Summer Learning

Every year I love getting questions from parents about what I recommend for student learning over the summer! Below is the list of subjects and links to various resources and websites that I think would be beneficial for my students after 5th grade.


Bible
The Bible Project is a great resource for free, fascinating videos about themes or books of the Bible. I have shown several of these videos in class throughout the year. I am passionate about these videos not only because I love watching them and learning more for myself, but also because my friend, Jon Collins, is one of the co-creators of this Portland-based project!
  Click for more: About The Bible Project | Videos on YouTube | The Bible Project's Website

Math
We have been using Khan Academy all year, and almost all of the students have told me they prefer online learning rather than worksheets. Parents are encouraged to add themselves as their child's coach in the student profile settings to better keep track of their progress, much like I did throughout the school year. Additionally, if you want to mix it up a bit with multiplication practice online or drill worksheets, peruse the following links.
  Click for more: Khan Academy | Mr. Riedl's Arithmetic Practice | Mrs. Larson's Multiplication Practice Links | Math Drills: Worksheets

Science
There are hundreds of science videos that I have listed on Riedlteach.com which I was unable to show my classes this past year! Students can continue learning on their own by watching videos of particular interest to them! I have organized the videos by topic/category, and I am constantly updating it.
  Click for more: Mr. Riedl's List of Educational Video Clips

Social Studies
Hands-on activities and crafts are great ways to learn about cultural traditions and appreciate different peoples and places. There are many creative ideas at Education.com, and you are sure to find a few that pique your child's curiosity about the world around them.
  Click for more: Social Studies Activities - Education.com

Reading
Depending on the size of the book and the student's reading speed, I generally expect my students to finish reading an entire book every 2-3 weeks. If your child needs ideas of books to read, have them browse the list of bookshelfies the other students posted throughout the year. Also, if your child wants to participate in the Summer Reading Challenge, please select "West Hills Christian School" when you sign up on Scholastic's website.
  Click for more: Mr. Riedl's Archived BookShelfies | Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge

Read Aloud
Parents, read to your kids! They loved it when I read to them each day for only 15 minutes! Other ideas include getting audiobooks from your public library to use on your mobile device and/or use Audible.com to purchase some great audiobooks to listen to. I regularly listen to audiobooks from both, so let me know if you have questions about them!
  Click for more: Multnomah County Library Audiobooks | Audible.com

Writing
A great activity to practice each day is to make a Daily Summer Writing Journal. Use the following link to creative writing prompts for hundreds of great ideas for what your child can write about. Sharing the writing during a regular meal time or rest time each day is a great way to spark conversation and get their creative juices flowing!
  Click for more: 365 Creative Writing Prompts - ThinkWritten

Spelling
I recently discovered a fun game that Google created, which is called Spell Up. It is an interactive spelling game that has many options to help support spellers at many different levels. It gets quite challenging too, as I have become quite addicted to it when I play it in my spare time!
  Click for more: Spell Up by Google

Grammar
Khan Academy has added Grammar lessons and exercises! There are videos to watch too! Be sure not to commit any "Word Crimes" over the summer! ;-)
  Click for more: Grammar on Khan Academy | Word Crimes - "Weird Al" Yankovic

Typing
Mrs. Larson has been working with our students throughout the school year at Typing.com and they are encouraged to continue practicing at home. For other resources, check out Mrs. Larson's additional links to typing games and activities on her website.
  Click for more: Typing.com | Typing Club | Mrs. Larson's Other Typing Practice Links

Fun in the Sun
It is extremely important to be safe when playing around in the sun's electromagnetic radiation over the summer! We learned in class this year that the Ultraviolet (UV) light from the sun is what can burn you if too much time is spent outside unprotected. I discovered a wonderful website by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, which shows the UV Index forecast by Zip Code! All you need to do is type in your Zip Code, city, and state, and you'll have hourly forecast in your area. It explains what time of day is most harmful, how to best protect yourself, and other helpful tips to stay safe while having fun! I use this often for my own family at home.
  Click for more: UVAwareness.org | EPA UV Index Hourly for 97219

Other?
Have you found great resources that you would like to share with me so I can spread the love? Let me know what has worked well for you and your family!


Make it a great summer, everyone!
--Mr. Riedl

Fifth Grade Shake Music Video!

Both fifth grade classes joined forces to bring you these end-of-the-year videos for the 2014-2015 school year!

The fifth graders had a lot of fun filming, and they gave up a lot of recess time! Almost 100% of the filming took place during recesses over the past two months. What a great way to remember the school year! All of our students were filmed for the main video, including our reading buddies, and there was plenty of footage for a hilarious blooper video too!

Most of the ideas for each of the scenes also came from the students. Usually I just told them, "Alright, what do you want to do? Where are we going to go?" Without their ideas and help, it would not have been such a success! Great job, you guys!! :-)

The two videos are embedded below. Enjoy!

Shake - 5th Grade at West Hills Christian School - Mr. Riedl on YouTube

Shake BLOOPERS - 5th Grade at West Hills Christian School - Mr. Riedl on YouTube

2015-06-03

Our First Mystery Hangout!

The student notes below were written during the live Mystery Hangout event that we participated in today! For more information about Mystery Hangouts, please visit the Mystery Hangout community on Google+.

We are now calling Mrs. Swenson's 4th grade class. What we are doing is that we ask them questions and try to figure out where they live. The first question they asked us was "Are you west of the Mississippi River?" Natalie also just asked "Do you have a coast line?" and they said "no." That means they are somewhere without a coast line. They asked us if we live in Oregon and we said "yes." We still haven't guessed where they live yet. We asked "Do you live in Minnesota?" and we guessed right! Now they are telling us facts about their state. Now Katy is telling them cool facts about Oregon to them. Also something that is funny is that they pronounce Oregon wrong. They kind of say it like "Oregan"! It's kind of funny! I think it was fun to do this and learn more about their state.
--Leanna

Everyone is so pumped up!!! #pumpedup
They asked are we west of the Mississippi River? We said yes!
They asked are we in Oregon? We said yes!
I felt like it was fun!
--Kay Cee

Today we are doing our first Mystery Hangout! #MysteryHangout
Today we found out that our Mystery Hangout is in Minnesota.
Our Mystery Hangout had 25 kids in their class too.
The class lived in Litchfield.
The school name was Wagner Elementary.
--Hannah

We lost sadly but we did learn where they lived in Minnesota.
Today was our very first Mystery Hangout.
We were one question away from winning!
--Robby




2015-02-27

New Student Videos for Chapel!

We presented as a class for chapel this morning! It was a great time sharing with the K-5 students about our involvement with Neighborhood House.

We put together two videos:
1) The first video shows student groups performing skits that explained situations with people who might need help from Neighborhood House. Watch: STUDENT SKITS! - Neighborhood House is AWESOME!!! - Mr. Riedl on YouTube



2) The second video is a mix of footage from both trips to Neighborhood House over the past two weeks. It includes walking to Multnomah Village, short student interviews, repackaging food, restocking shelves, and other ways that we helped. Watch: Neighborhood House is AWESOME!!! - Mr. Riedl on YouTube



Enjoy! Click here to learn more about what you can do to help and be involved with Neighborhood House.
--Mr. Riedl




2014-10-29

Arithmetic Practice

Research shows that it is important for students to master their basic math facts. Not only does mastering math facts aid in higher-level arithmetic, but also allows for shifts in brain activation patterns as they are learned. "Instruction and practice cause math fact processing to move from a quantitative area of the brain to one related to automatic retrieval." (source)

In our classroom, we will practice math facts using the links below. At least three times per week, we will have a regular time to complete them as quickly as possible with no mistakes. The benefit of using these links is that one will not be able to advance to the next problem until the correct answer is entered, thereby preventing students from skipping problems.

The purpose of this is to practice math facts fluency and to focus on GROWTH of our personal score. It is not about speed or how we do compared to one's peers. Since everyone is at different levels of growth, focusing on personal improvement is essential.

	Addition Practice (120 seconds)
	Subtraction Practice (120 seconds)
	Multiplication Practice (120 seconds)
	Division Practice (120 seconds)

	Addition AND Subtraction Practice (120 seconds)
	Multiplication AND Division Practice (120 seconds)

Practice with ALL (120 seconds)

Source: arithmetic.zetamac.com

Science Unit Research Assignment

Click to view/print

At the beginning of each new Science unit, I have my students flip through the pages of their textbook, writing down any questions that come to mind that they don't know the answers to. I call them "Curiosity Questions" because all good scientists never stop asking questions and being curious.

