starbase reflections

2013
STARBASE REFLECTIONS
"Tell me and I forget. Show me and I
remember. Involve me and I understand."
Chinese Proverb
Diane “Sparkles” Gabel and Students
STARBASE CONNECTICUT
6/13/2013
Eggbert was fun and I liked it when his sister flew out of the truck. In math I
learned new things and I never knew 3D printers even existed. Robotics is fun
too. The take home challenges are beneficial because if people didn’t
understand endo and exothermic STARBASE could help them understand things
in a fun way.
Anonymous
Silver Lane School
Mrs. Early
I like to come to STARBASE because of the experiments and the computer lab. I
really thought… (please don’t cry here) the talking parts were very boring. I do
think STARBASE challenges are good because they are fun and educating.
David Lin
Sunset Ridge School
Mrs. Turner
What I liked the most about STARBASE was all the fun experiments that we did. I
say this because it really helped me understand the nature of science. I think the
challenges were good for students because they got to try new things on their
own!!
Call Sign “Midnight”
Sunset Ridge School
Mrs. Flanagan
What I liked best about STARBASE is the hands-on activities. I liked them
because instead of creating the objects on computers, we did them by hand, like
the straw rockets. I think the challenges were beneficial because if the student
hasn’t really participated at school/STARBASE, then it will help them.
Anonymous
Sunset Ridge School
Mrs. Flanagan
S.T.E.M.
2
Submitted by: Malik, Donovan and Christopher
Silver Lane School
East Hartford, CT
Mrs. Earley
3
Submitted by: Carlos, Angelysse and Mitzia
Silver Lane School
East Hartford, CT
Mrs. Earley
S.T.E.M. ROCKS
AT STARBASE!
4
Submitted by:
Silver Lane School
East Hartford, CT
Mrs. Earley
5
Submitted by:
Silver Lane School
East Hartford, CT
Mrs. Earley
6
Submitted by: Maricelys, Sheremy and Elijah
Silver Lane School
East Hartford, CT
Mrs. Earley
7
Thank you, thank you! For the wonderful week at STARBASE. Our favorite activity was
Eggbert! We liked it because we like the way he crashed into the bowling ball! We also like
building Eggbert’s seatbelt. We think it was creative because we used bags, pipe cleaners and
band aids and all sorts of things. We really appreciate it we had a wonderful time thank you
Redbird, Dory, Raven and Sparkles!
Submitted by: Jalen and Lyza
Silver Lane School
East Hartford CT
Mrs. Earley
Dear Dory,
Thank you for working with us we had lots of fun. Did you have fun? I really liked how we did
the rocket launch it was a fun experience. Do you have to test things out.
Sincerely,
Hawk
Submitted by: Kayla G
Robert J. O’Brien STEM Academy
East Hartford CT
Mrs. Prokop
Submitted by: Alisa B.
Robert J. O’Brien STEM Academy
East Hartford CT
Mrs. Prokop
8
Dear STARBASE
I really loved it. I loved it for a lot of things. For all the things they teach us like matter, physics,
space and lots more. The material you use makes me feel special. My favorite part was when
Jae Jae Bravo was going to Mars but the rest was not so precious but, all these thanks goes
down to four people, Sparkles, Redbird, Raven and Dory. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Computer
Submitted by: Tahlea S.
Robert J. O’Brien STEM Academy
East Hartford CT
Mrs. Prokop
Dear Dory,
Thank you for helping us at STARBASE. What I really liked was Eggbert because I liked that we
got to know what happened to Eggbert. I also really liked Creo because I liked that we got to
make a 2D shape into a 3D shape. P.S. Keep on swimming.
Sincerely,
Hand I Coordination
Submitted by: Jayden C.
Robert J. O’Brien STEM Academy
East Hartford CT
Mrs. Prokop
Dear STARBASE,
I love all the things we did and I think this is a great program and I can’t wait to do it in the
summer. The part I thought was the best about STARBASE was when Dory poured air. Hope to
see you real soon.
xoxSincerelyxox
xoxDolphinox
Submitted by: Sage R.
