All posts by lspady

2014-15 District Spelling Bee

Spelling Bee

On Friday, November 21, the top 31 spellers from Westside Community Schools gathered for the District Spelling Bee.  Two spellers from each of the ten elementary schools and eleven spellers from the middle school participated.  After spelling transcutaneous and camelopard correctly, 7th grader Reese P. was determined the winner.  Graham W., 6th grader from Swanson, was the runner-up.  Reese will attend the 89th Midwest Spelling Bee on March 15th at the Omaha Public School Teacher Administration Building.

Elementary Winners:  
3rd Place:  Zach G. from Loveland
2nd Place: Andrew L. from Rockbrook
1st Place: Graham W. from Swanson

District Winners:
3rd Place: Justin S. from WMS
2nd Place: Graham W. from Swanson
1st Place: Reese P. from WMS

EY Update

Sindt Blog

Hello!

Wow, is this year flying by!  From the “Choose Your Own Adventure” seminar, to the Spelling Bees, the Quiz Bowl and the Geography Bees, students have been taking advantage of a lot of great opportunities and we’ve been very busy!

Our big idea for the EY students this quarter is Current Events.  We spent some time checking out student-appropriate news websites the first couple of times we met this quarter.  More recently, I have introduced the project of the quarter.  For this project, students are looking at the current events from 10 years before they were born to the first 10 years of their lives.  For example, if they were born in 2003, their years are 1993 – 2013.  Students who were born in 2005 are doing the years 1995 – 2014, so they get off a little easier.  They will research and choose a local, national, and world current event and create a presentation.  I used Google Slides to create a fantastic model timeline I shared with them, covering the years 1962 – 1982.  To stretch them a little, we’re asking students to choose an event from those years and make a connection, saying how that event influenced their lives or personalities.  For example, I shared about the 1975 tornado that tore through Omaha.  I was only 3, but I have vivid memories of that day and the following days of viewing the destruction.  Those memories have forced me to become extra-cautious now when it gets stormy.  This project could lead to some interesting discussions at home.   Be sure to ask your students about the events the students are learning about.

For E/I times during the school day, I have different classrooms doing different activities.  I work with the classroom teachers to decide what’s best for their students, and E/I time activities are open to all.  Some students are involved in Battle of the Book clubs, some meet with me for math, and some are doing independent or group projects.

I wanted to inform you that I’m having  surgery December 3rd, so I will be out until after Winter Break.  Students will be set up with plenty to do through the weeks of December.  The timeline project outlined above will be due after Winter Break, so students have the month of December to work on it.  I will be an e-mail away from December 3rd through the 19th, and your students are more than welcome to e-mail me at home if they have any questions.  Also, please check out the other links on the EY websites – there are many great ideas!

Thanks!

Katie Sindt

 

 

Engineering Learning Center

Other Events & Contests, Parents

The Midwest is filled with innovation … why not allow the students who grow up here the opportunity to capture that and make something great?

Time for STEM provides opportunities for students who want to experience real life examples and projects in engineering.  Some programs include:

  • Electrical Engineer I & II
  • Aerospace Engineer
  • Social Media Engineer
  • Agricultural Engineer
  • Environmental Engineer

For more information, check out the website and course schedule.

Website:  http://www.timeforstem.com/home.html

Course Schedule:  http://www.timeforstem.com/course-schedule.html

Westside Community Schools does not sponsor or endorse the organization or activity described here.  The sharing of this information is provided as a community service.

Hour of Code

Other Events & Contests, Parents, Teachers

Every student in every school should have the opportunity to learn computer science!

Many classrooms have already started the adventure of exposing students to the world of computer science through coding.  Some students are making their own video games using Pixel Press Floors and Hopscotch.  Others are using the curriculum on code.org  and Khan Academy.  Scratch, Scratch Jr. and Tynker are other resources to check out if you’re interested in having your kids learn to code.  Leave a comment and let us know how your classroom and/or children are learning about computer science!

Make sure to check out the resources on the Hour of Code site at http://csedweek.org.

Also, check out the Computer Science Education Resource Guide @ http://www.smartscholar.com/computer-science-guide/

Probability

Spady Blog, Teachers

normal_dice2

What is the probability of rolling of sum of 7 when rolling 2 dice?

One of my favorite things to do is take a math concept I used to teach my middle school students and see how various younger age groups handle it.  More often than not, the instruction can be adjusted so that even the youngest students can learn what some might think is a difficult concept.  One of those concepts is probability.

