Meeting on December 22

Hello. Our meeting on 12/22 was a lot of fun. The kids worked on a Pentathlon event and Experimental Design. They then had a cookie exchange and made the school banner. (See to your right). Mr. C is our official photographer and did a fantastic job photographing everyone. Check out the pictures, he sent an email with a link to everyone on the team. All but one showed up so I was very grateful for everyone's support and pulling together. A field trip is planned over the holidays so if you are interested, make sure you respond to Mrs. B or Mrs. K's emails as to your availability and interest. The one missing student should contact me.

Next Meeting RESCHEDULED

Our next meeting has been rescheduled and will be on WEDNESDAY, 11/19.
Come prepared to discuss your progress, take tests (for academic problems), and bring rule books. You have been emailed as well. I understand there were a lot of conflict so needed to reschedule. Thanks.

Coaches' and Volunteer Training - UPDATE

I received the following message from the State Director with regards to the Training which would have been held this Saturday.

Unfortunately there is a conflict with our use of facilities for saturday's proposed training. I have tried my best to relocate our event for saturday but have been unable to find any other facility that we can get immediate approval for. We were trying to avoid the outrageous fees associated with renting our own facilities in a public school building so that this could be offered for free. I am working to find a new location with two dates in mind Saturday, November 22nd or Saturday, December 6. However there will likely be a fee associated with attending in order to offset our building use costs. I apologize for any inconvenience this will cause however in order to offer the tech and lab trainings we wanted it was unavoidable.

In addition unless more people step up to help lead event sessions the training will only include the following:

2 hour tech event/engineering training
2 hour lab event training
1 hour coaches strategies session
45 minute meeting with the Director about tournament policies and procedures

Please understand that board members and other volunteers are already committing a great deal of time to putting other things together. Trainings in other states are only successful when people volunteer to help run sessions. One of my earlier emails this year solicited volunteers to help run event sessions however I had very few responses.

First Meeting with Students

The purpose of our large group meetings is to have the team members get to know each other, answer any questions they may have, check progress, and to take care of business. We will usually not do anything with any of the problems specifically. It is also a question and answer time. The bulk of the events should be worked on by each groups of two with the mentors.

What we did:

1. Hand out Rules Book.
2. Have team members introduce each other.
3. Have team members review their event rules
4. Have team members arrange times to meet to start working on the events
5. Collect checks- thanks to the few students who remembered to bring them
6. Go over some ground rules (please review these with your child):
2 unexcused absences from the team will result in removal from the team, team members can only be excused without penalty with an email or a note from his/her parent regardless of illness or appointments (this will begin with the next meeting), the student is expected to stay for the whole meeting (especially since we will not be meeting often), and the student is expected to follow the FCPS rules. Please understand that I am volunteering my time and taking time away from work to engage in this activity. I enjoy working with the kids and love to see them expand their science knowledge. It's also a lot of fun to compete and see everyone's solutions to the problems. However, to make this a fun learning environment for everyone, I expect that each student will be respectful of each other, the mentors, and of me. If there is a problem, I will speak with the student. If it continues, I will speak with his or her parents. After that, the student will be asked to leave the team. Finally, please read the emails and check the blog often. Don't rely on your child's synopsis as to what is really happening. Many thanks to many of you who are already doing this diligently. I really appreciate it!

Goals for this week and until we meet again in 3 weeks - Monday, November 17.

1. Each group should already be contacting each other and the mentor to set a time to meet.
2. Each team member should be reviewing the problem in detail.
3. For the academic problem, they should be getting the reading material - online, library, etc. For online, see the links I posted earlier in the blog. They should already be studying the material.
4. I will be ordering t-shirts soon...I need your child's size and the name that he or she would like on the back of the shirt by the next meeting.
5. Each team member should be emailing me with progress reports on a regular basis (hopefully every week but every other week is okay).
6. Please mail me the $45 check payable to "Hughes M.S." You have an email from Shashi with the address.
7. All teams with building events must have a minimum of at least a design or prototype for the next meeting.

Once again, ALWAYS CHECK THE BLOG!

Thanks!

Events Assignment Below

Events assignment below have been revised. Please note that Michael is working on Crave the Wave and Jessica is working on Pentathlon. Also, I incorrectly typed the assignment for Scrambler. It should be Isaac/Patrick not David/Justin.

Events Assignment Revisited and First Meeting

FIRST MEETING WILL BE TOMORROW, Monday, October 20, in the Library. If we finish early, you are welcome to go to other clubs. Unless you are being picked up by a parent, you will take the late bus home. Bring the following to the meeting: a completed afterschool form (if you have not already submitted this earlier for other clubs) and a check for $45 payable to "Langston Hughes M.S." with Science Olympiad in the memo line. You will receive your problem packets at the meeting, you will discuss the problems, meeting times, etc., with your event partner, and be prepared to discuss rules and consequences which will be posted on the blog. Also, come prepared with T-Shirt size so we can order them (see below for the design and links to sizes at Custom Shirt).

The State Director sent competition times for each of the events. Because some team members were assigned to events that were competing at the same time, Shashi and I had to revisit the event assignments. We tried to keep as closely to the previous ones as possible and looked over what each team member stated he/she would like. Again, because of so many variables involved, nobody was assigned to all their first, second and third choices. Also, because of the changes, we may have to change the mentor assignments for each family. Here are the event assignments grouped by competition time block:

Time Block A
Anatomy: Kate/Michael
Compute This: Isaac/Catherine
Disease Det.: Srikar/Ashkan
Science Crime.: Jessica/Zach
Experimental Des.: Aditya/Justin

Time Block B
Dynamic Planet: Kate/Aditya
Environmental Chem.: David/Miyoko
Write It/Do It: Jessica/Patrick
Trajectory (Sign up for A or B - Do B): Ashkan/Zach

Time Block C
Ecology: Catherine/Sharon
Meteorology: Jessica/Aditya
Reach for the Start: Miyoko/Mary Kim
Wright Stuff (Sign up for C or D - Do C): Zach/Srikar
Robo-Cross (Sign up for C or D - Do C): David/Justin

Time Block D
Amphibians & Reptiles: Michael/Sharon
Elevated Bridge: David/Isaac

Time Block E
Fossils: Miyoko/Mary Kim
Pentathlon:Jessica/Justin
Road Scholar: Srikar/Ashkan
Scrambler (Time block E or F, Choose E): Isaac/Patrick

Time Block F
Bio Process Lab: Catherine/Patrick
Crave the Wave:Michael /Sharon
Physical Science Lab: Mary Kim/Kate

Update

Checking the blog is imperative in order to be an informed team member. Make sure you check the blog as often as possible and remind your team mates! The polls have reopened for voting. Remember, we want to hear your opinion so leave comments and vote.

Rules Book

Hello, I have a Rules Book with detailed information for each event. Next Monday, at our first meeting, I will give each team member a book which will have the guidelines for their specific problems. If I can get a good scanner, I will email a copy to each of you as well so that you can have an electronic copy.

First Meeting

First meeting is postponed until Monday, October 20, after school until about 4:00 in the library. Because of recent information we received about when each event is going to compete, a few team members will be shuffled as they cannot compete on two different events in the same time block. Therefore, a team member may not end up with the event he or she has been assigned to.

So far, we are going with the T-shirt design with the name on the back. Each team member should bring a check for $45 (includes the cost of a team t-shirt, materials fee for all the events, snacks, possible registration fee if we decide to compete in an invitational besides the regional and state) - payable to "Langston Hughes Middle School" and "Science Olympiad" in the memo line. LHMS has paid for our registration fees for regional and state. Otherwise, we are completely unfunded.

Regionals and States - Events

I just got word that at the Regionals, the following events will not be competing (they will only compete at States) :

Compute This
Environmental Chemistry
Reach for the Stars
Robo-Cross

Parent coaching/volunteering list will be out soon. I am waiting for some answers before I can finalize it.

Thanks.

Events Assignments

Shashi and I spent last weekend going over the registration forms. Assignments are based on when a registration form was turned in, choices selected by a team member, parent's desire to mentor certain problems, and communications from parents. I spent this past weekend to make one or two minor adjustments. Even though we would like to have assigned each team member to his or her first/second/third choice, this did not happen necessarily happen.

