STEAM
STEAM: Hatching Chicks!![]()
The dedicated “mother hens” in Mrs. Gottardo’s first grade classroom and Mrs. O’Hara’s Science Lab were thrilled to welcome many baby chicks into the world during the week of May 7. Beginning on Monday, May 7, the chicks began to peck their way out of the shells that have been carefully tended for 21 days.
In the first grade classroom, the eggs were manually turned three times per day by Mrs. Gottardo. The Science lab used an incubator awarded from a grant that Mrs. O’Hara and Mrs. Gottardo applied for. That incubator was equipped with an automatic egg turner. Both hatcheries were quite successful. The first grade classroom welcomed 22 baby chicks and 16 hatched in the Science Lab.
The children will continue to observe the chick growth and development for another week or so. The whole school gets excited about watching this miracle of life (in fact, the first chick to hatch in the Science Lab was named Miracle). Science is very thrilling when it happens before your eyes!
STEM at St. Als/St. Pats: Invention Convention 2022![]()
The St. Alphonsus-St. Patrick School Invention Convention was held on Thursday, January 27. Students from both 7th and 8th grade participated in the event. They began developing their inventions in October under the direction of Mrs. O’Hara, our junior high science teacher. The students first brainstorm to think of an original product that might serve a useful purpose, solve a problem, or fill a particular need. The final products represent months of hard work, ingenuity, and creative problem solving. The student inventions include market research and a marketing plan. The products were quite varied this year and some, as the judges commented, could really be developed a little more and brought to fruition and sold in stores across the nation. The critical thinking and problem solving fostered by the Invention Convention are very important skills that students need to have in their toolbox for life.
The student inventions were judged by teachers and community members based on criteria such as the originality and usefulness of the idea, the workmanship of the product prototype, the marketing plan, market research, and the creator’s response to the market research. The projects receiving special recognition were as follows:
- The first place project belonged to eighth grader NinaR. for “The Easy Reach Tissue Box”.
- There was a tie for second place among three eighth graders: Maggie S. for “The Never Ever Tangles Hairbrush”; Ellie
S. for “The Spike Away”; and Lily T. for “The Necklace Magnet”. - Third place was awarded to a seventh grade duo, Katie C. and Kaitlyn W. for “The Salon Pillow”.
- Finally, we had three projects receive Honorable Mentions: Eighth graders Kate M. and Eden K. for “The Ecobrella”; eighth graders Joey F. and Blake G. for “The Griptster”; and seventh graders Anthony F. and Christopher H. for their “Auto Magic Door Kit”.
Take a look at some photos of our young inventors with their unique and useful creations.