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

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

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

Summer Math Worksheets

Okay, it's only been about two weeks since school ended, so that was enough of a break... right?! Let's do some more work!!!

A couple of times throughout the school year, I mentioned to my students the importance of working on math over the summer. They understood that they don't want to forget the basic skills they worked so hard learning during the school year. I promised them that I would post math worksheets they can do each week over their summer break.

I found some resources online from St. Joseph School outside of Atlanta, Georgia. Their worksheets match a large majority of the problems I taught my students over the school year, so I thought it would be a great way to practice.

Print:
Worksheets (19 pages)
Answer Key

These worksheets are organized by "assignment." This means that when you reach "End of Assignment," then it is a good stopping point. There are 6 "assignments" altogether, so what I would do if I was making my own child do this, I would have them do one "assignment" every week or two. Some problems take just a few seconds to solve, while other problems might require an internet search because they forgot how to do it. :-)

Feel free to ask me questions about how to solve them. I'm available by email, text, or phone over the summer!
--Mr. Riedl

Classroom Discussion: Sports Science, Super Bowl, and Richard Sherman

Due to the upcoming Super Bowl game this weekend, the central topic of today's writing assignment was football, of course. However, bringing up current events and issues surrounding this year's "big game" can turn into more than just an assignment about sports. Today we had a great classroom discussion about the depths of Christ's love, how we can use that in every day life (such as sports), and what we see from professional athletes.

My lesson plans included showing three videos to the students. The first two videos, NBC's science of NFL football, integrated math and science into the sport. For the third video, I showed Richard Sherman's infamous interview after his amazing play at the end of the Seahawks-49ers game, which secured Seattle's spot in this year's Super Bowl game. The students have been already talking about this interview on and off over the past two weeks anyway, so I thought I might as well make a writing assignment out of the controversy and hopefully challenge the students to think differently. After the videos, I had them answer several questions in their journals:

• What are your thoughts about American football?
• What did you learn about using science and math with the sport?
• Are you going to watch the Super Bowl on Sunday? Are you a fan?
• Have you heard of any traditions people do for the Super Bowl?
• After watching Richard Sherman's interview, how do you think Jesus would have responded if He was interviewing him?
• Do you think Sherman has a right to talk that way?

Certain boys in my class have a hard time writing in general, and not surprisingly, they wrote more words and more quickly than I have ever seen so far this year! We had a great discussion after the writing portion. The topics ranged from sportsmanship, to thinking before speaking, to how Jesus would play sports, to trash talking, to standing up for our friends, to loving others, and so much more. I am amazed at how the minds of my students are buzzing with all that they are learning and seeing around them. It was great to be able to discuss such a controversial event in a place where we can connect it with Jesus and what He would be pleased with when it comes to competition.

My hope is that watching videos and having discussions like these will inspire these students to do what they know to be right as they grow up. Their character is something that we often neglect as teachers and thankfully at a Christian school we can use this environment to have a safe discussion of what we see around us.

Go Seahawks!!!

New Page: "Information for Students"

I decided to add a new page to my website, and it is related to my students' math test tomorrow. The new page is titled Information for Students and will often be used to provide info to my students without cluttering up my blog with stuff that only they are in need of.

An example of information that they might need is an answer key for math. Something I did often when I taught 8th grade math was give my students an answer key of the review assignment the night before a test. It was very helpful for many of the students because if they didn't have the answer key, then they didn't actually know if they were doing the problems correctly or not.

The answer key for tonight's math assignment is located on the Information for Students page. Many parents might be wondering why I would give the answers to the students, since they might just copy them onto their homework. My students know my policy for doing homework-- they must show their work! I need to see their work so that I can see how they solved the problem. So, if I get a homework assignment that only has answers written, then they do not get full credit for it.

Hopefully this is helpful for many students that want to honestly check their work and try to figure out how to get the correct answers. Learning from mistakes and correcting them is a great way to prepare for a test.

Please let me know if you have any questions or comments about this new page, as I am curious to hear any feedback about it. Thanks so much,
--Mr. Riedl

Lots of photos!

Here are a bunch of photos from the last few weeks that I finally found time to post on the website.
Enjoy!
--Mr. Riedl
instagram.com/mrriedl

Christmas Geometric Art!

Hello everyone! On such a special day, I wanted to share a special video: Vi Hart's Snowflakes, Starflakes, and Swirlflakes. She always does such a great job with her fun, creative math videos. This one is particularly Christmasey. :-) Enjoy!

Prime Numbers to 100

Khan Academy is awesome!

I stumbled across the Khan Academy after watching an episode of 60 Minutes. It started with an MIT and Harvard multi-degree graduate who started helping his cousins with homework online via YouTube. It has turned into an online community dedicated to free education in a way that is useful for students to go at their own pace. Very fascinating and interesting new thoughts on education and changes in classroom traditions. Check out the TED video below to see his presentation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTFEUsudhfs 

WorksheetWorks.com

Great resource for teachers!

