January 28th through February 1st

Keenoy Kardinal News                                      2-1-19

Dear Parents,

Another short and cold week of school!  I enjoy Winter, but earlier this week was too cold.  This weekend, I am looking forward to traveling to Rockford, IL (near Chicago) to watch my son play soccer on Sunday.  Thank goodness that the temperature will be in the 40’s and not in the negative 40’s like yesterday in Chicago! 

Kardinal of the Week-William B.

Hello, my name is William.  I am eleven years old and have four people in my family.  This includes me (of course), my fourteen-year-old brother, and my mom and dad.  My family is from South Korea.  My favorite sport is soccer, and my favorite food is salmon. 

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

Parent Teacher Conferences

A confirmation note will come home next Friday, February 8^th with your scheduled conference time.  Please contact me right away if changes need to me made. I look forward to meeting with you about your child’s second trimester progress.

Reading

We will complete the book, The Watsons Go to Birmingham early next week.  This story mentions some of the racial tension that existed in our country during the 1960s.  I was then reminded about the autobiography, Through My Eyes by Ruby Bridges.  This is a story about Ruby attending one of the first integrated schools in Louisiana in 1960.  I’m excited to start this new read aloud very soon.  Since Martin Luther King’s birthday, the Civil Rights Movement has been a topic of several great conversations.   

The comprehension strategies that we will be focusing on during this book include:

*Compare and Contrasting

*Point of View

*Cause and Effect

*Main Idea

*Theme

Each of these strategies will relate to the Common Core State Standards.  Students will be asked to practice these strategies during independent reading time and each night at home. 

*The class voted to watch the movie, The Watson’s Go to Birmingham next week for a Keenoy Cash Celebration.  Look for a permission form in your child’s Friday Folder.

Writing

As a class, we focused on organizing nonfiction information this week.  As a class, we brainstormed three categories of information a reader would like to know about each charity.  These categories will become their middle three paragraphs and include:  1) The history of the charity.  2) What the charity does to help others.  3) Different ways the public can help.  They then spent time researching each idea for their informational stories.  Lessons also focused on effective notetaking, and I emphasized pulling out the main ideas. 

Math

As you know, students took an assessment over topic 4 last Week.  These were scored over the weekend and will be shared with you at Parent/Teacher conferences.  I was blown away by the success students demonstrated on this assessment.   Fifteen out of twenty students earned a score of 90% or above!  We have a classroom full of wonderful mathematicians and I’m so glad that they demonstrated it on this assessment.  I do not like to call assessments, “Tests.”  Instead I often refer to them as “Show Offs” or “Fun.”  They showed off all the information that they learned, and I am proud of them.

Word Study

This week students focused on Long I words.  Next week we will shift our focus to common suffixes. 

Students learned about a spelling pattern with the suffixes tion and sion.

Drop "d" and add "sion"

Base                 Suffix

Explode             explosion           

Collide               collision

Drop "e" and add "ion"

Base                 Suffix

Educate             education

Decorate           decorate

Words already ending with s like express add ion=expression

Science

Next week we will complete our experimental design friction investigation.  Make sure to ask your child about this experiment next week.

The Valentine Party

Last week’s newsletter included the basic information about boxes/cards/party.  Our classroom blog also has this information.  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask.

Reminders

Feb. 1-28… Pizza Sales (Information Sent Home)

Feb. 8...Conference Time Confirmation Note Goes Home

Feb. 14...5^th Grade Baby Pictures Due for Yearbook

Feb. 14...Valentine’s party @ 2:15

Feb. 15...No School - Teacher Workday

Feb. 18...No School (President’s Day)

Feb. 25-28 Conference Week

Feb. 28...Pizza Order forms and money due

March 1...No School

March 21...Pizza Order Pick Up (3-6pm)

Other Pictures from the week!

Sincerely,

                                                                                                           Dan Keenoy