February 19th through 23rd

Keenoy’s Pups News                                        2-23-18 

     We are moving right along with our year!  It is so hard for me to believe that March is so quickly approaching.  My son Caleb has his first soccer tournament this weekend.  We love taking the family to his games and the kids are looking forward to soccer season starting back up.  This sport keeps our weekends VERY busy in the Spring. 

     It was great meeting with everyone at conferences.  I loved having the opportunity to share your child’s accomplishments and hard work.  I am confident that they will continue working hard during our last trimester of elementary school.  The last third of the year goes by quickly and is an extremely busy time of year for 5th graders.  Thank you for your continued support and please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions.

Keenoy Pup of the Last Two Weeks-Noah E. and Briana J.

Noah E.

Hello, my name is Noah.  I have a sister, mom, dad, one dog, and four cats.  My mom is a teacher here at Paxton Keeley and my dad is a firefighter.  My dog thinks about food all day.  I have a zipline and a trampoline.

Briana J.

Hi, my name is Briana and I have six people in my family.  My mom, dad, sister, two brothers, and me.  My favorite subject is math and art.  When I go home, I usually spend time drawing or coloring.

The next Pup of the Week is Parker K.  Please bring any pictures or items that you would like to put on our bulletin board that is located outside of our classroom.

Writing

I enjoyed teaching Non-Fiction writing, but I think that it is safe to say that both students and I are excited about the change in genre.  Students took a post-assessment for Non-Fiction writing last week.  Students learned information about Harriet Tubman (two articles and one video).  Students then organized this information by planning and writing a five-paragraph essay.  I am confident that students applied the non-fiction writing strategies learned during this unit.  These will be graded and shared with students next week.

Our new writing unit revolves around research based argumentative essays.  I view this as editorial writing, with a little bit more emphasis on research based arguments.  The process that we will be following includes: 

     *researching the topic by reading/viewing trusted sources.

     * listing the pros and cons for each side of the argument.

     *creating a thesis statement and turning that into a terrific beginning

     *using a plan sheet to organize our thinking and arguments

     *drafting these ideas

Students worked on a Pre-test this week for this genre of writing They learned information about people who keep wild animals as pets.  Students were given articles that supported this idea and some that were against it.  They then selected a view and created an argumentative draft that included reasons for their decision.

Reading

We completed the book, Through My Eyes by Ruby Bridges this week.  I was so impressed with our conversations about this book.  Next week, I plan to start a new read aloud book called A Long Way from Chicago, by Richard Peck.  I modeled and shared several cause/effect lessons during the last couple of weeks.  This week we continued using these strategies to improve comprehension.  I will continue meeting with individuals and small groups to support these skills.

Science

A couple of scheduling changes this week caused our new Matter Unit to be moved to next week.  This unit is filled with fun activities and exploration.  Below, I have listed the science standard that we will cover next week.

* Measure and graph quantities to provide evidence that regardless of the type of change that occurs when heating, cooling, or mixing substances, the total weight of matter is conserved.

Social Studies

We completed chapter 10 this week.  The big idea that we focused on was “Westward Movement and Development.”

Students will continue to learn about how the country grows in chapter 11.  These lessons focus on a) Industrial Revolution b) Immigration c) Texas and the Mexican War   d) Movement West-Gold

Rush

Math

Next week students will continue learning about Operations with Fractions in Unit 5.  The concepts that I will focus on include:

*Multiplication of fractions and whole numbers.

*Fractions of fractions

*Area Models for Fraction Multiplication

*Understanding an Algorithm for Fraction Multiplication

Sincerely,

                                                                                                            Dan Keenoy

Mismatch Fun!