An Exciting Finish at the State Geo-Bee Finals

Here's a guest post from Sam Nelson, SCS educator and Geo-Bee coach. Thanks also to Josh Roof, WCS Geo-Bee coach. Congratulations to both of you and thank you for your support of these students. 

On May 8th, students from schools around the state gathered at Montpelier High School for the 5-8th grade Vermont State Geography Bee. After a COVID-related hiatus, the Bee returned this year to offer the opportunity for students to flex their knowledge while answering quiz questions centered on state, national, and international geography and culture. The format is simple: sitting in rows of four, students answer individual questions to accumulate points for their teams. The team with the highest point total at the end of 12 rounds of questions is the winner.

At this year's Geo Bee, Shelburne Community School competed against four other schools: Albert D. Lawton Intermediate School, St. Johnsbury School, U-32, and Williston Central School. For SCS, the four 7th grade students representing their school were Ben Gardner, Jonny Thayer, Josh Kalbfleisch, and Leo Wang. For WCS, the team included Avery Antonioli, Kai Maxwell, Charles Meisenzahl, Grayson Pogact, and Annika Scott.

After the first four rounds, SCS had a two-point lead over both Williston and U-32. Four rounds later, however, SCS was down two points to Williston, U-32 and St. Johnsbury. The audience was audibly excited as the scores were close going into the final set of questions.

By the 11th and 12th rounds of questions it was clear that the two schools competing for the win were SCS and Williston. In the final round of questions it was Leo who came through for SCS. Navigating tricky questions centered on the Middle East, Leo came away answering the final round question correctly and, after an incorrect answer from a Williston team member, the results were in: Shelburne and Williston were tied after the final round.

This forced a playoff. Teams had five minutes to calm themselves and prepare. All four members of the SCS team used the opportunity to review a classroom atlas and cram whatever geographic knowledge they could before moving back to their seats on the stage. 

A notable moment came when, before the final round of questions were presented to the two teams, students from both SCS and Williston offered each other fist-bumps, handshakes, and "good luck" sentiments. This served as a model of respect and kindness within a heated competition. 

As the final questions were presented to each student on the two remaining teams, things came down to Leo needing a correct answer to seal the victory. To the question On which of the following seas does Iran have a border: the Aral Sea, the Black Sea, or the Caspian Sea? Leo took a moment, inhaled, and correctly responded with "the Caspian Sea".

Scores were announced, students celebrated, and more congratulatory handshakes and kind sentiments were shared. The SCS team held the state championship trophy high, capping off a triumphant return of the Vermont State Geography Bee. The WCS team ultimately finished as runners up by one point.

What an exciting finish. Way to go to both teams and their coaches! Thank you for representing CVSD and for your hard work that led to this great accomplishment! 

The SCS team and state champs

Abenaki Guest Speaker at WCS

This guest post was provided by Brie Healy, Williston Central School educator. 

On Friday, October 14, 2022, Clover and Summit House students welcomed Michael Descoteaux, a member of the Abenaki tribe, in recognition of Indigenous Peoples Day. 

In reflecting on the presentation, Summit 8th grader Reed Claro, shared, 

“Michael opened up a whole new world in our history. In his amazing presentation, we learned so much about the origins of many of the words we speak, as well as the uses and origins for our food. The Abenaki culture and language is a vital part of our history and cannot be taken away from us. Michael and so many others are working to restore and keep the language and culture alive, and by giving him an hour of our time, we can do the same.” 

In addition, Summit 8th grader, Kendall Batdorf shared, 

“I enjoyed hearing about how they built their houses, fought and defended themselves, caught their food, built their gardens, and preserved their food. Some people got grossed out about how they used all parts of the animal and didn’t waste almost anything, but I found it interesting and caring. It was important to the Abenaki to not waste anything that they killed, but to get the most use out of it. This makes so much sense! Nowadays we are killing whole sharks just for their fins!” 

What a valuable learning experience, thank you Michael!

WCS Candidate Forum Adapts But Goes On During COVID

If you have not yet voted here in Vermont, or even if you have - check out this video! 

Williston Central School has a long-standing tradition of hosting a Candidate Forum every two years. This is usually held in the school, which had to change this year. Middle school students did a LOT of research on important topics and issues and then sent them in video form to various candidates. The candidates sent back video responses, all using Flipgrid. They have been compiled into one final video for your viewing. We learned a lot from this video and are so impressed by the quality of the questions!

Click on this link to view the video if the viewer below doesn't work. 

A Mock Trial Helps Students Learn About Argument Writing

This guest post was submitted by 3 students in Harbor House, a grade 7-8 middle school team at Williston Central School. Thank you to Elizabeth, Ava, and Abby for sharing your perspective on a recent Humanities unit of study. 

Last week in Language Arts class we had a trial about whether or not the US was right to drop the two atomic bombs on Japan at the end of WWII. We think everyone in our class enjoyed it a lot. 

We were split into different roles, it was all pretend, but the acting part of the activity really enhanced it. We split into two legal teams (prosecution and defense) of five people each. In addition, there were several witnesses that were called to the stand including a Japanese survivor, military advisers, doctors, President Truman, and some expert witnesses. The press researched newspapers and articles of 1945 and then interviewed witnesses and created a newspaper. 

