Keenoy's Blue Dragons Newsletter September 16th, 2022

 Keenoy Blue Dragon’s Newsletter                   9-16-22

 

Dear Families, 

 

This group of Paxton 5th Graders are off to a fantastic start to the year.  We are having a lot of fun together while also working hard each day.  I’m sure that you’ve already heard several fun stories this week.  We’ve enjoyed some friendly banter with Mrs. Burk’s 5th grade class (across the hallway) and even named their doggie doorstop “Cucumber.”  They went on a nice little scavenger hunt to get him back yesterday😊.

 

Thank you for supporting your child and my teaching.  Please do not hesitate to reach out through email and have a wonderful week.

 

Keenoy Cash

Students had the opportunity to design classroom “Keenoy Cash” as a fun incentive for positive behavior.  I like to celebrate student’s positive choices by giving individuals or tables this cash.  After a week or two the Keenoy Cash banker collects the money and figures out a class total.  This allows us to work towards class goals/celebrations. Also, the table with the highest total for that week or two can also earn a special goodie.

 

Comet Carnival-Classroom Basket Raffle

In the Friday Folder you will see a pink flyer about a raffle basket for the Comet Carnival. Each classroom is contributing a basket to the raffle. The theme for our basket is St. Louis Blues Hockey.  If you are able, please send your donations to school with your child by October 3rd.  All the baskets will be up for the silent auction at the Fall Festival and Carnival on October 14th.

 

Math

*Students discussed the benefits of using unit cubes to measure volume.

*They measured volume by counting the number of cubes it takes to fill a rectangular prism.

*Students related volume to multiplication and addition by thinking about layers to find the volumes of prisms.

*Students explained and applied two different formulas (v = B x h; v= l x w x h) for finding the volume of a rectangular prism.

*Students will have an assessment over unit one during the week of the 26th.

 

Reading

Students really seem to enjoy listening to the book, Jackie’s Wild Seattle, by Will Hobbs.  I’ve continued using this book to model my own comprehension strategies when I read.  I will then ask students to practice these skills during independent reading time and at home.  We will be focusing on Story Elements for the next few weeks, and the standards that I will teach include:

*how characters in a story or drama respond to challenges

*compare/contrasting two or more characters, settings, or events in a story

*explain the relationships or interactions between two or more individuals

*compare/contrasting the overall structure (e.g., problem/solution) of events, ideas, concepts, or     information in two or more texts

 

Writing

Students have been writing during each content area for the last couple weeks.  This week, we officially started our writing genre cycle with personal narratives.  The plan is to continue analyzing the similarities and differences between memoirs and personal narratives by reading, Up North at the Cabin, by Martha Chall.  Students should realize that these genres are written about past experiences, but personal narratives focus in on a specific moment that stands out.  We will continue focusing on collecting strategies to prepare us for drafting.  These strategies are listed below.

1)         Listing special people and moments with them.

2)         First times, last times, and a moment they realized something important.

3)         List of Special Places and Moments at the place.

4)         Recent Moments That Stand Out

5)         Other authors’ ideas helping spark my own

 

Science

The first unit of study is learning about the Flow of matter and energy throughout an ecosystem.  Students seemed to enjoy creating a model to represent this cycle.  They had their choice of either drawing their own model or use pic collage to digitally create a design.  I will display their models in our classroom or 5th grade hallway.

 

Upcoming Important Dates

Sept. 21           No School-Teacher Workday

Sept. 29           Fall Picture Day

Oct. 10             No School-Teacher Workday

Oct. 14             Comet Fall Carnival

 

 

Have a wonderful weekend!

Dan Keenoy

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