Wednesday, December 20th, 2023: Ms. Farah's Citizenship & Science Academy of Syracuse ENL class visited the MOST. Atoms had a blast exploring the different areas of the museum and learning about energy, fossils, machines, human anatomy, and much more!

Tuesday, December 19th, 2023: Fourth-grade Citizenship & Science Academy of Syracuse scholars had the incredible opportunity to connect with the multi-talented Natasia White. Natasia, a passionate musician, actor, playwright, and educator in Syracuse, shared their musical journey with Ms. Camire's class. We learned a lot about Natasia's background, enjoyed some of their original tunes, and had insightful conversations about the power of music within our community. Natasia has not only written two fantastic plays, Credence (in-person) and High Tides (virtual), but also showcased their musical prowess by playing violin, viola, and ukulele in a few Syracuse bands.

Wednesday, December 13th, 2023: Ms. Pittsley returned to Citizenship & Science Academy of Syracuse Elementary School to continue the Nutrition Education sessions. This time, Ms. Pittsley made baked apples with 1st-grade Atoms. She showed them how adding spices to fresh foods changes how the food tastes once cooked. The baked apples looked and smelled delicious, and students had fun learning how to bake fresh apples as a healthy and yummy treat!

Wednesday, December 20th, 2023: The talented 3rd-5th grade Citizenship & Science Academy of Syracuse Atoms have worked extremely hard in the Atomic Singers club over the past ten meetings! They've been practicing "We Are the World," "My Shot" from Hamilton, and "Don't Worry Be Happy." In addition to practicing these songs, scholars also focused on learning how to work on a team. 

The Atomic Singers put on a showcase where these young stars performed the songs they had been practicing. Join us in celebrating our scholars' talents and creativity!

Thursday, November 30th, 2023: Citizenship & Science Academy of Syracuse Elementary School girls had the chance to do an activity with Tiffany Weiskotten from Girl Scouts. She asked the girls what they thought it meant to be a Girl Scout. Of course, they all said selling cookies, which gave Tiffany a chance to talk about entrepreneurship and the skills that can be learned by being part of the largest female-run business in the world.

Atoms loved hearing about the Girl Scout camps and some of the famous women who were also Girl Scouts.

Thursday, November 16th, 2023: The music room enjoyed interviewing David P., a remarkable individual with a rich musical history. David spent 20 years in Nigeria, cultivating his passion for music, becoming a DJ, music producer, and a Doctoral Candidate for the Department of Pharmacology at SUNY Upstate Medical University.

Atoms had the opportunity to explore David's unique musical background, delving into his Afrobeat creations and drumming expertise.

Through this cultural exchange, students shared songs, learned from David's experiences, and emphasized the transformative power of music.

A huge thank you to David P. for contributing to positive change through the universal language of music!

Thursday, November 16th, 2023: Citizenship & Science Academy of Syracuse Elementary Atoms collected 595 items to be donated to the United Way of CNY Care Package Project! Katie Hanlon, the Community Engagement Manager for The United Way of Central New York, came to collect our donations and she brought two guest speakers.

The President of The United Way of Central New York, Nancy Kern Eaton, spoke with Atoms about ways everyone can help the community and inducted students into the philanthropist family. Atoms love their new title: Philanthropist!

Elizabeth Osei-Kwame, a Volunteer Administrator for The United Way of Central New York, spoke to the scholars about all of the services The United Way offers to neighbors in Syracuse.

Thank you to everyone that brought in donations! We are looking forward to working with them again on another volunteer project soon!

Monday, November 6th, 2023: Citizenship & Science Academy of Syracuse 5th grade Atoms got to meet Sindu Mulukuri and Matt Bellinger, engineers in Air Traffic Management Safety and Efficiency from SAAB. They demonstrated the Aeroban Global Flight Manager software used at airports in the US and around the world.

The students learned the difference between a software engineer and a systems engineer and they really enjoyed asking questions about the speakers' jobs, education and how much money engineers earn.

Watch out! We may have a few future SAAB interns in our 5th grade class!

Friday, November 3rd, 2023: In Social Studies, Citizenship & Science Academy of Syracuse 5th Graders have been learning about the Aztec, Inca and Mayan Civilizations. They learned how the civilizations were alike and different. Atoms learned about the different social classes within each civilization and their leaders. They learned how the sundial was used to indicate the time of day by the position of the shadow cast upon it. Students also learned that totems are a natural object or animal that is believed by a particular society to have spiritual significance and that is adopted by it as an emblem. A totem can be a spirit being, sacred object, or symbol that serves as an emblem of a group of people, such as a family, clan, lineage, or tribe.

Scholars chose six animals that represented them and created a totem of their own.

Thursday, November 2, 2023: Our 5th-grade students were lucky to have a visit from Dr. Leanne Powers, assistant professor of chemistry at SUNY ESF. Her specialty is Oceanography, and she studies the chemistry that takes place in the ocean waters.

Dr. Powers showed Atoms pictures from expeditions she calls "science parties at sea.” She explained some of the work she's done in laboratories on vessels of various sizes, explained the types of equipment that are used to collect samples from the ocean, and discussed how the ocean is different at 4,000 meters than we might expect.

We learned that styrofoam cups have all of the carbon crushed out of them at that depth, resulting in a new miniature version of the original cup! 

We ended the visit with the promise of our very own decorated cups going on the next ocean expedition with Dr. Powers. She agreed to return them for us to keep in our STEAM room!