Brummitt's High Ability Blog Spot: Feeling Festive Friday!!

Things were all abuzz this week at Brummitt. Lots of decorating and it is starting to look very festive around here. The students are getting really excited for the Holidays. On Thursday I even saw some elves had arrived. I think the students are really looking forward to all the joy of the season.

Its that time of year again to start tracking the Big Guy himself. Here is the website I found that let the kids play games and track him on his journey and give a new activity each day:

Google Santa Tracker Link:

https://santatracker.google.com/?hl=en#village

Christmas for Kids

There is a christmas tree out in the entrance of the school with lots of great gifts you can donate to the Christmas for Kids this year. Just pick an ornament that has a gift you can find and bring it in to donate. This is a great way to help kids in the community get the things they need to have a special christmas and keep warm through the winter.

Important Dates:

December

Fridays - Student Council “Spirit Day”- wear spirit-wear or Brummitt colors (maroon & gold)

1 Early Dismissal

7 to14 Holiday Secret Shopping

10 PTO Fundraiser Night at Barnes & Noble

19 Holiday Parties

20 Elf Yourself Day- Come dressed as an Elf.

21 thru Jan 3 No School Winter Break

This week we talked about the Life Skill of kindness. This life skill fits in perfectly with the season of giving. Mr. Cammarata shared cute stories of why kindness is so important. He also gave great advice on why we need to be kind to all those around us. I want the students to understand how a little kindness towards others goes a long way.

I want to teach the students how what we do can help and affect others. Small acts of kindness can make a huge difference in others’ lives. I want them to understand how they treat other students and people can help change lives and make them feel loved. I know that the students see acts of kindness each day and I want them to be more observant and recognize that person when they are doing something kind. So this is the season of kindness and being generous and giving. I know they all care so much about each other it will be easy to see all the acts of kindness around them.

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 …. It’s raining cats and dogs. The students all love this one because the cats and dogs look so funny. We all thought of a time when we heard this one and for most students it was in the last few weeks. I had Caroline bring in two great illustrations to show this one and there are very cool. I hope that the students will keep the momentum rolling and complete one for next week. The more the merrier. I think I am getting into the Christmas spirit. I will keep my fingers crossed to get students next week. Here is a hint to help you out: it involves hot liquid. I posted the picture for the next week on Thursday so students can stop by and see it before the weekend. I also have the picture posted on the side panel of the blog to view.

Language Arts

First Grade:

This week we started a new lesson called Leaving Letters Out. The students got to decipher a really cool message this week. They used “The Spy Pie” Cipher to solve it. They had a blast trying to figure out the message and it took them some time to make sure they got every letter right. We read the Super Little Giant Book of Secret Codes to help us with this cipher. Once I let them in on what to do they got it done quickly. The message read The letter E is used most often when we write. The students that got done worked on the homework sheet and completed it to help the others. This way the students wouldn’t have to worry about homework. The worksheet asked them to take one word and think of another word or phrase that means the same thing but it can’t have any letter E’s in it. On Tuesday we used those sheets to help us with our next challenge. I introduced the term lipogram as a piece of writing in which a particular letter (or letters) of the alphabet is deliberately left out. “Lipo” means “lacking” and “gramma” means “letter.” Writers throughout history have written poems, short stories, and, even, long novels as lipograms.

It was a way for writers who love language to play with words and see what they could make them do. It was fun to think of words for things without using the letter E.

We tried an experiment using words from the worksheet to help us to replace all the words from Jack and Jill that have the letter E in them.

It was pretty cool to find other words to use. Here are the results:

Jack and Jill go up the hill to grab a pail of liquid. Jack did drop and split his crown and Jill did go tumbling down also.
We all agreed it works, but still not as peppy as the original. Once we all understood lipograms we talked about the book we will read next week called E-Mergency. Here is the link to the video introduction about the book: Emergency It is a great book and very funny, but hard to read with all those E’s missing. I told the students some information about the book and we talked about how E is the most used letter in writing. They all got to look at the chart at the end of the book and we were all surprised by the letters percentages.

Second Grade:

This week we continued our journey with The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo. On Monday I wanted to teach the students about metaphors and what they are and why writers use them to describe things. I had the students answer questions in their journals about the poem from the beginning of the book. I wanted the students to understand why the author chose this poem to use in the beginning. I wanted them to relate it back to everything that has happened so far in the book. On Tuesday we completed the rest of the questions about the poem and we discussed the book so far. I also had the students reply in their journals to some more questions about the novel. Next week we will read about Bryce and Sarah Ruth and what happens to them with Edward. Next week will be a very emotional part of the book and it will cover a very sad part. I want the students to understand every aspect of the story. We will talk about it before we read it so they are better prepared.

Third Grade:

On Monday we finished talking about fables and I introduced our next genre of literature Fairy Tales. The students were really excited to talk about them and discuss the differences between the different genres. I also wanted to talk to them about the differences of the fairy tales by Grimm and those that Disney releases with changes. I wanted the students to understand how the movies of today have changed some of the fairy tales from their original story-lines.

We talked about how the Grimm Fairy Tales were dark in parts and gave children a fear of the unknown. I let them know that these were written to make children scared of some things because people didn’t want the children to run off and go places they shouldn’t. I also let them know that some stories of today have much different meanings compared to those original ones. I let them know we will be reading many different fairy tales and will have the opportunity to compare them. On Tuesday the students were then given a fairy tale to read independently and complete a reading analyzer on. This took the whole class period. Next week we will talk about their stories and we will start our next fair tale The Tinderbox.

Fourth Grade:

This week I went over what every student is missing so they know what they need to be working on. I have a few students that are really falling behind and not putting enough details in their work which will hurt them when they go to write their monologues. I want all the students to do their best on this project and have enough information and details about their subjects. Please take the time to see where your child is on the project. I want to make sure they do their best so they are prepared when they get in front to the class to talk. They will need to know as much as they can about their people to be able to answer any questions that other students might have about them. I did email all the parents a link to view the google document with the assignments and deadlines. If you have any questions please feel free to email or call me and I can answer them. The students really need to use time management to figure out how to complete each part of this assignment. If they don’t use their time wisely they will need to complete things at home. Some students might want to work on things at home and ask an adult to guide them and I think that is a great idea. You can help them as much you think is right for them. I think sometimes they just need you to tell them they are on the right track and I do my best to show them that in class, but it also helps when their parents do too. Next week the students will continue to use their Chromebooks to research their person and link it back to change.

• Step One: Everyone has their change-maker picked.

• Step Two One: For this project, you are required to research one person using:

-A full-length biography: Students all showed me their books

-One or more primary sources: : All Students showed me their sources

-Two or more secondary sources: All students completed this too.

• Step Three: Read the biography and:

-Collect information about the person On going

-Complete the Biography Summary and submit: Due Nov. 17th I still have 2 students that need this completed

-Create a works cited page to acknowledge sources you are using; use a consistent format: Due Nov. 22nd still have few students that need to work on this.

• Step Four: Synthesize information to list at least ten major events in the person’s life: Due Dec 2nd. Still waiting on some students to send me their lists of their events.

• Step Five: Create a timeline of the famous person’s life: Due Dec. 13th Two students have already finished this part. Way to go girls!

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.

• Step Six: Consider change in the person’s life and how he/she made a difference. Write a monologue that includes events, changes, and differences made in regard to his/her life: Due Dec. 20th

• Step Seven: Create a Prezi that includes the person’s name, a photo, years lived, and major contribution(s): Due Jan. 10th

• Step Eight: Memorize your monologue. You may dress as your character. You are now ready for the People Who Made a Difference presentation: Due Jan. 17th

Monologue Criteria

Monologue describes beliefs and values 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 started a new chapter and lesson on area. We received another fax from Imi and Zani asking for our help on their next project for the measurement fair. This week they needed us to help them figure which placement would work best for the students to use for their snacks. The students want to find the placement that has the most room for all their treats.

