Mallen's Monday Memo, August 29, 2011

Monday Memo

August 29, 2011

Dear Parents,

I hope everyone had a great weekend!! We made it through our first week of school!  Everyone is starting to do better with remembering to listen when I talk, focusing, using your time… I appreciate that you are making sure the kids finish their homework, if they have any. Reading every night for 15 minutes is also something I am so appreciative of you making sure your child does. Thanks for referring to my first memo for any questions you may have about the classroom…

This week in reading we are reading about a man who lived part of his life in Japan and part in the United States and how he felt that home was in both places. The story is called Grandfather’s Journey. We will be working on a variety of skills with this story, this week. Comprehension, vocabulary, word webbing, and writing a haiku poem are a few of the skills we will work on this week. We will also be working on subjects and predicates as well as reviewing the kinds of sentences, which we worked on last week, during our grammar skills time. Our spelling words this week have the long 0 and i vowel sound and the short o and I vowel sound. The words are attached to this list. For centers, we will be doing a vocabulary story, with words from our story, keyboarding with our Fusion Computers, doing a review activity that we call our language bucket, working on comprehending with poems, and doing Successmaker in the computer lab. We are busy during reading!!

For Math, we are working on place value and the value of numbers. This week we are working on problem solving with those concepts. We also do a daily review sheet, we do what we call a math bucket, and we do our math lesson and spiral review. It seems like a lot but they have a lot of time allotted to working on their math, and if they use the time wisely, there is plenty of time to play some math menu games. We have learned Ten Toss so far this year.

We had fun doing a classification game on the promethean board and we also did a game where we identified the location of the 7 continents. We are also doing daily oral geography and daily oral science. We are starting our science and social studies class with these problem solving activities. It is a fun way to get started. Right now we are talking about bacteria and decomposers with our daily oral science. It is kind of gross, but interesting. For Social Studies, we are working on our handbook in our textbook that review the use of globes, maps, … We also have some fun promethean board activities that relate to our topic of the day. We do a variety of activities each day with Science and Social Studies. We read, write, do hands-on and we try to finish with some type of game on the pb.

Keep having the students read a chapter of Tales of A Fourth Grade Nothing each night. We will have be testing over that story at the end of the week. I will then give the students their own book from the realistic fiction genre to read independently and test over. Thanks for signing the planner each night that the students have read for at least 15 minutes!

As always, any questions or concerns, please feel free to call or email me!

Sincerely,

Chris Mallen

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

Email:  chris.mallen@belmond-klemme.k12.ia.us

Mallen's Informational Monday Memo Aug. 22, 2011

Welcome Back To School

Informational Monday Memo #1

August 22, 2011

Dear Parents,

            I hope everyone had a great summer! It went so fast and that just amazes me!  Every Monday you will receive a Monday Memo which will tell you about the goals and objectives of that week. It will also tell you of any assessments your children will need to study for and things of that nature. I also attach the week’s spelling list to the Monday Memo. This first memo is to let you know a bit about myself and about how I “run” my classroom. I feel that communication is vital between the parents and teacher and I would like to begin by encouraging you to let me know any concerns/questions you have by emailing me or calling me at any time. I like to be proactive on situations, so don’t let it fester, just give me a call/email and we will figure out something. I have my numbers and email address listed in the memo. I have also attached a roster of the students for you. I am also going to use your email address to give you any information, concerns, questions… that I have for you. I also have a blog on our school website. That address is also at the bottom of this memo.

ABOUT ME

           

            This is my 29^th year of teaching. I have taught in three districts, Shelby-Tennant, Kanawha, and Belmond-Klemme. I have taught K-12 Special Education, 5^th grade, 3^rd grade, and 4^th grade. I graduated in 1983 from the University of Northern Iowa. My husband, Dan, works at 3M Corporation in St. Paul, MN. He comes home weekends. I have three children.  Mackenzie is 25 and works for Verizon Corporation in Jacksonville, Florida. Kelsey is 22 and lives in Iowa City and is an ICU nurse at the University of Iowa Hospitals. Keaton is a senior at Belmond-Klemme High School. We have two dogs, Kinnick and Nile. Our favorite pastimes are attending Keaton’s events and attending the Iowa Hawkeye football games.

