December 12th Through the 16th

Keenoy Koala of the Week:  Hailey Homann

Hello, my name is Hailey and I am the Koala of the week.  I have three other people in my family (besides me).  They are my mom, dad, and younger sister.  Some of my favorite things to do are to read, draw, and play piano.  My favorite thing to read is Harry Potter and I recently finished the series.  I also go to dance class every Monday night.  I am looking forward to the Holiday Break in the next couple of days.

Keenoy Koala News

One of the Koalas surprised me with an early present!  Fun!

Dear Families,

I cannot believe that our Winter Break is already here, and we are nearing the midway point of 5^th grade.  I am looking forward to spending the extra time with family and wish everyone a wonderful break!  This will be my last newsletter until after the New Year.

700 Keenoy Cash Celebration

Our class earned their 700^th card this week and met their latest goal.  Gabby is so excited to come to school and watch a movie with her daddy and the Koalas.  I’m happy that they want to spend time with my daughter and we will enjoy another picnic style lunch/movie in the next week or so.  I have to work out the logistics with our daycare provider and find a copy of the movie before setting a firm date.  As soon as I know, I will pass that information along at least one day prior.  They class wants to watch the movie, The Watson’s Go to Birmingham-1963.  I thought that was a great idea and we will be finishing up with that read aloud in the next couple of days.

What a Great  Idea and Class!

Math - Variables & Expressions

*  We continued working on order of operations. When numbers with decimals were added to the problems, many students needed a refresher on how to add, subtract, and multiply with decimals.

*  Students  will take an assessment over this topic on Monday.

*  After winter break, students will be spending a great deal of time with fractions.

 Writing – Paragraphing and Charities

Students practiced organizing unorganized paragraphs this week.  They are also improving with their paragraph planning. 

This week students learned more about various charities for their informational writing reports. Students will chose a charity to research once we return from winter break.

Reading – Main Idea and Theme

*   I am happy with the progress that students are making with identifying main ideas and themes.  We have had many great conversations and students are showing understanding my supporting ideas from the text. 

*   Students took an assessment over inferring, context clues, and predicting today.  These will be scored and returned after break.

Science – Experimental Design

Thank you for participating in our research activity during our Holiday Open House.  I was SO happy to share that the small group adult research average was better than the 5^th graders.  They seemed pretty confident that they would have faster reflexes than the adults.  Oh how I love a good/friendly competition. 

We calculated the average of the three trials for each person.  We then took 15 people’s average from each group and calculated those averages. Results included: 

2^nd grader average= 46 cm

5^th grader average = 23 cm

Adult average = 18 cm!!!

We concluded that as you get older, your reflexes improve.  Students do think that when you reach a certain age, your reflexes may start getting slower again.  I had a lot of fun with this activity and I love how our research ideas improved along the way.

Important Dates:

Dec. 20            Winter party at 2:15

Dec. 21-Jan. 3 Winter Break

Jan. 4               School Resumes

Jan. 16             Martin Luther King, Jr. Day-No School

Have a wonderful Break!

                                                                                                Sincerely,

                                                                                                Dan Keenoy

December 5th through the 9th

Keenoy's Koala of the Week: Elliot Bone

My name is Elliot and I'm not really into athletic things very much.  I'm interested in different things like building models.  I like to build models called Gundam, because it is relaxing and fun for me.  I also like Dungeons and Dragons because of how free you can be in the game.  I would like more people to try it because it is more fun than they might think.  I also like animals a lot and my favorite food is sushi.  My family includes an older brother, mom, dad, and a dog.  I love them very much!

Keenoy Koala News                                                                12-9-16

Dear Families,

I wanted to take the time to let you know how thankful that I am about having your child in my classroom, and the support that each of you have given this year.  Have a terrific Holiday Break and I look forward to a terrific second half to the year. 

Writing and Social Studies

Writing paragraphs continued to be our focus this week. Students practiced researching and taking notes for an explorer they selected in Chapter 3.  Students then focused on a specific area of information about their explorer (such as their early life, accomplishments, challenges, etc…).  After organizing their researched information, students wrote a paragraph about the explorer. I noticed a lot of paragraphing improvement during this process.  Students realized the importance of coming up with a main idea (first sentence) then supporting that main idea with other sentences. If you made it to our Holiday Open House, I hope that you enjoyed the information about their explorer on the fun Photo Speak app!  They seemed to have a lot of fun with this project. 

Next week, I will send home information about our January writing project.  After break, students will begin their research about a charity that they have selected. We will use mentor texts along the way as well as specific lessons will be taught to improve the craft of the informational report.

Science

Thanks for participating in our reflex data experiment during the Open House.  Our class will figure out the average of 15 adult’s reaction scores.  Then we will compare this new data with the data that we already collected with 2^nd and 5^th grade reaction results.  Hopefully the ADULTS WIN!

We paused our science unit (experimental design) this week due to our Photo Speak social studies project.  This project took a bit more time than I had planned out.

Reading

Next week, students will take an assessment over the comprehension skills taught during the past several weeks (inferring, predicting, and using context clues to figure out the meaning of words).

After winter break, our focus will move to main idea, theme, point of view, and cause/effect.

Math - Variables & Expressions

We continued working on order of operations. When numbers with decimals were added to the problems, many students needed a refresher on how to add, subtract, and multiply with decimals.

Next week, students will be assessed over this topic.

Important Dates:

Dec. 20                   Winter Party 2:15-3:00

Dec. 21-Jan. 3       No School  - Winter Break

                                                                                                                                Sincerely,

                                                                                                                                Dan Keenoy

November 28th Through December 2nd

Koala Of The Week: Grace Shin

Grace is from South Korea and is a big fan of the Warrior book series.  She really enjoys being with her class, and also enjoys learning with Mr. Keenoy.  Grace's favorite subject is math, and thinks that learning is the most important thing for a person to do.  She is also very thankful that she has a chance to learn these awesome things in 5th grade. 

Keenoy/Gilliland's Thanksgiving Buddy Activity Pictures

 

 

 

Food Drive Pizza Party!

Keenoy Koala News

December 2, 2016

Dear Families,

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  I enjoyed the extra time off with the family.  We always host Thanksgiving the day after and our children had a blast playing with their cousins.  Have a wonderful week and thanks again for your continued support this year.

Homework

As you know, the majority of the homework that I give is nightly reading with short reading notebook response assignments (thinking spots).   Lately, when I have given homework within a different content area, the completion of this work is overall inconsistent.  I am thinking that students may have fallen out of the habit of doing additional homework and therefor are forgetting about taking it home or completing it. 

Starting this week, I decided it is in the student’s best interest to start consistently getting an additional assignment most evenings.  My purpose is not to just give busy work, but to reinforce the responsibility and improved organization.  Many of the additional assignments that I give will be relatively minor with regards to the amount of time it takes to complete.  Thank you for understanding this change and if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to let me know.

Holiday Open House Reminder

Please join us on Friday, December 9 for our annual holiday event. Your child will be singing in the gym with the other 5th graders, and then afterwards is an open house in our classroom. Here is the schedule for that day:

Grade Level                           Perform in Gym                    Open House in Classrooms

5th                                           11:15 am                                 After Choir Performance

Choir                                       11:35 am                                 11:55-12:15

3rd Grade                                11:55 am                                 12:15-12:35

4th Grade                                12:15 pm                                 12:35-12:55

2nd Grade                               1:05 pm                                   1:25-1:45

Kindergarten                           1:25 pm                                   1:45-2:05

1st Grade                                1:45 pm                                   2:05-2:25

Math

Our class continued learning about variables and algebraic expressions this week in Topic 6.  Students are enjoying their first exposure to algebra by using variables to solve problems.  The main concepts that will be taught during this unit include:

*translating words into algebraic expressions

*using patterns to show relationships and evaluating algebraic expressions

*writing and evaluating expressions involving addition, subtraction, and multiplication

*using the Distributive Property to solve equations

*solving algebraic expressions with three or more numbers and two or more operations

Reading

I will continue reading The Watsons Go to Birmingham-1963 and modeling good comprehension strategies as I read.  We are still working on inferring, using context clues to figure out the meaning of unknown words, and theme.  I have really been impressed with the deep level of thinking that is happening during class discussions.  Students are also doing a much better job of keeping their reading notebook work up to date and organized. 

Writing

We have entered our informational genre of writing this week.  After carefully looking through the pre-assessments that students took prior to Thanksgiving, it was noticeable that organizing ideas within paragraphs is an area for us to work on.  We will work on these skills daily for the next week or so.  I feel like building this paragraph understanding will pay dividends when we start working on our research project after break. 

During our work with organizing factual information into paragraphs, we will also build crafting techniques that help to make facts sound interesting.  Even though this is a different genre than Personal Narrative, I do not want students to lose their writing “VOICE.”  Non-fiction writing does not have to sound boringJ

Social Studies

Continue learning about the first settlements in North America in chapter 4.

Science

We conducted a fun experiment by measuring our own reaction time with a meter stick.  Our class then decided to compare 5^th grade reaction times with our 2^nd grade Buddy Class reaction times.  Students then found the 5^th and 2^nd grade reaction time averages and created a graph to display their findings.  Make sure to ask your child more about the conclusion (results) of this fun experiment. 

Have a wonderful week!

                                                                                                            Sincerely,
                                                                                                            Dan Keenoy

November 14th through the 18th

Keenoy's Koala Of The Week:  CharRon Ray

CharRon shared that she loves her family very much and enjoys being kind to others.  She also likes anything having to do with Hello Kitty:)  CharRon is a hard worker and we love having her in our class!  We also very much enjoyed her dog Snickers talking to us this week.  She has a Photo Speak app on her Ipad and sent a special message to the Koalas from her dog.  The class wanted to watch  the video message over and over again.

South Korean Guest Teachers

Our class enjoyed hosting South Korean teachers for an hour this week.  Their lesson focused on teaching us more about Korean culture.  The teachers had students get into three groups, and each student spent approximately 15 min. at each station.  The stations included  making a jeggi (hacky-sack), yutnori (board game), and creating a South Korean traditional outfit using origami. 

       

   

  

   

Keenoy Koala News                                                             

November 18, 2016

Dear Families,

     It was so nice seeing everyone at conferences.  I truly enjoyed sharing your child’s progress with you.   Thank you so much for all of your support this year and making your child’s learning such an important priority.  Please do not hesitate to contact me through email or phone with any questions, comments, or concerns.  Thanks for all that you do!

    Please join us on Friday, December 9 for our annual holiday event. Your child will be singing in the gym with the other 5th graders, and then afterwards is an open house in our classroom. You can check the Paxton Keeley website or our classroom blog (last week’s newsletter) for the schedule.

Pizza Party

We earned a Pizza Party for donating the largest amount of money/food items during the Paxton Keeley Food Drive.  We will have the Pizza Party during our lunch period on Tuesday, November 22^nd.  I plan on buying Gatorade for the class, but students can also bring in a different drink from home.

Keenoy Koala Cash Goal

Students agreed that 700 Keenoy Cash was a great goal for us to work towards.  We are well on our way by already earning 579.  Students liked the picnic lunch/cozy clothes/movie afternoon so much, that they voted for the same reward at 700 cards.  I plan on also bringing Gabby into the classroom during the movie time on that day.  She is equally excited about the idea of spending a couple of hours with 5^th graders and DaddyJ  Every time she makes a trip to Paxton, she never wants to leave and usually leaves in tearsL  She feels so BIG going to school at 3 years old.

Writing

Students completed their pre-assessment for informational writing today.  This assessment is used to determine what skillset students have with this style of writing before we jump into our lessons.  Instruction in this genre of writing (informational) will begin after we return from Thanksgiving break.

Reading

We completed the book Zach’s Lie, by Roland Smith.  Students showed a lot of interest and learned many great reading strategies while reading this book.  We started reading The Watsons Go To Birmingham-1963, by Christopher Paul Curtis on Thursday.  This is a fantastically funny book and a great book to practice our next session skills:  Main Idea, Cause/Effect, Point of View, and continue to work on Theme.  I will be modeling my thinking aloud and asking students to practice these comprehension skills in their independent book each day. 

Students will be taking an assessment over the comprehension skills (inferring, prediction, and context clues) taught during the last several weeks.  I am confident that they will be able to apply these strategies practiced in class with Fiction and Non Fiction passages. 

Social Studies

Students are learning about the Spanish Conquistadors in chapter 3.  From the 1500s to the 1700s, Spanish explorers and priests gave names to settlements throughout the Southwest and Florida.  We will start learning about European Settlements when we return from Thanksgiving Break.

Math

We have completed the lessons for multiplying and dividing decimals. Students took an assessment on Thursday.  These will be graded over the weekend and returned to students on Monday. Our next topic is called “Variables and Expressions” and will introduce students to some algebra.

Science

I am sending home the Earth/Space Systems Quiz today.  I am very proud of our class results and I can tell that they learned a lot of new information in this unit.  We already started our Engineering Unit this week.  During the first part of this unit, students will be creating testable questions to explore.  We will focus on:  variables, constants, graphing, hypothesis, conclusions, charting, performing trials, and figuring out the mean of data.

Upcoming Dates

Nov. 21         Planetarium Field Trip (Rock Bridge High School in Columbia)

Nov. 23-25   No School - Thanksgiving Holiday

Dec. 20        Winter Party 2:15-3:00

Dec. 21-Jan. 3       No School  - Winter Break

Have a wonderful week and Thanksgiving Holiday!

                                                                                                            Sincerely,
                                                                                                            Dan Keenoy

November 1st through 4th

Keenoy's Koala Of The Week: Clete Gott

Unfortunately, we already took Clete's soccer medals down prior to this picture. The board behind him was completely full of medals that he earned with his competitive teams!  He plays for Columbia Sporting and loves the game of soccer.  He also loves his wonderful family and enjoys anything having to do with animals.  

Keenoy Koala News

Dear Families,

I hope that everyone had a wonderful week.  As you can see on our Classroom Blog, we now celebrate a Koala of the Week.  Each student will now have the opportunity to display things about them on a bulletin board located outside our classroom door.  The class also decided that during their week, they can incorporate technology by creating/sharing a pic collage with their classmates.  We also created a schedule so that students know when their week will be.  I absolutely love this idea and it is a great way to continue building a strong community of learners who care about each otherJ

Parent Teacher Conferences

We have completed the first trimester of our school year.  Parent-teacher conferences begin on Monday.  You will receive another reminder of our conference time the day before our meeting is scheduled. For those who have a conference on Monday, your reminder note is in the Friday Folder.  If for some reason you now have a conflict with your conference date, please contact me right away so that we can reschedule. It is also very helpful if everyone is on time to their conference so that I may stay on time as well. 

Friday Folders

The Friday Folder checklist has been pulled. A new checklist will go home beginning Friday, November 18. Since next week is conference week, Friday Folders and a newsletter will not be sent home.

Holiday Performance & Open House

Please join us on Friday, December 9 for our annual holiday event. Your child will be singing in the gym with the other 5th graders, and then afterwards is an open house in our classroom. Here is the schedule for that day:

Grade Level                           Perform in Gym                    Open House in Classrooms

5^th                                            11:15 am                                 After Choir Performance

Choir                                       11:35 am                                 11:55-12:15

3^rd Grade                                 11:55 am                                 12:15-12:35

4^th Grade                                 12:15 pm                                 12:35-12:55

2^nd Grade                                 1:05 pm                                   1:25-1:45

Kindergarten                           1:25 pm                                   1:45-2:05

1^st Grade                                 1:45 pm                                   2:05-2:25

Math

*Our last math assessment will be shared at conferences.

*We began Topic 7 - Multiplying and Dividing Decimals.

*Students mentally multiplied decimals by 10, 100, and 1000.

*Students learned how to multiply decimals using strategies based on place value and properties of operations

Writing

*(Students completed the post-assessment for this genre of writing on Thursday

*Writing  (pre-assessment, process piece, and post-assessment) will be shared during conferences.

*Our next genre of writing will be informational.

Reading

We continued to focus on inferring and using context clues to figure out the meaning of unknown words.  Students seem to be loving the book, Zach’s Lie and we are nearing the end.  I love how this book requires them to make so many inferences and forces a deeper level of thinking.

Science - Space Systems

We completed this unit today with our lesson over moon phases.  Students will be taking an assessment on Wednesday and received a detailed study guide this Tuesday.  Students were to study each night for at least 15 min.  I have recommended that they study one-ish lessons per night so that they do not get overwhelmed by all of the information.  Thank you for signing the study guide each evening to help hold them accountable for this work.  Students who did not return this form signed on Friday had to owe their extra recess time.  If you have time to study with your child, before Wednesday, that would be helpful to them.

Reminders

Nov. 6                         Daylight Savings Ends...set your clocks back by one hour

Nov. 8                         No School - Election Day

Nov. 7, 9-11    Parent/Teacher Conferences

Nov. 11           No School

Nov. 21           Planetarium Field Trip (Rock Bridge High School in Columbia)

Nov. 23-25      No School - Thanksgiving Holiday

Sincerely,

                                                                                                Dan Keenoy

October 24th through 28th

PTA Looking For Bookfair Help

PTA is in need of a Bookfair coordinator. The volunteer would coordinate volunteers to ensure that the bookfair runs smoothly. Usually this is done through signup genius.  The coordinator is not responsible for  being at the fair for it’s duration, but may volunteer when needed. The coordinator will work in conjunction with Susan Finke the Media Specialist to plan out volunteer needs for the fair. PTA already has a list of volunteers that can be contacted immediately. Please talk to Susan Finke (sfinke@cpsk12.org) or Kristin Eastman (teameastman@hotmail.com) if you are interested or have further questions. 
 Thank You!
 Kristin Eastman 

Halloween Party Pictures-Fun Times!

Keenoy Koala News

October 28, 2016

Dear Families,

The weeks seem to be flying by right now.  It is hard for me to believe that November is basically here!  Friday folder marks will not be sent home today.  I am using this weekend/Monday to start working on progress reports, and need the sheets to enter work/study habits.  If I have any major concerns this week, I will make sure to let you know.   I hope that all of the students trick-or-treating on Monday have fun and stay safe.  

Thank you to the families that planned, organized, donated, and attended our Fall party.  Students always look forward to these parties. Also, our class won the Paxton Keeley Food Drive last week.  We collected the most food items and money in the buildingJ  The Koalas will be given a pizza party to celebrate this accomplishment.  WOW and thank you for being so GENEROUS!

Parent Teacher Conferences

In the Friday Folder you will find your parent-teacher conference confirmation.  Please let me know right away if you have a conflict.  Every attempt was made to honor your request.

Math

*Students completed the assessment over division on Tuesday.

*Our next topic will cover multiplying and dividing with decimals.

Writing

*Students continue to redraft their personal narrative stories for improvement.

*Students will complete a post-assessment for this genre of writing next week.

*Writing (pre-assessment, process piece, and post-assessment) will be shared during    conferences.

*Our next genre of writing will be informational.

Reading

We continued to focus on inferring and using context clues to figure out the meaning of unknown words.  I checked student reading notebooks this week and discovered that most students are doing a terrific job of keeping up with reading notebook.  Nightly reading and notebook work is an expectation.  Students and I reviewed the importance of practicing these comprehension skills and keeping up with their reading notebook work even though they are not checked every day. 

Science - Space Systems

Next week, I will start teaching lessons that focus on the phases of the moon.  Students will be given a study guide on Tuesday to prepare for the upcoming assessment over this unit. The only homework that I plan to give next week is reading and studying for this test.  Students will also be given some class time to study in small groups or independently. 

Social Studies

Students are learning about the European explorers in chapter 3.  I want students to understand that many of the explorers learned from past explorer mistakes.  Technology and past discoveries often improved the routes selected.  All of the information from chapter 3 is leading up to learning about the first European settlements in North America chapter 4.

