It's time again for the 3rd grade Science Fair. At Sun Empire Elementary the 3rd graders learn all about the Solar System and they each create a poster or project that shows what they have learned. Rebecca decided to do her project to show how far away each planet is from the sun.
We got styrofoam balls and yarn and Rebecca painted each of the styrofoam balls to look like the planets and then she used bright yellow yarn (to represent the sun's rays) and we calculated how far each planet is from the sun in terms of inches. For example, Mercury was 5.25" from the sun, while Pluto was 291.8" from the sun. (Yes, no matter what the Planetary Council says, 3rd graders still believe that Pluto is a planet.) And, of course, in between was Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Rebecca put a small note around each one saying how far each planet was from the sun in actual miles. On the base there was a paper with all the planet facts.
When she completed it, we took it out on the driveway to see how far it really was. The string for Pluto went all the way down the driveway. Rebecca thought that was soooo cool!
Today was the Science Fair where all the other classes and the parents get to come in and see all the great projects. The 4th graders, who did the year before, get to vote on which project they like the best in each class. Rebecca is really hoping that hers wins!In the classroom, they tried to give her project enough room, but really, it didn't have enough and so the farthest planets were kind of draped over another project. But when I was walking into the classroom I heard other kids calling to their friends to hurry and come over to see her project because it was so cool!
There were some really creative ideas for displays. There was a solar system made from rice krispies and candy melts. There was one that was 3D. There was one that was a hat. There was one with the sun made from a large Tupperware bowl. There was one with a telescope that looked inside. There was one that the girls stood before and turned a knob to make the solar system spin. Katrina really liked looking at all the displays and on of my favorites was one with a smiley face on the sun!
Rebecca did a great job and we are really proud of her! She is out of this world! : )
2 comments:
I usually read my blogs through Google Reader, so when I noticed that this post had posted twice, I was going to make some snarky remark on how you must have been temporarily caught up in a crack in the Space/Time continuum, but it's not quite as funny here cause there's only one post now. . . so, ummm. . .
Congrats, Rebecca! You did and awesome job!
:)
What a great project! Interplanetary distances are so vast it's really tough to imagine them - this was a great way to visualize a tough concept! Congratulations Rebecca!
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