BATH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
ROCKET CLUB: This year, Bath Elementary School has a new club that focuses on science, technology, engineering and math skills. It is the STEM Rocket Club for fourth- and fifth-grade students. The materials to begin this club were funded through a PIE Grant submitted by Virginia Keech, a teacher at Bath Elementary. PIE Grants are Projects for Innovation and Enhancement for innovative ideas to increase student learning. At the beginning of the club, students were put with a partner, and they learned about Robert Goddard, the “Father of Rocketry.” The students then researched the history of rockets, as well as Goddard’s contribution to rocketry. Students next learned about Newton’s Forces of Motion, and were instructed on how to begin making their own rockets. They designed the fins, chose how many and designed nose cones of several sizes. Students then measured, weighed and recorded data about everyone’s rocket. The grant provided a launcher that could be used inside. The students loved launching their straw rockets, estimating how far it would travel, and then evaluated the data to come up with conclusions based on their experiment. Dawn Mason, fourth-grade teacher, and Terri Ussery, fifth-grade teacher, both helped.