Monday, November 29th, 2021—Throughout the school year students, teachers, faculty and staff have an opportunity to participate in yoga sessions and various mindfulness practices such as meditation. Each lesson includes Disney Yoga for Kindergarten through 4th grade students, and Sun Salutations A/B. These classes are led by Syracuse Academy of Science and Citizenship elementary school physical education instructors. 

Yoga and meditation are great forms of exercise that allows for students and staff to not only refocus their mind, but also find a new sense of energy and focus for the remainder of the day. Keep up the great work!

Friday, November 19th, 2021—Syracuse Academy of Science and Citizenship 5th grade Atoms received the 'Golden Ticket' for a chance to win ClassDojo points and accolades for their hard work. To receive these tickets, students had to demonstrate the following character traits and responsibilities:

• Perseverance in their small reading groups
• Teamwork in their small group activities
• Collaboration with peers in reading intervention, 
• Overall good classroom behavior. 

At the end of the week, Miss Edgar drew three winners - congratulations, Atoms! Remember to keep up the great work.

Monday, November 29th, 2021—It looks like we may have some future botanists on our hands as the Syracuse Academy of Science and Citizenship elementary 2^nd grade students test out their 'green thumb' capabilities for their hands-on, minds-on science experiment involving radish seeds.

For their science experiment, students will be testing to determine what plants really truly need in order for them to grow. Some of the plants in the experiment will receive sunlight, water, proper spacing, and air. While on the other hand, some of the radishes won't receive water, or sunlight, or air! Atoms would then make their predictions as to what would happen to the plants in the science experiment. Throughout the course of the next few weeks, Atoms will watch, measure, and chart their plants to see what happens.

Tuesday, November 30th, 2021—The start of cold winter days are upon us in Central New York, and just last week the Syracuse Academy of Science and Citizenship elementary school Atoms had their first indoor recess.

While the weather outside may be frightful, hanging out with the Atoms inside is always delightful! The students enjoyed spending time with one another, building and constructing objects out of Legos, Lincoln Logs, playing with puzzles, Dominos, and oh so much more. Stay warm Atoms and keep those creative juices flowing.

Friday, January 7th, 2021—Hey Syracuse Academy of Science and Citizenship elementary school Atoms! It's a new year, and that means NEW savings. Start the new year off right by saving with our in-school banking program with Empower Federal Credit Union. It’s safe and simple -- and money saved sure adds up. Start your 2022 by saving with Dollar Dog!

If your child is interested in becoming a Dollar Dog saver please contact Lauri Hoover at (315) 728-3474 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Membership eligibility required. Empower Federal Credit Union is federally insured by the National Credit Union Administration.

Friday, November 19th, 2021—In honor of the first Thursday of the new year, we would like to celebrate with a quick ‘Throwback Thursday’ and share two Thanksgiving inspired activities from the Syracuse Academy of Science and Citizenship elementary school Atoms.

The first activity came from 1C where the students were tasked with showing gratitude by  filling out a gratitude jar of things they were thankful for. In addition, the Atoms also made gratitude books, and thankful turkeys.

In this second activity, the Atoms practice subitizing ten frames. For those not familiar with subitizing, it is the ability to identify the number of things in a set by quickly looking at them. For this activity, the Atoms used paper clips and pencils to create a spinner and colored the ten frame turkeys with water colors that matched the number they spun.

Way to go Atoms! We are grateful for you, and are so proud of all that you have accomplished. Keep up the good work.

Friday, December 3rd, 2021—In early December, Syracuse Academy of Science and Citizenship 5^th and 6^th grade students were taught a very valuable life lesson about the importance of perspective and empathy. For this class group project, students were given a shoe which represented a person, and its situation. The students were then tasked with coming up with not only a perspective for the situation, but how to empathize with the person (or shoe in this matter) would feel.

The Atoms quickly learned that perspective is the ability to see a situation from another person’s viewpoint, while empathy is the ability to understand how someone is feeling.

What a creative lesson, and opportunity for the students to understand and learn two important skills - perspective and empathy. Keep up the great work, Atoms!

Monday, January 3rd, 2022—Syracuse Academy of Science and Citizenship elementary school has teamed up with Read to Them, an organization that encourages and enable reading together at home, and has sent home with each of the Atoms a copy of the classic children's novel, Mr. Popper's Penguins.

This beloved story is about the adventures of a house painter and his brood of high-stepping penguins that have delighted children for generations. Each night, students will receive a digital chapter of the book read by a staff member along with a few trivia questions. We invite you to listen, read, and enjoy with your Atoms the adventure of Mr. Popper and his lovable penguins.

We invite you to click here to visit our Facebook page to view a quick video from Dean of Elementary, Mr. Frisina who kicks-off this reading adventure with Mr. Popper's Penguins.

Monday, November 22nd, 2021—What have the 6^th grade Atoms in Ms. Edgar’s reading intervention group been up to these days?! Why becoming teachers, of course! In late December, students were learning about the R.A.C.E. Car writing strategy which stands for:

• R: Restate the question
• A: Answer the question completely
• C: Cite evidence from the text
• E: Explain the text evidence

For an assignment, students were to read an article and then answer questions using this writing strategy. Once the students completed their questions they were then tasked with teaching it to the group. But wait there's more! The Atoms continued being teachers by grading their peer's work as 'teachers.' A+ work, Atoms!

Friday, December 17th, 2021—Every morning, Syracuse Academy of Science and Citizenship kindergarten students begin their day developing and working on their fine motor skills. To do this, students select one of the ‘morning tubs’ which contain games, activities and items for them to use that focus on strengthening their hands and muscles. Some of the items in the tubs include: tweezers, take apart cubes, roll play dough, and manipulative puzzle blocks. By working on their fine motor skills, students will be able to practice better handwriting and scissor skills.