Science Fair 2013

I first heard about this science fair back in January. It was the last day of late registration for the workshop about the science fair. I emailed the co-ordinator and the next day drove over to her house to hand-deliver the registration forms for the workshop. Although the workshop was really too long for the kids, I got excited about the idea of doing science fair projects. I also volunteered Wander as a judge. Glitter picked a topic from the list of ideas right away and we immediately picked out books on our next library visit. Sparkle had a harder time thinking of a topic. Nothing seemed to interest her.

We worked on the science fair projects off and on for the rest of January, February, and into March. Then as soon as PSIA was over, I realized that we were behind schedule and needed to kick it up if we wanted to finish in time. The week before the science fair, I canceled all other school (except memory work and piano practice) to devote more time on the project. Who would have imagined that hand-creating titles, typing, copying, and gluing would take so much time? The Thursday before the fair, Sparkle was up past midnight gluing because she didn't want to miss park day on Friday. The night before the fair I was emailing the co-ordinator to reclassify Sparkle's project and arrange for early judging because Sparkle had a dance rehearsal.

The day of the fair we all had to get up early to drive to the campus where the fair was held. I helped the girls check in and get set-up. Wander went off with the judges for their orientation. The girls were among the first judged. I waited right outside the door, chatting with another mom about how we were there just in case a kid had a last-minute crying melt-down. Glitter was the first one out, and she was beaming. A few minutes later Sparkle appeared. A bit later we were having lunch in the car on the way to Sparkle's dance rehearsal. Then after her rehearsal, we dashed back to the fair to get the results.

In this particular science fair the students are first scored independently from each other. Everyone who gets 90+ points gets first place. Everyone with 80+ points is second place. As the students aren't compared with each other for these places, almost everyone gets a first or second place ribbon. Then each grade division has awards for grand champion, reserve champion, best display, best interview, and most creative.

Glitter was in the second of two K-2nd grade divisions and she scored enough points for second place and won best display for her division. Sparkle was in the 3-4 grade division, and she got enough points for first place and won most original for her division.