Today was the Regional Science Fair at Wakefield in Raleigh. Hayley’s school is in the Central 3A regional which is comprised of the 12 counties around here and the kids compete on the elementary, junior (middle school kids) and senior (high school kids).
We are so excited to share that Hayley won First Place in the Junior division for Biology and then another First Place in Junior division special awards for water safety issues, sponsored by the North Carolina American Water Works Association and the North Carolina Water Environment Association! She got a trophy, certificate and $75!! And even more importantly, her win means she gets the NCSEF Junior Biological Science A Nomination from this regional… and that qualifies her for the STATE SCIENCE FAIR!!!
We are so proud of Hayley for all her work on her Science Fair project for school. She decided on testing several beach areas at local lakes to see if they were safe to swim in. We were out at local lakes collecting samples in the cold and then running lots of test on then. She didn’t win but she was asked to be one of the five projects from her school to move on the Regional Science Fair!
Love this photo of Hayley getting water samples.
Hard at work testing
Setting up at school
More photos from this set: Regular view (easiest to find one in particular or print) Slideshow view (easiest to see them all)
(Her first project had to be scrapped because the tests didn’t work so she’s going to send the dollar bills back to those who helped out.)
Word to the wise: don’t ever make outlandish bets with your kid over grades. I bet Hayley if she substantially raised her math grade, I’d have a limo get her at school. Of course she did it.
While I would have actually had the limo get her, I did sort of think it was a waste of money and negotiated a settlement – a pair of guinea pigs. Jeff was on the fence but when she found two guinea pigs at the SPCA that needed to be rescued, even he couldn’t resist.
Now a week later, we know now would have been vastly cheaper to just get the limo. Of course, they don’t like pellets so we are making them mini-salads twice a day. We’ve had to buy them two cages, tons of stuff and lord knows if they are happy or not. But at least it is a better use of money than limos and Hayley is happy. She’s named them Ivory and Italee after two former UNC women’s basketball players, Ivory Latta and Italee Lucas who are now in the WNBA.
—–
The original SPCA info:
Hi, my name is Beatrice and I’m here with my friend Ramona! We’re here at the SPCA in hopes of finding someone that will love us for the rest of my life. Guinea Pigs are little, entertaining creatures who love to cuddle and we’re quite content being held by people. We enjoy cuddling together in our igloo and munching on some yummy treats of carrots and lettuce. We’ll need an owner that can spend time with us every day and help us become more comfortable in my new home. If two cute little guinea pigs are what you’ve been looking for, come check us out!
—–
See more photos from this set: Regular view (easiest to find one in particular or print) Slideshow view (easiest to see them all)
Posted by Michelle on Apr 1, 2011 in Humor, Michelle
Hayley got the Teacher’s Choice award today in Science at the Honors Assembly this morning! (update – I added photos from the event and going out that afternoon with her friends)
Click through to see what the award say:
Her teacher gave a speech about her that was just adorable. For those of you who have known either me or Jeff for a long time, you’ll find the part about ‘quirky being good because it is creative, different and unique’ very funny and so appropriate for our kid. Hayley is one of a kind and she’s so lucky to find teachers who aren’t annoyed but find that praiseworthy. For what it’s worth, she had such a solid A in science she didn’t even use any of her extra credit.
(turn your volume up loud to hear)
Then her teachers did some ‘entertainment’ to end the assembly. This is her science, social studies, math and language arts teachers singing Justin Bieber’s Baby Baby. Hayley and a friend got to stand up on the tables and help by holding up signs with some of the lyrics. Hayley is really lucky to go to such a great school with dynamic teachers.
(turn the volume down a bit now, lol)
See more photos from this set: Regular view (easiest to find one in particular or print) Slideshow view (easiest to see them all)
I’ve got a bit of good news for you: Your child has been chosen to receive one of our Teacher’s Choice Awards at the Honors Assembly! That’s a pretty big deal, considering how hard the transition from elementary to middle school can be. Your sons and daughters have really impressed us—either by being kind and courteous to their teachers and their peers, by doing remarkable work in all of our classes, or by showing determination and persistence to do better. Whatever the reason, we’re proud of your kids!
Hayley’s school had an early release day today (Friday) and a Valentine’s Dance scheduled for that night, so she had friends come over to go see the Justin Bieber 3D movie, hang out and get ready and then grab dinner before heading to the dance. Ahh middle school.
Hayley has lucked out and has an exceptional science teacher, Bill Ferriter. Hayley and I have enjoyed talking technology with him over the first semester and she lucked out when he asked her to do a neat project for him. Over break, he got a Livescribe, a smart pen that records while you write and connects the audio to the text or drawing. Think of the possibilities of taking notes (for school, work, whatever) and then being able to touch the pen to a word and you hear the audio recorded at the time) or being able to explain and draw out something with words and images – for visual learners, this is really cool. Also when you write in the special notebooks it can also create a combined visual/audio ‘tutorial’ that can be uploaded online. Way nifty.
If you want more background (and I suspect Grandpa John will), you can read this post of his about getting the pen and his ideas for it, Teaching and Learning with Livescribe Pens.
He wanted to get some examples to share at school so he selected Hayley and gave her the pen for the weekend to see what she could create. We had a lot of fun playing with it and she was really proud he picked her to work on this. He was thrilled with her work and posted them online. We are really proud of her!
(this is one of both of our favorite childhood poems. It’s too hard to draw in depth and read at the same time so I read it so Hayley could draw all the trash, haha)
You can see the posting/email her teacher sent to all the other parents about the project, Livescribe tutorials.
Hayley with her diploma and fantastic teacher Miss Fowler
Hayley graduated from Salem Elementary last Wednesday and it was such an adorable ceremony. My folks and Aunt Cathie came, as well as Hayley’s first/birthmom, her husband and one of Hayley’s sisters. The kids did most of the ceremony themselves and I think it was almost as much about saying ‘thank you’ to the parents as patting the kids on the back. I just couldn’t believe how grown up she looked and how time had just flown by. I did love her teacher from this year and enjoyed hearing her share some wisdom with the kids. Unexpectedly, the class gave a thank you present to the co-room moms so I had to go up front, which we all know I dislike but this time, I didn’t mind. Also each child got an special award – Hayley got the Artistic award!
My favorite part was while the parents were waiting for the kids to file in, they had a slideshow. The kids picked a generic scenic photo and wrote a sweet note to their parents. A lot of kids picked kittens and puppies for their picture. Some boys threw in a baseball or skateboard scene, a few kids picked photos of beaches. Hayley picked one of my favorite photos of all time:
Her note was pretty sweet too. I was grateful I remembered to wear waterproof mascara. I’m so thankful to Salem for so many things – even when things didn’t go how I wanted them, they never stopped trying to make things better. The list of people there who had a positive affect on my child is very long. I’m sad to leave Salem Elementary after her six years there though but at least she won’t be far, just next door at Salem Middle.
See more photos and the video in this set: Regular view (easiest to find one in particular or print) Slideshow view (easiest to see them all)
Before heading out to school this morning… she’s such the cute little rebel. She had been yammering for shiny black doc martens but they don’t make the style she wanted in her small foot size but we lucked out and found them elsewhere. I should have had her pose with her new black ‘punk princess’ messenger bag. I fully expect to see her with her guitar fronting a band dressed just the same in a few years but with more snarl and less hugs 😉
