DEC Hunting/Trapping Essay Contest

DEC Delivers - Information to keep you connected and informed from the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation Share or view as a web page || Update preferences or unsubscribe   Are you new to hunting or trapping? Have you mentored a new hunter or trapper? DEC is looking for hunters and trappers who would like to share their story about their first memorable experiences afield or an experience where they introduced a new person to hunting or trapping. Essays can be submitted in one of three categories: Junior Youth Hunters/Trappers - currently in grade 6 through 8 Senior Youth Hunters/Trappers - currently in grade 9 through 12 Adult Hunters/Trappers - ages 18 and older DEC staff will select the best essay in each category. Winners' essays will appear in the 2018-19 Hunting and Trapping Regulations Guide, which is read by over 500,000 people each year! The winners will each receive a $50 gift certificate. All the information and a submission form can be found here http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/112450.html Please do not reply to this email. Replies go into an untended mailbox. For questions or comments, please contact me at the email address below. NYSDEC and Becoming an Outdoors-Woman (BOW) are not responsible for lost, misdirected or undelivered email. Kelly Stang NYSDEC 625 Broadway Albany, NY 12233-4754                                                  518-402-8862 Kelly.stang@dec.ny.gov Visit Becoming an Outdoors-Woman on the web at http://www.dec.ny.gov/education/68.html

Ticonderoga Historical Society Essay Contest: Grades 10-12

For Immediate Release

July 24, 2017

Contact: William Dolback or Diane O’Connor, 518-585-7868 or tihistory@bridgepoint1.com

Cash prizes to be awarded

Historical Society Invites Students to Enter Essay Competition

Ticonderoga, NY – The Ticonderoga Historical Society invites high school students in New York and Vermont to participate in its “Steamboats in the Champlain Valley” Essay Contest. This contest is designed to foster an understanding of the importance of steamboats in the development of the Champlain Valley as well as foster excellence in research and writing through the use of primary sources.

Participation is open to any student within Vermont or New York State who will be in the 10^th, 11^th or 12^th grade (or equivalent for home schools or independent study) as of September 2017. Cash prizes of $300, $200 and $100 will be awarded in both fiction and non-fiction categories. The deadline for receipt of entries is Friday, October 1, 2017, 5 p.m. EST.

The essay topic should address steamboats and their impact on the Champlain Valley. The Champlain Valley includes Lake Champlain, Lake George and the Champlain Canal, as well as the shoreline communities that touch those bodies of water. Possible topics could include: How steamboats spurred economic development; Steamboats and their impact on tourism; the life of a steamboat captain, or; the challenges of women steamboat captains. Students, however, are encouraged to think creatively and choose a unique topic related to steamboats.

Additional information regarding the competition may be obtained at:

http://steamboathistory.ticonderogahistoricalsociety.org/index.html

Funding for the project was made available in part by a grant from the Champlain Valley National Heritage Partnership and sponsorship from the Lake George Steamboat Company.

Founded in 1897 and chartered in 1909, the Ticonderoga Historical Society advances the preservation and interpretation of history through its collections, programs and community outreach. The Historical Society makes area history an integral part of community life by connecting past and present.

Free Enterprise Speak-off

Homeschool high school students (or 8th graders taking at least ONE high school class) are invited to compete in the North Country Homeschooling Free Enterprise Speak-off, sponsored by the North Country Homeschooling Free Enterprise Team Plattsburgh State University on Feb 16th at 10:30 at the North Country Alliance Church, 9 Northern Avenue, Plattsburgh, NY. 

On March 9 (all day), 6 high-school teams and 14 regional college teams will compete in the Free Enterprise Competition held at Plattsburgh State. Each team is comprised of 5 students. A real world company will present a business challenge they are having. The teams will spend the day sequestered at Plattsburgh State planning a viable solution for the company. Each team will present a 10 minute solution presentation. The company will select the winning solutions. There are cash prizes for the winning teams. 

Part of the competition on March 9 is speak off competition, where one member of each team will give a 3-4 minute speech on "Why Free Enterprise Works". 

The North Country homeschooling team is inviting all interested high-schoolers to participate in the local homeschooling team speak-off. The winner will receive $100 + a spot on the North Country Homeschool entrepreneurship team. The winning member MUST be able to participate in the challenge on March 9th at Plattsburgh State. The event starts at 8 and lasts through dinner ending at 8:30pm. Team members must be able to commit to be there from 8am to 5pm during the competition time. 

The local competition for homeschoolers will be: Thursday Feb 16 at 10:30am at the North Country Alliance Church

Participants must give a speech entitled 'Free Enterprise: Why it Works."

The speech must be min of 3 minutes and max of 4 minutes. The speech should have an intro, 3 points and conclusion. Notes can be used however, they should NOT be read.The youth will be evaluated and judged by professionals from the community.

Please sign up by FEB 13 by emialing 

stonebeckacademy@gmail.com

or calling Melissa Sayward at 643-8530

November Homeschool Reading Challenge

How it works: 

Kids: Keep track of how many books you read in the month of November using a reading log( keep track of pledge per book read, library donating the money to and a list of the books read).  Ask your parents and/or grandparents (or anyone else you would like to ask) to pledge a small donation amount per book.  At the end of the month, tally the amount of money earned and donate this amount to your local library.  

If you read more than 20 books, additional book titles can be written on the back of the sheet and/or additional pages.

Parents and kids give their donation directly to their library of choice.  Please email Samantha at smarocco@gmail.com with your total number of books read and donation amount, as last year a newspaper article was written announcing the total number of books read and amount of money earned.  

You can include books read with, to, or by the child, as well as audiobooks. Fiction, non fiction, poetry- it all counts! (Videos or movies are excluded.)

Books can be of any length that you decide is appropriate for your child's age and reading ability. You can also do a family challenge and add up the books read by every member of the family or do the challenge as individuals.  Just be sure to have fun!

National History Day Competition -Middle and High School 2016

National History Day

National Website: http://www.nhd.org/
NY State Website: http://www.nyshistoryday.org/

Every year National History Day frames students’ research within a historical theme. The theme is chosen for the broad application to world, national or state history and its relevance to ancient history or to the more recent past. The intentional selection of the theme for NHD is to provide an opportunity for students to push past the antiquated view of history as mere facts and dates and drill down into historical content to develop perspective and understanding.

The NHD theme provides a focused way to increase students’ historical understanding by developing a lens to read history, an organizational structure that helps students place information in the correct context and finally, the ability to see connections over time.

Students can complete projects of their choice in one of the following categories: 

-play

-exhibit/display

-website

-documentary

-written paper

Projects can be done either as a group or singly. Each year the North Country Competition is held on the 1st or 2nd Sat in March. 

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We do a History Day orientaton as part of our annual Homeschool Day here at the Fort each fall. This year's Homeschool Day is scheduled for Friday, September 18th. A tentative schedule is available at this link:

http://www.fortticonderoga.org/education/students/homeschoolday

I would also be happy to meet with you early in the coming school year to talk about the History Day program.

Thank you for your interest.

Rich Strum
Director of Education
Fort Ticonderoga
PO Box 390
Ticonderoga, NY  12883
www.fortticonderoga.org
phone: 518-585-6370

fax: 518-585-2210ore information about the competitions rules and guidelines is posted here.

Mother's Day Card Art Contest

Dear home schooling families,

Birthright invites you to participate in an art contest to design the Mother's Day Card we offer to our donors and friends.  The deadline for submissions is Friday, March 14th.  

The prize is $50 to the student whose work is chosen and a $25 gratuity to the parent or teacher eliciting the effort.

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Birthright invites you to participate in our

2^nd Annual Mother’s Day Card Art Contest

We are holding a Mother’s Day art contest to promote the dignity of motherhood and the blessing of children.

We are looking for a painting or drawing of a mother and baby that we can offer as a card for our donors to use in honoring their own mother and for us to use in promoting the work of Birthright.

1. There should be no words used in the artwork.
2. The artist’s full name, teacher’s name and name of school should be clearly printed on the back of the submitted artwork.
3. The artwork can be done in any digitally scannable medium, i.e.: acrylic paint, watercolor paint, colored pencil, markers, crayon, etc. Students should color thoroughly so no pencil sketch marks show.
4. The submitted artwork should measure 9x12” and may be done on drawing paper, Bristol Board or canvas board.
5. Entries must be received by March 14th to be eligible. They may be mailed or delivered to:

Birthright

66 Clinton St.

Plattsburgh, NY 12901.

Office hours are Monday through Friday: 10am-2pm.

6. The artwork chosen will become the property of Birthright to be displayed in our office and used for printing cards. Artwork not used will be available to be reclaimed at the Birthright office.
7. The artist whose work is chosen will be recognized in our April newsletter. They will also be given a prize of $50. The winner’s teacher will be given a gratuity of $25 for encouraging their students to participate in the contest.

