MOST RECENT VIDEOS

• 2:12 Decatur LEGO League Team Participates in Regional Tournament

  Our Decatur Lego League students participated in their Regional Tournament this Saturday at Michele Clark High School. Ms. Mendoza and I are so proud of both of our teams, The Golden Bricks and The Mini-figures! We had 22 students in total who were comprised of a mix of energetic, creative, and determined 5th, 6th, 7th, & 8th grade students! Team members learned so many skills that they will build upon as lifelong learners such as: problem-solving under pressure; gracious professionalism while learning to work as a team to complete a shared mission; computer science and engineering design practices; planning and delivering a team research-based presentation to professional engineers; and the importance of maintaining a growth mindset amidst challenges and adversity! Thank you parents for all of your support this year and we look forward to our team members continued collaboration to improve their knowledge and skills to prepare for next year!

  Uploaded Dec 11, 2022 by Gerard Kovach
• 3:09 Week 15 of 2022-23| JHS Science

  This week's slideshow highlights: Several pics of 7th and 8th graders conducting the last stages of their STEM Fair Projects--testing their hypothesis and collecting-analyzing-interpreting their data; Several pics of 7th and 8th graders participating in other students' STEM Fair Project experiments as test subjects; 7th graders conducting a lab to collect evidence of plants giving off oxygen during photosynthesis in high light conditions and using oxygen during cellular respiration in low light conditions; 8th grade debating the tradeoffs of human use of plastic, aluminum, and glass for single use drink containers as part of their new unit, Chemistry of Materials; 6th graders exploring a computer simulation to investigate the different types of lithospheric plate interactions and movement as part of their Geologic Process unit; and a pic of a rare sighting of our class catfish, Leroy, in our aquatic Lake Michigan ecosystem. Thank you for checking in with us this week:)

  Uploaded Dec 11, 2022 by Gerard Kovach
• 00:19 Science| Modeling Plant and Animal Structures

  Students used their materials to model how a plant or animal's structure can be a defense against predators. They used: clay, a comb, toothpicks, tissue paper, pencil eraser tops and a cup. So fun to see the creativity and inspiration students drew from our science text, Spikes, Spines and Shells: A Handbook of Defenses.

  Uploaded Dec 09, 2022 by LeiAnna Carrasco
• 00:10 Measuring objects all around us

  This week students used their rulers to find objects that were about 1ft long in our classroom space.

  Uploaded Dec 09, 2022 by LeiAnna Carrasco
• 00:26 Reading and math rotations!

  Give me a math rotations, and the kids are crushing it! Students get to practice a skill independently, solve a puzzle with a partner, and play games that help increase fluency.

  Uploaded Dec 06, 2022
• 00:11 4th Grade Fitness Day

  This is one of our weekly fitness days.
  
  We focus on increasing our muscular strength and cardiovascular endurance.

  Uploaded Dec 05, 2022
• 00:56 4th Cranberry Lab Featured

  Students explored whether or not cranberries float in water through an investigation.

  Uploaded Dec 04, 2022 by Ryan Cherry
• 1:34 Week 14 of 2022-23| 5th-8th Grade Science

  This week's slideshow highlights: students observing the transfer of energy between organisms and predator prey relationships in our classroom Lake Michigan Aquatic Ecosystem during feeding times; 6th grade students have been busy working in cooperative groups of engineers to design experiments backed up by their team's research to test variables that impact the effectiveness of "green roofs", which they learned can help combat problems such as the "Urban Heat Island Effect" and urban runoff that often leads to increased flooding of cities like Chicago; an 8th grade scientists setting up their STEM Fair Project experiment that they devised to investigate natural substances that can be used to fight bacteria on surfaces; and 5th grade class enjoying some hard-earned game time as they played cooperative board games and card games at the end of class on Friday to continue to strengthen our classroom community! Thank you for checking in with us this week!

  Uploaded Dec 03, 2022 by Gerard Kovach
• 00:09 5th and 1st Grade TEAM up!

  5th Graders worked to assist 1st graders in a measurement activity involving standard and non-standard units to measure objects in the classroom. 5th grade is working on unit conversions and 1st grade is learning how to measure!

  Uploaded Dec 02, 2022 by Andrew Brennan
• 00:15 Measurement Outdoors

  Students had to find 5 objects outdoors to measure with their meter sticks.

  Uploaded Dec 02, 2022 by LeiAnna Carrasco