A Great Science
In-Service
On March 30-31, Marshal
School teachers and staff attended an in-service presented
by Gary and Cheryl Cooper from Delta Junction. They had been
here once before three years ago and did such a good job
that they were asked back.
During the two day
in-service, the Coopers presented innovative ways of
teaching science to both high school and elementary teachers
and support staff. Gary presented the high school segment
and Cheryl did the elementary part of it. Teachers and staff
really enjoyed the workshop, and had the following
comments:
Frank Keim: I
especially liked making the climbing bear and
balloon-powered car. I've already used some of the ideas in
my classroom.
Barbara Sandlin: One
of the best parts was getting science activities to do with
the students. The activities will help the students learn
science concepts while having fun.
Janice Olsen: My
favorite science activity was "mining for gold". We chose a
tool to "mine" in cookies for chocolate chips, etc. We
assigned values to our "minerals," and, guess what, I won!
Then we ate the cookies. Yum!
Flora M. Evan: The
in-service gave me many great ideas that I could use in my
classroom. I enjoyed making our projects and sharing with
the group what we made.
Richard Olsen: The
in-service provided many interesting ideas for teaching
science concepts. These could also be used with writing
activities in Language Arts.
Guy Sandlin: The
hands-on activities and the thought-enhancing approach to
science were the highlights for me.
Olga Soolook: The
best thing for me was
making something that moved in two ways.
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Gail Fitka: I liked
doing hands-on experiments and seeing what science is all
about. The best part was the feeling of being vacuumed in a
trashbag.
Clara Shorty: I liked
making objects that had two ways of moving. I wish we'd had
more time to do the experiments.
Max Lunt: One of the
most beneficial parts was demonstrating fun methods of
teaching science to our students. In education we are always
looking for new ways of turning students on to
science.
Donna Best: The best
thing for me was the chance to learn hands-on science
activities that will get kids excited about
learning.
Our presenters
Gary and Cheryl Cooper
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Marshall Hosts the
Academic Pentathlon
The Lower Yukon Academic
Pentathlon was held in Marshall on March 27th and 28th.
There were teams from Alakanuk, Emmonak, Kotlik, Marshall,
Mountain Village, and Pilot Station competing.
The Academic Pentathlon is a
very difficult competition. In order to compete, the
participants must read the Sunday Anchorage Daily News from
the beginning of October until the end of March. The
participants must also write and deliver a speech, take
tests in science and math, write an essay about two novels
which they were assigned to read, and be able to answer both
oral and written questions about current events. All of
these are difficult, but the students who participated had
worked very hard and were well prepared. They even managed
to have fun and meet new friends in the process.
The two students on the
Marshall team were Henrietta Coffee and Jacob Turet. These
two students had been preparing and practicing since last
October for this two day event and both did very well. We
are proud of our team.
The first place trophy went
to the team from Mountain Village, second place was awarded
to Emmonak, and Marshall earned third place. Twelve students
from the first and second place teams will travel to
Anchorage at the end of this month to represent our district
in the Alaska State Academic Pentathlon.
This wonderful event was
coordinated by Deanna Petru from Mountain Village. Deanna,
the coaches, the Marshall volunteers, and the students all
worked hard to make it a huge success.
Donna
Best
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Remember Earth
Day?
I wonder if people
remember Earth Day anymore? It seems, with all the
hustle and bustle and dissension over academic standards,
high school qualifying tests, school budget formulas, and
the usual student boyfriend-girlfriend problems, we've
forgotten about the most important thing of all and the one
that sustains all the others, the environment. All around us
the environment continues to degrade while we focus on what
amount to trivialities.
So let's try to put things
back into perspective again. Let's remember our Mother Earth
for what she gives us every day, especially here in Alaska.
And let's celebrate her during Earth Day on April 22,
and during the whole of the week, April 22-24, with
activities especially devoted to this purpose.
There are many things we can
do to accomplish this. Try the three R's, for one. Reduce
your consumption of goods from the store. Then reuse
what you do consume as many times as you can. Also,
recycle as much as possible, and use products that
are made from recycled post consumer materials.
Something students could do is a personal research project
on an environmental issue or problem in their community, and
then report the results back to their class and their
family.
And, remember, in our daily
lives let's try to make every day Earth
Day.
Frank
Keim
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