There was a countdown, followed by a whoosh, and finally a pop. That was the sequence of sounds as sixth graders participated in the annual rocket launch at John G. Dinkelmeyer Elementary School on June 13.

The year-end event is a fun way to end their elementary school years while also reinforcing scientific concepts they will continue to explore in middle school and beyond, like acceleration, circuits, force and gravity.

Teachers Jim O’Brien and Matt Puerta brought their students out to the back field on the sunny morning with the rockets that had been built from kits in the days prior. Sixth graders came up to the two launch pads, added the engine at the bottom of the rocket tube and hooked up a few wires. Then, standing several feet back, each student pushed a button and off the rocket went. After the parachute popped, they ran out to try to catch it on the way down.

“It was cool,” Adriana Aglio said of the project. “It’s something I would like to do again because it was a fun science experiment.”

Vito Farjam, whose rocket went very high but now too far down the field, thought about what he could do differently next time. That was exactly what Mr. O’Brien and Mr. Puerta wanted – for students to analyze the results just like real scientists would. The two classes gathered for reflection before cleaning up and heading back to class.

After being the first student to launch that morning, Vito got to watch the rest of sixth grade peers – from a safe distance, of course – and observed how each launch was a little different.

“It’s unpredictable,” he said of the rockets. “It’s really cool to watch how far they go. It’s like mini-NASA.”

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Date Added: 6/21/2024