- April 25, 2024
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Students in Anna Fajardo’s sixth-grade class at Belle Terre Elementary School scattered throughout the room Tuesday, Nov. 15, blowing balloons and sending them shooting down a string. At first glace, it looked like chaos. But these were scientists at work.
They were practicing their scientific method skills by timing how long it took for their vessels, which they built out of balloons, to travel the length of a string as the balloons deflated.
Students calculated the average speed at which their vessels traveled and talked about things that can affect speed. Throughout the project, students will continue to research and adjust their vessels to achieve the fastest speeds.
This project was one of many in Fajardo’s classroom funded through her Dell Trayer grant, “From STEMs to the Routes of Science,” which she received via the Flagler County Education Foundation.
Let the games begin
The Math Olympics is another project funded by a Dell Trayer grant at Belle Terre.
It is headed by Catherine Ryan but supported by a team of teachers, one in each grade level.
This is the fourth year the Math Olympics have received a grant through Dell Trayer, with the first year paying for the purchase of the curriculum. The years following, the grant has provided funding for the purchase of materials. The $1,500 makes for $1 per student, Ryan said.
The Math Olympics, which are essentially a field day but for academics, allow kids to practice skills they have learned throughout the year and learn new skills.
All grade levels compete, with kindergarten through second grade as noncompetitive.
But for third through sixth grade, it is an all out war, according to Ryan.
Recently, with the nationwide push to involve science, technology, engineering and math together, some classes have incorporated science into their math projects.
One example of this is a sixth-grade class which launched marshmallows off a spoon last year to calculate the velocity and trajectory at which the marshmallows flew.
This year, Wadsworth and Bunnell elementary schools will also be holding a Math Olympics on their campuses.
“My dream is for Flagler County to one day have a Math Olympics day and the whole county to compete,” Ryan said.
Memoir writing
But it’s not all about math and science. Sherree Madorma’s sixth-grade class project on memoir writing was also funded by a Dell Trayer grant.
The grant money was used to purchase books for the classroom.
The concept behind the project is for the students to read memoirs and recognize snapshots of biographical information about the author.
After studying their individual books, the students will then write their own memoirs.
In addition to soft cover books, the grant also funded the purchase of electronic books, to be read on Kindles in the school’s library.
“Education is evolving from paper and pencil to technology-based, and we have to keep up,” Principal Stephen Hinson said.
Check next week’s Palm Coast Observer for more projects.
