Science Fair Time

So, being the only middle school science teacher, I get to organize the annual ICSB Science Fair. (There is not one for high school to the relief of the students.) It's fun to see all the ideas of my students and the learning that occurs from such an event, but it is rather stressful preparing them (and their parents) for it. Since I teach international kids (American, Hungarian, Ukrainian, Korean, and more) I need to be very clear in what a science fair is and what is expected. Even many of the American students have never been in one since they've lived abroad most or all of their lives. It's a milestone in life for sure.


Every year I improve as far as my planning goes. Last year I decided to place a large calendar in the hallway specifically for preparing for science fair. There were several deadlines to remind my students as they passed it in the hallway. Well, I liked that idea and have done it this year, but this year I have more specific deadlines and each student got a copy of the calendar. I think it's certainly been a help to me to make sure my students are on top of things and their experiment won't be a last minute kind of thing.


It's really cool that in this community of missionary families, there are so many adults with science or math background. So it's been a blessing for the students to actually be judged by adults outside of school and can give them objective views about their experiments. And there are winners too! There are 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place medals awarded to students in each class. And one overall winner gets a monetary award, equivalent to about $50.


If you think of me, please pray for me and my students as we prepare for the science fair. It will be Monday, March 16, so we still have lots of time. And I still need to secure judges for that day. Since families are constantly moving, every year there are new judges I need to find.


Thanks for praying!


Here are a couple of pics from last year's science fair: