Hip-Hop-Hooray For Friday!!!

This week just flew by here at Brummitt. We had lots of great things going on. I changed the pictures again this week and made them smaller. You can click on any picture to enlarge it to see it better. The 4th grade book bowl happened on Monday and I was unable to see it, but was lucky enough to have Mrs. Goins take photos for me. It was very close, but The Star Horses won.  On Thursday they were able to go to the district wide bowl and spelling bee.

The weather was great this week and am so glad it is starting to really feel like spring even with the rain.

High Ability Summer School

Searching for educational enrichment this summer? Consider Duneland's High Ability Summer School! With the theme of "Do What the Romans Do," the 13-day program in June will focus on reading strategies and literature comprehension. It is open to current 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade HA students. The gold sign-up flyer went home last Friday. Take advantage of this wonderful opportunity!

Important Dates:

April

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

13  Annual 4th GradeBook Bowl

14 Student Council “Disney Day” – Wear something Disney

4/17- 5/5 ISTEP Testing in 3rd & 4th grade (2nd part)

May

On May 9th, which is National Walk/Bike to School/Work Day, we will be having “300 Miles to Brummitt”. Our goal is to have every student and teacher walk to school that day. More information about this exciting activity will be coming soon. We do ask that every student has a parent permission slip on file in order to participate, so please make sure to send these back promptly once they come home.

Our last week of high ability will be the week of May 15th-May 18th.  We do not see students that last week of school due to the data collection needed across all grade levels.  The last week is a very busy time for our high ability department.  We will be entering data, finalizing decisions and getting permission slips ready to send out for those qualifying for high ability for the 2017-2018 school year!

This week we continued learning about our Life Skills with Courage. This is a very important life skill for everyone. With IStep testing going on soon all the students need to remember to have the courage to do their best and give it their all even when fear is creeping in. Mr. Cammarata has given the students great advice this week on the announcements how to be courageous and push forward and do the right thing even if it’s scary.  I want to instill in my students to fight past the fear and have the courage to do their best and it will all work out.

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 on top of the world. This is one of my favorites because it is so cute and everybody loves to think of how it would be to be on top of the world. The students really like it too. I think they all remember hearing it at some point and some students can recall saying it too. We all had a good giggle with this one. Another week with no takers on drawing anything or designing anything. I have my fingers crossed. Here is a hint to help you out: it involves clouds. 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

Kindergarten:

 This week we continued to learn all about connections. First we talked about connections and the four types: intellectual, physical, social, and emotional. Then we made a chart of examples we found of connections. We talked about each type and whether you could see it or not.   We found that almost all emotional connections are hard to see because they involve love and emotions but how we could see it if someone was hugging their stuffed animal, dog, or parent because we can see how much they love them. We also had a great discussion if connections can change. We talked about how some connections will never change while others could change tomorrow. Finally we had just enough time to start our first story called Knuffle Bunny A Cautionary Tale by Mo Williams.We got to read it but didn’t have enough time to have a discussion about all the connections we could see in the book. Next week we will discuss the book and talk more about connections. We will also review if they can change or stay the same over time.

First Grade:

This week we continued our journey through ancient Egypt and learning about their life, mummies, and Hieroglyphs. We learned about determinatives and how they were used in ancient Egypt writing. Since they didn’t have vowels in the hieroglyphs it made it hard to tell the difference between man, men, and mane because it would only read mn. So they came up with clever ways to tell the difference in their writing. For men they would draw more than two men or they would put lines under the hieroglyph to indicate that there are more and the meaning would change from man to men. The students were really interested in this part of our lesson because it taught them how their language and writing was so different from what we use today. They had over 600 different in all that they used. Then we learned about how school was for children in ancient Egypt. The students learned that girls were not allowed to attend school and that only the boys whose fathers paid the teachers were able to go to school. They also learned that many children were working by the time they were their age and we thought of jobs that children of ancient Egypt might have like working to help with the crops in the fields, baking, cleaning, and making clothing, and creating pottery. The girls and I were not happy that we wouldn’t learn how to draw the hieroglyphs. Next week we will continue to work on hieroglyphs with a great activity the student will love where they will create their own hieroglyphic tablets out of clay. We will also learn how they became a scribe after attending school.

Second Grade:

This week we continued to learn with Because of Winn-Dixie. The students were really excited to have the opportunity to watch the movie, but first we needed to learn all about compare and contrast. We took sometime to review what it means to compare and all the words you might use when writing. We also talked about contrast and how we can write about how things are different. The students each got a Venn Diagram to use while they watched our first section of the movie. They took notes about how the movie and the book are alike and different. They were so excited because they found so many differences and they all wrote them into the correct circle. Next week we will talk all about what we have found so far and we will watch the next section of the movie to compare to the book.

 

Third Grade:

 This week we continued to work on The Pied Piper of Hamelin.  We had a class discussion about the story and change. The students talked about the town and how it changed because of the Piper and the rats. We discussed how the children changed too. Then we went over some of the grammar in one stanza about the rats. The students found all the verbs and we rewrote them to present tense and then we changed them from plural to singular. The students were having fun talking about all the verbs that involve the rats and what if there was a different noun instead. Next week we will finish up the grammar and move on to our next lesson about creative problem solving with The Emperor’s New Suit

 

Fourth Grade:

 This week we continued our investigation of The Westing Game. The students were ready to discuss everything they figured out in their reading from over the weekend. They were all excited to answer all the questions about Sydelle, Gracie, and James Hoo. I think they are doing a great job making sure to keep track of every detail and fact they find as they read. They all have their theories and are ready to share them. Next week I will give them the opportunity to share what they have discovered with a partner and they will be able to spin theories with each other to see what they find. Also make sure they are caught up on their reading. They need to be done with Chapter 14 Pairs Repaired by Monday.

Math

Kindergarten:

 This week we started our first lesson on collecting data and making charts. They had so much fun with this lesson. They got to walk all over the school and ask what toppings people like on their pizza. They asked teachers, students, and staff. After we collected the data we came back and checked out our charts to see if we found the same data and entered it correctly. The students also figured out which had the most and least make sure to ask them what they found out. They also counted how many total people were asked. On Thursday we completed our next mission and chart on backpacks. This time we went with much higher numbers and data. We looked at all of the kindergarten backpacks to see what colors they were. Then we moved to 4th grade to figure what colors their backpacks were too. Next week we will finish up our lesson with data collection and charts and find sometime to have some math facts fun too.  

 

First Grade:

This week we continued working on measurement with the pom pom toss game. On Wednesday some students were out of class, so we decided to practice our measurement skills with one last epic game of pom pom toss. We also took time to review all our vocabulary for this chapter to help us prepare for the chapter check-up. On Thursday the students got to take their chapter check-up and after they finished they got to practice their math facts with a fun game. Next week we will review all we have learned so far for the final unit assessment.   

 

Second Grade:

This week we started a new lesson called  Meerkat Mob. We received a fax from the Detective Duo asking for our help. They have new baby meerkats in their den and have to share the space. They know with them growing all the time they will need to expand the den and need to figure out how much more room they will need. It is up to us to help them figure out what is needed to make all the meerkats comfortable. The students reviewed how many square inches are in a square foot and they were off. Each student got some square inch tiles to help them figure out the space to solve several problems. Next week we will discuss our finding and write back to them to let them know what we think will work best.

   

 

 

Third and Fourth Grade: Math Vocabulary Comic Relief

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 Acute Angle. An acute angle ("acute" meaning "sharp") is an angle smaller than a right angle (it is less than 90 degrees). This week the students did a great job. They all figured it out fast and accurately. They all did an excellent job and some of them even made their baskets when they recycled them.

Third Grade:

This week we finished our lesson Yummy Yeti Lemonade, and took the chapter check-up. After that was completed, we took time to review for the unit test. On Thursday we started the unit test to see what we learned so far this year. Next week we will start a new math project.

 

Fourth Grade:

 This week we continued to work on quadrants and plotting out coordinates. The students got time to finish figuring out their coordinates and share them with their partner. Then the partner had to find each point and create the shape in each quadrant and then figure out how it transformed throughout the quadrants. They did a great job working together and figure out what transitions happened. On Thursday they all attended the Book Bowl and Spelling Bee. Next week we will finish up our last Think Deeply question for this lesson and start on the next lesson called It is All in What You See!

     

   

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Lutterman