Prairiefire Horses

By Devin D.

            History and science come to life at the Prairiefire museum. From dinosaurs and prehistoric creatures to horses and insects, the museum has many exhibits that ASOP high school students enjoyed. When high school students arrived at the Prairiefire museum, on December 3rd, 2015, they were greeted by a life-size skeleton of a T-rex. It reminded me of “Rexy” from the movie, The Night At the Museum.

After being welcomed, the museum docent took the group into the exhibition hall to see the horse exhibit. The exhibit started with the early horses. Something I thought was interesting was that the first horses lived in what is now present day Nebraska. When the climate began to change, they migrated over to Eurasia (presumably by crossing the Bering land bridge). They didn’t migrate back, until the Europeans brought them back over. The exhibit ended with the modern day horses and a group photo of the us for the yearbook.

Before we went back to the school, we took a tour of the Discovery Room and got a chance to complete some interactive activities. A few students got to hold a real, live Madagascar Hissing cockroach and got to touch a corn snake. Although I didn’t want to hold the cockroach, I enjoyed the geology section. I learned that the amethyst is a kind of quartz, and it gets its purple color from iron impurities.          

Halloween Celebration

By Kathryn J.

    Calling all zombies, hoboes, jokers... you get the idea! Check out the results of the ASOP halloween party! A plethora of students and teacher walked into school last Friday dressed up in an assortment of costumes. We had pizza (courtesy of Jane)  and judging to follow.
  

  

  There were three groups:  the middle schoolers, the high schoolers, and the staff.  All three were judged by the yearbook staff after they paraded their unique costumes into the classroom. Judging was based on several preset rules: costumes had to be school appropriate, the costume had to be based on a well know figure/persona or cartoon character, and finally, the costume had to be unique, and mostly put together by the student, not purchased. The winner of each group was awarded two movie passes.

    I think it is nice we can have a party the day Halloween before so the celebration can be spread out over two days. I enjoyed making my costume and looking at everybody else’s costumes.

   

    Winners:  High School --   First Place was Nick for his Smarty-pants Panda.  Runners-up were Nolan as a Zombie, Grayson as the Joker, and Darien as Guy Fawkes.   MIddle SChool --  First Place was Priscilla for her original creation of “Jack.”  Runner-up was Kat as a Zombie. Staff -- First Place was Carie as Miss Frizzle from The Magic School Bus.  Runners-up were Sara Goldstein as a text message, and Amanda as Bob the Builder.

   The yearbook staff also recognized Zen, an elementary student as worthy of a win for his firefighter costume.

    Runners-up received candy and a homework pass good for the future.  

Lara’ s Presentation: The Peres Center for Peace

         

          The presentation by Lara to my fellow students and me was really quite interesting. Lara told us about her work with the Peres Center for Peace. This program gave us some insight about the advancement of peace between two very different groups of people. The term “different” represents why these two ‘factions’ are socially prejudice to one another.

          In Lara’s explanation she did not focus on how they are different but how they are similar. She focused on the similarities between the two. In the grand scheme of things it really seemed like the similarities outweighed the differences. This Peres program looked like it was bringing about change in the people who live so close together but who are separated by fallacies.

I really enjoyed her presentation; the videos she showed us told me that this really was making a difference. I applaud her and the people in this program for doing such important work in such a quarrelsome environment. I hope the people of this city and country can all realize we are the same on the inside. I would love to have her present here again.

                                                                    

 By Mason C

Thank You To Our Wish List Donors!

Many thanks to Richard Gilman, DDS, for his donation of five Mac Mini computers and two Apple laptops to the school.   The laptops are being used by the Yearbook staff.  The other five computers are being placed in various sites through out the school. His donation continues to help the school in its goal to upgrade and enhance our technology.  

Also thank you to all the donors who helped with this year's Wish List needs.  Thanks to you we have new microwaves for student use, televisions for classroom work and many school supplies.  

The school still needs to purchase a new van for student transportation, as well as upgrade the security system.  If you are interested in helping with these two ‘wishes’ or if you are interested in donating to other areas on the Wish List, please contact Jane or Ellen for a copy of the list.  Call the school at 913-341-6666.

The Dinosaur Exhibit at Prairie Fire Museum

When we went to the Museum of Prairie Fire, the theme was dinosaurs. The first thing we learned about was how the t-rex moved and what it ate.  There  even was a model of the t-rex that you could see. Next, we learned about the behavior of the t-rex. Moments later we learned about the tracks of the dinosaurs. Consecutively, we learned about the defensive part of some dinos, they had models of what their heads looked like. Nearing the end of the tour we saw a giant diorama of what it would look like in the past.  My favorite part were the giant cockroaches.

