CHICO — While students aren’t able to launch themselves to great heights, yet, they can still enjoy the excitement of aeronautics and firing model rockets into the sky.
Fifth-graders from Hooker Oak Elementary School got a little bit of help from volunteer parents Chris Duffey and Matt Stoiber, but mostly did the work themselves as they shot rockets to a height of perhaps 150 feet over the school’s playground Friday morning.
The two-person teams — one pushing the launch button after the other leading the student spectators in a countdown — clearly enjoyed seeing the wrap-up of their science project. Hearing the excited whoops and shrieks from those who came outside to watch was just a fun bonus.
“This is part of the fifth-grade theme of space and Mars, with the culminating trip to the Chabot Space and Science Center the first week we get back from winter vacation,” said Hooker Oak fifth-grader teacher Beth Geise, who said she was pleased with Friday’s outcome.
“It’s good that all the rockets went off and nobody lost any fingers or eyeballs today,” she added with a laugh.
Each student launcher waited until Duffey and Stoiber had finished mounting the corresponding rocket on the launch pad. Then the student waited until the spectators had counted down, pushing the launch button, and sending the rocket up with a cloud of smoke.
Upon reaching its apex, the rocket’s parachute deployed and the unit floated back to Earth. Some students attempted to catch the rockets as they came back down.
All Hooker Oak fifth-grade students — from Geise’s class, as well as Katie Yancy’s — will travel to the Chabot Space and Science Center on Jan. 12. They’ll build Mars rovers in a small-group lab setting during their day, as well as use telescopes in the museum and possibly see some planets during the day, Geise said. The kids will see and interact with other museum exhibits.
