All posts by Jenny Henningsen

Contest-Name a Snowplow

Events & Contests

We need help naming 16 snowplows in the Nebraska Department of Transportation’s fleet. Now through October 3, students in grades K–6 can submit their most imaginative, silly, or clever names for a chance to see their idea featured on one of NDOT’s 600 snowplows—trackable in real time at 511.nebraska.gov. Two winners will be selected from each of NDOT’s eight Districts. View the district map here.

Contest Details

  • Who can enter: Nebraska students in grades K–6
  • Deadline: Entries due by 11:59 p.m. Friday, October 3
  • Privacy: Student and teacher names will not be shared publicly — only winning plow names and their schools will appear in NDOT promotions.
  • How to submit:

LInk to Contest Information

Reach out to your teacher or EY coordinator if you would like help with your submission.

 

#40: How Small is an Atom?

Science Mini Spark

You probably already know everything is made up of little tiny things called atoms or even that each atom is made up of even smaller particles called protons, neutrons, and electrons. And you’ve probably heard that atoms are small. But I bet you haven’t ever thought about how small atoms really are.

Spark your thinking!

1. Set up your Science mini spark recording page: #40: How Small is an Atom

2.   Watch this TED-Ed video to learn more about the topic. Record 5 facts from the video.

3.  The Kids Should See this webpage has created a lesson about the world’s smallest movie.  Read this information and write 3-5 details on your recording page.

Magnifying carbon monoxide (CO) atoms to over 100 million times their actual size, arranging them into a series of 242 still images, and then animating them together, scientists at IBM Research have made the smallest movie ever. Wait, how small is that again?

“If an atom was the size of an orange, then the orange would be the size of the whole planet Earth.”

atom
You will watch a a 60-second movie, “with a frame size of only 45 nanometres by 25 nanometres (45 x 25 billionths of a metre)”. It is called A Boy and His Atom. In 2013, it was Guinness World Records-verified to be the smallest stop-motion film in the world:

“Individual molecules of carbon monoxide were “placed” as pixels on a copper sheet to create each frame of the film. The molecules were positioned using a Scanning Tunnelling Microscope (STM), which uses an ultra-fine metal tip to move the molecules with electrical charge… Once the molecules of carbon monoxide were in place in each frame, the STM took 4 min 53 sec to scan the whole frame to build up the image recorded on film. This process was meticulously repeated for each frame.”

4.  Watch the movie, A Boy and His Atom. On your recording page explain what makes this movie so unique.

5. Finish up this mini spark by watching the making of the the world smallest movie video. How did the scientists feel about the project? How did they get the atoms to move?

6. Share your science mini spark recording page with your teacher/EY coordinator.

 

STEAM NIGHT @ MCC, Sept. 19th, 2025

Events & Contests, Other Events & Contests

 

 

Join us for an exciting STEAM Night at MCC! This hands-on event is designed to ignite curiosity and inspire a love for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math. Families will have the opportunity to engage together in interactive stations, creative challenges, and fun activities, fostering stronger connections and a shared excitement for learning. Don’t miss this fun-filled evening!

STEAM Night at MCC
Friday, September 19, 2025, 5:30 – 7pm
SRP, Sarpy Commons
More information-Link
COMING SOON!
STEAM Night at MCC
Friday, December 5, 2025, 5:30 – 7pm
Yates Adult Ed/ESL Classroom 210

#89: 10 Sentence Story Challenge- Figurative Language

Reading Enrichment

 

Follow the steps given in this mini spark to practice your writing.

Spark your thinking!

1. Set up your language arts mini spark recording page: #89: 10 Sentence Story Challenge-Figurative Language

2. Read this teaching page. On your recording page, write down your OWN example for each type of figurative language listed.

3.  If you want to print out this handout you can, or open it up to look at as you write. Read the page from top to bottom. How many stars would you give the sample story. 5 stars is the best, 4 pretty good….and so on.

4. Work on your story.  Check off each step from the handout as you write.

5. Go back to your story and underline each of your literary devices.

6.   Turn in your language arts mini spark to your teacher or EY coordinator.

#39: Lizard Mazes

Science Mini Spark

How do lizards find food to eat? Learn about this and more in this science mini spark 

Spark your thinking!

1. Set up your Science mini spark recording page: #39: Lizard Mazes

2. Read this introduction to what you will learn in this mini spark. On your recording sheet, write a summary of what you will learn. 

What is your hide-and-seek strategy? Maybe you search one area at a time, look for signs of movement, or even listen to see if you can hear your friends. Wild animals use lots of different strategies when they search for food. Guatemalan beaded lizards come from a desert valley surrounded by rugged mountains. They like to eat bird and lizard eggs, as well as insects, baby birds and small mammals. These can be hard to find! We wanted to know what strategies these lizards use when they are hunting for their next meal. We designed a maze experiment to help us figure it out. We placed food in a maze and watched how the lizards navigated the maze. We found that they were good at remembering where they’d already looked. They did best when there was a scent trail for them to follow. They did not do as well when they had to detect airborne scent from a distance. These experiments help us know more about the strategies these lizards use in the wild!

3. Read this article carefully.  Make a mini dictionary on your recording sheet with at least 8 words with a short definition.

4. Choose 2 of these questions to answer from the point of view of a lizard. 

What kind of foods do Guatemalan beaded lizards eat in the wild? 

How did we make sure that the animals felt comfortable? 

How did we determine whether the lizards were using their vomerolfaction ability? 

Imagine that you are on a game show where you need to find prizes in a maze. What strategy will you use to find them?

5. Share your science mini spark recording page with your teacher/EY coordinator.

The Hidden Life of Spices Poetry Contest

Other Events & Contests

The Nebraska Section of the American Chemical Society (ACS) is sponsoring an illustrated poem contest for students in Kindergarten through 12th grade.

Write and illustrate a poem using the ACS theme, the 2025 theme is “The Hidden Life of Spices”.

Who: Students in grades K-12

What: Illustrated poem contest

Deadline: Oct 26th 

Contest Details: This event has very specific instructions for how to prepare your poem. Go to the website and look over the details carefully.

LInk to Contest Information

Reach out to your teacher or EY coordinator for help.

Prizes: Local winners advance to the national contest for a chance to win cash prizes. ACS will award $300 to first-place and $150 to second-place national contest winners in each grade category!

Check out the 2024 Winning Poems for inspiration!

 

#38: Dry Erase Marker Science

Science Mini Spark

How do dry erase markers work? Learn all about the science in this mini spark. 

Spark your thinking!

1. Set up your Science mini spark recording page: #38: Dry Erase Markers

2.  Read this article and list a few reason why schools use white boards instead of chalk boards. 

3. Learn more about dry erase markers. Take notes while watching. Record information that is new to you, interesting, or sounds important. 

4.    Watch this experiment.  Write a few sentences explaining why the image will come off of the glass and go into the water. 

5.  OPTIONAL: Do the experiment yourself. Take a video of the end result.

6.  Share your Science mini spark recording page with your teacher or the EY coordinator in your building.

 

 

#13: Start an “I wonder….journal”

SEL Mini Sparks

Start your own curious kid’s guide to noticing and wondering

Spark your thinking!

1. Set up your early SEL mini spark recording page: #13: Start an “I wonder…. journal”

2. Read the The steps for How to Write an “I Wonder…” Journal.  When you are done write “I read steps 1-7 about how to write a journal entry!”

 Step 1: Get Ready to Wonder. Before you start writing, get into a curious mindset. Your goal is to notice something interesting and ask questions about it. Think: “What’s something I saw or felt today that made me curious?” or “Did anything surprise me or seem strange?”