Robert J. O’Brien STEM Academy
East Hartford, CT
Mrs. Prokop
9
Submitted by: Sara P.
Sunset Ridge School
East Hartford CT
Mrs. Reyes
10
Top Submitted by: Alijah B.
Bottom Submitted by:
Angelina D.
Sunset Ridge School
East Hartford, CT
Mrs. Reyes
11
My favorite activity was when we launched the rockets and I felt good and proud of myself so
thank you Dory and Sparkles for setting it up for us so we can have a good and great time the
whole week and a half there. It felt like I was free. And thank you for teaching me about
science cause before I didn’t know anything about science. I loved learning about longitude
and latitude that was my second favorite thing to learn cause I know that I know that now but I
didn’t know it before. I love STARBASE over and over again. But till I come back thank you for
letting me come to STARBASE and for learning so much and for participating at STARBASE to
your activities. I’m so glad that I went to STARBASE so I can learn and enjoy myself to be a
good student. Thank you for being good teachers.
Sincerely,
Deaija
Submitted by: De’aija S.
Sunset Ridge School
East Hartford CT
Mrs. Reyes
Dear Dory and Sparkles, Raven, Redbird
Thank you for teaching us how to go on the computer and make the airplane and satellite sign.
Thank you for telling us if the ball can fit through the ring then when you put it in the fire it
won’t fit in the hole anymore but if you put it in cold it would fit.
Submitted by: Jason C.
Sunset Ridge School
East Hartford CT
Mrs. Reyes
Dear Dory, Raven, Sparkles and RedBird,
I really appreciate that you took time out of your day to teach me and my classmates
a lot about science and engineering. I had fun with the eggs on the rockets. But I mostly
had fun with the robots. I learned a lot about robots that I never knew before. A robot
will not do anything that it is not programmed to do. But what I am really happy for is
that you took time out of your day to teach me something. I had fun when we went to the
computer lab.
Yours truly,
Topaz
Submitted by: Wendy P.
Sunset Ridge School
Mrs. Reyes
EVA?
Is that
you?
you?
12
Submitted by:
Ashya P.
Sunset Ridge
School
East Hartford CT
Mrs. Reyes
No, it’s me
Curiosity.
Hanging out
here on Mars!
13
Submitted by: Kayla M.
Sunset Ridge School
East Hartford CT
Mrs. Reyes
14
Dear STARBASE,
Thanks for letting us use your stuff. We are so thankful for it. I would like to say thanks to Dory
and Raven because they worked the hardest for us and we thank you for that. We had a
wonderful time. I liked when we were on the computer and we made stuff. I also like Raven for
coming to a class in East Hartford and telling us about STARBASE. And doing cool stuff like
using the computer. I also liked when I got to make the keychain and it was cool but the most
thing is the rocket launch and I made it in the worm hole. I was so excited to do it, it was the
best time ever.
From,
Sean P.
Submitted by: Sean P
Sunset Ridge School
East Hartford CT
Mrs. Reyes
“I liked it when we did straw rockets because it showed good sportsmanship when you did not
get it in”.
Anonymous
Excerpt taken from student survey
Goodwin School
East Hartford CT
Mrs. Denecour
“What I liked best about coming to STARBASE was the Eggbert experiment because it taught me
about how engineers build things and that if it doesn’t work that you should redesign it and try
again.”
Anonymous
Excerpt taken from student survey
Goodwin School
East Hartford CT
Mrs. Denecour
“What I liked best about coming to STARBASE was the experiment and Eggbert because there
was a lot I did not know about science and the experiment helped me a lot. Also I liked Eggbert
because the experiment taught us how engineers work together to think of stuff to make and
redesign. I do think STARBASE take home challenges were helpful because you get to learn new
things each day and I learned that my brother has a better sense than me on the vanilla smell
challenge!”
Anonymous
Excerpt taken from student survey
Goodwin School
East Hartford CT
Mrs. Denecour
15
“Personally, I liked Eggbert the most because it taught us about teamwork and how to spend
money smartly. That is just my opinion.”
Anonymous
Excerpt taken from student survey
O’Brien STEM Academy
East Hartford CT
Ms. LaBianca
Artist Athena W.
O’Brien STEM Academy
East Hartford CT
Mrs. Underwood
16
“What I liked about coming to STARBASE was the chemistry. I liked it because I learned about
things I thought couldn’t happen.” Nathanial C.
“We got to play with Eggbert and the straw rockets. The reason why I like it is so you can make
sure when you become an Engineer you can make sure people are safe.” Anonymous
“What I like best about coming to STARBASE is that we can use STEM to make things fun to do.”
Alan C.
“What I liked about STARBASE was when we did Newton’s Laws of Motion. Also when we did
the snap circuits. I really liked those activities because when we did all of those they make me
like science.” Marvin M.
All excerpts taken from student surveys
O’Brien STEM Academy
East Hartford
Mrs. Butler
“What I liked best about coming to STARBASE was the 3D printer and CREO. It brought our
computer engineering to life.”
Anonymous
Pitkin Elementary School
East Hartford
Mr. Yzaguire
“I liked learning about the 3D printer. It made me realize anything is possible.”
Anonymous
Mrs. Fieldhouse
Langford School
East Hartford
“I liked the 3D printer because when I was touching one creation made from it, it felt like a toy.
I like science because we got to do great experiments. I liked the straw rockets because mine
actually worked!”
Jaden Villafane
Mrs. Fieldhouse
Langford School
East Hartford
17
Dear Dory and Sparkles,
Thank you for teaching us about STEM. I had a blast doing every little thing with you. Even the
test was fun. I appreciate letting me come to STARBASE Academy. Thank you so much for
everything.
Sincerely
Runningback #20
Mrs. Sotolotto
Doering School
Agawam, MA
Dear Dory and Sparkles,
Thank you for the greater than ever education and fun activities we did at STARBASE. It was
excellent and I wish I could do it over and over again!
Sincerely,
Milky Way
Mrs. Sotolotto
Doering School
Agawam, MA
18
Dear Dory and Sparkles,
I had a lot of fun at STARBASE working with STEM. I loved how hands-on the program was and
how many projects we did and /or how many experiments we watched or did. I thought CREO
was really cool and I loved all my creations. Some of my favorite things were the challenges.
My favorite was Rumors because it was funny how much the sign changed in the end. Thank
you for such a great experience.
Sincerely,
Scorch
Mrs. Sotolotto
Doering School
Agawam, MA
Dear Dory and Sparkles,
I want to thank you both for a great week at STARBASE Academy. It was a great learning
experience. I enjoyed doing all the different science experiments. It was fun learning more
about science. Thank you both for a wonderful week at STARBASE.
Sincerely,
Dr. Brown
Mrs. Sotolotto
Doering School
Agawam, MA
Dear Dory and Sparkles,
Thanks so much for having fun with us and teaching us science. I ju
19
Dear Dory and Sparkles,
Thanks so much for having fun with us and teaching us science. I just thought you should know
there is a Science Fair coming up and I might use one of your tricks. Also I wanted you to know
my favorite thing we did at STARBASE was robots and the Eggbert challenge. Even Eggberta.
Sincerely,
Mystery
Mrs. Sotolotto
Doering School
Agawam, MA
Dear Dory and Sparkles,
Thank you very much for having us come to STARBASE Academy. I had a fabulous time and I
know much of my classmates also did. This is definitely an experience I WANT to remember. I
never thought STEM would be so fun until I came to STARBASE. Again, thank you very much.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Tap Dance
Mrs. Sotolotto
Doering School
Agawam, MA
20
Dear Dory and Sparkles,
I loved coming to STARBASE and learning all about STEM. Thank you for making my week just
like a long weekend. I really liked Eggbert and all of the challenges. Every experiment was a
blast (with Alka Seltzer)! You were both great teachers and made me feel more comfortable
when my class came back every
day.
Sincerely,
Homerun
Mrs. Sotolotto
Doering School
Agawam, MA
Dear Dory and Sparkles,
Thank you so much for helping us learn and have fun while at STARBASE. The activities and
lessons were amazing. I found it really interesting that air is a liquid and is possible to pour.
Another fun activity was Pathways. It was pretty challenging though. Once again, thank you for
allowing us to attend STARBASE.
