Brummitt's High Ability Blog Spot

Well it was a great busy week here at Brummitt. We had so much fun on Thursday for Game Day. I even made time in the afternoon to let the students play some games. I want to remind everyone about the weather. With the weather being so unpredictable outside this month please make sure to dress your child for the cold weather.

All students will go out for their recesses when the temperature is above 10 degrees including wind chill. So make sure they can bundle up with boots, hats, gloves, and snow gear. I know they love to get that time outside to play in the snow if we ever get any.

Weather information on school closings is broadcast on WLJE 105.5 FM and WAKE 1500 AM beginning at 6am and cancellations.com. You can also look at the Duneland homepage: http://www.dunela
nd.k12.in.us/Domain/4.

You should also be receiving an automated message from our communication system about school delays and closings,so keep those phone numbers current.

The PTO will be hosting a movie night here at Brummitt on January 22 from 6:00pm to 8:00pm. I know it will be a fun-filled night.

Also don’t forget that Fridays are Spirit Days so make sure you wear your Brummitt and Trojans gear.

This week we continued learning about our Life Skills with Patience. I want the students to remember to be patient with each other when they are working in groups and small projects. I want them to understand how important it is to realize that everyone works problems out at different rates and solve problems in different ways. If we give each other the time to figure it out they might just teach us a new way of thinking. The students really were excited when you explain it that way. They realized that there are times when they might be the one that needs the extra moment to get their thoughts together.

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 …. In one ear and out the other.The picture was pretty funny, but some student thought it was a little creepy.

I think it is a saying that is very important for the classroom. Sometimes students look like they are paying attention but they really aren’t listening. I reminded them how important it is to make sure to listen when we give instructions and learn new material. Still no takers on drawing, I am hoping maybe next week. Here is the hint: it might involve legs.

Language Arts

First Grade:

This week we continued the lipograms and wrote one for the beginning, middle and end of the E-Mergency book. The students wrote a sentence about each part of the book then we took the sentences and created lipograms for them. It was really hard and we had to use the computer to use a website thesaurus. They really had a good time trying to think of words they could use that didn’t have T’s in them.

On Tuesday we started the next lesson and deciphered our next secret message using the random reverse cipher. The message read: Numbers can stand for sounds in words!

Next week we will continue with numbers and we will add text with a fun activity. We will also make more connections with sounds and symbols.

Second Grade:

This week we continued with our novel The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo. Monday we answered questions about the novel and Velveteen Rabbit. We discussed both books and how they make us feel and how the characters are so different at different times in each book. On Tuesday we had a few students out so we completed a fun project comparing Edward from the beginning of the book to where we are now.

There were adjectives that describe Edward in the book. The students took the adjectives and placed them in order according to how they describe Edward throughout the book. It was fun to see how much Edward has changed so far in the book. I sent the novels home with the students for the weekend to complete reading chapters 14 through 17 and we will discuss them next week. The students will also spend time writing in their journals about their predictions so far.

Third Grade:

This week we finished up working on fables and how they fit in literature. We also took time to talk about the different genres we have covered so far and how different they are in origin and started on a new genre in Literature: Fairy Tales. On Tuesday we started our discussion on how fairy tales have affected us. Students talked about their favorites and what they already know about them. We talked about the pictures Google that morning which completely fit in with fairy tales. Here is the article we talked about and the famous author who help create so many of our fairy tales: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/jan/12/who-charles-perrault-google-doodle

We also discussed how different the Disney versions of fairy tales are compared to the originals. Then we divided into groups and the students got to pick a not well known fairy tale to read and discuss. We will pick up there next week.

Fourth Grade:

This week all the students worked really hard to meet their deadlines. I am really proud of how hard they tried. Some students even took their work home to get done early or on time.

Next week they will work on writing their monologues. This is going to be really challenging to decide how they want to write it and speak it. I look forward to see how they decide to present their subjects.

I will also give a presentation on how to use the prezi website to create their presentations. They will be able to work on these at home and school with the password. Here are the instructions which are also in the google docs for the students to view:

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. Everyone is complete. Awesome

Step Five: Create a timeline of the famous person’s life. Everyone is done 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. Due January 19^th

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) Due January 25^th

Step Eight: Memorize your monologue and dress as your character. You are now ready for the People Who Made a Difference presentation. We will start these the last week in January. I will ask the students next week what order they want to work in.

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