MAY NEWSLETTER

"SCHOOL YEAR" WINDING DOWN................................... SMHSA held it's last formal business meeting May 4th. Some highlights of the meeting: Appreciation was shown to the outgoing officers in the form of CAKE! Many field trips, activities and classes for next year were discussed, see below for details. Dues for 1999-2000 remain at $20.00. Next year's meetings will be held at Fairview Library. We will be having Art and Music classes, Odyssey of the Mind teams, and Chess Club, which has already started up, on top of the ongoing Geography Club. Also in the plans - regular Ice Skating dates.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

SWIMMING at Arundel Olympic Swim Center, Riva Rd., Annapolis. FRIDAY, MAY 21st 12-2pm. Children (17 and under): $1.50 Adults: $3.50. Children under 2 are not admitted into the pool. Children over 2 must be toilet trained. If you don't swim, you don't have to pay, although they would like kids under 12 be accompanied by some adults. You may sit along the edge of the deck (with your shoes off) or up in the balcony area. There is an area outside the pool area where food is permitted.

FIELD DAY: May 23 at Fairview Library. SMHSA will be supplying hotdogs, hamburgers and drinks. Everyone is asked to bring a dish to share.

PLAYGROUP on FRIDAY, MAY 28th 1-4pm. Please bring a snack to share. There will be no organized events, just fun and socialization. The Emersons pool will be available to those children (and parents) who would like to swim with parental supervision.

NEXT MEETING: JUNE 1 at 7:00 PM at Fairview Library. Curriculum sharing night and refreshments.

GEOGRAPHY CLUB POTLUCK PICNIC has been CHANGED to Wednesday June 2nd at 12pm.

THE GEOGRAPHY CLUB ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING FOR NEXT YEAR will be held on WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9th at 1pm. If you are interested in participating in the Geography Club (a.k.a. co-op) next year PLEASE attend this meeting. The GEO BEE will also be discussed. This is NOT an official geography club event but an organizational meeting. Therefore, it would be helpful if attendees could make alternate arrangements for child care. We tried to make this an evening meeting but there were no times that would accommodate most of those who were interested in attending--believe me we tried! There will be a few teens available to watch your children if you cannot find alternate arrangements.

KICK-OFF PICNIC AUGUST 30, weather permitting, at Dunkirk Park.

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Interested in joining a book discussion on Competition? The book is NO CONTEST by Alfie Kohn. A group forming to read/discuss the book this summer.

CHE's ODYSSEY OF THE MIND PROGRAM--NEW--Maryland now has it's own official OM web site at http://www.omaryland.org/ Check this site out for the 5 questions from the 1998-99 season. As of right now, there appears to be enough interest to field two teams.   **Traditionally schools with multiple teams compete to determine which team will represent the school at state regional competitions. At this time, it has not been determined how CHE's Odyssey of the Mind will be run. This will be determined by the participants and/or teams. According to the OM rules, participants are not required to compete. Please keep all of this in mind while deciding whether to take part in this program.** SMHSA (actually CHE) will be supporting our team(s) with up to half of the registration fee. The total registration fee is $135 for a division (for a particular age group). Perhaps the two teams can share the materials to keep costs low. INITIALLY, TEAMS WILL BE MEETING TWICE A MONTH. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN PARTICIPATING PLEASE HOLD YOUR SPOT BY SUBMITTING $10. After that time, Lynn will then be able to calculate the EXACT total per participant. The exact total depends on the number of participants. Keep in mind there may be additional costs for each problem that the team works on; however, each problem has limitations on cost and presentation times set by the OM Association. ABOUT THE ODYSSEY OF THE MIND PROGRAM: It's mission is to foster the development of creative thinking and problem solving skills of students K- College. Students work in teams which are divided into different divisions according to age . Teams are composed of up to 7 participants of different ages (less than 12 years of age on June 30th would be division I, less than 15 years of age Division II etc.). The age of the oldest participant on the team determines the team's division. OM problems have open-ended answers empowering participants to create solutions that are imaginative, original, divergent and ingenious! Once team members develop a solution, they present it in a performance, designing and creating--without adult assistance--all props, costumes and other 'style elements' necessary to bring the solution to life. Five divergent questions are unveiled each fall. Problems are from across the curriculum. Members receive problem-solving materials and curriculum materials. The curriculum materials are intended for further practice in creative problem-solving and teamwork skills.

HOMESCHOOL EXCHANGE LISTSERV. This listserv is for homeschoolers belonging to various homeschool support groups in the greater Washington-Baltimore area. Most of the submissions involve either area events, general homeschool information, and homeschooling laws. Please contact Rebecca Johnson at becca@jaguNET.com for more information and criteria for being included on the listserv.

Baltimore Museum of Industry Field Trip

Several of our students recently attended the Baltimore Museum of Industry field trip. It was a very hands on field trip with the older students shucking and canning oysters, and several other jobs. Many different types of industry were described and explained by the tour guides. There was a turn of the century machine shop, garment shop, store, and many other things. The younger folks saw a movie about an assembly line and Henry Ford. They then formed an assembly line and built cars. They also took a tour of the museum. All the students used a turn of the century press to print their own souvenir posters. This was a very worthwhile trip as they learned how fortunate they are after seeing the conditions some of the workers lived in at that time. Our sincere thanks go to Karen for arranging this field trip for us.

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MORE INTERESTING WAYS TO DO A BOOK REPORT:

1. Write a newspaper or magazine article as it might have been written by a reporter on the scene of one of the book's major events. 2. Write letters that might have been exchanged between two of the characters during or after the events in the book.

3. Write a poem or song to summarize the plot of the story or to extol the virtues of one of its characters.

4. If the book is organized in such a way that it is possible, outline it.

5. If your book does not have chapter titles, write them, naming each chapter according to the action or other information in it.

6. Write an alternate ending to the book.

7. Write and/or draw a newspaper ad extolling the virtues of why a person should read this book.

8. Folding a piece of drawing paper in half, make a jacket for your book with an appropriate picture on the front and some juicy tidbits to attract the reader's interest on the back.

9. Draw a mural of several scenes showing the main flow of action in the book.

10. Draw a chart showing the relationship between various characters in the book. (This could be a family tree or any other type of chart as appropriate.)

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Plans are being made to set up 7 Ice Skating sessions next year at the Bowie Ice Rink at Allen Pond. Sessions will most likely be once a month for two hours at $6.00/skater per session. Passes may be available for $30.00 per skater for all 7 sessions.

ROLLER SKATING SESSIONS LEFT: May 24 and June 14. June 14 there will be a cookout with Dave at the rink supplying the grill and hotdogs. We are to bring side dishes.

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It was mentioned at the last meeting that homeschool days at the Water Park were being looked into - well, it didn't pan out. However, that doesn't stop up from planning special times to meet each other there!

Interested in viewing older Newsletters?  March and April are available.