Brummitt's High Ability Blog Spot: Thrilling Thursday

This week was very busy at Brummitt. We had ISTEP testing for 3^rd and 4^th graders and we even had a field trip for the Kindergarten. I know they will be finishing up the ISTEP testing next week. Good luck to all the students doing their best. Parents please make sure your children get a good night’s sleep and eat an awesome breakfast to help them be prepared for testing. The chicks in kindergarten classes have moved on to their forever home. They will be missed. I saw some butterflies in Ms. Albright’s class flying in their enclosure ready to be released this week. We also have the ducks starting to hatch in the second grade class.

Next week we will learn more about the One School One Book program. I can’t wait to find out what we all will be reading. I know that the students will love the opportunity to read with their families and share the experience with the whole school.

Reminder that Fridays are the Student Council Spirit Days so be sure to wear those school colors.

High Ability Summer School- Friday April 29^th is the last day to turn in your forms.

Are you searching for educational enrichment this summer? Consider Duneland's High Ability Summer School! With the theme of "Time Travelers in Ancient Egypt," the 13-day program in June will focus on reading strategies and literature comprehension. It is open to current 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade HA students. Take advantage of this wonderful opportunity!

This week we continued learning about our Life Skills with Friendship. I know that all the students love having friends and being a great friend. I want them to remember that being a friend is a big responsibility and that we all have to remember to be there for all students and take the time to show them how much we care.

I want them to remember that to have a friend, you have to always be a friend. I think the students work hard each day to be friends to each other and that is a great treasure.

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 has ants in her pants. This one was pretty funny because everyone kept thinking of how that might feel. Many of my students could relate too, because they have a hard time sitting still some days. I let them know that most kids have to work to stay still in class so it is normal to want to move around. We all agreed that we had all heard this one more than a few times in our lives. I didn’t have any takers on the drawing this week, but I hope someone will next week. Here is the hint: it involves a horse. Good luck and I hope someone decides to draw this one or find a cool illustration online.

Language Arts

Kindergarten:

This week we continued working on connections and Knuffle Bunny A Cautionary Tale by Mo Williams. We finished writing about who we were from the story. We also got to talk about a favorite toy and why we love it so much. We had a discussion about why and what connects us to it. We took some time to learn about fact verses opinion. Once I explained it we were off and running on a worksheet where we had to decide which one it was. It was really fun and we did great. We also completed an activity writing about animals. We chose to write about seals.

We figured out facts and our opinions on seals and wrote them down. This gave us a chance to discuss which were which. The homework for next week is to talk to an adult during dinner and tell them the difference between facts and opinions, and convince them to agree with your opinion about dinner. Next week we will talk more about facts and opinions and learn about persuasive writing. We will even create our own hamburger model to help us figure out how to write a persuasive paragraph.

First Grade:

This week we finished our journey through ancient Egypt and learning about their life and Hieroglyphs. Our final book was about Jean-Francois Champollion. He was a dreamer who made his dreams come true. He wanted to crack the code to be able to read Hieroglyph and he did it. Though it took him many years to do, he figured out the cipher and he even got to visit Egypt to see the tombs in person. His life was short but he did everything in his power to not lose sight of his goals and he accomplished them.

This book gave students the chance to think about what their dreams might be and know not to give up on them. They got to finish up their Egypt sheet on hieroglyphs. We also started the next lesson and the students got to decipher the next code. The students also got to complete an activity where they found ten words to describe themselves, while ranking the highest to lowest. It is very interesting what great descriptive words they found. We also started the next book called The Boy Who Loved Words. Next week we will continue with that story and our adventure into words.

Second Grade:

This week we continued with The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo. First we talked about what we all read over the weekend and then we worked on the next chapters. The students were getting so excited to see what happened to Roscuro and they were so surprised at how it all tied back into Princess Pea and the King. We started the next part of the book about Miggery Sow.

This part of the book is far more complex and sad. The students have figured out that the prisoner in the dungeon is her father. They were very shocked at how and why he left her. They all wanted to read two chapters overnight on Monday for Tuesday. On Tuesday we picked up on what happened and our discussion about Miggery.

We read a few more chapters about her and where she was going. She left the place she was leaving and became a paid servant in the castle where Princess Pea lives. Student we will read a few chapters for next week, Chapters 32- 36. Then we will continue to read the book and we will make some comparisons between the books and see which characters we like better.

Third Grade:

This week the students started on the next lesson about where stories came from. We read the story: Where Stories Come From: A Traditional Zulu Tale.” The students were excited to see what would happen next.

The children of the village wanted to hear stories each night before bed, but their parents had no stories to tell. So one mother went in search of stories to tell, and had her own adventure. On Monday the students also wrote in their journals about which super hero they would like to be.

On Tuesday the students wrote in their journals about which character they would like to be in a story and why. We then had an open discussion about the Zulu Tale and why each part of a story is important. We also went through how a story could change or be ruined if one element wasn’t included. The students really liked to think of how stories would change and were excited with ideas of what would happen.

Next week the students will work together to write a story including the elements were learned so far and what they learn from the author visit. I can’t wait to see what they create.

Fourth Grade:

This week the students continued their partner projects. They started the stories and worked on outlines to develop their characters and plot.

They used the big sheets of paper to bounce ideas around before they started writing. I think they are doing a great job writing and figuring out what to keep and what to edit out. They are learning a lot about compromise.

I think they will create awesome stories and I can’t wait to read them. They also wrote in their journals each day to start their creative juices and make them think. Next week they will continue to work on their projects and they do have the option to take any of the materials home to work on them too.