April 8, 2025
Suppose you were passing by J.E.J. Moore Middle School toward the end of last month and saw a brightly colored hot-air balloon behind the campus. In that case, your eyes weren't deceiving you because students at the school were experiencing a unique, multidisciplinary science lesson in the lead-up to Spring Break.
SEE MORE PHOTOS: PGCPS on Flickr
Over the last several weeks, J.E.J. Moore Middle School reading interventionist Mrs. Turano-Smith integrated reading activities centered on the principles governing hot-air balloons, aligning with the school's current science curriculum focused on the Earth's atmosphere. Creating an engaging bridge between literacy and science, the students' various assignments leading up to the hot-air balloon demonstration provided students with a foundational understanding of key scientific concepts, allowing them to engage meaningfully with a unique on-site demonstration scheduled just before students departed for Spring Break.
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On Friday, March 28, 2025, students participated in a culminating activity led by Mrs. Turano-Smith and Mr. Ross Bauschatz, a commercial hot-air balloon pilot, behind J.E.J. Moore Middle School. During the morning-side demonstration, a select group of students had the opportunity to observe concepts such as air density, temperature gradients, and buoyancy in a real-world context, delivering an in-person illustration of the atmospheric principles they had been studying and bringing textbook lessons to life.
"This initiative aimed to connect reading comprehension skills with practical scientific applications, fostering a deeper and more memorable learning experience for the students," Mrs. Turano-Smith explained. "Carefully selecting relevant reading materials helped ensure our students were well-equipped to analyze and appreciate the mechanics and science behind the hot-air balloon demonstration."
Throughout the school year, J.E.J. Moore Middle School teachers find ways to deliver tangible, hands-on experiences for students that connect textbook content and lectures to real-life applications.
In October 2024, students learned about the seasonal gourd, the pumpkin, during a diverse, multidisciplinary experience that culminated in a science experiment that saw groups of students wrap pumpkins in rubber bands to determine the squash's breaking point, using the scientific method to develop a hypothesis, and hands-on measuring to analyze the thickness of their pumpkin's interior walls. Leading up to the experiment, the students spent time researching the historical and economic impacts of the pumpkin, along with creating unique poetry.
In the past, the community has also helped support the school's hands-on learning experiences. In 2023, Prince George County Volunteer Fire Department Company 1 brought their red-and-white ladder truck to Moore Middle School's bus loop to take part in a dual learning opportunity featuring a detailed question-answer session and an egg drop activity where students constructed devices aimed at keeping an egg from breaking during a drop from the top of the ladder truck.
To see more of what's happening at J.E.J. Moore Middle School, be sure to visit the school's website at https://moore.pgs.k12.va.us or visit the district's Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/princegeorgeschools.