Thursday, January 20th, 2022—Earlier this month, the Syracuse Academy of Science and Citizenship elementary school students learned about the Positivity Project’s character strength of perseverance and the importance of never giving up.

Putting their ‘positivity in action,’ the 2^nd-grade students were given a fun team building challenge to construct a tower using only paper, tape, and some glue. Atoms quickly rolled up their sleeves, got to work, and soon realized this would be more challenging than they anticipated. As the paper towers continued to fall, the Atoms spirits never diminished, never gave up, and remained cheerful throughout this entire experience. This fun exercise was a great reminder of not only the importance of working together as a team but always to persevere and never to give up.

Thursday, January 20th, 2022—From Zeus to Ares, to Athena, to Poseidon, there are many famous Greek Gods and Goddesses. But which one would be the best ally? Let’s find out! Syracuse Academy of Science and Citizenship elementary school’s 6^th-grade ELA students held a friendly debate to determine which famous Greek God or Goddess would be the best ally. While the jury is still out, the Atoms certainly had a blast stepping back into time to learn about ancient Greece.

Friday, October 29th, 2021—The Friday before Halloween, the 2^nd-grade Atoms at Syracuse Academy of Science were up to their old tricks of having fun while learning! To celebrate the fall, the Atoms held their own classroom Fall Festival complete with fall and STEM-themed games, activities, and of course, learning. The Fall Festival began with a Math Carnival, where the students had an opportunity to earn play money that they could use at each of the carnival stands. The carnival stands included: ring toss, color by addition, and pin the tail on the monster. In addition to these games other activities included fall-themed word searches, mazes, coloring, and paper pumpkin decorating.

Monday, December 22nd, 2021—The day before Holiday Recess, Syracuse Academy of Science and Citizenship elementary school 2^nd-grade students threw a little glitter in the air and put their creativity to the test when decorating an ornament. Each student received an ornament to decorate and a picture of themselves to use however they saw the best fit. Many students decided to hang their ornaments on their tree or in their room, while others wanted to give their special decoration as a gift to someone in their life.

Wednesday, January 19th, 2022—Syracuse Academy of Science and Citizenship elementary school's Student Council meeting is in session! Earlier this month, the 6^th-grade students kicked off their first Student Council meeting of the year. The Atoms discussed their goals during their meeting and what they hope to accomplish this school year. 

Their goals include: 

1. Strive for good citizenship.
2. Respect all individuals in the school and community.
3. Involve all students in sharing ideas to make our school the best.
4. Promote school spirit.
5. Give all students practice in democracy in action.
6. Provide service to groups in our school and community.

Atoms also discussed possible activities to support and implement their goals listed above. Students hope to narrow down their extensive list of activities and choose one to implement this school year. Keep up the great work, Atoms!

Tuesday, December 21st, 2021—On an equally snowy day like today, the Syracuse Academy of Science and Citizenship elementary school students conducted their own snow-themed STEM activity after reading the story, ‘The Snowy Day,’ by Ezra Jack Keats. The story is about a little boy named Peter and his great outdoor adventure in the snow.

For the STEM activity, the Atoms made their very own snow. The students mixed equal parts baking soda with shaving cream for this experiment and observed its chemical reaction. Many students noticed how cold this mixture felt, similar to snow. What a fun and exciting STEM activity!

Friday, January 21st, 2022—Persuade, inform, entertain, explain, or describe. Syracuse Academy of Science and Citizenship 5^th-grade Atoms flex their author’s purpose skills with a hands-on, minds-on reading activity. For this game, students work together to sort book titles into various categories of the author’s purpose. However, this game has a slight catch - the Atoms would have to race against Miss Edgar!

In true Atoms fashion, the students won and are now experts in determining the author’s purpose of many books.

Monday, January 18th, 2022—This week, the Syracuse Academy of Science and Citizenship 4th-grade Atoms in Mrs. Youker’s class learned about the hiring process through a hands-on activity. For this event, Mrs. Youker created a mini winter job fair complete with various classroom positions that needed hiring. Students were tasked with reading the job descriptions completing and submitting an application for one of the positions. Like any hiring process, Atoms were called for an interview if their qualifications met the job requirements. Following all the interviews, the students found out if they received the job.

Congratulations, Atoms, on your new classroom positions!

Thursday, November 18th, 2021—Two months ago, the 3rd-grade Atoms at Syracuse Academy of Science and Citizenship elementary school learned about the human body systems. Craniums were filled with hands-on, minds-on lessons and activities to learn about the skeletal, digestive, and nervous systems. The tasks and activities included matching games, letter writing, and physical modeling. These activities allowed for the Atoms to be able to reinforce content knowledge.

We would also like to take this moment to give a special thank you to our student teacher from Syracuse University, who flexed her creativity muscles by introducing fun ideas that help build and enhance student engagement!

Wednesday, January 12th, 2022—Throughout December, the Syracuse Academy of Science and Citizenship elementary school Atoms, teachers, faculty, and staff put positivity in action by working together to 'stick a fork in hunger.' The Atoms hosted a canned food drive benefiting the Food Bank of Central New York.

In 2020, the Atoms set a record of donating 560 pounds of non-perishable food items to the Food Bank of Central New York. Today, we are excited to share that the Atoms have nearly tripled their record with an impressive donation of 2,147 pounds of non-perishable food items donated to the Food Bank of Central New York. These items will help make a difference to many families in need.

At this time, we would like to thank everyone who helped make this event possible and for all the students, teachers, faculty, and staff who contributed to this impressive donation. Way to go, Atoms; we are so proud of you. Together we CAN do this!