Up, up and away Up, up and away (February 11, 2004)

Sixth-graders take science out of the classroom

by Rachel Metz

High in the sky - it's a bird, it's a plane ... it's a tissue paper hot air balloon.

Six classes of Jane Lathrop Stanford Middle School sixth-graders took their science projects to the sky Monday morning at Mitchell Park, blowing up their hot air balloons with the help of a camping stove and propane tanks.

They'd been working in groups on the balloons - held together with Elmer's glue and some tape -since December.

The project was part of a science unit exploring convection currents and the earth's core. Sixth-grade teacher Diane Garcia said a former district teacher used to make balloons with his students, and she resurrected the project in the late 1990s.

"They get real excited about this day. They look forward to it," she said.

Students had waited for a cold, crisp day to fly the balloons because they needed to make sure the hot air blown into them contrasted with the chilly environment.

Monday was pretty good weather-wise, although it started to warm up mid-morning. By 10 a.m., balloons of all different colors - pink and blue, red and green and a rainbow of others - had taken to the sky. One flew as far away as a neighboring yard, others skimmed the sky and floated to the ground as kids ran to catch them.

Standing by a crowd of kids waiting to blow up their balloons, sixth-grader Holly Xiao said she liked seeing how far her group's balloon went.

"It's nice to see all the colors in the sky," she said.

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