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STANDARD 8
STANDARD 8
Learners benefit from a formal structure of within-school and extracurricular opportunities to extend STEM learning.
STREAM
STREAM
In addition to weekly STREAM lessons in the classroom and various STREAM projects throughout the year, STREAM is a special class for all PK3 - 5 elementary students. Our STREAM teachers work with classroom teachers to supplement in class learning, as well as provide an opportunity to participate in engineering and technology projects. For middle school students, they can opt to either take STREAM or Robotics as an elective.
STREAM objectives are identified per grade and sample lessons can be found in the curriculum section of the STREAM web page (access the pull down menu in the top right corner).
3rd - 5th graders can participate in the after school Robotics club in order to learn the basics of coding, driving, and designing robots. Students in the club are able to participate in the annual MAIS STEM competition sponsored by Mississippi Robotics. This year, the club was also able to attend a robotics workshop in order to prepare for the competition.
ACS offers a Robotics elective that is offered to 6th, 7th, and 8th graders in order to participate in the First Lego League Challenge Competition in Mississippi. Robotics follows the curriculum as provided by First Lego League. More information can be found on the ACS First Lego League web page. This school year, for the first time in school history, ACS will field two teams in the competition.
STREAM Days
STREAM Days
Every year around November 8th, ACS celebrates National STEM Day with a special STREAM day event. In 2023-2024, ACS celebrated STEM Day with a Superhero themed STREAM Day for grades PreK4-5th. Middle school students participated by leading students between stations or helping instruct activities. Parents also volunteered to help instruct. Middle school enjoyed their own Around the World STREAM Day Goosechase later in the school year. To celebrate our inaugural year as a NASA Community Partner, our STREAM days in 2024-2025 will be NASA-themed.
Extracurricular Clubs
Extracurricular Clubs
ACS provides opportunities to participate in a variety of clubs and extracurricular activities in athletics, the arts, and STEM. Our school strives to align our activities with the needs and interests of our students. Due to recent student feedback and initiatives, ACS has started the Journalism, Pickleball, and Math Clubs. More information about clubs can be found here.
STEM Field Trips
STEM Field Trips
Students who attend ACS have many opportunities to venture beyond campus to learn more about STEM fields. Some are an annual tradition, like Kindergarten and 7th grade traveling to Shark Tooth Creek to search for fossils in Alabama and 8th graders to the FORGE Career Expo at The Communiversity. Others are taken based on opportunity, like the STEM Expo at the Wings Over Columbus Airshow, touring the Engineering Department at MSU, and the MSMS Girls in Engineering, Math, and Science event. ACS has also taken advantage of the many museums in our area, such as NASA's Space Center in Huntsville, AL, the Children's Museum in Meridian, and the Memphis Science Museum and Planetarium.
Field trips do not always have to be off campus. Sometimes, we are able to bring educational programs to ACS! This includes regularly occurring events like our Career Expo and Arbor Day tree planting with the Mississippi Natural Resources Conservation Service. We also strive to find unique opportunities within our school community and community partnerships. This has included an Engineering Day with engineers from Mammoet, the Mobile Planetarium from Ole Miss, and animal visits from the Columbus Lowndes Humane Society and MSU Wildlife and Fisheries.
Special Events
Special Events
ACS students maintain an extensive garden, consisting of 20 raised beds, muscadine grapevines, blueberry bushes, and an orchard consisting of pears, apples, figs, and persimmons. Every school year, the majority of students participate in garden activities such as planting, weeding, watering, composting, and pruning. Classes decide which crops to grow and maintain their garden spaces throughout the growing seasons in the fall and spring. Students have grown a wide variety of crops, including soybeans, sunflowers, tomatoes, strawberries, radishes, turnips, peas, peppers, sweet potatoes and carrots. Students are engaged in all aspects of food production, from seed to plate. Students celebrate successful harvests by cooking and consuming the fruits of their labor.
Earth Day clean up
Planting fruit trees on Arbor Day
Harvesting persimmons
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