{"id":1552,"date":"2019-07-17T10:00:58","date_gmt":"2019-07-17T14:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rutherfordschools.org\/lincoln\/?p=1552"},"modified":"2019-07-16T13:49:56","modified_gmt":"2019-07-16T17:49:56","slug":"summer-enrichment-academy-goes-under-the-sea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rutherfordschools.org\/lincoln\/summer-enrichment-academy-goes-under-the-sea\/","title":{"rendered":"Summer Enrichment Academy Goes Under the Sea"},"content":{"rendered":"

This year Rutherford Public Schools introduced a Summer Enrichment Academy to provide students with academic experiences based on gifted and talented teaching principles.\u00a0 Students attend class from 8:30- 12:30 p.m. and engage in\u00a0 thematic units using hands-on exploration.\u00a0 Students investigate a topic for the week.\u00a0 The first topic, “Under the Sea” was a splash! Students swam through the first week!\u00a0 They dove in head first learning about what can be found \u201cUnder the Sea.\u201d In Reading, students used their strategies to identify main idea, problem & solution, story elements, cause and effect, and non-fiction text features while reading about fish care, water pollution, coral reefs and ocean dangers.\u00a0 Making coral reef rock candy was a sweet treat!<\/p>\n

In writing, students became researchers and researched various sea life.\u00a0 They used graphic organizers to collect their research.\u00a0\u00a0They wrote research reports and used the Chromebooks to type their final copies.\u00a0 As a class, the students painted a mural of all the sea life they studied. Our tech savvy students attached a QR Code to their pictures so other students could \u201cclick and see\u201d their research.<\/p>\n

During math, students applied their basic math facts to determine the cost of setting up a fish tank.\u00a0 Students then calculated the volume of each fish tank using cups, pints, quarts and gallons. Then they figured out the correct fish to water ratio.\u00a0 Can you guess how many fish can go into a 10 gallon fish tank? Ask your child! The class practiced their problem solving skills by solving real life word problems. \u00a0 Finally, students had the opportunity to observe the fish in their tanks and created a list of attributes (color, size, shape). Using different types of goldfish, students sorted and classified according to their attributes and created a graph to display their data.<\/p>\n

In social studies students identified and located on a map the oceans of the world. They discussed the causes of water pollution and brainstormed possible solutions to the problem. Students created posters encouraging others to help stop water pollution. Last, but certainly not least, in science class the students practiced making informed decisions on the best fish tank set up. \u00a0 They used multiple resources to form a hypothesis about what tank setup was the best. They chose from sand, gravel, rocks or just plain water! They examined the differences between fresh and saltwater. Students compiled a shopping list of materials to set up their class aquarium.\u00a0 They had a blast setting up the different fish tanks and observing the fish as they were introduced into their new environments!<\/p>\n