February 7th through 10th

Keenoy Cardinal’s News                2-10-17

Dear Families,

The weeks are flying by right now!  It seems like in a blink of an eye, I’m typing up another newsletter again.   I will not be sending home Friday Folder marks this week.  I plan on using the weekend to complete all of my progress reports.  Have a wonderful week and thank you for everything that you do!  Please do not ever hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns.  

Koala of the Week-Kaelin Tindall

My name is Kaelin.  I have a mom, dad, and step dad.  I also have two siblings and two step siblings.  My step brother's name is also Kalen.  My step sister is younger than me and my other two siblings (Kai and Taylor) are older than me.  I enjoy playing basketball and baseball.  I also like traveling to new places. Another interest of mine is going to amusement parks.

Conferences

I sent home a confirmation note last Friday with your scheduled conference time.  Please contact me right away if changes need to be made.   I look forward to meeting with you about your child’s second trimester progress next week.

Valentine’s Classroom Party

The February room parties are on Tuesday, February 14th from 2:15 – 3:00 pm.   I want to thank ALL of the parents that have planned, organized, and/or contributed supplies for our classroom parties (Fall, Holiday, Valentines).  Our class greatly appreciates all of your time and effort! 

Your child may exchange valentines with his/her classmates at some point during the Holiday party.  Last week I sent home a current class list to use for Valentines.  This is an optional activity. However, if your child chooses to pass out valentines, there should be one for each child in the class.  Students may also decorate a box/bag, at home, to use to gather their valentines. 

Math

I was extremely impressed with our overall Topic 9 fraction assessment scores.  Over half of the class scored a 90% or above! 

This week we have been working on adding and subtracting fractions in Topic 10.  In this unit students have to apply the skills learned in Topic 9. 

**A single fraction addition/subtraction problem might involve students:  finding a common denominator, borrowing from a whole number, changing an improper fraction to a mixed number, and simplifying.  Although students have been extremely successful with these skills in isolation, combining these skills with one problem can be challenging.   I will continue providing enrichment opportunities for students who are showing terrific understanding of these skills.  I will also give students extra support for those who need the practice.

Reading

The last few books that we have read aloud connect very well together.  The latest book called, Children of the Dust Bowl focuses on the migration of people from the dust bowl states to California.  When they arrived in California they faced even more hardships and hateful discrimination.  Police blockaded state lines to prevent the entrance of “Okies.”  These actions are sparking great conversations about kindness and constitutional rights of American citizens. This shows that the readers in Koala Land are deep level thinkers and are comprehending the book well. 

Informational Writing

Many students have completed their plan and first draft.   Next week we will be entering the revision phase of the writing cycle.  My lessons next week will focus on improving student writing with: beginnings, endings, and blending a storytelling voice with research fact based information.  I am pleased with the progress that we have made so far.  

Social Studies

We started back up with social studies at the end of this week.  Students are learning about the Pre-Revolutionary War events in Chapter 7.  My goal will be to connect real life taxing situations with how taxing was handled during the 1700’s.  Students will have the opportunity to look at these situations from different character perspectives (colonists, King George, British Soldiers, Patrick Henry). 

Science

Students completed their friction investigation and graph this week.  We accumulated the data collected from each group and found a classroom average.  The main idea of this activity was to determine the amount of force needed to pull a bag of sand across three different surfaces (tile, carpet, and concrete).  We measured this force by using the measurement Newtons.  Students are becoming experts at conducting a proper science experiments from a testable questions.       

                                                                                                Sincerely,

                                                                                                Dan Keenoy