National History Day 2016

It was a clean sweep! All my 6th grade students are 

advancing to the state National History Day 

Competition!

Katie-1st Place Individual Presentation

Emma-1st Place Individual Exhibit

Jeremiah-2nd Place Individual Exhibit

Jack-3rd Place Individual Exhibit

Maddy and Cecilia-1st Place Group Exhibit

Cora-2nd Place Documentary

Way to go, 6th grade!

What's Your Favorite Pun?

^{This year's Family Trivia Night theme is "A Night of PUN." Some of my younger students have been asking, "What is a pun?"}  

^{The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines pun as:}

a humorous way of using a word or phrase so that more than one meaning is suggested

Some examples of puns are:

1. The delicatessen is sandwiched, if you'll pardon the pun, between two stores.

1. She's a skillful pilot whose career has—no pun intended—really taken off.

There are many different ways to write puns. A pun can be of two types: Typographic and Visual. Therefore, yes, you can dress in a "Punny" costume for Family Trivia Night!

Typographic is further divided into five categories:

• Homophonic -They use homophones (similar sounding word pairs) which are not synonymous. Example: Why is it so wet in England? Because many kings and queens have reigned there.

• Homographic - These kinds of puns are where words are spelled the same (homographs) but have different meanings and sounds. Example: You can tune a guitar, but you can't tuna fish. 

• Homonymic -These words are both homographs and homophones.  Example: Bank (meaning embankment) and bank (where money is kept).

• Compound -That contains two or more puns in the same sentence. Example: Where do you find giant snails? On the ends of giants' fingers.

• Recursive -In this case, the second aspect of the pun relies on the understanding of the first. Example: Infinity is not in finity.

Visual Puns - They are those which use non-phonetic writing.
Example: In 'The Muppet Movie', Kermit and Fozzie are driving. Then Kermit looks at the map and says they need to turn at the fork in the road. At this point, he lowers the map at which point and sees a giant fork in the middle of the road.

PLEASE SHARE YOUR FAVORITE PUNS IN THE COMMENTS.  MAKE SURE THEY ARE SCHOOL APPROPRIATE!  

Leadership and Legacy

I'm so excited....National History Day has announced this year's theme, "Leadership and Legacy!"  This will be a great topic to support the Leader in Me Program in our school.  Sixth grade students, start thinking about your topics.

Questions to guide your thinking:

What does it mean to leave a legacy?

What are different ways leaders can leave legacies?

What leader's legacy has made an impact on your life?

Who would you like to learn more about?

What qualities make an effective leader?

How do people solve problems and create legacies on the common human experience?

How have leaders left a legacy through their work or service?

Heading to Global Finals!

Creative Problem Solvers

All three Murray Destination Imagination, Inc. teams will advance to the state competition in Joplin, MO. The 5th grade team, Super Six, earned 3rd place in the Scientific challenge. The 4th grade team, Renegade Wood Warriors, earned 1st place in the Structural challenge. The 4th grade team, Laughing Lollypops, earned 3rd place in the Fine Arts challenge. MO Creative Adventures (MOCA) will take place April 12th at Missouri Southern State University. Good luck DI teams!

Douglas explains how his shrink ray works while the professor takes notes.

Douglas shows off his Extreme Gear.

Douglas uses his Extreme Gear to for protection.

The Laughing Lollypops get ready to perform.  

Doctor Cat puts the girls asleep for their dental work.  

The Renegade Wood Warriors' structure held 110 pounds.  

The Renegade Wood Warriors discussed their puppet show with the judges.

The Super 6 (minus 3 in this picture) earned 3rd place.

The Renegade Wood Warriors earned 1st place.

Laughing Lollypops earned 3rd place.

The Laughing Lollypops found time to go to the Daddy Daughter Dance.  

National History Day

     The sixth grade National History Day teams did an awesome job today.  The presentation, "Harriet Tubman and the Road to Freedom," earned Jolee, Abby, Alyssa, and Emily 2nd place. The presentation, "Rights and Responsibilities of The American Revolution," earned Johnny, Ashton, and Kyle 3rd place. The documentary, "Rights and Responsibilities of the USS Indianapolis" earned Lilly O. 3rd place. The webpage, "Susan B. Anthony--More than a Suffragette," earned Allana, Hannah, and Lily W. 1st place. They will all advance to National History Day in Missouri in April. Congratulations and good luck at state!

Spirit of St. Louis Airport

Seventh grade students visited their engineering mentor at Spirit of St. Louis Airport on Thursday, November 24th. Mr. Ramos gave them a tour of the airport and we even drove on the runway. Students also had the opportunity to sit in helicopters and perform flight simulations.

Flight Simulator

Where's Their Teacher?

I love looking at my pictures after I've let the kids take charge of the camera. The girls in the pictures below have been collecting data for their science fair project. They are comparing brands of batteries. Would you believe that the Energizer batteries died first? I can't wait to see their final results!

2013 Future City--Chicago

Have you ever imagined a place where cars can drive UNDER buses?  Would you like to live in an apartment building that turns one rotation during a 24 hour period?  What is the best renewable energy source for a city of the future?  How can we reduce storm water pollution?   These are all questions that students asked themselves while preparing for the Future City competition.

 The Future City Competition is a national, project-based learning experience where students in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade imagine, design, and build cities of the future. Students work as a team with an educator and engineer mentor to plan cities using SimCity™ 4 Deluxe software; research and write solutions to an engineering problem; build tabletop scale models with recycled materials; and present their ideas before judges at Regional Competitions in January. Regional winners represent their region at the National Finals in Washington, DC in February (http://futurecity.org/about).  This year's theme is "Rethink Runoff -Design clean solutions to manage stormwater pollution."

Two St. Clair Junior High Challenge classes participated in Chicago's regional competition held Saturday, January 26 at the University of Illinois Chicago.    Both teams chose city locations with highly polluted rivers because of this year's theme.  The 7th grade team chose to build their city near Jakarta, Indonesia.  Their focus was to clean up the Citarum River, thus the name of their city--New Citarum.  The 8th grade team chose to build their city in Argentina, near the Rio de la Plata.  The Matanza-Riachuelo runs into the Rio de la Plata, and it has been affectionately called the "Chunky Lung" river by my students because 21% of the pollution comes from the meat, tannery, and dairy industry dumping blood, and internal organs into the river.

As a top 5 contender, the Ciudad de Agua Pura team shared their future city vision on the main stage. The 8th grade team placed third overall and won several awards including the "Best Virtual City," " Best City Promotion," and the "Peer Award."  7th grade students won the award for "Most Inclusive Community Promoting Work-life Balance."

For more information, you can go to the Future City link: http://futurecity.org/illinois-chicago.

The 8th grade Future City Team, "Ciudad de Agua Pura" poses with their mentor, Angel Ramos.  Angel is an Airport Engineer for the Spirit of St. Louis Airport.  He is also a member of the Missouri Society of Professional Engineers (MSPE).  MSPE sponsored our teams, and they donated $600 for supplies and transportation.  Thank you Mr. Ramos and thank you MSPE!

Younger students enjoy looking at the models.

New Citarum

Ciudad de Agua Pura

Waiting for the "Orange Line"

Willis Tower Sky Deck

Ed Debevic's

Electrical Problems

Preliminary Judging---Talking with Special Award's Judges

The Final Round

New Citarum--7th Grade

Ciudad de Agua Pura--8th Grade