Are you interested in teaching STEM concepts through engineering connections? If so, the 2015 Kiewit Teacher Day is for YOU! Absolutely no engineering background or knowledge is needed to participate and all teachers from K-12 in any discipline are invited to attend. BONUS: There will be lots of free giveaways and door prizes!
Art Seminar ~ Friday, May 8th, 2015
Are you the next Pablo Picasso or Georgia O’Keeffe? Do you see art in the world around you? If so, this seminar is for you! We have announced our ticket for the art seminar and the details are below. Read through them carefully as well as the scoring rubric at the bottom.
“An artist cannot fail; it is a success to be one.” Charles Horton Cooley
ART SEMINAR TICKET
Step 1
*Please create an original piece of 2D or 3D art.
*You may use the medium (material) of your choice.
*Add your name to your project.
*Your art project is due April 27th. Please turn it in to the EY teacher in your building.
*Please create a piece of art specifically for this event, not something created in art class at your school.
Step 2
*Thoughtfully respond to one of the prompts below and attach it to your art project. Please make sure your name is on your reflection.
SCORING RUBRIC
Creativity/Originality
WOW! – Student used his imagination to create an original work of art.
GOOD! – Student showed a good amount of creativity.
Keep trying! – Student showed very little creativity.
Choice of Medium
WOW! – Student demonstrates a great understanding of the selected medium.
GOOD! – Student demonstrates a good understanding of the selected medium.
Keep trying! – Student demonstrates an average understanding of the selected medium.
Craftsmanship
WOW! – Student’s artwork is neat and clean looking. It is clear that the artist paid great attention to detail.
GOOD! – Student’s artwork is neat and clean looking.
Keep trying! – Student showed poor craftsmanship or very little effort given to presentation.
Spring has certainly sprung and you can definitely feel the “electricity” in the air! Well, maybe not feel it, but students at Westbrook, Oakdale, and Hillside have been seeing and experiencing it with squishy circuits. These circuits are created using conductive and resistant dough, battery packs, LED’s, buzzers, and motors. The students learned how electricity travels in a flow (away from the negative pole of the battery back to the positive pole) much like water. They got their creative juices flowing as well while creating some very unique circuits! Check them out!
Recipe for Sharing Your Love of Reading & WritingYields: 120 students receiving a message of inspiration, perseverance, and hope!
Battle of the Books took a different spin this year at Westside Community Schools. The morning started off with kids arriving and putting their book projects on display. For each book read, students chose one project to complete. There were 3-5 project choices for each book ranging from dioramas, to writing a letter to the author, to doing further research on a topic in the book.
Drew, 4th grader at Swanson said: I loved doing the Battle Of The Books activities, and reading the books! Most of the books were amazing! 
Check out some of the student projects submitted!
Next, Omaha Playwright (and Westside graduate, parent and community member) Ellen Struve talked about her profession and love of reading & writing. Not only did she talk about her personal journey to becoming a playwright, but Ms. Struve also involved the students in creating their very own play! Throughout her presentation, Ellen embedded information about characters, dialogue, conflict, scene, and setting. Based on the engagement level and questions asked by kids, there will most likely be additional play writers emerging from Westside in the future!
We found 3 BOTB authors on Twitter and they graciously agreed to Skype with our students! Katherine Fitzmaurice, author of A Diamond in the Desert was up first. She emphasized all the research that went into writing the book and even showed us pictures of the real characters. She also showed students a pile of rejection letters and the numerous changes suggested by her editor. Her advice for students wanting to write a book: “You have to really like what you’re writing about. Believe in yourself and like your story!”
Our next Skype call was with Valerie Hobbs, author of Sheep. Many students chose to write Ms. Hobbs a letter for their book project and she graciously wrote letters back to all of them! Talk about making a personal connection! Several students read Sheep and fell in love with Jack, the border collie who tells the story.
Many students were excited when Ms. Hobbs shared information about the newly released sequel to Sheep. At the end of Sheep, Jack finds Luke at the Good Shepherd Home for Boys. Together, they are adopted by a couple and the sequel Wolf continues Luke and Jack’s story at their new home, a sheep ranch in Northern California. Ms. Hobbs’ writing advice for the students: “Do a whole lot of reading of the type of book you’d like to write.”
Our final Skype call was with W.H. Beck, author of Malcolm at Midnight. In addition to being an author, Ms. Beck is a school librarian. Her advice for students was, “Make sure to set aside time each day to write. You can make a list, write a short story, or just write down your random thoughts.”
Click Here for a Portion of our Skype Call With W.H. Beck
We didn’t forget the competition portion of Battle of the Books. Students worked in teams to answer questions about all 20 books. They used their iPads and participated in a Kahoot! created by Mrs. Lusero. Students also took an individual test on a Google form.
At the end of the day, Marla Fries shared her love of reading by telling the students about her Little Free Library. Marla is a WCS community member, retired administrator, and volunteer at Westgate Elementary.
After the event, one student was so inspired that she wanted to build her own Little Free Library! Check out Ava’s work!
Ellen Scott from our neighborhood bookstore, The Bookworm, also shared her personal story and love of reading with the students. She presented the kids with an opportunity to be on The Bookworm’s Kid Advisory Board. We are so fortunate to have a family-owned bookstore in our Westside community!
Friday, March 13th was truly a wonderful day to celebrate many accomplishments! To all the students who participated, Thank You for all your hard word and willingness to try something new. The EY Team learned a lot throughout the process and we look forward to hearing your feedback!
If you attended Battle of the Books this year, please consider leaving a comment and letting us know your favorite part! Also, click here for a quick survey about the day.
Map taken from http://www.mapofus.org/nebraska/
I absolutely love road trips which is why I got so excited when “12 Nebraska towns you’ve probably never heard of” was recently published in The Lincoln Journal Star. I immediately thought to myself…
Your Challenge (if you choose to accept it): Research the Nebraska towns listed in the article. Here are some sample questions to guide your research…
Present your information in a format of your choice. Be creative! When you’re finished, submit your product to the EY Coordinator at your building.
Below are the 12 Nebraska towns listed in the article. If you think there’s another Nebraska town that should be on the list, leave a comment and tell us why.
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
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.)
The 2nd Annual WCS Elementary Science Olympiad was a huge success! Throughout the day, students participated in a variety of events that challenged their thinking.
The Zoo School facilitated a Wildlife Safari event where students practiced their observation and inference skills. The Barge Building event challenged students to create a foil structure that would float in water and support the most pennies. Mystery Powders had students identifying substances based on their reactions to different liquids. Other events included Rock Hound, Straw Tower, Mystery Boxes and Edible Vehicle.
It was a great day thanks to the organization of Sheree Person-Pandil and John Thomsen from ESU #3. We also had 9 amazing WHS students who shared their love of science by helping out at each event and facilitating a Science Bowl.
It’s so great to offer these types of opportunities to our students. Seeing the level of engagement and enthusiasm from the students is what makes our job so rewarding! Thank you to everyone involved in making this day a success! Click on the link below to watch a short iMovie trailer of the day.
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.
Read the following 3 Wonderopolis articles and then answer the questions on the Google Form (linked below).
On Tuesday, January 13, WMS students spent the morning designing their own video games using 2 free apps: Hopscotch and Pixel Press Floors.
Link to Resources: https://ey.westside66.org/wiki/pages/81M8d4/Gaming_Seminar_at_WMS.html