Matthew and Dominick's Iced Tea Maker Over the last two weeks St. Anne's students have celebrated two very special learning traditions with the fifth and sixth grades. The Sixth Graders presented "Living Legends" on Wednesday, April 16. In this project each student chooses a famous scientist, inventor or historical figure and completes an in depth research project. Along with their teachers they completely delve into the process of creating a paper from start to finish. For over two months time they use multiple sources to collect interesting pieces of their legend's childhoods, family, friends, hobbies, education, religion and significant life experiences. The teachers walk them through the process of facts on index cards, outline, rough draft and final paper. They receive a grade and feedback on each stage. The project culminates in the students dressing up as their legend and presenting a five minute speech to students, family and friends with visual aids. Spectators were quite impressed at the effort and the finished product and learned a great deal of world events and culture by making the rounds at the fair. Teachers Mrs. DelBene and Miss Zucaro showed tremendous effort in supporting the students through this most worthwhile effort.

How to dunk a cookie Six days later on Tuesday, April 22, the Fifth Grades carried on a long tradition of the "Rube Goldberg" Invention Convention. A Rube Goldberg contraption takes a simple task and makes it convoluted. The inventors needed to use at least four simple machines in a chain reaction to accomplish a simple task. The project celebrates each inventor's creativity, persistence and mechanical prowess. One of the most important lessons of this exercise is to learn to be aware of what does not work and to show persistence in making the necessary adjustments. The inventions that result must be seen to be believed! Included in the over 40 projects were "How to Get a Hole in One," "How to Dip a Chip"" and "How to Milk a Cow." Teachers Sara Federici and Maryjean McCarthy worked very hard to encourage and coach the students through this impressive project.

Mohandas Ghandi How to open a can of corn Dean Kamen Eleanor Roosevelt How to milk a cow Molly Brown and Jane Goodall Milton Hershey How to turn on a scoreboard Charles Lindbergh Benazir Bhutto