Saturday, March 10th
9:00 - 11:00 a.m.

Wow! What a great tradition that parents and children come to enjoy a morning at school together and enjoy their interest and excitement of science! We have had hundreds participating!

In the preschool indoor and outdoor environments, children and parents experienced chemistry stations, bubble creations, block building and architecture, sink & float experiments, volcanoes erupting, rocketry and propulsion, gardening, hands-on magnets, ramps and graphing and sorting and classifying activities.

The Planetarium Show at the Wacky Science Saturday always creates a fun "out of this world" experience for both the children and their families. The children can lie on space blankets and pillows in a darkenened room for an exciting adventure in space.

Several projected images of star constellations are shown on a fabric screen which is lowered by a pulley from the ceiling. A model of the planets orbiting the sun begins the show with a song, "The Family of the Sun," (a song borrowed from an exhibit at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C) led by Mrs. Brumbaugh on her guitar. This year, Mrs. Soares rotated the planets and helped with the other aspects of the show. Next, everyone was treated to a trip to the moon, heightened by a song from the 2001 Space Oddessy cd.

The curriculum materials and the planetarium are a result of a grant from the Petaluma Education Foundation. We were able to purchase the blackout fabric, the projector, the frame materials, books and puzzles, fabric for the space pillows and blankets, and other curriculum items through this grant. During the weeks surrounding the Wacky Science Saturday, space is a high interest curriculum in the Explorer and Kindergarten classes at Happy Day School.

The Kindergarten science projects are an opportunity for the children to gain a hands-on-experience with their parent's help. The parents are encouraged to help their children choose a subject area that is of a particular interest to the child.  Children are much more engaged and enthusiastic if it is relevant to them.  Once the area of study has been decided then they are encourged to come up with a question and to go through the scientific process. 

The assignment is designed to be an at-home family project. The parents and the child will work,interact, and discuss the project together. All projects are to use a display board. The children can help with drawings, writing some of the words, and gathering data. The project covers a six week period so that there is plenty of time for results and completing the backboard. 

After the six weeks the projects are brought in the classroom and each child has a 10 minute presentation.  The presentation consists of the teacher asking prodding questions to bring out the knowledge they have of their subject material..  We have never had a child refuse this culmination of the project.  Usually they can't wait for thier turn to present.  Our goal in this whole process is to have parents and children working together and to excite and motivate children to learn more about the very cool subject of science!

This is a fun and educational morning made possible by your teachers and your family contribution fee. A huge thank you to the teaching staff who hosted such an interesting morning of science experiences for children and their families! It is amazing to see how capable our young children are to investigate, inquire and learn. Parents were learning too! You can count on this rich educational opportunity being repeated next spring. Do you have ideas to share?