"I learned a lot of facts," commented this Stratford third grader whose project was about earthquakes. "It was fun making the wood stand that held the slinky." Following a 26 year tradition, students at the Stratford School dazzled attendees with their entries at this year's annual Science Fair. Due to the large number of projects being presented, the event took place in the school's cafeteria and gymnasium, filling the rooms from end-to-end. The students' experiments explored a wide variety of subjects that coincided with class work and conformed to NYS Science Learning Standards. Students demonstrated their experiments or asked for volunteers to try his/her hand at their station during the fair, enthusiastically sharing their findings with the visiting grade levels. "I learned what causes earthquakes and how they work," commented one third grader about his project; "It was hard figuring out how to mesh the gears to turn the windmill," commented a team working on illustrating the benefits of wind power.

The learning was evident at this year's science fair, as was the high level of the project presentations. Most importantly, the students expanded their research skills, learned how to work cooperatively, and to have fun exploring the world of science!

Wind power was a breeze for these inventive third graders. When moved by a current of air, the wind mill turned causing a secondary reaction to take place.

These three students experimented with weight placement inside a hollow wheel. They attached the same number of pennies just inside the circumference of one wheel and at the axel point of another. They then tested to see which wheel traveled faster down an inclined plane. In this clever project demonstrating electricity, participants connecting a wire to a metal tack next to the correct answer were rewarded with a green light. If they chose an incorrect answer, a red light flashed and a buzzer sounded. These young botanists studied the growth cycle of peas. The peas on the left were grown in a window with southern exposure; the middle plants were grown in a west window, and the smallest samples were grown with northern exposure. Air pressure was the focus of these young scientists experiment - one balloon inside a soda bottle inflates normally, the other does not. Can you guess why?