Students from Washington Discovery Academy and Webster Elementary presented the Focus on Learning to the Plymouth School Board on Tuesday night.
“Not All Superheroes Wear CAPES” was the theme used by Washington students Tyler Martin, Thea Shepherd, Karen Eskew, and Olivia Burch. Burch said, “We want to have a purpose for our learning.”
They went on to explain that they chose men and women in the military to honor. As a part of the project that has been a focus for two school years, students packed care packages. Eskew said, “We want them to know how we feel about them protecting us.”
Shepard and her group talked about their driving question saying, “How can I convince someone to do something even if it is challenging?” They added, “How can we as people who face challenges in life, develop a sense of agency and perseverance so that we can see challenges as exciting events that help us grow and become a better version of ourselves?”
They described a challenge wall in their school where students wrote comments about the abilities and characteristics of each other. Martin said, “It shows people’s feelings of what I think of them and they think of me.”
Washington students are planning a 5k Color Run on May 20 at Centennial Park. Those from the community interested in signing up to participate can find information on the school’s website.
Teachers involved in the project include Lindsey Risner, Courtney Young, Loren Goodwill, Alyssa Mentz, and Katie Straub.
Webster third and fourth grade students shared their Science Fair projects.
Elizabeth Derifield entitled here project “The Science of the Perfect Cookie”. Her experiments included baking different batches of cookies and adding some different ingredients. She presented each of the Board members with a cookie that she concluded were the best.
Bethsaida González and Sue Everett compared both name brand and generic brand paper towels. After a number of trials, they concluded that a name brand was the best value. They shared that there were some brands that were less expensive, but didn’t compete a task.
Logan Gernenz presented a display entitled “The Rock Candy Experiment”. He compared different sugars to try to prove his hypothesis that sugars would work.
Michael Manges was able to move an aluminum pop can without touching it by creating static electricity from PCV pipe and a towel.
Art teacher and high ability teacher, Mrs. Landis, helped the students perfect their displays.
Carol Anders Correspondent
Photo 1 Elizabeth Derifield, Sue Evetett, Bethsaida Gonzalez, Michael Manges, and Logan Gernenz.
Photo 2 Tyler Martin, Thea Shepherd, Jaden Eskew, and Olivia Burch.
Photo 3 Michael Manges demonstrates how static electricity works to move an aluminum can.
