Middle School Student Newsletter, 2/8/19

Welcome to the Middle School Newsletter!

In math, we have some exciting things to tell you about, we have started work with scaling. But we are not just doing plain old math, no, no, no. We are scaling items that we got to pick out! For instance, a student could choose a comic, a wrapper, or even a photo, that they would then measure, and blow up to a much larger size. We also have to make a graph over the photo and see what part of the drawing etc., is in the box, then transfer it to larger paper. After we do all this math, it will be smooth scaling from there!

In science we have even more exciting news, we have started to build our Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs)! We are building (ROVs) as a way to explore concepts in physics and engineering and learn more about ocean exploration. Last science block, we visited the URI Graduate School of Oceanography and saw real footage from some of their ROVs, which are used to explore deeper, unexplored areas that are impractical to use with conventional diving gear. With our ROVs, we will be testing them at the URI pool to simulate coral reef collection and analysis by trying to retrieve different types of pool rings with our robots.

I think I can vouch that all of the students are having one heck of a fun time building these things! The build is requiring drilling, soldering, and assembling many things. We even have to make the circuit board for the remote control ourselves! We are excited to get these in the water to see how they perform.

We are sadly coming to the end of our latest book, Climbing the Stairs. But, that means that the author Padma Venkatraman is going to be coming in next week! She is visiting our classroom for several hours and we will be able to ask her questions and do some writers workshop-y things with her. The book was very cool, as it took place in India, a country not many of us knew about. The book also takes place in the time of WW2. It was most certainly a page turner all the way to the end.

Over the weekend, several Middle School and Upper Elementary students participated in the 2nd Annual Project Purple Volleyball Tournament in Middletown, an initiative that celebrates kids making healthy choices. The event had 12 teams participate and it was an introduction to the sport for most of the Quest players. Despite this, the Quest team went with the goal to have fun and actually got FOURTH PLACE! Which was super duper amazing, so congrats to those who participated!