Events Archives — Page 6 of 11

Events

Send a Story Around the World – STORY A – Part Two – St Anthony’s School, Canada

This is the second chapter of STORY A of our #sendastory project. You can read the entire story so far on this page. This chapter was written by the pupils of St Anthony’s School in Drumheller, Canada.

St Anthony’s School, Drumheller, Canada

St. Anthony’s school in Drumheller, Alberta Canada is a K-12 school composed of diverse ethnic groups, although mostly English speaking. Drumheller is near Calgary, Alberta and our rural catholic school of 460 students is vibrant and welcoming. Our students exemplify our motto “Making the world a better place to be!” Drumheller is a picturesque community, famous for coal mining and dinosaurs, badlands and coulees. We love cookies!!

PART TWO

‘Don’t be scared, I do not wish to harm you, I would just like someone to talk to!’

‘Wha… .’ that’s as far as I got. In the distance a petrifying sound roared through the trees. It made my blood run cold. ‘It’s not safe to talk, come with me.’ I didn’t know if I should trust the strange man, but the threat of that sound and the fact that I needed answers made the decision for me. I bolted after him.

Once inside the hut, I took a quick glance around. The room was bare, with the exception of some dust, broken glass and a small picture. The man seemed to be wearing a coat made of fake fur. He saw the fear in my eyes. ‘You are safe here.’ he said in a strange, but calm accent. After several moments, my heart stopped racing. I decided to take a better look at the picture. It showed a small girl no older than 10. I asked the man who the child was. He looked at the picture fondly, there was sadness in his eyes. He was about to answer, when the far wall crashed down revealing my darkest fear.

If you enjoyed the chapter from the pupils of St Anthony’s School, please pass it on to your friends. Check out our #sendastory Pinterest board and our Instagram account for pictures and info about the country featured this week on #sendastory

Events

Dance with Diversity and Win an Energy Makeover for Your School — UK

Win an Energy Makeover for your school worth up to £150,000 and spend a day dancing with Jordan and Perri from Diversity!

Last month British Gas announced the Generation Green Energy Performance, a new £350,000 schools initiative that will provide energy saving equipment for schools alongside learning resources for KS2 and KS3 science and geography lessons.

As part of the programme, young people up and down the country will have the chance to compete on a specially commissioned dance floor to win an Energy Makeover worth up to £150,000 for their school.

Watch and learn this dance routine with Jordan and Perri

To enter the Generation Green Energy Performance and win an Energy Makeover for their school, teachers and children are invited to design their own eco-house using sustainable energy solutions such as Pavegen’s energy generating tiles, as well as energy saving tools. Free learning resources and further details of the competition are available at Generation Green – but hurry! Closing date for the competition is 23rd May!

Events

The Google Science Fair – Kid Inventors of the World

Every year the internet search engine Google holds a competition to find the best research and/or invention by a kid inventor. The winners of the Google Science Fair have been both boys and girls. All that is needed to win the competiton is curiosity, interest, patience and hard work, and never to be afraid of failing!

The difference between an invention and a scientific discovery is that an invention involves the creation of an item whereas a discovery involves the analysis and definition of an item that already exists.

The Google Science Fair is open to anyone aged 13 to 18 across the world and has produced incredible inventions and scientific discoveries by young inventors. They have three age categories, 13 to 14, 15 to 16, and 17 to 18. Previous winning inventions include:

Brittany Wenger

This 17 year old from Florida, USA created a system for detecting breast cancer without having to have a procedure which would be what is known as invasive. This means no needles or surgery required!

Ann Makosinksi

A 16 year old who in 2013 invented a torch which worked without batteries or any moving parts in it, making it cheaper to produce and more long-lasting than other torches.

Ann Makosinksi Generates Electricity By Body Heat from searchoflife on Vimeo.

In 2011 all three category winners were girls. If you want to enter for this year, the registration form is here. You must ask your parent or guardian first!

