Team Louis (Cava's Christie Louis' Class): Science Fair

Good Morning Fabulous CAVA Learning Coaches,

Last Thursday afternoon, we held our Introduction to the Science Fair session. We had over 60 students and learning coaches join us for this informational session! Below is the link to the recording from this session, which should be sent out to all of your families either today or Monday.

Recording: https://sas.elluminate.com/site/external/jwsdetect/playback.jnlp?psid=2012-11-08.0909.M.6EBB21FA8F24067F5E8E944175577B.vcr&sid=559

These were a few common questions from yesterday’s session:

· Is the Science Fair required?

o No, the Science Fair is not required. It is an optional educational experience/event that is highly recommended for all CAVA students. Additional information is in the recording regarding how this applies to middle school grading, ‘extra credit’ for grades K-5, etc.

· Can students work in groups?

o Yes, students can work in small groups. They will enter the Science Fair in the grade level category that matches the highest grade level in the group. For example, a 5^th student and a 6^th grade student working together would be entered in the 6-8 grade category for judging. If the winning project was completed by a group of students, those students will need to determine how to share the prize, as there will only be one prize awarded for each grade level span.

· Are students able to do a model of a volcano or the solar system?

o No, students are not able to complete a model for their Science Fair project. Projects must be experiment-based. Models will not be judged or submitted for the virtual Science Fair scoring, and will not receive ‘extra credit’ or OLS credit as described in the recording.

· When and where will the local Science Fair events be held?

o All Science Fair events will take place from March 18^th through March 29^th. We are in the process of determining and securing locations for each area, and will be releasing that information to families in January. At that time, families will be able to sign up for the event that they are planning to attend.

I have attached the Science Fair Guidelines and rubrics for each grade level span, which were file-shared with all participants yesterday. These attachments will be great tools for you as learning coaches to refer to when supporting your students with their Science Fair projects.

The next Science Fair information session will be held on November 27^th at 4:00 pm, and will cover choosing a topic, coming up with a question to answer, and writing a hypothesis. This session will take place in the Science Fair room: https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?sid=559&password=M.E1817F1DEE2D0EE8A029052A00EEEF.

Thank you, again, for all that you will be doing to support your students with their projects this year! We are super excited about this event, and can’t wait to see what your students come up with!