BEYOND the Classrom...Samsung Challenge

Our school is competing in the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow project in which we are making a reusable smart cart to reduces the plastic bag waste. The first thing we did was break into teams: marketing, design, tech, and video to help us organize the project. Then the marking and video teams went to the local Walgreens and put up a survey for the major points of the design, such as easy car to kitchen etc. Next someone from waste management came to talk to us about plastic bag in the environment. We found out that if you added up all the plastic bags in the world the area would be half of the United States! After that the tech team made a paper copy of the app to start coding. The marketing team then made a logo and started on a script for the video. Meanwhile, the design team was working on the size, shape, and everything else about the cart. The video team was just every where videoing as much as possible. Zach - 8th grade

Beyond...ISS Preparation

 OH MY GOODNESS!! This time of the year is always so busy, but this year is a little bit more hectic than previous years. The students and staff are looking forward to the holidays and a much needed break. Before we can enjoy our break we have to start thinking and preparing for the first two months of 2018....The Briarhill Downlink, The Lone Star Challenge, PTA Scholastic Book Fair, #Briarhill24HRWorldTour, and Samsung Solve for Tomorrow contest.
 
Briarhill ISS Downlink t-shirts will go on sale January 8. The cost of the shirt is $7.00. I love the t-shirt design.

For the past couple of weeks students have been asking me for Student Ambassador applications. Student Ambassadors will be responsible for greeting and hosting our downlink VIPS. Applications will be made available starting Monday, December 18. It makes me smile to see students excited about something.

Mrs. Wiersema's Bulldog Bytes students have been documenting the happenings around the school. A couple of the BB students are taking pictures and making a video that will be shown during the downlink. One of the students, Ryan N., is creating the music for the video in GarageBand. I got to hear a snip it and it sounds FANTASTIC. He stopped by the library earlier today to write a post about how he creates his own music. Click here to access the document.

Mrs. Green's Mars Habitation Creation students have submitted their creations. We are crossing our fingers that we will hear something positive in the spring.

The Lone Star Challenge will kick off January 22. Students are challenged to read 4 books from the Texas Lone Star Reading List. Students who complete the challenge will qualify for a field trip in May. The field trip destination will be announced the beginning of April.

Mr. Bleemel and I are starting to plan  this year's world tour. We will "depart" at 4:00pm CST on May 9 and will "return" at 4:00pm CST on May 10. Mark you calendars for Friday, January 19. That is when we will have our information meeting and you can pick up your application after the meeting. We have started contacting people and already have a commitment from a business in Scotland. I am confident that we will have a full schedule by the middle of January. 

Not only are we busy getting ready for the downlink with the ISS but Mrs. Mickle just found out that she is Samsung's Solve for Tomorrow contest winner for the state of Texas. YAHOO!! Samsung is sending a technology package worth $25,000 to Briarhill.  The next step in the contest is for the students to develop a reusable, smart container system. Mrs. Mickle had her initial meeting this morning and approximately 20  students have shown an interest in helping with this project. Students will be working in either a Marketing, Tech Programming,  Design, or Video groups. These students will have about 6 weeks to create a prototype and a video. The deadline for submitting the video is February 13. I will have students periodically post their progress.

As you can see the January and February are going to be CRAZY, but fun.
Mrs. Weesner
      

STEM Club Paper Airplane Launcher

 In STEM club we made paper airplane launchers and it was so much fun to see what would work and what did not work. First we came up with a plan of what we should do. Then we decided to launch it off this wooden block using  nails, a wooden block, a rubber band, paper, and a hammer. We tried to nail three nails into the block in a triangle formation with one nail angled up so we can shoot it sort of higher so it wouldn't fall as quickly. We used the rubber band to force it up in the air. It didn't work, sadly. Then we tried all types of formations with the nails and we tried other types of paper but that idea didn't work. We all were really frustrated. We decided to split our bigger group into two smaller groups to try more ideas at once, but we still didn't think of anything that worked. After all of those ideas, we decided to come back together as one big group. We finally decided to look up ideas on Safari for paper airplane launchers, a bunch of ideas came up, but we used one of the ideas, but put our own little twist on it. I finally thought this might be the idea that works.We put two tables together with a little space between them, and we cut the rubber band in half. Then we tied each end to a  paper clip and taped the paper clips to the two tables tight enough that it would bounce back to its original starting place once you let go of it. We taped a hook shape paper clip to the end of the paper airplane. We put the hook paper clip around the rubber band then pulled the airplane back on the rubber band. Then we let it go and it flew across the room.We were so glad to see that it worked. We played with it for the rest of the time. Sadly we had to take it down but it was fun while we had it. I love STEM club and I can't wait for next time. I suggest to everyone to try STEM club because it is awesome. - 6th grade STEM Club Member

Beyond the Hamburger

On In and Out Burger night I helped Ms Mickle and Ms Weesner to set up MakeyMakey and littleBits. Makey makey is a fun. You create a circuit using various objects that are conductive. When you create the circuit you can play fun games! Another thing that I helped with was littleBits. littleBits are a little different than MakeyMakey. You still create a circuit but the power source is a battery. Also in littleBits you create a circuit and try to make the fan, buzzer, or motor to work. I helped by teaching people how these two different things worked. There were also more fun things like Hour of Code, paper airplanes, and paper airplane launchers. I had lots of fun helping and playing. I hope that we do something like this again. JP - 6th grade

Competition to Collaboration - FIrst Meeting

We made new friends from Russia today.  They speak Russian, French, and English.
Also they use celsius as their measurement for temperature. They have some of the same foods that we do. They have  pizza and Snickers. Some of the books they talked about we have never heard of before, but they sound interesting. We finished up by making paper airplanes and watching videos. One was about a new space movie that is coming out in Russia and one was about NASA.  We had a friendly competition of whose paper plane could fly the farthest. So to conclude, we had a lot of fun taking with them. - Alyssa 6th grade

Beyond the Expected....Writers Bootcamp

In Writer's Boot camp, I learned how to properly set up an essay, and I learned that it is a lot easier than I thought. Also, I got better at writing essays, and writers boot camp is something I will remember for a long time.
         -Rachel 7

 Writer's Boot Camp taught students how to correctly prepare an essay easily, finding it more simple than I thought. The challenges that we had to accomplish were a fun addition to the camp that I will never forget. I feel like this Camp helped students find out more about writing and the values of it.
         -Alexa 7

Writer's Boot Camp taught students how to write essays a lot more easily, without the stress of wondering if everything you are writing is right or wrong. I think I was a really creative way to to help us improve on our writing. I think the added challenges to receive our challenges made the activities a lot more exciting.
       -Claire 7