Societas
News for Klein Parents of Gifted & Advanced Learners
Welcome to our Late Winter Edition Newsletter!
Sincerely,
The Advanced Academics Team
Come and Meet Me at the Research Expo!
Parents: WE NEED YOU! Please sign up to talk with KISD Student Researchers!
DESTINATION IMAGINATION WINNERS GO TO STATE!
Destination Imagination Coordinator
Klein ISD
On February 23, 2019 at Summer Creek High School, Klein ISD showed their INCREDIBLE Destination Imagination spirit as 91 teams from across the district competed in the North Harris County Community Problem Solvers Regional Tournament. The kids were so excited and so proud of their solutions. Lots of smiles from everyone! Thanks to team managers, parents, and administrators for supporting this wonderful program which provides students with experience in creativity and teamwork which are skills that last a lifetime!
We are so proud of the following teams moving forward to the State Competition in Corpus Christi March 23, 2019:
Challenge On Target
Elementary: Kaiser
High School: Klein Oak
Challenge Medical Mystery
Elementary: Benignus
Intermediate: Krimmel
Challenge Game On
Elementary: Hassler
High School: Klein Oak
Challenge Heads Up
Elementary: Theiss; Hassler
Intermediate: Kleb
High School: Klein High School
Challenge Monster Effects
Elementary: Benignus
Intermediate: Krimmel
Challenge Escape Artist
Elementary: Metzler
Intermediate: Hildebrandt
High School: Klein Cain
Other awards:
Da Vinci Award for a unique approach to solution, risk taking and outstanding creativity was awarded to the teams from Hassler, Kleb and Benignus.
Renaissance Award for outstanding skill in design, engineering, execution or performance was awarded to Leon Rodriguez from Wunderlich and a team from Krimmel Intermediate.
Opportunity: Your Kids Speak about Their Passion!
Entries Due March 6, 2019
Klein High School Academic Decathlon Moves on to State Competition
Advanced Academic Program Coordinator
On February 8 -9, all five Klein ISD High Schools competed at the Region 6 Academic Decathlon competition. Nineteen schools participated in this competition, and KISD dominated, with all five schools placing in the top 10. Klein Forest placed 10th, Klein Oak 4th, Klein Cain 3rd, Klein Collins 2nd, and Klein High 1st overall. A member of this winning team, Divya Nagarajan, was the top overall individual scorer for the weekend. Klein High will be headed to compete at the State Competition in San Antonio on March 8 - 9. Coaches of this team are Cheryl Freeman, Kelsey White, and Deborah Strube. Team members include: Spencer Bishop, Ethan Donckels, Mace Wages, Hunter Hermantin, Josh Smith, Francis King, Divya Nagarajan, Madison Freeman, and Esther Marin. Good luck to the coaches and the team as they represent KISD in San Antonio!
March 6, 2019: SAT School Day for All KISD Juniors!
Team VorTX Participates in SACOT on the Hill!
By Alea Nablan, Student
Chairmans Lead
VorTX 3735
On February 19, a handful of our students traveled to Austin to participate in the SACOT on the Hill event. We were very excited to contribute to this year’s state-wide effort of improving STEM education and have been planning to attend this event for a long time. To prepare, we had our students undergo practice interviews, learned about SACOT’s mission, and even met with one of our representatives, Mrs. Valoree Swanson. We met with staff to discuss how investing in education for science and technology benefits the community. We helped advocate for House Bill 341 which would provide funding for Career and Technical Education (CTE) courses in grades 8 through 12. We also discussed the Technology and Instructional Materials Allotment (TIMA) which would help to provide for instructional materials for those classes and training to teachers which would enhance the learning environment for the students.
Thank you SACOT, we took the Hill
To learn more about SACOT, please visit this site: SACOT
Digital Learning Day-February 28, 2019
For the past several years, Jordan Shapiro has been busy writing and speaking about games and digital play. He’s a senior fellow for the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop, a think tank dedicated to researching how children interact with media, and a nonresident fellow at the Center for Universal Education, which is part of the Brookings Institution. He teaches at Temple University, in Philadelphia, where he lives.
I caught up with Shapiro recently to discuss his new book, The New Childhood: Raising Kids to Thrive in a Connected World, which examines the importance of digital play, as well as ideas for teaching and parenting kids.
FARBER: In your book, you often use the phrase digital play to describe ways children can learn today. How do you define digital play?
SHAPIRO: I switched my language from being games-specific to digital play a few years ago. Part of the reason was that I saw a lot of resistance [from schools] to games. But there isn’t as much resistance to digital play. I also changed my language because of what I observed watching kids use Scratch—or a lot of what I see in Minecraft. These are not really what you would call games. Scratch and Minecraft don’t have the same kind of rules as games, but kids are still playing, and they are still doing something digital. In my mind, digital play became a broad catchall that added playful learning and creativity to gaming.
To read the full article: click here
Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/article/digital-play-serious-learning
Upcoming Spring Events
Mar 5 & 6 Research Expo: 9:30-11:00, 12:30-2:00; 6:30-8:00 PM: Campus Schedule
Mar 6 SAT School Day-Juniors Only
Mar 14-16 FRC (Robotics) Tournament in Channelview
Mar 19 - District Pentathlon-KMPC
Mar 21-23 FRC Tournament (Robotics) in Greenville
Mar 22-23 - DI State Competition in Corpus Christi
Mar 26 - District Octathlon
Apr 4-6 - FRC State Tournament (Robotics) in Austin
Apr 16-18 Coding Expo-KMPC
May 6-17 AP Exams; STAAR-EOC Exams
May 22-25 DI Globals-Kansas City MO