Thanks to donors like you, the Oak Park Education Foundation had a fabulously successful 2010-2011, and we're bringing even more inspiring, hands-on projects and experts into more Oak Park Kindergarten through 8th grade classrooms this year! Check it out online (PDF) or contact us if you'd like a hard copy.

Thank you so much for your support of OPEF and exciting learning experiences for public school kids.

As part of their study of changing weather, light, sky, and seasons this year, all the Holmes 1st graders learned to observe closely like artists during their Art Start drawing and painting workshops with artist and author Sallie Wolf.

Ms. Wolf conducted 6 workshops with each of the first grade classes -- Ms. Collela's, Ms. Merz's and Ms. Yigzaw's. In these photos by Dana Nitzoy from Ms. Yigzaw's 1st grade class, students painted with watercolors, using artist quality paint. They also had graphite sticks and waxed paper, and experimented with drawing over the waxed paper onto the dry watercolor paper to create white lines that showed up once painted was washed over.

Students drew beautiful and interesting "sky portraits" from memory as well as from direct observation.

Thanks to Chicago photographer Dana Nitzoy for this slideshow of photos from the workshops.

The Oak Park Education Foundation's 7th annual Vex Robotics competition between Julian & Brooks students on January 28 was an amazing display of middle school engineering talent. More than 80 sixth-eight graders worked with teachers, volunteer engineers, and high school mentors after school for months to design, build and program inventive robots that showed their stuff on a playing field at the Julian gym in front of a packed house of cheering fans, friends and family.

This year Julian took back the trophy from Brooks in a 319-95 win. But they're not finished -- five teams from each middle school are still preparing for a regional competition in Batavia on February 11 to compete against area teams, most of them high schoolers.

During the Robotics competition, OPEF also held our first Open House showcasing all our programs: Architecture Adventure, Art Start, Science Alliance, Geared Up, Vex Robotics and BASE Camp. The Julian Commons was full of parents and kids, ages 5-12, trying their hands at challenging, educational and fun activities. Kids operated Vex Robots, build pocket totem sculptures, designed LEGO machines and created innovative buildings of LEGOs, experimented with water, rocks and electricity with EPA scientists, and created Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired window designs.

Thanks to all who participated, supported, attended, or followed us on Twitter, including our event sponsors: Aria Group Architects, Forest Park National Bank, Hoy Landscaping, It's A Sign, and Starship Restaurant & Catering.

Make sure to check out our slideshow of photos from the Vex Competition and Open House from photographers Maria Soderburg and Paul Goyette.

The Oak Park Education Foundation's (OPEF's) 7th annual Vex Robotics competition between Julian & Brooks students, who have been designing, building and programming their robots since October, will take place at 9:00 am on Saturday, January 28 in the Julian gym, 416 S. Ridgeland in Oak Park.

During the Robotics competition, OPEF is also holding an Open House showcasing its art, science, architecture and engineering programs in the Julian Commons from 10-noon. It's free and features hands-on projects for kids ages 5-12.

The Vex Robotics competition involves more than 80 middle school students, who work with teachers, volunteer engineers, and high school mentors after school for months to build and program robots that will score points on a playing field in the gym on January 28. The most successful teams will advance to a regional competition and compete against other teams, most of them high schoolers.

The Open House in the Julian Commons is a great place for young Robotics fans to take a break and try their hand at some challenging, educational and fun activities. They can design and build with LEGOs, experiment with EPA scientists, build a pocket totem sculpture, create Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired window designs, and operate a Vex Robot.

The gym will be filled with cheering onlookers. OPEF will have a projection screen for great viewing, an emcee and DJ, food for sale, and hands-on projects for kids at the Open House. Thanks to our event sponsors: Aria Group Architects, Forest Park National Bank, Hoy Landscaping, It's A Sign, and Starship Restaurant & Catering.

Follow the competition on Twitter.

