I just wanted to say thanks to JennR for the referral to MadScience. I looked them up and I'm excited to be planning a science night for next year. And also excellent suggestion to reinforce annual test objectives.
We are doing a Family Science Night in April. I'm a bit nervous about it - but I think all in all it will be really fun.
We are having Mad Science come and do a 30 minute show for everyone - then do 2 break-out stations for an hour. One station will be a demo experiment with dry ice and the other station will be a take home - every child will make slime and take it home. The total charge for the show and the stations will be $500. I thought this was pretty reasonable and the kids will absolutely love it.
We are also going to have other stations as well. Our 5th graders are going to do 5 different demos during that hour (families will rotate between all the activities). Since there are many science objectives for the TAKS test - we will be focusing on the 5 that the kids need the most reinforcement.
We've been doing an afterschool science camp for our 5th graders since February (one day a week). So having this family science night will be an opportunity for them to show off what they have been learning.
We've never done this before - but this school year we've been focusing on the family nights. We've had a game night, movie night and arts and crafts night. Science night is our last scheduled one and we're just kind of crossing our fingers. But I think it will be a blast!
One of my PTO friends at a neighboring elementary school just had their first "Invention Convention"... they invited students to create inventions at home, then bring them the night of the convention to share. They also had supplies on hand for students to create stuff while there! Students took turns sharing their creations in front of the group. They also invited a engineer who did a Lego Robotics demonstration and had the high school teachnology club do some demos, as well. In the end, my friend said it was a great evening that they will definitely do again next year!
Hope this gives you some ideas!
Kelley
Madison PTO
Mount Vernon, WA
I'm planning a family fun night with the theme "The Magic of Science." It will be an evening of cool science experiments hosted by our science teacher and his middle school students for our elementary students and their parents. Has anyone done a science night? Any ideas?
