October Newsletter & Updates
/Dear Science Magnet Community,
You can now make your student's magnet trip payments online at JAMSScienceMagnet.org! The revamped website is your one-stop shopping for teachers' websites, forms, photos and updates. Check back for photos and news about the 6th grade Catalina trip leaving October 28, or check out the 7th grade Yosemite trip and 8th grade AstroCamp trip pages for itinerary or packing list.
Seminars
JAMS Science Magnet is offering a new seminar in Zoology conducted by the Santa Monica College Zoology Department Head, Professor John Moss! SMC's extensive collection of specimen rivals that of a large university and we are excited to deepen our connection to higher education opportunities right across the street!
The Gardening seminar this year has been a great success! Filled to the max every week, students have learned about and started compost, tilled the soil, identified good and bad bugs, planned the garden and planted seeds. We look forward to doing the chemical soil analysis, planting the garden, keeping it healthy and having a harvest! JAMS students are on their way to being stewards of our earth and environment.
Seminars are Science Magnet requirements and it's a problem when students forget or don't show up. Please help your student with putting these on their calendar with reminders.
Our sweetest fundraiser is coming up! Last year, the Magnet's See's Candy sales brought in $5,000 which helped pay for science magnet classroom supplies such as our awesome telescope, lego robotic kits and more. The sales forms will be distributed to students mid-November and the deadline is the end of November. Wondering what to get for Aunt Alice or your mailman? The goods will conveniently be distributed to students right before the holiday break! E-mail Chair, melissaht@verizon.net with questions.
As part of Hispanic Heritage Month, we are proud to highlight our own JAMS parent, Dr. Leticia M. Toledo-Sherman, a Cuban native who is incredibly accomplished in scientific research and an inspiration to our science magnet students. She is Director of Computer-Aided Drug Design and Medicinal Chemistry for the CHDI Foundation, an organization dedicated to finding a therapeutics for Huntington’s disease, a hereditary brain disease. Dr. Toledo-Sherman holds many patents and as a Chemist, has devoted much of her career to the discovery of kinase inhibitors to treat many types of cancers and now Huntington’s disease. She has participated in a program through Cal State Fullerton assisting college-bound young women to enhance their mathematics skills in an effort to choose careers in STEM fields. Like our JAMS Science Magnet students, she was lucky to have a lot of exposure to Science education as a child, and the spark that ignited her initial interest in chemistry was inspired by a 7th-grade middle school teacher! Read more about Leticia’s fascinating background here!
UPCOMING
10/14/2016 Japan Exchange application available on website!
10/28-30/2016 6th Grade
Catalina Trip at Catalina Island Marine Institute - SIGN UP TO RECEIVE TEXT UPDATES HERE
11/29/2016 - 7th Grade
Yosemite Trip Meeting, 6:30pm in the Cafeteria. Students attendance mandatory as well.
12/1/2016 - 8th Grade
AstroCamp Trip Parent Meeting, 6:30-7:30pm in the Cafeteria
