Friday, March 3, 2017

February 27th through March 3rd




Keenoy Koala News                                   2-24-17 

Dear Families,

I hope that everyone had a wonderful week.  The Keenoy family will be traveling to Kansas City for Caleb’s first soccer league games on Saturday.  It looks like the weather will be perfect for an early March day outdoors.  We also solidified a trip to Florida over Spring Break.  The kids are so excited to go on a vacation to see the ocean!  Have a terrific week and thanks you for all that you do.

Koala of the Week: Lily Fox











Hello!  My name is Lily Fox.  I live with my mom (Lori), dad (Jeff), my cat (Wally), and my dog (Joey Snickers).  I like going to small group at my church, playing softball, reading novels, and hanging out with my friends and family.  I also like watching the Harry Potter movies with my family.  My favorite book is the one that I am reading right now called, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Heather Lee.

BizTown Junior Achievement
Included in your child’s Friday folder is an informational sheet about this fantastic 5th grade opportunity.  If you are interested in volunteering, please return the Volunteer Information form by Friday, March 10th (next week).  If you are unable to volunteer, you do NOT need to return the form.

We will begin our preparation work in the next couple of weeks so that we are ready to travel to Chesterfield on Tuesday, April 25th for our field trip. Students will learn about:
*The importance of sound personal finance.
*Explore their role as citizens of a community.
*The circular flow of money and goods in an economy.
*Interests, skills, and careers.
This will be an exciting unit of study so be sure to ask your child about his/her learning during the week.

The link below was shared with the class this week and gives general information about the visit.  Feel free to take a look!


Writing
*Students completed their non-fiction research post assessments on Thursday.  These will be scored over the weekend and given back next week.  I am EXTREMELY proud of their effort and progress with this genre of writing.  The comparison of pre and post tests are quite remarkable. 

*Our new focus is on research-based argument essay writing (opinion writing).  Students will complete their pre-assessments early next week. Students will form an opinion and write an essay about whether exotic animals should be allowed/kept as pets.

*We will be tying social studies in with writing as students will be choosing inventions that they feel are the most important invention of our time.

Math
* Students learned how to multiply mixed numbers.
   Students were surprised to learn that the first step in this process is to change mixed numbers      
   into improper fractions.
* Students learned how to divide whole numbers by fractions.
* Students learned how to divide fractions by whole numbers.
* Quick checks were completed and extra support was given to students who needed it.
* We will be assessing over this topic next week (more than likely on Wed. or Thurs.).

Reading
I continued reading aloud the book called Tuck Everlasting, by Natalie Babbitt.  Students seem to be enjoying the character’s decision making involving a ‘fountain of youth.” We worked on main ideas and identifying cause/effect relationships within the story.  Students were asked to practice these skills within two short shared texts.  I met with each student to clarify any confusions on their Dust Bowl homework.  These were marked with a grade at the top, but solely for the purpose of identifying who needs a bit of extra practice with this skill.  I would expect that many students would fall into this category at this point.  I will continue meeting with individuals and small groups to support all comprehension skills taught this year.

Word Study
This week we focused on words that have a silent consonant and become sounded consonants.  Students will take a test over their 10 words next week.  These words should be found in their student planners, and they are encouraged to study them a little bit each evening. 

Social Studies
We created a chart this week that outlined important information about the first battles of the Revolutionary War (Bunker Hill, Fort Ticonderoga, and Lexington/Concord).  I showed each student my completed chart and they were asked to modify their own chart (if needed).  I then gave students class time and two evenings to study for the quiz.  They must have used this time wisely, because I was very pleased with the overall scores.  The quiz was created directly from the chart.  Nice Job!

Science
As you know, we started our matter unit this week.  Students are in the beginning stages of identifying the properties of matter in learning cycle #1.

My School Color Run
This year, Paxton will be hosting our own school color run!  This is an exciting new program that will help create awareness for healthy living, raise funds, and is sure to be a blast.  Register Online by 4/7/17


Reminders
March 7         Early Dismissal 12:50
March 16        Spring Pictures
March 27-31   Spring Break -  No school!

Have a terrific week and please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions.
Dan Keenoy

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