Continental Math League, Contest #3

Gold: Nate, Clive, Dhweeja, Kavya,

John H, Adam, Vinayak, Pheby, Ammar,

Michael T, Grace X, William, Anika,

Cameron K, Mihir, Avi

Silver: Peter, Christine B, Alexander, Jorgen, Kareem,

Prathna, Hana L, Jack, Sahej, Michael H, Kevin,

Farah

Bronze: Joan, Cameron S, Naomi, Anthony, Maya F,

Anna, Megan P, Haley, Maryum, Grace C,

Maya D

Math Olympiad Awards, Contest #3

Gold: Nate, Clive, Dhweeja, Kavya, Kareem,

Prathna, Vinayak, Pheby, Ammar, Michael T,

William, Anika, Maya D, Michael H,

Cameron K, Kevin

Silver: Peter, Christine B, Joan, Naomi, John H,

Anna, Adam, Grace X, Grace C, Caroline V,

Avi, Laurie, Abigail, Mihir, Farah

Bronze: Jorgen, Megan P, Amir, Elizabeth

Birchwood Math Team to compete at CSU on Feb 18

The Birchwood MathCounts team consisting of a four student

team – Clive, Kavya, Nate, and Dhweeja – and six individuals

– Alexander, Christine, Vinayak, Ammar, Prathna, and Anika

– will represent Birchwood School at the Northeast Ohio Chapter

level of MathCounts 2012. The group has been working very

hard. We practice on Thursdays from 3:30–5:00 reviewing the

types of problems they will see on the contest. On Tuesdays

from 3:30–4:30 we study old CML high school contest to learn

new strategies. On Saturdays from 9:00–noon we simulate the

actual contest and then review problems we do not understand.

The effort of these students is extraordinary. They are not only

good math students, but more importantly they are hard workers.

Good luck team.

Scholastic Writing Awards

Seventh and eighth grade students received a host of

awards from the 2012 Scholastic Writing Awards in the

new regional affiliate at the Cleveland Institute of Art. Our

students submitted 55 pieces in all different genres and

received 32 awards from honorable mention to silver and

gold keys. Winners were recognized at an award ceremony

on January 7 at CIA.

Here are the results for the seventh graders:

Maya F – Honorable Mention for My Crowning Glory, a memoir

John H – Silver Key Award for Blood, Bullets, and Valor, a short story

Anna H – Honorable Mention for The Tale of Two Twins, a short story

Adam I – Honorable Mention for The Great Flood, a science fiction story

Prathna K – Silver Key Award for Of Friends and Peanuts, a flash fiction story, and a second Silver Key Award for The Store, a memoir

Vinayak K – Honorable Mention for The Ultimate Sacrifice, a short story, and second Honorable Mention for The Fight to Survive, a memoir

Pheby L – Honorable Mention for The Gray Device, a science fiction story, and a second Honorable Mention for Mixed up, a short story

Hana L – Honorable Mention for Amisha: Just Another Story, a short story

Ammar L – Honorable Mention for Savage, a flash fiction story, and a Silver Key Award for Curfew Travels, a memoir

Megan P – Honorable Mention for The Dreams Between, a short story, and a second Honorable Mention for Sadie, a memoir

Michael T – Honorable Mention for Being the New Student, a memoir

Michael W – Honorable Mention for Post Election Violence, a short story

Here are the results for the eighth graders:

Christine B – Honorable Mention for Risotto, a short story

Clive C – Silver Key Award for Mathematical Memories, a memoir, and a second Silver Key Award for Next Computer Revolution, a science fiction story

Joan C – Honorable Mention for Flying By a short story

Dhweeja D – Honorable Mention for Eating Away, a memoir, and a second Honorable Mention for My Brother, a memoir

Alexander H – Honorable Mention for Journey to the Dimension of the Bugs, a science fiction story

Alexander I – Honorable Mention for An Honest Living, a humorous story

Jorgen K – Honorable Mention for Intrepid, a short story

Kavya R – Honorable Mention for Tested, a short story, and a Silver Key Award for My Slam Book, a memoir

Katelyn V – Gold Key Award for The Flipped Penny, a memoir, and second Gold Key Award for Family Photo, a memoir, and a third Gold Key Award for Pandemic, a science fiction story, and finally Honorable Mention for Culinary Catastrophe, a memoir

Naomi W – Honorable Mention for We’re Living in Fiction, a short story, and a Silver Key Award for One Night, a short story

Katelyn V received three gold keys, and her science fiction

piece entitled “Pandemic” was nominated for the American

Voices Award.

