SCIENCE ACADEMY OF CHICAGO

Dear SAC Community,

First and foremost, I would like to say thank you to our students, parents, and community members for all of their support during these tough times. We have completed an incredible yet challenging first semester of 18 school weeks, and also we cannot thank our teachers and staff enough for their adaptability.

Our school has done an exceptional job working with our students in our current model, with classes of at-home and in-person learners. I am so grateful for the SAC staff who has worked tirelessly to implement a new way of learning to support these learners simultaneously.

Finally, I am grateful for our students' parents' grace in understanding that this style of teaching is new for our staff. I am also appreciative of their continued support and partnership throughout this challenging time. Never before has there been more of a need for us to work together to support our kids!

We know parents have a significant role in supporting their child’s learning during this time.

Here are a few strategies parents are using to support their children learning at home.

• Dedicated workspace at home free of distractions

• Set up work station with all materials needed (pencils, paper, crayons, etc.)

• Charged device and tools to be ready for each day

• Use timers as a reminder for breaks and lunch to return to the Zoom link

This month, our administration also appreciated the hard work of our teachers and staff. Staff enjoyed a delicious cake and a VIP holiday room service! Along with appreciating our teachers and staff, our middle school students in Science Academy's Leadership Program also collected donations and delivered lunch to Frontline Workers! Students visited Mount Prospect's Fire Department and Police Department as well as local healthcare workers that have kept our community safe during this pandemic!

On behalf of the SAC staff, I want to wish our community a wonderful holiday season and upcoming New Year. I truly hope everyone has an amazing winter break and are able to relax and enjoy quality time with family! May this new year of 2021 bring us peace, joy, and hope!

Stay Well,

Ms. Bartucci

In the spirit of giving this time of year, we wanted to show how we are extremely grateful to the frontline workers who work to ensure our safety and wellbeing. Our SALP (Science Academy Leadership Program) mentors and students launched "Food 4 Frontline" campaign this month.

Our students collected almost 100 meals for frontline workers. They were prepared by Istanbul Cafe and included rice, meat, salad, baklava and a cold drink, and then delivered to the local Police Department, Fire Department and clinics by a group of teachers and students.

This year technology plays a more essential role than ever before! School wide, technology is used in classrooms for a plethora of reasons. In Kindergarten and First Grade, students utilize individual iPads for classroom assignments, activities, and enrichment such as eSpark or Epic! Books.

Each student this year in Second through Eighth grade have their own assigned Chromebook. Middle school students take them home each night to complete their work. To minimize the amount of paperwork shared, students also use their 1:1 device during classes. They are also able to connect to online students during their class period as well!

In November, SAC celebrated its 1st Quarter Award Ceremony of the school year! 67% of the 3rd-8th graders achieved honor roll with a GPA of 3.75-4.0! This is an incredible accomplishment. 24 students earned a perfect GPA of 4.0! Students also earned merit awards in various categories: "Helpful Student", "Demonstrating Responsibility", "School Community Service", and "Respectful Student" awards. We are SO proud of all our students for their excellence in academics and character!

A water bottle rocket is a type of model rocket using water as its reaction mass. The water is forced out by a pressurized gas, typically compressed air. Like all rocket engines, it operates on the principle of Newton's third law of motion. Mr.Ahmet's 6th Grade students have practiced the concept of Kinetic and Potential energy in this project. They've researched to understand the effect of mass and velocity on Kinetic and Potential energy then applied it to their water bottle. The first place: Soha Dar & Azize Arazgeldiyeva, Second Place: Arel Yildiz & Barsbek Aibekov and Third Place: Bahar Er & Tuba Gulsen Fourth Place: Ali Birsen & Tarik Yurtsever.

Students will study different biomes throughout their educational career and making the information stick is important, especially at the middle school level. One way to do this is to involve students in a variety of biome related projects. The project below has been developed by Mr.Ahmet's 7th Grade students for this purpose and is intended for use with middle school students studying the different biomes of our planet to not only comprehend features of biomes but also the relationship between organisms.

During the month of December the Kindergarten class learned about each other's family holiday traditions as well as other holidays celebrated around the world. Students began the unit by making a poster to show their families holiday traditions and presented it to the class. Throughout the unit they went on pretend plane rides to different countries to learn about the holidays celebrated there. After learning about each holiday they made crafts or did an activity. When learning about Hanukkah we enjoyed latkes (potato pancakes) for snack, we made Kinara crafts for Kwanzaa, Ramadan lanterns used to decorate for Eid, and then painted colorful Christmas lights!

First Grade had a lot of fun celebrating the week before Winter Break with a Grinch Week! We read the story, drew our own grinch, even talked about making the Grinch's heart grow. We finished the week by having a Pajama day, making fresh air popped popcorn and watching the Grinch movie together! We learned all about being kind and what the meaning of holidays are.

Over the course of a couple days Second Graders learned about the many different types of veterans- from the different branches, the first women who flew, Native American secret code, and all the amazing, dedicated men and women in between. We discussed how important it is to show gratitude to all veterans who risked their lives just to keep us safe. We can do this by dedicating our money, time or simply by showing respect. We learned about the importance of the Poppy flower in the UK and Canada, and how this small but powerful flower can help do exactly that. We watched a couple videos about the start of the Poppy flower and a Canadian commercial that many students described as emotional and impactful (Bell Canada Remembrance Day TV Commercial: Poppy - YouTube). Students wrote about why they wear a Poppy flower and created their own. We finished by making a group picture. In-class students were given different pieces of the picture to color and I put it together. A small example in how the individual is just as important as the team. Thank you for letting us share!

For Veteran's day each year, third grade learns about the history and origin of veteran's day along with the 5 branches of the United States military that serve to protect our freedoms. In addition, students learn about the tomb of the unknown soldier, the wars the U.S. military has been involved with, and why we celebrate veteran's day each year. To wrap up our learning, I also ask the students to write a letter to someone who has served in the military or is currently serving. This year students wrote letters to the husband of our PK-3 teacher Mrs. Laura, Mr. John Podczaski, who is an E-4 Specialist. He served in the army for 8 years as a tanker on both the M1A1 Abrams Battle Tank and the M1134 Anti-Tank Guided Missile Stryker. He is also the recipient of the Purple Heart for injuries he sustained while in combat.

Our Kindergarten through Fifth-grade classes collaborated on a giant mixed media winter scene. Students studied folk art landscape paintings by the artist Grandma Moses for inspiration. Kindergarteners made a watercolor sky that shows weather and painted a snowy ground that includes texture. First grade made small collaged houses and symmetrical evergreen trees with fresh snow painted on the branches. Second graders reviewed their paper weaving skills and created larger woven houses. Second and Third graders learned about drawing the human body with accurate proportions and illustrated ice skaters in action for the winter scene. They colored their ice skaters with color pencils before carefully cutting them out and placed them on the "ice". Fourth and Fifth graders who take art made paper snowflake cutouts and placed them around the edges of the scene.

In Art Class, students study the art element called space and learn to understand that objects that are closer to the viewer are lower on the page and larger, while elements that are farther away appear to be smaller and are located higher on the page. This collaboration shows this concept and reinforces the ideas of foreground, middle ground, and background.

Several led lights have been placed on the evergreen trees, which light up when a button is pushed, illuminating this dark time of the year. This winter scene is a wish to every student, family, and staff at Science Academy for a happy winter.

This month, Officer Friendly from Mount Prospect Police Department presented an open discussion with SAC 8th graders called "Curfew, Drug Abuse, and Making Good Choices". 33 8th graders participated and discussed different scenarios they could encounter in real life related to following city law and making good choices in high school and beyond.

Dec.18th, Friday marks the end to SAC’s first semester of the 2020-21 school year! We are SO proud of each and every teacher and staff!

Director Ms. Bartucci and assistant director, Mr. Tahran delivered room service to teachers thanking them for their hard work this semester during the current pandemic.

What better way to end the week with a hot cup of holiday spirit! ️️️

Happy Winter Break, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year!

Dec.18th-Jan.3rd: Winter Break

Jan.4th: PD day for teachers, No School For Students

Jan.18th: MLK Day, No School

Jan.20th: 2nd Quarter Award Ceremony

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Academic Excellence Through STREAM Curriculum and a Diverse School Culture

Email: info@saoc.org
Website: saoc.org
Location: 501 Midway Drive, Mount Prospect, IL, USA
Phone: (847)258 5254
Facebook: facebook.com/scienceacademyofchicago