HOMEWORK

            I try to allow enough time during the day for the students to get their work done. If they don’t finish it, they are to finish it as homework. If it isn’t finished, they will finish it during their recess. My major goal for the students to have for their homework is to read 15 minutes or more each night. Each student will have a planner. We will fill it out each day. They will circle any homework they have that night. I ask that you put your initials at the bottom of each day. Please only initial it if they have read for 15 minutes that day. If it isn’t signed, I will assume they didn’t read and I will have them read for 15 minutes during recess. I appreciate your help with that! The first book they have is in a plastic baggie. For the first book, we are all reading Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. Once the book is done, (We will be doing a few of the chapters together), they will take an RC book quiz. If they get 70% or better, they will receive a punch on a punch card I have on a bulletin board for them. They will receive a prize when the punch card is filled. They also have a card in their plastic bag, where they will check off each book they pass. Just a reminder that they have three chances to pass the quiz. Once they pass the first quiz, they will be picking out their own books, however, I am doing different genres each month that I will be having them read at least one book of their choice, in each genre.  I also want them to have their multiplication facts memorized as soon as possible. We will be doing daily multiplication sheets but mostly I will need to have them work on their facts, through multiplication cards, computer games…, at least 10 minutes a night, if they need to. Having them memorized will make 4^th grade math so much easier for them. Again, thanks for your help with that as well!!

BOOK ORDERS

            I send book orders home with the students each month. I send a variety of orders home with them so that they have a variety of books to choose from. Please send a separate check for each book order you may decide to order from. Please don’t feel obligated! I will try to make the due dates about 10 days from the day they get them. I am attaching the first book orders of the year. Let’s have them due on September 9^th.

BEGINNING OF THE DAY

            The students have a variety of ways that they can start their day before school starts. They have the choice of eating breakfast in the lunchroom, going to the library and reading a book, using the computer lab to do CCC and going to the gym for the walking program. I have a chart in my classroom for the students to put a sticker for each time they get 70% or better on CCC, either math or reading. If they come early, they could go to the lab and do a lesson in math or reading and still have time in the walking program. We start school at 8:10 now, so there won’t be as much time as in the past. With that, at 8:10 there will also be the morning announcements. We will begin our day as soon as the announcements are over. I have attached a copy of my schedule to this memo as well.

STUDENT TEACHER:

Kay Stayle

            We are so fortunate to have a student teacher with us for the next 8 weeks. She will start by observing my class and observing my methods and as the weeks progress, she will be more and more responsible for the teaching. She will be writing the Monday Memos when she is in charge of the classroom and that will be your sign that she is taking over. I look forward to having her here! She has provided us with some information about herself:

I have two children Stacy who is 23, resides in Clear Lake and Tyler who is 19 lives at home. They both work at Bennigan’s in Clear Lake.

I live in Meservey. I love to garden, camp, fish, sports of all kinds, love the outdoors and to hang with my kids, grandma and my dad.

I am a senior at Buena Vista University. I am student teaching in Belmond, Sheffield and Mason City and will graduate in Feb. 2012.

I teach Head Start in Mason City at Hoover Elementary.

I am a 1981 graduate from Mason City High School and moved to the Meservey Thornton area in 1982.

BIRTHDAYS

            Birthdays are a pretty special day in the kid’s life. If you wish to send treats, please feel free, however, don’t feel obligated. Just refer to the Jacobson Elementary handbook for any questions about treats.

CLASS LIST

Jesse Brown

Leslie Carlos

Shelbi E. Clayton

Austin Dean

Jaydon Gansen

Wyatt Heideman

Zachery Heiden

Kaytlynn Lee

Jose L. Martinez

Kassidy Miller

Gisselle Murillo

Kaden Nickell

Chance Nielsen

Jacob Noah

Emma Schroeder

Kelsey Smith

Cameron Steenhard

Dawson Summers

Mary Thompson

Trevor Usher

Elizabeth Vestweber-Boots

SCHEDULE

MONDAY-FRIDAY

8:10-10:15:  Reading (8:10-9:00: Journal, Spelling, DOL, Grammar Lesson)

                                      (9:00-9:30: Whole Group Lesson)

                                      (9:30-10:15: Guided reading groups and Centers)

