Sweeter's Tiger Tracks

Wireless Power???

Imagine never losing power to your phone again.  Apparently Nokia is developing technology to do just that.  Now that is if you don't constantly use your phone, so I am sure my wife will still need to plug hers in every night.  However the rest of us will never have to scramble to find our charger again.  What a glorious concept?  No longer will I be without my lifeline at a conference because I forgot my charger. 

http://www.committedsardine.com/blogpost.cfm?blogID=269

Meet George Jetson.  Its getting closer.

Great Experience!!!

Last Thursday, Mr. Thorson took 37 sophomore students to KELOland's  studios.   WHile there they met many of the reporters, producers and administrators. They were then were given an audience with two of the weather guys, Brian Karstens and Scott Mundt.  When all was said and done they were in the weather center for over an hour, which from what I have been told is unprecedented.  Usually tours last only about ten or fifteen minutes. Scott and Brian explained weather patterns, what they look for in extreme weather situations, like tornadoes, and how weather patterns develop. (El Nenio) They were also given a sneak peek at the weather special they are planning for next month. Looks like even more snow than last winter. Yikes!! But here was the really cool parts. Each student was able to stand in front of the green screen and do the weather. They operated the remotes to run the weather maps and what they looked like on TV. That was really an experience for them. They finished the tour by watching the show in amazement.

Cool Video

Mrs. Harry forwarded this cool video to me.  Its amazing the emotion that art and music can create.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=518XP8prwZo

 

I'm not sure when Mrs. Harry is going to implement this into her curriculum.

Doe Ray Me

We had several kids qualify for all state vocal this year.

Soprano's:  Sophie Cutler & Madelyn Anderson

Alto's:  Erin Sternhagen & Annie Hockhalter

Tenor's:  Spenser Kavanaugh & Courtland McCranie

Basses:  Aaron Worlie & Seth Duncan

 

All State Chorus is in Rapid City on October 30 & 31.

 

Way to go!!!  We are all proud to have these young men and women as our Representatives.

 

AAhhAA

I read an article about technology integration today over lunch.  While much of the article was nothing especially eye opening, I did find one statement to be simply powerful.  Modern education needs to be about "Finding answers, not getting answers." In the modern world it is important to have a good knowledge base from which to draw, but the article claimed (and I would agree)  it is equally if not more important to know how to find the answers to questions you don't know the answers to.  Knowledge has never been as accessible as it is today.  If you know how to find it.

Phew!!!

Sorry I didn't write early, but it took me a couple of days to catch my breath.  What a homecoming?  I thought that it was going to be a little down this year, but I think I may have been wrong.  The parade was mostly awesome.  The sophomore float may have been the best student float that I have ever seen, and if you didn't get the chills when you saw the Conde Haunted Forest float you are a lot tougher than I.  However I must be honest and say that I was extremely disappointed in the fact that Mr. Hawkins didn't step up this year.  After all I have been waiting in anticipation since the Revenge of the Nerds tribute he sported last year.  Baahhumbug!!!

After that we went to the carnival, powder puff football game, and punt pass kick.  The kids were out in mass, and fun was had by all.  Except for maybe the senior girls who finished their FB career with an 0-2 record.  Sorry!!!  If I were you I would blame the coaches.

After that, our young men came away with a huge win against a very talented Milbank team.  Let me tell you our crowd was rock'n.  The excitement in the air was incredible, and all of it was thanks to a top notch performance by our own Groton TIgers.  I have said this before, but I love watching our hard nosed style of football.  Big hits and power running I get goose bumps just writing about it.

All of this and I didn't even mention the NSU Marching Wolves, or the halftime fireworks show.  Talk about adding to the atmoshpere.   A special thanks needs to go to Mr. Johnson and his work in lining up the Wolves.  Football and big band makes for a magical combination. 

While I would like to say that the fireworks show went off without a hitch, I would be remiss if I didn't say that our pyrotechnics crew of Lars, Merle, Chuck, and I needed a little work.  The fireworks that went of at Chuck's feet was proof of this. No wonder I was tired on Saturday.  I usually have all of my pics here, but today I decided to put them on the wiki page instead.

Are you ready????

Our final warm up day for the big event was today.  Today's theme was redneck/cowgirl/cowboy, and man-o-man Larry the Cable guy would have felt right at home.  Our halls were complete with mullets, billy bob teeth, a flannel explosion, and lots of cowboy hats.

The highlight of the day and perhaps the week was watching our senior FB and XC boys mingle with the elementary students.  They brought a lot of excitement and energy to the elementary.  So much so that one teacher, who shall remain nameless, asked me to take the high schoolers back so that their students would calm down. 

Its getting closer!!!!

Well we are one day away from homecoming and the frenzy is building to a near bursting level. 

Yesterday was an extremely busy day for King Sam and Queen Allison.  They made two trips to St. John's Preschool, and had the privilege of crowning the Golden Living Centers king and queen.  In addition, to this the senior and junior volleyball players went to the elementary to hang with the little kids over lunch and recess.  I had an opportunity to talk with some of the VB girls when they returned, and they said that they were a little tired.  Its hard work keeping up with 300 or so screaming elementary students.

All of this and I haven't even mentioned nerd day.  Let em tell you there was an infestation of nerds in our building yesterday.  In fact I think that some of them were so dressed up or down in this case that Steve Erkel might have been the man yesterday.

New and improved

Years ago I showed Did You Know 2.0 to just about everyone who would watch.  Today I learned that there is now a new version Did You Know 4.0.  Not sure how I missed version 3.0, but I digress.  While the information is new the theme is the same.  The world is changing so incredibly fast that it becomes overwhelming if you think of the challenges facing education and more importantly our students.  Assuming our job as educators is to prepare students for the world outside of our brick and mortar, how do we do that when we don't know what that world looks like?  This year my son started kindergarten.  What will the world look like in 13 years when he graduates?  (He had better graduate in 13 years!!!) 

Can you say Jetsons?

Is an educational system that is 200+ years old the right way to prepare him and others for this brave new world?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ILQrUrEWe8

Zoom Zoom!!

We are only two meets into this year's cross country season and our runners are already leaving their mark.

Boys Varsity:  Justin Peterson placed 6th out of 75 runners. 

Girls Varsity:  Katelyn Hawkins placed 11th out of 62 runners.

Boys JV:  Darrick Lone placed 11th and Jacob Milbrandt placed 19th out of 59 runners.

Girls JV:  Sophie Cutler placed 7th, Jordyn Opsahl placed 17th and Jocelyn Peterson placed 20th out of 42 runners.

Way to go guys and gals.  It would appear that things are looking good for the season.