HOT and STEM Work Hand-in-Hand!!

The 7^th and 8^th grade students have been working on some STEM challenges during their daily HOT period.  Working collaboratively, the students have had to brainstorm and then try to create the tallest tower with the materials given.  The groups quickly learned that they needed to have a sturdy base in order for their towers to stand tall.  Here are some of the finished projects.

Book Face Project

In honor of National Library Week, the 7/8^th grade students and Mrs. Paulsen worked together to create a project to be displayed on the hallway TV’s.  In order to promote literacy and showcase our technology skills we decided to hold a “Book Face” competition.  All the students had to find a book or magazine with a face or partial face on it from the library and then line it up with their own face to take a picture.  We then added the book title and author and compiled them into a presentation.  What do you think?  I think they turned out great!

Here are just a few of the "Book Faces" that the students turned in!!

The complete presentation is now showing on the hallway TV's, please check it out when you are in the building!

Schleswig Tech Club

The Schleswig Tech Club has 33 members this year that are working in five different areas: Minecraft, Robotics, Memory Book, Multi-Media, and School News.  We meet each morning at 7:30 to work on individual and group projects.  Besides putting in extra time to work on technology projects, the Robotics and Multi-Media groups are getting ready for a statewide virtual competition this spring. 

The Robotics groups are using the Lego Mindstorm kits to build and program a robot to solve a dirty or mundane situation.  After their programing is complete, they will then have to film their robot in action preforming its job.  Their video and an accompanying essay are what will be judged against other middle schools in the state.

Our Multi-Media kids had to develop an idea for a wearable tech product that they could sell to their peers.  They then had to create websites, commercials, logos, and posters to sell their “product concept”.  This group is so lucky to have Aaron Lingren, Schleswig Alum and designer for bluespace creative in Denison, as their Tech Mentor.  Aaron comes in twice a month to be a sounding board for all the ideas that our kiddos come up with.  This group will also submit their work electronically to be judged against other schools in the state.

I would like to thank all of these Tech Club kids for their dedication to the program.  Not only do they come in early to work, but they stay after school frequently to troubleshoot their projects and to help others.  These kids continue to amaze me with their self-directed learning and willingness to be technology leaders here at school!

A Box Tops Update

Christmas Break Clipping!!

Did you know you can find Box Tops on many of the brands you use to make your holiday dinner, from potatoes to crescent rolls?  They are even on lots of products used for your Christmas baking!!

Remember to clip those Box Tops and turn them in to school.  They really add up!  Thanksgiving and Christmas are also great times to remind your extended family that we are a Box Tops school and would love their help in collecting for our school!

Have a GREAT break!!

The Schleswig School collected $459.80 this fall through Box Tops!!  We are using this money to purchase some additional resources to use with our rock climbing wall.

  

The next submission date will be in the middle of February – so keep clipping!!

Thank you for your continued support of our Box Tops program!

Learn more about how you can help our school at BTFE.com.

OMG... I forgot to publish this post!! :)

We are now officially a month in to the school year and we are starting to fly in the MS Computer classes.  The seventh and eighth grade started the year off by working a “Selfie” project that had them thinking about what they are excited about and what their goals are for this school year, and then trying to find a way to depict that in a selfie.  I am very happy with the way that this project turned out and if you haven’t been able to catch it when you have been in at school, I plan on showing it again at Parent/Teacher Conferences the end of this month.  It was a great way for the students to reflect on what amazing opportunities they have here at Schleswig.

               

Sixth grade is just finishing up their first spreadsheet project of the year.  We started by learning how cells have “addresses” to help us stay organized and ending by learning how to use simple functions such as AutoSum to do the math for us!  The students completed the same spreadsheet in Excel and Google Sheets in order to compare and contrast the two programs.

      

Fifth grade also did a compare and contrast project using Microsoft Word and Google Docs.  They created a calendar using the table functions and then added clip art and important dates to their work.  It was an eye-opening experience for this class to see that you can use a computer for more than playing Minecraft and checking email.

     

Spring Means ARCHERY in Phys Ed!!

The 5^th – 8^th grade Physical Education students have started their archery unit for the year.  After determining their dominate eye, building and practicing with string bows, and completing the group and individual safety evaluations, we are ready to start shooting!   We will spend about 3 class periods shooting for high score and high average out of five arrow sets and then we will spend the last two weeks playing target games like Battleship, Wild West Shoot-Out and having a balloon pop!

8th grade practicing the ten steps to safely shoot a bow.

Learning to count points.

7th grade following the NASP safe shooting proceedures.

2014-15 Schleswig Tech Club

This year the Schleswig Tech Club has decided to focus on five different areas.  We meet every morning at 7:30 and the kids attend the topics that they are interested in.  Our schedule for this year is:

• ·       Monday – Minecraft
• ·       Tuesday – Robotics
• ·       Wednesday – Memory Book
• ·       Thursday – Multi- Media
• ·       Friday – Film and Edit

Minecraft is a game based on exploration, gathering resources, and building using 3D blocks.  Students work together to survive and create in their virtual world.  Robotics is new to us, this year and the students have been busy designing and building robots using the Lego Mindstorm NXT kits and writing the programming for their robot to complete.  The Memory Book group is in charge of taking the pictures for and creating the annual Memory Book.  The Multi-Media group has been busy creating an advertising campaign for new type of tablet using both print and electronic media types and the Film and Edit group continues to film and edit concerts, programs, and ball games for the school YouTube channel.

We would like to continue our tradition on hosting a Community Education class this year.  If you have a topic that you would like to see covered, please let us know!