This week it was back to the grind. We had a great week here at Brummitt. The students were really excited to get back to the regular schedule except for the delay on Thursday.
Important Dates:
January
Fridays - Student Council “Spirit Day”- wear spirit-wear or Brummitt colors (maroon & gold)
10 School Council Meeting
12 PTO Fundraiser Night at El Cantarito 4-9pm
13 End of Grading Period and First Semester
16 No School Teacher Grading & Recording
20 Report Cards Available Online
20 PTO Movie Night 6-8pm
26 School Council Pajama Day
26 Brummitt’s Curl Up & Read in Media Center 6:30-7:30pm
This week we continued learning about our Life Skills with initiative. I thought this was a great life skill to start out the new year with because I want to instill the initiative and drive to do well in school and life. I think they all need to have the drive to want to do more and be more. I think we can give them the tools to do anything they can dream of.
I think sometimes high ability students lose that initiative because most things in their regular classes come easy to them so they don’t take the initiative to push themselves harder to find out and learn more. I want to challenge them to do more and want more.
They need to discover beyond what is taught in class to look for what is not seen to go that extra mile to learn as much as they can about each topic. Without that initiative to want more and to discover more they won’t keep growing and expanding their world.
I want them to take the initiative to find more out of each day. We talked about how they might be able to do that in little ways to start, but we all know that we have a long way to go.
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 ….Put on your thinking cap. The students could all remember hearing this one. Most of them said that their teachers had said it to them at some point in the last year. We all had a good laugh at what it would look like if we all actually had thinking caps to wear and what they might look like. I had no takers on drawing anything or designing anything, but I am hopeful for next week. Here is a hint to help you out: it involves butterflies. I posted the picture for the next one on Thursday so students can stop by and see it. I also have the picture posted on the side panel of the blog to view.
Language Arts
First Grade:
This week we reviewed lipograms and had a class discussion on what we have learned so far this year about ciphers. The students were then asked to decipher the next secret message. They were all very intrigued to see what the message would read. This was a random reverse cipher. They were all a little confused when they first looked at it, but then a few started to figure it out and helped the others to get started. It was great to see them all work together to figure out the message which read: Numbers can stand for sounds in words! This message was our clue to our next adventure. We needed to read the Wumbers. We looked at the cover and the students were so excited to figure out each word that had numbers in it. We read the front cover and inside page before it was time to go. On Tuesday the students were so thrilled to get back to the book to see what Wumbers was all about. The had so much fun reading each page. I let them each take a turn reading a part of each scenario. We were all laughing and talking about what each word might mean. Next week we will continue with more Wumbers and talk text stuff. The students will also have an opportunity to write a persuasive paragraph on why first graders should have a cell phone.
Second Grade:
This week we created a list of words to use for our word clouds. I wanted the students to think of all the words and phrases that remind them of the book and all the important characters. Together we came up with a list of everything that we could think of from the book to create word clouds. We had a great discussion about the book ,all the characters, what words best described them, and feelings that the book gave us. On Tuesday each student got to choose what their word cloud would look like. The students also took time to write about the book in their journals. I wanted them to put into words how they felt about the book and the experience. We also talked about reading another book. I had two for them to choose from and they all voted. Next week we will get to have some fun with the book by playing Jeopardy.
Third Grade:
This week the students got to pick their own Grimm Fairy Tale to read and discuss. On Monday we reviewed fairy tales and talked about what fairy tales contain. Then they all looked through the new books. I got to pick one that they wanted to read and then share with the class. On Tuesday they continued reading and filled out their sheets on the story. Next week they will get the opportunity to be the storytellers and tell us all about their fairy tale. I can’t wait to hear them tell their stories.
Fourth Grade:
This week we got to meet both days and the students had the opportunity to ask questions and work on last minute things. They all have Prezis created, but will need to work on them to get them ready to show us for next week. I also went over the order in which they will present them. We will not be doing the monologues until everyone has showed us their Prezi. They are all getting things done and making sure to ask all the right questions about what they need to complete. Please ask them if they need any help because it always helps to have someone look over their work to make sure they are on the right track. I will be checking my email if they need help, please email me and I will do my best to answer any questions they might have. Please make sure they are thinking about their presentation and who they will be acting as in their monologues. When they write the monologues they can be other people who knew their changemaker. They will start the Prezi presentations January 17th and the Monologues will start the 23rd.
• Step Four: Synthesize information to list at least ten major events in the person’s life: Due Dec 2nd. I still have 1 student who is still working to get this done.
• Step Five: Create a timeline of the famous person’s life: Due Dec. I still have one student needing to complete their timeline
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 January 6th I extended this because the students really wanted to work on it during break. We have three students already complete
• 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 Students will show theirs starting the 17th
• 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. 23rd
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. We wanted to go into more detail on figuring out area. The students got to complete an activity with a triangular grid to find the area of two shapes. Then they got to create two shapes of their own: one that is larger than the big one and one that is smaller than the tiny one. The students did great they knew right away which shape was the large one. They knew it had more area.
They all were very creative designing their own shapes with the triangular grid. They were all really cool. We got to meet on Thursday morning even though there was a two hour delay. Thanks to all the first grade teachers for giving us the chance to meet. Finally we read our next fax from Zani and Imi. They loved the students designs and asked us to help them with their next challenge for their measurement fair. They want us to help them design booths. The students are all really up for the challenge. We will start next week.
Second Grade:
This week the students got their real eggs. They were so excited to see what would happen and so was I. They took out the prop eggs and got to work. I filmed it all, but might need a weekend to get them all ready to post. There were so many different ways they designed and there were so many crashes. They all had so much fun.
On day one none of the real eggs broke, but the seat belts didn’t really work that well for some of them. I decided to have them try again without using any clay touching the egg for day two. We had one team break the egg before it even got tested and there were eggs flying out of seats every where. It was a lot of fun to try this and our predictions were much different then the results. Next week we will discuss the results and the students will have a chance to write about what they would change if they got the chance.
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 Dividend. Dividend a number to be divided by another number.
This week they all did a great job. They read everything carefully and went right to work to figure out the right answer. We had a few that need a second try, but almost everyone got it right the first time. I let them make their baskets and that is where most of them missed the mark, but next week I hope they all get it right and make the basket the first try.
Third Grade:
This week we continued on our lesson called You Break Me Up!. We worked more on distributive property with some more problems to help us better understand it to be able to use it on our next challenge. We did some problems on paper and on the whiteboard. We took 15 square feet by 6 square feet and found different ways we could solve it using distributive property. On Thursday we didn’t get to meet, but next week we will pick up right where we left off on distributive property with a problem we need to solve for the Institute and the pen for the Yeti.
Fourth Grade:
On Wednesday, the students finished the Think Beyond Question first thing. We then reviewed chapter one with a fun game where I quizzed them and they all got a chance to answer and learn from each other. I also let them take their workbooks home to review for the chapter check-up. Since I gave them a challenge to get good scores. I wanted them to have the chance to review. I will be grading them after I complete the blog today and I hope they all did a great job.
Have a great weekend and enjoy the extra day!
Mrs. Lutterman
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.