Rosa Parks Destination Imagination

New Challenges for 2008-2009

2008-09-15T09:47:00.001-07:00

Pick one of these challenges for 2008-2009:
http://www.idodi.com/challenge/team_challenges.html

Challenge A: Operation Cooperation:Teams will be designing and constructing two Machines that work together to completetasks. They will choose Tasks for the Machines to complete cooperatively while oneMachine is Manned and one Machine is Unmanned. They will do this without theuse of AC power. They will also create and present a Story about cooperation that isat least partly set in a Nation other than their own. Their major focuses are TechnicalDesign and Construction, Innovation and Design Process, Research, Experimentation,Strategic Planning, Theater Arts and Teamwork. As you can see, these teams will beusing standards involving Mathematics, Science, Technology, International Studies,Visual Arts, Research, Theatre, Innovation and design, Performance Skills, and Workingwith Others to accomplish their task.

Challenge B: Instinct Messaging:These teams will create and present a theatrical presentation with an original Story that demonstrates creature communication. They will learn about one Featured Creatureand two real methods it uses to communicate. They will design and build a costume tocommunicate a message sent by their Featured Creature. These teams will also constructone or more three-dimensional set pieces that depict a real-life habitat for their Featured Creature. These teams will be utilizing Scenic design, Scene Construction, Play Writing, Animal Science, Research, Performing and Teamwork. The standards of Science, Technology, Theater, Visual Arts, English Language Arts, and Working with Others are strongly demonstrated in this Challenge.

Challenge C: ViDIo Lit Hits:These teams will create a Music ViDIo that dramatically retells a piece of literature. They will dramatically portray a Character from the chosen piece of literature. They will integrate Music and team created Choreography into the viDIo. Finally, they will create a Grand Entrance or Grand Exit using Technical Methods. They will use Playwriting, Literature, Fine Arts/Theater Arts (Music, Choreography), Technical Design and Construction, Design Process and Teamwork. The major Standards addressed will be Music, Dance, Reading, Writing, Listening, Speaking, Theatre, Technological Design, Visual Arts, and Working with Others.

Challenge D: Private DI:Teams selecting this Challenge will create a six-minute Improvisational Skit aboutthe Origin of a randomly selected Superstition in a 30-minute timed period at theTournament. They will present a Skit using the styles of three different Film Genresrandomly selected from a list of film genres the team has previously researched. Theywill integrate into their skit, a Sleuth, randomly selected from a list of historical and fictional detectives the team has previously researched. They will also create an Origin for the Superstition. They will integrate a randomly selected Surprise! Finally they will create a Superstition Origin Detector that physically moves and contributes to solving the mystery of the Origin of the Superstition. These teams will use Improvisational Acting, Story Development, Theater Arts, Teamwork, and Technical Innovation as they delve into their solution. They will focus on the standards of Reading, Writing, Listening,Speaking, Research, Theatre, Technology, and Working with Others.

Challenge E: A New Angle:These teams will design, build, and test a two part Structure made completely of woodand glue. They will explore two different artistic media and create a Story about howthey could be merged. They will create an art form and demonstrate it. They will focus on Architectural Design, Structural Engineering, Construction, Research, Innovation and Design Process, Mathematics, Theater Arts, and Teamwork. The major Standards addressed will be Mathematics, Writing, Technology, Theater, Visual Arts, and Working with Others.

Rising Stars!: (For K-1st grade teams) Hidden!:Rising Stars! teams will create and present a Play that occurs in a “hidden” place, a place not usually seen. They will generate problems that could occur in this secret place, then choose one problem to solve. They will solve this problem as a team. The team will learn about simple machines and identify objects in their everyday lives that are composed of simple machines. They will build a gadget made of one or more simple machines. They will focus on Imagining Possibilities, Storytelling, Research, Science, Mathematics,and Performing in front of an audience. The standards addressed are Mathematics,Science, Listening and Speaking, Thinking and Reasoning, and Working with Others.

Gearing up for Destination Imagination 2008-9

2008-09-10T18:20:00.000-07:00

We can't wait to see what our kids will come up with for Destination Imagination this year!

WHAT is DI? A Fun, Creative Problem-Solving Club! (check out http://www.idodi.com/)

HOW do we do DI?
If you are interested in registering your child in Destination Imagination, please come to the

Mandatory Parents’ Information Meeting,
Sept. 15th, 6:00-7:00pm
In the Rosa Parks Elementary Library

•Spaces for students will be available through a lottery.
•The number of teams available will be dependent on parent coaches who volunteer. Please contact us asap if you are interested in helping!
•Student registrations will be taken at the meeting and placed into a lottery.
•Cost to register (after the lottery): $60 (scholarships are available from Rosa Parks
for students who can not pay this fee. Please contact Jodi Dodd or Kelly Telech for
more information.)

