October 1st through 5th

Keenoy Kardinal News                                                   10-5-18

I hope that everyone had a wonderful week.  As always, ours was jam packed with after school kiddo activities.  Thank you again for everyone who has/will donate time or items for the Comet Carnival. This is such an enjoyable event for children and could not take place without volunteers!  Have a wonderful week and thank you for everything that you do.

Keenoy Kardinal of the Week-Kameron G.

Hello, my name is Kameron.  My dream is to be a US Marine.  I like collecting artifacts from old Marine bases.  After I am finished with serving as a Marine, I would like to be a firefighter.  I love playing football.  Football and Basketball are my favorite sports.  These are the things that I would like to do when I grow up.

Kardinal Class Goal Celebration

As I am sure that you have heard, I enjoy giving out Kardinal cash for students who are following Paxton Keeley and class expectations throughout the day.  After a week or two, each table counts their cash and the table that has earned the most cash receives a special treat.  All the cash earned from each table also counts towards classroom goals that we created together.  KEENOY KARDINALS reached our first goal of 300 Kardinal Cash this week and voted for a classroom celebration.

Next week we will have a "Cozy Day and a Movie" celebration during the day.  Students can bring a pillow, blanket, or other cozy item to school.  Students can also wear their favorite sports team gear/hat. We have not voted on a movie, but I have several options for them to select from. This is a great group of kids and this time together will be a lot of fun.  Thank you for all your continued support.

Comet Carnival Basket 

So far so good!  We have two amazing mugs, a mini goal, and a winter hat.  A parent also sent in ten dollars to contribute to another gift item.  We would love more donations or items to earn more money for our school and to increase our chances at winning the pizza party!  You still have time to donate and please consider.  Rally House (located downtown) has a lot of St. Louis Blues items that seem to be at a reasonable price point.

Volunteer Links

It looks like we only have one Kardinal parent volunteer for our Comet Carnival Game.  We also still need a volunteer to organize a Fall classroom party game.  Please consider clicking the links below to sign up and donate your time.

Comet Carnival volunteer sign up

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0e49aaa829a4f49-comet

Fall party volunteer sign up

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0e4ca9ad23a1fd0-fall

Vocabulary Hat Day

I reviewed each vocabulary word that was submitted today and was very impressed.  I think that we will have a wonderful collection of hats to show off during our parade.  Again, please do not feel the need to go out and buy any supplies.  I have told students that they are welcome to use the supplies that I have in the classroom. I also have a lot of art supplies at home, since that is one of Natalie and Gabby’s favorite things to do.  

Math

Our week’s focus has been on using two different strategies for multiplying numbers. Students have practiced using the partial products strategy as well as the traditional algorithm.

Students also used unit conversions within the U.S. customary system to solve multistep problems.

Writing

This week we continued reading other author’s narratives.  Our purpose is to look for tricks that these authors use to help us raise the quality of our own story.  We call these texts mentor texts.  Students wrote a first draft this week.  I plan to conference with each student next week to set goals for improvement

Reading

Students took an assessment on Wednesday to assess their progress with the comprehension strategies that we have been focusing on.  Students read a short story called “Slower Than the Rest,” by Cynthia Rylant.  After reading this short story, students answered questions that were developed to match each of the story element skills taught.  The results of this assessment will help guide my small group instruction.  Students who could use the extra help will be supported.

Science

We will start our Earth and Space Systems Unit next week.  Students will learn about gravity and how the moon, sun, and earth interact.  I plan to model how these interactions (combined with the earth’s tilt) affect the seasons.  During our discussions of tilt/seasons I will share this terrific site that I found.  http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/Dur_OneYear.php

When we type in Barrow, Alaska students will be able to see that a city in the United States has over 2 months of complete darkness, and in the summer 2 months of 24/7 light.  VERY COOL!

The skills that we are currently working on include:

Context Clues

*Determining the meaning of words and or phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative language (simile and metaphor).

*Using context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, rereading as necessary. 

Inferring

*explaining the interactions between individuals, events, ideas, or concepts.

*Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says when drawing inferences from the text)

*Determine the meaning of phrases as they are used in the text

Predicting

*Using clues from the text to help us make reasonable predictions about what will happen in the future.

Word Study

This week student learned about long E pattern words (ee, ea, e consonant e).  We will have another spelling test in the middle of next week.  Your child’s spelling words should be in their planner.  Please encourage them to study to help with their test success.

Upcoming Important Dates

Oct. 6    Pumpkin Fun Run

Oct. 8   Vision and Hearing Screening Day

Oct. 12  Comet Carnival (5:00-8:00)

Oct. 16  Flu Shot Day

Oct. 16  Vocabulary Hat Day

Oct. 22  Dental Screening/Varnish Day

Oct. 25  Steele/Keenoy to Rock Bridge Planetarium  (morning)

Oct. 26  Fall Party 2:15-3:00

Have a wonderful week!

Dan Keenoy