Keenoy Koala News 1-20-17
I’m very thankful that the ice storm stayed
away from Columbia last weekend. The
Keenoy family is staying busy with frequent after school activities. My 5th grade son, Caleb enjoyed
the Smithton Try Me Out Night this week.
He loved playing the Viola and is hopeful that this will be the
instrument that he plays next year. Gabby entertains us daily by trying to keep
up with everyoneJ Students
love hearing my “Gabby Stories,” and ask for them daily. I really feel a strong sense of community in
our classroom and I love coming to work to teach your child each day. Have a wonderful week and thank you for all
of your continued support!
Koala of the Week
The
Koala of the week is Harrison Kimmons.
He likes to play with his brother Connor outside. Harrison also likes to play video games on
his XBOX One. He has a mom (Janet), sister (Alaina) and a brother (Connor) that
he cares a lot about. Harrison and
Alaina are twins, and she is about two minutes older than him. His brother Connor is eight years old.
Home School Basketball
League
Paxton
Keeley will have its first ever 4th and 5th grade basketball team which will
compete in Columbia Public Schools Home School Basketball League. If your child is interested in participating,
please complete the form sent home today and return it as soon as
possible. Depending on numbers, there
may be tryouts. Each team is only
allowed a limited amount of players.
Literacy Night: Bookapalooza 2017
Bookapalooza 2017 is Thursday, February 9 from 6- 8
pm. We’ll have cheap books, good food
and fun! We’ve planned a kids’ poetry
jam, a used book sale, book-themed raffle baskets created by our own PKE teachers,
cool guest readers, pizza $1/slice, and more.
We
are currently collecting children’s
books, DVDs, and magazines for the Used Book Fair. If you have donations, please bring them to
the Paxton Kelley office.
Watch
for more information in the coming weeks.
If you have questions or would like to volunteer for Bookapalooza,
contact Jill Varns at jvarns@cpsk12.org
Math
We
are currently in the middle of our Fraction Unit in Topic 9. Next week we will focus on these skills:
*Identifying
fractions that are in simplest form and finding the simplest form of a
fraction.
*Representing
decimals as fractions (tenths and hundredths).
*Labeling
a point on a number line using a fraction, decimal, and percent.
Reading
We
completed the book, The Watsons Go To
Birmingham and students really seemed to enjoy the movie. Afterwards, we naturally compared and
contrasted similarities/differences in both.
This story mentioned some of the racial tensions that existed in our
country during the 1960s. I was then
reminded about the book, Through My Eyes
by Ruby Bridges. This is a story about
Ruby attending one of the first integrated schools in Louisiana in 1960. Since I started reading this autobiography
last week, students have had INCREDIBLE
conversations. We have discussed that
there are still problems with prejudice that exist in our country, but progress
has been made. We have also connected this story with the Civil Rights Movement
and researched the Supreme Court decision, Brown vs. Board of Education. Students are VERY interested, and I am
enjoying the learning going on because of the great ideas being shared.
The
comprehension strategies that we will be focusing on during this book include:
*Compare
and Contrasting
*Point
of View
*Cause
and Effect
*Main
Idea
Each
of these strategies will be connected with the Common Core State
Standards. Students will be asked to
practice these strategies in their own reading notebook during this unit.
Informational Writing
This
week, I spent some of our writing time introducing several well-known
charities. While introducing these
charities, students selected the main ideas and took notes. We completed this work today and now it will
be time for students to select the charity that most interests them to
research. After students complete their
research, they will then turn their notes into an informational report (essay).
Students
have a much better understanding of what is needed to write an effective
informational report (essay). A way that
we have accomplished this is by focusing on an informational rubric while
dissecting several informational report examples. Next
week, students will start researching/note-taking information on the charity
that they selected.
Social Studies/Writing
Students
completed and presented a mini group research project this week. Each group (4-6 students) selected one of the
three Colony Regions (Southern, Middle, New England). As a class, we created a criteria list of
important ideas to research. Each group
was responsible for including information about: way of life, important people,
geography/climate, treatment of others, and a map of the region. Impressive list! Each group had a two hour deadline to
complete their poster. These are hung up
in our classroom and I am impressed with the end result. Students also did a wonderful job presenting
and working together in their group. The
Koalas are a VERY cooperative class!
Sincerely,
Dan Keenoy