I asked the students what ideas they had to find out what would work best. We talked about all their ideas and how we would figure it all out. Then I went over all the new math vocabulary we will need for this lesson and the one word that stuck out for everyone was area. They all were really excited because they knew they would need area to figure out which placemat will be best for the snacks. I went over the concept of area with the students and we had a class discussion about what it is.

Then we talked about the difference between area and perimeter. I told them we would need to cut the two sizes of mats they were going to use to see which has the largest area. They all agreed we needed to know the perimeter to cut the mats. We had one mat that was 9x9 and the other was 6x12. They all helped me measure the mats and cut them so they could figure out the area. They were going to figure the area using two different ways. One was using sticky note pads to see how many fit on each mat and the other was to use 1x1 square tiles to see how many fit in each.

They were all so excited to get to work. They found that the 9x9 held 9 sticky notes and the 12x6 only help eight. They all agreed the 9x9 would be best since it held the most, but they wanted to double check using the tiles. They found that the 12x6 holds 72 and the 9x9 holds 81. They were all so happy that they figured it all out. We also talked about another way to figure out the answer with the tiles: because we knew they are 1x1 we could use multiplication.

But they are all first graders and they haven’t really learn how to multiply. Well they knew they could use repeated addition to solve it and they did. It was great to see them find the number on two sides and then use that information to find the answer.

They did a great job finding different ways to solve the problem. Next week we will continue to work on the activities with area and help out Imi and Zani to solve their next problem.

Second Grade:

This week we took all the information we found out about the egg and used it to help us find the perfect seat belt. I talked to the students about the experiment they will be performing after they create their egg seat belt. Dru and Teller need our help to find the best seat belt / car seat to use in their new car. We need to create something that will be safe enough for them to use and the egg with our help. I went over all the safety information and all the requirements for the project. On Thursday they got to pick their partner and received their supplies to start the first step of measuring all their materials in centimeters. They got to make estimates of the lengths of the materials and then they measured to see the difference between their estimates and the actual lengths. Next week we will discuss their findings and they will get the opportunity to create their car seats and test them out with a crash.

Third and Fourth Grade: Math Vocabulary Comic Relief

So far this year the students are really enjoying figuring out the question on 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. Once they have their answer they can turn over their paper and raise their hand and I will check it. This week was all about range.

Probability is the likelihood of something happening in the future. It is expressed as a number between zero (can never happen) to 1 (will always happen). It can be expressed as a fraction, a decimal, a percent, or as "odds". This week the students were all over the place. I had one student get it right off the bat. Awesome job David! The rest were somewhat confused and had to go back and reread the definition to make sure they understood. Once they slowed down and really thought about it, they got the right answer.

Third Grade:

This week we kept working on area. We finished up the activity on the area of the fried egg and we decided to try the area of Mrs. Lutterman’s hand. I have a very small hand and we had a good laugh at how tiny it is compared to the Yeti. We use the hand to help us prepare for ways to make it easier to find the area of something. We used strategies to find the area without having to count each square. We found a few different ways to help make it easier. We also designed our grid paper for our next project which is finding the area of Lena. We will take all the strategies we learned so far to find area and use them to find the entire area of our drawing. We will start all this next week.

Fourth Grade:

On Wednesday, the students finished up their last Think Deeply question and made sure they wrote a good sized paragraph answering the question and using a s much detail as possible on why some sets in the game would be worth more points than others. On Thursday we started a new lesson on 3 dimensional shapes. The students finally got to share their items they found on their scavenger hunt. They broke into small groups and got to share everything they found. Then the students were asked to put the information into categories and figure out the differences between 2 dimensional and 3 dimensional shapes. They did a great job working in their small groups to find characteristics of each and make a chart to explain them. Next week they will continue to work in their groups and answer more questions on 3-dimensional shapes.