All posts by lspady

#35: Olympic Medal Designer

Full STEAM Ahead, Mini Challenges

Every two years, a selection committee creates the medals that symbolize triumph at that year’s Olympic Games. They must adhere to certain guidelines while also having the creative freedom to design medals that reflect the true essence of the Olympics.

Spark your math thinking!

1. Set up your math mini spark recording page: #35: Olympic Medal Designer

2. Watch this video and record 5 ideas about the process of creating medals for the Olympics hosted in Japan on your recording sheet.

3. View the history of Olympic Medals.  Pick 3 different years and compare the medals from those years (designer, composition, diameter, and mint).  Display your findings in a creative manner and add a picture to your recording sheet.

4. Imagine you are part of the Olympic Medal Design committee! Design your own Olympic medal that pays tribute to the world’s top athletes in a distinctive manner. Answer these questions on your recording sheet

  • Which Olympic Games will your medal represent — an upcoming event or a fictional one?
  • Will you concentrate on the Summer or Winter Olympics?
  • Will you maintain the classic design features on one side of your medal, or will you opt for innovative concepts?
  • What figures, locations, or symbols will you choose to celebrate on the front of your medal?

5. Do some planning and research. Add ideas to your recording sheet

6. Design your medal on paper or digitally. Add a picture of your design to your recording page.

7. Share your math mini spark recording page with your teacher/EY coordinator.

Idea adapted from https://kid-museum.org/maker-playground/olympic-medals/

#74 Fibonacci Fun

Learning Opportunities, Math Mini Sparks

The Fibonacci Sequence

1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144

What do these numbers have in common? What pattern do you see? These numbers are a part of what is known as the fibonacci numbers. Fibonacci numbers are found by adding the two previous numbers. So the number after 144 would be 233. The Fibonacci Sequence is a simple sequence of numbers that anyone can learn!

Spark your math thinking!

  1. Set up your math mini spark recording page: #74 Fibonacci Fun
  2. “Too much of the mathematics we learn in school is not effectively motivated.” ~Mathemagician Arthur Benjamin. Watch his TED Video about the Magic of Fibonacci Numbers. Take notes on your recording page.

3. Watch this Numberphile video about Random Fibonacci Numbers.  Take notes on your recording page.

4. Then, try the activity he explains in the video using a coin. Record your project.  My sons Toby and Trevor and I recorded ourselves doing the activity here:

 

5. Read about the Fibonacci Sequence at Math is Fun. Recording 3 details on your recording page.

6. Create a interesting way to show what you have learned from this math mini spark. Add it to your recording page.

7. Share your math mini spark recording page and your project with your teacher/EY coordinator.

Virginia Frank Memorial Writing Contest

Uncategorized

The Friends of Omaha Public Library are currently accepting submissions for the Virginia Frank Memorial Writing Contest.  The contest is for students in 5-8th grade.  First prize in each grade is $100.
Here is a link to the contest   https://omahalibrary.org/virginia-frank-memorial-writing-contest/

The Virginia Frank Memorial Writing contest is held each year in the spring to recognize the creative writing talent of area students. This contest, sponsored by the Friends of Omaha Public Library, recognizes the top three winners from each grade. Each winner receives a cash prize and certificate, is recognized in a ceremony at the library, and has their story published on the library website. The school libraries of each winning student are also recognized with a matching cash prize.

Eligibility Requirements

Stories must be submitted with an entry form to be considered. Complete all fields either online or on a printed entry form and submit with your story.
Students must be in 5th to 8th grade and live in Douglas or Sarpy counties.
Students may be enrolled in public, private, parochial or home school.
Stories must be typed and no longer than 750 words.
Entries must be original fiction featuring a character from a book you have enjoyed and read on your own. Identify the book and author from which your character originated in the title or subtitle of your story.
Only one entry per contestant will be accepted.
The decision of the judges is final.
All entries become the property of Friends of Omaha Public Library (FOPL) and may be featured by Omaha Public Library on its website or social media.
Deadline for entries is February 28, 2020.
Prizes

First ($100), second ($75) and third place ($50)
Prizes will be awarded to the top three winners from each grade.
The school library of the winning students will be recognized with matching cash prizes.
Read the winning stories from the 2019 Virginia Frank Memorial Writing Contest

About Virginia Frank

The Virginia Frank Memorial Writing Contest began in 2003 and is named in honor of a longtime Friends of Omaha Public Library volunteer. Virginia Frank was a Central High and UNO graduate. She acquired a master’s degree from Brown University and taught English literature and creative writing at UNO for many years. Her passion for students and young people inspired everyone around her, and her enthusiasm encouraged many students to explore their creative writing talents. Frank volunteered thousands of hours with the Friends of OPL to help ensuring a bright future for our public libraries.