If we have enough team managers, students who were in DI last year will be in the first lottery.

If we have enough team managers, students will be given a choice about whether or not they would like to stay with the same students who were on their team last year. (we can not accomodate every request, but we will consider all suggestions!) These students who want to be on the same team will decide together which challenge they will work on this year.

Something new: New teams will be designated according to the type of challenges students choose, so take a look at the challenges (click here to see this year's challenges)and talk over the top 3 choices with your child. Be ready to write these on the registration form when you apply.

WHEN is DI?
TIME CHANGE: Team meetings are from 4-5pm every Monday starting October 20 until the end of March.
Extra practices may be necessary for some teams in the spring.
ALSO:
REQUIRED DI Tournament and Training Days will be on 3 Saturdays:
•November 1: DI Skills Day: Rosa Parks. Kids learn great skills to help them solve
team challenges! Students from around the state will be here!
•February 21: Instant Challenge Day,1-4pm, Louisville. Kentucky DI teams will
join together to practice various Instant Challenges.
•March 21: State Tournament: Louisville

For more information, contact:
Jodi Dodd, 381-7243 email: mailto:mjodidodd@gmail.com
OR
Kelly Telech, 381-3132, Email: kelly.telech@fayette.kyschools.us

2007-8 State Competition Winners! 2nd Place x 3!!!

2008-05-02T16:53:00.000-07:00

We are all Winners!!!! 2007-8 State Competition:

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Every child walked away from the tournament having learned some important life lessons:

How to work together
What to do in a crisis
How to pull together when it's not going well
How to enjoy it when it IS going well
How to perform in front of an audience
How to compare results by seeing how other teams solved the challenge
How to take care of one another
How we actually CAN do it by ourselves (without adults doing it for us.)
How reading the rules really IS important
How practice paid off
How to adapt quickly to change
How to take pride in my work...

And that process is what it's all about!!!

Thanks to all of you for putting in MANY hours and being very patient with a LONG day!

In addition, I'm happy to announce that Rosa Parks Elementary School won the following (big) TROPHIES at DI STATE COMPETITION!

Live Justice: 2nd Place in D'Ive Got a Secret, when they revealed an interesting Secret by telling how some woodland creatures of Stonekey Woods devised a plan to fool the Owl by making a false girlfriend for him.

The Thunder Thinkers: 2nd Place in Chorific! They performed a skit about a Surfer dude named Cinderfella who raps while doing his chores. One of 12 famous people (Jane Goodall) was integrated into the skit as well as a freeze frame improv technique.

The Aqua Raiders won 2nd place in Hit or Myth by discovering a mythological Indian god Shiva in a museum in the United States who came to life and took them on a journey to the Himalayas and India.

The Bluebie Blablibs won a prestigious award called the Renaissance Award for Engineering Design in a performance. They won this for their turning set design, special costumes, and for their cheese fondue device which spins.

Instant Challenge Day at Rosa Parks!

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Kentucky Destination ImagiNation

Instant Challenge Day 2009

•February 21: 1-4pm, Louisville. Kentucky

DI teams will
join together to practice various Instant Challenges

Instant Challenge
Imagine that you are handed an envelope and a small piece of clay... How might you use them to make a structure that is as tall as possible in a two-minute period? Now imagine that you not only have to make the structure, but figure out how it could be used and present it in an entertaining performance… Welcome to the world of Instant Challenge, where DI teams’ creative problem solving abilities, creativity, and teamwork are put to the test solving a time-driven Challenge.

Why Instant Challenges? It sounds trite, but it’s true: In this ever-changing world, the ability to think on your feet and solve problems in a hurry is becoming more and more important.

DI teams learn to solve “instant” challenges in a very short time frame – usually 2 to 5 minutes! This ability is tested at Tournaments when they are given an Instant Challenge and an opportunity to showcase their problem-solving prowess:

Their ability to assess and use available materials in creative ways
Their knack for improvisation
Their flair for performance
Their time-management strategies
Their teamwork

Types of Challenges: The two types below can also be mixed to make a hybrid challenge:

Performance-Based Instant Challenges require teams to create a performance from real or imaginary props. The team must either create these props from given materials or use ones already provided.

The type of presentation for these Instant Challenges will vary. They may include one or more of the following: singing, miming, rhyming, dancing, etc. Team members may enhance their characterizations through the use of Improv, Mime, Body Language, Stage Presence, and/or Voice Alteration.

When brainstorming a solution to a performance-based instant challenge, teams should make sure they consider areas of Story Line Development such as: Situation, Conflict, Resolution, and Beginning-Middle-End. They may also want to think about using other theatrical elements including: Staging, Music, and Special Effects.

Task-Based Instant Challenges are more hands-on type challenges. Team members must work together to communicate, move, change or protect something with the materials they are given by the Appraisers. Sometimes they will be given items which they must manipulate and then give related verbal responses about what they have done with them for score.

In a Task-Based Instant Challenge the team will be given a variety of materials to use to solve the challenge. These materials will fall into three main categories: Extenders/Structural Items; Connectors/Adhesives; and Controllers/Holders/Transporters.

When beginning task-based Instant Challenges it is recommended that you first discuss the three basic types of materials with your team. Then gather a wide variety of items from the lists below and have your team determine what the function(s) of each item might be. Remember keep asking the team in what ways could they use each item. Have them make a chart of the functions of the various items.

Destination ImagiNation® Parents

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Destination ImagiNation® offers great benefits to kids, but parents must be willing to do their share. Although adults are not allowed to offer any ideas to a team, or to participate in the construction of a team’s solution, we need parents to be team managers, tournament officials and tournament volunteers. To make this a success, both you and your child must make a commitment to the program!

There are many things you can do, even with a packed schedule, to help support the efforts of the team. See the Parent Guide for a few ideas.

Please consider volunteering to become a team manager! No special skills are required. You only need to be willing to work with a creative group of kids, and you can share this responsibility with other adults. Sadly, each year there are children who want to participate in Destination ImagiNation®, but can’t because there aren’t enough team managers. So, grab a buddy and volunteer! Team Managers have many resources available including: a team manager’s guide; training sessions and workshops; and experienced team managers who can
guide you through the entire Destination ImagiNation® program.

DI State Tournament

2007-09-20T16:15:00.001-07:00

The Racin' Red Rabbit Hawks put on a show with their own hand made costumes. In this play, the wolves from the Great Wolf Lodge come alive!!!

The Magic Treehouse team starts their adventure!

At DI Globals, in Knoxville, we made some friends from Korea!

The Green Dragons prepare in the hallway before showtime!

Will they conquer the Great Wall of China in time?

Article in Stu's News, April 12, 2007

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Students on the Rosa Parks Elementary School Destination Imagination “The Green Dragons” team took time to cheese for the camera. The team won the DaVinci Award for outstanding creativity during the recent state competition. Pictured are from left to right Kiara Robichaud, Cameron Maloney, Michael Naish, Shamik Chandrachood, Claire McDermott, and Hannah Wang and Coach Jennifer Robichaud. Team member Jasmine Ahmad is not pictured.

New program brings out kids’ “ImagiNation”

Thirty eight students on six teams at Rosa Parks Elementary School recently brought home medals while competing in the state Destination ImaginaNation tournament.

The program is new to Fayette County, and Rosa Parks Elementary is the second school in Lexington to participate. While DI has competitions at every level, kindergarten through college, Rosa Parks is gearing their program for the younger set in kindergarten through second — The Rising Stars. Destination Imagination is a problem-solving program that helps young people learn how to work and grow together as a team. Practicing and competing nurtures mutual self respect while enhancing students’ self-confidence and problem solving skills.

“I am thrilled to find a fun, yet academic, after school activity specifically geared for the lower primary students,” said Leslie Thomas, principal at Rosa Parks Elementary. “The feedback I have received has been overwhelmingly positive from students, parents, and teachers. The kids are enjoying themselves and learning a great deal, which benefits everyone.”
The open-ended challenges allow for a wide variety of solutions and a sense of accomplishment for the team. As part of the process, the participants develop critical thinking and creative problem solving skills. Each group is led by a team manager who is either a parent or adult volunteer.

“We have found that through this program, students are really thinking through challenges and using those skills to figure out practical, real-life problems,” said Jodi Dodd, who coordinates the program at Rosa Parks. “You can see the ‘light turn on’ when they understand that there are many ways to attack a problem — and there is no ‘right’ answer. The students are building confidence knowing they have a team to stand with them.”

Each of the challenges offers a different focus, such as mathematics, technical design and construction, experimentation, theater arts, social studies, research, story development, architecture, geography, structural engineering or other disciplines requiring critical thinking skills necessary to be successful in college, the workplace and in tomorrow’s world.

For more information about Destination Imagination, please visit http://www.idodi.org/ or contact Jodi Dodd at jodidodd@gmail.com.

Instant Challenge! Build a Boat that holds weight!

2007-09-20T10:04:00.000-07:00