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Students graph orbit equations to determine if asteroids have chance of colliding with Earth… some do!
Click here to learn more.
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Students use math to calculate how long it would take to travel to Mars, Neptune, and even Alpha Centauri using various spacecraft. Better bring some snacks.
Click here to learn more.
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An optional second day of the Gravity Drop Lab,
where students graph time of fall vs. top speed.
The slope of the line is a very familiar 9.8!
Click here to learn more.

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Students take an image of the winter sky
and make their own constellation, complete
with an illustration and backstory.
Click here to learn more.

 

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Students compare how closely species are positioned on Darwin’s evolutionary tree with modern information about DNA. The conclusion? Darwin got it right!
Click here to download Page 1 or Page 2 or Page 3. 
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Students observe seven different replica skulls
from the species homo neanderthalensis, australopithecus afarensis, homo sapiens, and others.
Click here to learn more.
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Students watch a video and then answer questions
about how malaria has rebounded due to the use of
DDT and the evolution of mosquitoes.
Click here to download.

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Nothing fancy on the first day of school.
Just an old-fashioned discussion of the syllabus.
Click here to download.
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On the second day of class, students
decorate their binders with illustrations
representing each of the year’s seven units.
Click here to learn more.

Thank you all for a wonderful year! The Orange Cluster teachers were blessed, yet again, with a fantastic group of kids. They were hardworking, respectful, positive students from September all the way until June. And for that we are tremendously grateful.

In class today, we began by watching the end-of-year video (above) and then followed with the year’s-end awards. In addition to giving awards for the highest average, the best effort, the best participation, and the most-improved student in each class, we also found out which students were the winners of our Applying for Jobs project:

Naval Engineer – Lexi Dahlquist
Doctor – Maddie Hobson
NASA Chemist – Lauren Camire
Maritime Navigator – Alyssa Fleming
Aerospace Engineer – Paige Manning
Evolutionary Biologist – Grace McAlpine
Environmental Scientist – Kathleen Byrne

Congratulations to the students above, and to all of this year’s students, on a job well done. You will have a great year next year, of that I’m sure. And I hope you carry the lessons of 8th grade with you through high school and beyond.

Sincerely,
Mr. A

 

Today, students finished the Applying for Jobs project. Tonight, our seven experts will review the resumes and choose a winner in each category. The student who “gets the job” will win a prize tomorrow. And thus ends our final capstone project of the year. Thank you for all the hard work, everyone.

Today, students continued to work on the Applying for Jobs project. Their completed resumes and cover letters will be due on Thursday evening, just in time for out experts to review the resumes and choose the winners. Those who missed class are expected to complete the project at home. The winners will be announced on Friday.

Today, students continued working on the Applying for Jobs project. After choosing which job they would like to apply for, they began writing their resumes and cover letters. This included deciding on references, recapping their education, and even calculating their GPAs. Students will continue work on their resumes tomorrow and Thursday. After that, they will be finished for homework.