Each team had to research and find evidence to support their side of the trial. Each team had a different part to play and while everyone had the same amount of work to do, it looked different depending on their role. The legal teams worked on making a opening statement to present to the judge. They also had to make up questions that they would interview their witnesses with, along with questions for the opposing teams witnesses. The witnesses (Japanese survivor, doctor, President Truman, Military advisers) had to research about their roles in real life and what the role's point of view was. This helped improve the arguments on both sides. 

The trial itself was like a game. One side would bring a fantastic piece of evidence and the other would try to top it off. It was intense, but in the end, we all really enjoyed this way of learning about argument writing.

Humanities Learning targets being assessed through this work:
Claim: I can make a claim that connects my topic to a relevant big idea
Evidence: I can use credible pieces of evidence to support my claim.
Reasoning and Analysis: I can identify and interpret explicit evidence and implicit ideas that lead the audience to a deeper understanding of how they support my claim.
Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics: I can independently apply standards of punctuation, spelling, grammar, and word use.

Charlotte Central School Student Wins 2019 GeoBee Vermont State Competition

Vegarandhura Tariyal a 6th grader from Charlotte Central School, in Charlotte, Vermont took top honors at the 2019 National Geographic GeoBee Vermont State Competition at the Laumiester Art Center at Southern Vermont College.

Vegarandhura Tariyal will advance to the national competition, which will be held at National Geographic Society headquarters in Washington, D.C., from May 19 to 22, 2019.

Julian Siegel, an 8th-grader from Hilltop Montessori School, came in second place and received a cash award of $300. Connor Byam, a 6th-grader from Edmonds Middle School, came in third and received a cash award of $100.

In its 31st year, the National Geographic GeoBee (formerly the National Geographic Bee) is an academic competition for grades four through eight that challenges student knowledge of geography, cultures, physical features, history and earth science. A total of 2,529,020 students in nearly 10,000 schools across the United States, District of Columbia, U.S. Atlantic and Pacific territories and Department of Defense Dependents Schools competed in the GeoBee this year. After winning their School GeoBee, students took an online qualifying test and the top-100-ranked students in each state advanced to the state competition. A total of 54 GeoBee State Champions receive a medal, a $1,000 cash prize and a trip to the National Geographic GeoBee Championship in May.

The National Geographic GeoBee Champion will receive a $25,000 college scholarship, a lifetime membership in the National Geographic Society and an all-expenses-paid Lindblad expedition to the Galápagos Islands aboard the National Geographic Endeavour ll; the second-place winner will receive a $10,000 college scholarship; and the student placing third will receive a $5,000 college scholarship. The top-10-scoring students will each receive $1,000 in cash.

Follow the national competition at natgeoed.org/experiences.

ABOUT THE GEOBEE

Developed by the National Geographic Society in 1988 to promote geographic knowledge among young people in the United States, the National Geographic GeoBee is an academic competition for public schools, private schools, and homeschools in the United States and its territories, as well as the Department of Defense Dependents Schools (DoDDS). Students in grades 4-8 from nearly 10,000 schools participate annually. Over more than three decades, 120 million students have learned about the world through participation in the GeoBee. More information about the GeoBee is available at NatGeoBee.org.

WCS Earns 1st Place

Each year at the end of March, a special history-based event takes place at Vermont Technical College in Randolph. The event is called 3D Vermont. Teams of students from middle and high schools across Vermont share their learning and a piece of local history. They also compete in an effort to showcase their learning and design skills.

Each team studies a building in their town's history. The learn about the building, it's story, and it's place in the town. They interview people and do extensive research. After that, they use a program called Sketch-Up to design a 3D version of the building. A 3D printer is used to create and print a replica of the building from their design.

Williston Central School's Voyager team has sent a team to 3D Vermont for each of the last 4 years. Each year the group has learned about a different building in Williston. This group of students, led by teacher Aron Merrill and librarian Ellen Arapakos, met once a week after school for many weeks doing the necessary work to prepare for the event.

And today, it all came together for them. They shared their learning with judges via videos of their process and a physical display. They showcased their 3D model of the Thomas Chittenden/Clark Family Farm in Williston.  And they came away with a first place win for a middle school team.

Bravo to all of the students and their teachers for a job well done! Watch for them on tonight's TV news too.

Different Approaches to Study The Revolutionary War

Charlotte Central School's 5th graders have been immersed in a study of the Revolutionary War. Students gathered information and made presentations. But they went beyond that. A game of tug-of-war ensued, filled with metaphorical “rules” to teach how the Continental Army defeated the British during the Revolutionary War. 

There were 5 "rules" that were given during the game (in a very dramatic fashion). Each rule was an analogy to teach students how the Continental Army defeated the British. For example, there was the blue team (Continental Army), red team (British) and white team (Colonial allies). The white team was the group of students that ran in mid- game to help the blue team (to model the support that the American colonies received from their European allies). Half of the red team had to start down the hallway and run to join the rest of the red team (intended to model the challenge that Britain faced in supplying its troops from across the Atlantic Ocean). The blue team was given a prize if they won (to model colonists' greater motivation to win fighting for their freedom). All of these analogies were made clear through a reflection and class discussion afterwards.

One group made a Revolutionary War rap to demonstrate their learning. Students are engaged in different ways.