Do you know how to make a bubbling, colorful blob in a test tube? Roosevelt’s second-graders and their families do. They learned this scientific secret and many others at the seventh annual Second Grade Family Fun Science Night, held on Jan. 24.
Regina D’Orio, science and technology teacher, with Janna Ostroff, science and technology supervisor, led the evening’s events, which immersed students and their family members in five hands-on science investigations. Each experiment called for teamwork, critical thinking, scientific recording and, of course, fun.
This scientific tradition was started at Roosevelt in January 2007 by Keith Harrison after getting the idea from a conference he attended. The result was a successful event designed to bring students and families together while learning new ideas in science.
The evening got started in the cafeteria where the young scientists decorated their own white lab coats and donned colorful goggles to do their work. During. D’Orio’s introduction, she invited families to view her website, www.trscienceandtech.com for information about the K-2 science program and photos of students engaged in the night’s activities.
Ostroff shared the microphone to talk about the exciting new robotics program that is launching in Oyster Bay on Tuesday, Feb. 11 at 6 p.m. in the Oyster Bay High School library.
The attendees then broke off into groups and went to the kindergarten classrooms to engage in projects including Hoop Gliders, Fingerprints, The Erupting Bubbling Blob, Drops on a Penny, and Sense of Taste. Each exploration was supervised by one of the Roosevelt teachers including, Jennifer Iles, . Kristina Kolb, Heather Lami, Jamie Pellettiere and Alison Skoczdopole.
Oyster Bay High School science teacher Amy Hallock came to lend her expertise. Oyster Bay High School students from the National Science Honor Society were invaluable in assisting teachers and students throughout the evening. Those high school students included Amanda Cooper, Cara Gibbons, Christy Ha, Cindy Hom, Aubri Juhasz, Shannon Kelly, Rebecca Layne, Claudia Mastrogiacomo, Ryan McEvoy, Anant Mehrotra, Christon Muzante, Maria Osypenko, Nina Policano, Halsey Quinn, Somya Srivastava, Mark Stutzmann and Matt Treiber.
“Beginning with the creative designing of lab coats and accompanying eye goggles, the attendees knew they would be in for a fun-filled time,” says. Bonnie Epstein, Interim Principal of the Theodore Roosevelt Elementary School. “The informative PowerPoint shared by Ms. D’Orio and Ms. Ostroff triggered the interest of all. The five stations, one per classroom, were the highlight as these second grade students and their parents got to work together to critically think and perform thought-provoking experiments with exciting outcomes. I am sure Science Fun Night is a Roosevelt memory our second graders and their parents will remember forever.”
