This week at Brummitt it is all about giving. We are having the annual food drive and the students are bringing in food items to donate. They have added a fun contest to see which grade can bring in the most pounds of food. It has been great to see the students compete to see if their grade can win.
This will continue until December 11th. We also have the fourth grade collecting items for the Porter County Animal Shelter. If you have items to donate to the animal shelter please bring them in.
The fourth grade has an area set up outside the fourth grade rooms now through December 11th. There is so much going on this month here at Brummitt. This week was the Christmas for Kids Sale. They were selling spirit grams to give to each other to help raise money.
Starting next Monday December 7th to the 10th you can turn in your snowman creations to the media center to put on display. All snowmen have to be here by 8:30am on the 10th to be considered for judging.
The Santa’s Secret Shop will be open next week on December 9th to December 16th for student to purchase their Holiday gifts.
Next week on December 10th will be the student council Pajama Day so make sure to have your children wear those PJ’s to school. That night Mrs. Dortmund will be hosting a “Curl Up and Read” in the Winter Wonderland from 6:30 to 7:30pm. Keep those PJ’s on and come to the media center for a great night.
Also December 12th will be the PTO fundraiser night at Barnes and Noble from 4:00 to 8:00pm. I hope that everyone has a chance to stop by and get some holiday shopping done and help raise money for the PTO. One last announcement is the holiday parties this year will be on December 17th.
This week we continued learning about our Life Skills with Humble. I think this goes hand in hand with the holiday season. A sense of humility not only keeps our own ego in check and prevents us from overstepping our capabilities, it also makes sure we don’t hurt others’ feelings with our arrogance.
Too much pride can quickly alienate others leading to a very lonely holiday. The students are very caring and understanding for each other. They give each other the kindness and support each day.
Idiom of the Week
An Idiom is an expression whose meaning is not predictable
from the usual meanings of its constituent elements.This week’s was …. She’s down in the dumps. The students
could relate to this one because they have all had time where they feel sad or down
and not totally with it. They all thought of how they could help each other to
not feel like that if they saw someone feeling down. I didn’t have any takers
on the drawing or picture this week, but I have high hopes for some student to
find something again soon. The hint for next week:catching some…….?
Language Arts
First Grade:
This week we had a new secret message to decipher and it was very cool. The message could only be read in a mirror but these students figured it out without even having to use one. They turned the papers upside down and flipped them over and could see the message and deciphered it lickety-split.
They had a great time figuring this one out. Then we talked about connections and how they can be used in different ways. They pulled out the words they created from the letters P, T, O, and S.
We discussed all the different words you can make from those letters and I introduced the term anagram. We talked about meaning of anagram and how you can rearrange the exact same letters to come up with other words and phrases. Then we talked about how anagrams are kind of like magic in a way. We then took the cork letters to rearrange words into new words. They loved trying to figure out what words they could create.
On Tuesday I introduced the vocabulary map to the students to use when learning a new word when reading. I went over each section and had them fill it out for the word colossal. They got to look in the dictionary to find the word and we also looked at an online dictionary to see how to search words. They filled out each section of the vocabulary map and we talked about what it meant. Next week we will continue working on anagrams with some exciting activities.
Second Grade:
This week we continued with our novel The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo. Monday we discussed the novel and what we have read so far. The students shared their thoughts on the story Pellegrina told and we also did some reading. On Tuesday we went read the next chapter and they filled out the reading analyzer on it. We also talked about Paul’s Reasoning Wheel and why students need to use it to think about what they are reading. We went over each part to give students the tools they need to become great readers who know how to formulate questions about what they are reading.
The wheel has eight parts: question at issue, purpose, point of view, concepts, evidence (data), implications (consequences), assumptions, and inferences. This wheel will help them start to think about what they are reading on a deeper level. We will use it throughout the novel. We also started to answer more questions in our writing journal about the story and the characters. The students will read one chapter for next week and we will make more predictions for our wall and see what has changed since the last time.
Third Grade:
This week we continued to work on tall tales. The students finished their retelling story maps and presented them to the class. On Tuesday we finished up the last few groups talking about their tall tales and we worked on grammar and finding the nouns in a tall tale.
I chose the tall tale about Pecos Bill and the Tornado. I read the tall tale to the students and they highlighted all the nouns in the story. After we finished I let them compare this tall tale to the Disney version of Pecos Bill. We watched the short cartoon and they all had a great laugh at the story and all the exaggerations in the story about Bill and his life. Next week we finish up the tall tales and start on a modern day legend about a ship and the crew aboard.
Fourth Grade:
This week we continued with the research on our biographies. The student also reviewed parts of speech with a few interesting sentences. I also made sure to get all the students their user names and passwords to google to log in and use the google docs to create their bios and timelines. They can use it at school and at home. Google will save all the documents so they will never lose their documents.
