Horseheads Middle School
The SciFair program for summer 2008 is being led by Ms. Rebecca Ross and Ms. Lynne Menechella. Horseheads' focus for the summer is the rainforest.
Week 1 (July 21st-25th)
With the help of Mentor Michael Kelsey, students learned to move through a world, the three triggers, how to duplicate and manipulate objects, basic commands (color, corona, examine, light, solid, visible, texture, move, and rotate), and about movers. We did a little bit with particle emitters but were not able to complete that lesson. Homesteading has been a very popular activity among the kids at Horseheads!! Beginning with a basic one-story house, most now have multiple stories with a variety of furniture that have new textures they chose. We ended the week by giving them a series of eight tasks they had to combine to create a new "homestead" which assessed all they had learned. Ms. Ross and I (Ms. Menechella) are very proud of all seven of our students -- they are not only picking up the skills we are teaching them, but are showing curiousity about what else they might be able to accomplish with the program.
Week 2 (July 28th-August 1st)
We have had a productive second SciFair week at Horseheads Middle. We finished learning basic commands and Homesteading. Parents visited to see what we had accomplished before we erased all those efforts to make way for our rainforest project. Students are learning about the different layers of the rainforest, what makes each layer unique, as well as why it is important to conserve this particular biome.
Mike Gole shows his mother, Lisa Gole, some of the special effects he has been able to create using the SciFair program.
Building of the rainforest has begun in earnest and students are enjoying the challenge of using everyday objects in the Building Yard in unusual ways.
The Horseheads group's "Through the Rainforest" project continues to progress well. Students have been working hard to make their rainforest layers interesting, informative, and realistic. They are being challenged by the technology as well as the information. On Wednesday we spent some time in the school's Family and Consumer Science Lab. Using foods from the rainforest we made Monkey Bread, Trail Mix, and Jungle Juice.
Week 3 (August 4 th-August 8th)
The Horseheads group's "Through the Rainforest" project continues to progress well. Students have been working hard to make their rainforest layers interesting, informative, and realistic. They are being challenged by the technology as well as the information. On Wednesday we spent some time in the school's Family and Consumer Science Lab. Using foods from the rainforest we made Monkey Bread, Trail Mix, and Jungle Juice.
In the lab.
Related Resources