Picture books and art masterpieces can be used as studies in composition. Ideally, we hope to see a picture that shows joy and bonding between mother and baby.

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Birthright, the world’s first crisis pregnancy center, was founded in 1971 by Louise Summerhill in Toronto. It is now an international organization with hundreds of centers where women can find respect, emotional support and practical assistance. Birthright services are free, confidential and available to any woman regardless of age, race, religion, marital status or financial situation.

We offer:

• free pregnancy testing
• maternity and baby clothes
• referrals to other agencies as needed for medical and legal help, housing, etc.
• information on pregnancy and childbirth, parenting skills, adoption, etc.
• baby food and formula as available

Birthright of Plattsburgh is a chartered chapter of Birthright International. It is staffed entirely by volunteers and funded by private donations and charitable grants. We receive no government funds, nor are we affiliated with any denomination, government agency or political group.

Birthright is not just another voice telling a woman what she should or shouldn’t do. Our volunteers are here to listen to each woman’s assessment of her situation and help her to identify resources among her family and friends, in the community and in herself.

Our office at 66 Clinton Street is open Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9:30am-4:00pm and by appointment. Birthright also maintains a 24/7 hotline at 1-800-550-4900. If you would like to receive our newsletter, e-mail us at plattsburgh@birthright.org.

NATIONAL MATH COMPETITION

Are you 14 or under? Do You like Math? Do you like games? Do you like to compete?

A national Under 14 math competition will be held in Orlando, Florida on Friday, March 28th, 2014. The winner will receive $10,000. This competition is called National Number Knockout (N2K) because we want to knock out innumeracy by improving calculating speed and accuracy. At the moment, N2K is accepting scouting videos of students playing the game. Videos are due by  February 20, 2014. After we review the videos, we will choose the 32 best and brightest students to compete for the grand prize.

All expenses to Orlando will be paid—covered for the 32 finalists and one parent each!

Learn about the contest!
1) How to play the game: http://nationalnumberknockout.com/how-to-play/
2) About the N2K: http://nationalnumberknockout.com/

Register for FREE, receive the PDF rulebook, and upload the scouting video of your student. 
Register: http://nationalnumberknockout.com/registration/
Video upload: http://nationalnumberknockout.com/video-upload/

Thank you,

Leigh Bortins
Co-Founder, National Number Knockout
Founder, Classical Conversations

Battle Of Plattsburgh Bicentennial Essay Contest

The Battle of Plattsburgh Association and Adirondack Bank, in cooperation with the North Country Teacher Resource Center, are sponsoring an essay contest to explore local history and this critical battle of the War of 1812. The contest is open to students in grades 4-12. Prizes will be awarded in each of three grade levels: 4-5, 6-8, and 9-12. Each grade level will be awarded three prizes as follows:

1^st prize - $200 2^nd prize - $100 3^rd prize - $50

How to enter:

All entries must be submitted to the Battle of Plattsburgh Association between March 3, 2014 and May 16, 2014. They can be dropped off or mailed to:

Battle of Plattsburgh Association or NCTRC

31 Washington Rd Room 320 Sibley Hall

Plattsburgh NY 12903 101 Broad St

Plattsburgh NY 12901

Please retain a copy for yourself, entries will not be returned. The following guidelines should be used for your entry:

• Do not put your name, grade, or school on the essay. Identifying information should only be on the submission form. This allows for impartial judging.
• Submissions should be easily read. It is strongly recommended that you type your entry using a 12-point font, single spaced. Hand written entries are accepted.
• Adhere to the contest directions. Entries not following the directions will not be

considered for prizes.

Winners will be notified by June 7, 2014 and the awards reception is scheduled for June 14, 2014. The scoring scale used by the judges is based on the New York State Standards and will reflect the scoring rubrics used for Social Studies and ELA assessments.

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For grades 4-8: Using the genre of an essay or a journal entry, assume the role of someone living during the War or 1812.

Historical Context:

In September of 1814, the largest invasion in our nation’s history took place. It started when Sir George Prevost crossed the Canadian border into the town of Champlain, NY, with several thousand British troops and would end when the United States forces won the Battle of Plattsburgh on September 11, 1814.