Step 2: Choose Something Interesting. Pick something from your day that stood out to you. It can be: Something you saw (like a bird, cloud, or a strange bug), A feeling you had (like nervousness, excitement, or confusion) or An interaction (a moment between you and someone else) Something new (a tool, toy, food, word, etc.)

Examples: A squirrel carrying a huge stick, The way my heart raced before my class speech, Why my dog tilts her head when I talk or A weird dream I had last night

Step 3: Start with “I wonder…” Now write a sentence that begins with: I wonder… Use this to ask a question or show your curiosity.
 Examples: I wonder how birds know which way to fly during migration, I wonder why I felt so nervous before presenting or I wonder what my dog is thinking when she stares at me.

Step 4: Add Details and Ideas. After your “I wonder” sentence, write 3–5 more sentences that: Describe what you noticed, Explain why it caught your attention or Share your thoughts, guesses, or feelings

Example:

I wonder why some squirrels have darker fur than others. I saw one today with almost black fur, while others are light brown. Maybe it helps them hide in different places. I also wonder if it depends on where they live. I want to look it up in a book or ask my teacher.

Step 5: Ask Another Question (Optional)

If you’re still curious, ask another “I wonder…” question at the end.
 This keeps your thinking going and shows you’re open to learning more.

Step 6: Reread and Check

Make sure your journal:
 ✔ Starts with “I wonder…”
 ✔ Talks about something real and specific
 ✔ Includes your thoughts, ideas, or feelings
 ✔ Is written clearly with full sentences

Step 7: Helpful Starters:

  • I wonder why…
  • I noticed that…
  • This made me think…
  • I started to feel…
  • Could it be because…
  • I want to know more about…

3.  To earn this mini spark, write 1 journal entry following the steps outlined above for three days. Include the date with your entry.

4.  Share your SEL mini spark recording page and journal entries with your teacher or the EY coordinator in your building

 

Check out the I Wonder Journal Challenge badge at the EY website.

#17:  What can we learn about stress from birds?

SEL Mini Sparks

 

Stress responses aren’t unique to humans; they’re shared by almost all animals. Learn more about human stress and what’s going on with our bodies when we respond to challenges

Spark your thinking!

1. Set up your SEL mini spark recording page: #17:  What can we learn about stress from birds?

2. Watch this video form the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Record 5-10 vocabulary words with a short meaning for each.

 

3. Research in birds is helping us to discover when natural selection favors a strong stress response, and when it is better to stay calm. Using examples from the video complete these sentence stems.

It was helpful for the bird to have a strong stress response when…..

It was not as good for the birds to have a strong stress response when….

In our evolutionary history humans respond strongly to challenges in the past so that…….

4. Write 3 examples of events/situations that cause stress for you?

5. While stress is sometimes viewed as negative, there is such a thing as good stress. Think of a time when it would be beneficial for you to have stress and record it here. 

6. Scroll to the bottom of this post to read about a situation when good stress is helpful for humans.  Write “I read it!” on your recording sheet. If you could not think of an example of good stress for step 5, go back and record an idea after thinking about the bike situation.

7.  Share your SEL mini spark recording page with your teacher or the EY coordinator in your building.

 

 

 

 

Good stress happens when we confront a challenge we believe we can manage or control. 

Here’s an example: A child is coasting down a hill on a bike with just one hand on the handlebars. When she sees a pothole up ahead, she feels stress and instinctively puts her other hand on the bars.

In less than a second, her brain goes into survival mode. It tells her heart to pump blood to her legs. Her vision gets a little better because her pupils open to take in more light. She’s ready for evasive action. She guides herself around the hole and continues safely down the slope.

In this case, she quickly handled the danger without a problem. It was good stress that helped her meet the challenge, because she believed she could do it.

The brain loves success and will store the memory of this event. The next time this child faces such a dangerous situation, this positive memory will help her deal with it. Good stress makes us stronger, ready to take on new challenges.