SDSquared Update for April 29th, 2019

From the Executive Director

4 weeks left?!

That's right … just like that we are just 4 weeks away from the completion of our 2nd full program year. We are getting ready to say goodbye to 3 more graduates and to celebrate not only their accomplishments but also those of our first 3 tutor certification graduates! We are so incredibly proud of everyone and can't wait to celebrate!

At the same time that we are preparing for graduation, we are also already gearing up for the 2019-2020 year. We are in the process of recruiting tutors and students for September and are looking forward to our potential tutor info session this week. Please see below for more details.

Please note too that we already have a date for next year's Dyslexic Edge Conference and Festival; it will be held on March 21st! To that end, we are already looking for sponsors, both individual and corporate. To learn more, you can visit our sponsor page.

We hope that everyone had a restorative Spring Break and is ready for the end of the school year!

Best,

Krista Gauthier

Executive Director


What's new at SDSquared

St. Bernadette:

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We have done so many awesome activities in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the moon landing! We have built mock satellites, created stain glass earths, and even learned about our own planet by building models of greenhouse gas molecules with gummy bears. This is all leading into our rocket building and launch to finish up the program year.


Science Saturday - Touring the Udvar Hazy Air and Space Museum

This past Saturday we had the privilege of getting a guided tour of Udvar Hazy with aerospace engineer, Dr. Pat Biltgen. Dr. Biltgen not only educated the students on different aspects of aviation and the space program but also told the most interesting stories about different artifacts in the museum. One parent even said, "This was the best trip I have had to this museum!" We are so grateful to Dr. Biltgen for taking time out of his Saturday to be with us!

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Pastel Aurora Project

You will need:

  • Black construction paper

  • White paper

  • Oil pastels

  • Scissors

  • Paper towels

What to do:

  1. Cut out your aurora guide. You may use the provided guide, or you may cut your own wavy shape.

  2. Trace along the shape of the curve with your pastels. Go back and forth a few times so lots of color gets on the guideline. It's okay to get a little bit on the black construction paper too.

  3. Hold your guideline down with one hand, and with the other, use your paper towel to push the pastel upward so it smudges onto the construction paper.

  4. You can go over the area again with more pastels and smudge again with the paper towel until you have as much color as you want.

  5. Lift up the guideline to see the colorful band.

  6. Place the guideline in a different spot and repeat steps 2 and 3 as many times as you like. Try flipping the guideline over or placing it at different angles to add to the overall effect of the painting.

  7. Display your aurora masterpiece so everyone can see it. Be sure to tell them what the colors mean and why auroras happen!

For pictures of this experiment or to explore other space themed activities, go to: https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/

Krista Gauthier