3rd Graders Make Brains!

The Brain.

The third grade Odyssey students at Windsor have been learning about the brain and it's many parts: frontal lobe, parietal lobe, temporal lobe, occipital lobe and more! They learned how a neuron makes connections and the difference between a chemical and electrical reaction. Wow! And along with that, Dr. Kathy Neacy came and spoke with the students about the brain. She covered the structure and function of the brain (and their differences), how memories are made and kept, how encoding works, taught us how to "read" MRIs and even showed us a real skull. What a great "in-house" field trip.

Luke holding a real skull!

Dr. Kate reading an MRI.

Medical School 101. Hopefully, one of these wonderful children will go into medicine and find the cure for cancer....would not surprise me one bit.

Dr. Neacy with her students.

Thank you to Dr. Neacy for sharing your time and expertise with the group. 

Greenbrier's Civil Engineering Water Filtration Day

This week the Odyssey students at Greenbrier practiced the art of making water filtration systems. They honed their problem solving skills by troubleshooting all the different ways to layer the filters to produce a better purifier. They found it was not easy and that there were many different combinations involved. 

Ashley and Elizabeth making their filters.

The first attempt. While it filtered, the girls quickly realized that the sand in their filtration systems was making the water come out VERY dirty. 

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Alyson and Kevin at their first attempt.

Reid and Kaitlyn at their final try. Filtering the egg shells and raisins was fairly easy. Coffee grinds and pepper not so much.

Emma and Vishnuh figured out using lots of cotton balls would be a good idea; and it was, however, they soon realized cotton balls absorb lots of water! 

Spencer and Eva used an old nylon to help filter their water. These are great filters all by themselves!

Next week we will watch a short video on a nonprofit organization called, "Engineers Without Borders." This organization is dedicated to helping villages in underdeveloped countries design and implement sustainable solutions for clean water, better farming practices, sanitation and much more. Many of the volunteers are college students who give up spring/summer breaks and dedicate their time and talents. What great role models for our Odyssey students...using their academic abilities to make positive changes in the world!  Nice.

Have a wonderful weekend. One good thing about our snow days, Greenbrier didn't miss out on any Odyssey time. Yeah!

Civil Engineering and Clean Water

This week we discussed clean water and how people in less developed countries do not have easy access to the clean water we take for granted.  On Wednesday we explored how water filtration systems work. The students made filtration systems to clean water filled with coffee grinds, egg shells, pepper, raisins, etc. Students were given several different materials to build their filtration systems; sand, clay, coffee filters, cotton balls, sponges, etc. They were required to build a system and then test it. To their surprise, students found filtering water was not an easy thing to do.

Before doing all of this, we read an article from National Geographic called, "Parting The Waters" that tells the story of one woman's daily plight to get clean water for her family. In her village it is always the woman's responsibility to get water. Sometimes this can take up to eight hours a day. An eye opening read for everyone.

How does this connect to engineering? It takes a lot to bring clean water to remote village. Engineers around the world are working with countries to bring their ideas and areas of expertise to help these people live healthier lives. Odyssey students want to make a difference and by exploring the world of engineering, they can discover how this career can help them do just that.

Have great weekend. Stay warm....

Mrs. Kownick

Structural Engineering Activity

Yesterday your child worked on an activity that simulated the day in the life of a structural engineer. They were required to build a structure that could support a hard cover book at least 12 inches above a flat surface for a minimum of 30 seconds using only xerox paper and tape. Sounds easy, right? Not so much! The design and construction had to be completed in 30 minutes. Everyone failed that piece! Each sheet of paper used during construction cost $1,000. Each 1/4 piece of tape cost $100. The winner's structure had to meet the specific criteria as well as be cost effective.

Below are pictures of each team's structure-

Believe it or not, this one passed the test, however, the structure was slanted and cost a lot. Eva and Kevin have an affinity for tape.....

Reid and Katelyn's also passed the test but didn't last too long after the 30 seconds. And it cost a lot.

With more time, Alyson and Vishnu's would have achieved success as well as Spencer and Emma's.

We have several more activities for our engineering unit so stay tuned. There's more to come.

Have a great weekend.

Greenbrier 4th and 5th Graders Learn About Engineering!

Over the last few weeks the students at Greenbrier have been learning about the different kinds of engineering and participated in some experiments that helped them better understand how engineering works. On this day the students built two different kinds of bridges to see which one was the strongest.

John and Elizabeth were building a suspension bridge. (civil engineering)

Madison and Dagmara's bridge

Anshul's bridge

Heifer International

Odyssey Students Give Back

Heifer International Results

The Odyssey students at Windsor School raised $927.58 for Heifer International. Therefore, we were able to purchase a heifer (500.00) a water buffalo (250.00), a pig (120.00), chicks (20.00) and bees (30.00). The remaining money went to a category called, "where needed most." The Odyssey students voted for each animal based on their usefulness and ability to help the families become more financially independent.
Now if that wasn't good enough, Ben Klicker (who brought the idea to Windsor) received a matching gift coupon in the mail from Heifer International. Our donation will be matched dollar-for-dollar to provide twice the funding and will go to impoverished communities throughout Honduras and Guatemala. 

To the Windsor Community, thank you for your generosity.

A good hen can lay up to 200 eggs a year-a reliable source of protein for children who live mostly on starches. Extra  eggs can be sold to pay for school, clothes and medicine.  (Info from Heifer International)

Bees are easy to keep. They require almost no space and once the hives are established, they are inexpensive to maintain. (Info from Heifer International)

A quality dairy cow can produce four gallons of milk a day-enough for a family to drink, share with neighbors and sell for cash. (Info from Heifer International)

Pigs are prolific. They can weigh up to 200 pounds a year and there are plenty of offspring to pass on to others in need. (Info from Heifer International)

 

Water buffalo provide milk for protein, manure for fertilizer and fuel and plowing power for planting rice and potatoes. (Info from Heifer International)

Update on Odyssey Programming

Dear Odyssey Families,

Throughout the year, many of you have expressed an interest in the work being done by the Advanced Learners Committee. The link below will redirect you to the District 25 webpage where you will find meeting notes from the subcommittees that met in February 2013, as well as notes from the 2011-12 school year. To access those documents, simply roll and hover over the "Review Committee of Advanced Learners" tab at the bottom of the list on the left. 

http://www.sd25.org/pages/sd25/Departments/Menu/Student_Learning/Advanced_Learners_Program/Menu/Review_Committee_of_Advanced_L/Overview

If you have any questions, please contact Dale Truding at the Department of Student Learning-
Looking forward to discussing your son/daughter's progress in Odyssey at conferences.

Kind regards,

Shannon Kownick