Mr. Plaster's Class

Lexington Starts Quiz Bowl Season 2-1

2012-02-04T14:21:00.000-08:00

Lexington High School's Quiz Bowl Season is off to a tremendous start, as its A team came away from the first meet with a 2-1 record in the Triad Conference of NCASA's unprecedented weekly conference play.

Coached by Dr. Keith Curry, the A team is made up of LSH seniors Sethea Seang (captain), Marcus Johnson, Daniel Owens, Crystal Nem, and Jennifer Rivera. "It was SO fun! I wish we could do this every Friday night of the year," said one of the players. LSH also fielded a second team made of sophomores Alex Leng (captain), Arefa Bacchus, Karan Deocharan, and Ariadna Martinez.

For the first time in North Carolina history, quiz bowl teams are competing in "conference play" on a weekly basis; the North Carolina Association of Scholastic Activities (NCASA) is sponsoring this six-week long period of contests that will lead up to the District Competition on Saturday, March 10. At the district competition, Lexington will field a single team and will battle to go to the State Championship on March 24th.

With two, top-ten finishes in state championship academic competitions (one at the Science Bowl and the other at Twelve), Lexington Senior High is ranked 2nd out of 79 member schools in NCASA's Scholastic Cup standings. The annual cup's winner is billed as the "top high school in the state."

The standings for the weekly quiz bowl conference can be followed here: http://ncscholastic.org/index.php/quizbowl/101-conference-quiz-bowl-standings

LSH Scholastic Director Scott Plaster also attended the meet, saying, "I was very impressed with all of our students' performances tonight. This helps show that our students can compete with the smartest students anywhere in the state. It takes an entire faculty and the entire school to prepare students for this type of competition."

Lexington High School will play host to other schools on Fridays Feb. 24 and March 2, both at 4:30. Spectators are welcome to attend.

LSH Science Finishes 8th in NC Science Bowl

2012-02-02T09:28:00.000-08:00

Four Lexington Senior High Students in the NC Region of the Science Bowl on Saturday, January 28 and brought home another top-ten state finish to put the school second in the NCASA Scholastic Cup standings. The LSHS team competed admirably against even the repeating champions from the NC School of Science and Math, winning three straight toss-ups before the half. They were also able to beat a team from Raleigh Charter School, a school that made it to the semi-finals. Team members were MiKayla Cross, Evan McIntosh, Sethea Seang, and Alexander Leng. The team was coached by science teacher extraordinaire Kristen Wall.

The Science Bowl is sponsored by the US Department of Energy and the NC contest was held in Durham on the NC Central campus. A general opening and introduction was planned for all teams on Friday, and the competition started early Saturday morning and lasted into the afternoon.

It takes an entire faculty to prepare our students for such academic challenges. Congratulations to all teachers at the school who have taught these students, in any subject. Lexington High School has some of the best teachers and students anywhere. We can and will become recognized for our academics if we all continue to work together in our goal of excellence.

High School Competes in State Championship Academic Competition

2011-12-09T10:49:00.000-08:00

Lexington Senior High School competed in its first state championship of the school year on Saturday, December 3, but it wasn't in basketball, wrestling, or even football. In fact, the contest was an academic competition, and the team was made up of some of the brightest students in Lexington.

The competition is called "Twelve" and hosted by the North Carolina Association for Scholastic Activities, of which LSHS is a member school. The NCASA sponsors a number of academic competitions for its member schools all across the state. Twelve students make up each team and they are presented with rounds of twelve different topics with twelve questions per category. At the end of the day, the Lexington team amassed 36 points, narrowly behind the next two highest schools, finishing in eight place overall.

Lexington's eighth-place finish gives it 20 points in the NCASA's Scholastic Cup competition, which is billed as the ranking of the "best schools in the state." Competing against Lexington were some of the most reputed schools in North Carolina, including Myers Park from Charlotte, which regularly competes in academic contests even on a national level. Myers Park finished in 3rd place, while Ardrey Kell, also of Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools was the champion. Both schools have enrollments of over 2,000 students. Finishing second was Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy of Rutherford County.

The Lexington Twelve Team is coached by English teacher Dawn Poole. Team members are Furwah Hassan, Daniel Owens, Marcus Johnson, Sethea Seang, Alex Leng, Mikayla Cross, Camille Miller, Josey Parker, Arefa Bacchus, Suzannah Brown, Evan McIntosh, and Crystal Nem. The team was selected from a larger pool of applicants and teacher nominations from grades 9-12. The team proceeded to the state championship after a preliminary competition held in October and final team selections were based on regular team study and practice sessions held by Ms. Poole.

The two-hour competition was a grueling experience for its participants, and the team's performance holds promise for future contests. Student comments included, "It does make you feel bad when you don't know an answer, but it also makes you feel really good about how much you do know and how much you have learned." Another said, "This makes me want to go back and tell all my teachers how thankful I am that they worked so hard to teach me all of this." Students kept a positive outlook: "We'll win next year."

"Lexington High School students competed admirably in the Twelve State Final held this past weekend. Their outstanding performance in US History, Algebra / Geometry, and Life Sciences led them to an eighth place finish. These scholars represented Lexington High School well and has earned their current eighth place standing in the NCASA Scholastic Cup standings," said NCASA Executive Director Leon Pfeiffer.

LSHS Scholastic Director Scott Plaster said that this is just the first of a string of related competitions that the school will compete in this year. "Our students need to know something beyond the walls of our own school. Challenging them to compete against the brightest minds in the state should give them that hope. There's no reason why Lexington cannot become as well known for academics as it is for athletics." The school now has an entire coaching staff for a slew of academic contests in history, math, science, writing, glee club, quiz bowl, speech, and even chess. Last year the school competed in only one of those competitions, but this year the program expands to at least a half a dozen academic contests.

The NCASA was formed last year to promote academic competition across the state. Its membership nearly doubled from last year; 76 schools this year are eligible to compete, including a few entire school systems. Other schools include small charter and magnet schools that have an intensive academic focus. Upcoming events include weekly Quiz Bowl conference play, a statewide Glee Club competition, and the Quill writing contest. More information about the NCASA, including contest schedules and descriptions, member schools, and practice materials, can be found on the organization's website at http://ncscholastic.org.

Lexington High Chess Team Competes in Asheboro Open

2011-11-14T07:08:00.000-08:00

The Lexington High School Chess Team competed in a regional tournament in Asheboro this weekend against players of all ages from around the area. The following players competed: Nico Reyes, Charles Milam, Daniel Owens, Karran Harold, Karan Deocharran, and Mr. Plaster. Mr. Plaster and Charles each earned one victory, and Nico won two of his three games. Mr. Plaster and Nico also earned official rankings, but both lost to the same player who was rated over 1400.

The Chess club meets Tuesday and Thursdays in Room 15 on the blue hall. It is free to join, but there are sometimes fees to compete in tournaments. The team is preparing to compete in the state championship in March.

Before Hip Hop was Hip Hop

2011-10-28T06:45:00.000-07:00

We will use some of these resources for our lesson on "Before Hip Hop Was Hip Hop" --

Songs of the Early 1980's before Hip Hop was born:

Early Influential Hip Hop songs:

An Online Self-Test on the Reading Assignment:

http://www.phschool.com/webcodes10/index.cfm?wcprefix=epa&wcsuffix=6301&area=view&x=13&y=11

HOMEWORK due Tuesday, November 1:
Post a reply below to these questions: What is YOUR definition of Hip Hop Music? After listening to the songs above, put a link to one of your favorites of your own.

Vocabulary:

Vocabulary FOR "Before Hip Hop..."

1) palpable - able to be touched, felt, handled -- tangible

2) E N T R E N C H E D - rooted, firmly established, unmovable

3) lexicon - the language used in a particular subject area

Rap & Hip Hop Trivia

2011-09-21T06:14:00.001-07:00

Follow this link to test your knowledge of Rap and Hip Hop music trivia: http://www.funtrivia.com/quizzes/music/music_mixture/rap_and_hip-hop.html

Night of the Twisters Research Activity

2011-09-21T05:30:00.001-07:00

DIRECTIONS:
1) Answer the questions on your handout using these websites:

Tornadoes Resources
http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/watch/tornado/expert/thompsonanswers.htm
http://skydiary.com/kids/tornadoes.html
http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/general/lib/tornado.html
http://www.nssl.nooa.gov/NWATornado/
http://weather.com

2) NEXT: See how tornadoes behave by watching these videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNL7ASvl4k4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQDkmziz1n8&feature=relmfu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgETbUXJl6U&feature=related

Chess Club Rolling at LSH

2011-09-13T18:00:00.000-07:00

Our school's new chess club, advised by Mr. Plaster, has gotten off to a great start! The club meets each Tuesday and Thursday in Room 15 from 3:35 to 4:35, with time for learning and for game play. The club is open to all grades and all experience levels, with members from beginner all the way to students who have competed in regional tournaments.

Prompted by Principal Taylor, the club has also begun hosting chess games during all three lunches. Mr. Plaster tracks the games and they will be calculated into individual player rankings. Mr. Plaster spent the summer collecting a variety of interesting chess sets for his players, including Renaissance knights, Chinese warriors, Tahitian natives, and even a hand-carved set from Africa.

The LSH chess team will travel to regional tournaments, including the state chess championship in the Spring, and also host a school-wide chess tournament later this year.

Even with competing schedules, students are encouraged to attend whenever possible. For athletes playing a fall sport, they can begin attending when the season is over.

This club is an opportunity for students to have a challenging outlet to expand their intellectual abilities without being focused solely on book knowledge, although players will study the game and increase their skills as far as possible through rigor, competition, and FUN.

For more information, students should inquire with Mr. Plaster in Room 15.

Chess Club By-Laws

2011-09-07T19:07:00.000-07:00

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Chess Club Meetings - Tuesday & Thursday

2011-09-07T18:59:00.000-07:00

The Chess Club will have regular meetings on Tuesdays and Thursdays immediately after school in Room 15 until 4:30 (in time for the late bus).

We will begin Thursday, September 8.

New CHESS Club at LSHS

2011-08-20T09:32:00.000-07:00

To respond to the student interest in this area, I'm starting a Chess Club this year at LSHS. Last year during 5th period, Ms. Poole and I coordinated a chess tournament with 16 students participating. All eight of my students just so happened to be male, and her eight students were all female, coincidentally. Freshman Joel Navarrette was the ultimate winner.

I will be taking applications for chess club membership during the first few weeks of school. Tentatively, we will meet two times per week after school, the first for training and the second for game play. If you want to come to game day, you have to come to training day. That's fair, isn't it?

For more details, check the Chess Club page.

Parent Letter for Active Reading and Intro. to English:

2011-08-19T21:16:00.000-07:00

Parents:

Your son or daughter is in my "Active Reading" or "Introduction to English" class this semester. I am excited about the new semester and I know that you are, too. I am proud to be teaching at Lexington Senior High School and have high expectations and goals for the class and for your child.

Students in Active Reading were selected for this class based on their performance on the EOG and other tests, their classes, and a placement test that I gave them. Our school feels like this class could be an important way for your child to become a better reader and do better in school. Students in Introduction to English have this first semester to prepare them for English I in the Spring.

Please review the Course Syllabus (Active Reading or English I) with your child, which I have discussed with the class. I would like you to review it, particularly to note 1) class rules, 2) the types of assignments students will be given, and 3) the materials needed for class.

I have a class website that will be a very useful tool to help us communicate about class, post assignments and reminders, and use to link to learning resources. The terrific news is that our entire Freshmen class will be getting a personal laptop computer later this semester.

I also wanted you to know that I believe in communicating regularly with the parents of my students. An easy way for me to do that is through e-mail, so if you are reading this online, please go to my home page and submit your email address on the right hand side under "Get Email Updates." That way, you will get automatic email updates when I add something to the website.

This is my seventh year as a public school teacher. You can read more about me and my background on my About page at http://mrplastersclass.blogspot.com/p/about-mr-plaster.html.

If there is anything I can do to be of assistance, please let me know. Don’t hesitate to contact me at school (336.242.1574) or e-mail at splaster@lexcs.org. Please sign and return this letter with your child by Monday, August 29.

Sincerely,

S. Plaster

Parent Email Address:

Parent Signature:

Student Name: