Valenti's Blog

• 5/10 – Passed out parent letter and signed a number of patent applications.  Some of the inventions are awesome!!!!!  Also passed out presentation requirements!  Presentations are on Friday.
• 5/11 – Worked on presentations today! Reviewed presentation rubric!
• 5/12 – Focused on rubric for presentations.  Many groups had to redo their poster because of some design issues.
• 5/13 – Shared the top 100 brands with the students.  They were not surprised at all.  No surprise that Google is number 1 worth 114 BILLION!!!  Also passed out Invention Convention map and discussed possible locations in the cafeteria.
• 5/14 – Groups presented to the 7th graders today.  Click here to see money results!
• 5/17 & 5/18 – worked on PowerPoint advertisements in the media lab.  We also discussed the Sale Day schedule for tomorrow morning.  Should be fun.  Many students have brought a tri-board in.  You will start working tomorrow on your tri-board.
• 5/19 – Introduced pamphlets to everyone.  We are going to use Microsoft Publisher. 
• 5/20 – 5/21 – A few groups got to listen to Mr. Collins (patent attorney) this morning.  He provided valuable insight toward the invention process.  I will post the video later.  We are also finalizing our slides.  Watch out for Mrs. Erdman… She has the ability to terrorize a tri-board!!
• 5/24 – 5/25 – Two days in the lab have been crazy!  Many groups are in the final stages of decorating tri-boards, ads, and PowerPoint presentations.  Passed out Concession Stand Donation Items handout.  Click for a copy.
• 5/28 – Turn in day for a ton of IC items!!!!!!! Don’t forget to bring in your food items for IC!!  Have a great weekend!  I thought I would include presentation from Invention Convention 2009!  Check it out below:

The 6 White team hallway went from a Holiday Theme to a mini Cedar Point.  Check out the slideshow below of the coasters that were created with pipe insulation and duct tape.  Students had the ability to compete in a variety of categories!  Results coming soon!

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Use the link below to take a virtual tour of room 207! Enjoy!!

2009 Results

• 1st –  Dave L., Sam K., Justin K., Joey M. – One Bite Dental Floss
• 2nd – Divya M., Karli R., Alyssa S., Rachel R.  - Ihold
• 3rd – Monica F., Allison H., Andrea A. – The Pet Tech
• 4th – Troy W., Dan M., Joe P., John D. – Spray Vaccine
• 5th – Trevor K., Zach M., Ryan M. – The Sun Grill
• 6th – Liz B., Paige L., Stevan M., Nikki B. – Super Booster

We will pass out awards on Friday 6/5/09!

Dear Parents,

This year our school will be participating in a special kind of science fair called the Invention Convention. It is designed to promote your child’s problem-solving and creative-thinking skills. Your child will be following a step-by-step process to invent a new product or develop a new method for doing something. The project will be worked on and developed in all subject areas.

We will begin our preparation for the Invention Convention by having the students learn about inventors and their inventions. By doing so, we hope the students will gain an appreciation for the invention process and thus be better prepared to create their own inventions. The first step in the actual invention process will be finding an idea for an invention. Your child has been encouraged to find a problem that needs to be solved. He or she may ask if you have a need for something that will help you solve a problem. Your interest and encouragement at this stage will help to make the invention process a fun learning experience for your child.

Once your child has settled on an idea and researched it to make sure that the idea has not been used before an “Intent to Invent” form will be completed in class and brought home for your signature. Your child can then begin the planning stage. Time will be set aside each day in school for developing and completing the cross-curricular assignments. Read more…

What an outstanding evening!  It was awesome to see over 190 students exciting about learning.  Hopefully, many of you picked up some great energy saving tips.  This was an awesome experience for each and every student.  We are proud of their efforts!

Energy Wasters
1st – Shannon Rafferty, Karli Ring, Sarah Tilk, Mary Schentur
2nd – Julia McPherson, Alexis Mack, Dani D’Anna, Celeste Alai

Cars
1st – Joey Matrona, Joe Dimitrijevs, Micky Bonamer, Joe Pajka
2nd – Alexey Kaminski, Mia Burris, Ryan Leddy, Matt Kurrass

Renewable Resources
1st – Paige LaFever, Karly Morell, Andrea Avramovic, Trevor Oranski
2nd – Sam Stankivicz, Trevor Knaack, Jon McMahon, Walter Cooper
2nd – Joey Mandato, Justin Korfhage, Sam Koziol, Dave Lucas

Fossil Fuels
1st – Nathan Griffin, Michael Lee, Nick Kasinec
2nd – Janie Madden, Tori Sung, Jackie Swan

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
1st – Rachel Richards, GV Hickin, Katie Kiel
2nd – Dina Kozanas, Jennie Broski, Michelle Guzi, Rachel Lurz, Tiffany Sullivan

Click here to view bar graph results!

We will have a test on Energy for all periods on Friday, March 7th.

Dear Parents,

This year our school will be participating in a special kind of science fair called the Energy Convention. This is similar to Invention Convention, but we are going to focus on energy.  It is designed to promote your child’s problem-solving and creative-thinking skills. The project will be worked on during science class.

We will begin our preparation for the Energy Convention by having the students learn about energy and how it is converted. By doing so, we hope the students will gain an appreciation for their energy awareness and thus be better prepared to create their Energy Convention project. Your child has chosen a certain topic pertaining to energy.

Your interest and encouragement at this stage will help to make the problem-solving process a fun learning experience for your child. Time will be set aside each day in school for developing and completing the energy assignments.

Categories that will be covered during EC night:

• Alternative Resources
• Recycling
• Fossil Fuels
• Energy Waster
• Cars

The Energy Convention will be held at Brecksville-Broadview Hts. Middle School cafeteria on the evening of Wednesday, February 25^th, 2009, from 6:00-8:00 p.m. You are invited to attend the event. Each student’s entry will be judged as will the student’s knowledge of his or her energy project. We will be asking you to invest in the energy projects with “votes” which will be provided by the school. More information will be provided with your “investment options” at a later date.

We know your child will enjoy and benefit from this experience in scientific problem solving. Although we want you to encourage your child in this energetic effort, we ask you not to become “overly involved” in your child’s project. Your support and cooperation are greatly appreciated. We hope to see you at Energy Convention.
Energetically,

Mr. Valenti

It matters!  Check out this great site.  You can build your own atom.  If you would like to try this site out, click here! Enjoy!

Just something to think about…. What do you think?

The last two days have been very exciting in science. From testing diapers to exploding coke bottles, no doubt was left that science is the best class.  Check out the video below.  What do think about the experiments?