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Common Sense Media Essential Creativity Guide
Link to Common Sense Media Essential Creativity Guide
Kids are naturally creative. Whether they’re using pen and paper or a stylus and an iPad, kids find surprising ways to build, craft, and design. Help foster their interest in art, science, music, and construction by offering them a variety of tools to inspire and delight. These hand-selected educational apps, games, and websites each have the potential to unleash creativity, especially with the support of a parent or teacher. Have fun!
Escape Summer Slump with the 4 Cs
Link to Article
by Darri Stephens SENIOR DIRECTOR, EDUCATION CONTENT
Common Sense Education
…While students are getting excited about their summer freedom, some parents and teachers might be worried about kids forgetting all they’ve learned during the school year.
This loss of academic skills over the summer months is what teachers refer to as “summer slide.” Some studies have shown kids can lose nearly two months of grade-level equivalency in reading and math over the summer break. Think about it: The brain is a muscle, and if you don’t use it, you can lose it!
But remember, though kids are taking a break from school, they can still keep learning. One way is for them to be enriched by pursuing activities that promote the 4 Cs: communication, collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking. Media and technology can help kids build these skills, and summer is a great time for this kind of exploration.
We’ve put together a great list of apps, games, and websites that help kids build the 4 Cs, perfect for undercover summer learning. Share this list with your students’ parents so they can beat the summer slide!
Communication
Help kids express their opinions and emotions and connect with others with tools for video talks, podcasts, and storytelling.
TED/TED-Ed: Easily find, download, and view inspiring talks on a variety of topics
Youth Radio: A stellar take on the news from diverse kid journalists
Shadow Puppet Edu: Resource-rich video slide show creator a gem for elementary classrooms
Toontastic: Writer, actor, director: Kids play all parts in riveting storytelling tool
Collaboration
Kids can work together and take on the role of producer as they make multimedia productions.
Explain Everything: Powerhouse tool for creating stellar multimedia presentations
Educreations: Enliven lessons and presentations with easy-to-use tool
VoiceThread: Easily collaborate and create with voice, video, or image
Wikispaces: Powerful tool for creating collaborative websites
Creativity
Give kids the space to use their devices to become artists, musicians, or designers.
Paper by FiftyThree: Beautifully designed digital sketchbook for any age
Canva: Create snazzy designs in seconds with flexible, cloud-based tool
GarageBand: Amazingly powerful music workstation unleashes the musician in us all
DIY/Instructables: DIY communities empower kids to design, build, and share new things offline and online
Critical Thinking
Encourage strategy, ingenuity, and sharing of ideas with open-ended digital-creation tools.
Tinkercad: Amazingly simple yet powerful and flexible online CAD tool
MIT App Inventor: Fun programming site gets kids to build their own mobile apps
Scratch: Jump-start future programmers with adaptive sandbox tool
Minecraft: Spiraling sandbox of adventure and creation gets kids to dig deep
Personal Finance Classes Examine Car Buying Options
On May 5, students in the Personal Finance Classes traveled to C & O Ford in Fairbury to enhance their knowledge of car loans and buying a car. Mr. Larry Cote offered advice for buying a new versus a used car, explained the loan process, and gave tips about what to look for in a used car. Cote also discussed rebates on new vehicles, trade-ins, and the importance of credit. Students walked away with a better understanding of the car buying process. Junior Evelyn Deras commented, “I learned that there are a lot of steps to complete the process of buying a car and getting a loan. I also learned that you need credit to buy a car so that the car dealers know that you will be able to pay the car with no problem.” One of the students’ favorite parts of the trip was the opportunity to explore the array of vehicles on the car lot and compare prices and features of the vehicles.
Real Estate Market Explored
Personal Finance students embarked on an expedition to gain real-life knowledge and experience evaluating real estate. Realtor, Justin Schultis from Redstones Wolverhampton, met students at a home for sale in Fairbury to discuss the buying process, home values, and the importance of having a home inspection. Students gained a better understanding of the difference between the assessed, appraised, and market value of a house.
Students enjoyed the opportunity and learned a great deal from the excursion. Senior Brooke Eisenhauer described the experience by saying, “I think going on an actual visit made it easier to understand the process of buying a home. It made it easier to determine the things that you need to inspect before making a purchase of a home. The initial visit was a great way to apply what we know, and learn more about the house buying process. It was helpful to have a real estate agent there with us to answer our questions because he deals with this type of work on a daily basis. The overall experience helped a lot in making house buying more relatable.”
