First grade celebrates 100 days of school

Mrs. Javens and Ms. Sampson’s classrooms were buzzing with excitement last Wednesday in anticipation of their First 100 Days of School celebrations.

Ms. Sampson’s class made pendants that read “100 days smarter” and created necklaces using 100 beads. They graphed 100 pieces of Smarties candy by color on a graph. Lastly, students brought in a collection of 100 things and counted them for the class.

In Mrs. Javens’ class, students counted to 100 by 1s, 2s, 5s, 10s and 25s. They wrote about what they did during the first 100 days of school and made 100 day crowns.

Smarties charts looking sweet enough to eat.

Ms. Sampson's class after a day full of 100-themed activities.

Congratulations 1st grade and good luck on your next 100 days of school!

It’s book fair time

The MACS Bookfair is happening this week, Feb 13 – 17 in the library.

Let’s get reading!

More Science Fair Photos

Waiting patiently for the judges to visit

Dressing for success

Experiments with jello in fruit!

MACS Middle School Science Fair

MACS holiday gift idea #2568

For the MACS friends and Spanish enthusiasts in your life…why not give the gift of Spanish music sung by the most angelic children this side of the Allegheny?

Our very own Senorita Castillo and the Saturday Light Brigade have teamed up to create Canciones en Espanol, a collection of Spanish-language songs performed by MACS elementary school students.

Order your copy today by emailing Senorita (acastillo@macsk8.org) or calling the school at 412-322-0585. CDs will be distributed on December 21st and 22nd, just in time for the holidays!

MACS student shares her experiences on camera

Earlier this year, 8th grader Precious Tucker did an interview with a couple of visitors – and a video camera – from the Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter Schools about her experiences going to school at MACS. Her video testimonial just went live last week.

Check out Precious talking about what a MACS education means to her – and look at some of the other student testimonials that PCPCS filmed.

It’s All About The Children: Meet Precious from PA Charters on Vimeo.

 

MACS gets a visit from WPXI meteorologist Stephen Cropper

On November 30th, WPXI Chief Meteorologist Stephen Cropper visited MACS to do a free presentation on weather to students in grades K-5 as a reward for a successful food drive for the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. The presentation included information about what it’s like to be a meteorologist and the importance and influence of the weather on daily life. Afterwards students had a chance to ask more questions about what it is like to predict the weather and be on TV. Mr. Cropper said that MACS students were some of the best behaved he had seen in all his years of doing assemblies.

Representatives from the Food Bank were on hand to thank the students and collect the food. All students were given a WPXI water bottle as a thank you for donating the food. The visit was even aired on WPXI’s evening news!

Check out some video clips from Stephen Cropper’s visit.

Middle school science class gets real

by Cara Koloshinsky, middle school Science teacher 

Mascaro Center Green Week

The University of Pittsburgh Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation came for a week in September to work with students in the 6^th grade, focusing on on understanding aspects of sustainability.  They tried to impress on the students the need to think about how we use our resources so that future generations may also have the opportunity to use them as well.  The Mascaro Center talked about how electricity is made, including the resources used in electricity generation. The students were even able to make a model of a wind turbine and test it. They also discussed how we use water and how it is treated before it comes to our sinks.  The week was concluded with a Jeopardy game where the students were able to win prizes!

Mascaro Center Electricity and Water Activities

The Mascaro Center also worked with the 7^th and 8^th graders twice this year, presenting more in-depth information on electricity and water sanitation.  At the end of the electricity lesson, students were able to build and test a model of a solar panel house and experiment with a way of making electricity using lemons.  They thoroughly enjoyed the activity.  The water lesson was very informative also. After learning about how developing countries clean their water, students were challenged to test the various models.  They were able to test the pH and other aspects of the water to see how clean it was.

Pitt Mobile Lab

In September, the Pitt Mobile Lab pulled up to MACS and worked with middle school students on understanding the processes of osmosis and diffusion. The students were broken into small groups and able to participate in hands-on activities that let them see osmosis and diffusion in action.

The diffusion group experimented with iodine passing through a permeable membrane  to interact with starch and turn it purple.  The osmosis group conducted an experiment to see how gummy bears react when placed in hypotonic, hypertonic and isotonic solutions.  At the end of the activities, the students discussed their results and show what they had learned.

Thanks to our friends at the Mascaro Center and Pitt Mobile Lab for helping our middle schoolers to understand the real-world applications of science!

Kindergarten takes a trip to China!

This year, MACS students are learning Chinese with teacher Lin Lao Shi

The kindergarten practiced their Chinese by reading aloud with Lin.

MACS Community Dinner a hit!

On Tuesday, MACS hosted our second annual MACS Community Dinner at Bistro To Go.

Over 50 people attended (!) including teachers, students, parents, community members, new and old organizational partners and friends of MACS. In addition to hearing about great MACS partnerships and projects, guests got to look at student artwork and science fair projects and eat a delicious dinner courtesy of the great cooks at Bistro to Go.

A packed house!

MACS 8th grader Precious talking about her entrepreneurship classes and soap-making business.