Throughout each Science unit, I want my students to become better researchers, and I want them to keep asking more questions. To help them do this in a productive way, I created the Science Unit Research Assignment. Their goal is to use their Curiosity Questions to come up with topics to research. They can research the answer to their question, or they can discover anything else they find interesting.

>> Click to view/print the Research Assignment student sheet

Research Assignment Criteria:

• Pick three different topics.
• Write down one interesting fact about each topic.
• Cite reliable sources (using MLA format; examples below, some adjusted slightly)

Due date: The students may finish it anytime before the end of each unit. The student will present their three interesting facts to the class, and I will collect their form after they present their findings.

How do I know if the source is reliable?

This is something you should ask Mr. Riedl if you are not sure. You may email him or ask him in class. Wikipedia is a good place to start, however, you may not cite Wikipedia as your source (read: my article about Wikipedia). If you find something interesting on Wikipedia, try to find its original source via in-text citations or the reference list at the bottom of the article. If you find the original source, it is typically something reliable.

For example, if I go to the Wikipedia page about "squid", I see that it links to a Scientific American article about squid "flying" out of the water. Because Scientific American is a reliable source, I find an interesting fact in the article, and I choose to cite it as my source.

Other reliable sources students might find interesting:
- National Geographic
- NASA
- How Stuff Works
- BBC Earth
- Discovery Education
- NOVA & PBS
- American Museum of Natural History
- Science Magazine
- Science News & Science News for Students
- Popular Science


How do I cite reliable sources?

Books, Magazines (more info)

Lastname, Firstname. Title of Book/Magazine. Location: Publisher, Year of Publication. Print or E-book.

Websites (more info)

Lastname, Firstname. "Title of Article." Name of Website. Date written. <http://URL>

Interview With An Expert (more info)

If interviewed by a third-party, like TV/Radio program:
Interviewee's Name. Title of Program [Format description]. Credibility of expert. Date of interview.

If you interviewed the expert:
Interviewee's Name. Personal interview. Credibility of expert. Date of interview.

YouTube Videos (more info)

Author's Name or Username. "Title of Video." YouTube. Date posted. <http://URL>


What if there is no author or date listed?

No author:   Replace the author with the title of the article.
No date:   Write n.d. if there is no date listed.

Other Questions?   Feel free to contact Mr. Riedl!

Important Info for Families

Welcome Parents/Guardians!

Below are a few essential items I believe will help us become a cooperative, thoughtful, hard-working school family!


FLIPPED Back to School Night video
The embedded video to the right is what I shared with the families before they visited my classroom on Back to School Night. It is a brief overview of who I am and my passion as a teacher.

Parent Questionnaire
If you haven't already completed the Parent Questionnaire so I can hear your perspective about your child, please do so! Thanks!

Person of the Week (POW)
All students in my class must do a presentation about themselves later on in the school year on a week they will select. The goal is for us to grow in community, learn about each other, and appreciate our unique differences. You may assist them in creating their presentation, but please don't do it for them. (more info)

Student-Led Conferences
Instead of typical Parent-Teacher Conferences on the week of Thanksgiving Break, my students will be present at the conference and will actually be leading the meeting. I will be there as their teacher and support, but I will only speak when necessary. It has been a great experience for the students to be prepared, speaking to their parents about the effort they have put forth in their education. The parents also love hearing about what their child is learning directly from them! If parents want to schedule a separate meeting with me alone (without their child), then we can certainly do that at another time. (more info)

Reading Buddies
The 5th graders get an amazing opportunity this year, as we are reading buddies with Mrs. Mickel's 1st grade class! It is a great experience for both classes, and our class learns how to lead by example by helping them with reading books, building projects, and many other classroom assignments. We also have parties together and enjoy playing together at recess from time-to-time.

