Tuesday, April 13th, 2021—In honor of Earth Day, the 4^th grade students at Syracuse Academy of Science elementary school participated in a hands-on, minds-on opportunity to learn about the four types of ecosystems. The four ecosystems include: artificial, terrestrial, lentic and lotic. To create these ecosystems, students took turns to follow the steps in the procedure and worked together to answer the questions in the science experiment. What a creative and fun way to learn about ecosystems and to celebrate Earth Day!

Monday, April 12th, 2021—We promise, you are not seeing double, it’s just the creativity of the Syracuse Academy of Science middle school 6^th grade students in Ms. Brett’s art class. The Atoms have been putting their creativity to the test when tasked with creating a fun design using name symmetry. For this project, students used bilateral symmetry or reflection symmetry, where an object is mirrored or reflected across a plane to create another instance of itself. Please click here to visit our Facebook page to view their entire collection. Super creative, Atoms!

Monday, April 12th, 2021—Syracuse Academy of Science 6^th grade PBL students expressed their thoughts and views on current events such as: cyberbullying, wildfires, Coronavirus, and climate change (just to name a few) to both National and Local government officials. One such elected official was New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo. 

Governor Cuomo responded to the Atoms with a note saying:

"Thank you very much for your letter. It's always great to hear from one of our state's future leaders. I appreciate you reaching out and sharing your prospective with me. It's never too early to get involved in the work that our state government does, and I thank you for taking the initiative and lending your voice to our efforts. I hope you'll continue to stay engaged as we confront our current challenges and work to ensure a stronger, safer future for you, your fellow students, and all New Yorkers. Thank you again for taking part in your government. I hope to connect with you again soon. Until then, I encourage you to stay up to date on your efforts at https://www.governor.ny.gov/."

Power to the Atoms - great work everyone!

Friday April 16th, 2021—Syracuse Academy of Science high school welcomes Vazcee for its next Senior Spotlight. This slam dunking high school senior shares with us in our virtual interview who inspires her the most, what is one of her major accomplishments she had during her senior year, her favorite memory as an Atom and so much more. As we get ready to shine the ‘Senior Spotlight,’ read our interview below with high school Atom, Vazcee Robinson.

Interview with Vazcee Robinson

• What is one major accomplishment you had in your senior year of high school? Exempt from all my Regents Exams.
• What are your goals for after high school? To go to college and to continue my basketball journey.
• Name one person that inspires you? My mother.
• What advice would you give to the next senior class? To stay focused in class.
• Where do you see yourself in five years? Playing in the WNBA.
• If you could have dinner with any person living or dead who would they be and why? Kobe Bryant - I want to ask him about his mentality off & on the court.
• Name three traits that describe you? Caring, social and lovable.
• What is your favorite hobby? Gaming
• What is a hidden talent that no one or only a few people know about you? I can do gymnastics.
• What is your favorite memory of SAS? Culture Fair

Wednesday, April 7th, 2021—Throughout the month of March, the Syracuse Academy of Science Atoms have learned about influential women who have made a cultural or historic impact on society. The 7th grade Atoms in the Leading Ladies club virtually held their meeting to discuss their March Challenge which was:

"Choose one female role model of yours and write a quick note explaining why you look up to them. It can be someone you know or someone in the world you've heard of."

A few of the female role models include: Michelle Obama, Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, mothers, and Sylvia Rivera. In addition to their group discussion, the students played Minute-to-Win-It games. Great job, Atoms!

Friday, April 9th, 2021—Throughout the month of March, Mrs. Wittchen challenged the 3^rd and 4^th grade students to participate in an online self-respect and positive self-talk challenge. To participate, students were tasked with writing one kind thing about themselves over a 5-day period. This simple task proved to be very meaningful and the many Atoms accepted the challenge and participated. While participating, the students learned a lot by reflecting and writing what they love about themselves as well as, kind things about themselves. This positive self-reflection helps create not only positive self-image but a positive mindset and a kindness mentality.

Congratulations to all of the 3rd and 4th graders who met the challenge and won counseling awards. In the words of Mr. Rogers, "Knowing that we can be loved exactly as we are gives us all the best opportunity for growing into the healthiest of people." Keep up the great work, Atoms you are all worth it!

Monday, April 12th, 2021—The Syracuse Academy of Science 7^th grade students in Ms. Brett’s art class learned about the art technique, Grid Art and famous artist, Chuck Close, who uses this technique to create a collection of abstract portraits of himself and others. For those not familiar with Grid Art, it is a technique that allows the artist to reproduce and/or enlarge an image that you want to paint or draw using a grid. Drawing inspiration from Chuck Close, the Atoms put their skills to the test and create portraits themselves using the Grid Art technique. Click here to view more of their artwork. Keep up the great work, Atoms!

Thursday, April 8th, 2021—Syracuse Academy of Science 4^th grade Atoms had a unique hands-on, minds-on learning experience as they helped raise and observe caterpillars to learn about the life cycle of a butterfly. For those not familiar with the butterfly life cycle the stages include:

• The egg
• The larva
• The pupa
• The butterfly

Each of these four stages is unique to the type of butterfly. As the students’ caterpillars went through the metamorphosis process, they observed each of these four stages. Last week, with the nice warm weather the students were able to release their beautiful butterflies. Click here to head to our Facebook page to view pictures of the butterfly release.

Friday, April 9th, 2021—It’s Friday, which means it’s time for Syracuse Academy of Science high school’s next Teacher Spotlight. We had an opportunity to virtually interview high school social studies teacher, Mr. Dwyer who shared with us a fun fact that has everyone guessing, his favorite book, advice for the Atoms and so much more. Read our interview below, as we shine our spotlight on high school social studies teacher, Mr. Dwyer.

Interview with Mr. Dwyer

• What three traits define you? Shy, Kind and Honest.
• What is your greatest accomplishment? This is an interesting question. I feel as though I accomplished many things however I feel like I have much more to fulfill. 
• Best book you have ever read? The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown.
• What is one thing you cannot resist?(food/dessert/candy/etc.) Peanut Butter Cookies.
• If you could have dinner with one person living or dead who would they be and why? There are so many people I would like to have dinner with.  The list would go on forever. I would say I would like to have dinner with my current and former students. I would like to see what they have been up to since graduation and give advice to the current students. 
• What advice would you give to kids who are struggling at school? Life has thrown us a curveball in the past year. With that each person is special and although this is a big bump in the road of life each of you are going to accomplish great things.
• Tell us, what is something that might surprise us about you? I went to high school with a soon to be major league baseball hall of famer.

Tuesday, April 6th, 2021—The Syracuse Academy of Science elementary school 2^nd grade Atoms have been learning about persuasive writing. Atoms decided to put this new skill to the ultimate test and send handwritten notes to the Dean of Elementary, Mrs. Miller and state why in fact they should not have any homework. Some of their reasons included being able to spend more time with their family, pets and with the warm weather in the forecast they would be able to spend more time outside. With these excellent points, Mrs. Miller took them all into consideration and did in fact grant the students their request! Congratulations, Atoms your hard work, persistence and persuasion paid off. Enjoy your no homework night!