MOST POPULAR VIDEOS

• 00:50 Coding & Penguins in Disguise

  Our Makerspace has been busy this week as Decatur's FIRST Lego League prepared for a city qualifier on Sunday, December 12. FIRST Lego League were not the only ones coding this week, as 7th and 8th graders explored using Sphero Bolt robots to get through a maze. Students will explore using both the 'joystick' feature as well as block coding to get through the maze. Meanwhile, inspired by the story "Tacky the Penguins" students in K-4 have been designing disguises to save a penguin. Check back next week for our final disguises and updates from our city qualifier on Sunday!

  Uploaded Dec 10, 2021
• 00:20 Day of Play

  The third graders had fun creating during our "Day of Play".

  Uploaded Feb 05, 2020
• 1:19 Decatur JHS STEM Fair

  All 7th & 8th grade students recently presented their STEM Fair Projects to their classmates and last week several students chose to present their projects to volunteer judges at our Decatur JHS STEM Fair. 5 students, two 8th graders and three 7th graders have advanced to represent Decatur at CPS Regional STEM Fair Competition!
  
  A special thank you to all of the volunteer STEM Fair Judges, who also share a passion for STEM learning, and included some professional engineers, Northwestern University STEM students, CPS Dept. of STEM leaders, and our very own Decatur LSC members: Megan Redfern; Dan Xu; and Norman Gelfand.

  Uploaded Jan 21, 2023 by Gerard Kovach
• 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
• 1:37 Design a pencil box that can hold at least 6 new pencils, with a handle AND has a lid that closes. Are YOU up to the challenge?

  Students had fun designing pencil cases this week in Makerspace. Agreeing on a group plan was tricky at first, but it was great to see how students combined their ideas together to make their design. One group even managed to create one pencil case with three different ways to close it! Students in 1st grade were even able to explore Makerspace stations this week, figuring out how to manipulate their manipulatives to create the design they wanted. What an exciting week!

  Uploaded Oct 15, 2021
• 3:49 End of November and Into December: Nov. 30-Dec.10

  This week's slideshow highlights: 6th graders working as teams of meteorologists forecasting the weather across the U.S. and also teams of engineers designing and testing tools meteorologists use such as wind veins and anemometers; 7th graders wrapped up their unit "From Cells to Organisms" by working as epidemiologists to collect data to diagnose the source of an infectious disease outbreak, and they also explored the first lesson in our next unit, Reproduction, by learning about genetic conditions such as one known as Marfan Syndrome; and our 8th graders dug into a unit exploring Evolution by investigating how evolution works in real time in terms of bacteria building up antibiotic resistance to overuse and patients not taking them as prescribed, and they also explored how environment impacts which traits nature will select for such as a worm color trait in populations of worm species and how easily birds would be able to find them as a food source.

  Uploaded Dec 12, 2021 by Gerard Kovach
• 2:13 Engineering Designs in Makerspace

  It's been a busy week in Makerspace! Students have been exploring the Engineering Design Process by designing pencil boxes, as well as free creations using Makerspace Bins. We had a first time experience in class, where students were given a budget for their materials. Students needed to design a monster for $5 or less. Can't wait to see what they come up with!

  Uploaded Oct 22, 2021
• 00:19 Gingerbread House Challenge

  Design a house using the materials you purchased. Your house must withstand the harsh winds of Candy Land.

  Uploaded Dec 22, 2022 by LeiAnna Carrasco
• 00:40 How to Become President Featured

  Students learned about the process needed for them to become President!

  Uploaded Nov 14, 2020 by Ryan Cherry
• 1:25 Investigating Frog Calls!

  A second grade student extended our lesson on frog calls and created his own video about the frogs in our neighborhood!

  Uploaded Oct 30, 2020 by Katie Andorka