Reminders

Oct. 31            No School - Teacher Workday

Nov. 6             Daylight Savings Ends...set your clocks back by one hour

Nov. 8             No School - Election Day

Nov. 7, 9-11    Parent/Teacher Conferences

Nov. 11           No School

Nov. 21           Planetarium Field Trip (Rock Bridge High School in Columbia)

Nov. 23-25      No School - Thanksgiving Holiday

Sincerely,

                                                                                                Dan Keenoy

October 17th through 21st

Math-Division Practice!

Mr. Keenoy and Mrs. Gilliland's 

Monster Buddy Activity

     

     

     

Keenoy Koala Newsletter

October 21, 2016

Dear Families,

I hope that everyone had a terrific week!  As I am sure that you have heard, I enjoy giving out  Koala Cash for students who are following Paxton Keeley and class expectations throughout the day.  After two weeks, each table counts their cash and the table that has earned the most cash receives a goody of some type.  All of the cash earned from each table also counts towards classroom goals that we have made.  Keenoy Koalas reached our lofty goal of 400 Koala Cash last week and voted for a classroom movie celebration.

On Tuesday, we will have a "Cozy Lunch and a Movie" celebration during recess and lunch.  Students are allowed to bring a pillow, blanket, or other cozy item to school.  We will have a picnic style lunch in the classroom while enjoying a movie (probably Disney) voted on by the class.  This is a great group of kids and I am looking forward to celebrating with them on Tuesday.  Thank you for all of your continued support and I really look forward to visiting with you at conferences.

Parent Teacher Conferences

I will be sending home Parent Teacher Conference confirmation times next Friday.  Thank you for returning your request forms so quickly this week.

Food Drive

Thank you so much for all of the cash and food donations this week.  All of these donations will be greatly appreciated by the Food Bank.  We definitely met our classroom goal of 350 canned goodsJ  At last count, the Koalas brought in well over 2,000 items worth of canned goods.  Thank you and soooo generous! 

Fall Party

Next Friday is our fall room party. Thank you so much for volunteering your time or purchasing supplies for this activity.  At Paxton Keeley, we do not dress up in costumes. Instead, students will have a 45-minutes party featuring a game, craft, and snack. Halloween is on Monday, October 31.  School is not in session on this day as it is a teacher workday for elementary teachers (to complete grade cards and prepare for conferences).

Math

*Students practiced dividing by two-digit divisors.

*Students practiced determining which information was missing and identified extraneous      information in problems.

*Students will complete an assessment over this topic next week.

Writing

Revising and editing student personal narratives continued this week. When students meet with me one-on-one, I mentioned strengths and areas to work on.  Each student should leave a writing conference with a clear goal for improving their next draft. 

Together we developed a recipe for a great ending and beginning.

Endings

A)  Resolving problems

B)  Teaching lessons learned

C)  Make changes that tie back to the big meaning of the story or beginning

D)  Overall, why is this moment important to you?

Beginnings

A) Hint of a problem!

B)  Info about main character…thoughts and feelings

C) Create a mood….establish setting

Reading

Students really seem to be enjoying the story, Zach’s Lie by Roland Smith.  This book forces the reader to make several inferences and use the context to solve tough words.  I have continued to model this thinking daily during read aloud.  Students should also be practicing these skills during independent reading time.  An area that we will continue working on is supporting these ideas (especially inferences) with details directly from the text.  This is an area that stood out as a weakness on the 4^th grade Communication Arts MAP test last year. 

Science and Social Studies

As you know, I alternate teaching these lessons each day.  I did not get as much accomplished with either as I had planned.  We will continue learning about explorers in social studies and space systems in science.  Hopefully there will be less afternoon conflicts so that these lessons can be enjoyedJ

Reminders

Oct. 28             Student Flu Shots

Oct. 28             Fall Room Party 2:15-3:00

Oct. 31             No School - Teacher Workday

Nov. 6             Daylight Savings Ends...set your clocks back by one hour

Nov. 8             No School - Election Day

Nov. 7, 9-11    Parent/Teacher Conferences

Nov. 11           No School

Nov. 21           Planetarium Field Trip (Rock Bridge High School in Columbia)

Nov. 23-25      No School - Thanksgiving Holiday

                                                                                                Sincerely,

                                                                                                Dan Keenoy