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

October 10th through 14

Vocabulary Hat Day!

 Keenoy Koala News

                                                  October 14, 2016

Dear Families,

I hope that everyone had a terrific week.  I was disappointed that the Cardinals did not make it to the playoffs this year, but the St. Louis Blues just started their season on Wednesday.   My father in law shares season tickets and I’m lucky enough to go to several games each year.  I hope they bring home a Stanley Cup this year!

The Keenoy family will be making a trip to Springfield, MO this weekend for Caleb’s soccer tournament.  Our kiddos are excited to see their uncle and cousins who live there.  It should be a great weekend!

***Last week I had the wrong dates listed for the Fall Party and Flu Shots.  I made the corrections this week in the Reminders section. 

Vocabulary Hat Day

Thank you for your assistance with the vocabulary hats. We had a great time parading around Paxton showing off our hats to students and adults. The creativity is amazing! Hopefully, all of the 5^th graders learned a plethora of new wordsJ 

Parent Teacher Conferences

Please complete the Blue or Green conference form and return by Tuesday.  On this form, you will indicate the day and time range you prefer.  Every effort will be made to accommodate your request.

Fall Party

Thank you for those willing to volunteer time or items for our classroom party on October 28^th. 

Math

We are continuing our work with division. This week students:

*Solved problems with one-digit divisors (with and without remainders.

*Analyzed word problems to determine what to do with remainders depending on the context of the problem

Writing

Our focus continued to be on elaboration and craft. We also examined how to use paragraphs and dialogue in our narratives by looking at mentor texts. Our last two lessons will revisit endings and beginnings.   These two lessons will wrap up the whole-group instruction for this genre of writing.  During the last week of October, students will write a final draft.  During this entire process, I will continue meeting with individual students to offer support, advice, and suggestions for improvement.

Reading

We will continue focusing on the comprehension strategies listed below during read aloud, independent, and book group reading.

Context Clues *Determining the meaning of words and or phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative language (simile and metaphor).

*Using context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, rereading as necessary. 

Inferring *explaining the interactions between individuals, events, ideas, or concepts.

*Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says when drawing inferences from the text)

*Determine the meaning of phrases as they are used in the text

Theme *Compare and contrast stories in the same genre on their approaches to similar themes and topics.

Social Studies-Native American Regions

Students have investigated/researched information about how Native Americans lived in each of the four regions.  The regions discussed included Southwest, Northwest Coast, Plains, and Eastern Woodlands.  The big idea that I want students to understand is the resources that they used depended on where they lived.  Also, that each group had to adapt to their surroundings and use ALL of the resources available to survive. 

Science - Space Systems

This week’s lessons have continued focusing on……..

*Understanding that because of gravity, everything falls downward or toward the earth’s center.

*Explaining why and how the earth, moon, and sun revolve.

*Demonstrate that the earth rotates on its axis once every 24 hours to cause day/night.

Reminders

Oct. 18            Parent/Teacher Conference Forms Due

Oct. 19            Early Dismissal (12:50)

Oct. 28            Student Flu Shots (parents had to send in permission form ahead of time)

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

                                                                                               

Sincerely,

                                                                                                Dan Keenoy

October 3rd through 7th

A former student of mine now plays football for the University of Arkansas.  Caleb and I both bought an Arkansas jersey to show support, but I felt like a traitor on Friday.  I  think that wearing the scarf  somewhat made up for it!  The class got a kick out of it and used the moment as a photo opportunity:)

Mr. Keenoy and Mrs. Gilliland's Class Buddy Activity Pictures

Keenoy's Koala Newsletter 

Dear Families,

I hope that everyone had a wonderful week.  As always, ours was jam packed with after school kiddo activities.  Thank you to anyone that was able to donate their time and/or efforts to the Comet Carnival last Friday. This is such an enjoyable event for children and could not take place without volunteers!  Have a wonderful week and thank you for everything that you do.

iPads News

*Students will learn how to share a Google Docs document with me.

*Students have installed a dictionary app on their iPad. This app has some great features and    enables students to be more independent when needing to check their spelling.

*At times, students are able to work on ST Math, game-based instructional software for K-12 and is designed to boost math comprehension and proficiency through visual learning.

*During Media time, students have been learning about iMovie. Students are creating an iMovie about digital safety.

Vocabulary Hat Day

I reviewed each vocabulary word that was submitted on Wednesday and was very impressed.  I think that we will have a wonderful collection of hats to show off on Friday, October 14^th.  Again, please do not go out and buy any supplies.  I have told students that they are welcome to all of the supplies that I have in the classroom. I also have a lot of art supplies at home, since that is Natalie and Gabby’s favorite thing to do.  

Math

Students are off to a very good start with solving larger digit division problems.  We will continue practicing solving these problems each day next week.  Our focus has been using multiples of 10 and 100 to get to the target number (dividend) quickly.  So far, so good! 

*Students divided two and three-digit whole numbers by one-digit divisor.

Writing

This week we continued reading other author’s narratives.  Our purpose is to look for tricks that these authors use to help us raise the quality of our own story.  We call these texts mentor texts.  Students wrote a first draft this week.  I plan to conference with each student next week to set goals for improvement. 

Reading

Students took an assessment today to assess their progress with the comprehension strategies that we have been focusing on.  Students read a short story called “Slower Than the Rest,” by Cynthia Rylant.   After reading this short story, students answered questions that were developed to match each of the story element skills taught.  The results of this assessment will help guide my small group instruction.  Students who could use the extra help will be supportedJ

In our next reading unit we will be focusing on:

Context Clues

*Determining the meaning of words and or phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative language (simile and metaphor).

*Using context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, rereading as necessary. 

Inferring

*explaining the interactions between individuals, events, ideas, or concepts.

*Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says when drawing inferences from the text)

*Determine the meaning of phrases as they are used in the text

Theme

*Compare and contrast stories in the same genre on their approaches to similar themes and topics.

Social Studies

Students are learning about the first civilizations and Native American regions in chapter 3.  My uncle hunts for arrowheads.  We texted him a few questions that connect with what we are reading about.  The class enjoyed looking at the picture of the 10,000 year old lance point that he found.  This tool was used to kill the mammoth during the “Ice Age.”  He also sent us a picture of his amazing display case filled with Native American tools/arrowheads.  These pictures have sparked great conversations and peaked interest.

Science

We started the unit, Earth and Space Systems this week.  Students learned about gravity and how the moon, sun, and earth interact. I have also modeled how these interactions, combined with the earth’s tilt, affect the seasons.  During our discussions of tilt/seasons I found this terrific site.  http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/Dur_OneYear.php

We typed in Barrow, Alaska and the kids were amazed that a city in the United States has over 2 months of complete darkness and in the summer 2 months of 24/7 light.  We will continue our investigation of Earth and Space Systems next week.

Reminders

Oct. 13            Picture Re-takes

Oct. 14            Vocabulary Parade (hats due!)

Oct. 19            Early Dismissal (12:50)

Oct. 30            Student Flu Shots (parents had to send in permission form ahead of time)

Oct. 30            Fall Room Party 2:15-3:00

                                                                                   

Sincerely,

                                                                                    Dan Keenoy