Friday Market is this week! High School students come to high school cafe. Middle School students come to the back hallway behind the middle school gym. We encourage students to take what they need and need what they take. Don't forget your reusable Friday Market Bag.
Wikipedia.org is where millions of people stop first for information. Tools like it are what make the internet so valuable. But they also teach an important lesson, one you can start teaching your kids now: don’t believe everything you read. Family Tip Sheet: bit.ly/OlyNMFR2
Olympia is now officially on Instagram! If Instagram is your social media platform of choice, follow your favorite Olympia sites using these handles:
bit.ly/ConnectWithOly
Check out this list of trustworthy resources to help you learn what's true (and what is not!) on the web. You can even use one of them to look back in time and what was on a website in the past!
The OMS choir conducted their annual Holiday Concert last night in the OHS auditorium. They sang a variety of holiday songs to help get us in the holiday spirit. The evening concluded with a collaborative effort by all OMS choir members and the OHS chamber choir. Thank you to Mr. Gallegos and all OMS choir members for their hard work and effort.
Tip #5: Choose a Variety of Sources.
Show your children how you get news and information from different places, and explain how you make your choices. Use words like "credible," "trustworthy," "respected," and "fair." Ask them where they get their information, and if they think about those same words when choosing. As kids get older, introduce the ideas of bias, satire, and clickbait.
If a picture's worth a thousand words, do the words always tell a true story? One way to find out is through a reverse image search. Search with an image instead of a keyword and see what you discover!
Tip #4: Play "Should You Share?"
Talk through the kind of content you and your tween or teen pass along to friends online. What types of things do you like to share? Do you always check to make sure something is true before you share it? How do emotions factor into your decisions to share things? Have you ever shared something and later found out it wasn't true?
OHMS staff participated in a Spartan Selfie Elfie Scavenger Hunt where they searched for Mr. Jones and Dr. J. Bitmojis and took selfies with them. Congratulations to Mrs. Crebo our OMS winner and Mrs. Cahill who was our OHS winner!
The middle school boys basketball games scheduled for Dec. 13th and Dec. 14th have both been cancelled due to the opposing teams Covid protocol.
Tip #3: Explore Different Sides of a Story!
Use real-life examples to help kids understand how people can view the same situation with totally different perspectives. One child might experience a game on the playground as fun, while another might feel like the rules are unfair. Sibling conflict can be a great example of how two people can have wildly different opinions about the same event. With older children, talk through controversial subjects and take turns arguing for different sides to help kids understand various viewpoints.
Congratulations to the OMS XC team! They were recently recognized by the Olympia School Board for making the state finals this season. The boys finished 17th out of 128 2A teams. State runners included: JT Piper, Kaleb Jacobs, CJ Moore, Hollis Scheets & Clayton Piper (the dynamic duo), Tucker Garey, Evan Petri, Owen Knuffman, Callan Clark, and Ethan Labelle. Coaches Hamilton and McFarland could not be more proud! Go Spartans!
7th Grade students are participating in a simulation of their very own presidential campaign! Students created campaign posters, established their party’s policy platform, and wrote campaign speeches. They even participated in a town hall debate followed by a Primary Election. They will end with a final debate between one Republican candidate and one Democratic candidate. The final debate will help them decide, when they vote in the General Election, who will be our next president!
Fake News has been around for a long time. Track its history from 63 B.C. through present day in this infographic. Where do you see Fake News today? How does it impact your life? Does it impact the type of media you consume, or where you consume it?
Give Back to a Spartan This Season!
Angel Tree Update: All of our OMS students have been sponsored! Way to go Spartan Nation! Now let's expand that generosity to our students at OHS. There are still around ten students whose holiday season can be made bright with a sponsorship from an Olympia community member. Share this message, and let's get those ornaments on the tree! 🎄💙
https://www.olympia.org/page/nhs-angel-tree
Filter Bubble Trouble
When we get news from our social media feeds, it often only tells us part of the story. Our friends -- and the website's algorithms -- tend to feed us perspectives we already agree with. Show students ways to escape the filter bubble and make sure their ideas about the world are being challenged.
https://youtu.be/mh1dLvGe06Y - BBC
Tip #2: Play "Spot The Ad"
When you see advertising on TV or on a billboard, ask your children to figure out what the ad is selling. Sometimes it's obvious, and sometimes it's not. Help them explore why certain pictures, sounds, or words are used to sell certain products.
8th grade OMS students had the opportunity to create their own businesses and pitch them to a group of Olympia Sharks. They had a chance to create their own business plan and seek out investments from the Sharks! #SpartanEntrepreneurs #SharkTank
NFHS is having technical difficulties with the streaming of tonight’s games due to an issue with Amazon web services.
Well-crafted headlines benefit everyone. They help readers digest information and publishers sell news stories. But what if the headline is misleading? What if it's crafted just to get clicks and not to inform? "Clickbait" headlines may benefit advertisers and publishers (think $$$), but they don't benefit readers. And when they go viral, they can badly misinform the public.
This week, look for clickbait headlines in the media that you consume and discuss them with your family. How many can you find before Sunday rolls around!?