OPEF Open House
Saturday, January 28th
10 am - noon
Julian middle school Commons
416 S. Ridgeland, Oak Park
For children ages 5-12, and it's free

Get the kids out of the house and enjoy some hands-on fun! The Oak Park Education Foundation is showing off its programs and inviting you to take part.

Here's your chance to:

• Design and build with LEGOs
• Create Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired window designs
• Build a pocket totem sculpture
• Operate a Vex Robot
• Experiment with water chemistry and geomorphology with EPA scientists
• Watch the middle school Vex Robotics competition in the gym

Students in Mrs. McDaniel's 4/5 multi-age class at Whittier have been studying magnetism and electricity. Working with their Science Alliance scientist Dave Kupperman, a retired Argonne Laboratory scientist, they conducted a number of experiments demonstrating the properties of magnetism and electricity and how they are interrelated.

Dr. Kupperman told the students "the earth is a magnet" as they experimented with a battery to show how the magnetic north and south poles of the earth pull a compass needle. The students also learned how a manual flashlight works: spinning a magnet inside by squeezing the handle creates electricity. As a final experiment, Dr. Kupperman asked the students to stand in a circle around the room. Each student held an end of a copper tube with her neighbor, so that there was a complete circuit around the circle which then powered a small light bulb. In this way, the students act as electrical conductors because of the water inside their bodies.

Be sure to check out this slideshow of photos by Patti Quilling.

All four 2nd grade at Holmes school teamed up with Gretchen Junker from OPEF's Geared Up program and the two Holmes art teachers, Jon Kristofer and Casey Klemp-Florczak, plus many parent volunteers, to conduct an awesome trimester research project.

Students took walking field trips in the rectangle of Chicago Avenue, Lake Street, Harlem Avenue, and Oak Park Avenue. They worked in teams and mapped out the businesses and houses along their route. Each child wrote and presented a description of their building, and their presentations were videotaped and made into a slide show. They also conducted web research on their community.

Finally, students engaged their math skills by learning how to read a footprint and how to build to scale, and constructed their buildings using LEGOs. The neighborhood they built was realistic and impressive! They showed their creations to family and friends on display in the art room on Specials Night in early December.

Make sure you check out our slideshow of photos -- including shots of the LEGO structures and their real-world inspirations -- by Gretchen Junker.

Olivia N.'s skyline included a concert hall and a harp-shaped building for music classes. "It's not what you are assigned to do but what inspires you," she said.

Olivia is one of the Mann 5th graders in Ms. Klemp-Florczak's art class who recently designed and created their own large-scale skylines, painted on corrugated board. Adrienne McMullen, local architect and coordinator for OPEF's Architecture Adventure, used Chicago's skyline and examples from other cities to give the students a sense of overall skylines as well as landmark buildings.

The skylines were recently on display in the windows of Red Hen Bread, 736 Lake Street in Oak Park.

Part of the project was to learn about mixing colors. Peter G. was experimenting with two different shades of red to get the look of "simulated bricks." Alexandra H. said, "I needed to add more color to make it stand out since when this dries it looks really pale."

James K. created a skyline of chess pieces, sketched and painted with great precision. Katie D's skyline featured a giant hourglass in the center. As she explained, "This end [of the skyline] is sun and summer and this end is winter and the moon, with the hourglass running down in between."

Ms. Klemp-Florczak said, "They have wanted to come in at lunch to work on these. They are really working hard and enthusiastic about it."

Be sure to check out this slideshow of photos by Patti Quilling and Adrienne McMullen.

Local dancer and artist Vickie Cassanova sat in the rocking chair at the front of the classroom, the students intensely focused on the story she was reading to them. Like other stories Ms. Vickie shared with the students over the past few weeks, this story about an Amish girl in Pennsylvania allowed the kids to "visit" another culture.

Via OPEF's Art Start program, the kids in Ms. Louthan's 2nd grade at Beye "travelled" with Ms. Vickie from Africa to the Caribbean and around America. Along the way, she integrated music, dance, art, and clothing into their discussions about how different cultures express their beliefs and their feelings.

Oliver K. said, "I never knew these names and I never knew these places existed." His classmate Louis D. added, "I only knew about certain places and I really would like to learn about more and this is a good chance to get to do that." Charlotte N. agreed that it is "fun to 'travel' to different states and countries."

Students learned about country dancing, the blues, and limbo dancing among others. They visited the District 97 Multicultural Center at Julian, and showcased what they learned with costumes, art, music, and dances in a performance on November 18,

Make sure to check out photos from the event by Oak Park photographer Paul Goyette.

What has been your favorite Science Alliance project?

One thing I do is come into the class in my haz-mat [hazardous materials] suit. Or, to give a sense of how much garbage we produce I bring in sacks of potatoes. All the kids want to hold the 25 pounds of potatoes!

I like my rocks. I bring in the three different kinds of rocks and do some experiments with those, like the shiny pennies in the baking soda and vinegar.

Why are you involved with Science Alliance?

I like the idea of bringing science into the classroom. I think science can be really interesting. I was doing Earth Day projects in the preschool and 1st and 2nd grades, so [working with OPEF] was an opportunity to do the same thing in a slightly different way--with more of a science bent and 2-3 times a year, not just on Earth Day. I've been volunteering for five years.

How did you get interested in science as a career?

I was working with student environmental organizations while at the University of Illinois and that is when I knew I wanted to do something environmental. My major was psychology--environmental psychology--which is sort of a niche market. So I went on to get my masters in earth science. At the time there wasn't an environmental degree-- no environmental engineering, or anything like that. Even the geology before was more studying just rocks and searching for oil, not like what there is today [in environmental studies].

What is challenging about presenting to elementary/middle school kids?

I need to talk less and do more. I am not as interesting to 4th and 5th graders as I think I am! They want to see something happen. It's hard to make these rocks do something! They'd much rather see an explosion.

What area of scientific work/inquiry are you involved with as a professional?

I do environmental consulting. I'll do some remediation [of construction sites], but a lot of it is looking at if there is potential at a site for contamination.

Check out our 2-minute videos of Geared Up and Architecture Adventure LEGO projects:

• Students in the 2nd/3rd grade class of Mr. Podlasek and Ms. Pasquinelli at Longfellow used our LEGO bricks to build early Native American communities. The project helped reinforce the concepts they learned about early Native American culture and the environments in which they lived. In addition to the video, make sure you also check out Oak Park photographer David Kindler's photos.
• At Longfellow, the entire 5th grade built windmills as part of their studies of how to generate and store energy. Photos by Gretchen Junker are here.
• Watch Ms. Turi's Holmes 3rd graders build and test principles of simple machines using wheels and axles (video by Erich Kittlaus).
• Ms. Ndaiye's Holmes 3rd graders show off their Geared Up engineering skills and enthusiasm with a great sound track by Atiba Jali.
• At our summer BASE Camp, Mr. Kristofer and his students showed off their motorized machines (and motorized animals!), made predictions about how they'd operate, and explained how they were made.

OPEF's Art Start program sponsored Oak Park artist Jill Kramer this fall, who led Ms. Worley's and Ms. Murray's 6th grade art classes in the study of socially engaged visual art.

Students critiqued the images they see all around them, and then designed their own images to convey personal meaning. The powerful limited edition screen prints they created incorporated imagery and text as a means to lend youth voice to visual culture in Oak Park. The students focused on the concepts of community and youth participation through visual art as democratic participation. In addition, the students will be exchanging prints with each other in a way similar to that of professional print exchanges undertaken in the contemporary art world. The 6th graders in Oak Park have a lot of important things to say!

You can see a sampling of their work in these photos by Paul Goyette and Patti Quilling, or come see them in person starting Wednesday, October 26, on display in the windows of Oak Park Bath & Kitchen, 136 N. Ridgeland in Oak Park now through November 22.