Win $$ Plus a Kindle Fire!

CONTEST

The contest is open to all students in the

6th, 7th and 8th grades in West Virginia.

For complete rules and an entry form,

visit www.jaadvantage.com.

ESSAY QUESTION

What do you think are the three biggest

financial decisions you’ll make in your life?

What makes them big?

Pick one decision and describe the steps you

plan to take to prepare for that decision.

“Thanks to the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond for crafting

this year’s essay question on major financial decisions.”

DEADLINE

Essays must be emailed or postmarked on

or before 4:00 pm Friday, April 12, 2013

SEND TO:

to sally@jaadvantage.com or mail essays to:

Junior Achievement of West Virginia, Money Smart Week Essay Contest

1700 MacCorkle Ave., SE, Charleston, WV 25314

PRIZES

Grand Prize Winner

$750 SMART529 College Savings Plan & Kindle Fire

First Place Winner in Each Grade

$300 SMART529 College Savings Plan & Kindle Fire

Second Place Winner in Each Grade

$200 SMART529 College Savings Plan & Kindle Fire

Teacher of Grand Prize Winner

Kindle Fire

*Winners are responsible for all future taxes and fees

incurred as a result of receipt and use of their prizes.

Junior Achievement of West Virginia

Money Smart Week Essay Contest

1700 MacCorkle Ave., SE

Charleston, WV 25314

Robert “Joey” Wiseman Jr.

Social Studies Coordinator

Office of Instruction

We the People: The Constitution in Our Lives
Video Contest

Sponsored by The West Virginia State Bar

The West Virginia State Bar and the West Virginia Department of Education have partnered to offer West Virginia students the chance to win as much as $500 for creating a 3-minute video on “We the People: The Constitution in Our Lives” to be placed on YouTube. The second place finishers win $250. The contest, which is open to West Virginia public school students in grades 6 through 12, gives participants the chance to create a video about what role the Constitution plays in daily life. Judging will be broken into high school and middle school levels. The creators of the first place videos also will be invited to attend The West Virginia State Bar’s Annual Meeting on May 10 at Stonewall Jackson Resort. Videos will be judged based on originality, creativity, adherence to the theme and overall quality. Entries must include a parental permission form for those under the age of 18. Submissions will be accepted from Feb. 15 to March 31. For more information, contact Mike Frazier with the West Virginia State Bar at 304-697-4370, 304-553-7220, ormike@frazierandoxley.com, or the Office of Communication at 304-558-2699.

How to enter:

• Read and agree to the contest rules.
• Make a video!
• Upload your video to Dropbox and make it a public link accessible to everyone. For more information about creating public links on Dropbox, read their help page: How do I link to files in my Dropbox?.
• Submit the contest entry and parental permission form.

Winning videos will be uploaded to YouTube and will be found on The WV State Bar Video Contest Web page at a later date. You can view winning submissions by visiting http://www.youtube.com/user/wveducation

2012 Winners

High School

First place: All about the Constitution by Austin Susman
George Washington High School, Kanawha County

Second place: We the People by Megan Davis
Philip Barbour High School, Barbour County

Middle School

First place: The Constitution in our Lives by Shamil Patel and Andy Michael
Barboursville Middle School, Cabell County

Second place (tie): The Making of our Bicameral Legislature by Daniel Flowers
Mountaineer Middle School, Monongalia County

Second place (tie): An Active American’s Constitution by Nathaniel Flohr
Taylor County Middle School, Taylor County

Robert “Joey” Wiseman Jr.

Social Studies Coordinator

Office of Instruction

Coolidge (photographed around 1924) is heralded by Amity Shlaes as “a rare kind of hero: a minimalist president, an economic general of budgeting and tax cuts.”

Article Courtesy New Yorker Magazine, March 11, 2013 

Read more: http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2013/03/11/130311crbo_books_mallon#ixzz2NdCmiuD0

2013 County Government Essay Contest

April is “National County Government Month” and the County Commissioners’ Association of WV (CCAWV) is hosting our 2^nd annual essay contest for 8th grade students across West Virginia.

This year we have broadened our scope of winners.  There will be a monetary prizes for 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd place student winners. There will also be a monetary prize for the 1^st place winner’s Teacher to be used for classroom activities.  1^st Place Student will receive $300 and teacher will receive $300.   2^nd place Student – $250 and 3^rd place Student – $150.

One of CCAWV’s goals is to increase information and public awareness about county government and the office of County Commissioner.  As an initiative of this goal we are excited to partner with West Virginia educators to encourage students to learn and write about their local county governing body, the County Commission.  (Teachers, for your convenience, we are attaching our brochure about county commission responsibilities.)

Student participants are asked to type a 500-word essay on the topic…..

“How does my county government make life better for me?”

Take a class fieldtrip to a county commission meeting!  Ask your county commissioners to come speak to the class!  Find out what your county commission is working on in your county and encourage your students to write about it from the perspective of an 8^th grader and why it matters to them.

A committee of commissioners and CCAWV Staff will serve as judges of the contest.  All entries must be emailed by 5:00 pm April 30, 2013to qualify.  (Please see complete rules attached)

Entries should be emailed to:  vivian@ccawv.org

For more information, please contact Vivian Parsons at CCAWVvivian@ccawv.org or at 304-345-4639.

A winner will be announced by May 24, 2013

Robert “Joey” Wiseman Jr.

Social Studies Coordinator

Office of Instruction

EverFi has built an entirely new framework to help schools meet standards and teach critical skills

in such areas as Financial Literacy, Student Loan Management, Digital Literacy, and Substance

Abuse Prevention. EverFi curriculum meets both national and emerging state standards in these

subject areas. EverFi learning platforms are provided at no cost to schools, thanks to the

generous support of sponsoring partners, and will be used in more than 3,500 schools across all 50 states this year.i

EverFi enables students to learn using the latest technology, including rich media, high-definition

video, diagrams, and avatars. Our learning platforms not only track knowledge gains but also

measure student attitudes on these important topics. EverFi has nine published studies

documenting the efficacy of several of our education technology platforms.

WWW.EVERFI.COM

EverFi learning platforms are provided at no cost to schools,

thanks to the generous support of sponsoring partners. Skills

Robert “Joey” Wiseman Jr.

Social Studies Coordinator

Office of Instruction

Thinking Geographically About International Issues: The Choices Approach

June 26-28, 2013

Applications are  available at www.choices.edu

Application deadline is Monday, April 8, 2013.

Brown University’s Choices Program invites secondary level geography teachers to apply for a 2013 Summer Institute that focuses on using the Choices approach and curricular materials to ask What is Where, Why, and So What?

Using the scholarship and lessons found in our The United States in Afghanistan unit as a springboard, the Institute will explore how the Choices approach and curricula materials can be implemented to develop geographically literate students, capable of asking and answering the big questions in geography.

The goal of the Institute is to build a community of educators dedicated to sharing best practices for using Choices materials and approach to teach about international issues through a geographic lens.

Participants will:

Benefit from content–rich presentations by university geographers;

Be immersed in the Choices approach to teaching about contested international issues through presentations, curricular modeling, and discussions;

Share best practices and approaches for addressing complex international issues with other educators from across the country; and

Develop plans to share strategies, resources, and insights gained from the Institute with other geography educators.

Housing, meals, Choices curriculum units, and a 20-hour certificate of completion are provided.

There is no fee for the Institute, but participants are required to cover their own travel to and from Providence, RI.

Participants are expected to conduct outreach activities upon completion of the Institute. Choices will provide materials for these activities.

The Choices Program, Watson Institute for International Studies,www.choices.edu/pd/geo-2013

Robert “Joey” Wiseman Jr.

Social Studies Coordinator

Office of Instruction

A new 90-minute documentary from West Virginia Public Broadcasting explores the economic, environmental, cultural, historical and geographic impact of the largest federally protected system of rivers east of the Mississippi. Three Rivers: The Bluestone, Gauley and New examines the ongoing relationship between mankind and nature in this region. The film is a combination of travelogue, examination of efforts to improve the environment, and a mechanism for promoting economic growth through tourism.

Three Rivers is available for viewing on West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s YouTube channel.

http://www.youtube.com/user/WVPublicBroadcasting

In addition, each school and library system in West Virginia will receive a complimentary DVD for classroom use. The Department of Education will distribute these through the usual delivery channels.

If you view the documentary, alone or as part of a lesson plan, we’d love to hear your feedback so that we can improve upon future endeavors. Please send an e-mail to: feedback@wvpubast.org with Three Rivers in the subject line. Robert “Joey” Wiseman Jr. Social Studies Coordinator Office of Instruction.

Courtesy- 

Robert “Joey” Wiseman Jr. Social Studies Coordinator