Monday Memo

November 9, 2015

 

 

Dear Parents,

 

I hope everyone had a great weekend! Last week went by quickly! We were busy with our MAP testing last week. It took a lot of our math time up and with the early out, it didn’t give us a lot of time for our math lessons. This week we had Counselor Johnson today and our library teacher Mrs. Streigel, tomorrow. She is doing a great job of teaching different things on the computer! 

 

We will be reviewing reading skills this week through the reading the following stories:  Amelia and Eleanor Go For a Ride and Duke Ellington. We will be working on comprehension and vocabulary with these stories and we will be reviewing previously learned skills throughout the week. Our grammar lessons are reviewing nouns, singular nouns, plural nouns, common nouns, proper nouns, and possessive pronouns. Our spelling list is attached to this list. We will also be writing a personal narrative this week, taking this writing piece through the edited and publishing process.

 

We didn’t get very far in math last week. We had our early out, and we worked on the MAP tests two days. So, this week we will be continuing our focus on problem solving subtraction problems, both one and two step problems. Again, keep working with your children on their multiplication facts! There are some students who are doing a great job and others that need to keep practicing them. Once they have them, they will have them!!

 

We took our social studies test on Friday, and I sent the results home with them. We will be starting Science again, working on the body systems. This chapter just talks the basic about each of our body’s systems and the main organ in each.

 

Just a reminder that on Mondays, the students will be bringing home DOGS (Daily Oral Geography) that will be due on Friday. They can use any resource to answer the few geography questions. Those that hand it in on time, have their names on it, and get it perfect, will be in a drawing for a prize each Friday. Thanks for looking for that and helping with that!

 

As always, please feel free to call me with any questions/concerns!

 

Have a great week!

Chris Mallen

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

Email:  chris.mallen@bkcsd.org

Mallen's Monday Memo November 2, 2015

Monday Memo

November 2, 2015

 

 

Dear Parents,

 

I hope everyone had a great weekend! What a busy week we had last week! We didn’t get through our Social Studies chapter  so our test will be this week, with a study guide coming home with them Tuesday and the test being on Wednesday.  Last week we went to the care center on Monday with our computers and made door signs through the use of the software, Inspiration. We also paraded our Halloween costumes there on Friday. We paired up with the first graders and did a computer activity with them. We printed that out for them as well as for our care center friends. We had an anti-bullying assembly on Monday. We were treated to some 6^th graders putting on three Reader’s Theatre plays for us!! We had our Halloween party on Friday and thank our room parents: Norma Gonzalez, Jon Swenson, and Holly Dirksen for the wonderful party they put on for the kids! We also finished our Oct. 30^th RC book and quizzed on that. The students received their new books on Friday. Thanks for having them read for 20 minutes a night!!

 

We will be starting a story this week, entitled A Very Important Day. This is a great story about a few families celebrating the day that they became American citizens! We will be working on the following skills this week:  Vocabulary, Comprehension, Multiple Meaning Words, Journal Writing, and Newspaper article writing. Our grammar skill this week is working on possessive singular and plural nouns. Our spelling words for this week are attached to this memo. We continue working on SRA each day as well. They are great for all reading skills the students need.

 

We are getting closer to the end of our first module in math. We will continue working this week on subtracting and regrouping numbers. We also will continue to work on our daily reviews and our daily multiplication page. Thanks, again, for having your child work on those each night! We are starting to do weekly timed tests for multiplication, so working on them is going to start paying off for them!

 

We didn’t get to this last week but we will this week:  On Mondays, the students will be bringing home DOGS (Daily Oral Geography) that will be due on Friday. They can use any resource to answer the few geography questions. Those that hand it in on time, have their names on it, and get it perfect, will be in a drawing for a prize each Friday. Thanks for looking for that and helping with that! Finally, a normal week for us to work on these! As I said above, I will send home the study guide Tuesday, with the test being on Friday.

 

As always, please feel free to call me with any questions/concerns!

 

Have a great week!

Chris Mallen

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

Email:  chris.mallen@bkcsd.org

Mallen's Monday Memo October 26, 2015

Monday Memo

October 26, 2015

 

 

Dear Parents,

 

I hope everyone had a great weekend! This is a busy week for us! It is our Anti-Bullying Week! Many activities are planned. I will include a few. You will also be receiving and have received some information about some of the plans. Today, the students are going over to the care center with their laptop computers. The idea is for each class to do a service project. For our project, they are going to do an activity with a resident. The site is called wordel and the kids will be making a wordel with them and we will bring them back to be printed and laminated. We will then present them with them at a later date. I thought the residents might get a kick out of working on the computer. We are also pairing with a first grade class this week and we will do the same activity for the first graders. It should be fun being a role model for them!

 

Our RC book The Jacket is due on Friday. I will be giving them another book on Friday  that will be due on November 15^th. Thanks for having them read each night and watching that they are truly reading, not just looking around… Many have already passed this book and are reading another and that is fantastic!!

 

We will be starting a story this week, entitled Boss of the Plains. This is a great story about how the Stetson hat was made and the story behind that.  We will be working on the following skills this week:  Comprehension, Vocabulary, Writing a business letter, Making inferences, and some compare/contrast. Our grammar this week will be over plural nouns. Our spelling words have the  ir and ar sounds in them and are attached to this memo. We also do a daily SRA that you see come home each day. As I said at conferences, you want to see 80% on them. If they have a 90% or better, they get a sticker on their chart.

 

We will be continuing to work with standard algorithms in Math this week. We will be adding and subtracting numbers. We will also be doing our daily reviews and a fact sheet each day. Thanks for working with your children on knowing those facts as they will really appreciate that when we get to that unit!!

 

We are going to be  finishing up on the second chapter over the Northeastern Region of the United States in Social Studies this week.  We will be talking about the Iroquois Indian tribe that made their home in this region. We didn’t get to this last week but we will this week:  On Mondays, the students will be bringing home DOGS (Daily Oral Geography) that will be due on Friday. They can use any resource to answer the few geography questions. Those that hand it in on time, have their names on it, and get it perfect, will be in a drawing for a prize each Friday. Thanks for looking for that and helping with that!

 

We also get to watch a Reader’s Theatre put on by a 6^th grade class, on Tuesday! We have our service project at the care center on Monday. We are going to be with the first graders for half an hour on Tuesday. The students are to wear the color orange on Wednesday. Thursday is our Random Acts of Kindness day (refer to letter sent by Counselor Johnson). We will be parading to the care center with our costumes on, on Friday at 1:40 and then we will come back here for the 2:00 parade. Our party will be from 2:15-3:00. Thank you in advance to our room parents for the Halloween Party and for their time and talent!! The room parents for this party are:  Jon Swenson, Holly Dirksen and Norma Gonzalez is sending treats and drinks.

 

As always, please feel free to call me with any questions/concerns! I look forward to meeting with you at our conference time!!

Have a great week!

Chris Mallen

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

Email:  chris.mallen@bkcsd.org

Mallen's Monday Memo October 19, 2015

Monday Memo

October 19, 2015

 

 

Dear Parents,

 

I hope everyone had a great weekend! We had a busy week last week! We had Counselor Johnson on Monday. She talked to the kids about bullying and they decorated sacks for Fareway with rules about bullying. Some 4-H students came to talk to the kids about 4-H. They gave a great presentation and sent some literature about 4-H home with the kids. We finished Bound for Oregon this week and the students got a new book, The Jacket, by Andrew Clement. Again, for those that need help reading it, thanks for reading a page to them, they read a page… Andrew Clement is a great writer of fiction stories and this story has a great lesson in it! For some of the kids, they will have this book read in no time and can go to the library and check out a book. This book is due to be tested by October 30^th. I will be giving them a new book that day, which will be due on Nov. 15^th.

 

We will be starting a story this week, entitled Tanya’s Reunion. This is a great story that touches on the generations of a family and the effect that they have on Tanya’s life. We will be working on the following skills this week:  Comprehension, Vocabulary, Words with root/spect in them, Making inferences, and some compare/contrast. Our grammar this week will be over singular and plural nouns. Our spelling words have the short oo and long oo sounds in them and are attached to this memo. We also do a daily SRA that you see come home each day. As I said at conferences, you want to see 80% on them. If they  have a 90% or better, they get a sticker on their chart.

 

We will be continuing to work with standard algorithms in Math this week. We will be adding and subtracting numbers. We will also be doing our daily reviews and a fact sheet each day. Thanks for working with your children on knowing those facts as they will really appreciate that when we get to that unit!!

 

We are finishing up on the Northeastern Region of the United States in Social Studies this week.  I will be sending home a study guide over this chapter tonight, with the test being on tomorrow. Thanks for your help with your child studying for this test! On Mondays, the students will be bringing home DOGS (Daily Oral Geography) that will be due on Friday. They can use any resource to answer the few geography questions. Those that hand it in on time, have their names on it, and get it perfect, will be in a drawing for a prize each Friday. Thanks for looking for that and helping with that!

 

Reminder that we have an early out on Wednesday!

 

As always, please feel free to call me with any questions/concerns! I look forward to meeting with you at our conference time!!

Have a great week!

Chris Mallen

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

Email:  chris.mallen@bkcsd.org

Mallen's Monday Memo (Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2015) and Monday, October 12, 2015

Monday Memo

October 5, 2015 and October 12, 2015

(Tuesday, October 6, 2015)

 

Dear Parents,

 

I hope everyone had a great weekend! We had a busy week last week! We tested over our Science unit and I kept the results to share with you during conferences. We completed our review week over our first theme and finished our Mysteries genre activities. This is a strange week. No school today as we prepare for conferences. We have an early dismissal on Tuesday and Thursday at 2:00 for our conferences and no school on Friday. We will try to get as much in as we can during these few days.

 

We will be starting a new theme with our reading entitled “American Stories”. This is a fun theme that I try to integrate the genre of historical fiction. The students’ RC books are entitled Bound for Oregon, which is a wonderful historical fiction book. I am reading the odd chapters to them and they are to read an even chapter each night. I will be reading chapter 7 today and they are to read chapter 8 tonight…

Our first story is about a family that is from Mexico and migrates to Iowa in the summers to help with farm work. The story is about how he learns to speak some English. I have heard that the town this story takes place in is Hampton, but I have nothing to verify that. Anyway, we will be working on the following skills throughout this story:  Vocabulary, Comprehension, Drawing Conclusions, and Contractions. Our grammar skills will be over proper nouns. Our spelling words have the ou and schwa o sounds and are stapled to this memo. We will also be writing a personal narrative throughout these two weeks.

 

We will be working with standard algorithms in Math this week. We will be adding and subtracting numbers. We will also be doing our daily reviews and a fact sheet each day. Thanks for working with your children on knowing those facts as they will really appreciate that when we get to that unit!!

 

We are starting on the Northeastern Region of the United States in Social Studies this week! We tested over our plant unit on Friday, and I kept the results to show you at conferences. If you or your family has ever visited the Northeastern Region and have some artifacts, brochures, pictures, etc… of this region, we would love for your child to share them!

 

In the next two weeks, we will be having our Healthiest Walk on Oct. 7^th. We also get to have our librarian come and work with the kids on some computer skills!!

 

As always, please feel free to call me with any questions/concerns! I look forward to meeting with you at our conference time!!

Have a great week!

Chris Mallen

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

Email:  chris.mallen@bkcsd.org

Mallen's Monday Memo September 28, 2015

Monday Memo

September 28, 2015

 

 

Dear Parents,

 

I hope everyone had a great weekend! We enjoyed wearing different themes each day to celebrate Homecoming week! The students enjoyed the parade on Friday and the outdoor assembly on Monday. That was a lot of fun!! Just a reminder to let me know, via email, text, phone call, or planner if you would be interested in being a room mother for one or more of our 3 parties. Thank-you in advance for your time with that!!

