Science Fair Winner!!

Tonight was the science fair at CIL. All third, fourth, and fifth graders participate, although third graders do their experiments as a class. Fourth and fifth graders do their own experiments and I like the system because all of the planning, research, analysis, and writing is done at school to ensure that parents don't "help" too much. All we had to do at home was the actual experiment and putting the board together.

Emily decided to do her project on the best way to store cut fruit. Specifically, she wanted to know how to store apple slices so they wouldn't brown. She tested storing them in plastic wrap, plastic bags, in and out of the refrigerator, and in a pan of water. Here she is making her board:





Today at school, the judges (science professors and graduate students from UCF!!) came to look at all of the students' projects. They selected 12 students from each grade to interview. We knew that if Emily was chosen to be interviewed, she would receive some sort of award at the science fair. They gave Judges' Awards, Honorable Mentions, and 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place awards. I asked Emily's teacher if there was any way to find out if she was getting an award so that her daddy could be there at the ceremony that evening. She said she would have Emily call me if she was selected to be interviewed.

Well, most of the day went by and by 1:00, I figured that Emily hadn't been chosen, So you can imagine my surprise when the phone rang at 1:37 and it was Emmy's school! Emily said, "Mommy, I got interviewed by the judges! So I might get a judges' award!" But Emily did not get a judges' award. Emily won SECOND PLACE in the science fair! And her best friend won third place, so they were really excited about that.

   

We are all so proud of her!