Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Blake competed in Destination Imagination





Blake was asked along with 6 other classmates to participate in a Destination Imagination group for the past few months. Here is an explanation of what Destination Imagination is:
You've heard of spelling bees, quiz bowls, robotics competitions and science fairs. In fact, there is probably a special event for every subject taught at school. Well, Destination ImagiNation is none of those things – and all of those things! Destination ImagiNation is a place where kids take what they know and what they are good at and learn to apply it to solve challenges, working together and cooperatively with a team and pushing the limits of imagination to best not their competition, but themselves.
Destination ImagiNation is a community-based, school-friendly program that builds participants' creativity, problem solving, and teamwork in enjoyable and meaningful ways.
Teams of five to seven members work together to apply creativity, critical thinking and their particular talents to solve a Team Challenge.
The Destination ImagiNation Team Challenge is a Challenge that is solved over a period of eight weeks or more. There are five competitive Team Challenges from which teams may choose, each with its own educational focus. Each Team Challenge is designed to be open-ended and solvable in many ways and on many levels.
Challenge A: Technical/MechanicalChallenge B: Theater Arts/ScienceChallenge C: Theater Arts/Fine ArtsChallenge D: Theater Arts/ImprovisationChallenge E: Structural & Architectural Design.
There are two parts to the Team Challenge: the Central Challenge and Side Trips. The Central Challenge is a set of required elements that all teams must complete. Side Trips are two additional elements teams create and include in their Presentation.
The Destination ImagiNation Instant Challenge is a Challenge teams are asked to solve in a very short period of time at their Tournament, without knowing ahead of time what the Challenge will be. Teams go into a room and are given a Challenge and the materials with which to solve it. They use their thinking-on-their-feet skills to produce a solution, usually in a period of five to eight minutes!
Blake's group name was the "Righteous rookies" . They did well enough in their regional competition to qualify for state. They recently competed at the state competion (April 26) and took 8th out of 22 teams. They received the highest score on their skit and they only needed 30 more points in the instant challenge to win the competition. They received the Divinci Award for creativity. This is the special award for creativity, imagination and risk taking.
It was a lot of work but the skills they gained far outweighed the extra committment. I was so proud of Blake!

Tanner's Baseball team is doing great!

Parker Sky Sox baseball bash way into World Series
The 8 and under Parker Sky Sox baseball team qualified for the Triple Crown World Series by winning the Triple Crown Baseball Bash tournament in Boulder this past weekend. They swept through the field going 5-0 for the tournament and shutting out their opponent in the championship game 6-0. The World Series tournament will be held July 21-27 in Steamboat Springs and includes some of the best teams from across the country.

Blake Michael Giles

I wanted to share some words about my sweet Blakey. He is amazingly wonderful from the tip of his head to the tip of his toes. He is becoming such a mature young man. He is so very conscientious and full of integrity. He excels in everything he does and has been blessed with many talents. I am so grateful for his role as the oldest child in our family-He truely magnifies it! 10 years has just flown by since I held him in my arms for the first time. I loved him instantly and continue to love him more and more every minute.
I love that he gets excited about things. I love that he talks openly to me about his stressors and accomplishments. I love that he is always wanting to do the right thing. I love that he always kisses me and tells me he loves me, before he goes to school or anywhere. I love to watch him play sports. I love to see how much he enjoys a good book. I love to see his eyes when I suprise him with Taco Bell. I love that he lets me highlight his hair-even after I turned it orange one time. I love that he is polite and cordial to everyone. I love that he can talk to adults comfortably. I love that he is not afraid to be on stage or in the spotlight. I love that he is proud in what he can do, but humble at the same time.
I am one lucky mom to have such an amazing boy.