There are young scientist and young inventors awards given throughout the world. In Ireland, the company BT runs a competition every year, and in the United Kingdom the Dyson Company runs an annual young inventors award. There are also many clubs throughout the country that you can join and The Big Bang UK Young Scientists & Engineers Fair is held every year in Birmingham , showcasing the weird, wonderful and amazing ideas of young inventors in Britain. Check out their website to find a Big Bang Fair near you. The National Science & Engineering Competition is annual award scheme which you can enter through your school.

The number of young scientists and inventors is growing every year. In 2012 alone over 500 people aged between 11 and 18 applied to patent their inventions here in UK, which means they wanted to register their idea as their own with the governments Intellectual Property Office. This ensures they are credited with the invention and if there is any money to be made from selling it, the inventor will receive the money.

The young inventors who won the awards and who display their talents every year study science in school, and are supported by their teachers and parents or guardians. All you need to create is an imagination and a desire to learn. So why don’t you have a go? You never know, what you create may change the world one day!

You don’t have to enter a competition to invent something. Young people have been inventing for years. Here are a few to give you inspiration:

On a cold and snowy winter’s day, 10 year old KK Gregory was out building a snow fort when her wrists started to hurt because they were cold and wet. She remedied the problem by inventing Wristies, and wore them under her coat and mittens.

When Connor was in third grade, he began making science experiments and showing them to friends, who thought they were really cool. So, in the fourth grade, his love of teaching and his love of science came together when he started Connor’s Kits for Kids. Today, kids all over the US are using his kits and having fun with science!

Eesha Khare, an 18-year-old student at Lynbrook High School in California, made a technological discovery that has the potential to change the future of how you use your cell phone. Her groundbreaking invention? A device that can charge a cell phone between 20 and 30 seconds.

Do you know of a cool kid inventor or a science fair in your area? Let us know, and we will add them to this list!

Tina Price-Johnson is a Paralegal and Litigation Assistant by day, and Freelance Writer/Poet by night and weekend. She loves history, social studies and biographies, and enjoys writing about almost anything. She lives in London and travels in the UK and abroad whenever she can, and can usually be found wandering around crumbling ruins, wherever they may be.

Featured Image by Jordanhill School D&T Dept

Events

Send a Story Around the World – STORY A – Part One – St Martin’s School, UK

To celebrate World Book Day 2014, Jump! Mag is sending a story around the world. In fact, we are sending TWO stories around the world. This is STORY A, and next week STORY B starts in Canada. We will publish the entire stories on a special page on the site, so you can read it in one place.

UK teacher Grainne Hallahan set a task for 14 schools around the world – to write 200 words of a story then pass it on to the next school, in a different country, on a different continent. We will publish a chapter every week on Jump! Mag.

Along with their story, we are asking the pupils to share information and photos of their school, their town and their country, which we will post on Instagram and Pinterest. What is it like to grow up in Ghana? Do you really see bears in Canadian cities? Do all kids go surfing in Australia? If you have a question to ask the pupils, please share in the comments or ask on Twitter or Facebook and we will pass on to the school.

We start our journey in the home country of Jump! Mag – United Kingdom.

St Martin’s School, Brentwood, Essex.

We’re a school of 2000 students aged 11-18. Brentwood is near London, and our students are mostly British born and English speaking. Our school was originally a boys’ school and a girls’ school, which merged to form one large school. Essex is a beautiful place, with many parks and a coastline with lovely beaches.

Part One

Rubbing my eyes, waking up slowly, adjusting to the bright light, I realised I was no longer in London. Cautiously, I stood up and looked to my left and then my right. Was this just a dream? I had to acclimatise to my new surroundings. Instead of city streets, the ground appeared to be soil, rough and dry as tinder.

Shafts of sunbeams, silver as a pencil’s lead, glimpsed through the trees. Ahead of me, was a dilapidated, derelict hut with a silhouette in the window– it seemed to be some sort of mysterious creature. A strange hint of something – musty, damp and smoky – filled my nostrils.

