Talented Talkative Thursday!!

This week was so filled with holiday cheer. There was so much going on in each class to see. The Santa Shop was open this week for all the students to finish up their last minute shopping and we had holiday fun and cheer in every classroom.

The students were full of excitement to find out what all the teachers had planned. Starting on Wednesday this week the teachers had a theme each day to dress up.

 The best day for me was Wednesday which was tree skirt day. All the teachers and staff were full of holiday cheer and dressed so cute and colorful. On Thursday we all wore antlers and some were very awesome because of their designs. Also on Thursday the cafeteria had their Christmas lunch which was excellent. There was music playing and it was decorated for the students to enjoy. The food was great too. Love those turkey dinners.

 Since I wrote last week about Saint Nicholas Day,  I wanted to keep writing this week with a little bit more about some of the holidays and traditions of the month of December. Here is a few of them I found for this week:

 Fiesta of Our Lady of Guadalupe December 12th-This holiday is celebrated by Catholics in both Mexico and America. The legend behind the holiday is about Juan who saw Mary the mother of God. His faith in what he saw helped others to believe too. Here is the website to learn more about this holiday: Guadalupe

guadalupe

 St. Lucia Day (Swedish) December 13th-The annual candlelit Lucia procession on 13 December is perhaps one of the more exotic-looking Swedish customs, with girls and boys clad in white full-length gowns singing songs together. Among the youngest, anyone can be Lucia; as the children get older, the competition will harden. Here is the website to learn more about this tradition: sweden

Saturnalia December 17–23-The ancient Roman festival of Saturn in December, which was a period of general merrymaking and was the predecessor of Christmas, there are many websites to learn more here is just one: novaroma.

Here is the website I found that let the kids play games and track him on his journey and get a new activity each day:  Google Santa Tracker Link: santatracker

Christmas for Kids

Thanks to all that donated gifts and clothing to this year’s Christmas for Kids.  Your generosity helped many families this year.

Important Dates:

December

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

19 Holiday Parties

20 Elf Yourself Day- Come dressed as an Elf.

21 thru Jan 3 No School Winter Break

This week we continued the Life Skill of kindness. I saw a lot more ornaments on our Christmas Tree of Kindness. I think the students are doing a great job showing each other kindness. Mrs. Moskalick and the staff are finding so many great examples of students being there for each other. The Random Acts of Kindness Christmas Tree is just one ways students are seeing kindness in the building. In my classroom I have seen so many students helping each other and working together to do their best.

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 ….I’m all ears. This one is always a favorite of all the students because the illustration is so funny. The students were all laughing at this one and they could all think of a time when they heard someone say it. I had no takers on drawing anything or designing anything, but I am hopeful for next week.  I will keep my fingers crossed to get students next week. Here is a hint to help you out: it involves knots. 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 continued to work on Lipograms with a fun activity about the book we read last week called E-Mergency. The students worked in small groups to complete sentences about the beginning, middle and end of the book.

 Then they took their sentences and rewrote them into lipograms with no E’s and each group got a certain vowel to replace E. They had a blast writing out their sentences about the book and then changing them into other words.

On Tuesday they finished working with their groups and once complete they got the homework to complete in class. They worked out the riddles on their sheets with their classmates to find the correct answers. If they completed I gave them a snowman to decorate to take home.

 They all got one to take with them even if they didn’t get time in class to decorate him. They also all got a poster to take home to remind them to keep reading.  Next week we will not get to meet on Monday because of all the holiday parties, but we will have Tuesday to finish up lipograms before the winter break.  

Second Grade:

This week we continued our journey with The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane  by Kate DiCamillo. We all wanted to make sure we completed reading the book before the winter break and all the holidays. We read along with the audio-book to complete the book on Monday.

 The students were so excited to find out what happened to Edward. When we left him last week he had just been repaired by Lucius Clarke and was now in his doll shop. The students were really nervous to see what would happen to him. We read on to find out his fate. I don’t want to give anything away in case you haven’t read the book, but the students weren’t disappointed in the ending at all. They all loved Edward so much and were glad he finally found his complete happiness. They all were very excited to figure out how his life went full circle and how he found someone that had always loved him no matter what to love him again. The students all shared their feelings on his journey and how they felt about the book. On Tuesday the students went back to complete their metaphor activity with a partner. We talked about metaphors again and we read about love. They all were assigned a quote and were asked to work with their partner to write what they thought it was all about and how it might relate back to Edward on his journey. They all shared their quote with their partner and took time to discuss them before they wrote anything about them. Next week we will finish the metaphor activity and work on creating word clouds using all our favorite things about Edward and his journey.

Third Grade:

This week we continued our lesson on Fairy Tales. On Monday we finished watching the video on The Tinder Box. The students were so excited to write about all the differences between the story we read and the video.

After we finished watching we started to talk about them, but class ended before we could really get into all the details.  On Tuesday the students were on their trip to the Dunes and we were unable to meet. We will continue to work on fairy tales after the winter break.