Neighborhood House
Being able to serve Neighborhood House with my students is my most favorite thing that I get to do as a teacher at West Hills. I am very passionate about serving others who are struggling. Neighborhood House is a non-profit organization in nearby Multnomah Village, which is the largest food pantry in SW Portland. We go there regularly throughout the year, and it is a great opportunity for me to teach my students through action that life is all about loving God and loving others. (more info)

Grades
For information about grades and the online grade book, view the Grade Book Info page. It is a great resource for families to be able to keep track of their child's progress with academics.

Homework & Calendar
The most beloved page on my website is the Homework & Calendar page. This is where you can find daily homework assignments, long-term project due dates, upcoming exams, and other important events. Many parents enjoy this resource as a check to make sure their child is writing down their homework assignments into their personal calendar (or assignment book) correctly. I encourage parents to get into a routine of checking this page with their child regularly.

Classroom Photos
Please visit the Class Pics & Vids page to see how I share student photos/videos in my class. For a quick link, here is the album I have already started: 2017-2018 - Google Photo Album

Social Media
I love being able to showcase a love for learning at school! We have two classroom social media accounts: Instagram and Twitter. Social media is ever present in our society and I believe that teaching the kids how to properly use it will be advantageous for them in the future. I teach the students proper grammar and have them practice literary skills by writing daily tweets on a worksheet. Then, we share them as a class and I approve which tweets will be posted onto the class Twitter account. As for Instagram, we have a Photographer student classroom job, and I teach them to take a variety of pictures: hard-working students, collaborative group work, and also fun/goofy pictures when we are having fun (I encourage a balance). Then, I approve which photos are posted, and those photos are cross-posted to the classroom Twitter account. Please follow them to see what we are doing in class! (more info)

General Info
For information about our weekly classroom schedule, my Riedl Rules and consequences, my teaching philosophy, and an overview of the 5th grade curriculum, view the Our Classroom page.

Volunteer!
I really appreciate family volunteers in the classroom, on field trips, during class parties, etc. Please consider helping out regularly or maybe just once! We really appreciate the help! View the Volunteer Info page.


I am extremely excited about partnering with you this year! If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to contact me and we can chat online or in person. Thank you so much for letting me help teach them!

Sincerely,
--Mr. Riedl

Brand New #studentweet by @MrRiedl

I have discovered the beauty of Twitter over the summer! Over the past few months, I have been exploring what Twitter chats are, and why #edchat is such a big deal. Educators have a very large presence on Twitter. They use it for professional development, support, sharing ideas, networking, and more. From what I understand, it all started with a few teachers chatting back and forth on Twitter with the #edchat hash tag, discussing education. It grew an audience from there, and now there are hundreds of different hash tags for unique weekly chats that educators can participate in. I have received many ideas from other teachers over the summer as I have developed a professional learning network (PLN) which includes teachers, administrators, and parents.

One idea I plan to implement is to integrate Twitter into student writing this school year. At the end of each day, I will review with the students what they learned that day in the form of a tweet. On certain days, I will give the students specific writing challenges to use in their tweets, such as identifying an adverb in their sentence, including prepositional phrases, using spelling words, and more. The purpose is to challenge them with their learning, writing, and communicating in a fun way. I plan to post one student tweet each day to my @MrRiedl Twitter account, with the hash tag #studentweet to identify these as 100% student written, along with the student author's initials as well. For those parents without Twitter accounts, I will compile the previous week's #studentweet entries onto the weekly newsletter for parents to read!

I am most excited about Open House on Tuesday. My plan is to compile one word from each student that describes how they feel about starting school on Wednesday. I will put all of them together into one tweet that night, and hopefully it'll be an interesting look into 5th grade anticipation! We'll see how the year goes, one day and one tweet at a time.

Be sure to follow me on Twitter: @MrRiedl will have all #studentweet updates as well as classroom newsletters, photos, videos, and other educational resources relevant to our classroom!




2014-08-31

EdCampPDX

This past summer, I knew I wanted to attend a conference for educators, but I wanted it to be different. More meaningful.

Enter EdCamp. Other educators in my professional learning network on Twitter regularly posted promos to get other teachers and administrators excited about it. The Portland-area event, EdCampPDX, is an unconventional conference because it does not have a keynote speaker. Volunteers organize the camp, and it is mostly focused on discussion, sharing with each other, and it is driven by those in attendance.

