Math Contest

The 2010 Ohio Mathematics Contest will be held on Saturday, April 24, 2010, at Wright State University.  The contest is for elementary, middle and high school students in grades 4 through 11.  It is sponsored by the Dayton Branch of Korean-American Scientists and Engineers Association, the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Wright State University, and the Asian American Council of Dayton.  The purpose of the contest is to stimulate interest in mathematics among upper elementary, middle and high school students and to recognize those who exhibit exceptional talent.  The sponsors ask teachers and parents to strongly encourage their students in grades 4 through 11 to enter this Contest.  See the website, http://iis.stat.wright.edu/OMC/ for more information.

Global Climate Change Unit

During the weeks of April 5-22, students will be engaged in an integrated unit on Global Climate Change. The driving question behind the unit is “What lifestyle changes will I make in order to sustain our environment?”  The culminating part to this unit includes service-learning projects that students will complete.  Students were given project descriptions the second week of March and a survey to identify their top three choices, and we have tried to ensure each student is working on a project of their interest.   These projects involve working with groups outside of DRSS, and in most cases the final presentation or activity will take place outside of our school day.  In fact, some of them will happen on April 23, a day that students are not “in session” and had originally been scheduled for job shadowing (now May 14).  

Students will have time to meet initially with their groups on Thursday, March 25.   They will also have significant times during the last two weeks of April to meet with their groups and prepare for their final projects.

In the coming weeks, you will get more information through your child about his or her specific project.  We may also need help with transportation of students to some of the sites where the service learning opportunities will take place.  If you have questions, please contact the office at 431-1837.

Dr. Boyd

End of Course Exams

On March 23 and 24, DRSS students will be taking End of Course Exams for Algebra and Geometry.  These exams have been developed by ACT, and are being piloted across the State of Ohio.  These exams will likely be used by Ohio in the future to replace the Ohio Graduation Test (OGT).  The tests are also aligned with the ACT, which is one of the two college admission examinations (the other is the SAT) which students will take later in their HS career for college admission purposes.  The results we receive from these End of Course exams will help predict how well your child will do on the Math portion of the ACT.  While these results are not "high stakes" at this point for students, we are asking them to do their best so that both they and the school have good information about their understanding of Algebra and Geometry at this point.

If you have questions about this, please do not hesitate to contact us at the school.  I would also like to thank Dr. Tom Lasley at The University of Dayton and EDvention for securing some financial support to administer the exams, and for including us with some other Dayton area schools that are also administering these as they are developed.

Dr. Boyd

Dinner Party Event

Below is a flyer about an upcoming event at the Dayton Regional STEM School.  We hope you can join us in celebrating the pottery that our students have created as part of their recent Social Studies unit.  More information is in the flyer, from your child, or by calling the school at 431-1837.

March 15 meetings

Parents,

In setting our date for the next parent meeting, I accidentally scheduled it on the same night as our next Town Hall meeting (March 15).  However, since the start times are an hour apart, we can have both meetings that night.  Our parents meeting will start at 5:30, and I will have some students demonstrate for the group some of their work in their digital portfolios.  This will be good practice for our students, as well as give you a chance to see how they are organizing this work for their portfolio.  Because of the Town Hall meeting that night, and having to rush to get things set up for both meetings, I probably will not run an Elluminate session for the parent meeting this month.

The Town Hall meeting starts at 6:30, and it looks like we will have three things for the agenda:  (1) An update about what things have come in the suggestion box that have NOT been voted on, but how they have been addressed, (2) A vote on the proposed technology committee, and (3) a discussion about the school identity. 

Hope that you can make it to one or both events on March 15.

Dr. Boyd

Game Night Pics

Below are some pictures from the students enjoying Game Night @DRSS...

STEM Explorers Tryout

Below is a link to some information about a STEM Explorers program being put together by Time Warner Cable (TWC).  They are producing a show that focuses on STEM and they want to include students from DRSS and the Cincinnati Hughes STEM High School.  There is more information in the flyer, but auditions for this are on March 10 at 4:00pm at the University of Cincinnati.  This may be difficult given that we get out at 3:15.  Please let us know if your child will be participating in the tryouts, and we may be able release your child a little early and/or let the TWC reps know that you may arrive a little after 4:00.

Dr. Boyd

http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B29hCVV9xmV5NTc0MTk5OGUtZGU5NC00ZjMwLWI2NzctMjg5NmIzODQ4NzQ5&hl=en

Game Night

Just a reminder that Game Night has been rescheduled for this Friday, March 5, from 7-10pm.  Admission is $4 per person, this includes pizza and a drink, and students are permitted to bring up to three guests (non-DRSS students) with them.

Dr. Boyd