We eight kids like to potter around productively...Mama wants to remember these delightful days when we have all grown up and left home, so we are creating a record for her.

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Judgement Day


K9's Story

Today was the day I had been looking forward to - the Science Competition Day.

It was the day I could take my game about a science topic to the university.

My game was called "Animal Hide & Seek". There is a Hider and A Seeker - the Hider puts one of his animal cards in the cave and the seeker has to try to work out which one it is. The Seeker reads out the question cards and the Hider tells the answers. If they don't know the answers, there is an information chart they can look at. The Seeker takes out any of his cards that are eliminated until there is only one left. It *should* be the same as the one which is hidden!

I really wanted to get a Highly Commended, but when I saw all the other games I wasn't so sure I'd get anything.

There was a solar system game that was very impressive. I thought it might get first place, but it didn't actually end up getting anything. The people on either side of me had made their games in two weeks. One was a spider game and the other was a dinosaur game.

When they called out the highly commendeds I was disappointed, because I thought I wasn't getting anything. Then they called third place and it was me. I was really really happy and couldn't stop smiling.

The two other things I enjoyed at the Science Day were making slime and dressing up in the clothes scientists wear to Antarctica.



J&J's Story

Our many years of weather watching proved to be the inspiration for this year's Science Competition Entry. Our task was to design a board game. But we didn't stop at that! We constructed a weather station as well - complete with barometer, thermometer, ananometer and rain guage...all of which would work apart from the rain guage as we wouldn't put the game outside in the rain!

To play the game, you race around the board answering questions, predicting the weather, collecting Information Cards and gathering signs until you have made your own weather station. Would you like to come and play?




The judges obviously liked it......so they gave us first place. For the Second Year In A Row! (but, shhhh - we didn't tell them we had won last year too!)



This lovely Lady Judge, who intereviewed us, was very friendly and interested in our game. She asked lots of questions and laughed at our funny information cards (for example, "In Bedfordshire, England, a tornado is said to have plucked the feathers off several chickens. Surprisingly they survived their ordeal.") She was particularly interested in how the thermometer worked - and we can understand that! We love watching the liquid race up the straw too when we put our hands around it!

When we saw all the other games we really weren't sure we'd get anything, because some of the others looked most professional and they had had a lot of work put into them. Fortunately for us, however, the judges liked the weather records we had been keeping (scientists do like measurements, don't they?)....and we have a sneaking suspicion they enjoyed blowing the anemometer around! We think Lovely Lady Judge would have liked to have seen it blow away the night it was really windy - she laughed when we told her about that escapade.

All in all, we had a great time....but the BEST was that K9 won a prize. We knew just how DESPERATE he'd been to win so we were very very happy for him.

3 comments:

Nik said...

You guys rock! Well done. What fab games you've all come up with - they look so interesting I'd like to try them out! Shame I don't live near by.

skatey katie said...

oh gosh you guys. you are so fabulous!!! i *love* your creativity that has come to life.
huge congrats to you all.
and yes, we would *love* to come and play... or would you like to come to our place???
X X X X X X X

Jen and family said...

well done K9 :)
so happy for you

well done to you both J&J
1st place 2nd time in a row
shows just what home schooling kids can do doesnt it :)

so good to see what youve been up too at last too :)

jen at http://jenz.wordpress.com/