Mr. Saffer's Enrichment Page
by Scott Saffer
September 25, 2009
Greetings!
This is the Upper Elementary/Jr. High Enrichment Page. There
is also an Elementary Enrichment Page and a Enrichment
Identification page - see the links below
Our latest contest is Munny. Munny (shown at right) is a 4”
tall vinyl toy in need of decorating. Students can submit their
designs by Oct. 9, and 10 students will be selected by our panel of
judges to get the morning out of classes to decorate their own
Munnies. You can see them and other great designs in the display
case in the front of the building. Look for the article soon!
Use the link below to see my web page (TV Dinner Monster), which
has all kinds of fun stuff - optical illusions, links, videos,
project ideas, etc. The enrichment events calendar is over there,
too, under Upcoming Events.
Enrichment classes vary greatly - here's a brief rundown of some of
the classes and their current projects:
4th Grade is currently in progress as we form a group and plan
activities in the classrooms. Assessment will start soon, depending
on ITBS testing dates.
6th-8th Grade Math groups will start meeting on Fridays, doing
intriguing and bizarre math activities, like probability, graphing
song lyrics, and even adding and multiplying in base 2 and base 4.
We'll be doing fractals soon!
5th Grade is
starting projects including researching important people of the
20th century, doing photography and digital editing, as well as
robotics and dissections of modern machines.
6th Graders are
starting with research of influential 20th century thinkers, art
forgery, and electronics projects. We’ll soon be reading The
Invention of Hugo Cabret, my current favorite book.
7th Grade
Advance Science has been studying our local area – including our
school campus and local sites like Don Gardner’s awesome prairie in
Kempton, and Fugate Woods in Fairbury. We’re collecting leaves and
insects, and currently reading and discussing Decartes Rules for
the Direction of the Mind.
7th Grade
Careers and Technology Enrichment Class: All 7th graders take this
as an elective, and can choose 2 three week self-guided courses:
Aviation, Architecture, Animation, Virtual Makeover and Fashion
Design, Small Engines, Photography, Filmmaking, and coming soon:
Video Game Design and GPS/GIS.
8th Grade
Enrichment is Individual Projects, with current projects including
a Architecture – designing and building doghouses, preparing for a
magic show, building an electric guitar (including building the
pickup by actually wrapping hair thin wire thousands of times
around a core,) advanced photography and editing, and small engines
work.
The Enrichment
Program sponsors many events throughout the school year, and
assists with activities in the other classrooms.
Some school-wide activities sponsored or co-sponsored by the
Enrichment Program include:
Puzzle of the Week : A weekly riddle or puzzle with prizes!
Art Contests : Co-sponsored with the Art Dept., winners get field
trips or time out of class to do special art projects! We’re
currently planning a Munny design contest. The winners will get an
afternoon off of classes (with pizza!) to work on completing their
creations. We’re planning on several guests this year to work with
us on portrait photography, wire sculpture, and more…
Jr. High Science and Math Olympics: An exciting hands-on event held
in March that features 2 person challenges like Sail Boat Races,
Martian Egg Lander, and Tangrams.
Scholastic Bowl: The intellectual challenge with the buzzers. Our
team did great last year and looks forward to another great
season.
Events sponsored through Enrichment classes:
SIT (Students Involved in Technology) Conference: Last year 17
students presented at this conference in Bloomington for their
peers. Seminars they presented include Spy Tech (with a voice over
laser system and homemade "bug" remote listening device,)
Skateboard Building, Animation, HAM radio, 3-D Photography, Killer
iPhone Apps, The Wiimote Whiteboard, and Architecture. WOW! We’re
definitely going back this February!
Numerous field trips and special visitors. One special trip last
year was our 8th grade Enrichment trip to distribute food at
Midwest Food Bank in January. We’re currently working on a trip to
the U of I in early October, a wind farm trip, and several
others.