Then it struck me: a snaky, shadowy and slippery shape was slowly emerging from the rotting door, encased by twisting vines.

I bolted. As I ran I heard an insistent voice behind me, crying ‘Stop! Don’t leave. Do you come from the civilised world?’ Slowly, I turned. I realised it was some sort of man. He seemed to be dressed in tattered clothes.

Shocked and afraid, I stepped backwards, ‘Who are you?’ Tentatively, I edged towards him, only to realise that I still appeared to be in London – only it was different.

If you enjoyed the story from the pupils of St Martin’s School, please pass it on to your friends. Check out our #sendastory Pinterest board and our Instagram account for pictures and info about the country featured this week on #sendastory

Events

Best New Games for Kids at the UK Toyfair 2014

Can it just be my birthday already? I really want to get my hands on some of the amazingly cool toys, gadgets and new games for kids that I spotted at London’s Toy Fair 2014…

Toy Fair, which took place from 21-23 January at the Kensington Olympia in London, was an overwhelming experience – more than 280 exhibitors showcasing thousands of new toys and games. While I doubt anyone could see and sample all of them in three short days, I did my best to do a whistle-stop tour of the exhibition centre so I can show you my picks of the most exciting new releases. Check ’em out!

Science and Biology Kits

One of the things I loved about this year’s Toy Fair was the huge selection of fun science- and biology-themed games! The kits above are by Portuguese company Science4you, and the kits are developed in collaboration with Oxford University. How’s that for credibility? They have science games that combine fun and learning for ages 3-14 years, and to find your nearest stockist they suggest you get your dad or mum to tweet them or ask them on Facebook.

These science games are by toy company Clementoni. Their products are aimed at kids from 6-10 years, and cover everything from food and kitchen experiments, to gardening, dinosaurs and archaeology, chemistry, sustainable energy, electricity, climate and weather, and underwater and underground life. Find out more here.

If you’re into entomology (that is, BUGS), you’ll love these! Learn more about the insects in your world by keeping them close by for observation. Nick Baker’s Bug Safari and Worm World are available from Interplay, and the Butterfly Garden is by Insect Lore.

Building Toys

We had a flurry of queries about GoldieBlox engineering toys for girls when we first posted about them on Twitter. Good news, they now have a UK distributor! You can find them on the Interplay website. They didn’t have an open box at the stand, but you can see inside two GoldieBlox games on the site. They look like great fun, and are aimed at age 4 and up.

I also loved the idea of the Marbureka marble run sets. Each set comes with a combination of pieces you can fit together to build your own marble run. They are available online in several sizes and from a number of distributors – just search “Marbureka marble run” in Google.

The scary spider in the bottom picture was built from KAPLA blocks. They are a similar idea to the wooden block game of Jenga, in that you build by just placing them on top of each other – no glue, nails or clips required. You can buy them in different colours, but I quite like the neutral ones as you could then paint or colour them yourself!

The main image at the top is of Lego’s prize-winning police station set – one of Toy Fair’s Best New Toys for 2014.

Just for fun

So those were all my favourite finds before my phone died from over-enthusiastic picture taking!

I was really entertained by The Ugglys electronic Pug Pet. Just like a real dog, this pup snores, farts and makes other horrible noises to gross out you and your friends!

Fans of the Minecraft game (which you can read more about here) will want to get their hands on some of the many Minecraft toys and figurines I spotted. I like the idea of taking the fun and creativity away from the screen and into real life too. Lego and Minecraft teamed up to create classic Minecraft environments you can build from Lego blocks – take a look here. Again, there are a few places you can buy your Minecraft toys from, so it’s best to Google “Minecraft toys” so you can choose where to make the purchase.

Find out more about Toy Fair 2014 here.

By Rebecca Dodd. Rebecca is Jump! Mag’s Social Media Volunteer and a freelance online journalist.

Featured image: metro.co.uk