We will not get to meet next week because they will have their holiday celebration on Monday and a special activity planned for Tuesday. After break we will finish our discussion on the comparison of The Tinder Box and we will start another excellent fairy tale.  

Fourth Grade:

 This week some students really wanted to make sure they were caught up and worked really hard to do their best to figure out what they need to complete before winter break. I went over with all the students what they still need to complete and gave them information on how to log into their google accounts at home if they need to.

  I had a few students start their Prezi presentations and even get them finished. I will review the steps for their Prezi presentations again next week and make sure every student has one started to work on if they want during the break.

 I will also extend the deadline for the monologues till after the break because they might need your input. I told them to be as creative as they wanted to, since they will be acting it out in front of the class.

  I also reminded them that they really need to think about how they want to present their person before they write their monologue since that will be their speech. The more details they know the more comfortable they will feel talking about them.

Details are key since we will be asking questions at the end. Please take the time to see where your child is at on their project. I want to make sure they do their best so they are prepared when they get in front of the class to talk. If you have any questions please feel free to email or call me and I can answer them.

 This project really teaches the students how to work independently and how to manage their time.  The students really need to use time management to figure out how to complete each part of this assignment. If your child is out sick and misses anything they will still have the same deadlines since they have known about everything for a some time.

  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 we will get to meet and I will make sure each student knows what they have left to complete and I will also make sure they have the information they need to be able to work on it at home.

 • Steps One & Two Everyone is complete

• 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 one student not complete and one needs updates

-Create a works cited page to acknowledge sources you are using; use a consistent format: Due Nov. 22nd  I still have one student not complete and one needs updates

 • Step Four: Synthesize information to list at least ten major events in the person’s life: Due Dec 2nd. I still have 5 students who need to show me they have this completed.

• Step Five: Create a timeline of the famous person’s life: Due Dec. 13th I only have 4 students done so far

 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 log-in information is on spreadsheet. A few students are already almost complete

• 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 continued our lesson on area. On Wednesday we finished up our targets for the pom pom game and decided we needed to help Zani with a problem with the area of a target. We completed a Think Deeply by answering Zani back on why the area was wrong for a target.

The measuring squares were both overlapping and missing from part of the target. The students did an excellent job sharing their thoughts and ideas on what went wrong and how they would fix it to get the correct area. They all came up with what they wanted to say back to Zani, we wrote it up, and they filled it in.

Some students had to leave a little early to complete their NWEA tests so the rest of us had some fun with Gonoodle.com. We didn’t get to meet on Thursday because of the two hour delay. We won’t meet next week because winter break will start. After the holidays we will pick up on the targets and the students will finally get to see whose targets are easy to hit and which are really hard ones. I am sure they will all be great. I look forward to practicing with them.

Second Grade:

This week the students had NWEA testing so part of the class was out each day to complete their tests. I didn’t want them to miss out working with their partner on the perfect car seat for the egg. I decided that we would have some math fun instead.

  I got the I-Pads on both days for the students to use to play sumdog.com. They were all so excited to get the chance to practice their math facts with the fun games. After the winter break we will have them finish their car seats with their partners and we will complete the crash tests.

 I know they were all bummed they didn’t get done before break, but I want them to make sure they do their best and not rush through their designs. I think they will create some cool designs once we get back. I look forward to seeing what they all come up with to keep their egg safe.

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 Decimal.  A decimal number, or just decimal, refers to any number written in decimal notation, although it is more commonly used to refer to numbers that have a fractional part separated from the integer part with a decimal separator.

This week the students were pretty funny. The girls all solved it right away and the boys seemed to have some trouble figuring out what the question was asking. A few finally got it but the others didn’t seem to get the decimal moving. Once I explained it they all seem to remember it.

Third Grade:

This week we continued to work on area. Once we completed the area of Lena we needed to complete the worksheet where we found the area of specific body parts. It was really cool to use our life size poster to find the area of each part. This activity  made us use our math skills to figure out the most efficient way to find the area of each part. On Thursday we finished up the activity and then decided to put our math skills to the test. We got the ipads and competed on sumdog.com to test ourselves. This gave us a chance to practice multiplication and use speed to see what we already know. After the winter break we will continue with area and we will complete some Think Deeply questions and start a new activity on area.

Fourth Grade:

 On Wednesday, I decided to have some fun with our next worksheet. The students reviewed the concept of cross section and we watched two short videos to help us remember: Cross Section Slicer 2000

Then the fun began I held up a 3 dimensional shape and told them how I was going to slice it and they had to identify the shape and then check off certain characteristics the cross section had. They all had a lot of fun figuring out what the 2D shape the cross section was and if it met any of the questions on the table they were filling out. On Thursday I decided we needed to have some math fun. I got the I-Pads and all the students got to play math games against each other. I even joined in to play against some students a few times on sumdog.com. I like to play because every student plays at their own level according to what they already know and what they need to work on. We all had so much fun. I gave them their login information so they could practice over the winter break. After the holidays we will continue to work on 3 dimensional shapes with some great new activities.   

Have a great weekend and stay warm & dry!

Mrs. Lutterman