Academic Enrichment

The Academic Enrichment programs are sponsored by the Barton Hills Elementary PTA, thanks to the efforts of many volunteers and the support of our teachers and staff. These programs are in addition to and meant to enhance the regular school curriculum. Below is a description of each of these programs.

Volunteer

CULTURAL ARTS

The Cultural Arts program brings various presentations throughout the year to our school, including programs by musicians, writers, and actors. These presentations are intended to broaden our children’s arts education. Events are added to our calendar as scheduling is finalized. Volunteers are often needed before and after events. If you would like to help host a presentation or otherwise volunteer, please contact Tamara Carlisle.

LEGO LEAGUE

Congratulations to our Barton BioBots team and Junior teams! On Jan. 15, 2010 our BioBots team competed with 58 teams from Waco to Laredo, and won 3rd Place in Robot Design, plus tied in 9th place in robot performance. No other AISD school team won awards in this championship, so we’re proud to represent the Austin school district in robotics! BHE also sent three teams to the Jr Lego League Expo. Two teams built stretchers and one built a defibrillator for this year’s Biomedical Engineering topic. One of the stretchers survived a drop-test during the judges’ rounds and earned the Most Robust Design trophy! Way to go Baron Hills teams!

Lego League is an international program in which kids build robots with Legos and program them to do certain tasks. This year’s challenge is called Body Forward so the tasks all involve biomedicine.  Lego League is open to 2nd through 4th graders (Junior Lego League program) and 4th through 6th graders (First Lego League program). Click here for more information or contact Shannon Eaton about the programs at BHE.

MATH PENTATHLON

Math Pentathlon is a national program in which students play games appropriate to their grade level to develop and practice important math concepts and skills. The program consists of five different games to help students learn and love math. Our volunteers bring this to the classroom in the fall, and hold voluntary practices after school in the spring for the state competition. Click here for more information, or contact Darcy Goff.

ODYSSEY OF THE MIND

Odyssey of the Mind (OM), is a program designed to bring out and enhance creativity. In OM, kids apply their creativity to solve challenges – from building a mechanical device to presenting an interpretation of a literary classic – working together and cooperatively with a team. All teams present their solutions at a tournament in the spring along with hundreds of other students from schools in the Austin area. For more information, visit the Odyssey of the Mind website.

If your child is interested in being on a team and/or you are interested in being a team coach, contact Elizabeth Castillo. We will hold a meeting in September for all interested kids and their parents and will form teams at that time.

REFLECTIONS

The PTA REFLECTIONS Program encourages our children to create works of art for fun and recognition. Presented with a theme, students are asked to submit a work of art for a school wide competition. Winners continue on to district/regional and  possibly state levels. The Best-of’s continue on to a national competition! This PTA sponsored program is designed to encourage your child’s natural artistic talents. The 2011-2012 theme is “Diversity Means…” Let’s encourage our young artists to think creatively and express “Diversity Means…” with these six areas of art: visual arts, photography, musical composition, literature, film/video production and dance/choreography.

Required Forms & Guidelines will be available in the main office.

All entries are due FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28th.
Entry box will be located in the main office.

School wide judging at the end of October.

Continuing artwork will be judged Wednesday, November 30th.

We will celebrate those who participate with a RECOGNITION RECEPTION!

More information is available at http://www.txpta.org/programs/reflections/

BHE contact: Ashley Woodson awoodson@austin.rr.com  512 633 4224