FC Jr./Sr. High STRIVE News
Spring 2013 from Mrs. Newman
Spring......finally here!
Boomilever
Congratulations to Chris Petricca and Evan Alrutz for placing 8th, out of 28 teams, at the Regional Science Olympiad event at California University on March 13th. Chris constructed a boomilever using balsa wood and glue. Its strength was tested through increasing amounts of weight (sand, poured into a bucket, attached to the boomilever).
Arts and Bots
Nicolas Borovich and Taylor Petricca work on the construction of their Model T car for their Henry Ford robot. The boys are working with a Hummingbird robot kit and its visual programming software to create a robot that moves and speaks utilizing motors, sensors, servos and lights.
Middle School LitFest
STRIVErs in grades 7 & 8 performed well and had a great time at LitFest, hosted by the Burgettstown gifted program on April 29th. Here Jimmy Gilbert, William Cowden, Emily Richard, Megan Cottrill and Dawna Nichols take a break from their creativity for a snack. We would like to send a special shout out to Mrs. Welsh for accompanying the students to LitFest when Mrs. Newman was unable to attend. The students enjoyed the day with their former teacher.
LitFest Awards!
- 1st Place - Jacob Weiler & Emily Richard
- 2nd Place - William Cowden
- 3rd Place - Jimmy Gilbert
Word Ladders
The the Word Ladder or Doublet was invented by Lewis Carroll in 1877 (allegedly on Christmas Day!).
The Rules
In a Word Ladder:
- Players get a starting word and an ending word
- Starting and ending words must be the same length (PIG and HOG, or CAT and DOG)
- Players change one letter at a time, attempting to move from the starting word to the ending word
- Each intermediate step must be a valid word, and no proper nouns allowed!
Example:
Note that each step is a word and changes only one letter from the previous word.FLY to CRY
Get from FLY to CRY in one step.
- FLY
- FRY (l → r)
- CRY (f → c)
Try these:
BOW to TIE
EYE to LID
DOG to CAT
TEN to TWO
CAR to RUN
EAST to WEST
FAST to RACE
Informational Links
http://scioly.org/wiki/index.php/Boomilever
Science Olympiad national competition information and event table - http://www.soinc.org/2013_event_table
Arts and Bots, Carnegie Mellon University Create Lab - http://www.artsandbots.com/
SEEK - Summer Educational Enrichment for Kids - camps offered at California University of PA
http://www.calu.edu/academics/kids-programs/seek/index.htm
Camp Tech - summer technology camp for grades 3 - 8 at W&J College July 29 - August 2 - http://www.iu1stemcenter.org
Summer High School Internship Opportunity at Magee Women's Hospital - http://www.mwrif.org/29/high-school-interns
Summer opportunities for gifted students - http://pittsburgh.about.com/od/academic_camps/Educational_Summer_Camps_in_Pittsburgh.htm
Sites for FREE Classics - http://www.byrdseed.com/3-sites-for-free-classics/
Arts and Bots
Megan Cottrill, Dawna Nichols and Emily Richard hard at work on their Amelia Earhart robot project.
Arts and Bots
Completed robot!
Science Olympiad
The full team at California University of PA on March 13th.
Striving To Reach Intellectual Vistas in Education
Email: jnewman@fortcherry.org
Website: www.fortcherry.org
Location: 110 Fort Cherry Road, McDonald, PA
Phone: 724-796-6271
Twitter: @FCSTRIVE