Task:

Discuss how a young person living at the time might have reacted to the events of the day. You can also assume the role of a young person living in the Champlain Valley or with the British invasion force and write as though you yourself were living through it. Your essay needs to show evidence of some historical research. Some suggested topics and ideas:

• Drummer boy in the American militia
• Member of Aiken’s volunteers
• Daughter or son of a family living in Plattsburgh or a surrounding village
• Powder monkey for the British Navy
• Wife, mother, or daughter marching with the army
• Farmer living along the routes taken by the British and American forces

Guidelines:

• Incorporate historically accurate information
• Support your theme with relevant facts and examples

• Use a logical and clear progression of events
• Introduce your theme creatively, do more than just restate the topic
• Incorporate appropriate language
• Be attentive to spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and grammar usage.
• Conclude your essay or journal entry with a summation of your theme

Essays should not exceed 2 pages of 12-point font, single space, or 3 pages handwritten.

Questions should be directed to:

Mal Cutaiar at (518) 570-7877 or malanne.cutaiar@verizon.net

David Deno at (518) 566 - 1814 or manager@battleofplattsburgh.org

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For grades 9-12: Write a research-based essay or a series of journal entries describing events surrounding or assuming the role of someone living during the War of 1812.

Historical Context:

In September of 1814, after over 2 years of war, the largest invasion in our nation’s history took place. It started when Sir George Prevost crossed the Canadian border into the town of Champlain, NY, with several thousand British troops and would end when the United States forces won the Battle of Plattsburgh on September 11, 1814.

Task:

Discuss how a young person living in the Champlain Valley or with the British invasion force at the time might have reacted to the events of the day. You can also assume the role of a young person living at that time and write as though you yourself were living through it. Some suggested topics and ideas:

• African Americans in the Champlain valley during the War of 1812
• The life of an officer from either side and the events they took part in
• Living conditions at Pike’s Cantonment
• Murray’s Raid
• A soldier’s life or camp life
• What Plattsburgh and the surrounding area was like in 1812
• The history of a ship involved in the battle in Cumberland Bay
• Women’s roles at this time in history and how they might have affected events

Guidelines:

• Incorporate historically accurate information and cite the sources
• Support your thesis with relevant facts and examples
• Use a logical and clear progression of events
• Introduce your thesis creatively, do more than just restate the topic
• Incorporate appropriate language
• Be attentive to spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and grammar usage.
• Conclude your essay or journal entry with a summation of your theme

Essays should not exceed 3-5 pages of 12-point font, double-spaced using accepted documentation styles with a minimum of 3-5 sources for research papers.

Questions should be directed to:

Mal Cutaiar at (518) 570-7877 or malanne.cutaiar@verizon.net

David Deno at (518) 566 - 1814 or mamager@battleofplattsburgh.org

History Competitions (Art-all ages and Project-Grades 6-12)

HISTORY Art-ALL AGES
New York State  History Day encourages all students to submit a t-shirt design for the New York State History Day 2014 theme: “Rights and Responsibilities in History.” The winning design will be featured on the 2014 t-shirt.  The name of the winning student, school, and teacher will be posted on the New York State History Day 2014 web site. In addition, the winning student will receive $50.

Click here for more Information

HISTORY- Grades 6-12
http://www.nyshistoryday.org/
National History Day, a year-long educational program sponsored in New York State by the New York State Historical Association, encourages students to explore local, state, national, and world history. This year's theme is Rights and Responsibilities in History: Information on the theme: http://ny.nhd.org/Theme.htm

Once students choose a topic, they choose a project area to display their information: These category guides, created by the "National History Day in Wisconsin" staff, provide students with step-by-step directions for creating History Day projects.  Documentary Guide
Exhibit Guide
Paper Guide
Performance Guide
Web Site Guide

Our local competition occurs at Fort Ticonderoga. http://www.fortticonderoga.org/learn/students/historyday
This year the competition will be on Saturday March 8, 2014.

Pizza Hut Book It Program

Now is the time to sign up for the Pizza Hut Book It Program:

BOOK IT! motivates children to read by rewarding their reading accomplishments with praise, recognition and pizza.  The program is simple for the teacher to use, flexible because goals match reading ability, and fun because achieving a goal is a great reason to celebrate!  BOOK IT! was created in 1985 and currently reaches over 14 million students in 38,000 elementary classrooms annually.

BOOK IT! runs every school year from October through March.  The teacher sets a reading goal for each child in the class.  A tracking chart and reproducibles are included to make it that much easier.  As soon as a child meets the monthly reading goal, the teacher gives him or her a Reading Award Certificate.

BOOK IT! goals are based on reading ability.  Number of books, number of pages, or number of minutes – they all work.  BOOK IT! can also be used with the reading curriculum or as support for comprehension or intervention programs.  For children not reading independently, the goal can be set where a parent or others read to the child. 

Please click on the link below for full details and to sign up.

http://www.bookitprogram.com/