Students in the 8th grade traveled to Bengal country to attend the 12th annual Tech Expo March 21st.  There, students experienced the limitless opportunities available to thousands of high school and middle school students, the Idaho State University community, and residents of Southeast Idaho.  This was a chance for kids to learn about college campuses and career awareness.  Thank you staff and chaperones for making this such a special adventure.

2012-2013 Middle School Track Schedule

3:30 p.m.

Tues. April 9:         Host—Gooding, G.F., Wendell, Buhl, Oakley

Tues. April 16:       Host – Valley at Kimberly, Wendell, Gooding 

Tues. April: 23:     Host – Wendell at Gooding, Filer, Valley 

Tues. April 30:       Host – Filer, Kimberly, Wendell, Gooding 

TEEN TECH WEEK at GOODING MIDDLE SCHOOL

Teen Tech Week is an initiative sponsored by the Young Adult Youth Services of the American Library Association to encourage teens to become competent and ethical users of technologies. To celebrate Teen Tech Week, on Wednesday, March 13, we turned the GEMS Library into a “Maker Space” with the help of Gooding Public Library’s Cindy Bigler. Maker Spaces follow a simple concept: create areas where interested people can create, design, imagine, and build. The possibilities are endless: crafts, videos, music, electronics, engineering, and robotics. Middle School students participated in two different projects: creating catapults and designing greeting cards.

Teens were given pictures of several different catapults. Working in teams of two, they used miscellaneous supplies to build their catapults. Consultation and advice came from Mark Sneddon STEM advisor from CSI and Mr. Qualls (GMS STEM Club advisor). The big test came with a contest to see how far the catapults could fling a ball of paper and a candy egg. In the light weight division, Garrett Jones took home the first place prize. Enola Stiffler and Tayler Gonzales came in second place. The best fling for the candy egg was shot by Tucker Ray and Alex McArthur. The first-place winners in each division chose a series of fiction books, and second-place winners each chose a novel.

The other Maker Space project was a greeting card creation center designed by Mary Lou Burns. She had cut the parts for students to each make four different cards. Students choose to cut, color, or stamp to create cards with matching envelopes.

The Idaho Commission for Libraries supplied books for prizes. For a treat, we served delicious homemade cookies made by Kari Giles!

     Fifth grader, Kenneth Anderson, and seventh grader, George Parker, are semifinalists eligible to compete in the 2013 Idaho National Geographic Bee, sponsored by Google and Plum Creek.  This is the 25th anniversary of the Bee. The 2013 Idaho National Geographic Bee will be held in Rexburg on Friday, April 4, 2013.  The state winner will receive $100, the "Complete National Geographic on DVD", and a trip to Washington, D.C., where he/she will represent Idaho in the national finals.  Good luck to both Kenneth and George!