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. 1st. 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 27th.
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
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