Our Spring Newsletter is out! Read all about our recent High School Challenge at OSU, regional challenges, updates from SMILE clubs around Oregon, and more.
If you have any activities, stories, or pictures that you would like to see featured in an upcoming newsletter, please send them to Abbe at abbe.lougee@oregonstate.edu.
This week our Nyssa and Ontario Clubs were featured in The Observer. The article talks about our recent Middle School Challenge at Eastern Oregon University. Check it out here!
At the May Teacher’s Workshop held at the HJ Andrews Forest, SMILE teachers learned about how field investigations connect to NGSS Practices. Teachers focused more specifically on how to help students develop questions, set up an investigation, and analyze and interpret the data that they collected. Below is the materials shared during this session.
Natures Notebook:
Introduction to Graphing Lesson
We have even more photos to share thanks to your e-mails! This week we received photos from Lorna Byrne Middle School enjoying themselves during our recent Middle School Challenge as well as performing activities in their own classroom. They participated in actives like making a scribbler and making a catapult. They turned out great! Check out more pictures on our Facebook page.
One of our SMILE clubs was featured in the Woodburn Independent Newspaper! SMILE club advisor Dave Ellingson and his students created an archaeological exhibit in the Woodburn Public Library to showcase some of bones of extinct animals found in Woodburn. Read all about it in this article!
Over the weekend we got a ton of new e-mails filled with pictures, which we love! First was an e-mail from Tonya Jones, a Forest Grove High School SMILE instructor. She shared pictures of her students trying out a few of our activities, including the egg drop activity we presented during the 2015 Winter Teacher’s Workshop. We also received some pictures of May Roberts Elementary School students during the recent Challenge. Thanks again for sharing and make sure to check out more pictures on our Facebook page!
We had a great time at all three Middle School and Elementary School Challenges this year. We ended the Challenge at Oregon State University’s Cascade Campus where elementary students learned about predator and prey relationships. AmeriCorps volunteers helped the students create habitats to help demonstrate these relationships. Check out their work below and on our Facebook page. Students also had a great time touring Central Oregon Community College and continued to make awesome solar ovens. We hope to see you next year!
This year’s challenge was focused around solar energy. Middle school students made solar ovens and we were impressed with their results. While at Portland Community College, the elementary school students were introduced to exciting areas of study like physics, chemistry, biology for management of zoo animals, chemistry, and veteranary technician. It looks like a fun time was had by all. Be sure to check out more pictures on our Facebook page.
