Pumpkin drop held at local elementary school
JACKSON, Tenn. – While most are celebrating Halloween, these students celebrated HallowSTREAM Tuesday with creative stem events that incorporated learning for students while having fun in the process.
Multiple pumpkins were dropped at Jackson Christian Elementary School celebrating Halloween while also teaching students about science and engineering.
JCS partnered with the Jackson Energy Authority in the 8th annual HallowSTREAM pumpkin drop.
The students got creative using STREAM – Science, technology, Research and Religion, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics – and wrapped their pumpkins in various materials to give cushion as they were dropped from as high as 50-feet
“We used foam, some buffalo snow, and we used pool noodles, and we had like this sleeping bag that we put the pumpkin in,” said Coreon Bond, JCS fifth grader.
The drop took place in the school’s parking lot where students got to see whose pumpkin lasts the longest as the JEA bucket truck dropped pumpkins from higher and higher heights.
“We used a pillow and we used buffalo snow and we also used some pool noodles,” said Hutson Broadway, a JCS second grader.
Similar materials may have been used for each class but there could only be one winner of the pumpkin drop.
“If you believe in it, it might work,” Broadway said.
Teachers are happy that they are able to incorporate learning for students while they are having fun in the process.
“We are just so excited that we get to bring this to our kids and that we get to teach them how to solve problems and think critically. That’s one of our big focuses here. And we also get to teach them how to communicate effectively and how to be kind to each other as they solve problems,” said Megan Hyde, a second grade teacher and STEM Committee Member.
The idea of emphasizing these subjects through hands-on curriculum has been driven by the goal of more closely aligning programs with what students will experience in college and the workplace.
And a big congratulations to Hyde’s second grade class for winning first place in the pumpkin drop contest.
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