next week we will continue working on fractions and multiplication.

Fourth Grade:

This week we started working on Problem Solving. Wednesday the students worked on some word problems to see what they already know. We watched a Brain Pop video on order of operation. I wanted to make sure we go over this a few times so students get used to it and know when they will need to use it.

Thursday we completed a problem about the Six Farmers. The students worked really hard to solve it and I had four students figure it very quickly. The question goes like this: There were six farmers who had six barrels each and in each barrel there were six cats. Each cat had six kittens. How many legs are there in all?