The Spartan Science Olympiad team has hit the ground running this year. After finishing 1st place at Regionals and 11th place at State last year, we are on a quest for continued success on ongoing improvement. We competed in two early-season virtual tournaments this month against some of the top teams in the country to sharpen our skills and get a taste of next-level challenges. While the program is designed for 6th-9th graders, we have students as young as 4th and 5th grade who are eager to learn science and engineering. We look forward to an exciting year…Go Spartans!

“Only through direct energy can great work be accomplished.”

Fifth grade concluded their unit of Energy this week. Instead of a conventional assessment, each student planned and created an “Energy Robot” that exhibited different forms of energy. In addition to the creation of the robot, students had to put their ideas into writing.

After sailing for weeks in the Age of Exploration, the fifth graders have finally landed on the coast of North America. They studied the first attempt at an English colony — Roanoke — and its uncertain end. When the students learned that the Roanoke colonists had mysteriously disappeared, they were determined to get to the bottom of this mystery. Each group was given evidence and clues to form a hypothesis about the end of the Roanoke Colony and presented their findings to the class.

At the end of the unit, we are still not completely sure what happened to the Roanoke colonists, but we are determined to see that the Jamestown colony does a better job of surviving!

“You matter-unless you multiply yourself by the speed of light squared-then you energy!”

Fifth grade started the year in Science with the study of the physical properties of matter; such as mass, density, conductors/insulators, magnetism, texture, color, and even taste! Students were asked to create an “alien” with different physical properties of matter, all determined by a roll of a die! Each student demonstrated his or her knowledge of physical properties of matter with a unique “alien.”

By Susie Rogers, 5th-8th ELA

Teaching is the highest form of understanding.’ –Aristotle

Reviewing grammar concepts took a little twist! The students were asked to be the teacher and “show what they know!” Students first had to correct a paragraph with numerous errors on their own, and then they volunteered to come teach the class about one of the mistakes. Grammatical errors included spelling, their, they’re, there misuse, interrogative sentences, verb tenses, capitalization, and comma usage.

Students made the correction, and then explained the reasoning behind it! They always had a “tap-out” option if they got stuck! It has been proven that to know a concept is one level, but it can be temporary. However, if a student is able to teach the concept, that knowledge will not be forgotten.