Gorham Middle School SAIL

 Students competed in the balloon-powered car challenge. They recorded the distance and time and find the average speed. Students weighted their car to find the mass and also used equations to find velocity, momentum, force, and acceleration. We created a chart to track the data.  The Winners: 8th-grade: Espresso Express ( 15 1/2 ft.)  7th-grade: Hiroshima 2.1  ( 23ft. Overall winners!)  6th-grade: Cookie Munster  (22ft).  We connected this project to industrial engineering and the engineering design process. Students had to brainstorm and work together to create a design, test that design, make observations, and make improvements.  

Students learned about line tracking and obstacle detection and created programs by incorporating both events. Students are working in groups to create a maze that avoids obstacles and line tracking. Other groups will need to solve the maze by programming their robots.   

 Students recently wrote and submitted two-sentence horror stories for our schoolwide contest. Students in grades 6-8 voted for their favorite stories! This was a huge hit and something we'll definitely do again next year! The overall winner was Natalie Kenny in 6th grade! She won the basket of goodies along with a creepy plaque. Here is her story:  “Dad! Come kill the bug in my room!” I shouted, hoping the man looking through my window wouldn’t think I was home alone.  The 7th-grade winner was Dexter Vance:  I was playing hide and seek with my sister in my church's cemetery. I am still digging and haven’t yet found her. The 8th-grade winner was Elsie Moreno:  My parents always asked me, ‘if your friends jumped off a cliff, would you?’ Now, I stare at their crumpled bodies as the wind seems to whisper, ‘your turn.’