 

We are continuing our review of skills this week as well as working on the genre:  Mysteries. The students are listening to the story Encyclopedia Brown:  Boy Detective. With that, they are doing a variety of skills and activities. We are writing a mystery story and working on solving a few mysteries as well. We do a daily SRA as well, that is at their reading level. If they get a 90% or better, they get a sticker for their SRA chart. Once they fill a row, they get a prize!! Next week we will be beginning our new theme for reading! We do have a spelling list for this review week, with the spelling test being on Thursday. Our grammar lessons are all review of the previously learned concepts. The students RC book is due on Wednesday. (They are due the 15^th and end of each month). Most of them have quizzed over at least one Encyclopedia Brown book and are either reading a second one or they are reading from another mystery series.  Thank-you for having them read at least 15 minutes each night!! I will be giving them their new book if they have passed their September 30^th RC quiz. Their new book is Bound For Oregon. This is a book that I will read a chapter each day and assign a chapter to be read each night. It may not take them 15 minutes to read a chapter each night and if they have something else they want to read, great, otherwise I am just assigning them to read a chapter each night and really know it. If you need to read it to them or read a page and they read a page, I know that will be better for some of the readers. It is a great book though, that I really want them to experience regardless of their reading level!

 

For math this week, we will be continuing with rounding of numbers but now without the number line. We will be using numbers up to a million to round off. We also have our daily review and our daily fact sheet. Math is a busy time for us!!

 

We will be continuing on our plant behaviors and adaptations lessons. The students will bring home a study guide on Thursday, with the test on Friday!! Thanks for making sure they are studying those study guides as it really help them with their test scores!!

 

As always, please call with any questions or concerns!! Have a great week!

 

Sincerely,

Chris Mallen

Email:  chris.mallen@bkcsd.org

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

 

 

 

 

Mallen's Monday Memo September 21, 2015

Monday Memo

September 21, 2015

 

Dear Parents,

 

I hope everyone had a great weekend!! We had another busy week last week. We completed our second Science test. I have the tests in their files for conferences. You can ask them their score as they know what it is. There were some really awesome tests!! We enjoyed our time at the Belmond Health Care Center!! They are always so good to us and playing Bingo with new friends is always fun!! I encourage the kids to continue their relationships with their new friends and stop by and say hi when they can. We will be going there one time a month this year!! This week is Homecoming week. We will be watching the parade on Friday!

 

We will be finishing our Laura Ingalls Wilder story. They are reading an excerpt from the book By the Shores of Silver Lake. This week we will be working on noting details and completing some comprehension activities. The test over this story will be tomorrow. We will start a two week chapter on the genre of mysteries. The students will be listening to the story Encyclopedia Brown: Boy Detective. We will be doing activities over this story. We will be learning some special mystery words and writing a mystery story for our writing activity. Our spelling words will be sent home with their pre-test on Wednesday. The grammar lessons are all review for the next two weeks, going over subjects and predicates, kinds of sentences, nouns, and compound subjects. A lot of comprehension will be worked on throughout these two weeks as well.

 

For Science, we will be talking about plant adaptations. It is a very interesting chapter that the students really seem to enjoy. Once we finish this chapter, we will be starting Social Studies, where we talk about the regions of the United States. More information to follow in our Monday Memo.

 

With math, I want to continue to emphasize the importance of working on their multiplication facts. It will truly help them with their common core math. We will be working on rounding off numbers this week. I typically like to do the homework here at school so I can catch them if they are making any errors. However, some lessons I will send home as homework as I feel they understand exactly what they need to do. The homework is exactly like the problem set and exit ticket that I send home. If they have questions, you can refer to those two pages for help. They should be able to do it on their own. If not, we will be reviewing it during class. They just need to try.

 

On the back of this Monday Memo is an invitation to sign up to be a room parent. I appreciate in advance any help you can give me with this. I thank-you for your time and effort!!

 

Homecoming Week Attire:

Monday:  4^th graders wear yellow

Tuesday:  Spirit Day

Wednesday:  PJ Day

Thursday: Throwback Thursday (choose a decade and dress from that)

Friday:  White Out

 

As always, please call with any questions/concerns!!

Chris Mallen

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

If you would be interested in serving as a room mother in any of the following capacities, just let me know and I will get the list put together and sent home with your child, who is doing what. Once you have names and numbers, you can contact each other. I have my email on the bottom and you can email me what you would be interested in or give me a call, or just write me a note. THANK-YOU!!!

 

Fall Party: October 30^th (Parade starts at 2:00)

Winter Party:  December 18^th (2:30)

Valentine’s Party:  February 12 (2:30)

 

Thank-you again!!!

Chris Mallen

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

Email:  chris.mallen@bkcsd.org