i hate science fair projects!!!

[Eileencc]

Originally Posted by pamplemoose77

ok, seriously, what is the point of first graders doing science fair projects???

she's handwriting it all, but i'm doing EVERYTHING else! they even sent home notes at the beginning warning parents to not do too much... and trust me, i'd be doing WAY less if it was possible... but how on earth is my 7yo supposed to come up with the hypothesis, procedure, bar graph, and results of a project that she didn't even get to choose?!?!

i'd be less bitter if they'd let us do the experiment that she came up with.. she wanted to see if cats or dogs could smell better.. we were going to hide food in the room and time each pet to see who smelled it the fastest... but NOOOOO.. no animal experiments

so she came home with the thrilling question of "does chalk dissolve?" or something like that. are you kidding me?!? i understand the marble/acid rain connection, but i hardly feel that we are accomplishing anything here

i'd be even less bitter if the freaking thing was working like we'd hoped.

Ugh! Sounds as stimulating as the crystal-growing experiment we had to do with my daughter when she was a little older than yours.

Sheesh...poorly written instructions, a REALLY slow developing crystal, and an unclear assignment made that one hideous. I feel for ya! At least you didn't have to build the Trojan Horse, do a term paper on the Trojan Wars, and deliver the report in a home-made Trojan soldier costume, as my 6th grader son did this year as part of his "I-Search" project. We called it the "We-Search" project, and "we" got an A on that project. He did look pretty cute as a Trojan...

[maestranba]

Bless you, Charity, for being patient and seeing it through.

Luckily, Christian's teacher is not into projects too much this year. He did have to do the infamous "egg drop" at the beginning of the year. He was crushed when his egg broke after being wrapped in bubble wrap and carefully placed in a koozie! But he still got an A+ for doing all of the required work correctly. Phew!!

[pamplemoose77]

thanks for the sympathy nancy and eileen!

ALMOST done. just gotta help with the "display board" this weekend. and we will not be doing anything fancy. i'm sure there are tons of moms printing out fancy crap, but isabel's gonna be handwriting hers as far as i'm concerned!


ohhhhhh, and.... get this... when i was reading the instructions for the display board, it said "no live animals, but photos of the pets used are allowed" WHAT!??!

but i'm trying to let it go *sigh*

[SunKneeMarie]

Originally Posted by pamplemoose77

thanks for the sympathy nancy and eileen!

ALMOST done. just gotta help with the "display board" this weekend. and we will not be doing anything fancy. i'm sure there are tons of moms printing out fancy crap, but isabel's gonna be handwriting hers as far as i'm concerned!


ohhhhhh, and.... get this... when i was reading the instructions for the display board, it said "no live animals, but photos of the pets used are allowed" WHAT!??!

but i'm trying to let it go *sigh*

yeah, they frowned on pinning live animals to the display boards at Ryan's school, too...

[ZAEM]

We only had one project this year. Basically a biography on a president. All kinds of criteria to follow. We had to make a bottle person that looked like your president.
The thing I don't get is the grading system. No letters anymore--basically 4 is excellent and goes backwards from there. But there were also the certain areas being graded. So it was really 4 marks in all.
Can't wait for the experiments. I have no talent for arts and crafts--god only knows how will do with science projects.

[Sol]

Originally Posted by pamplemoose77

yes, that one is fun! although our school did it differently.. they people all mailed it back to the school, so i didn't get to see any of it until the project was done and she brought it home...

but some FANTASTIC peeps on this board made isabel's a roaring success!

It was great having Flat Stanley visit the Gem state.

[BonnyW]

I remember doing a science experiment in school--4th grade. I wanted to find out if vitamin C, when added to soil, helped radishes grow (alternate hypothesis). I had my control group and my experimental group and after they sprouted, I measured them every day and kept notes in a log. After two months of doing this, I wrote up the results and came up with the experimental conclusion. We presented our projects to the teacher and the class. My teacher gave me a "C". She said that my project wasn't "interesting". It really bummed me out. I thought it was interesting. The kid that won the class science 'experiment' (obviously) had help from his parents--he made a volcano. I heard later that the kid that won the year before also made a volcano.

So, even though the teacher had no idea what a science experiment was, I still got something out of it-not a good grade of course, but an appreciation of the scientific method and experimentation. I also found out that day that those grade school teachers didn't really understand science ...

[Sol]

Originally Posted by BonnyW

I remember doing a science experiment in school--4th grade. I wanted to find out if vitamin C, when added to soil, helped radishes grow (alternate hypothesis). I had my control group and my experimental group and after they sprouted, I measured them every day and kept notes in a log. After two months of doing this, I wrote up the results and came up with the experimental conclusion. We presented our projects to the teacher and the class. My teacher gave me a "C". She said that my project wasn't "interesting". It really bummed me out. I thought it was interesting. The kid that won the class science 'experiment' (obviously) had help from his parents--he made a volcano. I heard later that the kid that won the year before also made a volcano.

So, even though the teacher had no idea what a science experiment was, I still got something out of it-not a good grade of course, but an appreciation of the scientific method and experimentation. I also found out that day that those grade school teachers didn't really understand science ...

Awww Bonny. But look at ya now!!! If that teacher only knew that she would have a future kickass Ph.D in her class. Those volcano projects...*yawn* A kid at our school did one of those and got all of the attention. I did something on butterflies and it barely got a glance. Secretly....I wanted to do something with cockroaches...

[Stubbyjo]

I think our society is so much more competitive than when I grew up..yeah I am old... they really push more on the kids at an early age.
On the other hand, look at it as a great bonding opportunity with your kids. Having a 18 year old college student and a 14 year old, they tend not to need you as much, except for money of course, so enjoy it. I miss those times. Recently did Flat Stanley for a niece and it was fun. Now working on a math, bridge toothpick project with an overly anal teacher and it is really not a lot of fun.
What pisses me off the most is the fact that programs keep getting cut in our schools. I live in Colorado and am embaressed that our state funds crap for education. I believe we are number 49. I know it is not true for all schools in this state, but really understand why people choose private or charter schools over traditional schools.

[pamplemoose77]

wow, bonny, your project sounds way better than a lame-o volcano!



i'm THRILLED to say, we are done, done, DONE! just gotta turn it all in tomorrow and wash my hands of it! woot!

[BonnyW]

Originally Posted by Sol

Awww Bonny. But look at ya now!!! If that teacher only knew that she would have a future kickass Ph.D in her class. Those volcano projects...*yawn* A kid at our school did one of those and got all of the attention. I did something on butterflies and it barely got a glance. Secretly....I wanted to do something with cockroaches...

THAT would have been cool.

[BonnyW]

Originally Posted by pamplemoose77

wow, bonny, your project sounds way better than a lame-o volcano!



i'm THRILLED to say, we are done, done, DONE! just gotta turn it all in tomorrow and wash my hands of it! woot!

Yeah for you!!!
I thought my experiment was interesting too-especially because radishes have a lot of vitamin C in them.

It is too bad that they involve the parents. My parents only paid for the supplies . It really was my experiment...they didn't help me at all....

When my daughter did her experiment in high school-I only helped a little bit--she did most of the work. However, her science teacher accused her of having help from her parents...me, I suppose... She received second place in the county science fair. Probably because she spelled the name of the organism that she was studying incorrectly... Did I help her correct the spelling? No.
I did mention to her that she should make sure it was spelled correctly. Did I make her correct it, when I saw it was still spelled incorrectly? No. Who listens to a mom when you are a teenager?

[jflattracker]

Yay I'm glad it's all over for you! Except the turning in part!
And we loved having Flat Stanley here in Colorful Colorado too!

[Sol]

Originally Posted by BonnyW

THAT would have been cool.

Wouldn't it? Where I lived, cockroaches are huge and they fly! They fascinated the heck outta me. I used to tell my mom and aunt that the cockroaches were as big as medjool dates. That would freak those two out because they loved dates. I had set out to collect a couple for school and my mom put a stop to it immediately. She told me I would probably get kicked out of school. The 4th grade....ha! I liked my teacher so I decided to break out the encyclopedia and look up stuff on moths...in comes mom and insists I pick out something pretty like butterflies.

[BonnyW]

Originally Posted by Sol

Wouldn't it? Where I lived, cockroaches are huge and they fly! They fascinated the heck outta me. I used to tell my mom and aunt that the cockroaches were as big as medjool dates. That would freak those two out because they loved dates. I had set out to collect a couple for school and my mom put a stop to it immediately. She told me I would probably get kicked out of school. The 4th grade....ha! I liked my teacher so I decided to break out the encyclopedia and look up stuff on moths...in comes mom and insists I pick out something pretty like butterflies.

Egad, we are related

There were some cockroaches at one of my schools that were so big (Madagascar), I threatened to paint a yellow polka dot bikini on a couple of their backs Non-toxic paint and all that of course...