What I loved most when first arriving was that it felt great to meet with other educators early on a sunny Saturday morning. They could have done many other things with their free time during the summer, but they chose to talk about how to improve their ability to educate kids.

Anyone in the room can suggest a topic to discuss during the breakout sessions. At the beginning of the day, everyone signs their name under the topics they are interested in discussing. The organizers decide which topics are most popular, then create breakout sessions on the spot. It's awesome.

After an enjoyable get-to-know-you activity, we jump right in. Breakout session locations are announced and everyone is free to go wherever they want. Examples of sessions included Flipping the Classroom, Race and Identity, Chromebook 101, The Paperless Classroom, Genius Hour, Learning Management Systems, and many more.

The sessions I attended were pretty much just in-depth, intentional conversations with other educators about the topics. We shared resources, ideas, strategies, and experiences that can benefit those in the room. There was no agenda. The conversation flowed based on the questions and thoughts brought into the room.

Attending EdCampPDX has given me a broader excitement for the future of professional development, the educational community, and the unified goal we all have to do our best to educate our students by sharing experiences. Thankfully EdCampPDX is not just once a year! The next event will take place in November, and I'm definitely going to bring a WHCS buddy with me next time!





2014-08-31

Calendly

I found a great resource for schools wanting to organize their parent volunteers. Last year I discovered a wonderful new business called Calendly to solve my volunteer scheduling challenges. My problem was that I needed something that would integrate with Google Calendar and make my life easier. You might be thinking to yourself, How would people coming into your room to help you ever make your life more difficult? Well, sometimes I would not be expecting them because they weren't on my calendar, and so I would have to drop what I was doing, find something for them to help with, and then attempt to get back to what I was doing. Those of you who know me... I am not a multi-tasker! So, this is hard on me when trying to stay productive.

Calendly delivered! It integrates seamlessly with my Google Calendar, and if someone cancels, it shows the same event on my calendar, but updated with a strikethrough. It sends me notifications and reminders on my computer and phone so that I will be well-prepared for my volunteers beforehand. Now, almost a year after joining, they have added even more features. I can put all of my events for the school year onto Calendly, including events that require multiple volunteers (a feature not available in the past).

I love this service so much that I posted on Twitter recommending their service to other educators. Understandably wanting to grow their business, Calendly will be requiring its users to pay for an upgrade in order to keep the premium features. I emailed them to ask about how the upgrade works, and they offered me 50% off the price of the upgrade because I promoted their product by tweeting about them! Goes to show that being positive and spreading good news can pay off in the long run. The discount might also have to do with the fact that I'm a teacher, though... so if you are an educator, check out Calendly and ask for an educational discount.

View my classroom scheduler here: calendly.com/mrriedl

Thanks again, Calendly! Sincerely your proud user,
Mr. Riedl




2014-08-31

Victory Through Video

This is an interesting infographic I found on the topic of how using video is revolutionizing learning. While I don't believe we should learn everything using video, it has become a significantly substantial medium used in our world today, and it shouldn't be ignored in education. Source: kzoinnovations.com

kzoinnovations.com

2014-08-31

To My New Students: How To Open Your Locker video 2014-2015

Hello to my new students this year! I know some of you might be nervous, some of you might be thrilled, and some of you might be feeling both of them when thinking about the first day of school. However, you feel, I am looking forward to meeting you! Welcome to my classroom! Here is a quick video to help to with opening your locker. Enjoy!

2014-08-28

Welcome Letter 2014-2015

Welcome to fifth grade in Mr. Riedl’s classroom!

I am very excited about this year! Hopefully, you are ready for many firsts this year. This will be your first year in fifth grade, your first year to use lockers, and also your first year with a teacher who has a Pez collection! As we approach many new experiences together, I believe that God has brought all of us into this class for a reason, and I hope that you desire to grow in Christ and grow in learning this year as much as I want to.

Just a bit about me: I am beginning my third year teaching at West Hills, but before that I taught two years of eighth grade in public schools, teaching math and science. I am married to a wonderful wife named Jen, we have a boy named Nolan (almost four years old), and a girl named Delaney (almost two years old). I love ultimate frisbee, baseball, and pretty much any other sport. Technology is a passion of mine, as I have my own teacher website and blog. Please go check it out at Riedlteach.com. Last but not least, collecting Pez dispensers is a big hobby of mine. You will definitely see them spread across the walls of our classroom when you enter for the first time, if you haven’t already. To learn more about me, please visit the About Mr. Riedl page on my website.

Regarding supplies, be sure to purchase the materials listed on the 5th grade supply list. An important item to think about before the first day of school is whether or not your student will use a binder or an accordion folder. Binders are typically popular, however, I have also experienced a great deal of success with student organization last year for those students who used accordion folders. For more information, read my detailed website post: Binders vs Accordion Folders. There are many other helpful resources available on my website, including the option to subscribe by email. My website is the main way that I communicate to my families throughout the year, so please subscribe as soon as you can. The big red “Subscribe” button is found on the left sidebar. More information and tips will be given to you as time goes on, but please feel free to read through the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) or Contact Me if you have any additional questions.

Mrs. Proulx and I will be, like previous years, teaching all of the fifth graders. Our students switch classes for two of the subjects; she teaches Social Studies, and I teach Science. We both love this because we get to know all of the fifth graders, rather than just one class. I look forward to meeting your family at Open House on Tuesday, Sept. 2nd from 2:30-4:00pm (with the BBQ following immediately after) and/or at Back To School Night on Monday, Sept. 8th from 6:30-8:30pm. And, most importantly, I am excited to meet YOU on the first day! This will be a great year to learn and grow together, with Jesus guiding us into the future.

Homework assignment: Be sure to please do the following three things ASAP:

 1) Subscribe to my website to get newsletters and updates via email.

 2) Parents, complete the Parent Questionnaire.

 3) Students, check out my How To Open Your Locker video, especially for you!

Sincerely,

--Mr. Riedl (rhymes with “beetle”)





2014-08-28

Can I Use That Picture? - Image Copyright Flowchart

Knowing the copyright laws for using images can be a bit tricky, especially in education. My desire is for teachers and students to be as fair and honest about where they are getting their images (and other information) online. If you find on my website that I am not following fair use and copyright laws, please let me know as soon as possible so I can fix my mistake.

Follow these series of questions in the following flowchart to know if you can use a picture for your purposes or not. Source: TheVisualCommunicationGuy

by TheVisualCommunicationGuy.

Google Voice Search for Toddlers

I have been having fun with my family so far this summer, and a highlight is a video I made with my daughter, Delaney. She babble talks all day long, so I thought it would be awesome if Google had a product to translate what she is saying! I couldn't get the idea out of my head, so I turned it into a video. Enjoy!
--Mr. Riedl

Google Voice Search for Toddlers - Mr. Riedl

Inspiring Girls in Science and Technology

This video made me cry this morning. When watching this video, I couldn't help but think of my own little girl, Delaney, and how she will be all grown up in no time. Additionally, because of my love for science, it tugged on my heart for what she might want to be when she grows up.

I hope that I can be a good father and teacher to Delaney as she learns what her passions are. Not only a teacher to her, but also to all of the female students in my classes. My hope is to inspire in them a love for science, learning, and discovering their own passions. I'm not really sure why this is a Verizon commercial, but it's a great motivation to me to never forget that the little comments I say can make a big difference in the long run. Enjoy!

Verizon Commercial 2014 | Inspire Her Mind - Extended | Verizon Wireless

I am now officially a Google Educator!

I'm so proud! I took several exams over the past week, and now I am officially a Google Educator!

Google for Education Learning Center Certifications is a site I recently discovered, which is a training site for teachers who show a commitment to lifelong learning, as well as a love for Google Apps for Education, and they want to make it official. The courses I took include:

Google for Education: Gmail
Google for Education: Docs & Drive
Google for Education: Calendar
Google for Education: Sites
Google for Education: Chrome
Google for Education: Chromebooks

There are many other courses and tools I want to learn more about, including Tablets with Google Play for Education, Classroom, YouTube, Google Maps for Education, Search, Implementing Google Apps, Digital Literacy for Educators, and so many more!! I'm looking forward to the future integration of technology and education. There is so much potential!

--Mr. Riedl