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.

5th Graders Design Heat Shields in New Middle School Science Lab

This week, 5th Graders were presented with an engineering design challenge to provide a hands-on investigation into different types of heat transfer. Given only a few materials, students designed a shield to protect a bolt from heating up and melting glue adhered to a wooden rod, causing the contraption to fall apart. An unprotected bolt lasts only 4 seconds under a blowtorch, so students were tasked with designing a shield that could exceed that time.

The students were able to work on their shields in a newly renovated lab space. “It proved to be an excellent area for the class to discuss the challenge and collaborate with group members,” said 5th-grade science teacher Mr. Lawrence.

Once built, students tested their heat shields outside. The top group was able to keep their glue protected from the blowtorch for over a minute! This experiment concluded the student’s first Earth Science unit and gave 5th graders a better understanding of the difference between conduction, convection and radiation.