Meriwether Lewis Elementary School Classroom Notes » Kathy Gould

Classroom Notes from Mrs. Gould-Fifth Grade

Kathy Gould — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 15:24:13 +0000

Please come to the fifth grade promotion assembly next Tuesday at 1:45 PM. We will be serving cake to the parents and fifth graders at 1:15 PM before the assembly! Requiring daily reading over the summer will help your child keep their skills fresh for sixth grade; there are several good reading programs available in our community this summer. Thank you for your support this year! Have a great summer and good luck in middle school next year!

Classroom Notes from Mrs. Gould’s Fifth Grade

Kathy Gould — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 16:29:51 +0000

The Declaration of Independence is being written as I write this! The colonists are in revolt, and spies have been reported around the colonies. We’re having a lot of fun! No homework this week in reading and my math class is using this week to get caught up so no new homework has been assigned. We are building a hot composting system with Ms. Julia and Kevin Cunningham. Wait until you see the final product! We need help planning and carrying out the fifth grade party in two weeks; Monica Nettles is the contact person. Please volunteer to help make this party a great success!

Classroom Note for Fifth Grade Mrs. Gould/Mr. Riedl

Kathy Gould — Mon, 24 May 2010 23:33:51 +0000

The colonists are becoming rather unruly over the taxes they are paying! The King of England is even taxing them to use their pencils, paper for assignments, and the glass in the windows! On Tuesday the soldiers entered Concord and searched for hidden stashes of weapons. Colonists were not happy about having their property searched. Student journals are quite reflective about what is happening that will lead up to the revolution. On Monday we started a weaving project, and students are working hard to complete their weaving. In math we have been working on probability; students have been doing a fine job of turning in their homework daily. This is the last week for reading homework; it is an important assignment that will be reflected on their last report card. Please make sure they answer the question!

Classroom Notes from Mrs. Gould/Mr. Riedl

Kathy Gould — Wed, 19 May 2010 00:01:33 +0000

Amazing! Last week we had a full week of camp without rain and wind at the beach, and we really appreciated that! A BIG THANK YOU to Jay Miller, Eddy Bringelson, Jackie Dirks, Chris Lynch, Daniel Petersen, Sue Gottfried, Tiffany Cook, Dan Hack, Tim Burkhart, adults who supervised fifth graders at camp. We really couldn’t have done it without you. We had a great time at camp and really enjoyed Mr. Riedl’s campfire programs each night. Thank you to all parents who helped fund raise so that our classes could go to camp! We began the Revolution this week. I’m sure you’ve heard about the Currency Act, Quartering Act, and Sugar Act. Colonists/Students are paying taxes! Welcome to the real world… Homework this week includes math and reading homework. Reading homework was sent home the Friday before camp; let me know if you need a replacement chart.

Classroom Notes for Fifth Grade Mrs. Gould/Mr. Riedl

Kathy Gould — Thu, 06 May 2010 15:01:08 +0000

We’re at the beach this week hopefully soaking up the sun and learning science! We’ll tell you all about it when we return on Friday!

Classroom Notes from the Fifth Grade Mrs. Gould/Mr. Riedl

Kathy Gould — Mon, 03 May 2010 03:28:20 +0000

Here we go! Next week at this time we will be at camp have a fun and educational time! All camp money was due last Friday; we still have a few students who need to pay for camp. Let me know if this is a problem; we may be able to access some scholarship money. All students who are attending camp need to have rain gear, warm coats, hats and gloves, and a lunch in their backpack as they board the bus. Please check your child’s luggage to make sure they have appropriate warm clothing and an extra pair of shoes in case they get wet. If you plan to send your child a letter, you will need to mail it over the weekend or at latest on Monday in order for the mail to get to camp on time. Just a last minute reminder: no cell phones or electronic devices at camp. Thanks for your help in making sure our fifth graders are comfortable and equipped for camp! Call us or drop in the classroom this week if you have any questions. Reading homework is due on Friday; our math class has homework each night!

Classroom Notes for Fifth Grade from Mrs. Gould/Mr. Riedl

Kathy Gould — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 22:29:43 +0000

We have finished our wonderful colony models, as you can see from the pictures at riedlteach.com. We will be wrapping up the unit this week, as we look forward to see which simulation colony earned the most wealth in the New World. In our math group, we will be starting our math work samples as we wrap up the fractions unit. We will also be cranking out the memorization for the States and Capitals over the next few weeks, thinking up some fun mnemonic devices to help the students remember them. OMSI Camp is only two weeks away, so please bring money by the end of this week! Let us know if you need help finding supplies for camp. Thank you for checking your child’s homework nightly; reading is due on Friday.

Classroom Notes from Fifth Grade-Mrs. Gould/Mr. Riedl

Kathy Gould — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 21:56:43 +0000

Last week we finished most of the speeches, and they are wonderful! We are enjoying the character details and stories, many with authentic accents and memorable props! This week will be full of Colonization: Building our colony models, writing diary entries of our interactions with the Native Americans, and finishing as many Settlement Rounds as we can! Additionally, as we prepare for Art Night on May 8th, we will be working on art projects with our Kindergarten buddies. Hope you have looked at the camp information that came home last Friday; each student received an equipment list and a camp guide. The last payment for camp is due on April 30th; we’ll send home a final bill next week. Thanks for supporting the Garden Fair on Saturday!

Classroom Notes for Fifth Grade-Mrs. Gould/Mr. Riedl

Kathy Gould — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 22:12:05 +0000

We started character speeches on Thursday and Friday last week! We will finish the speeches this week. Sailing across the Atlantic Ocean in our colonization simulation has been quite the experience! One ship has already sunk because of bad weather, so let’s hope for pleasant weather as we prepare to land in the New World! The settlement rounds in our simulation will keep us busy for the next week or so. Please help your student find miniature materials/supplies to help them build their colony models. We are having lots of fun learning about the tough journey the pilgrims endured! Remember, Run for the Arts is on Wednesday, so please get your pledges in! Extra credit social studies homework went home on Monday; reading is due on Friday. Ask your child about book reports…five more were assigned this trimester.

Classroom Notes from Mr. Riedl and Mrs. Gould

Kathy Gould — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 00:09:51 +0000

We have been transforming our Mayflower character autobiographies into speeches, and we plan to begin the presentations on Thursday this week. Please help your child with memorization and listen to them as they practice at home. They are sure to do well with enough preparation! As for colonization, we will be sailing this week and some ships may even land in the New World by Friday. The Riedl Rules were introduced last week, focusing on eye contact and asking for permission properly. Ask your child if they remember all of the Riedl Rules so far! If you forgot to send camp money last week, it’s not too late. Both a permission form and health form need to be brought to school as soon as possible. If you have any questions about camp, please call us! Reading Homework continues weekly; all students need to keep reading at home. Thank you for supporting your child’s homework efforts.

Classroom Notes from Mr. Riedl/Mrs. Gould

Kathy Gould — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 23:51:26 +0000

I hope everyone had a wonderful Spring Break! Thankfully there was a nice bit of sunshine to get us all excited about summer, which is right around the corner. Two weeks ago, we had a wonderful time wrapping up the Read-a-thon. Remember to get the pledge money and forms turned in by March 31st! If your child did not participate in the Read-a-thon, you will need to send 1/2 of their camp fees this week; the final camp payment is due April 1st. We still need two moms to attend camp as chaperones. This week, we are preparing to set sail in Colonization by purchasing cargo for our ships. We plan to begin the sailing rounds by Friday. Each 5th grader is transforming their autobiography into a speech, which they should be practicing and attempting to memorize at home. Please help your child by listening and giving supportive feedback! Additionally, I will be rolling out my “Riedl Rules” this week, with a goal to get these students to have the best manners out of all of the classes in the school! And we want the 6th grade teachers next year to be shocked at how polite these Lewis students are, so we’re going to raise the bar very high! It will be a great goal to pursue!–Mr. Riedl
riedlteach.com

Classroom Notes from Mrs. Gould and Mr. Riedl

Kathy Gould — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 15:24:11 +0000

Colonists have finished our mapping assignments and are currently developing a flag for each colony. Finished flags will be hung over each colony; drop in to take a look at the designs! Lots of events happening this week: visit to Reed College (Tuesday afternoon), making seed packets (Wednesday afternoon), the school play (Thursday afternoon and Friday evening), and the Read-a-thon pajama party (Friday afternoon)! Students have signed up for snacks for the Read-a-thon; you might want to find out what your child is bringing! Check out Mr. Riedl’s website for more information: riedlteach.com!

Classroom Notes from Mrs. Gould and Mr. Riedl

Kathy Gould — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 03:56:36 +0000

We started our OMSI Camp Read-a-thon this week! Everyone is reading up a storm; we read daily for 30 minutes right after lunch. Our Kindergarten buddies will miss us over the next two weeks, but we will resume our reading time with them in two weeks when the Read-a-thon concludes. I hope that you received our last letter about camp. If your child is not participating in the Read-a-thon, you will need to pay ½ of their camp bill on March 31st with the balance due on April 30th. Our preparation for the Colonial Simulation continues; all students have been working in their colony groups preparing mapping assignments that earn wealth units. Later this week we will design our colonial flag. After checking in homework last Friday, I am concerned that students are not practicing their reading at home. Only half of our students turned in their reading homework last week. It is really important that all fifth graders read nightly; please support our efforts at school by enforcing a reading time at home. Like Ms. Jen’s math group, our math group is now assigned nightly math homework that we begin in class. We noticed that we have many March birthdays; if you are planning to bring something to school for your child’s birthday, please call us the week before so we can schedule it and help you plan it.

Classroom Notes from Mrs. Gould

Kathy Gould — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:24:41 +0000

We visited the Cooley Gallery at Reed College on Monday. The printmaking exhibit by Terry Winters is very interesting; it is open until March 7th if you would like to visit it. Today we went to Sellwood Middle School for a tour of the building and classrooms. A big thank you to all the parents who went with us on these two field trips this week! We are writing our autobiographies as Mayflower passengers this week. Also we are earning wealth units by doing mapping assignments! The wealth units will allow us to buy supplies to take with us to the New World. We may set sail next week!

Classroom Notes from Mrs. Gould

Kathy Gould — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 06:02:38 +0000

If you haven’t had a chance to take a look at the science projects outside our fifth grade classrooms, please take some time to drop by. The science projects are very impressive; also your children did a wonderful job explaining their investigations. Thank you for your support with these projects. We are beginning our colonization simulation this week; each child has assumed the identity of one passenger on the Mayflower and has begun researching their person. This assignment will become a writing work sample, and eventually the work sample will become a speech. Your child will need help memorizing their speech in about two weeks and most practice will be done at home. Next Wednesday we will be visiting Sellwood Middle School in the morning. Parents are welcome to come with us; please let us know if you want to attend. Homework this week is math and reading homework.

Classroom Notes from Mrs. Gould

Kathy Gould — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 16:05:40 +0000

We are really excited to see all our students’ science projects. Each student will be sharing a more formal presentation next week during class, but feel free to come by and look at the projects. The science projects will be exhibited in the hall outside our room. Reed Science started last week, and we planted “fast plants” which sprouted within 1-2 days! We will be looking at the genetics of these plants. Tuesday we took our OAKS math statewide assessment in the computer lab; all students worked really hard on doing their best. We are learning our states and capitals for the New England states. Please quiz your student about the locations and the capitals of these six states. A study list was sent home on Tuesday, and a test will be happening in the next two weeks. Reading and math homework are due on Friday; please help your child bring their science project on Friday!

Classroom Notes from Mrs. Gould

Kathy Gould — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 21:24:27 +0000

We have finished our classroom science work samples and are moving on to US geography. Each student has a list of important geographical features of our country and after finding each feature will label a blank map. We will be learning the states and capitals during the next few months, and I will be teaching students some mnemonic tricks to aid their memorization. Students will be required to study the location of each state and be able to match the state with the capital. We will study the states by their region starting with the New England States. Our next thematic unit is Colonization, and this study is a fun simulation where each student assumes the identity of a passenger on the Mayflower! We are scheduled to take two field trips in the next month: one to visit Sellwood Middle School and the other to visit Reed College Cooley Gallery. We need parent chaperones for those two trips; let us know if you are available. All permission slips for the Sellwood visit should be turned in this week. Science homework this week includes writing an analysis of the experiment completed at home and transforming the data into a graph. All homework is due on Friday.

Classroom Notes from Mrs. Gould

Kathy Gould — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 23:55:26 +0000

This week fifth graders are finishing their experiments at home. Due on Friday is a summary of what they worked on this week; please sign their homework. We took our first statewide reading assessment on Tuesday; students worked hard on completing their work accurately. Please continue to encourage your child’s nightly reading. Students who read at home make steady gains in their progress at school. Thank you for all your support with homework. Next week we will be welcoming Aaron Riedel to our classroom. You may know Mr. Riedel from his work with the YMCA afterschool program at Lewis last year. He will be working on his student teaching assignment in our classroom. Remember the Camp Bank on Wednesdays!

Classroom Notes from Mrs. Gould

Kathy Gould — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 23:38:57 +0000

We changed seats today and are sitting in groups so that we can easily work on our science work sample over the next two weeks. Each fifth grader will design an investigation and complete it in class; all investigations will be scored with the state scoring guide and reported to the state. During writing class we have been working on writing a historical fiction piece from the early 1900’s! We are finding that it is important to include historical details so that our reader will understand the time period. My math group is working on multiplication and division; we are learning how to find mean, median, and range. Next week we will be taking our first attempt at the statewide reading test. Please make sure your child is well rested and ready to do their best work! Math, reading, and science homework is due on Friday. Please call or email if you have any questions!

Classroom Notes by Mrs. Gould

Kathy Gould — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 22:19:51 +0000

This week’s science homework includes writing a list of materials, creating a list of steps for procedures, and developing a chart for data collection for the experiment. Each student is keeping their all of their weekly science assignments in their homework folder. Homework folders should be brought to school each day and stored in the student’s mailbox in our classroom. All papers going home should also go into the homework folder. Please remind your student to follow these procedures; we’re trying to get ready for all the assignments for middle school! Speaking of middle school, watch for information on the transfer process for middle schools. Some middle schools will be holding their open houses soon. We will be going to Sellwood Middle School for a tour and lunch on March 3rd. Please carefully read Mr. Lauer’s newsletter over the next few weeks for more information about the transfer process for middle schools.

Classroom Notes from Mrs. Gould

Kathy Gould — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 17:09:13 +0000

Happy New Year! Your children brought home two science homework assignments this week and we are beginning a six week long homework assignment. Students each chose a question to develop a science investigation. Please sign their homework each week! They will need help collecting the materials for their experiment. Reading and math homework were sent home on Monday.

Classroom Notes for Fifth Grade-Mrs. Gould

Kathy Gould — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 23:23:15 +0000

Happy Holidays! There will be no formal reading homework or math homework over Winter Break; however, I do expect students to keep reading daily and working on those math facts. Remember…books and flashcards make great gifts for your children! Have a great vacation and see you next year.