1. Amphibians and Reptiles/Herpetology - Michael C/Sharon Z
2. Anatomy - Michael C/Kate B
3. Bio-Process Lab - Catherine L/Patrick C
4. Compute This - Isaac M/Catherine L
5. Crave the Wave - Michael C/Aditya C
6. Disease Detective - Catherine L/Kate B
7. Dynamic Planet - Srikar K/Ashkan M
8. Ecology - Aditya C/Sharon Z
9. Elevated Bridge - David A/Isaac M
10. Environmental Chemistry -Srikar K/Ashkan M
11. Experimental Design - Isaac M/Justin K
12. Fossils - Miyoko S/Mary Kim W
13. Meteorology - Jessica Y/Aditya C
14. Pentathlon - Sharon Z/Justin K
15. Physical Science Lab - Mary Kim W/Kate B
16. Reach for the Stars - Miyoko S/Mary Kim W
17. Road Scholar - Miyoko S/David A
18. Robo-Cross - David A/Justin K
19. Science Crime Busters - Jessica Y/Zach H
20. Scrambler - Isaac M/Patrick C
21. Trajectory - Ashkan M/Zach H
22. Wright Stuff - Zach H/Srikar K
23. Write It/Do It -Zach H/Jessica Y

Draft T-Shirt Designs for Team

Please do not click any of the buttons on the picture. Cost per T-shirt is around $12.00 to $13.00 each. Any comments, email me. I might be able to get some discount so that it'd be slightly less per T-shirt. I have to check this. Also, for about the same price, instead of Langston Hughes on the back, we can have each team member's name. I am inclined to do first name only. You need to scroll down quite a bit to see both samples. (Top is name design and bottom is Langston Hughes design. There are men's and women's t-shirts (the cut for each is slightly different). Each team member and coach should let me know which style (men's or women's) and what size they want - color will be gray. Shashi will be emailing a team roster - email Shashi please with name, size, and women's or men's cut.
For men's, here is the link: http://www.customink.com/items/sizing/04600_lineup/standard.htm
For women's t-shirt, here is the link:http://www.customink.com/items/sizing/116800_lineup/standard.htm

Make custom t-shirts at CustomInk.com

Make custom t-shirts at CustomInk.com

Team Members

8th Graders

1. Zachary H
2. Srikar K
3. Miyoko S
4. Jessica Y
5. Catherine L
6. Ashkan M
7. Michael C
8. Sharon Z
9. Mary Kim W
10.Patrick C
11.Kate B
12.Justin K

7th Graders
13. David A
14. Aditya C
15. Isaac M

Event assignments will be announced early next week or over the weekend.

Coaches Clinic

Here is an excerpt from an announcement from the State Director:

Given the responses to my last email I have decided to set the date of the clinic for Saturday, November 8th 2008. I apologize if this date does not work with your calendar. The clinic will be held in Virginia, location to be determined. Since we are growing and now incorporate schools from far outside the northern virginia region I am looking to shift the clinic further south below Fairfax County with respect to the individuals who may need to travel 2 hours + from southeastern and southwestern virginia.

Plan that the clinic will be a full day with presenter sessions. There will also be an important 30 minute session with information regarding special information for the regional and state tournament set up and tournament rules for this year. You will want to be present.

CALL FOR PRESENTERS- If you are willing to prepare and present a 45-50 minute session on a particular event please let me know. I am looking for volunteers

The clinic is open to all teachers, coaches, parents, volunteers so please let them know. There will be a registration for the clinic set up on the website with an online submission form beginning Oct 1. This will help me to get an idea for how many individuals will be present.

Fee- unlike the other state coaches clinics which generally charge a fee to attend of at least $75, I am not charging this fee for our clinic, however I am asking for coaches, parents or volunteers to make a donation to VASO if you are inclined and can do so. We are planning to bring the biggest and best set of tournaments we have seen but need to funds to do so. We can accept donations via check or using credit card on our new paypal system. No donations are too small and each dollar goes to assist us in our efforts to expand and pay tournament expenses. As a note coaches who have supervised events at the state tournament in the past often needed to purchase their own consumables materials or paid for xeroxing, it is our plan to reimburse those expenses.

