Ms. Aina's 8^th grade art students used what they learned about the design cycle to create a new sign for the entrance of our school.  The students formulated questions for Miss Heather, "the client," to discover her vision and ideas for the school sign.  They took her recommendations, created 5 different options, and presented them to her.  She chose her two favorites.  The students combined them and created another prototype in color.  They returned to Miss Heather for her final suggestions.  They made some minor adjustments and began creating the sign.  They had to depend on their math skills to turn the final draft into a full size sign. They wrestled with ratios and measured up a storm.  Rulers and calculations were flying everywhere. Students learned to create stencils hand cut from contact paper, to tape sections off, and to create clean painting lines. They had to cooperate to reach their common goal.  When asked what he gained from participating in the project, Gabe said, "I feel more important to the school because I contributed a piece of artwork with other 8th graders that will stay here and beautify the school for years to come. I learned how to use the design cycle, and I now know how to apply it to other projects in the future because of this experience. I learned how smart it is to divide up responsibilities and collaborate and depend on teamwork because it gets the job done faster and more efficiently with several hands working on it at the same time."  Addie said, "I have become better friends with people in my class that I don't usually hang out with.  It was really neat to get to know them better and bond with them because we were assigned a part of the sign to work on together.  I am not as timid to tackle big projects as I used to be.  At first it was kind of nerve racking but as I saw it coming together bit by bit I realized that I can take on big projects.  I used to jump right into the "creating" of a project but through using the design cycle I realized that it is much easier in the long run to do the preliminary sketches.  It's more efficient in the end."   

Will fertilizer burn earthworms?  Does cheap laundry detergent out perform the expensive brands?  Does watching Sponge Bob create a sponge brain?  Channing Hall elementary and middle school students sought to answer these questions and many others through their projects presented at the science fair in January.  Thanks to a parent volunteer who saw a need for a school science fair as well as several teachers and volunteer judges, this year's science fair was a great success. Students from 1st through 7th grades voluntarily participated in the event, 8th graders were required to enter a project. 

When asked what he enjoyed most about the science fair, 6th grader Brayden commented, "I like having an excuse and motivation to test things.  I like having a reason to learn more about brains."  His project focused on how food and music effect dreams.  Second grader, Abby, chose to do a project on crystals because, "It's something I have done before, and it is fun".  Both Brayden's and Abby's projects placed in the top three for their divisions.  We had over 30 entries from the elementary and over 50 projects in grades 5-8 with 17 selected to represent our school at the regional competition held at American Prep in West Valley City on February 28.  Congratulations and good luck to our Channing Hall constituents who are moving on!

Special thanks from Mrs. Kern to Tom Kern, Lara Herway, Kyna Prettyman, Sheryl Rushton, Rachel Scott, Cheri Bown, Brooke May, Missy Badberg, and L3 for making it happen.