{"id":11643,"date":"2023-12-19T12:21:09","date_gmt":"2023-12-19T17:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/?p=11643"},"modified":"2023-12-19T12:21:09","modified_gmt":"2023-12-19T17:21:09","slug":"students-and-families-celebrate-the-holidays-with-an-evening-of-learning-fun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/students-and-families-celebrate-the-holidays-with-an-evening-of-learning-fun\/","title":{"rendered":"Students and families celebrate the holidays with an evening of learning fun"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Chloe Flores designed a candy cane maze during New Castle Elementary’s “STEAM Night.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Tis the season to be jolly and have some after school fun. New Castle Elementary students and their families were invited to school on Dec. 12 for an evening of science, technology, engineering, art and math (STEAM) activities.<\/p>\n

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New Castle Elementary fourth graders Maddie Jacobs, left, and Harper Ellis enjoyed the \u201cPencil Build\u201d during \u201cSTEAM Night\u201d at their school. The goal was to stack as many pencils as possible.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Approximately 200 attended \u201cSTEAM Night\u201d featuring more than a dozen tables full of hands-on activities in the school\u2019s foyer and cafeteria. The festive area hosted by staff members resembled Santa\u2019s workshop as little elves were busy building pencil towers, catapulting snowballs, constructing sculptures out of magnets, and more. Chatter and laughter filled the air.<\/p>\n

Eric Osborne said he was driving his daughter Chloe to gymnastics class when he saw the \u201cSTEAM Night\u201d sign near the school\u2019s entrance. \u201cI thought, this is the perfect recipe for tonight,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

His second-grader was busy at the \u201cGrowing the Grinch\u2019s Heart with Science\u201d table. She drew a heart on the balloon and used a funnel to pour some baking soda in it. Then she attached it to a water bottle filled with some vinegar. Almost immediately the balloon inflated and the Grinch\u2019s heart grew. Chloe was delighted. \u201cI\u2019m gonna save it and put it in my room,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Her friend Isla Earle\u2019s experiment was successful, too. Shannon Earle said she was happy to see her daughter \u201cplaying and learning at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n

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New Castle Elementary students used simple machines made of rubber bands to build pyramids with plastic cups during \u201cSTEAM Night.\u201d Teacher Hannah Woolf, left, assisted Kai Lonzon and his mother.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nearby, third grade teacher Hannah Woolf demonstrated pyramid-building with plastic cups. Students picked up each cup using simple machines made of rubber bands. The challenge was to work with others to surround each cup with the machine and pull from different sides to allow the force to lift them up into a pyramid, without hands touching the cups. Woolf said the challenge allows students to \u201ccollaborate, communicate and work together.\u201d<\/p>\n

They also crafted musical instruments from pipe cleaners and bells with music teacher Jennica Hull, and built igloo huts out of hula hoops provided by physical education teacher Amber Beans.<\/p>\n

First grade teacher Kristen Dennis said students were gaining knowledge \u201cwhile not even realizing it.\u201d She supervised a group of young engineers designing towers out of toothpicks and marshmallows.<\/p>\n

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After several tries, fourth-grader George Long catapulted squished marshmallows more than 12 feet during “STEAM Night” at New Castle Elementary School.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fourth-grader George Long looked proud. He had just sent three tiny marshmallows squished together more than 12 feet using a lever on a catapult made of popsicle sticks. \u201cMy favorite subject is science,\u201d he said. The goal was to figure out what size and how many marshmallows could be launched the farthest using the simple machine.<\/p>\n

The \u201cPencil Build\u201d was supervised by Theresa Azzarello. \u201cStudents are using their creative side,\u201d the fourth-grade teacher said. The activity helps improve dexterity as they stack as many pencils together as possible, she noted.<\/p>\n

Community members also brought their expertise to share. Old Dominion University student MacKenzie Rickard is an intern at the engineering firm Gannett Fleming. She asked students \u201cWhere does water go when you wash your hands?\u201d and piqued their curiosity with a simulated water faucet.<\/p>\n

Kayla Bissette from Mad Science of Hampton Roads captured the attention of many. \u201cWho\u2019s heard of dry ice?\u201d she asked. The answer: \u201cIt\u2019s a frozen gas made from carbon dioxide.\u201d The students were wide-eyed as she poured the ice into a cylinder filled with hot water, and steam emerged. \u201cIt\u2019s turning from a solid to a gas!\u201d Bissette explained.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Principal Heather Quinn said the second annual STEAM night helped involve parents in their children\u2019s learning. \u201cWe wanted to build that sense of community by having a fun event for our students and families.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quinn oversaw the popular snow-making table. \u201cSince we don\u2019t get much snow, we make snow,\u201d she said. Dish detergent and baking soda were mixed and molded into snowmen. First grader Mila Godina named hers \u201cFrosty.\u201d Her mother Ciara Godina said her daughter couldn\u2019t wait to return to school for the evening. \u201cShe likes making things and drawing,\u201d she said. Participating in the activities \u201cgets her thinking without realizing she is thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Isla Earle, left, and Chloe Osborne had fun \u201cGrowing the Grinch\u2019s Heart with Science\u201d during \u201cSTEAM NIGHT\u201d at New Castle Elementary.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Kayla Bissette of Mad Science of Hampton Roads showed students what happens when dry ice is poured into hot water during \u201cSTEAM NIGHT\u201d at New Castle Elementary.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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First-grader Daniel Clayton, left, and three-year-old Sadya Matkyl created sculptures out of magnets during “STEAM Night” at New Castle Elementary was a success.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tis the season to be jolly and have some after school fun. New Castle Elementary students and their families were invited to school on Dec. 12 for an evening of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":11644,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11643"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11643\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11664,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11643\/revisions\/11664"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}