I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. It was nice to spend time with family and friends, and to get our house ready for both the holiday and winter season. We now begin a very quick but busy and productive stretch before the December break.
*I thoroughly enjoyed meeting with each of you during our parent conferences. I hope you found them informing and meaningful. I feel like our conferences are a continuation of ongoing dialogue that occurs all semester long (through the blog, e-mails, and 1:1 conversations). I feel this is the key reason why the conferences seems so "easy" and enjoyable. If there is anything that I can do to strengthen the ongoing communication piece, please let me know. If you have any other questions/concerns from our conference, please feel free to contact me anytime.
*Today I will be sending home a form in regards to Secret Pal. I will run it much like I did last year (see specific details outlined on the form in your child's homework bag). If you would like your child to participate, please fill it out and return it to me by Wednesday. If I don't receive the form back, I will assume your child is not participating. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns about this.
*This Friday will mark the kickoff of the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) project that a few parents have been working on. The goal of this project is to provide an experience that enhances STEM instruction while broadening student understanding of the field of engineering. This project has both in-school and after-school foci. There will be 4 guest speakers/ presentations:
Friday, December 3 7:50 – 8 a.m. | KICK OFF - Kogut, Korb, Stover Presentation – morning assembly, exciting 3-minute slide show to music depicting engineering applications and 5-minute introduction to the project. Guest speakers and schedule announced. Afterschool program announced for following Thursday. |
Thurs, December 9 Upper Unit (3-6) 12:25-1:00 (GYM) 1:00-1:30 Q&A small group focus (scheduled in individual classrooms) Lower Unit (K-2) 1:30-2:00 (Taylor’s classroom) | Presentation #1 Guests: Alisha Chaney, Electrical-Computer Engineering (senior) Norwich University IEEE Student Chapter President Civilian Honor Committee ; Doug Bowman (junior) Content: · Perspective of a young engineer: e.g., Why am I becoming an engineer? When and how did I decide to become an engineer? What kind of engineer am I? What do these types of engineers do? What do I want to be when I graduate? What have I learned at Norwich? Slide of my Norwich teams’ work. What can WES students do if they are interested in becoming engineers to help solve world problems?· Promote LEGO League afterschool program |
Thurs, Dec. 16 Upper Unit (3-6) 12:25-1:00 (GYM) 1:00-1:30 Q&A small group focus (scheduled in individual classrooms) Lower Unit (K-2) 1:30-2:00 (Taylor’s classroom) | Presentation #2 Guests: Garrett Bywaters, Systems Engineer and Jim Stover, Engineering and Product development Northern Power Systems (wind turbine manufacturer) Content: · Why I became an engineer.· Earth Science - Natural resources (oil vs. wind), weather systems (what makes wind?) · Physical Science: electricity and magnetism, forces and motion, wind as force; energy production process, turbines · Engineering skills used by Northern · Product: Turbine blade demo and “Wind for Schools” demo · Q&A |
Thurs, Jan. 6 Upper Unit (3-6) 12:25-1:00 (GYM) 1:00-1:30 Q&A small group focus (scheduled in individual classrooms) Lower Unit (K-2) 1:30-2:00 (Taylor’s classroom) | Presentation #3 (or 2, TBD) (Slides to be drafted by Melinda) Guest: Bob Kogut and Brandon Paulson O’Gara Group/Diffraction Content: · Why I/we became engineers· Physical science – what is a light wave, color, UV, etc. (see WWSU GEs – Stover has copy) · Life science - human eye capability vs. animal vs. computer · Engineering used with light waves, optical engineering · Product: Night vision goggles and beacons = safety · Q&A |
*If Wednesday's weather is decent, we will be in the garden with Jeremy Gulley (1:30-2:15). Please make sure your child dresses appropriately.
*There is math and reading homework this week.
That is all for now. I hope you have a great week. I will post again on Wednesday.
Peace,
Tom
