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

Mallen's Monday Memo January 31, 2011

Monday Memo

January 31, 2011

Dear Parents,

I hope everyone had a great weekend! It is so hard to believe that February begins tomorrow already. Time does fly!

This week in Reading we are beginning to finish our “Problem Solvers” unit. We will be reading two stories this week during whole group time. We will be reading about Louis Braille and Juan Verdades and how their problem solving led to some great ideas for America. We will be working on reviewing adjectives this week, vocabulary, comprehension, and discussing poetry a little as well. The spelling review works are attached to this memo. We will also be working on reading another biography that we will use to write a biography of a famous American. We will read the books this week and work on the writing next week.

We will be finishing up on a lot of chapters this week. My plan is to try to test over Social Studies on Thursday (look for a study guide Wednesday night) and to test over Science on Friday (look for a study guide on Thursday night).  We will also be finishing up with our chapter 5 in math this week as well.  We will be testing over that on Thursday. Just knowing their multiplication facts will make that test easy for them. I am thrilled at how well they are all doing on their facts now!

I sent home a book order last week and it is due this Friday. If you need extra time, just let me know and I would be happy to wait to send the order in. By next week, if your child could make a Valentine’s box at home, that would be great! Our party is on Valentine’s Day and having the box there by Thursday of next week, would be great as we can get our valentines all passed out… I have a list of the students in the class on this memo.

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

                                                                                                                                                                     

Easton Barrus                                       Kelsey Peterson

Chanse Berneman                               Omar Ramirez

Taylor Branstad                                    Ryann Sander

Destiny Dwyer                                      Jacob Schmidt

Katelyn Fekkers                                   Isacc Sorenson

Hailey Garrard                                      Dezeray Starbuck

Koty Kuhlers                                         Gustavo Suarez

Jayden Lane                                         Samantha Wester

Janeth Martinez                                 Keaton Wilson

Zac Nelson

Have a great week!
Chris Mallen

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

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

Mallen's Monday Memo January 10, 2011

Monday Memo

January 10, 2011

Dear Parents,

                I hope everyone had a great weekend!  I want to start and thank the room mothers, Mrs.  Branstad, Mrs. Sander, Mrs. Kuhlers,  and Mrs. Hovden for the wonderful Christmas party they put on for the kids!! Just a reminder that the book order is due tomorrow. Also a reminder that the students need to keep reading each night for at least 20 minutes. We are continuing our reading incentive months. This month is Star Teacher month. I have challenged them all to read each night for 20 minutes as I do. We are using the reading counts book points for the books they pass, as our reading incentive challenge. The students will find out at the February reading incentive assembly who are two winners for the month are. Keep up the reading!!

                We have begun a new unit in reading entitled “Problem Solvers”. With that, the students will be reading biographies for their genre this month. Each student has a biography to read and test over and then can read what they wish for the month, once they have read the biography. The theme concerns how people have solved different problems in their life and their experiences along the way. So many of our biographies they are reading, show exactly that, how people have overcome their problems and become great people because of that. We will be working on a variety of skills this week. During grammar we will be focusing on irregular verbs. Our spelling words this week involve words with the final e dropped. We will work on vocabulary, comprehension, note taking and some health related words this week. For our centers we will focus on vocabulary and working on our typing skills as well as a Successmaker skill lesson this week.

                During Math, we are working on multiplying by multiples of 10, 100, 1000 on our new unit packet. We will also be working on estimating products, mental math, and using arrays to multiply, this week.  Along with our reviews and our occasional timed multiplication tests, we are busy during math!!

                Using primary and secondary sources of information will be a skill we will work on during social studies this week. We will also be talking about the immigrants in the west and recognizing frame of reference, during the week. We are starting to get to the end of our Western Region of the United States.

                In Science, we are working on Rocks and Minerals. We are doing a lot of vocabulary with our unit. We do a lot of it on the prometheon board and have occasional quizzes over the material we have learned. The students really tend to enjoy this unit as so many of them love to collect rocks!

                Again, just a reminder that the book orders are due tomorrow and to have the students read each night for at least 20 minutes!!

Have a great week!!

Sincerely,

Chris Mallen

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

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