10:15-10:35:  Recess

10:35-11:35:  Math

11:35-12:00: Study Time

12:00-12:25: Lunch

12:25-12:50: Recess

12:50-1:00: Break

1:00-1:30:  Blue Days:  Art

                     Green Days: Spanish

1:30-2:00: Blue Days: Music

                    Green Days:  PE

2:00-3:00:  Blue Days:  Science

                     Green Days:  Social Studies

3:00-3:20:  Tues.-Library

                     MWTHF:  Read Aloud/Dear Time

3:20:  Dismissal

WAYS OF COMMUNICATION

Email:  chris.mallen@belmond-klemme.k12.ia.us

Phone:  Home:  641-444-3093     School:  641-444-4300 ext 336

Blog:  http://MallensMemo-blogspot.com

I am so excited for this new school year!! There are so many learning opportunities for us in fourth grade. We will be learning about the ITITAROD race in Alaska in our first reading story. We will also be learning place value and the value of numbers in math. Social Studies will have us begin by learning about geographical terms and then the regions of the United States. In Science, we will be learning about how animals are classified. Hey-that is just the first week of school!!! Lots more learning ahead!! I look forward to a great year!!

Chris Mallen

Mallen's Monday Memo, April 11, 2011

Monday Memo

April 11, 2011

Dear Parents,

I hope everyone enjoyed the lovely weekend! We are finished with our ITBS tests for this week. The results will be sent home with your child’s final report card. Last week went by very quickly! We are enjoying our correspondence via Skype and Google Live Chat, with Kelley Wilhelm. He is working on his PHD from the University of Wisconsin and is currently doing the first of part of a 3 part tour of Antarctica. Part of his project involves connecting with a classroom. We get to be the classroom. He called us from Antarctica on Thursday. We were able to ask him questions and he showed us what it looks like outside his station. His goal is to get students interested in science. He will be there for two more weeks. Next year he will be there for two months and then he has another stint for two months. He will keep in touch with our class throughout those visits and we hope he will be available to talk to the entire Jacobson Elementary. There will be an article in the Blueprint section of the Belmond Independent , in the near future. Kelley did such a great job with the kids!! Speaking of the Belmond Independent, Dirk Vanderlinden will be coming to talk to us on Thursday. Every year the fourth graders get to draw an ad for local businesses. It is a great activity for them in so many ways. He will be talking to them about ads and we will write the ads the following week. The hope is to get them in the paper by the end of April.

This week we are beginning a new unit in reading. It is entitled “Friend or Foe”. We will be reading some non- fiction books as our genre this unit. Our first story is entitled “Salmon Summer”. With this story we will be working on comprehension, vocabulary, adverbs, direction following and multiple meaning words. We will be doing a few things with sequencing as well. We began a book last week, entitled Freedom Train.  This is the book from which the play we saw in Des Moines, was based on. We have been working on retellings throughout this book. We will continue to do that this week as well.  The students all have RC books to read and should be reading those at home for their 20 minutes a night. It was exciting to learn that we won the reading poster again for the month of March. I appreciate all the help you give me towards getting those kids to read each night!!

In Math, we are starting our unit on Geometry. Today we tested over the division unit. This was a tough unit but they did very well. Again, knowing those facts is incredibly important and they do know them!! We are going to be testing over the SE region of the United States on Wednesday. Look for a study guide to come home Tuesday night. We will be starting on the NE region of the US next week. We are starting a unit on planets in science this week as well. That is always a favorite of the kids! This week we will talk about the objects in the solar system and we will discuss a little about each planet.

The spelling list this week is on 3 syllable words and it is attached to this memo. I sent home book orders last Thursday. Let’s have those orders due on the 20^th of April.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to email or call me! Have a great week!

Sincerely,

Chris Mallen

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

Email:  chris.mallen@belmond-klemme.k12.ia.us

Mallen's Monday Memo March 14, 2011

Monday Memo

March 14, 2011

Dear Parents,

I hope everyone had a great weekend! Last week we finished our social studies chapter over the southeast region of the United States. We enjoyed our monthly visit to the care center on Friday. We read stories to them and made a leprechaun with them. They are always so good to us with their treats and hospitality.

 This week during reading we are reading two different excerpts from two different books. We are reading from Stormy, Misty’s Foal and Sacajawea. We will be working on a variety of skills this week including comprehension and vocabulary and we will be working on main idea and homophones. We will be reviewing our pronouns during our grammar time. They are to “memorize” the subject pronouns:  I, you, he, she, it, we, and they and the object pronouns:  me, you, him, her, it, us, them. We have discussed the possessive pronouns as well and will spend this week reviewing all of the above. Our spelling words this week are also review words from this unit “Heroes”. We will also be doing some reading from the story Misty of Chincoteague. They will be working on a variety of skills along with this really interesting story! Vocabulary and comprehension will be a huge part of this!