Including all the high school writing awards, out of the

17 gold keys awarded, we snagged 3. We were also

awarded 8 of the 33 silver keys, and 23 of the 78 honorable

mentions. We concur with the jurors’ statement in the

program for the ceremony who stated that the “... chosen

works were original, expressed technical skills, and showed

imagination. The granting of the awards became difficult

because of the quality and scope of the work submitted.”

Through the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards program,

the Alliance for Young Artists and Writers provides support

for emerging artists and writers beginning in the seventh

grade. Each year thousands of pieces are submitted to

different regionals where the most outstanding works

advance to the national level in New York City.

Local exhibitions and catalogs/anthologies are available

for viewing at CIA until February. More conveniently,

Birchwood students will have their awards and works

displayed in the second floor of the south wing. Come

and enjoy them.

National Geographic Geography Bee

On Thursday, December 15, Birchwood held the school level

bee to determine which student would represent the school in

the next round of competition. Prior to this, the 4th to 8th grade

classes had held class level bees to determine two competitors

from each grade. Winners at the 4th grade level were Jane N

and Farah S. At the 5th grade level, the winners were Olivia S

and Cameron K. From the 6th grade, William L and Grace X

competed. In the 7th grade, John H and Prathna K were the

class winners. In the 8th grade, Kavya R and Clive C advanced

to the school bee. These ten competitors then faced off in a series

of very difficult geography questions. After a close competition,

we had a winner! Placing third was Farah S. In second place

was Kavya R. In first place, and advancing to the next round of

competition was fifth grader Olivia S. After her win in the school

bee, Olivia took a very challenging written geography test with

70 multiple choice questions. Results should be announced in

March. Congratulations!

American Chemical Society National Chemistry Week Contest

Amir I was the sixth grade winner of the American Chemical Society’s (ACS) National Chemistry Week 2011 chemistry contest for the Cleveland area. Amir’s winning experiment measured the amount of fat released when a hot dog is heated and answered questions about saturated and unsaturated fats and their effects on health.

Sun-Post Student of the Week!

Dharma N has made us proud. She was the Sun-Post Herald “Student of the week” in the January 26, 2012 issue. The story highlighted that she was one of the third-grade winners of the American Chemical Society’s National Chemistry Week 2011 chemistry contest.

Continental Math League

Speaking of the Continental Math League, the third graders recently took their first contest. Three children earned medals--a huge accomplishment for first-time contestants. Congratulations to Stella C, who earned a gold medal (6 of 6 correct answers) and Zuha J and Alex M, who each earned a bronze medal (4 of 6 correct answers.) In the fourth grade contest, Farah S earned gold and both Channin M and Jane N earned bronze. Great job, girls!

Pasta Tales Essay Writing Contest Winners

Some of the third graders and all fourth and fifth grader

students entered the Pasta Tales essay-writing contest,

a national competition sponsored by Olive Garden. The

prompt was a challenging one: If you were given $5000

to further education in your local community, how would

you use it and why? Students had to grapple with issues

like deciding on a realistic idea, establishing a budget, and

laying out their thoughts clearly in a convincing essay of

only 250 words. Writing this essay capped a quarter of

doing mostly non-fiction writing for the fifth graders whose

Letters About Literature pieces were submitted earlier this

month. The younger students have recently written several

story-modeling pieces based on the books Curious George

and Parents in the Pigpen, Pigs in the Tub. All students also

prepared entries for the Zaner-Bloser national handwriting

competition. Class winners were Alex M, Farah S, and

Sahej B.

Scholastic Art Competition

Birchwood had a Silver Key (Pheby L) and Honorable Mention (Joan C) in the Art Division of the 2012 Scholastic Arts Competition. Congratulations