Friday, February 15, 2019

Science Fairs and Valentine's Day

This week has been a busy week for us.  There were so many things going on at the school as well as it being Valentine's Day.  

This week was Leadership Week at the school and this year they were focusing on Leaders in Science.  Because of this, there were a lot of fun science nights and activities.  Monday was the STEM night put on by USU Science and Engineering Students.  The kids had a blast learning all about science and performing some fun experiments.  


During one activity they built rockets out of paper and then blasted them off using PVC pipe and an empty soda bottle.  I was amazed at how high the rockets flew just by stepping on the soda bottle!  Next we learned how to generate electricity using a windmill.  Each of the kids formed windmill blades out of paper plates and then hooked them up to the windmill to see who could generate the most wind and energy.  I think Colby won in our family by generating over 250 watts!  We also learned about drones, microscopes, and circuits.  The circuit activity was really cool because we got to build different circuits by following a plan.  Each circuit had a different function.  It was pretty fun.  Finally, we had the annual egg drop experiment.  This year we decided to really pack our egg safely by putting it in a loaf of homemade bread.  The egg was so cushioned that it did not even move when it was dropped.  Unfortunately, we did not win because our bread was heavier than some of the things other people used.  Oh well we still had fun.

On Tuesday night we participated in the school Science Fair.  This year all of the kids wanted to do a project so we did three different science fair projects.  Yeah it was a lot of work and we spent quite a lot of time on them but the kids learned a lot so it was worth it.

Emily's project was "How Does a Bruise Form and Heal?"  She decided to do this project because she had gotten a bruise recently and was wondering about it.  Then she noticed that the bruise changed color over time so she was even more curious.  She decided to do this for her Genius Hour project in school and then we converted it into a Science Fair project.  Russell was a big help with this because he knew all about this subject.  Emily did a great job on her PowerPoint presentation in class as well as describing her project to the Science Fair judges.

Colby's project was "How Does A Microscope Work?"  He decided to do this project because he was curious about how the microscope he got for Christmas worked.  He really loves looking at slides and objects under his microscope and wanted to know how this little tool made the objects he was seeing look so big.  He loved learning about this and especially liked looking at all of his different slides.

Finally, Logan's project was all about Dinosaurs.  He loves dinosaurs and learning the different names of all of the dinosaurs.  He had a good time reading books about dinosaurs and looking at the different pictures of dinosaurs.  His favorite dinosaur he said was the Pteranadon.  He was excited to tell the judges all he learned.

Each of the kids received a participation award.  There were a lot of good projects in the Science Fair.  Russell and I had a good time looking at all of them and learning about what the kids learned and did.

On Wednesday, there was a Leadership Assembly at the school.  This assembly was all about the Leader in Me Program.  Emily was part of the assembly as part of the Lighthouse Team.  She was demonstrating what the Service Team does at the school.  Then at the end, the choir and the entire school sang the school song.  It was pretty cool.  The Kindergarten even learned sign language to it and performed that.

During the assembly, the awards were given out to the Science Fair winners.
They didn't have first, second, or third place awards but they had People's Choice awards.  During the Science Fair, everyone there voted for five of their favorite projects.  Emily and Logan were lucky enough to win a People's Choice award!  Colby was kind of bummed for not winning but Emily and Logan happily shared their award with him and he felt better.  They are great brothers and sister.

Thursday was Valentine's Day!  
Russell had to work but he had these beautiful flowers sent to me.  I love them!  

Valentine's Day was a busy day at school too.  First I helped in Colby's class party.  I am sad that I didn't get any pictures but I was in charge of the party so I didn't have a chance to take any.   Thankfully though, one of the other moms did take a few pictures and shared them with me.  Unfortunately, neither Colby or I are in them... Oh well... The party was so fun.  

Instead of the typical party, we did something different.  First we decorated cookies, cut out hearts, and played a candy corn stack game.  Then we took the cookies and hearts and "Heart Attacked" the lunch ladies, the custodian, the office people, and Mrs. Nielsen (their teacher).  The kids had such a great time and they were so excited to surprise these people and tell them thank you for their service to the school.  It was also so fun to see the reactions on the people's faces.  You could tell that they loved it too.  The party was definitely a success.

Then it was time for Logan's class party.  This year they had a Valentine's Tea Party.  They also learned about manners.

Logan was definitely a ladies' man and had two dates to the Tea.  He was with Charlotte and Anna.  These two girls were so cute and so excited to be with Logan.  Our Charlotte also got to be part of the Tea Party but mostly she just wanted to eat the food.  She didn't care about manners...

At home we got to decorate Valentine cookies.  This is one of our favorite traditions.

Each of the kids' cookies turned out great but the best part of decorating cookies is eating them!
Charlotte was so funny.  While she was eating her cookie she noticed that she had a frosting mustache and said, "Mom! My mustache!"  Then she had to show me her muscles as well.  She is so funny.

After decoration the cookies, we took a plate to Russell at the Fire Station.  We spent the rest of the night with him until he got a call and had to leave.  He and his co-workers loved the cookies though.  

Happy Valentine's Day!

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