6th Grade STATE Math Bee

Six students from the 6th grade qualified for the State Math Bee which was held today at the Central Rivers AEA in Cedar Falls, IA.  Kaiden Glaspie and JD Huffman qualified individually and the following team placed 4th overall in the Eastern Regional to get their invitation: Blake Gates, Ryan Goldenstein, Corbin Naylor and Carson Bantz.  All students will be competing individually and also as a team.  The students did a great job of representing West Elementary as students and as responsible young adults.  
The team of Carson, Blake, Corbin and Ryan finished in 5th place out of the entire state, quite an accomplishment!  Congratulations to all the kids and their hard work they displayed with this challenging competition.

GEOCACHING

www.mapsoftheworld.com

 With the nice weather students have been exploring the world of geocaching.  To sum Geocaching up, it is an outdoor activity that requires you to use a GPS to locate items around the world.  There are 1000's of these little treasures around the state alone.  It was a great opportunity for kids to use technology and learn how a GPS system works throughout the entire planet.  This activity originally required a special purchase of a GPS unit, but all of today's smart phones have a GPS receiver already in them, making this an activity that virtually costs nothing to do.  Science, technology, teamwork, and exercise all come together for an outdoor adventure seeking out those hidden treasures.  Much more information can be found online at www.geocaching.com.

Each Geolocation includes a
special item to look for

Almost...but not quite!

Spring Noetic Math Challenge

April marks the annual Noetic Spring Math Challenge for elementary students.  This test is taken by over 30,000 kids across the country that excel in math.  The problems on the test focus on problem solving, real-life situations, and a variety of math concepts.  The test items are at or mostly above grade level to challenge the thoughts and minds of the students who take the test.  The test is so challenging for students, that if you get 10 out of 20 problems correct it often places you in the top 50% of everyone in the country.  It truly stretches the thinking of all students.  

The over all grade winners included: Taylor, Caleb, Cael, Talan, and Blake.  All the grade level winners had a score of 17 or above.  A special congratulations to Talan for a perfect score!

More information on the program HERE.

1st Graders Program Robots

First graders were recently challenged to challenge to program a mouse to find its way through a maze to some cheese.  The students used their knowledge of direction, programing, and sequencing during this activity, as well as working together as a team.  They started out with an easy program and then challenged each other with harder routes to the cheer   

It wasn't an easy task, as they were given very little direction as to how the mouse worked.  All teams did well and in the end the mouse did find the cheese!

6th Grade Math Bee

Yesterday 12 students participated in the 6th Grade Math Bee at the Central Rivers AEA.  This is an individual and a 4-person team event.  West Elementary had 6 students that qualified for the State Math Bee on May 17th.  The top 25% of students and teams get an invitation to state.  Kaiden Glaspie and JD Huffman qualified individually and the following team placed 4th overall to get their invitation: Blake Gates, Ryan Goldenstein, Corbin Naylor and Carson Bantz.  

It was a great showing by the students and they represented our school well.  

5th Graders Participate in the State Battle of the Books Competition

Many 5th grade students have been reading from the Battle of the Books list of award winning authors this winter.  The school winners were able to participate in the state competition last week.  They represented Independence and West Elementary well, they finished in the top half of the group of 50+ teams from all over the state.  The group also received the "Teamwork Award", which was given to the team for their outstanding work as a small group during the test.  Great job kids, and keep reading!

STEM- Science at its best

First grade students had the opportunity to view chemical reactions up close and personal at East Elementary.  Baking soda and Vinegar provided the turbo boost the rockets needed to get off the ground.  The chemical reaction occurred to produce CO2 and filled the rocket to capacity and finally enough gas built up to explode into the air.  Science is an amazing thing, especially when you can see it in action!

West Elementary Express

The final projects from students in the 4th, 5th and 6th grades: