Students share their knowledge

MOSES LAKE - Moses Lake students brought their worldly and scientific knowledge to the community Thursday at a packed science fair, held at Discovery Elementary School.

Third- and fourth-grade students created presentations about a part of the world and built models highlighting aspects of the culture. Fifth-grade students created presentations related to forensic science. They educated visitors about their topics throughout the evening.

Emily Lybbert, 10, Madison Smith, 10, and Erica Bowen, 9, explored the country of Spain.

They constructed a mini bullfighting arena, complete with grandstands and a concessions area.

"Bullfighting's a tradition in Spain," Lybbert said.

Bowen said she learned something interesting about the Spanish during her research.

"(The Spanish) eat lots of meals," said Bowen.

The students noted the Spanish start eating early in the morning and finish their last meal late at night.

Elementary teacher Darylann Craddock said the students, from Knolls Vista, Lakeview Terrace, Larson Heights and Longview elementary schools, are in the school district's highly capable program called NOVA.

"I think they did very well," Craddock said. "I could have used a slightly larger gym. It was pretty shoulder-to-shoulder."

Students involved with the NOVA program meet once each week, Craddock said. They spent the first half of the quarter conducting research for their projects and built their models after Christmas break.

Miranda Herrera, 9, Bethany Iverson, 9 and Marnie Skinner, 9, explored the country of New Zealand.

"I thought it was an interesting and beautiful place, and I wanted to lean more about it," Herrera said.

"I chose it because the name sounded interesting, but I never heard of it before," Iverson said.

Skinner said she wanted to explore a tropical place like Hawaii or Australia, since her uncle is from Australia, and New Zealand was the closest country available to research.

Herrera said she learned about the waterfalls in New Zealand. Herrera built a model of one of the waterfalls.

"Once there was a 50-foot bird called the Moa that lived there," Skinner said.

She said the species is now extinct.

Iverson said she learned traditional huts look much like today's houses. Skinner constructed a meeting house, which she said resembles the traditional huts.

Midori Blandchard, 9, Ariel Caballero, 10, Brandon Duzon, 10, and Eddie Smith, 9, chose to research the country of Japan.

"They go to school for six days a week," Blandchard said.

She noted students in Japan have night school.

Blandchard selected the country because she is a fan of anime - Japanese cartoons. In addition, her father was born in Japan and she is learning the language from him.

"I was interested in Japan because I'm in a Japanese form of karate, and it's also on the other side of the planet so I wanted to learn about that," said Smith.

Duzon said he chose the country because he enjoys Japanese foods. He noted his dad eats sushi.

"I tried it, and I thought it was OK," Duzon said.

His personal favorite is the California roll.

Caballero said she chose to research Japan because she didn't know much about the country.

"I learned a lot about the clothing, and the sports they play and some of the toys that they make," she said.