THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, March 13, 1996 TAG: 9603120109
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LINDA McNATT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CARROLLTON LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
Ten ... nine ... eight ... seven ...
As the countdown continued, wide-eyed fourth- and fifth-graders stood in back of Carrollton Elementary School and waited for the rocket to blast into space. After a couple of stalled attempts, they weren't disappointed.
The blast-off of a model rocket was courtesy of upperclassman Robert Holland, a Smithfield Middle School sixth-grader who recently brought stories of his adventures in space camp last summer - and the eye-popping rocket explosion - to the elementary school students.
Holland, teacher Pam Saunders said, has been helping her students learn about and understand space during their exploration of the outer limits in Carrollton Elementary's SEARCH and PEP classes.
In SEARCH - an acronym for Searching, Exploring and Reaching for Creative Horizons - students explore the more adventurous lessons each week.
Younger students, in kindergarten through second grade, are part of PEP - Primary Enrichment Program - and they also get special classes in more intensive learning. Most of the students, Saunders said, are identified as gifted while still in kindergarten.
That was the case with Holland, who Saunders said was glad to come back to the elementary school to share his experiences and expertise with the younger students.
Space studies began for Saunders' students just after the Christmas break. First- and second-graders made booklets about space, using resources like the electronic library on the school's computers. Third-graders built a model of the solar system and participated in an activity about the life span of stars.
``We learned about nova - a star that undergoes a surface explosion, shines almost white for a while and then goes dim,'' Saunders said. ``And nebulae - dust and gases floating in space that eventually form a star.''
Holland was a highlight in the adventure for most of her students, the teacher said. He met with first- and second-graders one day, third-graders another. Finally, he set off the rocket for the fourth- and fifth-graders.
But first, after a video that told all about NASA's Space Camp in Huntsville, Ala., Holland told the younger children about his own adventures.
Holland talked about space history, about the first astronauts, about searching for core samples and rock samples in a simulated moon setting.
The students asked questions:
``Did you get to watch any television?''
- ``No television. A few movies.''
``How about Nintendo?''
- ``Nope,'' Holland said, grinning.
``Did you ever get sick on one of those simulators?''
- The answer was no again.
``What did space food taste like?''
- ``It was a mixture of meat and lettuce, something like chicken salad.''
The culmination of Holland's visit to the school was the rocket launch. When he does it at home, he told the students, he likes to put a spider into orbit.
Her students will remain involved in their space studies for the next several weeks, Saunders said.
Later this month, a field trip to the Hampton Space Museum will allow them to view the current exhibit about Star Trek and to see the Imax movie ``Space Destiny.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by LINDA McNATT
Smithfield Middle School student Robert Holland talks about space
camp with Carrollton Elementary School students.
by CNB