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Eanes Elem GT Meeting Tuesday 4/10 @ 8 AM

We’re planning an Eanes Elementary GT coffee on Tuesday 4/10 from 8:00 to 8:30 in the Counseling Center.

The topics include:

  • Cathy Miller introduction and EISD GT hiring practices
  • Coordinate after school dissections for 3rd Graders
  • Discuss Hill Country MS transition
  • Collect questions for Bill Bechtol’s GT vertical alignment presentation later this spring

Baking Frogs

Actually, the title should be Baking & Frogs….

Our baking science meeting was a big success!  Thanks to the Goss family for hosting (and keeping all the extra cookies).  This is an easy an fun experiment to try at home.  Just get 2+ recipes worth of Tollhouse cookies.  Make one batch as the control.  Then split the other into two parts.  Select 1 ingredient as the variable and put all of that into one part and none into the other.  For example, the recipe calls for 2 eggs: put both into one half and none into the other.  Do that for each ingredient (flour, sugar, butter, egg, salt) to test all the combinations.  Sugar, flour (use 1/2 & 3/2), and salt make the most dramatic examples.

I am still taking advanced orders for Frog kits.  You can send me the $25 via school (Alex in 5th or Isaac in 3rd) or drop it by my house.  The kits can be used 3 times but only have the parts for 1 frog.  The instructions claim it only takes 15 minutes to make a new frog.  If you have multiple impatient scientists in your family then you may want to consider getting a kit per scientist.

Eanes SciFest Team Results

Protons & Pollution were topics receiving special recognition for aspiring Eanes Scientists at the annual Austin Energy Regional Science Festival.  The team won 5 first, 3 second, and 1 third place ribbons.  In addition, Alexander Hirschfeld’s project won the Austin Energy Best Use of Alternative Energy Award and Nicholas Williams’ project won a Discovery Award for being in the top 10% of all projects.

Our 2007 Team was:
Fifth Graders: Daniel Heinrich, Alexander Hirschfeld, Max Marion, Alex Marx, Matthew Michael, Achala Mishra, and Nicholas Williams. Fourth Grader: Michael Niemann Third Grader: Colin Michael

They put in a lot of effort and demonstrated some great science.  We’re proud of the dedication and excellence it takes to compete with 2000 other students from all over the region.  Good work team!

Eanes Science Club Meeting SUNDAY 3/25 @ 5:30

Let’s cook up some great science this weekend!

Kathy Goss is hosting our cookie cooking science meeting Sunday (3/25) from 5:30 to 7:30. The idea of the meeting is to experiment with the basic cookie recipe by changing one ingredient at a time and seeing (and tasting!) how it changes the outcome.
We’ll order pizza @ 5:30 so the kids eat before they pig out on cookies.

The cost is $10/person to cover pizza and supplies ($5 if you don’t want pizza)

I’m also taking advance orders for the faux-frog disection kits. Bring $25/kit if you want me to order the kit for you.

Eanes Elementary GT Meeting on Thursday 3/8 @ 12:30

We’re organizing an informal Eanes Elementary GT Parents meeting this Thursday (3/8) at 12:30 in the GT classroom. I’d like to keep the meeting to 45 minutes or less.

Colleen and I have been working with the district to improve communication for GT parents and also provide resources for parents and students. This is our first step to getting started. In part, we are trying to fill the vacuum left behind by the “Eanes TAG” group.

Our topics for this meeting are:

      1. * talk about what’s going on at the District level including 5 to 6th grade transition and vertical alignment of K-12 GT program.
      2. * start to organize on Eanes’ campus so we can plan educational sessions for GT parents
      3. * consider an after-school dissection for the 3 graders (they are not dissecting sharks this year)
      4. * rumors and facts (this item intentionally left mysterious)
      5. * using the 4eanes.com site to help coordinate activities

Caving Trip #2? Who’s up to going down again?

I’m trying to setup another caving trip.  Please comment to this post if you are interested so I can verify that we have enough people interested.

It would be after Spring Break.

Eanes 2008 Science Day (Science Night grows up!)

Eanes PTO is already starting to work on next year’s science event early because we’re planning to make BIG changes.  We are discussion holding the event during school hours instead of in the evening.  The core idea is that presenters will each give a 20 minute presentation to about 25 students.  Students would get to attend 4 presentations (probably determined by grade).

This format will serve more student (100% instead of just the ones who attend Science Night).  It will also allow the presenters to provide more detailed and/or interactive instruction.

The challenges are that we’ll need many more presenters and volunteers.  We also are looking for ways to keep the open house & social aspects of Science Night that the parents enjoy.

To help prepare, I’d to organize science volunteers on campus by grade level.  If each grade has a science coordinator then that person could coordinate the science day program for their grade.  They would also help their grade teachers with supply and lab requests.  We’d still have a committee for the event and overall chair, but the grade coordinators would ensure that their grade’s logistics were handled.

I’m planning to hold a meeting to discuss this after spring break.  If you are interested, please let me know.  Feel free to comment with questions, suggestions, and concerns.

GT: Elementary Transistion to Middle School

Several parents have asked if the district could hold a meeting to discuss elementary GT student issues related to the transition to Middle School.  I’m talking with the GT teachers at both Middle Schools to set this up. We need your help:

  1. Ask questions in advance (post here or email to rob[at]4eanes[dot]com )
  2. Tell us what times work best (AM, Noon, PM)

Thanks!

EanesTAG joining 4eanes.com site.

I am taking steps to shutdown the EanesTAG site and list server.

The level of spam on EanesTAG is going up and the activity has been zero.

Recently, Colleen Dement, Laura Hirschfeld, and I have started to reorganize the EanesTAG nonprofit. In the next few weeks we will be coordinating with the District to relaunch with a new mission. We hope that GT parents across EISD will collaborate with us and the District to redefine the organization. For more information, please visit the 4eanes.com site.

If you have questions or concerns, contact me by posting a comment to this blog entry.