A freaky formula: science, sugar

Even students dressed up like Harry Potter or Hermione Granger got a chance to learn some useful science tricks at Parmalee Elementary School’s Spooky Science Halloween event last Friday.

Shari Sabol, volunteer parent and Spooky Science conjurer, organized the simple science experiments that captivated kindergartners and frustrated fifth-graders. Sabol took basic science concepts and turned them into a chance to learn … before the sugar from the Halloween goodies kicked in.

“First off … it’s fun,” Sabol said. “Kids think science is just about planting a seed, but this is hands-on.”

The experiments included the smoky effects of dry ice and water, a bubble extravaganza with dry ice and dish soap, and a giant dry-ice smoke bubble. Kindergartners learned how to make Ghost Cans and move an object with just a balloon and a soda can. Sabol and her coven of volunteer parents showed kids how to make goo, slimy worms and orbs. Higher grades learned how to spear a skewer through a balloon without bursting it and how to balance 12 nails on one.

“I love watching the kids,” Sabol said “I love watching their reactions and how much fun they’re having with it.”

Sabol said she saw the experiments on a popular children’s science program, and then ordered the kits and instructions. She recruited volunteers for each classroom, who had to quickly master the crafts before facing their toughest audience, the kids.

Amy Windle of Kittredge demonstrated Spooky Science in her daughter’s class last year.

But her giant dry-ice smoke-bubble experiment didn’t work, and she was a little worried about the bubble bursting this year.

“I don’t want them to hate me because it didn’t turn out,” she laughed. “The kids seem to love it even when it doesn’t.”

This year, Windle was in Derek Bahlmann’s first-grade class and walked away with her dry ice, soapy dishrag, soap, and a little fear.

Sabol, who doesn’t have a science background, said she struggled with balancing 12 nails on one, and worried she wouldn’t be able to pull it off again this year. But if she had problems with the balancing act, she just had to ask students in Donna Sutherland’s class to help her.

David Jacobson, 11, who came dressed as a crazed sports fan decked out in a variety of team logos, said he had never tried to balance nails before but made quick work of the task and learned something along the way.

“I learned you have to patient,” David said.

Pierce Strasser, 10, made slimy worms and said it was squishy. But Pierce was a little wary of the experiments’ stealth educational aspect.

“It’s pretty cool, as long as it’s related to Halloween,” he said.

Kids, costumes and sugar

Judging by many of the Parmalee kids’ costumes, Indian Hills mothers are extraordinarily creative, and also own sewing machines and glue guns. Costumes included fully plumed peacocks, slices of pizza, firemen, cowboys, big purple dinosaurs, medieval knights, vampires, Wizard of Oz characters, and kids who figured out how to personify Facebook and MySpace.

Kyle Watkins, 10, said he needed permission from the principal for his costume — he was dressed in a bloody T-shirt that sported small General Mills boxes and bloody spoons. A milk moustache completed his ensemble. His identity? A cereal killer.

Third-grade teacher Justine Creel’s students had fun with polymer spikes, watching them grow from tiny dots the size of a pinhead to round orbs the size of a gumball. The kids learned about estimation and predictions, and they discovered the small orbs could be used as magnifying glasses. Their experiments with the orbs began the day before, and by the time the freaky food was brought out, the kids were more than ready to party.

“When Halloween is on Sunday, that means it’s three days of celebrations,” Creel said. “I wonder what class will be like after the sugar high is over on Monday.”

This story ran in the November 3, 2010 edition of the High Timber Times and was the Upslope for Canyon Courier that same week.