Keenoy
Koala News 9-9-16
Dear
Families,
Thanks
again for the great start to the year and communication. Our class had a very busy week with the four
days that we had together. I greatly
enjoy teaching them each day and appreciate their kindness towards each
other. Terrific week and thanks for all
that you do to support my teaching.
Book Orders
Scholastic
order forms are being sent home today.
If ordering, please include an order form and a check made out to Scholastic by September 16th.
Math
This
week we continued practicing rounding numbers and solving addition problems
using decimals (Topic 2). Once students
realized that they just line up the numbers based on place value, they were
much more successful with decimal addition.
After
the completion of Topic 2 next week, we will begin looking at multiplying large
digit problems in topic 3. Knowing their
basic facts is essential to their success with this unit. If your child does
not know their basic multiplication and division facts through the 12’s, they
should be studying each evening.
Reading
We
will complete DRA reading assessments next week. Students will be reading the entire passage
and then answering questions about the text.
Once these are completed, I will continue with my individual, group, and
book club conferencing.
Students
really seem to enjoy listening to the book, Jackie’s Wild Seattle, by
Will Hobbs. I will use this book to
model comprehension strategies as I read aloud.
I will then ask students to practice these skills during independent
reading time and at home. We will be
focusing on Story Elements for the next few weeks, and the standards that I
will teach include:
*how characters in a story
or drama respond to challenges
*compare and contrast two
or more characters, settings, or events in a story
*explain the relationships
or interactions between two or more individuals
*compare and contrast the
overall structure (e.g. problem/solution) of events, ideas, concepts, or information in two or more texts
Writing
Students
are starting to show good understanding about what personal narratives
are. We analyzed the similarities and
differences between memoirs and personal narratives by reading, Up North at
the Cabin, by Martha Chall. Students
realized that both genres are written about past experiences, but personal
narratives focus in on a specific moment
that stands out. We have continued
working on collecting ideas in our writer’s notebook. The list of collecting strategies that we
have covered so far are listed below:
1) Listing special people and moments
with them.
2) First times, last times, and a moment they
realized something important.
3) List of Special Places and Moments at
the place.
4) Recent Moments That Stand Out
5) Other authors’ ideas helping spark my
own
Next
I plan to have students analyze several past student writing samples of
personal narratives. We will score these
5th grade narratives by using a rubric. This is the same rubric that their own
narratives will be graded from. I enjoy these activities because they give
students a much better understanding of how their own papers will be scored.
Social Studies
Next
week we will continue learning about North America in chapter 1. Students will be learning about the regions
in the United States. We will also spend
time discussing how the climate and resources affect the population and how
people live.
Science
*We
used/explored our digital science textbook together
*Students
started learning about the Earth’s 4 major systems: Hydrosphere, Geosphere,
Atmosphere, and Biosphere.
Have
a wonderful weekend!
Dan
Keenoy
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