Second Quarter Awards

Congratulations to all our students who were recognized for awards at the end of the second marking period! 

Sixth Grade PBL on Simple Machines and the Nile River

How did ancient societies grow into successful civilizations with lasting legacies?  They used ingenuity and found ways to control the environment and use resources to farm, travel, and trade.  All students in the sixth grade were challenged to research, plan, design, and build a simple machine that could be used to move water from the Nile River to the farm land positioned one foot away from the River.  Teams of four first created the Nile River Valley; next they watched several videos that explained simple machines and their potential to move things from one place to another.  Scaled drawings were created and presented to the "Government Officials" for approval.  Finally, a supply table with items including milk jugs, spools, pullies, string, pvc pipe, and wood were made available.  Measurements were made on wood and pipe then taken to the "woodworker" for trimming.  On competition day, teams were given three minutes in which the Nile was flooded and they were tasked with moving as much water as possible.  Two categories were used to select winners: most water moved, and most creative design.  On Friday, February 6th the 24 finalists will enjoy an evening of bowling and pizza to celebrate their successes and creativity when faced with a real-life problem. 

 

Festival of the Bands 2015!

Our Elementary Band, 7/8 Band and Senior High School Bands performed an outstanding concert on Wednesday, February 4th. As is the tradition of the Festival, a guest conductor is invited to work with our students in preparation for the concert and then conduct a few pieces with them during the concert. Our guest conductor was Anthony Joseph. 

Mr. Joseph is a retired music teacher whose career lasted 33 years. He taught in the Oswego School District, Schenectady School District and the Maine-Endwell School District.

He received the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra's 2006 Outstanding Instrumental Music Teacher award.  Mr. Joseph and his students were featured on Teachers of the Week sponsored by WIXT.  He holds several memberships in many music organizations.

We were honored to have him join us and our students for this festival. Thank you Mr. Joseph! He completed his compliments of our instrumental program by saying,  "You come here to Marcellus and make beautiful music with beautiful children.

Each band performed a few pieces individually and then, as tradition, concluded with the Marcellus March, composed by John Edmondson. BRAVO! 

Congratulations to all our students, Mr. Costa and Mrs. Turner who performed magnificently! It was truly an amazing concert with many talented students! 

Fourth Grade PBL on Native American Life

This event was the culminating project to a Project Based Learning (PBL) unit on Native American history in NYS. The driving question was "How can we as museum curators create an exhibit to show the history of Native Americans in New York State". Students first created an extensive list of what they needed to know. Small groups researched topics (housing, clothing, tribal structure, food and customs) then taught the rest of the class about their topic with a presentation. During the museum they had to explain their artifact and be able to answer questions about it.

Some comments made by the students:

"It's not like when we do math, it's like we have to do research and more on our own."
"You get to learn about the past."
"It's fun!"
"It's challenging."
"You are actually going to make something. It's more than just learning from a textbook."
"We are going to make our own museum!"
"We get to work together."
"Making and creating things is fun!"