In math this week, we are continuing with our division unit. We are dividing with remainders and with zero in the quotient, this week. We will also working on dividing with money. Knowing their facts has made this process that much easier!

Water is our new unit in Science this week. We will talk about how water affects all aspects of life… We will be continuing on our Southeastern Region of the United States unit this week. We will be looking at how people make a living in that region and a lot about the history of that region. Again, that fits in so perfectly with our “Heroes” unit in reading!

The students will be having another review of 30 words from the past few stories, this week for their spelling list. The list is attached to this memo. The students really do an awesome job on their spelling tests. We just need to work on transferring that spelling to their daily work. It just all takes lots of practice and that is why we write so much!

Thank-you for returning the conference slips! I look forward to meeting with you next week. I won’t have a Monday Memo next week, since I will be visiting with you!!

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to give me a call or an email!

Sincerely,

Chris Mallen

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

Email:  chris.mallen@bemond-klemme.k12.ia.us

Mallen's Monday Memo March 7, 2011

Monday Memo

March 7, 2011

Dear Parents,

                I hope everyone had a great weekend! Last week went by very quickly. We were able to test on our science unit on Friday. We finished our chapter on multiplication in math. The reading incentive assembly on Wednesday went very well. Our class won with the most RC points during the month of February. Our two winners for the month were Keaton Wilson and Koty Kuhlers. They each won a hackeysack ball. I am so proud of the reading that most of them are consistently doing!! I appreciate you signing the planner verifying that they are reading 20 minutes a night. It is one of the best things we can do for the students. The more they practice reading, the more fluent they become and the more fun reading becomes as they are able to be taken to so many places through a book!! It is a terrific life-long skill!!

                In math, we are starting on our division unit. Yes, the dreaded long division is a part of this unit. Since they have their math facts memorized, I know this unit will go just fine. In their buckets, they have been introduced to the concept of long division, so I think it won’t be as difficult of a concept as it can be. As with reading, practicing on these kinds of problems, just makes it easier for them to do! We will be doing a lot of practicingJ We will also keep working on our daily math “buckets”. They are a great way to keep practicing those hodge podge of math skills that they will see on their ITBS test.

                This week during reading, we are going to be reading about Lou Gehrig and how he is a hero to many. Last week we read about Gloria Estefan and learned many reasons why she was a hero. We will be working on comprehension skills and vocabulary development, as well as fact and opinion, syllables, word histories, and possessive pronouns. Our spelling words have the VCV pattern in them and the list is attached to this memo. We will be reading about Mark McGwire, Marian Jones, and Roberto Clemente during our guided reading time. Our centers will also involve vocabulary, typing skills, Successmaker, a vocabulary game and working with syllables.

                Our new unit in Science won’t begin until Friday. We will start working on water for Science for our next unit. We will finish with our first part of the Southeast Region this week, hoping to test on Thursday over this region. A study guide will be sent home with the students on Wednesday, if all goes well. This region has been great to go along with our reading!

                I sent a permission slip home with the students last Thursday for a field trip on March 29^th. It is going to be an awesome trip to the Civic Center in Des Moines to see a production of the play Freedom Train. The major problem is that we HAVE to leave by 8:00 and so we NEED the students here by 7:50 that morning. We know the buses don’t always get here by that time, so we appreciate you making special arrangements to get them there that morning by 7:50!! It should be a great experience and we HAVE to leave at 8:00 because the production starts at 10:00. Thanks for your help!! The permission slips are due by March 15^th.

                We will be going to the care center for an hour on Friday. While there, we are going to read to our new friends and we will have a color activity for St. Patrick’s Day to share with them. I love the interaction the kids have with their friends. It is absolutely wonderful to see. Every single kid knows that their job is to try to make their friends smile. They know that for some of the residents, they are the only visitors they have had in awhile. These kids are awesome!!

                As always, if you have any questions/concerns, please feel free to give me a call or email me!

Sincerely,

Chris Mallen

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

Email:  chris.mallen@belmond-klemme.k12.ia.us

Mallen's Monday Memo February 28, 2011

Monday Memo

February 28, 2011

Dear Parents,

I hope everyone had a great weekend! Last week we did a story about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. We worked on a variety of skills over the story. We finished our biographies, (I will share them at conferences). We finished our short comprehension biographies on famous African Americans. We took what is called a MAP test. It is a district assessment given to every student in our district. Each student begins the test at their grade level and then as they answer the questions, the test progresses or goes back to their level. They are given a RIT level at the end of each test. We took 3 tests. We took the language arts test, the math test, and the reading test. We will do another test as a post test, in the spring. We will be looking to see if the students have made growth. Beginning next year, the test will be given three times a year. This is another way of seeing the student’s academic growth.