There is also the biography summary on there for them to use if they want to type up that instead of writing it out on their sheet. If you have any questions please feel free to let me know and I can help. Also remember I have included a new page on the blog for the 4th grade bios.
You will see it at the top right of the website. If you hit the link to the page there are other helpful links to websites for the students to use in their research. I am trying to find sites that will help each student with their person.
I have also included other sites we will be using. Next week we will continue our research and work on these projects. I will also have the deadlines ready and posted for the students. Here are the instructions which are also in the google docs for the students to view:
People Who Made a
Difference Instructions
Step One:
All students are complete with this step because they have picked a person to
research
Step Two: For this project,
you are required to research one person using a full-length biography, one or
more primary sources (book), and two
or more secondary sources (websites).
Use the Internet and library to determine whether sufficient information is
available for each person. All students have found a great book
to use.
Step Three: Read the biography and collect information about the
person. Complete the Biography Summary and submit. Create a works cited to
acknowledge sources you are using.
Step Four: Synthesize information to list at least ten of the most significant events in
the person’s life.
Step Five: Create a timeline of the famous person’s life.
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.
Step Seven: Create a Prezi that includes the person’s name, a photo,
years lived, and contributions. (The students will be learning how to
use Prezi so they will be able to use those instead of power point)
Step Eight: Memorize your monologue and dress as your character. You
are now ready for the People Who Made a Difference presentation.
Timeline Criteria
-Timeline includes entire life of person with dates measured at
appropriate intervals.
-Timeline includes ten or more important events of the person’s life.
-Timeline includes two or more pictures of the person.
-Timeline is neat and legible.
-At least four sources are properly cited.
Monologue Criteria
-Monologue describes events in the person’s life with detail and clarity.
-Monologue includes insight to changes in the person’s life.
-Monologue explores how the person made a difference.
-Speaker confidently presents monologue using good eye contact, posture, and voice.
-Speaker engages audience with appropriate words, facial expressions, and gestures.
-The presentation is supported with appropriate costume and props
Math
First Grade:
This week we went back to money and working on our money packets. I brought in some real money to use and show the students the differences in coins. They also did a great job working on each part of the worksheets when they match money and figured out how much things are worth.
I even had them add some things on the board to see which is worth more. Next week we will continue to work on money and have fun adding up the cost of items and what you will need to pay for it.
Second Grade:
This week we learned about Fibonacci sequence. The Fibonacci sequence is the series of numbers: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34… The next number is found by adding up the two numbers before it. The 2 is found by adding the two numbers before it (1+1). Similarly, the 3 is found by adding the two numbers before it (1+2), and the 5 is (2+3), and so on!
Example: the next number in the sequence above is 21+34 = 55. We watched a video explaining what it is and where you might find it in nature. Like on pine cones and flowers, poison ivy leaves and even some worms.
We also discussed how important numbers and math are to helping us figure out nature and how things work. We had a blast figuring out the numbers missing in each sequence and what comes next in the order. Next week we will continue on the adventure of patterns with numbers and math.
Third and Fourth Grade: Math Vocabulary Comic Relief
This year I am starting something new we will be doing each week on Wednesdays. I have the Math Vocabulary Comic Relief board. Each week when the students come in on Wednesday they will go to look at the board and grab their problem. They will have five minutes to read and solve it. This week was Mixed Numbers. Mixed number is a number consisting of an integer and a proper fraction.
This week the students in both grades did a much better job reading the board before starting the problem. They took their time to really think before they answered. It was great to see them all take a moment to really read the definition to make sure they knew what the question was asking for. Some got it right away and some had to rethink and try again. They all did a great job this week with it and we discussed the photo and the question and how it gave you the answer in the way it was written after everyone was finished. Next week I am sure they will all be ready to conquer the question and will all get it right the first time.
Third Grade:
This week we continued with Sweet Multiplication and had some students starting 5’s and others finishing up their 3’s and 4’s. They are all doing a great job with these and working at their own pace to do their best.
After we completed that we went back to work on our next chapter on multiplication and word problems. The students rocked through level one but got caught up on one question on level two. With a little help from me they figured it out.
On Thursday we continued with the chapter, but class was shorter because of early dismissal so we will pick up where we left off next week. They are all doing a great job problem solving these difficult problems by breaking them down into parts. I look forward to seeing them complete the next two levels.
Fourth Grade:
This week we started a new unit on fractions. The students got to take a pre-assessment to see what they already know. This gives me a chance to make sure that I don’t waste valuable class time on things they already can do with ease. I will then work on the things they don’t know and will tailor the unit on what they need to learn.
The students that finished early on Thursday got to use the I-pads to practice their math facts and have some fun. They all enjoyed the break after all the hard work thinking about fractions. Next week we will start the unit with a book on fractions and some cool activities that will really make the students think.
Have a Great Weekend!!
Mrs. Lutterman
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