Learning about science can be fun if you are using stories to create curiosity. So says Doug Peltz, a founder of the on-line tool Mystery Science and the son of Sycamore Rotarian Fred Peltz. Doug helped launch what has become the most popular web-based K-5 elementary science curriculum in the country six years ago. It is currently used by the Sycamore School District. He gave an overview of the curriculum for Sycamore Rotarians via an internet connection from his home base in California.
Peltz demonstrated an example of the Mystery Science learning style by using a fourth-grade module that asks the question, “Could a volcano pop up where you live?”. It recounts the sudden formation of the Paricutin Volcano in a farmer’s field in Mexico in 1943. Within a few years the eruption had caused lava flows destroying two towns. The story is used as an introduction to the larger scientific concept called the “Ring of Fire” that plots a series of locations for volcano activity in central America.
After teaching elementary school for seven years, Peltz says he realized teaching science was often viewed as a burden by teachers with uninterested students. This led to his collaboration with other tech-minded people to create Mystery Science (www.Mystery.org). For a subscription fee, a series of science modules are available for each grade level meeting educational standards requirements. Recently they added mini video lessons which have increased in popularity because of the stay-at-home directives during the COVID-19 pandemic. Peltz gave thanks to his parents for instilling his original curiosity about science while doing family vacation trips. He said he hopes similar reactions result as students are taught through the Mystery Science method.
Our speaker this week will be Rose Tremi from the Sycamore Chamber of Commerce, discussing the state of business in the community.
Following is our schedule of upcoming speakers/presentations:
Wednesday, February 3 (Hybrid meeting: In-person at Blumen Gardens, pending status of Covid mitigation efforts, and online via Zoom): Sycamore Chamber of Commerce (Rose Tremi)
Wednesday, February 10 (Hybrid meeting: In-person at Blumen Gardens, pending status of Covid mitigation efforts, and online via Zoom): Kishwaukee YMCA (Mark Spiegelhoff)
Wednesday, February 17 (Hybrid meeting: In-person at Blumen Gardens, pending status of Covid mitigation efforts, and online via Zoom): Northwestern Medicine Kishwaukee Hospital & Northwestern Medicine Valley Hospital (Jay Anderson)
Wednesday, February 24 (Hybrid meeting: In-person at Blumen Gardens, pending status of Covid mitigation efforts, and online via Zoom): Farm Bureau (Greg Millburg)
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This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 in Salina, KS. It was taken from the original document on file at the Smokey Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina and reprinted by the Salina Journal.
The next issue of The Spoke will contain the last 3 testing segments: U.S. History, Orthography, and Geography!
8th Grade Final Exam
Grammar (Time, one hour)
1. Give nine rules for the use of Capital Letters. 2 . Name the Parts of Speech and define those that have no Modifications.
3. Define Verse, Stanza and Paragraph. 4. What are the Principal Parts of a verb? Give Principal Parts of lie, lay and run. 5. Define Case, Illustrate each Case. 6. What is Punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of Punctuation. 7. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.
Arithmetic (Time, 1.25 hours)
1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic. 2. A wagon box is 2 ft deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold? 3. If a load of wheat weighs 3942 lbs., what is it worth at 50 cts/bushel, deducting 1050 lbs. for tare? 4. District No. 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals? 5. Find cost of 6720 lbs. coal at $6.00 per ton. 6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent. 7.What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft. long at $20 per meter? 8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent. 9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance around which is 640 rods? 10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt.
August 4, 1901 – Jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong is born in New Orleans, Louisiana.
August 4, 1961 – 44th U. S. President Barack Obama is born in Honolulu, Hawaii. He wins the Presidential election of November 4, 2008 to become the first President of African American origin.
August 6, 1809 – British poet Alfred Lord Tennyson (who authored “The Charge of the Light Brigade” among other works) is born in Somersby, Lincolnshire, England.
August 7, 1876 – International spy Mata Hari is born in the Netherlands. She was arrested by the French in 1917, tried as a German spy, and executed by a firing squad.
August 2, 1923 – President Warren G. Harding dies suddenly in San Francisco while on a Western speaking tour. The following day Calvin Coolidge is sworn into office. Harding’s legacy is tainted by the Teapot Dome oil lease scandal that comes to light following his death.
August 4, 1964 – “Freedom Summer” Civil Rights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner are found murdered and buried in an earthen dam outside Philadelphia, Mississippi. They were participating in efforts to increase Black voter registration. Seven avowed members of the Ku Klux Klan are convicted on federal conspiracy charges in connection with the deaths.
August 6, 1945 – The first atomic bomb is dropped on Hiroshima, Japan killing over 105,000 people. Another 100,000 die later from radiation affects.
August 6, 1965 – President Lyndon Johnson signs the federal Voting Rights Act ending voter limitation practices such as poll taxes, literacy tests, and character tests.
