Mallen's Monday Memo September 23, 2013

Monday Memo

 September 23, 2013

 

Dear Parents,

 

I hope everyone had a great weekend! I appreciate that the majority of the students were ready to test on their RC book on Monday. They had three chances to pass the book. The majority passed their test the first time they took the test. If they didn’t pass it, they got a 0 for their score and are starting on their new book. The new book is a Laura Ingalls book as I had explained in the last Monday Memo. They need to have that book read and tested by Oct. 1^st. Dividing the book into reading so many chapters a night, helps to avoid having to read it all at the end… Thanks again to making sure your child is reading every night!

 

In reading this week, we are testing today over By the Shores of Silver Lake. We took the spelling test today and we wrapped up our common noun unit in grammar. We will be working on ending our first theme in reading (already!!) .  Our first theme has been entitled Journeys. The students will be doing review lessons over their grammar lessons this theme (subjects/predicates, compound sentences, and common nouns) They will have two stories in their anthology this week. One is entitled Chester Cricket… and the other is called Parcel Post Kid. Both of these stories continues our theme on journeys taken by people or animals…  Our skills this week in reading include: Comprehension, Vocabulary, Comparing/Contrasting and Syllibication.  Our spelling words this week are review words from the last 4 lists we have had.

 

Today in Math, we did our Chapter 1 book test. We will be testing over Chapter 1 tomorrow. I have been giving the students periodic quizzes over the information we have had in this chapter all week. There has been a lot of information so I am hoping that by continually reviewing the information learned, that will help them continue to retain the information. We will be starting our new unit on Wednesday. This unit is on learning how to add and subtract using mental math. The idea is to get them thinking about the subtraction and addition concept. They will also spend a little time this week estimating sums and differences. I really like our daily review as it continually reviews the concepts we have learned in math and it really helps them prepare for our Iowa Assessments. I am thrilled to say that we have 10 members of the “Never Again Club”. The way to enter the club is to get 100% on the 5 minute 100 point timed multiplication test. Most of them are doing an amazing job! Keep working a few minutes a night with them on those! It will truly pay off for them for their future in math!!

 

For Science today, we began a new unit. We got a little behind so the test wasn’t until Friday. I will share the student’s scores with them, but I will keep the tests for the Parent/Teacher conference. I will start sending the results home with the students after the conferences. So long as the students study those study guides, they will do very well on their test. They did a great job on their first science test!! This week we are starting a unit on animal characteristics. This is another favorite of the students. We will be working on animal growth and adaptations this week.

 

I will be sending home the homeroom parents letter as soon as I hear back from everyone. We are a little short on helpers. I have received a few emails, planner notes, and the letter returned. I will put a due date on it of this Friday, September 27^th. If you are interested in helping with any/all of the room parties, please let me know via email/phone call/planner note/ returned letter from school, and next week I will send the note home to the parents that have agreed to help. Again, thanks for the time and trouble it takes to put the parties together. Just a reminder to send $2.00 with your child for party money to help offset those expenses! I have had 3 students bring their $2.00.

 

I hope everyone has a great week! As always, please feel free to call me with questions/concerns.

 

Sincerely,

Chris Mallen

Phone:  444-3093 (Home)   444-4300 ext. 336 (School)

Email:  chris.mallen@bkcsd.org

Monday Memo

 September 16, 2013

 

Dear Parents,

 

I hope everyone had a great weekend! Last week we were treated to decorating cookies with our new friends at the Belmond Care Center. We really enjoyed our time there. They are our adopted business and invited the 4^th grade to come over and help them celebrate National Care Center week. We thank them so much for all they do for us! They will be a part of your child’s 4^th grade experience this year!

 

In reading this week, we are testing over Finding the Titanic. We took the spelling test today and we wrapped up our compound sentence unit in grammar. We will be working on a story entitled On the Frontier. This is a story that comes from a chapter in one of the Laura Ingalls Wilder books. With that, today the students will be receiving a Laura Ingalls Wilder book. This is their RC book that I would like to have read and tested on by October 1.  Most of them did a great job testing on at least one RC book. Those that haven’t, will be reading during recess time so that they can get that book finished so they can start on this Laura Ingalls Wilder book. These books are a little bit lengthier, so I recommend that you see how many chapters are in their book and divide that by the number of days until October 1 and have them read that many chapters each night. Again, reading at least two books a month is our focus! Our skills this week in reading include: Comprehension, Vocabulary, Noting details, Taking notes and using guide words. Our spelling words this week are homophones. We will be working on common nouns with our grammar lessons this week as well.  Our guided reading books are all books that have a frontier theme to them. They all work on the skill of noting details in their reading. We also have the individualized SRA kits that we share with the other fourth grade classes. It is our week this week. We aim to get at least two done throughout the week.

 

Today in Math, we spent the time today continuing to work on counting back change. This week we are focusing on decimals, problem solving with problems that have decimals, and doing a diagnostic review. We will continue working on our daily reviews (we call them buckets) and on a daily multiplication sheet with weekly timed multiplication tests.

 

For Science today, we are doing a Science review today. Tomorrow I will be sending home a study guide with the students for Wednesday’s first Science test. This test is over our plant and animal adapatation chapter. We will be starting on a region of the United States to finish our week.

 

I will be sending the book order in today. Once we receive the books, I will send out a new book order. If you are interested in being a homeroom parent to help with the parties, I would love that!! Please let me know via email or phone call. I will put you on the list. Request the party you would like to help with and I will put you on that party and once I receive everything back (let me know by Sept. 30) I will send home a list of phone numbers and names of the people on the committee and you can contact each other to plan. I thank you so much for time and trouble!!

 

 

I hope everyone has a great week! As always, please feel free to call me with questions/concerns.

 

Sincerely,

Chris Mallen

Phone:  444-3093 (Home)   444-4300 ext. 336 (School)

Email:  chris.mallen@bkcsd.org

Monday Memo

 September 9, 2013

 

Dear Parents,

 

I hope everyone had a great weekend! Last week went very quickly. We weren’t here on Monday and I attended a meeting in Mason City on Thursday.

 

In reading this week, we are testing over Grandfather’s Journey. We took the spelling test today and we wrapped up our subject and predicate unit in grammar. We will be working on a story entitled Lost and Found which is about the Titanic. The kids always enjoy this story. We will be working on the skills: Comprehension, Vocabulary, Outlining, and Syllabication. Our grammar lessons this week are over compound sentences. We will also be spending some time gathering information on the Titanic. If the students would like to bring any information they find about it to school, that would be great! That could be through books, magazines, internet information…

 

This week in math we are working on understanding decimals with money, counting money and the most important part, we will be counting back change. This will be an ongoing skill as I feel it is so important that the students learn to count back change. I appreciate that if there is an opportunity at home to practice this skill, that you will. We are going to be adding more rows to our daily review. They are doing a good job with those wonderful reviews! It is such a good thing for the kids to do to prepare for the Iowa Assessments. It keeps all of those skills fresh in their memories. The daily times sheets are starting to work as well. We currently have two members of the “Never Again Club”. They join the “club” when they achieve 100% on their 100 point 5 minute timed test. There are a lot of the students that are knocking on the door to the club, and hopefully they will join on one of our Friday assessments.

 

We finished up on our social studies preview unit. Today we started Science. We are working on classification for our first unit in Life Science. This is a fun unit and I think they will enjoy the information they learn!

 

Just a reminder that the students are reading a library RC book of their choice and they need to have tested on it by Monday the 16^th. That is the same day that book orders are due. I will be giving the students their new RC books on Monday. Thanks for having them read every  night!!

 

I hope everyone has a great week! As always, please feel free to call me with questions/concerns.

 

Sincerely,

Chris Mallen

Phone:  444-3093 (Home)   444-4300 ext. 336 (School)

Email:  chris.mallen@bkcsd.org