The 2015 Battle of the Books celebration is only a week away and we are getting geared up for an exciting day!  Here’s the schedule:

Friday, March 13 @ Westside Community Conference Center

9:30-10:00: Students will arrive and set up their projects (up to 2 per student).  There will be BOTB questions looping on the screen for students to answer.  During this time, students will have an opportunity to earn tickets for the prize drawings.

10:00-10:25: Presentation by Playwright Ellen Struve 

10:30-11:00: Skype call with Kathryn Fitzmaurice-author of BOTB book A Diamond in the Desert

11:00-11:10: Another chance to earn prize tickets by answering BOTB questions

11:15-11:45: Skype call with Valerie Hobbs-author of BOTB book Sheep

11:45-12:10: Lunch with another opportunity to earn prize tickets

12:10-12:30: Group BOTB competition using Kahoot!

12:30-12:50:  Skype call with W.H. Beck-author of BOTB book Malcolm at Midnight

12:55-1:30: Individual BOTB competition

1:30-1:45: Westside Community member and retired administrator Marla Fries will do a presentation on her Free Little Library

1:45-2:05: Ellen Scott from the Bookworm will do a presentation on our Westside neighborhood family-owned bookstore.  She will also be promoting a reading challenge!

2:05-2:20: Awards

2:25: Load buses and head back to school

Bus 1: pick up Hillside at 8:50, Westbrook at 9:00, Swanson at 9:10 and Sunset at 9:20

Bus 2: pick up WMS at 8:50 (any Algebra or Pre-Algebra students), Loveland at 9:00, and Westgate at 9:10, and Paddock at 9:20

Bus 3:  pick up Oakdale at 9:00, Rockbrook at 9:10, and Prairie Lane at 9:20.

bus graphic taken from http://www.pdclipart.org

Read the article below on a real classroom of the future.  What would your classroom of the future look like?  Can you think of items you could invent that would help to improve the classroom?  What are some items in your classroom now that could be made better?  Share your ideas by commenting below!

 

ExpoPC And Panama Team Up To Bring ‘Tablet Desks’ To Students

             Article by Jason Gilbert – TheHuffingtonPost2012

Kids, don’t stick your gum on these desks.

ExoPC, the French-Canadian startup that manufactures a tabletop multitouch surface with a 32-inch LCD display called the EXOdesk, has signed a deal with the government of Panama to furnish a physics classroom with its advanced touchscreen desks. This gives us a glimpse at what a classroom of the future might be.

The pilot classroom, which was authorized and will be overseen by Panama’s minister of science, technology and innovation, will feature 20 touchscreen EXOdesks for grade school students, a larger EXOdesk for the teacher, and at the front of the room, a huge interactive multitouch “blackboard.” This is just a giant touchscreen surface hanging on the wall. All of the books, notebooks, writing utensils and other school supplies will be stored within the desk’s memory and be accessible at home at any time via the cloud.

(That’s right: School desks have computer memory now and are available in the cloud. Back when I was a schoolboy, in order to get to the cloud, we had to walk barefoot, in the snow, uphill, both ways.)

Anyway, the desk itself contains an Intel i5 processor and runs a version of Windows 7, with an HTML5 interface specifically designed by ExoPC to suit the curriculum of the physics classroom. All of the desks and the blackboard will be connected via Wi-Fi so that students and the teacher can wirelessly share work and collaborate with one another. This will make it especially easy for one student to help another with a tricky problem.

Here’s a mockup of what the classroom should look like when it’s ready. The first day of school is in three months, and if I were a student at this particular Panamanian public school, I’d be pretty darn excited for summer to be over. (Okay, maybe not, but this is still pretty cool.)

Calling all 3rd Graders Interested in Science…

We want to take YOU to Nebraska SciFest!

At the 2015 Nebraska Science Festival Expo, students will experience fun and engaging learning opportunities.  Throughout the afternoon, students will find answers to an array of science-related questions through hands-on activities, presentations and demonstrations.

We will take 14 students on Thursday, April 16 and 14 different students on Friday, April 17.  In order to be considered to attend this event, you must complete the following activity by February 4.  If you are chosen to attend, you will receive a permission form with more information.

Thank you for your interest!

This opportunity is no longer available.

However, you’re still welcome to check out the wonders below!

Read the following 3 Wonderopolis articles and then answer the questions on the Google Form (linked below).

1. http://wonderopolis.org/wonder/where-are-the-la-brea-tar-pits/
2. http://wonderopolis.org/wonder/what-makes-popcorn-pop/
3. http://wonderopolis.org/wonder/can-you-only-see-the-moon-at-night/

On Tuesday, January 13, WMS students spent the morning designing their own video games using 2 free apps: Hopscotch and Pixel Press Floors.

Click here for an iMovie Trailer of the morning

Link to Resources: https://ey.westside66.org/wiki/pages/81M8d4/Gaming_Seminar_at_WMS.html

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!

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!