Your mission is to wonder.

The fifth and sixth grade Science Summer assignment started with those five words. Middle School Science teacher Kimberly Schwab set forth this challenge to her students over the summer break, encouraging them to wonder about what they encounter in the natural world, leaving what to wonder about and how to document their wonderings up to the students.  Read on to discover what they wondered about and how they shared them!

Whether tuning into CNN or the local NYC stations, we are all following the news of Hurricane Florence, sending thoughts to those affected by this massive storm. Watching the footage, many of us are thinking about Superstorm Sandy, which affected our area six years ago, and the reports of this latest hurricane are all the more vivid for Speyer students Jonathan M., Sasha G., and Chris O. Last year, they used their personal experiences from Hurricane Sandy in their entry for the Hudson Data Jam, sponsored by the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, a competition that promotes data literacy and science engagement while encouraging creativity. Titled Hurricane Sandy: What Happened and When, their project tied as the winner for the Middle School Level 2 Vision Project…and this winning project was quite personal.