NHD 2011

For the 2011 National History Day competition, we have many teams and projects going on. Some projects are The Space Race, Women’s Rights, The Legalization of Gay and Lesbian Marriage, and The Death Penalty. The theme for national history day is debate and diplomacy. The kids competing are Katie, Natalie, Mckenna, Savannah, Indiana, Alisha, and Samantha. This is one of the biggest projects these students will do all year, and it is the only one they present in front of judges. If students do well in judging, they are able to move on to the next level at UW-L. We have many great projects in progress, and we all hope to have a good year for NHD.
- Written by Savannah

Brandon's Project

This is one of Brandon's book projects for the 2nd quarter. He chose this project because it looked unique. Here is the poem: " William tell, William tell, take your arrow and grip it well, theres the apple-aim for the middle- oh well ... you just missed by a little. " By Shel Silverstein.

My Aunt Carla

On December 20th my aunt Carla came to talk to us about her job. She works for Sensiet Color Division. I helped her prepare and assisted her. We did a color experiment, a few smell tests, and a taste test. She presented a PowerPoint to my class about colors. We all had such a fun time tasting and smelling, exploring our senses. She would love to come again next year and talk about different stuff with all of the new students that would come to Ventures.

- By Maddy

Mitchell's Robot Project

This is my project about Robots and Energy. When i did this project, I learned how friction makes robots move. I also learned about Newton's Law of Motion. For now, I just have the video because it wont upload, but soon I will have the whole PowerPoint.

Zach's Roller Coaster

My project was about energy. What I learned about this project was that when you push a marble the energy is actuly moving the marble and when you stop the marble you are actually stopping the energy. I learned that potential energy is stored energy and kinetice energy is energy in motion.

Cubby Project! :)

Hi my name is Indiana. For my complex structure I did something a little different. I decided it would be a good idea to have cubbies in our classroom. I talked to my teacher to see if this would be possible. I already had ideas about where they would be. At first Mr. Lundin wasnt't all for it. After I made a convincing argument he reconsidered. I had to make plans and decide where everybody's cubby would be. Next I had to clean out all the cabinets and put all the supplies in different areas of the classroom. That was honestly the hardest part. From there it was easy, I typed up everybody's names printed them, cut them, and taped them on to the cubbies. Then I was done, everyone could officialy move their supplies in. I was proud of the work I accomplished and how quickly I accomplished it.

Hanukkah Tradition Newsletter

This time of the year most people think of Christmas. One of the other holidays that falls in December is Hanukkah. There are many traditions of Hanukkah including eating jellied doughnuts baked in oil, lighting the Hanukkiyh, and spinning the dreidel. Most of us have heard of the dreidel song, but how do you play the game? In this article, I have included directions on how to play dreidel to give you a better understanding of the Jewish culture.

Dreidel instructions:

1. Each player is given an equal number of gelt pieces or candy, usually 10-15.
2. At the beginning of each round, every play puts one piece into the center of the "pot".
3. Then the players take turns spinning the dreidel.
4. If a player runs out of game pieces then they are out.

Meaning of dreidel sides - Nun means "nichts", which means "nothing" in Yiddish. If the dreidel lands with the nun facing up, the spinner does nothing. Gimmel means "ganz", which is Yiddish for "everything". Hey means "halb", which means "half", in Yiddish. Shin means "shtel", which is Yiddish for "put in". Pey means "pay".

The phrase on the dreidel means a great miracle happened here. This refers to the miracle of the Hannukkah oil lasting 8 days instead of one. In 168 BC, a temple was taken over near Jerusalem. The Jewish people went to the temple in effort to purify it. They were going to burn oil for eight days. When they arrived they realized they only had enough oil to burn for one day. They burned the oil and the oil actually burned for eight days. This was a miracle in their eyes. This miracle is why at Hannuka the Jewish people light the Menorah for eight days. I hope you learned something new about the Jewish culture. It is always important to expand you cultural horizons.

By: Rachael M.