Campus Closed to Students 1/28

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Missouri American Water informed our staff today that they will begin repairs on the ruptured water main just northeast of campus on Warson Road at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow. They advised us that MICDS could lose water service to most buildings either intermittently or throughout the duration of the repair, which is scheduled to last most of the day. Until they begin the repair, they cannot predict with confidence the scale or duration of the resulting water outage. Because of the uncertainty of the impact of this water main repair on our facilities, MICDS will be closed to all students tomorrow, Wednesday, January 28, during the school day. Information about after-school activities and athletics is currently unknown and will be communicated at a later time. Especially given this week’s inclement weather disruptions, I regret the necessity of tomorrow’s school-day closure and appeal to you for understanding. We will run a normal 8:00 a.m. start time on Thursday and a 9:00 a.m. late-start time on Friday in all three divisions. In the Middle and Upper Schools, Thursday will be an A day to pair with today's H day, and Friday will be a B9 day. On Monday, we will run a D day as originally scheduled. Thank you for your partnership and understanding. We will be back in touch with you should there be any changes to Missouri American’s water main repair schedule.

Middle Schoolers Investigate Crimes And Mysteries

Story and Photos by Betsy Branca ’31

For the past week, students in Law and Order: Who Killed Pikachu, taught by Mrs. Bouchard, MS Science Teacher, and Mrs. Jones, MS Math Teacher, have learned how to investigate and solve crimes and mysteries. The students also get to experience what it would be like to be a detective or an investigator. There are many labs and hands-on activities that the students get to participate in. All of the students get to learn about things such as the importance of blood at a crime scene, chemical and physical reactions, and how to tell the difference between different pieces of evidence. 

Mrs. Bouchard teaches her class about blood.

When asked about what goals she has for the class, Mrs. Bouchard answered, “The goal is for the students to know more about the science used in solving crimes.” Mrs. Bouchard and Mrs. Jones set up stations where students can test and examine “blood.” (The blood is actually ketchup!) The students got to squirt blood from up high and down low and from straight up. Others worked on a worksheet that asked them about details of blood splatter. They had to drop blood from different heights and then measure the diameter of the blood. They also examined high and low volume of bloodstains and arterial blood spray. Finally they studied angles of blood splatter to determine where the blood came from.  

Clayton Minges  ’30 experiments with ketchup to understand the meaning of blood at a crime scene.

The students of Law and Order: Who Killed Pikachu also got to experiment with chemical and physical reactions. First, the students predicted what would happen when Mrs. Bouchard put a liquid in the white powder such as powdered sugar or flour. Then, the students did the same with different white powders. Zander Bean ’30 is taking the class Law and Order: Who Killed Pikachu “because me and my mom like to solve murder mysteries.” The students got to mix liquids into their white powders to see the reaction.

Hannah Terry ‘31 test white powder to see the reaction.

Students are also testing lipsticks at a crime scene. They learned about how to test things for density, they learned how to identify glass, they learned about characteristics of fingerprints, they also learned how to test cloth, and finally, they will write a cause statement.

All of the students in Law and Order: Who Killed Pikachu have learned many things as the mystery unfolded.