PIP Presentations

PIP Presentations

personal interest projects

It’s that time of year again: time to do the awesomely awesome Omega PIP presentations!

Each student in the Omega classroom did a research project on something that was of interest to them – hence the name, Personal Interest Project, or PIP.

And what a variety of interests, indeed! Projects included research on magic, dreaming, dungeons and dragons, forensics, mythology, Dr. Who, historical impact of pottery, the Northern Lights, the Clash, the Bermuda Triangle, the Irish Independence Wars and more. Since each student had to present his or her research, you can imagine the varied and wonderful learning that was going on!

Students had three rubrics for which they needed to fulfill requirements: the paper portion, the presentation portion and the PowerPoint portion.

personal interest projects

The paper portion of the presentation had nine main categories in the rubric, each with a list of requirements. These included organization, amount and quality of information, paragraph construction, conventions (i.e. spelling errors), sources, no plagiarism, works cited, title page, and inclusion of rough drafts.  This portion of the project was worth up to 200 points.

The second part of the project, of course, was the presentation portion. Omega teachers evaluated the kiddos on their verbal presentational ability, creativity, relevant questions for students to ask and how well students listened to the presentation.

personal interest project

Still, the PowerPoint presentation was another integral part of the project. They requirements fell into 7 categories in which students needed to create professional-looking slideshows that enhanced their presentations. Many students chose to work with a new and exciting web-based application: Prezi.

During the presentations, each student created an activity for the rest of the class to try. Everything from Jeopardy-like games to relay races of sorts, these allowed students to demonstrate their understanding of whatever topic was presented.

You wouldn’t believe how each and every student came through and not only completed the requirements, but really sparkled and radiated their interests through their presentations.

One student, Alex, let us film a part of his presentation on fishing. He was clear, and thoroughly understood the complexities behind why people are overfishing, but also conveyed what we all can do to curb this global problem:

These students are rock stars! They’re already talking about doing their own version of TED Talks for their PIPs for next year!

No classes: Student-Led Conferences

RCS will not have classes Thursday, March 12 and Friday, March 13, 2015. These days are reserved for student-led conferences.

Please check with your child’s teacher for more information and for the times your child will need to be at school.

K-8 Last Day and Omega Graduation

K-8 Last Day and Omega Graduation

Please join us for one the pinnacle events of our community: the Omega graduation!

The event happens in the evening, after the last day of classes for K-8.

All students will need to arrive around 6:00 pm; The ceremony will start at 6:30 pm at the front yard.

After the ceremony, we will gather for cake and punch out on the RCS playground!

graduation