Hoping You're Wearing Green Friday! Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

This week was all about testing for me and other groups at Brummitt. I had CogAT testing and third grade had I-Read. We also had lots of exciting things happening with the VIP night on Tuesday. On Thursday we got to see the preview of the musical in the afternoon which was spectacular. The students did such a great job recreating the feeling of the Lion King for all to see. I really loved it and I think the whole school did too.

Sunday March 12th  was the Arts-A-Budding Exhibit and presentation at Valparaiso University Chapel. I was able to go and see so many great pieces of artwork from Porter County students and some great pieces from some of our students here at Brummitt.
I got a quick picture of the honored students and their art was just fabulous. I also took pictures of some of their artwork. All the art looked great.

We are finishing up CogAT testing second grade,  so the informational packets will be ready to go home after spring break.  You will be able to see how your child did on the CogAT using the resource cogat.com.  We need to wait until end of the year NWEA scores before making all final decisions.   Using the results from CogAT plus end of year NWEA will determine your child's eligibility into HA for next year.  Remember, it's not necessary to do well on both assessments.  They may qualify through one pathway or the other.

Kindergarten CogAT Packets:

All kindergarten students should have received their CogAT packets this week.  Those who qualified through CogAT will need to return their permission slips.  We will begin the week after we return from Spring Break.  End of the year NWEA scores will be used to qualify students at the beginning of first grade.  It is very typical for many of your high readers to enter at that time.

Important Dates:

March

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

Now to March 3rd “Jar Wars”- Bring in your spare change!

8-14 Happy Camper Book Fair

12 Arts-A-Budding Ceremony at Valpo University 2pm

14 VIP Science Night 5:30 to 7:30pm

17 4th Grade Musical 9am & 1pm

17 End of 3rd grading period

24 Jump Rope for Heart Kick-Off

24 Student Council “Twins Day”

27-31 No School Spring Break

This week we continued learning about our Life Skills with  Perseverance. Perseverance is  steadfastness in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success. I felt that one more week of perseverance was important with so much going on this week. Students in some of the grades had testing to complete while the fourth graders had their school musical. All the students at Brummitt worked so hard this week on everything that they did. I want them to know that keeping with things even when they are difficult makes the reward of completing it that much greater. I am so proud of all the students here and everything they do.

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 ….Hold your horses. This one is a favorite of mine because I heard it all the time as a child. I think the students really think it is a good one too. We talked about when you might use and why. Another week with no takers on drawing anything or designing anything. I have my fingers crossed. Here is a hint to help you out: involves toes. 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 journey about hieroglyphs and ancient Egypt. On Monday we created a list of things we wanted to learn about Egypt and things we might already know. We also talked about hieroglyphs and why they were so important to their culture.

  On Tuesday we read a book on hieroglyphs and letters of our alphabet. The books showed different pictures that were used during that time period. We also took time to watch a short discovery kids educational video on life in Ancient Egypt. Next week we will continue our adventures in Ancient Egypt and Hieroglyphs.

Second Grade:

This week we didn’t get to meet because of full CogAT testing all week. We will get back to the regular schedule next week. Next week we will also continue reading Because of Winn-Dixie and complete a few fun activities.

Third Grade:

This week the students continued to work on their Tic Tac Toe projects. There were really excited to get them completed this week, because they want to share them with everyone in the class. The students are all so creative and really took the time to think about what they wanted to do and what characters they wanted to use for each part of their projects. Next week the students will all share all the great projects they have completed. I can’t wait to see all the awesome creations.

Fourth Grade:

This week we didn’t get to meet because of the CogAT testing and the students getting ready for the musical. We will be back on schedule next week. The students will get to share their paper bag mysteries and if we have time we will start our book.

Math

First Grade:

 This week we continued working on measurement. The students were so excited to keep measuring and using their new skill that I gave them an activity to measure items around the room or they could measure themselves.

 They had so much fun measuring things around the room and some of them measured their height to see who was the tallest and once they got it all done they all got a prize out of the prize box for all their hard work on Wednesday.

 On Thursday we didn't get to meet because I had to finish up my last tests for CogAT. Next week we will start measuring the distance of the pom poms when they throw them and have some more measuring fun.

Second Grade:

This week we didn’t get to meet either day because of the 2nd grade CogAT testing. We will get back on our normal schedule next week. We will continue to work on area with another activity helping the Detective Duo.    

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 Product. Product, in math, is the answer when two or more numbers are multiplied together. The students rocked this one out very fast. They all understood the problem and solved it super-fast. They didn’t need any help. The picture was pretty funny too this week so they all got a good laugh.

Third Grade:

This week we didn’t get to meet because of the two hour delay on Wednesday. On Thursday we got to see the fourth grade musical and it was amazing. Next week we will finish figuring out what lemonade will be best and why.

Fourth Grade:

This week we didn’t get to meet because of the two hour delay and I was still testing the second grade for CogAT. On Thursday we did get to meet and work on the new lesson called On the Grid. We started by reviewing the vocabulary for the lesson and talking about each quadrant. Next week we will continue working on this lesson with another cool activity.

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Lutterman