The final part of the tour was seeing how the world ended for the dinosaurs. Later, we went in to the interactive area where they had a scavenger hunt, a hedgehog, a dino that you had to put together, and a building area where you can build with foam bricks. I built a wall of bricks before we had to leave. Overall it was a very interesting place and I would love to go there again.

-Will A.

8th Grade

Shawnee Indian Mission Field Trip

Recently our students went to the Shawnee Indian Mission in Prairie Village, Kansas.  The following is the account of the field trip by one of our fourth grade students:

When I went to the Shawnee Indian Mission, I was very excited to learn about the Indians. We got to sit on a real buffalo rug. The tour guide told us about the Indian houses. One of the houses had a long entry. It was used to keep the animals inside during the winter so they wouldn’t freeze. Another one was built very big. All the family members slept inside.  There could be 15 to 21 people in that house. They all had a hole in the middle. It was above the kitchen. It was used to get the smoke out. The women would build the houses while the men hunted. We got to see mini versions of the houses.

                      

After that, we sat at a table. We had a sheet that had pictographs with what they mean below them. We had to make a story using them. I made a story that goes like this. A twister was coming. Two brothers saw it. It was stormy, cold, rainy, and much more. After it ended, they got many fishes. It follows the fish phenomenon that in a place when it rains, fish come down.

After we did the pictograph part, we got to be in a group of three. One of us would be the writer. I was the writer in my group. We got to examine the items and we would say if it was a tool, item, or both. We also got to put what it was. We got some of it right. Most of them were wrong. That happened to the rest of the groups. It was time to leave after that. This was one of my favorite field trips. I would love to go here again.

By Sydney N.

4th Grade


This is an account from one of our high school students:

A Day on the Frontier

by Devin D

Students from Accelerated Schools of Overland Park stepped back in time when they visited the Shawnee Indian Mission on Thursday, April 9th. At the Mission, located at 3403 West 53rd St. Fairway, Kansas, students learned what life was like for American Indians and families traveling West.

When they arrived at the mission, students were separated into three groups; two high school and one middle school group. One high school school group was sent upstairs to learn about the history of the Mission while the other two groups were busy doing something else. They learned that between 1839 and 1854, it was a 2,000 acre establishment with 16 buildings. There are only three large brick buildings still standing today.

Students learned many other facts on this trip, for example, that 200 Indian boys and girls. aged 5 -23,  attended school there.  The Mission also served as a supply store for families traveling on the Oregon and Santa Fe trails.

Later, the group switched with the other high school group and went out back to see a replica of the type of wagon families would take on the Oregon trail. The Santa Fe trail was used by merchants,  and they used large Conestoga wagons like the ones on display at the Alexander Majors Home..

The Oregon trail was normally used by families moving west. They used wagons that would be considered today as the “pickup of the 1840’s,” according to the tour guide. They were a lot smaller and were used only to carry the items necessary for traveling on the trail. Family members walked alongside the wagon the whole trail, sometimes up to 18 miles per day. To get a clearer picture of how many supplies could fit in the wagon, the group got a chance to step inside the wagon, which was about the size of a 4 by 8 foot sheet of plywood.                                                                                                               

Summer Programs Planned for 2015

ASOP will offer its summer programs from June 8 through July 31, 2015.

Students in high school, entering grades 9 - 12, who want to advance their class work ,or perhaps retake a class, can attend credit classes in social studies, science, math, English, Spanish, health and art.  Students can earn up to 1 1/2 credits during the summer.  Each half credit requires 60 hours or three weeks of classes.  Students must attend a minimum of three weeks of summer school.  All high school classes are accredited by the State of Kansas and AdvancED.

Students entering grades 4 -8 can participate in the school's Academics & Arts summer camp program.  Students attend 2 1/2 hours of individualized tutoring each day, as well as activities involving creative expression.  Students must attend a minimum of three weeks of summer camp.

Cost for both programs is $325 per week.  Students attend from 9 am until 1 pm, Monday through Friday.  Transportation is available at an additional cost for students attend the weekly programs.  Although students must take a minimum of three weeks of camp or classes, they do not have to attend consecutive weeks.  However, the weeks must be determined in advance.

For more information about the school's summer programs, day school and tutoring, please go to our website at www.AcceleratedSchoolsOP.org.   Camp and Summer School flyers are available by clicking on the icons at the top right of the home page.