Our curriculum differs between the summers and the school months. During the school months we follow along with their school curriculum, going further, and offering hands-on experiments and activities. In the summers we work more from a nature inspired curriculum, taking advantage of our community learning gardens. All grades spend time working on grade appropriate math, work on reading or vocabulary, and have access to tutoring.
12th Grade
In their final year with us we transition into college and career prep. Students learn how to craft resumes, create interactive spreadsheets in order to track college applications, scholarships, and other lists, and work on essays for colleges. We help our students create accounts on the common app for college applications, and fast-web for scholarship applications.
11th Grade
11th graders focus on biology. Students will review cells, organism organization, ecology and ecosystems, mitosis, meiosis, photosynthesis, and cellular respiration. They design and conduct a plant growth experiment. They also learn to animate using Scratch code and practice SAT strategies.
10th Grade
10th grade at NtN revolves around Chemistry! Students learn the basic parts of matter and elements, how to read the periodic table, the properties and organization of elements, how compounds form, and how to balance chemical equations. They study the history of plastics and the future of synthetic materials and nanotechnology. Students experiment with the properties of water, separate water into hydrogen and oxygen, and observe the chemical synthesis of nylon.
9th Grade
Our students tackle physics during their first year in high school. They learn basic formulas of movement and take part in hands-on experiments to observe phenomena in motion, such as live action angry birds, building marshmallow launchers, and designing model cars to withstand collisions. They study kinematics, two dimensional motion, distance and displacement, and forces.
5th Grade
Our 5th grade students focus on matter and its interactions. From learning about different states of matter, to learning about elements, atoms, protons, neutrons, electrons and much more. They also continue on math, by practicing with the place value system, learning about factors and multiples, and continue to master long division.
4th Grade
The summer before their 4th grade year students get an introduction to NtN by learning about insects and butterflies. During school months they study geology and ecology. They learn about the rock cycle, volcanoes, the importance and use of rocks, the food web, what the biomes are and what animals and plants are in which biomes, and students learn the basic morphology of reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Students take part in basic dissections, go on field trips to liberty science center, the Camden aquarium and get a visit from a professional herpetologist.
Final Projects
Each spring semester our students undertake intensive final research projects to present to their grade schools. In the past we have created habitats for and adopted a corn snake, leopard gecko, and bearded dragon, done fetal pig dissections, migratory bird patterns, science magic tricks, the human body, and solar powered cars. This changes each year and is not grade specific.