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Week 5 of JHS Science 2023-24| Research: Inquiring Minds Want to Know

This week's slideshow highlights: Ms. Koreman came to our 7th Grade Science class to present to on what a landscape architect does as a career--7th grade will be spearheading the design and implementation of a Decatur outdoor learning garden and other indoor and outdoor green spaces in collaboration with Nilay Mistry, Decatur alum and landscape architect instructor at IIT; JHS students in grades 6-8 were busy digging into their chosen STEM Fair Project Topics through researching their developed inquiry questions in order to start the path to becoming experts on their topic of inquiry; 5th-8th graders began our Lego League after-school robotics club this week; our 7th grade herpetologist busy caring for Snickers, our class pet bearded dragon lizard; and our class Lake Michigan aquatic ecosystem now has 4 different species of fish caught from Diversey Harbor, including the invasive and strange-looking Gobi. Thank you for checking in with us this week:)

Week 4 of JHS Science 2023| A Mix of Cooperative Group, Partner, and Independent Work in Science

This week's slideshow highlights: 8th graders working in cooperative groups to explore the impact of the introduced species of Nile Perch into Lake Victoria in Africa, and how it affected the lives of those living in the region from both economic and environmental perspectives; 7th graders continued to investigate the impact of a genetic disorder on a patient's daily living; and 6th grade learned more about the issue of "where to store nuclear wastes"; there are some pics of students presenting to their classmates; a few video clips of students beginning their independent research on their chosen STEM Fair Project essential guiding question; 7th grade working in teams to complete the "Pitfall Harry" community-builder challenge; a few shots of our class pet bearded dragon, "Snickers"; and my 8th grade SEL/Advisory class, Room 1013, doing a fun partner activity that challenges their speaking and listening skills. Thank you for checking in with us this week:)

Week 3 JHS Science 2023| Shifting From Routine and Community Building into Curriculum

This week's slideshow highlights: 6th and 7th graders having some fun spending their "Earned Game Time Points" midweek (the class earns points each day for exemplifying our Decatur 3 Pillars of Take Care of Each Other, Being Present, and Endure Challenges); 8th grade started digging into their first SEPUP inquiry unit of study, Ecology, with an investigation into the ecological impact of humans introducing Nile Perch into Lake Victoria in East Central Africa (this unit is setting the stage for our 8th graders partnering with professional ecologists to do work on important environmental restoration projects here in Chicago, Friends of Chicago River & Urban Rivers); thank you for checking in with us this week!

Week 2 JHS Science 2023|More Community-Building Team Challenges & Settling in With Norms

This week's slideshow depicts: all classes participated in a new team challenged based on the vintage Atari video game , "Pitfall Harry", where teams had small stepping mats and hulahoops to mimic rafts that they they used to travel across alligator infested waters; 6th grade also got their chance with the PVC Pipe Challenge; there are a couple of pics of students getting our class ecosystems ready (my 7th grade homeroom class named our new baby bearded dragon, Snickers); and my 8th grade SEL/Advisory class, Ms. Sharping's homeroom 1013, established norms this week for conducting advisory period as they practiced "Turn and Talk to Your Partner vs Whole Group Sharing" on topics where they continued to build community by getting to know each other better. Thank you for checking in with us this week:)

Week 1 JHS Science 2023|Team Building Challenges III & IV

This week in Science, students participated in four different community-building team challenges that offered them opportunities to also display their potential and skills to uphold our 3 Decatur Core Values of: Be Present; Endure Challenges; and Take Care of Each Other". Please ask you child all about these challenges and the lessons they took away from them! Thank you for checking in with us this week:)

Week 1 JHS Science 2023|Team Building Challenge II

This week in Science, students participated in four different community-building team challenges that offered them opportunities to also display their potential and skills to uphold our 3 Decatur Core Values of: Be Present; Endure Challenges; and Take Care of Each Other". Please ask you child all about these challenges and the lessons they took away from them! Thank you for checking in with us this week:)

Week 1 JHS Science 2023|Team Building Challenge 1

This week in Science, students participated in four different community-building team challenges that offered them opportunities to also display their potential and skills to uphold our 3 Decatur Core Values of: Be Present; Endure Challenges; and Take Care of Each Other". Please ask you child all about these challenges and the lessons they took away from them! Thank you for checking in with us this week:)

What'ya been doing all summer? Can't wait to hear all about it on Monday! Check out what I've been up to!

I am excited to see everyone back on Monday and it was nice meeting some of our new Decatur JHS students on Friday at orientation! This slideshow is a glimpse of how I spent my summer break, as you will see, it contains all things science and nature. There are shots of: me taking professional development courses in Breckenridge, CO and up in Milwaukee to learn how to continue growing as your science teacher and for my own continued learning and it was exciting as well as I got to meet and learn with other passionate science teachers from all across the U.S. from Hawaii to Puerto Rico; while in Milwaukee, I also got to reconnect with my nephew and his girlfriend, as he just graduated with his engineering degree from UW Milwaukee; I spent a good # of days doing my favorite hobby, fishing and even got to fish for beautiful brook trout while out in Colorado, as well as fish out of a boat for an afternoon with Mr. Cherry and Mr. Brennan; my family took our annual summer vacation to Maryland and Hank was excited to go on an old 19th century steam engine train ride with me; there is a shot of Dosido as she just retrieved a tennis ball from the in-ground pool while visiting some friends out in Hampshire; there are some cool shots of the Decatur Summer STEM Camp that I led along with Mr. Cheery and Ms. Bernard for our incoming 3rd - 5th grade students; and just this past week, it was fun to reconnect with all of the Decatur staff as we spent Monday at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum--if you have not been there yet go check it out with your family! :)

Week 33 of 2022-23|5th - 8th Grade Science

This week's slideshow highlights: 5th graders working in small cooperative teams to engineer solar ovens to eventually cook smores; 6th grade conducting a lab investigation of the structure and function of cellular membranes; 8th graders exploring how to measure and determine the pH of various substances using red cabbage juice as a pH color indicator. Thank you for checking in with us this week:)

Week 32 of 2022-23| 5th - 8th Grade Science

This week's slideshow highlights: Decatur Track & Field student-athletes practicing for our upcoming regional meet and participating in our first open meet; 5th grader working in small engineering teams to design solar ovens to test; 6th graders doing a lab to investigate cellular respiration of yeast cells; 7th grade exploring a lab simulation to learn how bacteria evolve to become resistant to antibiotics; and last but not least, our 3 Decatur JHS IL State STEM Fair entrants competed with grace down at the State Fair held at Southern IL University, Carbondale! Congratulations to Francesca, Elliot, and Sienna!

Chicago River Annual Cleanup Day: Sign up as a family!

Please make sure to check your email from April 19th from Decatur Together! There is information on how to register your family to participate in the annual "Chicago River Cleanup Day" which will be held on Saturday, May 13th! This is a wonderful opportunity to show our students how to make a positive impact on our natural environment! I will be at the Lechowicz (Indian Road) Woods location and hope to see you there or you may choose from many other locations to volunteer as a family! There is some great information in the Decatur Together email about other upcoming school events and volunteer opportunities!