#73: Codes Are Cool

Math Mini Sparks

01000011 01101111 01100100 01100101 01110011 00100000 01100001 01110010 01100101 00100000 01000011 01101111 01101111 01101100 00100001

in English, Codes are Cool!

Do you have your own secret code that you use with your friends?  Do you like writing notes to people?  Do you like to write in a diary?  Do you like solving puzzles and finding patterns?  If you answered yes to any of these questions, you might want to check out this math mini spark.

Spark your math thinking!

1. Set up your math mini spark recording page: #73: Codes Are Cool

2. Go to https://www.rapidtables.com/convert/number/ascii-to-binary.html and type in a sentence in English.  Then tap the convert button to translate your message to binary. Add the sentence and the bianry code this to your recording page.

3. Learn about the Pigpen cipher (also known as masonic cipher, Freemason’s cipher, Napoleon cipher, and tic-tac-toe cipher) by watching this video. Take notes on your recording sheet.

4. Write a message using what you learned.

 

5. Learn about the Caesar Cipher by watching this video

6. Create a message for someone else to figure out.  Be sure to include the shift number!

7.  Share your math mini spark recording page with your teacher/EY coordinator.

Check out this badge at the EY Website

Battle of the Books 2020

Other Events & Contests

Registration has begun for the Battle of the Books 2020!

Online registration runs through Friday, October 25.
Battle of the Books celebrates reading and fosters team spirit, and is open to all Westside District 4th through 6th graders.  We are hoping to have all 10 elementary schools represented at this year’s battle on Saturday, March 21, 2020 at the Westside Middle School.
For more details, please visit: https://sites.google.com/view/westsidebotb

#42: Shakespeare

Reading Enrichment

Learn all about William Shakespeare, the world-famous playwright and poet in this mini spark

Spark your thinking!

1. Set up your language arts mini spark recording page: #26: Shakespeare.

2. Read this post about William Shakespeare at National Geographic Kids. Create a fact page about him on your recording page.

3.  Look over all of his works. If you click on the play it will give you a summary. Find 5 that you have not heard of before. Record the title and a short summary on your recording page.

4.  Watch this video about words created by authors. Record at least 10 words and the author who created the word.

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

#72: The Map of Mathematics

Math Mini Sparks

The entire field of mathematics on a single map! This shows how pure mathematics and applied mathematics relate to each other and all of the sub-topics they are made from.

Spark your math thinking!

1. Set up your math mini spark recording page: #72: The Map of Mathematics

2. Watch this video.  Taking notes on this will be hard since there are SO many math terms introduced. Record 5-10 math ideas that are in the video.

 

3.  Go to this image and zoom in. Record all of the titles that are in yellow boxes and purple boxes.  Define each of those terms using the info from the video or a google search.

4. Share your math mini spark recording page with your teacher/EY coordinator.

#31: Make Water Glass Music

Full STEAM Ahead, Mini Challenges

Musical glasses are a fun way to combine art, math, music and science.

Spark your thinking!

1. Set up your STEAM mini spark recording page: #31: Make Water Glass Music

2. Gather the materials you need. Take a picture and add it to your recording page.

8 identical water glasses

water

a set of measuring cups

food coloring (optional)

1 plastic spoon

1 sheet of paper

Tape

pen/pencil

3. As you create this experiment. Take pictures of all of your steps.

Steps

  1. Use a measuring cup to fill each of the glasses with the correct amount of water. Use the image below as a guide.
  2. For fun, you can add a drop of food coloring to your glasses or two drops to make green, orange, or purple.

3.  Label your glasses.  Use the image below as a guide.

4. With a plastic spoon, gently tap each glass and listen for the sound it makes.

5. Notice which glass makes a lower sound and a higher sound.

6. Try playing these simple songs or create your own. Take a video of a song.

4.  The science of sound is all about vibrations. When you hit the glass with the spoon, the glass vibrates, and it’s these vibrations that ultimately make the sound. You discovered that tapping an empty glass produced a higher-pitched sound than tapping a bottle full of water did. Adding water to the bottle dampens the vibrations created by striking the glass with a spoon. The less water in the bottle, the faster the glass vibrates and the higher the pitch. The more water you add to the bottle, the slower the glass vibrates, creating a lower pitch.

5. On your recording page, write about what you learned from this mini spark.

6. Share your STEAM mini spark recording page and your video with your teacher/EY coordinator

Activity adapted from Musical Water Glasses at https://www.connectionsacademy.com/resources/instructographics/music-water-glasses and https://www.stevespanglerscience.com/lab/experiments/pop-bottle-sounds/