Golfers Take 2nd at Fairbury Invite!
The Jeff Golfers competed in the Fairbury Invite on April 20th. The Jeffs placed 2nd as a team. Individual medalists include: Nick, 3rd with a 78, Justin Peterson, 6th with an 81 and Zach, 10th with an 85. Good Job Golfers!
Jeff Golfers Compete in York
On Thursday, April 14th the Boy’s golf team competed in the York invite. York is a very difficult course that has hosted districts before. Conditions were tough with some stiff winds, picking up in the afternoon. Nick Christiansen led the Jeffs with an 87. Justin Peterson carded an 88, followed by Robby Meyer posting a 94. Zach Reikofski shot a 103 and Anthony Moyer rounded out the scoring with a 111. The Jeffs finished in 10th out of 16 teams shooting a 372. The Jeffs will next be in action on Wednesday, April 20 at their home invite with golf starting at 9 a.m.
Simulated Blood
Mrs. Winter’s 7th grade science class has been learning about body systems. To see firsthand the components of blood in action, we created simulated blood in a tub. The expandable red water beads represented red blood cells that carry oxygen throughout the body, the ping pong balls were the white blood cells, the red foam platelets clot the blood and the water served as the plasma for the cells to travel in. The students enjoyed getting elbow deep in a tub of blood!
FAIRBURY FBLA COMPETES AT STATE LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE
Three Fairbury FBLA members advance to national competition following the 2016 FBLA Nebraska State Leadership Conference held April 7-9 in Omaha. The annual conference provided competition in 71 events, leadership training, networking, and fun for FBLA members across the state. Fairbury FBLA’s 15 qualifying members joined over 2800 Nebraska members and advisers to compete and celebrate another successful year in FBLA.
Throughout the leadership event, members participated in competitive events, motivational seminars, and the election of the new State Officer Team. Honorable Mention awards were announced at the second general session, recognizing those who placed in the top 4% of each event. The Awards Program held on Saturday morning announced the top eight winners in each event and revealed who would represent Nebraska FBLA at the National Leadership Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, this summer.
Seniors Halle Knigge and Lindsay Lee, and junior Justin Peterson presented the chapter’s American Enterprise project at the conference. This project profiled the chapter’s cookie baking business implemented with the 3rd-grade classrooms earlier in the school year. A 15-page report was submitted in February, which was one of five selected for oral presentation at SLC. A seven-minute oral overview and Power Point were presented to a panel of three judges at the conference. The combined score of their written report and oral presentation placed third to advance to the top competition at the 2016 National Leadership Conference in June.
Freshman Isaac Robertson won the Proofreading event and placed third in the Spelling contest. Sophomore Jacob Johnson earned fifth place in the Spelling event. Junior Hannah Yantz placed fifth in Publication Design. Senior Nick Christiansen placed eighth in Job Interview. Over 337 students competed in this event, placing Nick in the top 2% of this event. Lindsay Lee received honorable mention in Accounting I and junior Justin Peterson earned an honorable mention in Securities and Investments.
Nick Christiansen, Trent Grizzle and Jacob Johnson earned the chapter’s Gold Seal Award of Merit with their Local Chapter Annual Business Report. Fairbury FBLA received the prestigious Sweepstakes Award, representing active participation in the state’s program of work. The chapter also received recognition for contributing to the Nebraska FBLA Foundation and the Nebraska March of Dimes. Fairbury FBLA was also honored for their participation in the Feed Nebraska Project through their food drive in the fall and integration of technology in chapter activities throughout the year.
Fairbury chapter members attending were: Seniors: Nick Christiansen, Lindsay Lee, Halle Knigge; Juniors: Justin Peterson, Megg Vaughn, Hannah Yantz, Anthony Moyer; Sophomores: Dawson DeBoer, Trent Grizzle, Jacob Johnson and Freshman: Destiny Brown, Nichole Harris, Devin Holliday, Mikasa Lierman, and Isaac Robertson. Adviser Melissa Dux and parent-sponsor Julie Knigge accompanied the Fairbury delegation.
