The Putnam City Tournament is on for Saturday, January 11 at Putnam City High School, 5300 NW 50th in Oklahoma City.  If you haven’t made your reservation go to Basecamp and click the link to upload your tournament roster AND follow that up with an email to Bob.  Deadline is Thursday January 9.

There are many uncertainties concerning the winter weather system that is entering the state, but it is certain that there will be significant icing for some of our participating schools and that if schools are closed for weather, it will be Friday when that occurs.  That, combined with single digit temperatures and overnight re-freezing of whatever falls on Friday has led us to think that the best choice is to cancel the Putnam City Tournament.  That way Coaches, bus drivers, parents, Olympians, and Event Supervisors can be notified and you are not trapped into desperately trying to contact parents and children at the last minute should Putnam City Schools cancels classes Friday making it impossible for us to set up the tournament. We also don’t want you slip-slidin’ away…

Ready to register your team for the December 7th Tournament at Putnam City High School?

View Larger Map

The Science Olympiad Manuals have arrived and it’s time to prepare for the 2013-14 tournament season.  Training for Division B and C Coaches as well as orientation training for Event Supervisors will occur Saturday, September 28th in Howell Hall (the science building) on the campus of the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond.  We will begin in The Howell Hall Atrium at 9 AM and will end at Noon with lunch.

Member teams of the Oklahoma Science Olympiad should have a Coach present at this training.  Not yet a member?  Come find out about the Science Olympiad and learn what you can do to start a team and get it ready for this year’s tournament season.

This training will include an orientation training for experienced and new Event Supervisors. This is the best time to learn the responsibilities of Event Supervisors and meet with Coaches and trainers.

Agenda

9 am- 10 am- Orientation to Science Olympiad

10 am-12 pm 2013-14 Division B and Division C event review

There is no cost to attend this training.  Registration is accomplished by sending an email to OK Science OLympiad Director Bob Melton.  Registration Deadline is September 26th.

For the past 30 years, SCIENCE OLYMPIAD has led a revolution in science education. What began as a grassroots assembly of science teachers is now one of the premiere science competitions in the nation, providing rigorous, standards-based challenges to nearly 7,000 teams in 50 states.

Science Olympiad is Awesome:
Science Olympiad’s ever-changing line-up of events in all STEM disciplines exposes students to practicing scientists and career choices, and energizes classroom teachers with a dynamic content experience.

Science Olympiad competitions are like academic track meets, consisting of a series of 23 team events in each division (Division B is middle school; Division C is high school). Each year, a portion of the events are rotated to reflect the ever-changing nature of genetics, earth science, chemistry, anatomy, physics, geology, mechanical engineering and technology. By combining events from all disciplines, Science Olympiad encourages a wide cross-section of students to get involved.  Emphasis is placed on active, hands-on group participation. See a list of this year’s events here. Through Science Olympiad, students, teachers, parents, principals and business leaders bond together and work toward a shared goal.

Teamwork is a required skill in most scientific careers today, and Science Olympiad encourages group learning by designing events that forge alliances. In Elevated Bridge, an engineering whiz and a kid from wood shop can become gold medalists. Similarly, a talented builder and a student with a good science vocabulary can excel in Write It Do It, one of Science Olympiad’s most popular events.

See the Weather Channel report of the 2013 National Science Olympiad Tournament:

NOW is the time to join the 2014 Oklahoma Science Olympiad

Since 1985, Science Olympiad has required that all teams (up to 15 members) competing in any Science Olympiad tournament (Invitational, Regional, State or National) must be a member of Science Olympiad and pay the national fee (currently $60).

An additional fee of $40 is charged for membership in the Oklahoma Science Olympiad ($100 total).  The fee is paid annually to the Oklahoma Science Olympiad, c/o Putnam City Schools Science Activity Fund, 5401 NW 40th Street, Oklahoma City, OK 73122.

Questions?  Need more details? Contact Bob Melton bmelton@putnamcityschools.org and go the Oklahoma Science Olympiad Website https://www.oksciolympiad.org. and the National Science Olympiad website http://www.soinc.org

Science Olympiad is proud to announce that winners from the 2012 National Tournament will be honored at the Third Annual White House Science Fair in Washington, DC, today, April 22, at a ceremony beginning at 2:25pm EST. At approximately 11:30am, live streaming video of exhibits will begin at the site below (Science Olympiad does not have an exhibit). Solon High School and Solon Middle School are represented by Coaches Donna Ross and Drew Kirian, along with students Stephanie Zhu and Achuth Nair. Watch for them in the crowd wearing their Science Olympiad medals with the red, white and blue ribbons!

Find out more here, where we’ll be adding photos and video throughout the day.

http://www.soinc.org/gov_news_2013

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2013/04/20/watch-live-2013-white-house-science-fair

NBC has a regular TODAY Show feature called Class of 2020 where they are following a class of students in a particular classroom through their 13 years of schooling.  Now 5th graders, the class recently participated in their school district’s Division A Science Olympiad. (See the previous posting giving details about the Division A Tournament recently held in Putnam City that hosted over 270 participants from 15 teams)

TODAY Show cameras were there as students prepared for the Egg Drop and GUNK competitions in advance of the tournament which they also covered in the story.  They picked up the story 2 weeks out from the Tournament that the students began preparing for two months in advance.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The report also gave a shout out to the Division B and C Science Olympiad.

Feel free to share this story with administrators and teachers (friends, family, school board members, students…).  It gives a very quick look at the excitement for learning generated by a tournament as well as the student engagement in the practices of science that make Science Olympiad such a valuable part of any STEM Education program.

http://www.today.com/id/26184891/vp/51133246#51133246