T H E W I L D E R N E S S M U S T B E E X P L O R E D ! E X P L O R E T H E U N K N O W N F A L L I S S U E • O C T O B E R 2 0 2 2 Marking Get an overview of what to expect over the next nine weeks Period 2 MOSI Prepare for the field trip of a school year Field Trip Demographics Report Card Find out where the Talent demographics fall compared to PCS.
Curriculum Corner
Briefly zoom in to The Big Orange Splot and Ducky
STEM Spotlight
Curtis Charles Ebbesmeyer is an American oceanographer based in Seattle, Washington
MOSI Field Trip
Tampa’s Museum of Science & Industry is a scientific playground with numerous hands on activities!
Talent Target
A close look at the PCS Talent Demograhics
4
5
6
7
Nancy Newhall
the wilderness holds answers to questions man has not yet learned to ask.
fulfilling my destiny
Marking Period 2 begins with the Big Orange Splot by Daniel Pinkwater It's a great unit to get to know your students better and hopefully build those stronger student teacher relationships Students design their dream Talent classroom
The last five weeks of Marking Period 2 will be spent on Ducky by Eve Bunting Ducky is a fictional account of a true story: the story of the Friendly Floatees spill
On January 10, 1992, during a storm in the North Pacific Ocean, 28,800 Friendly Floatees yellow ducks, red beavers, blue turtles, and green frogs were washed into the Pacific Ocean. Twelve shipping containers fell overboard from a container ship like the one in this image The container ship, the Evergreen Ever Laurel, had departed from Hong Kong and was en route to Tacoma, Washington
The story of the Friendly Floatees spill is an interesting one While it's a cautionary tale on what plastic pollution is doing to our oceans, it was also an important though unintentional tool for oceanographers in observing and learning about currents Recording the location where the Friendly Floatees turned up was a citizen scientist project in its own right. Many beachcombers around the world aided scientists like Curtis Ebbensmeyer and W. James Ingraham, Seattle oceanographers, to model ocean currents based on the movement of the flotsam. Student build an untippable boat.
Don't forget about the SWAP MEET button on the Talent Canvas page to get and ask for building supplies
beachcomber: a person who walks along a beach looking for valuable or interesting items.
flotsam: the wreckage of a ship or its cargo found floating on or washed up by the sea.
C U R R I C U L U M C O R N E R
I AM A BATHTUB DUCK
wilderness explorer
Pinellas County Schools Mission Statement is to: Educate and Prepare Each Student for College, Career and Life
One way we get to do that in the Talent Development program is by exposing our students to a variety of career options via the books in our curriculum. The book, Ducky by Eve Bunting, is based on the true story of the Friendly Floatees spill
Dr Curtis Ebbensmeyer is an oceanographer in Seattle, Washington His work on reporting the movement of the Friendly Floatees is what brought him into the public eye Ebbensmeyer hold a PhD in oceanography from the University of Washington Ebbensmeyer has established a network of beachcombers and others to help him and other scientists track the movement of flotsam from other spills
The University of South Florida in Tampa has a College of Marine Science and is working on establishing a Center of Excellence in Environmental and Oceanographic Sciences on the St. Petersburg campus. USF St. Pete has undergraduate and graduate degrees programs in marine biology as well as environmental science and policy.
STEM SPOTLIGHT
COME PREPARED IN ALL YOUR ADVENTURES
WE'RE GOING ON A TRIP
in our favorite rocket ship
COVID 19 put a damper on the number of outside of school learning opportunities students could partake in with their classmates.
Field trips are not only intellectually enriching but also culturally enriching Students who might not normally get to see outside of their community can experience the world through a different lens
MOSI
FIELDTRIP
The Gifted Department is able to provide funding for up to twenty schools to take their Talent 4th and 5th graders to Tampa's Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI).
Since there are more than 20 schools with the Talent Development program, schools are being selected via lottery Teachers must apply to enter the lottery If you teach Talent at more than one school, you can submit an application for each school
There are still six days to apply for the funds. Deadline: Oct.23 Apply at: https://forms.office.com/r/nxK1ELQ4AL
A L E N T
a glance
SCP T A LENT
PINELLASCO U SLOOHCSYTN
T A R G E T
As of FTE week, the week of October 10th 14th, 4,189 students in Pinellas County Schools are scheduled into Focus for Talent Development. That's over 96% percent of all Talent students Thank you teachers for all you did to make sure students were scheduled before FTE
The graphs above compare the demographics of those 4,189 Talent students to the rest of the school district. While the overall Talent demographics matches the district's demographics in most subgroups, there's still work to do on the individual school level
8 schools matched their Talent demographics to their school's demographics within four percentage points for ALL six subgroups.
Kudos to:
Bay Vista Fundamental (Tonja Wilson)
Campbell Park Elementary (Monica Logsdon)
Curtis Fundamental (Carrie Brown & Shannon Wolf)
Garrison Jones Elementary (Suzanne Daily)
Sanderlin IB School (Carrie Kirkpatrick, Dianna Uva, Andrea Moore)
Pasadena Fundamental (Megan Lee/Rose Lang)
Safety Harbor Elementary (Molly Hays)
Southern Oak Elementary (Amber Williamson)
at
TALENT DEVELOPMENT T
