MOST RECENT VIDEOS

• 00:18 5th Math Calculating Speed Featured

  In our unit on ratios, we calculated our own speed walking through the hallway and compared it to world records in other sports after calculating those speeds.

  Uploaded Dec 21, 2021 by Ryan Cherry
• 2:26 Week 15: Dec. 13-17, 2021

  This week's slideshow depicts: 8th graders conducting a simulation of Natural Selection of bird beak physical traits; 6th graders conducting an investigation into the evolution of the chemical composition of Earth's atmosphere over the past 4.5 billion years; 7th grade fun class photo on our playground that they included in holiday greeting cards they made for each Decatur staff member; and an end to our last school day of the year 2020 with some time spent on SEL community-strengthening activities such as Kahoot review games of class Science content or fun competitive board games!
  
  Happy Holidays and New Year to all of our amazing Decatur JHS Students and Families and I look forward to seeing everyone again on January 3rd of 2022!

  Uploaded Dec 19, 2021 by Gerard Kovach
• 1:31 6th-8th Civic Engagement

  6th, 7th, and 8th graders collected dry goods and reusable water bottles to fill care packages. Students filled the materials they collected into packages that students experiencing homelessness could take home over break.

  Uploaded Dec 17, 2021 by Andrew Brennan
• 1:31 Fill a Heart 4 Kids

  Jr. High worked together to pack over 200 care packages. These packages will help support homeless students who do not have the safety net of school lunches during the winter break. We thank our families for contributing to such a fulfilling opportunity for our students serve others. We are so proud of how our students came together to complete this project.

  Uploaded Dec 17, 2021 by Marianne Sharping
• 00:23 Array City!

  Students are creating a city made up of tall buildings with windows. The windows on each building will represent an array.

  Uploaded Dec 17, 2021 by LeiAnna Carrasco
• 00:52 FIRST Lego League is going to State!

  Congratulations to the 'Steel Turtles' and '2 by 4s' for competing in the City Qualifier on Sunday, Dec. 12 at the University of Chicago's Lab School. Both teams coded a robot to complete as many missions as they could in 2 1/2 minutes. They also presented to judges on how they collaborated together to design and code their robot, while demonstrating their innovation project as well. '2 by 4s' were awarded the 'Champion's Award' and will be moving forward to compete in the State Championship. Great job to both teams! We're so proud of the hard work they have achieved this season! Stay tuned in January for updates on our state championship.

  Uploaded Dec 16, 2021
• 1:11 Selling the Magic Water Advertisement

  4th Graders used their persuasive techniques and knowledge from their novel, Tuck Everlasting, to create their own TV commercials!

  Uploaded Dec 13, 2021 by Katherine Cooper
• 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
• 00:44 Sense of Smell, Sound and Touch Student Investigations Featured

  Students have been learning about how investigations need to have only 1 variable in them in order for their results to be valid and helpful in coming to new understandings. Here is a video of the student tests involved in their investigations.

  Uploaded Dec 11, 2021 by Ryan Cherry
• 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