Kidsday: Experimenting in the Shuttle Room

The shuttle room is where students in our district go to learn about science by doing experiments. There is a model of a rocket ship and replica of the surface of Mars with a miniature land rover. It is a great place to find out more about science, and it is a fun field trip that is so close!

It is located at the Manasquan building in the Half Hollow Hills School District office where the administrators work. An old classroom was taken over and changed into this room. It is open to all elementary schools in the district.

When we got there, we broke up into groups and conducted experiments.

One of the experiments that we did was to put magnets on a model car and try to make it float. This is just like they do in Japan with their trains. We were observing how they floated, so we could understand about friction and why that happened. The less friction there is, the farther and faster they can go.

Another experiment that we did was to take a marble, a small rough ball and a bigger smooth ball and roll them down separate paths. We did this to see if one would go farther than the other. The result was that the big and heavy ball went the farthest because of less friction and more weight.

I hope we can take another field trip to the shuttle room soon because I like doing science experiments.

A fun way to learn about fishing

The Sport Fishing Education Center in Babylon at Cedar Beach Marina is a fun trip. We went fishing using a net. There is a pole at each end of the net. One person holds each pole. We went to the far part of the water and walked back. In the net, we caught fish, shrimp, crabs and jellyfish.

We also took a tour. The tour took place near the ocean. Our host and guide, Tracy Marcus, had us do some fun exercise activities, too. One was where she put sponges on the sand. When we ran up to a sponge, we had to do 10 jumping jacks, 10 push-ups, and circle around it three times. To finish, we had to run to a pole.

There is so much to do. There is a fishing museum, a library, and a rod and reel loan program. After all this activity, we had just enough time to eat before getting back on the bus to go back to school. Everyone in our class thought this was a fun trip.

Want to find out more? Go to ccesuffolk.org/sport-fishing-education-center, or call to make your own class trip: 631-587-2873.

--Kidsday Reporters Marc Cohen and Grant Pitcoff

CLASS OF THE WEEK: Heather Sutz's fourth-grade class, CHESTNUT HILL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, Dix Hills