Monday April 29th, 2013

Today in Communities, students prepared for the field day that they will be having tomorrow. With Mr. Rice, Mr. Leib's student teacher, students learned how to take notes while on field days. They learned how important it is to have notes after a field day, so that if you were to write a paper or just remember what happened during the field day, you would be able to accurately and efficiently.
With Mr. Schinkten, students finished going over how to properly test water and what they will need for the field day when they test water. Finally, with Mr. Weber, students learned how to put detail into their writing, so that their papers that they will be writing later on could be even better than they would have without the activity.

Friday April 26th 2013

One of the recent field trips we went on was on Wednesday April 24th. It was to an urban farm in Milwaukee called Growing Power. Growing Power is a national nonprofit organization that helps the local area by providing equal access to safe and affordable food. To do so, they don't use things like pesticides and soil likes most farmers. They use things like aquaponics, vermicompost, compost, bees, livestock and even "mushroom chandeliers" to help grow plants safely. It is not only an effective way to farm in the city, it also gives back to the community. We went on this field trip to let students actually see what they will be doing during some of the field days at Growing Oshkosh. It was a really great experience and it even inspired some students to pursue some of Growing Power's ideas.
 

This is a "mushroom chandelier".

This is an example of what an aquaponics system could look like.

  Students gasped and competition rose as it was announced that their essays could be published! This heighten the standards for all Communities students, as now they would be applying their writing to life opportunities. And it wouldn't be to one publication, but four! Badger Sportsmen, Tru U, The Scene, and WhiteTails unlimited, have all agreed to publish the essay they think is best. This experience will truly benefit the students and all those who read the essays.

Earth Day

Today in Communities, students learned all about Earth Day. Students learned about it's history with Mr. Leib and some vocabulary about conservation and how it relates to Earth Day. In Science with Mr. Schinkten, students got caught up with what they will need to be doing. With Mr. Weber, students learned about how Earth Day was first begun and how it isn't just about saving the environment. Students learned that Earth Day can be related to how we treat each other, and how we need to take care of each other and the environment.
Happy Earth Day!

Friday April 19th 2013

Today students had the opportunity to share their current project with the community. Multiple parents and other community members came in. Students gave their "pitch" which described what sustainability is, why it's important, and then a little bit about what we're actually going to be doing. The "pitch" was more of a one-on-one conversation instead of a presentation in front of everybody. 


The community members gave great feedback and seemed to be impressed on the growth of students' communication skills from the beginning of the year. Overall it was a great win-win situation because the community learned a bit more about the project and the students were able to practice their 21st century skills.

Thursday April 18th 2013

Last night was our Veteran's Event! Thank you to everyone who attended! The event was put on by students with some help from the staff. Overall we received a lot of good feedback from multiple community members. 

We give a special thanks to all those businesses/individuals that made this possible. Those include Camera Casino, Clarence "Inky" Jungwirth, Dan Kretz, Dee Photo, Evergreen, Jessica Opien, Kim Bauer, Susie Leib, Mark Nielson, Matt's DJ Service, OASD Maintenance Department, Oshkosh Area Community Foundation, Oshkosh Northwestern, West Shore Acupuncture, ONHS Choir, the Military Veterans Museum, and the veterans! 

If you'd like to see clips from the interviews we have put them on our website http://www.voicesofveterans.co/  and if you'd like to see more pictures from the event go to our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Communities-at-Oshkosh-North/140437179424843

Danielle speaks about her experiences during the "War Unit".

Today Communities prepped for the Veterans event held later tonight. This will be a celebration for veterans of WWI, Korea, and Vietnam. In addition, those who endured the war at home. Communities is greatly honored to have this opportunity. Where students learned from people who actually faced war. And in return their stories are recorded and will be shared tonight. Students worked hard for this night, from editing interviews to planning tonight's schedule. Communities is greatly appreciative to all those who helped to make tonight possible.

Monday April 15, 2013

 

Today in Communities, the students who were a part of the Veteran Event planning group went to the museum to set up for Wednesday night. These students spent all three hours of Communities time to set up the hall and figure out where everything was going to go and be placed. Some students who were making the highlight video of veterans, the program, etc. stayed in the computer lab and got some work time to finish what they were doing for the event. The students who weren't involved in any of the planning of the event watched movies that had to do with sustainability.

Don't forget! The Veterans Event is this Wednesday at the Veterans Museum by EAA from 6:00 to 7:30 pm. Fro 6:00to 6:30 there will be a social hour where you can eat and veterans will have the opportunity to have their pictures taken by DPhoto. Then from 6:30 to 7:30 we will have a ceremony where there will be the Presenting of Colors, some presentations of some edited video clips from some interviews that students conducted. You can see the rest of the video clips at voicesfroveterans.co The Oshkosh North Choir will also be singing The Song of the Armed U.S. Forces, a song where every branch's song is sung. Hope to see you there!

Blog from Friday, April 12th 2013 Mid Morning Kiwanis

I thought it was a successful day for the Communities students at Mid Morning Kiwanis. We spoke about our veteran project including our final event at the veterans museum. The Kiwanis group seem interested and almost impressed with our process throughout the project and I also think they were impressed by us telling them that over 200 people had already RSVP to the event. We also talked about our upcoming project where we will be partnering with Growing Oshkosh, UWO, and the DNR. I think it's nice to let them know what were doing and the impact were making and also showing them that us too, can help out the community.

Sustainabilty Pich Practice (Friday April 12, 2013)

Today in Communities, students were able to practice their Sustainability pitches. Students were extremely worried about giving their pitches for a grade, so instead they practiced them in groups of three and then had the opportunity to practice them in front of the class. Students gave their pitches and got feedback from their peers.
Also today, students had the traditional Celebrations in the LRC. Students and teachers nominated each other for the outstanding things that they did. The traditional "broken stick sentence dum-dum" was given out and students can't wait for next week, where they will be preparing and pulling off the Veterans Event Wednesday night and also will be giving their Sustainability pitches for a grade.  

Thursday April 11th

Students have recently been having discussions on a new website called Collaborize Classroom (http://www.collaborizeclassroom.com/). It's exactly what its name sounds like! Collaborize Classroom is a website for classes to collaborate online. Since the new unit has begun, students have been asked to answer or reply to others on certain "discussions". The new unit is called "Sustainability" and students have been answering questions about things like water and soil. 

This is an example of what Collaborize Classroom looks like and some of the recent topics.

What is to blame for our intelligence levels genetics or effort? Maybe it's both. This was a main question by Communities science teacher Mr. Schinkten. With a series of questions to see what students thought many were in the middle. To some extent genetics play a role
like with memorization. However, if you give more effort to learn something would you be smarter than someone who understands things faster? And we all know that one person who is "naturally smart". But if you tried harder do you think you could be better than them? Tell us what you think below, is it genetics or effort?

Clothing Drive Comes to an End. Monday April 8, 2013

 

Today in Communities, students moved throughout the three classrooms to get themselves back into the "school mode" since they were on spring break the past week. They played Pictionary in one room with Mr. Weber, that had to do with all that students have learned this year in Communities. In another room, Mr. Schinkten went over how to call his voicemail to leave answers on audio assessments and showed students more of the Communities One Stop Shop. In the other room, Mr. Lieb went over what the next unit will be and how it effects the students.

Also today, the winners of the clothing drive students put together were revealed. Mr. Weber's advisory was the winner and were rewarded with Dilly Bars from Dairy Queen.