EWEB Grant

Light bulbs “came on” for Bethel Head Start preschoolers in more than one way on April 12th in their preschool class. High school students from Ms. Persi’s child development class presented electricity experiments to the youngsters to teach them about how electricity works and how to conserve it in the home. The older kids discussed concepts such as conductors and insulators, solar energy, and circuitry among others. The presentations were made possible by an EWEB mini-grant that Ms. Persi applied for and received. It helped her purchase items such as mini-solar panels, switches, wire, and batteries. Her students were required to complete research, design an experiment and a presentation board, and then present it to the 3 and 4 year olds.  This was a highly rewarding and “enlightening” experience for all involved.

It’s that time of year again for teachers to dust off  their solar and electric car units. A workshop was held on March 20, 2012 for all 8th grade Bethel teachers and other area district teachers wishing to attend. The morning was spent learning about gearing,  how to build an electric car,  and solar energy. In the afternoon, teachers were able to build their own solar car and race it against other workshop participants to see whose car was the fastest. This is exactly what teachers will be doing in their classrooms with their students shortly.  Students with the fastest car from each class will be able to attend the 15th annual Solar Challenge event sponsored by EWEB to be held on June 9th.  This is an event students look forward to every year; it provides plenty of competition and great prizes to be won.

Several kindergarten teachers in Bethel participate in the EWEB grant sponsored, “Take Home Backpack Project”. This is a fun way for kindergarteners to learn a little about science which is not typically a part of their curriculum. Each backpack comes with a book and materials to complete the enclosed activities. The packs  are designed to be done at home with a parent or guardian. Kids learn about electricity, magnets, and things that sink or float to name a few. They get to bring home the pack for a few days, then return it to school so another child can take a turn. As seen by their smiling faces, kids love when it is their turn to bring the pack home!

8th grade teachers in Bethel have taught about wind energy and built working wind turbines with their classes for several years. This year, however, teachers are able to use a new turbine model called the ALTurbine from Kidwind which is funded with EWEB grant funds. It is unique in that it allows students to test many different variables including gearing, blade pitch, and blade design to name a few. The turbine is easily manipulated, allowing kids to hypothesize, and then test those hypotheses. Teachers discovered this at the wind turbine workshop held on February 23rd.  Seven of Bethel’s teachers attended the workshop and left oozing with enthusiasm to begin the project in their classrooms!

Meadow view third graders are currently using the EWEB science kit, Electric Circuits.  This unit introduces the basic properties of electricity and teaches about electric circuits, conductors and insulators. To enrich this unit, John Femal, EWEB’s Community Education Coordinator, did a presentation entitled, “Zappsville” which features a scale model neighborhood. Femal explained how and where electricity is made and how it reaches us so that we can use it, as well as many of the safety issues involving power lines. For all the kids who love to climb trees, he taught them to first look up before climbing any tree to make sure no power lines run through it, hence the saying, “Look up and live!” This presentation was enjoyed by students as they watched with anticipation about what items were conductors or insulators and the hazards associated with poles and high voltage lines.

Students from Kalapuya High School visited Danebo elementary recently to conduct their second annual science fair. The high school students  planned the activities, gathered materials, and then taught their specified activity to  second graders.  EWEB-funded materials for the energy based science class at Kalapuya were the primary materials used to teach activities such as green energy circuit building, wind powered weightlifting, hand-crank generator powered cars and wired circuit building.  It is the hope of the instructor, Bruce Weinberg, that his students can expand this to more elementary schools in the future.

Thanks to the joint effort of  Lane ESD and CLAST(an emerging collaboration between Lane County and University of Oregon scientists and educators), several science kit workshops have been offered over the last couple of  years.  Plenty of Bethel teachers have taken advantage of the offerings, educating them in how to integrate the kit in to other disciplines as well as to  incorporate inquiry-based learning.  Participants in this particular workshop explored a variety of hands-on activities from the Electric Circuits Science Kit and opportunities for integrating math and literacy were discussed. Other kit trainings that have occurred are:  Solids and Liquids, Weather, Organisms, Changes, Motion and Design, Magnets and Motors, Land and Water, Ecosystems, and Measuring Time. Please email Cathy Bechen if you are interested in further science kit training.

Have you ever wondered how that giant, part-intensive science kit arrives squeaky clean, restocked and ready to use again, after you have completely deleted it of its contents? Rita Gese is the woman behind the daunting task of ordering, counting, cleaning, stocking and restocking the science kits at the elementary level. She also stocks the solar and electric car kits at the middle school level and the K-5 Discovery lab kits!  This is an enormous  job that requires a great deal of patience and extreme attention to detail.

Rita has been with the district for 12 years, 7 of which were spent in Shasta Middle School’s kitchen. She has been the EWEB kit refurbisher for the last five years  and enjoys the constant challenge and new problems that often  present themselves.  During her five years, she has spent a great deal of time re-organizing her space. It is so tidy and organized,  anyone could walk in and find whatever part, piece or particular item they are looking for without her help. And, with thousands and thousands of tiny parts and pieces, that says a lot about her devotion and commitment to the job! Thank you, Rita, for all you do.

Many sixth graders in our district have the opportunity to raise salmon each year in their classroom, but that’s not where this study ends.  For years they have been participating in salmon watch field trips during which time they learn about the riparian zone, macroinvertebrates, water quality and, most exciting of all,  they watch salmon swim upstream to spawn with their own eyes. This year was no exception even though The Freshwater Trust could not continue funding the trips.  Thanks to the volunteer work of retired Bethel teacher, Ron Leonard, the EWEB grant, and a host of many tireless volunteers ranging from retired teachers, parents, college students, fish biologists, and even those that simply love salmon and the outdoors, fourteen classes were able to complete this study which gave them  a broader view of the entire salmon life cycle. One student in Mrs. Robbin’s class from Shasta summed it up best when she said, “Wow, this has been a fun adventure watching our salmon eggs develop in class and then coming out here to see salmon actually swim upstream to lay eggs that will start the cycle all over again.”

This year that the K/1 discovery lab and the 4/5 lab make their rounds at all of the elementary schools.  The kickoff was at Irving school on Tuesday November 15th for fourth and fifth graders . Students participated in a variety of labs where they learned about diminishing energy, inertia,  and magnetic polarity among other things. Many of the stations are “make and take” projects that students get to take home and share with their families. This is a fun-filled day of exploring scientific concepts that may not happen if it weren’t for EWEB grant funding. Please email Cathy Bechen if you would like to lead this activity for your school.