If you are planning to attend another states clinic please e-mail me to let me know. I will be presenting sessions at the North Carolina clinic and the Coast to Coast clinic in Sacramento, California.

Dine with the director- after our clinic I invite anyone to join me for dinner. The idea is that I will have the opportunity to get to know you and hear your thoughts about SO and find out what your needs are as a coach, parent leader, team etc. When you register please indicate if you plan to attend dinner afterwards. Dinner will be at a restaurant/cafe local to the clinic with standard american fare (Panera, Chilis, etc.) We will provide dessert but cannot cover the cost of the meal.

Status of Team

We will have information about the team, assignment of events, etc. by next week.

Registration Update!!!

Science Olympiad

We had the mandatory meeting tonight, Tuesday, 9/23, at Hughes and I brought home 11 registrations. We have space for only 15 team members and 5 alternates. If you want to join, please get the application in ASAP. Don't wait until Friday, 10/3, the last date when I will accept registrations. We will be out of space sooner than that.

Registration Form - Due Friday, October 3, 2008

All registration papers must be completed in FULL and turned into Mrs. Z (science teacher) by October 3, 2008. Placement on team will be on a first come first serve basis based on complete forms - including parent/guardian volunteer sign-up. If you need a form, you may pick one up from Mrs. Z (science teacher).

Important Links

http://virginiaso.com/coachesresources.html
http://soinc.org/
http://fso.creol.ucf.edu/NCCRegistrationMain.htm
http://www.newyorkscioly.org/SOPages/Coaches08.html
http://www.centervillescienceolympiad.org/
http://www.sciencenc.com/Coaches_institute/index.htm
http://www.illinoisolympiad.org/
http://fso.creol.ucf.edu/NCCRegistrationMain.htm

Competition Dates

All team members who are competing MUST BE AVAILABLE FOR THE REGIONALS AND STATE AS WE ARE GOING TO BOTH (more than one team from each school is permitted to compete in Regionals and only one team may be sent to State)

Regionals: February 21, 2008 and February 28, 2008

State: March 21, 2008

National: May 15-16, 2009, Augusta, Georgia,

Detailed Events Descriptions

knowledge may be tested at stations where actual specimens may be observed or in some circumstances pictures may be examined.

Anatomy (B) - Teams will be tested on their knowledge of anatomy and health concepts as they are related to the structure and function of the skeletal system and the effects of aging and diseases on them. This event may be presented in the form of a paper/pencil style academic test, but may also consist of a series of timed lab stations each with specimens for analysis.

Bio-Process Lab (B) - Teams will demonstrate biology laboratory skills related to selected topics at a series of stations. Students will be required to use tools and instruments commonly used in biological research to make observations, collect data, perform calculations, and draw conclusions.

Compute This (B) - Teams will be presented with a problem which requires quantitative data capture from the Internet and the presentation of data in a graphical format with the use of a computer on site. Students will then be required to answer a series of questions relating to the data set which they have collected and analyzed. This year students will collect data from the United States Geological Survey web domain (www.USGS.gov)

Crave the Wave (B) - Students will demonstrate their understanding of waves and wave motion. This event will incorporate a mixture problem solving questions requiring students to demonstrate their understanding of introductory wave concepts and hands on tasks. Some questions may ask students to use mathematics to problem solve.

Disease Detective (B/C) - This event requires students to apply principles of epidemiology to a published report of a real-life health situation or problem related to how population growth impacts public health. The Centers for Disease Control is the official national sponsor for this event. More information can be found at www.cdc.gov/excite

Dynamic Planet (B/C) - Teams will work at stations that display a variety of earth science materials and related earth science questions with special emphasis placed on earthquakes and volcanoes.

Ecology (B/C) - Students will answer questions involving content knowledge and process skills in the area of ecology and adaptation by examining different ecosystems. This year special emphasis will be placed on grassland and desert ecology.

Elevated Bridge (B/C) - Teams will design, build & test the bridge with the greatest efficiency. The efficiency of the bridge is equal to the mass of the load it successfully held divided by the mass of the bridge. Bridges are constructed from wood such as balsa or bass as explained fully in the official rules. The design and build phase will take place at home or in the classroom while the testing phase is conducted onsite at the competition.

Environmental Chemistry (B/C) - Teams will be asked questions pertaining to environmental chemistry, which may include chemical reactions, characterization, and quantification. This year students will be required to analyze the chemical makeup of soils and predict the maximum yield of certain plants if grown in those soils. This event is a lab based event.

Experimental Design (B/C) - Given a set of unknown objects, teams will design, conduct, analyze and write-up a valid experiment which contains a set of variables, constants, and control.

Fossils (B/C) - Students will identify, describe, and classify various fossil specimens at a series of stations. A list of all possible fossils that will be used in this event may be found on the national event resources page for fossils at http://soinc.org/fossils_c

Meteorology (B) - This event involves the use of process skills as applied to the field of meteorology. Students will demonstrate their understanding of earth and planetary systems that impact climate. Emphasis will be placed on how changing conditions on earth have contributed to climate change in the past and ongoing changes to Earth’s climate today.

Pentathlon (B) - Teams will compete in an academic pentathlon to demonstrate their overall understanding of five major science content areas (Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Earth Science and the Nature of Science).

Physical Science Lab (B) – Teams will demonstrate physics laboratory skills related to alternative energy sources. Students will build a wind driven propeller capable of generating voltage when exposed to wind currents.

Reach for the Stars (B) - Teams will identify stars, constellations, and deep sky objects and be knowledgeable about their evolutionary stages. This event may include a series of stations requiring students to demonstrate process skills in this area observation of stellar phenomena from inside a planetarium.

Road Scholar (B) - Requires the accurate interpretation and understanding of various map features using a variety of road and topographic maps. Students must also generate their own map using a map scale, the public land survey system and USGS official map symbols.

Robo-Cross (B) - Students will design and build a robot capable of performing certain tasks. This year’s task involves moving prescribed items into various scoring areas on an outlined playing field. Competitors earn points for each item moved into a scoring zone.

Science Crime Busters (B) – Teams will identify the perpetrators of a crime or crimes by using paper chromatography and analysis of unknown solids, liquids, and plastics found at the scene of a crime. This is a lab based event that may include a series of stations. The use of forensic equipment including a microscope is required during evidence analysis.

Scrambler (B) - Teams will design and build a mechanical device which uses the energy from a falling mass to transport a Grade A uncooked chicken egg along a straight track. A wall has been placed directly at the end of the track. Teams earn the most points if their scrambler comes closest to the wall without breaking the egg. The scrambler is designed and built and pretested prior to competition. Official scoring takes place on competition day.

Trajectory (B/C) - Teams will design, construct, calibrate and operate a device capable of launching a projectile into a target using energy provided by nonmetallic elastic solids. The design and construction occurs prior to competition but final testing occurs in competition phase.
Wright Stuff (B) - Teams will design and build a rubber band propelled aerodynamic device. Teams earn points based on their device’s time aloft.

Write It/Do It (B/C) - A technical writing exercise where students write a description of a contraption and other students will attempt to recreate it using only the written description from a duplicate set of pieces.

General Information

Science Olympiad is a nonprofit organization devoted to improving the quality of science education, increasing student interest in science and providing recognition for outstanding achievement in science education by both students and teachers.

This is achieved through a team based competition which is separated into divisions. Middle school division is B (6th through 9th).

A team is composed of 15 students and study/work on 23 events. Two students will work on each event. Hughes will have one team this year.

Events are as follows:

Academic Knowledge Events
Anatomy, Disease Detectives, Ecology (Deserts, Grasslands), Dynamic Planet (Earthquakes, Volcanos), Fossils, Meterology (climate), Reach for the Stars, Pentathlon, Amphibians and Reptiles.

Lab Based/Inquiry Events
Bio-Process Lab, Road Scholar, Physical Science Lab, Environmental Chemistry, Science Crime Busters, Compute This, Experimental Design, Write It/Do It

Building/Tech Events
Elevated Bridge
Trajectory
Robo-Cross
Wright Stuff
Scrambler Car