Save the Date for the RES Science Fair!

The RES Enrichment Program is excited to announce the annual

FAMILY SCIENCE FAIR   

!MARK YOUR CALENDARS NOW!

Thursday March 10^th, 2016  

We look forward to the excellent projects presented by students in grades K-4!  Please mark your calendars and start thinking about how you would like to participate.

Do you have a science fair project in mind?  Here are some ways to make a plan:

•  Expand upon an interesting topic you have studied in class
• Think about a topic that interests you, or a science question that you are curious about
•   Talk to family and friends to brainstorm ideas for a project
•  Stop by the enrichment room and borrow a fair idea book and talk with Mrs. Rankin
•  Check out science project resources in the library

The RES Science Fair is a non-judged family event.  Students are encouraged to work together with family and friends to develop a project they are proud of presenting to our community.  Your entry does not have to be a science experiment. It may be as simple as a display of your leaf collection or as complex as an experiment on how the circulatory system works.  Look at the world around you. What are you curious about? What interests you?  Ask why something is the way it is. Do experiments, demonstrate a scientific principle, make observations of the world around you, design and make something or collect and analyze data.  Most importantly- be creative and HAVE FUN!

In a few weeks Science Fair entry forms will be sent home.  At that time you will be asked to share your planned science fair topic as well as any special display requirements you have. 

Questions?

Contact: Darcie Rankin, Enrichment Teacher by email at darcie.rankin@cesuvt.org

Cougar Cub Inventor's Workshop: Save the Date

Richmond Elementary School , in conjunction with

Vermont State Science Fair and the Society of Women Engineers is proud to present the:

COUGAR CUB INVENTOR’S WORKSHOP

Thursday November 12^th, 2015

5:30 – 7:30pm

RES Gym

Cost: 2$ per Student (to cover cost of disposable resources, scholarships available)

What is an Inventor’s Workshop?

This workshop is a family-friendly event to MAKE, create, learn, invent, craft, recycle, think, play and be inspired by celebrating arts, crafts, engineering, science and technology.  Students will work with their families to create!  Activities will be facilitated by engineers and teachers, but tasks will be open ended and creative.  Families will have an opportunity to learn together as they experience the fun of making / building / constructing / designing and more! A variety of activities will be available to challenge students from Grades K – 8.

A Sampling of Activities Planned for Our Workshop Include:

Cardboard Challenge:  Create with cardboard! The possibilities are endless!

Building a fort with Bloxes!  Bloxes are life-sized cardboard building blocks. They're used as furniture, walls, and forts by Google, Twitter, Mozilla, and many more.  Now you can try building with this elusive construction material.

Making a keyboard with bananas!  MaKey MaKey Boards are electronic devices that convert many regular objects into keys on your computer to control programs like Scratch or videos games.  Objects that are conductive, even slightly, like fruit or people, can be used with the MaKey.  

Creating lighted origami!  LED Throwies are LEDs connected to coin batteries to create artwork with light.  We will have a number of origami options including participating in a lost bird project which supports endangered species awareness.

Squishy Circuits:  Make three dimensional artwork with lights and moving parts out of play dough!  

Creating interactive circuits with littleBits!  littleBits are electronic modules that snap together with magnets to make circuits.  Each bit has a specific function (light, sound, sensors, buttons, motors, etc), and modules snap together to make larger circuits. Just as LEGOs allows you to create complex structures with little blocks, littleBits are small, simple, blocks that make creating sophisticated electronic circuits a matter of snapping pieces together.

Creating abstract art with a digital microscope!  DinoXcope Art is artwork created using a digital microscope to photograph intentional arrangements of materials.  

Programming Arduinos!   Sparkfun Inventor's Kit with Arduino Uno & breadboards allow you to build simple circuits and control them using a programmable microcontroller.  Lilly Pad is a test board with lights and sound to which you can upload Arduino code.  

Programming interactive games with Scratch!  Scratch is a visual programming language.  Use colorful interlocking building blocks of code like legos to build interactive games and programs.

AND MORE!!!!!

Please contact Darcie Rankin, RES Enrichment Teacher at darcie.rankin@cesuvt.org with questions. 

We hope to see you there!

Artist in Residence Coming to RES--and MORE!

Richmond Elementary School Enrichment, with support from Unified Arts Educators is excited and proud to present:

RES CELEBRATES AFRICA

In the month of April, students and our school community will have an opportunity to make a variety of learning connections to Africa.

Jeh Kulu Artist in Residence

Tuesday April 14^th – Thursday April 16^th

Jeh Kulu is a traditional West African performance and educational ensemble. They will bring the spirit of West African music and dance to RES students in grades K-4 during regularly scheduled PE times.

African Children’s Choir

Friday April 17^th

RES students in grades K-4 and RES staff will attend an all school field trip to witness this great performance by African children. Several classrooms will also have the opportunity to participate in Flynn workshops to deepen their understanding of the performance.

Unified Arts Instruction

April 1^st – April 17^th

Students will have an opportunity to learn more about Africa through art, music, library, enrichment and Spanish classes. Students will create art and music and learn a little about African culture.

A Taste of Africa

Wednesday April 15^th

The RES Café has created a menu that will give students a chance to sample some African dishes created by Mrs. Kent!  Parents and the community are invited to come in and dine with us. Please check out the April school lunch menu for details.

We look forward to some unique and enriching experiences over the next few weeks.  Please make sure to ask your student about them!

RES is grateful to have received support for these activities from many people in our local community.  RES school families raised money through the Fall Fun Run which sponsored half of the Artist in Residency.  We are also thankful for a grant from the Vermont Arts Council and National Endowment for the Arts which will support our resident artists.  In addition, the Flynn Education department has provided us with workshops free of charge!  It is so amazing to realize the number of people in our local community who are willing to support the education of our students.  THANK YOU ALL!

 

In order to complete funding of this project, we are looking for a few more sponsors.  If you are interested in helping out, please contact Darcie Rankin at darcie.rankin@cesuvt.org.  Thanks for considering supporting the arts and unique cultural experiences for our students!