I have used this site many times, especially for printing graph paper and a wide variety of linear graphing problems. I've also recently discovered that there are lots of other subjects and topics to pick from. There are create-your-own word searches, Sudoku, and other puzzles.

What I love most is how clean, crisp, and professional the sheets look after sorting through the vast array of options. The final product is much better and quicker than what I could've spent hours working on myself. This site does a great job!

Knowing that it is in the beta stage of development, I can't wait to see what the final product looks like. Here is a screen shot (below) of the many topics to choose from.

Cool Math Guy

If you need any extra online help with math, or if you want to see a clean, crisp explanation of specific math concepts, head over to coolmathguy.com and check out some of what Dana Mosely is teaching. Most of it you need to pay for, unfortunately, but there is a free math help section. Here is a link to his YouTube videos. I embedded one below.

Argus Observer Article

Last week I was interviewed by Jessica Keller from the Argus Observer, Ontario's newspaper. She came into my classroom and talked about how I was transitioning into my new position after moving from Portland. Her article was wonderful and I really appreciated her writing about education. Thanks Jessica!

If you haven't read the article, click the link below. This image is from the Argus Observer website's article.

Argus Observer: "Breaking new ground" by Jessica Keller

Nolan's New Math Shirt!

Jen surprised me with a new shirt for Nolan! His first math shirt! I was so excited for him to wear it, so she took a picture of us together.

We aren't quite sure what it means, though. I think it's just a bunch of algebraic gibberish. Still cute, though. Can anyone figure it out? Here's a close up...

United States Debt Problem

My good friend Patrick has been explaining to me the big hole that the United States government has got itself into regarding spending money and debt. According to USDebtClock.org, the United States is over 14 billion dollars in debt! That basically means that they have borrowed that much from other people (or countries) and need to pay it back.

If I borrow ten bucks from my friend to buy a pizza, I feel pretty bad if I haven't paid him back in awhile. I can't even imagine what it would be like to owe people 14 billion dollars. That's crazy!

Here are a couple videos to help you understand the situation. The first video is a helpful visualization of how big a trillion dollars actually is. The second video is a CNN Student News clip explaining what the debt ceiling is.

Finger Dancing?

Watch "Unleash Your Fingers" on YouTube
I can totally see this catching on with my students! It reminds me of pen spinning. I love how the geometric shapes and angles burst into the video. So cool. Gotta integrate this into my math classes somehow.

Math Dogs

When I was shopping for our 4th of July hot dogs, I couldn't help but see a math lesson in the works! What is the best deal here? It's hard to think when my mouth is craving barbecue tastiness! Mmm... Jen introduced turkey dogs to me... so good!

Mathemagic

Over the summer, I will be posting some of my favorite videos. I want to make sure they make an appearance on my blog, since many of them I have watched months, if not years, ago. I hope you enjoy them!

The first video I want to share is a TED Talk of Arthur Benjamin doing "Mathemagic". He is amazing and very amusing.

End of 2010-11 Year Update

It was so wonderful to teach at Walt Morey Middle School as a first year teacher. The staff was wonderful and the students rocked my socks off. I will miss everyone very much and I wish that I had a job there next year. We will see where my future ends up! It'll be great wherever it is.


Below are some statistics from the end of the 2010-11 school year that I found interesting. Enjoy.
--Mr. Riedl


1st Quarter: Taught in Mrs. Kellogg's room.
2nd Quarter: Taught in Mr. Van Kleek's room.
3rd Quarter: Paternity leave. Subbed 1 day in Mrs. Chandler's room, and 1 day in Mr. Rathmell's room.
4th Quarter: Taught in Mrs. Kellogg's room again.

I realized that after subbing for Mrs. Kellogg, Mr. Van Kleek, and Mr. Rathmell, I have taught about 97% of the 8th graders at Walt Morey this year! I don't think any other teacher has accomplished that feat! :-)

Number of detentions given during 1st Quarter: 131
Number of detentions given during 2nd Quarter: 42
Number of detentions given during 4th Quarter: 219 (this quarter was the start of my new rule: "No HW = Detention")

From the same group of students in Mrs. Kellogg's classes...
Average student GPA during 1st Quarter (Math): 2.60
Average student GPA during 4th Quarter (Math): 2.57
-- Math GPA Change: -0.03
Average student GPA during 1st Quarter (Science): 2.62
Average student GPA during 4th Quarter (Science): 2.73
-- Science GPA Change: +0.11

Mr. Riedl and his math monkey

I love finding drawings while grading! Not sure what inspired this one, though. It may look like I'm giving the monkey the finger, but I believe it is a "thumbs up!"

[*monkey]