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LMS Gifted Newsletter
Prepared by Catherine Finnigin April 27, 2016 LET’S TAKE A LOOK AT THE TALENTS AND ABILITIES OF OUR KIDS! #PROUDOFOURLIONS
Future City 2016 All three grade levels (6th, 7th, and 8th) participated in Future City this year. This is the very first year that 6th graders have been permitted to participate in the competition. Future City is a wonderful team building, hands-on experience for every child in the classroom. This long-term project requires the students to incorporate elements of science, technology, engineering, and math into developing a solution for a real-world engineering problem. The problem selected by the Future City Committee this year was waste management. The students were required to create a self-sustaining, green-friendly city in which waste is efficiently and effectively disposed of and/or salvaged and reprocessed. The four components for project completion included designing a virtual city using SimCity gaming software, building a scale model, writing a 1,500 word essay, and presenting the project to the judges at the competition held January 23rd at the University of Kansas. Interviews were conducted with each grade level to provide parents with a synopsis of each city. Each of the teams described their cities as follows:
8th Grade The 8th graders named their city Duwamia. In Duwamia, commercialized areas have designated waste receptacles that businesses must use. Citizens in residential areas are given different colored trash bags to use for different forms of trash (plastics, metals, paper, etc.). Citizens are charged a fee for exceeding the normal weekly limit of trash/waste. Paper is recycled. The citizens promote the use of digital imagery over paper consumption. Plastics and metals are melted down to be reused. Compost is sent to the agricultural sector of the city. Human waste is processed through an Omni Processor, a sewage sludge treatment system that produces potable water and electrical energy from the waste through combustion. The potable water is routed to the citizens, and the electrical energy is sent to the power grid. The Omni Processor is mechanically designed to yield renewable energy through a selfsustaining process. Eighth grade won 3rd place out of 51 schools competing during the first round of competition. The first round of competition qualifies a team for competing in the final round. When the
first round of competition is over, slates are wiped clean for the five teams chosen to compete in the final round. Our kids placed 5th out of five teams during the final competition. Each participating student received a bronze medal. This winning display has been placed in the glass case in the Commons Area of the Middle School. The speakers during the competition included Alyssa Wiegers, Molly Feldner, and Logan Hope. Alternate speakers included Brett Zimmerman and Anne Strukel. During the competition the 8th grade team received many compliments from numerous judges. The top ranking schools had stiff competition on their hands from our students. We can also be very proud of our 8th graders because they won a $125 technology grant for our school. Dr. Hargrove is looking forward to putting that money back into the gifted classroom.
7th Grade The 7th graders named their city Autumnsgrove. This city is located on a peninsula just north of New Zealand. The citizens of Autumnsgrove take pride in generating 100% of the city’s power without removing anything from the ground. Energy is generated from hydropower, wind power, and the use of solar panels. Solar panels are a requirement in every home throughout the city. Sensory street lights are used which conserve energy by powering on only when a car or person is detected.