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Master Teacher: Deb Garton
Dean of Students: Mary Zane Morton
Front Office: Donna Williams
[A complete list of campus and district staff and their credentials is posted in the front office.] |
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The academic program at Quinn Middle School is designed both to extend and reinforce the curriculum students receive at Rapoport Elementary and to prepare students for advanced academic work at Meyer High School. Rapoport Academy employs a vertically-aligned K-8 scope and sequence, developed by our master teachers, that incorporates the Core Knowledge curriculum with the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). Each grade level develops one or more business proposals and operates a class business using real money--an extension of the entrepreneurship program that begins in 1st grade.
In preparation for high school, we begin our STEM program at the middle school level. STEM activities are designed to introduce students to concepts in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math through integrated, hands-on learning. This year, Clay Springer will coordinate our STEM program, which includes robotics, engineering, entrepreneurship, and environmental studies. Students can take Algebra I and foreign languages for high school credit, giving them a wider range of course options once they reach Meyer High.
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Read more...
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To see what Quinn Middle School students and staff have been up to recently, check out our Photo Gallery! |
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Finding the Best Picker-Upper |
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In the first weeks of school, 5th graders learn about the scientific process. In one activity, “absorption and advertising” were two components in a series of experiments. After reading the advertisements for three different brands of paper towels, students developed a hypothesis: “Among the three options, Bounty would be the most absorbent.” They based their knowledge on advertisements they had seen on TV. After a class discussion about truth in advertising, the budding scientists found, after three trials per team, that Bounty was the most absorbent of the three, and the HEB store brand was clearly a very close second.
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All three paper towels claimed to be absorbent. One class decided to pour out 50ml of water on a tray and use one paper towel to soak it up. They squeezed the water into a beaker and then measured the liquid left in a graduated cylinder (an exercise in learning their tools!). They repeated this with each paper towel—three times. Of course we know as true scientists, you NEVER do an experiment only one time. It was interesting to know that when the children were asked why they hypothesized that Bounty was the most absorbent towel, they all talked about the commercial and the jingle. They had not seen commercials for the other paper towels, so most of them didn’t think those towels would be as good. The class discussed how advertising affects their decision making.
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| Students agreed that HEB was the better buy. However, many of them said they would still buy Bounty because they know the brand! A few days later, one of the budding researchers told the teacher that when the family went shopping, mom wanted to buy a different towel at Wal-Mart and the student convinced mom to buy Bounty because she learned in class it was more ABSORBENT! Yea school! |
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