New Opportunity: Rising Leaders Club

This after-school program is geared toward formally identified gifted students in grades 4-6 who are looking to stretch their critical and creative thinking skills while they grow as leaders. In addition to those skills, students will also have the opportunity to learn how to plan for larger projects, conduct research and use the Design Thinking Process. Students will also learn the use of 3D printers, laser etchers, 3D scanners, carving machines and much more to solve their problems.

Students will be taken through a series of increasingly challenging tasks including bridge building, tower making, and game design using Design Thinking. In-between the tasks, students will participate in ‘Mystery Basket’ challenges to accomplish a task using a series of set materials. Each of the projects require flexible thinking and problem solving skills.

During the program, students will learn how to use frameworks and prior knowledge to solve new challenges and design exciting solutions.

GT students in grades 4-6 are invited to join! Beginning on January 20th, students will join Mr. Lusk in the IDEA lab at 3:15. Students in grades four and five are welcome to go directly to the IDEA lab at dismissal. Sixth graders will go directly to the IDEA lab at the 3:15 dismissal time.

To sign up: Parents, please email Mrs. Neace for further information and to complete a permission slip. trish.neace@beechwood.kyschools.us

This school year marks the first year that Beechwood has Noetic Math teams in grades two through eight, every eligible grade level. This couldn't happen without the help of quite a few people! Thank you to Mr. Ashley, Ms. Giles, Mr. Kaiser, and Dr. Schobel for the funding and general support. Thank you to Mrs. Kresser, Mrs. Enzweiler, Mrs. Key and Ms. Stevenson for prepping the students in grades three through six! Thank you to the parents who cheer the kids on with practice questions and positive support. And a special thanks to Mr. Kalman Steinberg and Ms. Maria Sanders for helping me, along with the students, every step of the way.

(NLMC) is a semiannual problem-solving contest for elementary and middle school students.

From NLMC:

"We believe that problem-solving helps students to become better mathematicians, better thinkers, and more equipped for advanced STEM learning and research. The goal of our contest is to develop students' problem-solving skills, to encourage their interest in math, and to inspire them to excel in math. During the contest, students are given 45 minutes (50 minutes online) to solve 20 problems. The contest is for students in grades 2-8."

Awards are given for the following:

National Honor Roll: Top 10% of all participants in each grade will receive "National Honor Roll' medals.

National Honorable Mention Ribbons: The top 50% of all participants in each grade.

Team Winner Medal: The highest scorer of each team.

Team Achievement: The top 10% of teams in each grade are given a plague.

Second grade:

Team Score:440

Team Winners: Emily Horner, Sulley Davey and Ellie Grote tied for Team Winner with scores of 80.

National Honorable Mention: Emily Horner, Sulley Davey, Ellie Grote, Audie Dunn, John King, and Rex Booth.

Third grade:

Team Score:505

Team Winners: Nick Nirujogi and Barrett Schulz tied for Team Winner with scores of 90.

National Honor Roll: Nick Nirujogi and Barrett Schulz

National Honorable Mention: Joel Brinkman, Liam Raybuck, Avery Orocio, Cameron Johnson, Connor Pleiman, Sara Warner, Delaney Fields, Josie McAfee, Maggie Yelton, John Davis, Luca Martinez, Maliha Pennerman, Niko Bolender, Parker Danks, Sam Lusk, Alaina Salyers, Amelia Houston, Dino Lucarelli, Elijah Roland, Emma Bunte, Nolan Hymer

Fourth Grade:

Team Score:485

Congratulations! Your team has won a Team Achievement Award.

Team Winner: Luke Gemmer with a score of 95.

National Honor Roll: Luke Gemmer, Graham Hildebrant, Max Macke, Nolan Ford

National Honorable Mention: Martin Scholz, Marshall Ryan, Jarrett Ryan, Robert Zahniser, Vaishnav Maddikeri, Ty Schleusner, Drew Young, Louie Fries, Joel Gastright, Ellie Groene, Chase Boehringer, Colton Muck

Fifth Grade:

Team Score: 325

Team Winner: Will Dawson with a score of 75.

National Honor Roll: Will Dawson

National Honorable Mention: Nicholas Ng, Carter Mulanda, Sydney Alcorn, Jonah Fait, Westin Wyant, Ryan Schlotterbeck, Abe Wessel, Grant Coffman, Kameron Osborn

Sixth Grade:

Team Score:360

Team Winner: Henry Sparks with a score of 75.

National Honorable Mention: Aidric Fischer, Claire Ankrum, Kiley Riddell, Charlie Skeen, Caleb Griffin, Kiley Carr, Toby Fries, Will Muck, Lucas Wetherell, Paige Clements, Evie Hildebrant, Luke Graman, Mackenzee Counts

Seventh Grade:

Team Score:315

Team Winner: Adam Weaver with a score of 65.

National Honorable Mention: Adam Weaver, Kyle Ritter, Gavin Ginter, Rachel Lewandowski, Brenna Sebree, Graham Warren

Eight Grade:

Team Score:415

Team Winner: Julian Sandberg with a score of 95.

National Honor Roll: Julian Sandberg

National Honorable Mention: Jack Izor, Neel Reddy, Sam Clark, Ruby Fries, Benjamin Gollar, Warner Platt

On to the third quarter!

Upcoming events:

• Young Women Lead for grades 7-12. Tuesday, January 4 and alternating Tuesdays. (Jan. 4, 18. Feb. 1, 15. March 1, 15, 29. April 12, 26. May 10, 24.)

• Rising Leaders for GT students in grades 4-6. Thursdays after school beginning January 20. (See article above.)

• Poetry Out Loud for grades 9, 10 and 12. January 24, 26 & 27 in classrooms. Contest February 2. A guest poet will visit each English class for a poetry workshop. Students will write a poem. A school-wide poetry contest will reveal the winning poet! This student will go on to the regional poetry contest for a chance to win college scholarship money.

• 4th Grade Field Trips to Cincinnati Nature Center, January 18 and Music Hall, March 15.

• 5th Grade Field Trip TBD.

• CCM Collab Field Trips to collaborate with guest artists from CCM. Grades 6-8. January 12 and March 17.

• DreamFest Field Trip to NKU. March 8. The Northern Kentucky Association for Gifted Educators presents workshops for sixth through eighth grade students formally identified in General Intellectual Ability and/or Creative and Divergent Thinking.

The GT Program grows through your guidance and support. Please reach out to Trish Neace, GT Coordinator at trish.neace@beechwood.kyschools.us