K9 Unit Visits Patton

Ms. Garvin and Mrs. Nanis’ English students recently did research on Heroic Dogs and created PowerPoint presentations about special animals. To follow this activity, the New Castle County Police K9 Unit came to visit these students at Patton Middle School to discuss the use of K9 dogs serving in police and military units. The students even got to meet one of these heroic dogs in person!

Middle Sports Photos Project

The "Art in the Middle" Committee is working on a Sports Photography Project or the hallways to the gymnasiums.  We want to dedicate the walls to our athletes and their coaches by collecting photos of all 13 teams.  We will be enlarging the photos to 5' by 4'...... yes, larger than life and filtering the photos so that the identity of the individuals become muted and the focus of the photos is of the sport and not of any particular student. We are asking all Photography Enthusiasts Parents of our Athletes to take photos when at practice or a game. Parameters of the photos:

• Need more than 5 players in the photo, not necessarily the whole team
• Would be nice to include the coach, but not required
• No direct shots of individuals looking straight into the camera
• Want the photo to capture the essence of the sport and team spirit 

All photos can be sent to Julianne Ruocco at jruocco118@gmail.com

National Assessment

We are pleased to communicate out that Charles F. Patton Middle School has been selected to represent schools across the nation by being a participant school in the NAEP testing for this school year. Fifty of our 8th grade students have been randomly selected by the organization to take a test in either Mathematics, Science or Reading. The parents of the students selected will be receiving letters home explaining the details. Testing will be on Wednesday 18 February 2015.

First administered in 1969, NAEP is the largest nationally representative and continuing assessment of what students know and can do in various subject areas. The test is administered by the National Center for Educational Statistics, within the U.S. Department of Education. NAEP is different from state assessments because it provides a common measure of student achievement across the country. The NAEP results are released as The Nation’s Report Card, which provides information about student achievement to educators, parents, policymakers, and the public.

Science Research Competition

The MS Science Research Competition is scheduled for Tuesday, January 27th. All students who are submitting a project must inform their Science Teacher by January 20th and projects need to be in school prior to the 27th. Projects will only be judged on the 27th.  Students will set up their project during the day, and they are not to stay after-school for the judging process.

We are also looking for judges. Any parent or older sibling with a background in science who would be interested in judging, please contact Mrs. Knauer at mknauer@ucfsd.net

Judging will begin immediately after school on the 27th.

Super Starbots!

Congratulations to the Super Starbots, who participated in the Oxford FLL regional competition on Saturday, January 3, 2015. The team captured two first place awards for their excellent performance. The team won 1st place for the Core Values award, and 1st place for the Robot Performance award given to the team with the highest single robot mission. They scored 365 points! They have qualified to advance to the Champion's Tournament scheduled for February 14, 2015 at Delaware State University. The team spent twice a week since September in preparing for the tournament. Many of their days off of school and winter break were invested in preparations, and their efforts lead them to their success. Please congratulate the team when you see them for their accomplishments in STEM education. The team is excited to add the trophies to the Patton FLL case! The Patton Super Starbots are: Kyle Ketterer, Soumil Zachariah, Nathan Sugimoto, Ayrton Gilbert, Brady Sherman as well as UES Starbot, Katie Ketterer. The team will be volunteering this upcoming weekend at the Patton FLL tournament, and we hope that you can spread the word this week to encourage all students to check out the Patton FLL tournament.

More Lego League Success!

A team of Patton 7th graders Adarsh Gadagkar, Darshak Gadagkar, and Arnav Patel and an 8th girl, Anaiya Patel, from Garnet Valley Middle School recently competed in First Lego League Qualifiers held in December at Conrad School of the Sciences in Wilmington Delaware. They were one of the top 4 teams to advance to the Regionals to be held at Delaware State University in Dover Delaware on February 14th. Please wish "The Pain in the Necks" good luck at the next tournament.

UHS/Patton Robotics Team

UCFSD's FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) Robotics Team, Flaming Phoenix, made it to the finals in it's December competition and brought home numerous awards. The team is comprised of five students from Unionville High School (Christy Ammon, Kaelyn Gaza, Austin Hwa, CJ McClure, and KC Simmons) and two students from Patton Middle School (Thomas McClure and Justin Warner). 

FTC competitions differ from other robotics competitions because you are teamed up with other schools to compete as an alliance. UCFSD's alliance, with schools from Philadelphia and Fort Washington, finished second overall and took home the Finalist Alliance Trophy. The teams are also judged individually in competing for awards in engineering, design, programming and community outreach. UCFSD's Flaming Phoenix team was the first place winner for the PTC Design Award. The intent of this award is to expand the competition challenge, inspiring teams to incorporate industrial design into their robots. These elements can be shown in the simplicity of the design as it applies to the tasks, the look and feel of the robot, and how the design allows us to think of robots in new ways. The Design aspects must serve a function - but they should also differentiate the robot in a unique fashion - not an easy task with a limited set of parts and game challenge. Here is what the judges had to say: "This team designed a robot that functions well on the field and looks good in the pit. While some teams use their 3D printer to make decorative parts, these engineers have taken it to another level. The perfection of their design has risen from the ashes of their previous attempts." The team worked very hard on their design and programming, meeting multiple times per week and even on weekends and holiday breaks. They have two more competitions this month and hope to make a second trip in a row to the State Championship in February.

UCFSD's team also took third place in the Motivate Award, which recognizes outstanding team spirit and community outreach that raises awareness about robotics and STEM programs. Team Flaming Phoenix invites you to learn more about the FIRST robotics competitions by stopping by the FIRST LEGO League Competition at Patton Middle School this Saturday, January 10th anytime between 11am and 3:30pm. You can watch robotics competitions for kids in grades 4 to 8 and also stop by the demo area to drive the larger robots and learn about FTC for kids in grades 7 through 12. If your child is interested in being on a robotics team in the fall, this is an event you won't want to miss!