Creative Writing Opportunity

Dozens of students in the elementary schools participated in the annual Iowa Reading Association Creative Writing contest this spring.  Many stories and poems were created during writing classes and covered a wide variety of topics.  We have many talented writers here in Independence and the results from the judges certainly showed that this year.  
Pictured are four students from West Elementary that were awarded 1st place in the Eastern Council Division of the state.  

Pictured is Marley- 1st Place Short Story 4th Grade, Matthew- 1st Place Poem 4th Grade, Connor- 1st place Poem 5th Grade, Akeelah- 1st Place Short Story 6th Grade

These four students were honored at the Creative Writing Banquet last week.  They received books, pencils and certificates for their writing.  Matthew, Connor and Akeelah were also crowned STATE CHAMPIONS and are invited to a special banquet in Ames this summer.  This is quite an accomplishment by all the hard working students here at West Elementary School.

4th Grade 3D Print Project

A few students were introduced to an online 3D design program this year.  Each student uses Tinkercad.com to add and manipulate common shapes to form their train cars.  Details were then added for that individual touch.  The MakerBot 3D printer can only print in one color, so multiple designs were created to get different colors of the components.  Many measurements were used when planing and designing each model by the students.  I would say they are ready to design the cars at Ford or GM!

Great job Taylor, Zach, and Reece!

Brain Teaser for April