LIS students shine at Science & Engineering Fair
LAHAINA – Aloha! Congratulations to LIS’ awesome students who entered and placed in this year’s 54th annual Maui Schools’ Science & Engineering Fair.
Eighth-grader Jacob Kuiper’s “How Can Different Kinds Of Fluids Affect The Electrical Capacity Of A Hydrogen Fuel Cell?” project won Honorable Mention, and eighth-graders Jared Gaastra and Kyle Schultz’ “Waste To Energy” project will represent the Maui District at the state competition in Honolulu. Jared and Kyle also received a specialty award from Maui Electric. Both students received monetary awards from both the district and Maui Electric. Way to go, boys!
I would like to also recognize and thank Grade 8 Science Teacher Anthony Griffith for his guidance and support of all entrants in this year’s Science Fair. We received compliments on how well all of our students represented Lahaina Intermediate at the competition. “They were articulate and poised as they answered questions about their projects.” We’re so proud of you all!
As promised last month, here is a sample of the new Smarter Balanced Assessment that will take the current HAS’ place in school year 2014-15:
Assessment Target(s): Draw, construct and describe geometrical figures and describe the relationships between them.
A company designed two rectangular maps of the same region. These maps are described below:
Map 1: The dimensions are 8 inches by 10 inches. The scale is -mile to one inch.
Map 2: The dimensions are four inches by five inches.
Which ratio represents the scale on Map 2? A) -mile to -inch; B) -mile to -inch; C) -mile to one inch; or D) 3/8-mile to one inch. (The answer key and other assessment item samples can be found at hidoe.k12.hi.us.)
As we get ready for the 2013-14 school year, Librarian Paul Jensen is busy researching the benefits of purchasing e-books. Library books don’t last very long with the constant handling of them. Mr. Jensen is researching FollettShelf, which would link directly with edline.net. Students won’t have to go to the school library to borrow a book. They will be able to go to FollettShelf on edline and immediately borrow their book of choice. We are finding that the popular books may be delayed before they are allowed to become e-books due to author/publisher rights. We will be trying out a few books this coming year to explore possibilities of future literary classroom sets and textbooks. This is an exciting time!
Reminder: the nomination period for Lahaina Intermediate School’s Honors Program is now open until Feb. 11. If you feel that a student deserves the chance to be in honors, please submit the nomination form. We have received a number of calls since my last parent message. Forms are available in our main office and at King Kamehameha III Elementary School and Princess Nahi’ena’ena Elementary School. If there are any questions about our program or the process of selection, please feel free to contact LIS at 662-3965. IMUA!