High Five Friday!!!

This week went by so fast with everything going on here at Brummitt. I also felt like we enjoyed almost every season, except summer. Don’t forget tonight is Phunky with Phoenix Dance from 6-7:30pm.  I continued the CogAT testing for the Kindergarten classes this week. Everything went smooth and I finished all the screeners. The students did excellent listening and tried their hardest. Next week I will start the full tests. Then in March I will be CogAT testing second grade as well. Here is a better breakdown:

In Indiana, we identify students who qualify for high ability in reading/language arts and/or math.  We have finished up part one of screening all kindergarten students for high ability with CogAT.  CogAT is a test which has zero reading.  It's a test that will identify your out-of-the-box thinkers . . . those who are able to make connections.  Students who scored a 77+ on the screener, will now take the full test in the upcoming weeks.  Remember, this is only one of two pathways into high ability.  Students who score in the 95th percentile or higher on the full CogAT test, will be identified towards the end of kindergarten.  They will be seen for about six weeks.  For part two of the identification process, we will use the end of the year NWEA scores.  NWEA will identify those students who are performing above grade level . . .are high readers; 95th percentile is used again.  These students will be identified at the very end of kindergarten, so they will begin services in high ability, in first grade.  Students do not need to score high on both tests and often times do not.  If you have questions, please feel free to email me.

I wanted to let the kids know about Camp Invention,  Here is the link to see what it is all about: http://campinvention.org/  Liberty Intermediate is hosting again, June 12th-June 16th from 9:00 AM - 3:30 PM.  Children are presented with fun, hands-on challenges that encourage creative problem solving, teamwork, entrepreneurship, and innovation.  Camp invention is led by experienced local educators and new curriculum is introduced each year, inspired by the Inductees of the National Inventors Hall of Fame!  If you have a science minded child at home, I encourage you to sign up.  They will get submerged in science and enjoy every minute of it!  Use promo code BLG172 and save $25!  (expires 3/20/17)

Don’t forget to keep reading for the Six Flag Six Hour Reading Program that is going on now until February 16th. Make sure to keep track on your reading log to turn in.

Important Dates:

February

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

10 Phunky with Phoenix Dance at Brummitt from 6-7:30pm

14 Valentines Parties

16 Deadline to return Six Flag Six Hour Reading Club form

17 No School Reserved Snow Day #1

20 No School

24 PTO Talent Show at CMS @ 6pm

27th to March 3rd “Jar Wars”- Bring in your spare change! Boys vs Girls

This week we continued learning about our Life Skills with trustworthy. On the announcements this week, Mr. Cammarata gave great advice of when and why they need to do their best and act their best to be trustworthy everyday. I try to make sure that they understand that they have to earn trust to be trustworthy. I told them that they can work on it everyday to make sure others trust them and all they do. I know that they care about being the best students that they can be and I am sure they listen and care about everything Mr. Cammarata says to help them be 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 ….He’s catching some z’s.

The students love this one because the illustration is so cute. They could all think of a time when adults have said this one to them about going to sleep early and getting to bed on time. I told them that I say it a lot to my kids at home too. I had no takers on drawing anything or designing anything. I am getting discouraged, but hopefully  someone will find one that they really like and want to do something. I might have to get new prizes for the box to encourage them. Here is a hint to help you out: it involves something you eat and a place everyone loves to sit. Think of the 80’s and what we were all called if we watched too much TV. 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 continued our lesson on punctuation. On Monday I read Yo! Yes!  The first time I read it I didn’t show the students any of the pictures and I never changed the tone of my voice. That was really hard to do without laughing. The students were really confused by what I was reading and couldn’t retell the story at all. They all told me I did a really bad job. A few of them understood what I was trying to do and told me to try again using the punctuation right and my voices.

  So I read it again using the punctuation and changing my voice and showing the pictures the students were able to understand the story and retell it. They totally were able to make every connection needed. They really had a great time talking and discussing why writing is so cool and how punctuation can change everything. The students that didn’t have time to finish up their reading analyzer finished those first while the others took a paragraph about friendship and added all the punctuation that was missing.

On Tuesday we talked again about friendship and making a connection. We reviewed the different types of connections and then they all got to complete an activity about a friend and how they are connected. They all drew a picture showing their connection to that friend and wrote about if they felt the connection would change over time and why or why not. They all really liked this activity because they all love writing and drawing about friends.

  Next week we learn about Rebus puzzles and the students will get to share all they learned from their homework on dime stores. I can’t wait to hear who they interviewed and what they found out.

Second Grade:

 This week we finally finished our game of Jeopardy. I won’t let them know the big winner until next week. This week’s big winners were Ava and a tie for second between Eshaal and Alexi. On Tuesday we started our new novel and I think the students were really excited. The book this time is written by the same author as Edward, Kate DiCamillo and the title is Because of Winn-Dixie.

I let them write their predictions of what might happen in their journals. Then we listened to the first chapter and learned about how Opal met Winn-Dixie. They were ready to start reading some at home so I assigned two chapters to complete by next Monday. I think half of them had it done by Wednesday because they brought the book right back to me. Next week we will continue to read, write and discuss this book and learn all about Opal and Winn-Dixie.

 

Third Grade:

This week the students continued to work on their fairy tales. Some were still really excited and a few were stuck in their stories. I think that they didn’t put enough details into their story to make the reader stayed interested in the characters. I told them that they need to make the readers so intrigued with their characters that we want to learn all we can about them. I also let them know that next week we will look at them all and critique them without knowing whose story is whose. I will give them a little chart to fill out on each one. We will also review the grammar used and see if they can label all the parts of speech on some of them.

Fourth Grade:

 This week was all about parts of speech. I wanted to make sure we reviewed that before we start the novel. I gave them examples and they had to label them and we discussed adjectives and adverbs. I showed them my favorite Schoolhouse Rock on adverbs. Here is the link: Lolly, Lolly, Lolly get your adverbs here Lolly

The students love watching a few of them to help them remember everything about that part of speech. Next week we will start to learn about mysteries with a few activities before we start the book.

Math

First Grade:

This week I gave the chapter check-ups back and all the students did an awesome job. I am so proud of all their hard work. They always come to class and are ready to learn as much as they can. We started the next chapter all about measuring called “Inching Along.” They were all really excited to learn about measurement. We reviewed our new vocabulary and they all knew the words and found the correct definitions right away. We received a new fax from Zani and Imi asking for our help with something. They always get different answers when they measure because they use their beaks and their beaks are different sizes.

 They asked what they are doing wrong and if we could help. The students were up to the challenge and once they saw what the beaks looked like they all knew right away. They said since they were different sizes we needed to figure out how they compare and what their actual length is.

I gave them all unmarked unit rulers and they told me right away that they must be an inch because I had taught them how big an inch was earlier. They were all right. The measure rulers were in inches. They had figured it out right away. They were so excited. On Thursday I had the length of the measure booth ready for them to measure with Zani and Imi beaks.

 They figured out how many of each and they then figure out how long each beak was to figure out the actual length. They even did some multiplication to figure it out. They concluded the booth was five feet long or 60 inches long. Next week we will continue with measurement and read a cool book called Inch by Inch.

Second Grade:

This week we continued the chapter called Sleeping Bag? On Wednesday the students had to rethink their predictions and then we met to discuss their findings. The class discussion went well because each group had so much to share. On Thursday one class was able to come to class, but we did have two students bring in their sleeping bag and sleep mat. We discussed how they were different and what their area and perimeter might be.

  I also let them all know they can still bring in blankets and sleeping bags next week to use in class. Any student that brings something in will get a prize out of the treasure chest. I let them know that different sizes are welcome to help us see the differences in them. The students had a few minutes at the end of the class to play story cubes since we had issues with the I-Pads. They seem to have a blast telling and sharing their stories. Next week we will continue with area and the sleeping bags.

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 Mixed Numbers.  A Mixed number is a number consisting of an integer and a proper fraction. The students really rocked this one quickly. I only had one student not quite understand it at first. They are really doing great with reading the information before they answer the question.  Next week I am sure they will conquer the question as well as they did this week. They are getting really good at this.

Third Grade:

 This week we finished up our lesson called Can the Yeti come to school? On Wednesday we answered both the Think Deeply questions and even got to work on the Think Beyond. On Thursday we finished up the last Think Beyond and were ready to take the Chapter Check-up. Next week we will start our next chapter with the Yeti. It will cover liquid volume and capacity. We did figure out that the Yeti could fit at our school. Well at least in my room during our math class if we can ever find him. The search will continue.

Fourth Grade:

This week we played a little review game on Wednesday with all the vocabulary that they have learned so far this year. I put all the definitions on the whiteboard and I called on them to come up and match it to the correct vocabulary word.

They were so funny because I had one group up finding words while the other would check if they got them right with their glossaries. If someone got it wrong they would challenge it. They had fun and it gave me a chance to see if they are learning all the math vocabulary and I am happy to say that they are really good at it.

They know their vocabulary. On Thursday they were paired up and got to play the game called Shape Up! They were all up for the challenge.  Once they started to play they realized it was much harder than they had thought, but they kept with it.

 As they played they got better and better at playing and when someone won they got a prize out of the prize box. I think everyone won at least one round except two students and I gave them prizes just because they played so well and were such great sports. Next week they will continue to play the game, but with new partners to shake things up.

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Lutterman