Off to College Mac Promotion

Looking to buy a Mac for college? Apple has started the promotion, once again, where higher ed students can get a free iPod touch with each new Mac purchase. How sweet is that?

http://store.apple.com/us-k12/browse/campaigns/back_to_school?cid=WWW-NAUS-BTS20090507-00074

Students - it's MacBook check-in time :(

Make sure that you have your yellow laptop check-in sheet completely filled out before you come down. We want you to list any repairs that have been done to your machine this year as well as anything that you know is not working right so that we can fix it over the summer. Bring your MacBook to us POWERED DOWN, your laptop case ZIPPED SHUT with the shoulder strap IN THE FRONT POUCH, and your yellow sheet FILLED OUT. Thank you for your help in making this process go smoothly! It's been a great year of 24/7 Learning!

The Golden Talon Awards

(Like the Golden Globes, but better!)

O'Neill Schools Flickr Group

Join the Flickr Group and share your O'Neill school-related photos!

http://www.flickr.com/groups/oneillschools/

Also, plan to attend a meeting next Wednesday at 11:45 in Mrs. Gotschall's room if you are interested in photography and a possible club for next year for photo enthusiasts!

1st Annual Golden Talon Awards Ceremony!

Submit your digital media projects that you have created this year to the GOLDEN TALON AWARDS Drop box in the Content folder of the O'Neill Schools Public Group on Angel! You can submit as many as you would like and in whatever format you choose to share. Some examples would be movies, photos, music, slideshows, graphics, .... ANYTHING that you created digitally this year-- either for a class project or just on your own for fun.

The Digital Media class will be selecting which entries get showcased at the Golden Talon awards (to be held in the gym on Wednesday, May 20th at 11:45 p.m.). Any project that is "on the program" will be entered into a drawing for an iTunes gift card to be awarded at the conclusion of the ceremony.

We want to see all the cool creations that you have done this year with your Mac! We also want to have a fun event that hopefully will become an annual one to share your talents. So enter your projects to this drop box BEFORE 8:00 a.m. on Monday, May 18th. (By Friday may be the easiest!)

See Kelsey Mundhenke, Bergen Hesse, Jenna Fernau, Rainey Hull, Mrs. Morrow, or Mr. Peterson with any questions. THANK YOU!

2009 Digies Awards

Apple Computers sponsored the annual student digital media contest and honored winners in a ceremony at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln last Saturday, April 25, 2009. Over 500 entries from students grades K-12 from all across the state of Nebraska were narrowed down to a field of finalists invited to attend the ceremony. O'Neill Public School was once again well represented by its students as 21 separate entries created by 27 different O'Neill students were recognized at the event. Each category recognized the finalists, awarding them medals, followed by the announcement of the overall category winner and a "Digies" trophy. O'Neill Public Schools brought home three trophies this year:

• The Digital Divas (Emily Morrow, Julia Bauer, Claire Morrow, Amanda Brown, and Allison Ludwig) - "The Digital Divas Go Green" - Best K-6 Highlights Video
• Kelsey Mundhenke and Liz Watson - OHS Girls Basketball - Best 7-12 Highlights Video
• Emily Morrow - "Emily in the Outdoors" - Best K-6 "Open" project

At the conclusion of the event, special recognition was given to the "Digital Divas" as being a great example of "Challenge Based Learning." Apple announced changes in the Digies competition for future years and featured the girls' project as an example of what students should start considering as the focus of their digital media projects. More can be learned about Challenge Based Learning at http://challengebasedlearning.org

All additional finalists from O'Neill Public Schools as well as most of the students' projects can be viewed at: http://web.me.com/mrsmorrow/09Digies/Projects.html

NETA 2009

O'Neill Public Schools was well-represented at the 2009 Nebraska Educational Technology Conference held on April 23-24, 2009 in Omaha, NE. "Exploring New Territories" was the conference theme, inspired by a new venue for this annual event- La Vista/Embassy Suites. Over 2,300 educators from across the state of Nebraska heard keynote speakers Hall Davidson from Discovery Education and Stephanie Hamilton from Apple talk about today's students how to engage them in the learning process to better prepare them for tomorrow. Several O'Neill Public School teachers and students contributed to the conference's vast body of knowledge by presenting sessions. Lara Morrow and Melissa Polinoski presented poster sessions- "The Mixed Up Files of Art and Technology" and "Nebraska's Counties" (assisted by 4th grade students Allison Becker, Jake Young, and Emily Morrow.) Katie Morrow led participants in two workshops (iWork and iCollaborate) as well as two break-out sessions (ACOT2 and "Rising to the Challenge"). Deb Barelmann co-presented in the second of the two break-outs and helped share the successes of O'Neill part in Apple's pilot project on Challenge Based Learning. Mike Peterson and Gary Hostert, along with 7th graders Jonathan Hunt and Nathan Gotschall, led a session highlighting the innovative "Eagle Eye Sports" program at OHS. Positive comments from across the state and beyond were shared on conference evaluations about O'Neill Public Schools' involvement in NETA 2009 and the educational technology knowledge that they shared.