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Sussex County Charter School for Technology Gears Up for Another Season

Students working on their Wall Displays

At the Sussex County Charter School for Technology in New Jersey, every student gets to study animal movements through Signals of Spring. Signals of Spring is happy to welcome them back for their 3rd year with us! Students at this unique “public school of choice” are recruited from eighteen different school districts in Sussex and Morris Counties. The nearly one hundred seventh and eighth graders study a wide variety of subjects while emphasizing the use of technology in education and an advanced curriculum.

Students study electronics, computer aided design, engineering, lab science, computer science, conflict resolution, and much more, using the unique resources of their location—on the campus of a technical school campus. Signals of Spring is a natural fit into the school; students use the project and technology oriented Signals curriculum to learn life science, earth science, math, and geography.

In 7th grade, students study marine species in their math and science class. This spring they include the loggerhead turtle, green sea turtle, harbor seal, and harbor porpoise. Eighth graders will study land species including the bald eagle, golden eagle, sandhill crane and red-tailed hawk. Student expert teams work together to write in-depth analysis journals; last year, Signals of Spring scientist partners rated several Sussex County Charter School student journals ‘excellent,’ demonstrating that the importance of their teamwork. Mrs. Sior says that this cooperation is most important thing that students get out of Signals of Spring. “They learn to work with each other,” she explains, “They have to lean on one another.” No doubt, Sussex County students will keep up the excellent work this spring; Mrs. Sior’s ‘sneak preview’ shows that the wall displays already look great!