Odyssey of the Mind (OotM)
Odyssey of the Mind (OotM) is an international program designed to provide creative problem-solving opportunities for children from Kindergarten to college. ROE has a very strong tradition with OotM and it is one of the more popular extra-curricular activities at our school. OotM teams are generally made up of students in the same grade, coached by parents. Parents also help with judging and running OotM workshops, with some teacher involvement in these areas as well. This page provides several sections of information.
Are you creative?
Do you like working on a team?
Is thinking your game?
Then, you need to join…..ROE Odyssey of the Mind!
Overview
Teams are composed of five to seven members. Teams hold meetings after school and on weekends off campus. Parents and coaches are responsible for establishing meeting times and locations. Coaches must be at least 18 years old.
ROE OotM is a volunteer program. Interested coaches and students should send in their names to Michele Dahlquist (Mdahlqui@houstonisd.org) who will help build teams. The number of children we serve is contingent upon the number of parents willing to coach. The only way to guarantee a spot on a team for your child is to coach!
ROE is limited to 15 Division 1 teams (3rd to 5th grade). In the past, ROE has been able to have as many Primary teams (K thru 2nd grade) as we wanted. Although the Primary
Problem is open to K-2nd grade, we encourage parents to wait until 2nd grade!
Letter to Parents
Dear Parents,
Welcome to ROE’s own OotM web page. ROE has a long 27-year history with Odyssey of the Mind, and we welcome everyone to join in September-October. Teams usually begin meeting no later than October about once a week after school or on weekends off campus. It is highly recommended to add an additional weekly meeting in January to provide more time to finish the long term solution in preparation for the Regional Tournament in February-March.
In early September, experienced coaches will visit the 2nd-5th grade classrooms and demonstrate the kind of fun kids can expect in the OotM program — spontaneous and long-term creative problem solving. Parents are then invited to attend the Parent Awareness Meeting about a week later to ask questions, find out more details, and sign up. Through-out the year, other meetings and resources are made available to coaches and teams: mentoring by experienced coaches, Coach Trainings, and Spontaneous Workshops for teams. All dates are posted on this web site. For more questions, anyone can log onto the international web site at www.odysseyofthemind.org. Also, feel free to contact our OotM Coordinators or Michele Dahlquist (mdalqui@houstonisd.org) any time!
Please join the fun and have a great Omer experience!
Creatively speaking,
Sarah Slemmons
ROE Odyssey of the Mind Volunteer Coordinator
Contacts and Coordinators
Important Dates for 2009-2010
| September 1, 2009 | Long Term Problems Released For instructions about how to get them, contact Sarah Slemmons (sslemmons@yahoo.com) |
| September 11, 2009 | Classroom Visitation Day |
| September 18, 2009, 8:00-9:00am |
Parent Awareness Morning – Sign up for OotM begins. |
| September 18, 2009, 4:00-5:00pm |
Parent Awareness Afternoon – Sign up for OotM. |
| September 22, 2009, 6:30-7:30pm |
ROE Coach Awareness – Brief introduction designed to encourage new coaches. |
| TBA | ROE OotM Fundraising Meeting |
| Tuesday, October 6, 2009 6:00 A.M. | Division I: Choose Problems – Coaches, please email your team’s problem request (1st and 2nd choice) to Michele Dahlquist (mdahlqui@houstonisd.org). Newly Posted: 9/30/09– In order to allow more time for the newly-formed teams to meet and choose problem choices, an extension has been made to Tuesday, October 6th. Please wait until this day to submit your team’s problem choices. |
| October 3, 2009 9:00am-12:00pm |
ROE Coach Training and Workshop |
| October 10, 2009 | 9th Annual Spring Theatre Arts & Odyssey Workshop – Contact Iris Story at omers5@aol.com |
| October 24, 2009 8:30am-12:30pm |
HARO Regional Coaches Training (Free and Optional) Sharpstown High School |
| October 31, 2009 | Deadline for ROE Team Rosters and T-shirt Orders – Submit forms to Sarah Slemmons |
| December 5, 2009 8:30am-12:30pm |
ROE Spontaneous Workshop – ROE Teams Only. Two 2-hour blocks of time (8:30-10:30 or 10:30-12:30). One volunteer judge per team required from 8-12:30 (untrained judge is OK, but experience is preferred).This workshop will give students an opportunity to work through several spontaneous problems similar to ones they will encounter at the OotM competitions. Spontaneous problems are a component of the OotM competition (the long-term problem being the other component). |
| December 5, 2009 8:30am-12:30pm |
OotM Exploratorium – Cafeteria. Let your team have fun exploring and playing: Very Fun! Teams will be introduced to a carnival of activities which will increase their skills in spontaneous: incline planes, magnets, catapults, levers and cantilevers, elasticity, building with spaghetti, etc. |
| December-January | Online HARO Team Registration for Regionals – Coach responsible for registering team for Regionals which also includes listing Judge and Volunteer at www.txodyssey.org. School pays Registration fee. |
| December-January | Online HARO Judge Registration – Judge responsible for registering online at www.txodyssey.org. |
| January 30, 2010 8:00am-12:00pm |
Houston Area Judges Training (REQUIRED) – One judge per team is required to participate in OotM and must be committed to three dates: Training (1/30/2010), Regional Tournament (all day-2/27/2010) and State Tournament (all day -4/17/2010). All Houston teams including Primary and Division I teams (and even for teams not advancing) must provide the same judge for all these dates! No exceptions! No alternates! Judge Training Location: Sharpstown High School |
| January 30, 2010 | Spontaneous Workshop – At Spring Oaks Middle School (contact Iris Story at omers5@aol.com) |
| February 1, 2010 | Deadline to submit your team picture for ROE Yearbook – Don’t disappoint your kids! Get this team picture in! |
| February 20, 2010 | ROE Presentation Day – Optional – Team Decides – Division I early a.m. ; Primary late a.m. or early afternoon |
| February 27, 2010 All day |
Houston Area Regional Tournament – Trained judge and volunteer required for all teams.Paul Revere Middle School |
| April 9, 2010, 6:30pm-8:30pm |
ROE State Finalist Spontaneous Workshop |
| TBA | World Planning: Coach Meeting with Michele Dahlquist |
| April 17, 2010 All day |
Texas State Tournament – Trained judge and volunteer required for all teams, even those not advancing to State!Spring Woods High School |
| May 26-29, 2010 | World Finals, Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI |
