All posts by lspady

Virginia Frank Memorial Writing Contest

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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/

 

 

 

#71: Olympic Medals

Learning Opportunities, Math Mini Sparks

In the 2020 Olympic Games, 80,000 tons of mobile phones and small electronic devices around Japan were used in the crafting of every gold, silver and bronze Olympic and Paralympic medal awarded to athletes.

The 2024 Olympic medals are special because they have a piece of the Eiffel Tower in them. The medals contain 18 grams of iron taken from parts of the Eiffel Tower that were replaced during renovations. Athletes who win in the Paris Olympics and Paralympics will receive these unique medals.

Spark your math thinking!

1. Set up your math mini spark recording page: #71: Olympic Medals

2. Read this article containing 5 facts about the 2024 games in Paris.  Create a note taking page and include any at least 5 interesting details you come across in the article.

3. Dive in deeper to the 2024 medal creation process and learn more about the design at this Olympics 2024 website. Record 5 ideas on your recording page.

4. Read this article about the recycling project from the 2020 Olympics. Record at least 3 number facts on your recording sheet.

5.  Watch this video.  Record specific details about the makeup of the gold, silver and bronze medals, how many were made for the Olympics in Paris, and the value of a medal.

 

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

Tech Checkout Library

Book & Tech Checkout, Teachers

Tech Resources

Below is a link to a list of technology housed at the EY office.  Make sure to select Tech at the bottom of the spreadsheet.

The spreadsheet contains the title of the tech available for checkout.  If/when you decide you would like to check out something, please e-mail Jenny Henningsen, who will then put your name in the “checked-out by” section of the spreadsheet.

Click here for a list of the tech available for checkout

 

#70 Algebra in Pictures

Math Mini Sparks

One of the things some students struggle with when taking Algebra is the use of letters (variables) to represent numbers.  However, if we remove the letters and replace them with pictures, somehow Algebra becomes a little more manageable.

Spark your math thinking!

  1. Set up your math mini spark recording page: #70 Algebra in Pictures
  2. Figure the picture puzzle stating what the ? represents in the final “equation”.    Images to create this puzzle taken from pdclipart.org
  3. Create your own picture puzzle.  I used Keynote, but you could use Explain Everything, Pic Collage, or another iPad app.  Pictures for your puzzle can be found at https://www.pdclipart.org/ . Please include an answer key.
  4. Solve at least 8 of these 11 puzzles pictured below. Each on

Thank you Mrs. Bridwell for the inspiration to create this post!  Thank you to Mrs. Bridwell’s 6th graders for all the great puzzles below!

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

Check out one of the solvemoji  badges on the EY badge page.

 

#69: The Snowiest February

Math Mini Sparks

Who knew SNOWIEST was even a word?!

What was the  SNOWIEST February of all time?

Spark your math thinking!

  1. Set up your math mini spark recording page: #69: The Snowiest February
  2.  Use this information page from UNL and find the snowiest February in Lincoln.
  3. Create 1, 2, or 3 different graphs to display the data above from Omaha or data from the UNL site if you prefer.  Use the Create-A-Graph website to make a graph of the data.  Be sure to include a title and label your axes.
    • Top 5 Snowiest Februarys
    • The Top 5 Snowiest Winter Seasons (Dec-Jan-Feb)
    • Top 5 Snowiest Winters (Jul 1- Jun 20).
  4. Take a look at the graphs in the image below.  For a larger image of the graphs, click here.  The information in the blue box is particularly helpful in reading the graphs.  Answer any of the following questions by leaving a comment and/or leave a question for someone else to answer.
    • How many times in January/February 2019 did the temperature range fall mainly in the record highs?  What about the record lows?
    • On how many dates was the temperature range very small (short blue bar)?
    • How many times did the temperature range fall in the average section (green)?
    • What do you find interesting about these graphs?

 

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