I created a “Dice Experiment” worksheet and conducted it with students in grades 1-6.  Kids often associate experiments with science, so it was fun to do a math experiment.  We rolled the dice 36 times and recorded the sum.  With some groups I gave pairs of students the dice to roll on their own.  With other groups, we collected the data as a class.

I loved telling kids that I used to teach this concept to middle school kids.  Their faces lit up because they knew they were learning “big kid” math.  🙂

Here is a screenshot of the the experiment worksheet.

Screen Shot 2014-11-13 at 9.32.08 PM          Screen Shot 2014-11-13 at 9.32.17 PM

With all age groups, we talked about the parts of an experiment and how it’s important to keep track of data.  We also talked about tables and charts and how they keep information organized and easy to read.  We also talked about patterns and how they’re easier to see when the data is organized.  We made lots of predictions and of course, talked about probability.  Below you will find a link to a blank copy of the experiment along with an answer key.  Feel free to use it and/or tweak it.

Please leave a comment and tell me how you teach probability.  Or, give an example of how probability is used in everyday life.

Dice Experiment

Answer Sheet

Dice image taken from http://www.pdclipart.org

Quiz Bowl 2014

Uncategorized
Name the planet in our solar system that is closest to the sun.
Which city is the capital of Texas?
Convert the decimal 0.375 into a fraction in simplest form.
Name the family of musical instruments that includes the drums.
ani_thinkingcap

Do you know the answers to the questions above?  All are examples of the types of questions asked at a Quiz Bowl.  On Friday, November 7, eighty students from all 10 Westside elementary buildings participated in the WCS Elementary Quiz Bowl.  Teams of 4 went against each other in 15 minute rounds answering “toss-up” questions for 10 points and “bonus” questions for 5 points.

As teams were eliminated, students answered additional trivia questions on the Trivia Treasure Symbaloo.  Students also played trivia games like Kahoot and Heads-Up on the iPad.  In addition, students created “Trivia Quizzes” using Pic Collage.  When the QR code (generated on goqr.me) on the Pic Collage is scanned, the answers to the trivia questions are revealed.  Check out some of the student work on our wiki!  If you want to create your own Pic Collage with QR code, watch this video tutorial.

Many thanks go to all the retired WCS teachers and administrators who helped read questions.  We had amazing help from WMS and WHS students who helped keep the teams on track!  Thanks to Mr. Thomsen from ESU #3 (and retired from WCS) for all the organization and planning that went into the event!  A great time was had by all and we hope to offer another Quiz Bowl in the future!

Leave a comment if you know the answers to the questions at the beginning of this blog post and/or leave another trivia question for someone else to answer!

The Great Stunt!!

Uncategorized

 

tight rope walker

 

You are a stunt person preparing for the next great daredevil trick.  What should this trick be, and what needs to be considered as you prepare for it?

http://pblproject.com/page.aspx?pageid=PBL-Stuntman

Go to this website and explore the resources there.  Create a document or other presentation tool to describe your stunt!  Be creative but try to think of all things that must be considered when attempting a daredevil trick!  Share with your EY Coordinator when you are done, we are looking for more student work  to post on our showcase!

November News

Lusero Blog

November Image

 

Hello!  I hope all is well with you and your family.  This is a great time of the year to appreciate all the good things in life.  I am thankful that I am able to work with your children and provide them with some unique challenges that will inspire them to pursue their passions and strengths.

The second quarter we will focus on culture and history and the effects this all has on us.  The students are choosing an event or person to study.  They will also study the time period ten years before and ten years after the event.  They will make connections from the past to the present.  This will be done in a variety of formats to show what they have learned.  I am excited to see the end products.

We have been busy with some competitions too- we held all the school bees in two days  at Underwood Hills.  I did miss the school assembly part, but the students did not feel as much pressure and we received a lot of positive feedback about the change.  I would love to hear your opinion as well.  This will allow me to be with students more this quarter.  We are planning to run the same type schedule for the geography bee next month.  We  also hosted a quiz bowl on Friday for all ten elementary schools. The students that were interested took a qualifying exam and the top eight were invited to participate.

This is just a little update on what is happening in EY.  I continue to go into the classroom for E/I time once every six days and work with the smaller groups of EY students once every six days.  I wish it was more often, but we will work with what we have.  I enjoy my time with them but the time in the classroom is valuable too.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Patty Lusero