The Little Petal attended an 8o's birthday party this weekend.....it was so fun to see all the little girls....
...at their Cindy Lauper-est!Good thing my little girl had fun on Saturday...cuz' Sunday....
...it was 'all hands on deck" to complete her science fair project.I'm gonna rant here for a second....something I do not care to do in general.... and ESPECIALLY on my blog.
This was our 1st EVER science fair project.
When Ruby was in 3rd grade it was not required and in 4th she attended a TAG school that ask you to spend a Saturday at a local half-day science fair event for hands on experiments.
Though my 8 year old absolutely contributed to her project...including taking care of her plants over several weeks, keeping "data' on their growth, taking pictures(fab ones by the by)for the final poster,synthesizing her thoughts about the results after a discussion with dad....it felt like a project that was more a grade for her dad and I than for Noli. I now see why Ruby's TAG school did not do an individual assignment. An all day fair with several hands-on activities was more about the children learning and LESS about parents doing work for their kids.
At home projects have always been both a joy and a pain. I understand it is about providing a balance of parental leading and your child's input.I have to also fess up to "taking over" in the name of aesthetics.
Do any of you out there have thoughts on take home projects that are often too much for the young child to do on their own. How do you handle things?
3 comments:
I HATED science fair projects as a kid, and I dread them as a parent! We haven't had to do one yet but I'm sure the day will come. I just wonder, in all the years and years kids have been doing science fair projects, why haven't teachers come up with a better way to teach the kids the same principles? Honestly, I haven't met a person yet who didn't hate science fair projects. So why do they keep assigning them?
I am not a fan of parent projects. When I taught in NJ I used to assign home projects. One was a model of a business in town. One parent handed me a lego bank and told me out hard it was for her to do!
Then in CA where every fourth grader and their cousin is assigned to build a mission, I had a student come in weeks before the mission project was even assigned and he said,"My dad said it was time to bring in the mission." Turned out it had been made by a cousin and the whole family passed it around every time there was a fourth grader! I actually thought that was *brilliant* since those model kits are expensive and making it from scratch can cost even more. From that day forward we make our missions in class. The kids make them and I try to sit on my hands and let them do it by themselves.
Your daughter is sooo cute!! Just waayyy totally cute. :)
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