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