Our new reading unit is entitled “Heroes”. This week we are reading about Gloria Estafan and her rise to fame. We will be working on comprehension, vocabulary, object pronouns, homophones, and the spelling words are attached to this memo. Each of the spelling words has the change the y to an I rule in them. We will also be working on vocabulary skills, typing skills, and Successmaker during our center time. Writing about a hero in their life, is something we will begin on and work on throughout this unit. I will compile their stories into a booklet for them to take home.

In Math, the students are finishing up on Chapter 6 already. This chapter had them multiply 3D X 2D numbers  and with money, and with  problem solving . We will be testing over  this chapter this Thursday. We will be playing some math games on Friday. We are still working on the wonderful Drops in a Bucket skill sheets that really work them on a variety of skills. They are such good prep for the basic skills test.

We are going to be finishing up with our weather unit in Science. We will be doing a prometheon board activity on Thursday, using their voters. Next week we will be testing over weather. In Social Studies, we are working on finishing our first chapter over the Southeastern region of the United States. As I said before, this region blends in nicely with the stories we are reading for our reading class.

I sent some book orders home with the students last Thursday. They are due on March 10^th. As always, please feel free to give me a call with any questions or concerns!

Have a great day!

Chris Mallen

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

Email:  chris.mallen@belmond-klemme.k12.ia.us

Mallen's Monday Memo February 14, 2011

Monday Memo

February 14, 2011

Dear Parents,

                I hope everyone had a great weekend! Last week was filled with a variety of activities. We were so fortunate to have Linda Flaherty from the Blanden Museum in Fort Dodge, come and visit with us this year. She tours North Iowa schools and centers on the fourth graders. She presents them with a presentation of a famous artist and the kids receive a book from the museum. This year she talked about a special glass blowing artist. She had the kids create a stain glass window art activity and they really enjoyed it. She showed them a video of glass blowing and it was so interesting to see how little pellets of glass become beautiful pieces of work. That was a lot of fun. We are displaying their stain glass windows right now, but will send them home in the near future. We also got to go to the Belmond Care Center. We always enjoy our trip there and got to play Valentine Bingo with our new friends. They are so nice to us over there and it is always a delight! With two days of no school the week before, we spent last week kind of playing “catch-up”. We finished our social studies test over the Western Region. We finished our Rocks and Minerals unit. We started our Chapter 6 in Math over 2DX2D.

                In Reading this week, we are finishing up on our “Problem Solvers” unit. This week the focus is on Poetry. We will be reading a variety of poems. We will be reading a book of poems. We will be writing some different kinds of poems such as lyrical, haiku and acrostic poems. We will also finish our biographies this week. We will learning about some famous poets during our guided reading time. Centers will have us working on vocabulary skills, our typing skills, and doing Successmaker. Next week we will be starting our “Heroes” unit and I will talk more about that next week. The spelling list for this week is attached to this memo. Using exact adjectives is our lesson this week in grammar.

                For Math, as I said above, we started our Chapter 6 last week. This chapter involves multiplication but now we are working with multiplying 2DX2D. We will be working with problem solving as well this week. Multiplying money will also be worked on with the bigger numbers this week. We will continue with our “buckets” which have the constant review of math concepts as well this week. Hopefully we will be able to find a little time for some math games this week.

                We are starting on the Southeastern Region of the United States in our Social Studies. We thought it was a nice fit with our “Heroes” unit we will start on next week in Reading as many of our heroes are African American and came from that region of the US. Many of the people we read our biographies about came from that region of the United States as well. For Science, we are moving on talking about weather.

                Keep having the students read each night for 20 minutes. The students tied with Mrs. Jenison’s class so the poster got to stay with both of our classes. This month we are using the points they gain when they take an RC book test. Those points will be added up for the month of February and used to decide a winner between our classes.

                Thanks to our room mothers for the Valentine’s party they put on for us today!! The room mothers were:  Soccoro Martinez, Anne Nelson, Dawn Sander, and Megan Kuhlers. We truly appreciate their time and effort in putting on a great party for us!!

                As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to email or give me a call!!

Sincerely,

Chris Mallen

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

Email:  chris.mallen@belmond-klemme.k12.ia.us