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Have a safe and happy summer!

THIS IS THE FINAL EDITION OF THE 2008 - 2009 EASD UPDATE

Building a City: A Lesson in Scaling, Proportions and Architecture

In math classes, students were given a chance to use their creative instincts.  They were given the task of designing their very own city using scaling and proportional ratios.  A video segment on Masdar, in Abu Dhabi, motivated the students. Masdar is a planned city that is being made by scholars to run on all recycled and eco-friendly designs. We then had class discussions of what every city has and what sets apart different cities.  

The first step in our design process was to sketch out a rough copy of their city.  The students drew their cities out on graph paper, making sure to keep their buildings to scale according to other buildings within their cities.  The students also had to design roadways around their cities to avoid major traffic problems.  The lesson allowed students the opportunity to be creative, while at the same time teaching them about proportional drawings and scale.

The second step of the design process was to design their cities on Sketch-Up. The students plotted out their cities while keeping everything to scale.  The Sketch-Up program is interesting because the students could create three-dimensional images of their cities.

High School Modern Literature Classes

A cross-curricular connection between History, Literature, and Multimedia classes is taking place at the Academy. Students are exploring Civil Rights topics both with Mr. Jones and on their own during research in Multimedia classes. While in Literature classes, students are reading Pursuit of Happiness while other classes are reading short stories from the My Soul Looks Back in Wonder.  Literature students recorded short summaries to share online, and in the meantime multimedia classes are creating an informational website to educate others about specific Civil Rights Topics.

High School Science

Human Biology

Students will be creating medical brochures on an organ system. In class we covered the respiratory system, circulatory system, muscular system, urinary system. Students can create their brochures one of those systems or they can research another organ system. All organ systems are connected in some way and therefore if students research an organ system that will not necessarily be on the final, they will still be reviewing the organ systems that will be. They can use this project to draw and create their own pictures and diagrams as well as add color to bring their work to life.

Environmental

Students will be creating traveling brochures on one of Earths Oceans. The idea behind the project is to have students research key facts about the ocean of their choice and convince people why they should vacation at that specific ocean. Students will have an abundance of facts as well as drawn pictures in their final copy of their project. By researching the oceans, students will be researching the major topics we covered such as salinity, density, and ocean currents.

Middle School Language Arts Class

Ms. Martin's 8th grade language arts students were asked to write a fiction story. Once they completed their writing process with drafting, editing, and making corrections they created digital stories using Garage Band. Students created these stories by adding pictures, music, and sometimes sound effects to a recording of their original fiction stories. Please enjoy this student sample by Kedeza, Saving the Living Tree. 

Middle School Field Day at Lafayette

On Friday May 15th Students in grades 5-8 at Easton Area Academy were invited to the campus of Lafayette College for Field Day.  Students enjoyed tye-dying t-shirts, a campus tour, lunch, and games, relays and tug-o-war on the stadium turf of Fischer Field.

The event was coordinated by Communities in Schools of the Lehigh Valley, the 21st Century Community Learning Center and the generous students of the Interfraternity and Panhellenic Councils at Lafayette College.

CIS-EAA Student Showcase and Talent Show

Easton Area Academy in collaboration with 21st Century Community in Schools presented student work and held a Talent Showcase last Wednesday. We planned, practiced, performed and families loved our work. The evening began with a student showcase where parents, students, and community members walked through classrooms to view both high school and middle school work samples. In addition, individual students submitted independent work that included photography, drawings, as well as original music developed by some of out students that played during the evening.

During the second part of the evening we moved to the talent portion where several of our students read original poetry, sang, danced, and a group music performance. We even had a group of teachers submit a short music video.

The evening was a huge success and provided us with the opportunity to share how far the Academy has come in such a short time. Staff, parents, and family members all took pride in the efforts of our students.

Math 24 Tournament at EAA

The 5th through 8th grade students at EAA participated in a Math 24 Tournament.  Each student participated within their grade level to find the top two Math 24 students.  The top two students in each grade level then competed in a cross grade level competition.  Prior to this tournament students have worked on 24 in small groups and by using the online component.  Students not only practice basic mathematics facts, they become adept at mental math, communicating mathematically, validating their thinking, and recognizing multiple ways to solve problems.  As a result of implementing Math 24 into our classrooms, students made significant improvements with their math facts and overall Math performance.  The top four places winners were Norman (1st place), Charlie (2nd place), Kadeza (3rd place), and Brent (4th place). 

READ 180 - Grades 5-8

Students have taken their final SRI (Scholastic Reading Inventory) for the year and most students have shown great growth in their reading achievement. They are currently finishing up their independent reading books as well as essays on ancient Egypt, famous African-Americans, and outsourcing. Everyone is doing a great job!

EAA UPDATE

Cheston 4th Grade Travels to Harrisburg

Have you ever seen Irish marble, gold plated paint, or real Tiffany stained glass?  Well, the entire 4th grade class at Cheston Elementary School was treated to those things and more when it traveled to the Pennsylvania state capital, Harrisburg.    About 95 students and 28 parent and teacher chaperones were given a tour of the capitol building where they visited the House of Representative and Senate chambers and this year, the class was given a special look at one of the court rooms used by the State Supreme Court.  A special thank you goes to the Cheston PTA for sponsoring the transportation for this trip.

Before/After Care for Shawnee and March Elementary Schools:

Parents have inquired about whether or not before and/or after care will be available for students at the Shawnee and March elementary schools when they open for the 2009-10 school year.  Currently, both schools are under construction and scheduled for occupancy sometime in late August.

Unfortunately at this time, no provider has been secured and, due to the opening of the new buildings, before and after care will not be in place to begin the 2009-10 school year.

Parents are advised to make other plans with regards to their child's before and/or after care.