The 2017 Aurora Borealis Student Film Festival

It is with sincere pleasure we invite the entire APS community to the 2017 Aurora Borealis Film Festival on Tuesday, April 11^th at 5pm.  The festival will showcase the best student films from middle and high school students across the district.  All are welcome to attend and there is no cost for admission.  All student submissions accepted this year will be screened at the event followed by an awards ceremony and photos.  All students with accepted submissions will have their photos taken on the red carpet in celebration following the screening and awards ceremony.  This is a FORMAL EVENT so please plan you wear your best and look sharp, it will be a great celebration.  We are very happy to announce the location of this year’s Aurora Borealis Film Festival will be the Sie Film Center on East Colfax.  The Sie Film Center has been host to the Denver Film Festival for 40 years and has hosted a large number of famous stars.  We are very excited about providing students the opportunity to engage with the center as well as show their films in an authentic theater where great films have been screened throughout the years.

You are more than welcome to share this information or pass along to anyone you think might be interested. If you would like more information you can visit the Aurora Borealis Film Festival Website at http://bit.ly/apsfilm2017 or contact the film festival team at apsfilmfestival@gmail.com.  We look forward to seeing you there!

CLICK HERE FOR A MAP & DIRECTIONS TO THE SIE FILM CENTER

Coding in Kinder at Murphy Creek

I had the pleasure of observing Marla Berkheim’s kindergarten class at Murphy Creek P-8 last week. I was amazed by the activities in this class. Mrs. Berkheim decided to include a STEM component this year. She researched to determine what her students would need for Coding and Engineering. Next, she used Donor’s Choose to help fund materials needed for Coding and Engineering lessons.

Last week the students started learning about Coding. Mrs. Berkheim created posters to help explain coding concepts to the students. The posters included real-life connections, definition and explanation of coding, terminology used in coding, and images of the Robot Mouse and controls.

After the Mrs. Berkheim and the class reviewed the posters and the rules of coding, the students paired up and explored using either the Robot Mouse or  Think and Learn Code-a-pillar.