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p54weekender february 28 1987 weekender childrens page whitchurchhighlands selfwatering plant system by denise mcdonald every time deanna solomon and her family have gone on holi days theyve had to find someone to water their plants that is until deanna and schooi mate kim mcclure devised a means of watering their household flora without neighborly assistance i started seriously thinking about the problem when my pa rents couldnt find anyone to come in says 14yearold dean na one day while i was reading about capillaries i decided to see if a piece of string could water a plant what i found was if you put the string in a glass of water with the other end in the plant pot it keeps the soil moist for several days taking their concept further deanna and kim developed this unique method of watering vegetation into a science fair project entitled the capillary effect and entered it at whitch- urchhighlands school thursday we were both interested in seeing what materials had the most capillaries or hairlike tubes says kim 13 we also wanted to test the force of gravity on liquid through small tubes i always wanted to know about veins and how the blood goes through them continues dean na you can look at a plant for hours yet not know how the water moves up the stem i wanted to know how water feeds things according to both girls much of their information was taken from science encyclopedias physics dictionaries and their grade8 sci ence text book the capillary effect was disco vered by a man who left a dry towel by a sink of water ex plains deanna when he came back the next morning the water had crept through the towel and there was a big puddle on the floor deanna and kim claim they tested this theory by placing a stick of celery in two glasses of red and blue food coloring after waiting an hour the celery appeared lined with colored streaks gym and recess the kids love it by denise mcdonald the gymnasium and recess were common responses from 21 whitchurchhighlands students when asked the question what is it that makes your school special the gym is the best thing because i like running around in it at recess when they dont turn on the lights its so big and dark inside says grade 3 student abe choi ij tommy randall grade 4 agrees with abes choice because you can yell and scream your head off while inside it but not get in trouble with the teachers the gym is the place we get to do all the fun things we want like workouts and lots of exercises we can really go hyper says gary hisey grade 4 however recess appears to be a favorite among the younger students of grades 1 2 and 3 recess is the best thing about our school because you get to do whatever you want says grade 3 student neil kapoor sevenyearold stephanie kirstein adds its the best be cause theres some ice outside and you can skate on it i also like when we go to this place every year where they have nice skating ice too although the students seem equally divided between the gymnasium and recess as a speciality aspect of whitchurch- highlands all grades share the same feeling about school spirit we all care for each other here were all friends says dawn britten grade 4 its a small school and you know everybody all my friends are here and theres always somebody to play with at recess continues grade 7 student jenny smart not to be forgotten was the library and science fair ranking closely as third and fourth special choices according to christa hisey grade 3 and josie smith grade 4 their favorite place is the library because it has all their favorite books like pippi longstocking and is where they can obtain lots of information for their science fair projects we all win prizes at the science fair sometimes says angela sweet grade 4 our school only lost once chris dale also of grade 4 says we learn a lot when we make up our science fair projects and get to do lots of really neat research we also like our teeacher miss orr because shes nice and we dont get in trouble all that much says tanya schatzmann alisa leece and katherine wright all of grade 1 thursday was science fair day at whitch urchhighlands public school in whitchurch- stouffville many interesting exhibits were on display including one on the eye completed by esther adams 12 left and sonia choi 13 both of grade 8 denise mcdonald cameras old and new large and small never cease to intrigue young scientists michael groves left and michael empringham chose this subject for their display the next level of competition is area f at ramer wood public school in markham feb 26 denise mcdonald youthful scientists by denise mcdonald what once was merely another project in a long line of endless public school assignments is once again illustrating the creativity and ing enuity that lies beneath the surface of students abilities today with numerous projects representing talent from every grade whitchurchhighlands school opened the doors thursday on its annual science fair competition according to melanie dryer 14 she chose her project topic the effect of sound on plants to illustrate how different types of music affect the growth of plants after subjecting two plants of the same variety to the sounds of ciiay and cftr melanie says the soft music made the plant grow taller be cause it was in a relaxing atmosphere the other plant was still healthy but it didnt grow as large because of the louder music with an equally impressive science display michael groves and mike empringham both 14 based their project on cameras to demonstrate the effects they can have on someones future employment i thought it would make an interesting topic to research because it can help me in the future if i want to obtain a position in photography says michael mike who claims his favorite pasttime is drawing adds you can use a camera to capture a scene and later draw it winners in this area of competition exhibited their work in the area f competition at raymer wood public school markham feb 26