INSPIREational News

On March 10th Charity Bailey from Fox News Rising visited Central Cabarrus High School for National Teen Tech Week (March 9-13). Check out the two links below to see what amazing technology is being used among the students at CCHS STEM!

Part 1 (Will need to scroll to about the 41 minute mark)

Part 2 (Starts right away)

Cabarrus County Schools STEM participated in our FIRST Annual Innovation Teaching Showcase. This event was hosted at UNCC on March 26th from 5:30-7:30. The purpose of the Innovative Teaching Showcase is to create a forum for teachers to share their STEM PBL best practices and to expand knowledge within and beyond our target pipeline. UNCC formulated a panel of education experts to analyze our PBL work and the resounding opinion was "WOW"!!! They were extremely impressed with the quality and real life matter in which our students are taught! Way to go CCS STEM, we impress yet again!

Way to go Mary Ferguson, Linda Autry and Jill Spenser on receiving a grant from The Cabarrus County Extension Master Volunteer Association to grow and support the Patriots Reading Garden. Can't wait to see everything in bloom!

CWES - EVERYDAY IS DIGITAL LEARNING DAY! The school celebrated on the morning news with a special newscast and students were asked to discuss what this looks like in their classrooms.

PES - Grades 3-5 paired up with K-2 classrooms. The older students visited the younger students and completed a digital activity with them. Teachers had a Go Paperless Challenge. Teachers that participated were entered for a chance to win a prize such as Duty Free Tinker Time, Duty Free Technology, Duty Free Lunch and Books from the Book Fair.

JN Fries - Digital Learning Day was also on Pi Day (So STEMy). Students worked on Pi activities in their classes.

CCHS - Teachers were trained on GooseChase and brainstormed ways they can incorporate it into their instruction.

On March 12th PES held their Duke Math and Science Night. Coach Brenda Eason and her devoted team invited families to come and experience a night of math and science. Interactive and Engaging activities were spread throughout the building. Students, parents, siblings and faculty worked PBL style on many STEM activities. My favorite was "Garden in a Glove". Terrific job PES, looking forward to next year already!

On Saturday, March 14th the Science Olympiad team from CCHS, JNFries and CWES went to competition! Below are some great shots from the event. The kids had so much fun and learned a lot! Here are some of their quotes:

"It was a lot of fun!"

"We all kind of bonded as a group"

"We can't wait to tell you all about our awesome day."

"Can't wait to go back and do better next year."

Central Cabarrus High School STEM and JNFries Magnet Schools competed at the Envirothon Event through the Cabarrus Soil and Water Conservation District. On March 18th the CCHS team went up against 25 other schools and placed 5th! They scored so well they were able to qualify for the state competition at the end of April. This is a huge accomplishment, especially since this is their first year!

CCHS STEM Junior, Dharma Peterson, has been accepted into this summer’s Governor’s Program for Science. Congrats Dharma! To learn more about this prestigious award click here.

For the second year in a row CCHS has welcomed and hosted 25 students from Denmark. These students come to the USA to learn about America and our educational system. Students in STEM are offered the chance to host a student for one week at their home and show them what it is like to be a teen and attend a STEM school in Cabarrus County. This is a beneficial experience for all involved and we look forward to a lasting partnership with Denmark for years to come!

We have such talented and supportive technology facilitators! Thank you Erica Williard and Ashley Short for creating this support site for Chromebooks. Hope you all find is helpful and useful!

https://sites.google.com/a/apps.cabarrus.k12.nc.us/ccs-chromebook-information-center/

PBL Database

Want access to some of the best PBL's from our pipeline? Look no further than Schoology! We have compiled and will continue to add more and more PBL's to our database. To check it out follow the directions below:

• You must have an account with Schoology (talk with your TF if you do not have this)
• Go to cabarrus.schoology.com
  
• From your home screen you can go to Groups
• When the drop down screen appears, click "Join"
• An access code box will appear and you can enter the code: W334X-TRS99
• Once you are a part of the CCS STEM Group select Resources
• Search in the folders for the corresponding grades

Teacher Collaboration

We would all LOVE more time to collaborate, but of course we have many barriers that keep up from getting together as much as we would like. That is why a Schoology group has been created to reach each other virtually.

To access the group:

• You must have an account with Schoology (talk with your TF if you do not have this)
• Go to cabarrus.schoology.com
  
• From your home screen you can go to Groups
• When the drop down screen appears, click "Join"
• An access code box will appear and you can enter the code: W334X-TRS99

April

18th - CWES hosts Science Olympiad

18th - Discovery Place in Charlotte hosts STEM Olympics 10:00 AM-3:00PM

23rd - CWES Technology and Engineering Extravaganza; 6:00-7:30 PM

June

6th - Science Olympiad-It’s Elementary! Regional Tournament

17th - STEM Curriculum Writing

18th - STEM Curriculum Writing

22-July 2 - STEM NASA Summer Camp

July

6-10 - STEMersion

August

3rd - STEM Curriculum Writing

4th - STEM Curriculum Writing

Please check it out here...

Please contact Bridget Jones with any comments or questions.

Email: Bridget.Jones@cabarrus.k12.nc.us
Website: http://www.cabarrus.k12.nc.us/Page/26685
Phone: 704-783-5939
Twitter: @ccsstem