The revolution will be a multi-media presentation
November 18, 2008
Pine Lake class teaches students about cutting edge technology
Pine Lake Middle School eighth graders Ally Blakley, left, and Shayna Wilson laugh at a segment of video as they edit clips for a class music video project. Photo by Christopher Huber
Anyone who attends Pine Lake Middle School while teacher and instructional technology specialist Eric Ensey works there might want to think about taking his multimedia design class. It could give them a leg up in this constantly advancing technological age.
“It’s as much of a fine arts class as a tech class,” said Pine Lake principal Roy Adler.
It’s an elective that has been offered at Pine Lake for the past three years and teaches students various skills, such as communicating an idea through effective visuals and multimedia use. It’s not just “how to build a Web site,” Ensey said, but the real-world application of selling a concept. Read more
Under pressure
November 18, 2008
Toothpick bridges bear the load
Seventh grader Brandon Goh reacts to his team’s bridge breaking under 2 pounds of pressure Photo by Christopher Huber.
The commons at Pine Lake Middle School buzzed with an energy which only exists when dozens of middle-schoolers come together to present a school project to their proud parents.
Students scampered around the room, antsy to show off their masterpieces and excited to be with their friends. A dozen or so parents stood in the aisle or on the periphery of the seating area to take pictures or capture the night on video.
The students had constructed bridges from toothpicks and now was time to test them.
Numerous families, and a few school staff, came to watch eight teams, or “companies” test their model bridges on Nov. 12. The teams added weight to the toothpick structures until they broke.
The Bridge Project was a competition to see whose bridge could hold the most weight before collapsing or snapping into a million pieces. But it was also a lesson in math, engineering, teamwork and project management.
They used spreadsheets for the budget and Geometer Sketch Pad to design the structures, Pine Lake math teacher and project advisor Kim Bailey said.
To test the bridges’ load-bearing capabilities, teams hung a small bucket from the center of the bridge deck and incrementally loaded half- and one-pound sand bags into it. The strongest bridge held 6 pounds.
The project is traditionally done in math class, but this year, the school adopted a new curriculum, which didn’t allow time for the two-week-long assignment, Bailey said. Instead, she turned it into an after-school club.
After finishing the project in her class last year, Bailey said she took a survey to see if it would be worth doing outside of class. Student feedback was positive, so she pitched it to the school and administrators liked the idea.
“It’s a great opportunity for any kids who want to show off any ability that might not be athletic,” Bailey said of the benefits of an academic club. “The kids really enjoy it, especially when they get to break it.”
The club, made up of 32 students met for two weeks after school to budget, design and build the model bridges. Bailey, acting as a contracting company, approached each four-person company to bid on a hypothetical bridge-building project. They had a $1.5 million budget, which included worker salaries, materials and operations costs.
“Budgets are more complicated than they look,” seventh grader Brandon Goh said after his team’s bridge crumpled after nearly holding two pounds.
Teammate Zach Freedel, joked that their “suspension” bridge needed more actual structure to hold the weight.
“It could’ve had more toothpicks to make it more sound,” Freedel said. “We could’ve done better, but we just needed more time to do it.”
Bailey said part of what interested the students was the low-pressure, no-grade atmosphere. It also brought together students in all three grades at Pine Lake.
“The thing that’s really unique is that the sixth, seventh and eighth graders could all participate in it,” Bailey said. “It’s not something that’s grade-specific.”
In order to qualify for the weight competition Wednesday night, “companies had to build a bridge under certain specifications. The bridges could be no longer than 32 centemeters long by 20 centemeters from the center point. They built the bridges with Elmer’s glue and flat toothpicks on a 36-by-16-centemeter piece of cardboard and had to be aesthetically pleasing, Bailey said.
She said she plans to do the project again next year as an after-school activity.
“The kids really enjoy it, especially when they get to break it.”
– Kim Bailey,
Teacher –
Reporter Christopher Huber can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 242, or at chuber@isspress.com.
Inglewood Junior High gets in on election fever
November 11, 2008
Kris Berg, a ninth-grader, casts his vote. Photo by Ari Cetron.
The presidential election campaign at Inglewood Junior High School differed radically from that in the rest of the nation in one respect.
“We weren’t allowed to have any negative campaigning,” said Puja Das, a seventh-grader.
Students at Inglewood spent the past few weeks studying the issues. A group of teachers – Adam Gervis, Gerry Lenocker and Richard Snyder – put together brief statements about the presidential and gubernatorial races and ballot initiative 985. These were distributed throughout the school to help the teachers ask the kinds of questions that would provoke a debate, Snyder said.
The students, Read more
Club clothing drive benefits poor migrant families
November 7, 2008
Members of the Skyline High School chapter of Amnesty International are working together to help struggling migrant workers and their families in the rural part of northern Washington.
Amnesty International Skyline chapter president Yeojin Yi, right, talks to club members about one of their fundraising efforts: selling hand warmers at football games. The funds benefit various human rights projects the club works on throughout the year. Photo by Christopher Huber
Eastlake biology teacher among top in the nation
November 5, 2008
Bill Monahan
Eastlake High School teacher Bill Monahan recently returned from a trip to Memphis, Tenn., where he received the 2008 Outstanding Biology Teacher Award.
Monahan, the only winner from Washington state, was presented the award in front of more than 1,000 peers at the annual conference Oct. 14, 15 and 16 for the National Association of Biology Teachers.The Association presents an award to one teacher (seventh to twelfth grade) from each state, as well as Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, U.S. territories and Canada, according to the association’s Web site.
“I got lucky,” Monahan said about the recognition. “There are a lot of great teachers. A lot of my colleagues are equally deserving.” Read more
Halloween’s aftermath leaves candy concerns
November 5, 2008
If you are reading this right now, I am assuming that you survived the wonderful holiday we know as Halloween.
Yes, survived … I don’t know if you are aware Read more
‘Power of One’ teaches students they can stop harassment
October 28, 2008
Cameron Cho (left to right) participate at Challenger Elementary School in the assembly to teach an end to bullying. Photo By Robin Earl.
Bullies have no place in school, especially at Challenger Elementary School, where the entire student body signed a contract to prevent bullying Oct. 21. Read more
Alcott class project to benefit Make-A-Wish
October 28, 2008
Alcott fourth grader Patrick Lin, right, grabs two bags of popcorn as classmate Siri Mellem hands them over to students and parent Sanjay Kumar, center, takes the money. Jaymie Johnson and Rand Ferch, far left, green shirts, help man the table. Photo by Christopher Huber
Who ever thought selling popcorn at lunch for 75 cents a bag would make for a good class project? Read more
Beloved Sunny Hills custodian retires after 29 years at school
October 22, 2008
Marlin Collins didn’t want a farewell party, but the students and staff at Sunny Hills Elementary School gave him one anyway, late last month.
Marlin Collins hands out licorice to the children. Contributed
They made him a big banner and sang him songs of appreciation at an all-school gathering. Read more
Recycling drop-off at Sunny Hills brings in 50 tons
October 22, 2008
More than 660 Sammamish-area residents motored through the parking lot at Sunny Hills Elementary in six hours Saturday to recycle carloads of old scrap-metal, electronics, car batteries and tires, among other things, said Paul Devine, general manager of Olympic Environmental Resources.
The ninth annual Fall Recycle Event saw huge turnout and helped divert
Steve Breen, administrator for A Plus Removal and Recycling, uses his backhoe tractor to compact recycled scrap metal Saturday in the Sunny Hills Elementary parking lot. Photo by Christopher Huber.
