News

On any given Thursday afternoon when most students are on their way home, there is a small group of dedicated students busily working on recently started STREAM related projects. Members of ACS STREAM Club spent the first half of the year completing various activities that encouraged them to think outside of the box. After a slow start to the new year they have once again begun to pick up steam.

Students have come up with their own ideas about contributing positively to the world around them. They are currently either working in a small group or on their own making something they are interested in. Their projects range from making a new kind of slime to a prototype of a suitcase that will make travel much easier.The Club hopes to get their school community involved in a Maker Faire later this year.

Today, the 5th grade students presented their long term projects! They had to persuade the Queen of ACS to grant them a charter to create a settlement in the New World. Each group collaborated on making a commercial providing the information needed for the Queen to decide which colony would be the best choice. They created posters with important facts about their colony to aid in the decision to provide them a charter. 
What an excellent project! They researched thoroughly and did through research! The Queen also had a fabulous time!

Our ACS Performing Arts Club entertained us with several creative and very humorous skits. They are revving up for their big spring production, Shrek Jr the Musical, on May 21st! We also took this opportunity to present our Student Avid Readers Awards. Our dedicated readers have gone above and beyond their reading challenges and were rewarded with an Applebee’s free sundae and a dress down day – what a treat!

Seventh Grade took an 1800s-style road trip in Social Studies class as they experienced the life of 19th century pioneers and wrote about how much travel has changed. Playing a game on their chrome books, students were faced with all of the challenges pioneers encountered 200 years ago. From budgeting and finding food, to dealing with disease, and battling the elements, Seventh Grade used their critical thinking skills to navigate across the wild west. Then students began to write about how much travel has changed since the days of pioneers. From the safety of a computer, everyone was impressed with just how dangerous life is in the wilderness.

Our wonderful art teacher, Mrs. Stearns selected thirty outstanding pieces of art and asked the teachers to select the top twelve! It was a very difficult task, but we were extremely excited at the beautiful art pieces. Congratulations to the following students:
Grade 8: Olena, photography & pastel art piece
Grade 8: Noah, photography & painting art piece
Grade 8: Diana K, watercolor art piece
Grade 7: Fiorella, watercolor art piece
Grade 7: Shayla, pastel art piece
Grade 7: Caeleb, mixed media art piece
Grade 5: India, mixed piece art piece
Grade 5: Kiera, mixed media art piece
Grade 4: Victoria, mixed media art piece
Grade 3: Raashi, mixed media art piece
Grade 2: Sophia M, mixed media art piece 
They will all be featured at the April 4th K-12 Perth Amboy City Art Show on Reade Street! We are so excited to be a part of this endeavor thank you Mrs. Wintemberg for always thinking of us!

ACS’s first Lenten Service Project was a success! We participated in the Perth Amboy Vo-Tech Food Collection drive which was coordinated by one of our alumni, Miss Ortega. It was wonderful to see her and help her with her high school’s endeavors. Thank you to the ACS students and families who participated!

It is an annual celebration of the mathematical constant π (pi). Pi Day is observed on March 14 – since 3, 1, and 4 are the first three significant digits of π. In 2009, the United States House of Representatives supported the designation of Pi Day and ACS just had to celebrate this year! Our own Middle School Math Teacher, Mr. Zagari, gave a mini lesson to the school on what the day signifies and we celebrated with…. you guessed it PIE! We thank our Athletic Director, Sean Daly, for helping to coordinate this event.

The third graders spent last week learning about microbes, and how some can help us and how others can harm us. Some microbes cause illnesses – as simple as a cold or as serious as measles. Other microbes are good and help us to digest the food we eat. Some make useful medicine, like penicillin.
The students found out why recycling is so important when they learned that a plastic bottle takes from 450 to 1000 years to decompose on its own. Our question to explore was : How would scientist developing a microbe that quickly decomposes plastic benefit us? I wouldn’t be surprised if years from now one of these students invents/ discovers that microbe!!