
4/2/14 - IT WAS A CLEAN SWEEP!!! Our class rocked the Science Fair by sweeping 1st, 2nd, AND 3rd place in the 4th grade category!!! I am so proud of how well the class did on their science projects. There were soooo many GREAT ones that we would have won many more awards, but there were only 3 medals per grade level. I'm certain that the judges had an extremely difficult time deciding on just three winners since there were many others from our class that I know would have won if there were more awards given out.
We had a great week of science project presentations, and I couldn't be happier with the creativity shown, and the unique projects that were chosen. Most of the students followed my advice on choosing projects with the purpose of having a real question of interest that gained an answer most of us really wanted to know. Congratulations to all of the participating students from our class for doing such a superb job, and representing our class so well.
A BIG CONGRATULATIONS to our medal winners:
1st Place = Guy Estrada
2nd Place = Scarlett Brooks (no relation)
3rd Place = Austin Davis
We had a great week of science project presentations, and I couldn't be happier with the creativity shown, and the unique projects that were chosen. Most of the students followed my advice on choosing projects with the purpose of having a real question of interest that gained an answer most of us really wanted to know. Congratulations to all of the participating students from our class for doing such a superb job, and representing our class so well.
A BIG CONGRATULATIONS to our medal winners:
1st Place = Guy Estrada
2nd Place = Scarlett Brooks (no relation)
3rd Place = Austin Davis
3/28/14 - FYI : The Science Fair is Monday, March 31st from 6:00-7:00. This info is also on the front page of the blue science packet that went home on 3/4/14. If your child entered their project into the Science Fair, then it has already been graded by me, so please take the science project home when you leave the fair.
3/16/14 - If you haven't purchased your science board yet, I just learned from a classroom parent that JoAnn Fabric next to the Super Target has them for a good price. She said they were also available in many different colors so you wouldn't have to paint them if you had planned to. I looked on the JoAnn website and found the white ones on sale for only $2.99/$3.99 (great deal), but no mention of the colored ones there. Click HERE to go to their website. You can call them in advance at (760)244-2918 to find out exactly what they have in stock, and at what price, before driving there.
Reminder - the science projects are due the first day back after break, Monday, March 24th, but I will allow them to be turned in, without a deduction in grade, if turned in by Wednesday morning, March 26th. After March 26th there will be a daily deduction in grade. If the project is not turned in by Thursday morning, March 27th, the projects will not be there in time to be presented to our class and then entered in the Science Fair. The PTA has a Thursday after school deadline for entering your projects in the Science Fair. Keep in mind that the Science Project will be a MAJORITY of your child's 3rd trimester science grade, without the project your child will receive a failing grade.
Your child can choose to reproduce the experiment for the class (if it's quickly reproducible, not too messy, smelly, or dangerous), or just bring in the board and present the experiment to the class. If your child chooses to enter their project in the school Science Fair, then it would be good to bring some of the objects that were used in the experiment for display (with the exception of things that stink, or are not appropriate for displaying where young children can reach them). I hope you have been enjoying sharing this process with your child. I remember having a great time helping my son, Jesse, with his science projects. I hope you and your child make this experiment a happy memory for you both.
Reminder - the science projects are due the first day back after break, Monday, March 24th, but I will allow them to be turned in, without a deduction in grade, if turned in by Wednesday morning, March 26th. After March 26th there will be a daily deduction in grade. If the project is not turned in by Thursday morning, March 27th, the projects will not be there in time to be presented to our class and then entered in the Science Fair. The PTA has a Thursday after school deadline for entering your projects in the Science Fair. Keep in mind that the Science Project will be a MAJORITY of your child's 3rd trimester science grade, without the project your child will receive a failing grade.
Your child can choose to reproduce the experiment for the class (if it's quickly reproducible, not too messy, smelly, or dangerous), or just bring in the board and present the experiment to the class. If your child chooses to enter their project in the school Science Fair, then it would be good to bring some of the objects that were used in the experiment for display (with the exception of things that stink, or are not appropriate for displaying where young children can reach them). I hope you have been enjoying sharing this process with your child. I remember having a great time helping my son, Jesse, with his science projects. I hope you and your child make this experiment a happy memory for you both.
3/3/14 - We had our Science Guy Assembly today, and the PTA has now supplied us with the science project step-by-step information packets. The info packet that I sent home last week included a few pages taken from this larger packet from last year so that you could get some idea of what was expected. If your child decided to choose a project from one of the project books that I have offered up instead of finding something outside of the classroom, then copies of their chosen project will be going home tomorrow in the Take-Home Folders along with the science project info packet. If your child found a project to do on their own, then I will need to approve it before they get started on it. Demonstrations like a volcano are not allowed. It needs to be a science experiment using the scientific method as apposed to a model and/or demonstration. There needs to be a question that the experiment can supply an answer to.
Please keep in mind that at this point your child will have three weeks to complete this project which includes a week of Spring Break (projects are due 3/24/14, the first day back from Spring Break). Many students take the most time in deciding what project to do (as this class has certainly done), so most of them are finally over this bump. I told them today that they have been given more than enough time to look through my books and select a project to do, so if they didn't choose one by the end of school today, then they were on their own because the copies need to be made for the students that already picked theirs.
Please keep in mind that at this point your child will have three weeks to complete this project which includes a week of Spring Break (projects are due 3/24/14, the first day back from Spring Break). Many students take the most time in deciding what project to do (as this class has certainly done), so most of them are finally over this bump. I told them today that they have been given more than enough time to look through my books and select a project to do, so if they didn't choose one by the end of school today, then they were on their own because the copies need to be made for the students that already picked theirs.