Sincerely,
Secret
Mrs. Sotolotto
Doering School
Agawam, MA
21
Dear Dory and Sparkles,
Thank you for letting us come to STARBASE. It was a great lesson about Science and
Engineering. I had lots of fun and I wish I could go every day. It was the best week of the
school year. I like the way you taught us. You put a lot of effort into it. You also made it fun
and learnable at the same time. I just wanted to let you know how thankful I am and how much
fun I had.
Sincerely,
Leafpool
Mrs. Sotolotto
Doering School
Agawam, MA
Dear Dory and Sparkles,
Thank you so much for letting us come to STARBASE. I had the best time learning. I loved how
you made learning fun with all of the experiments. I really wish we could come back. I learned
so much! Even the homework was fun, especially the take home challenges! Thanks for
teaching us all about STEM and now I know what it means: Science, Technology, Engineering
and Math. Maybe when I grow up I’ll be an engineer or a teacher like you guys. My favorite
activity has got to be Eggbert although my group’s egg got “eggjected” and needed “eggrays”.
It was still super fun. I loved how my team fluffified our rocket with cotton balls although we
may have fluffed it too much. This activity made me use the Engineering Design Process. We
thought, we questioned, we built, we re-adjusted, we tested, and if we went again we would
have re-designed.
Sincerely,
Manda
Mrs. Sotolotto
Doering School
Agawam, MA
22
From: Quicky
Mrs. Ormsby
Doering School
Agawam, MA
From: Typ88mx
Mrs. Ormsby
Doering School
Agawam, MA
23
From: Mrs. Styles
Mrs. Tierney
Doering School
Agawam, MA
Yours Truly,
Scoot
Mrs. Tierney
Doering School
Agawam, MA
24
From: Pitbull
Mrs. Tierney
Doering School
Agawam, MA
From: Gymnastics Girl
Mrs. Tierney
Doering School
Agawam, MA
25
From: Twisterkeep
Mrs. Tierney
Doering School
Agawam, MA
Dear Dory,
Thank you so much for the best week
at STARBASE. My favorite activity was
using the robots. I thought that was
amazing.
NOW, I finally like and
understand science!
One thing I did not like is all the take
home challenges. Some of them were
hard for me to understand and my mom
had to help me. I had a great experience
at STARBASE and I hope they put one in
Agawam.
Sincerely,
Twisterkeep
Dear Redbird, Raven, Sparkles, and Dory,
First of all I loved STARBASE. I thought STARBASE was great for kids. My favorite activity was
the straw rockets. I really liked the straw rockets because it was so fun and a lot of kids were
having fun. I really had an awesome experience at STARBASE.
Sincerely,
Soccer Star
Mrs. Tierney
Doering School
Agawam, MA
26
Dear Redbird and Dory,
I had a lot of fun at STARBASE. You guys were great. I like how you did a lot of experiments
with us. I am more of a hands on learner. I like how you used the magic paper. PS. My stepdad
has rolls of it in our basement. He is a pyrotechnician. They use it for ground effects. My
favorite thing at STARBASE was programming the robots. I like how you guys let us mess
around with them after we completed our trip to get the rover. I also like how we had
homework because it kept our brain refreshed on what we were doing. Thank you for having
us.
Sincerely,
Animal Lover
Mrs. Tierney
Doering School
Agawam, MA
Patriots
Mrs. Tierney
Doering School
Agawam, MA
27
Dear Redbird and Dory,
My experience at STARBASE was wonderful. The STEM program really helped me learn a lot. My
favorite activity was robotics. It was fun and helped me to learn about something I never really
learned anything about. The CREO program was also very interesting. It was a little confusing
at first. I thought the 3D printer was as cool as anything. Last of all the take home challenges
helped me learn more also. I hope you enjoyed my letter.
Sincerely,
Chef Tiger
Mrs. Tierney
Doering School
Agawam, MA
Artists: Room 205 Mrs. Ormsby’s Class
Doering School Agawam, MA
28
“Yes. I say yes because I think the take home challenges are beneficial to students. They help
kids get in touch with their active and imaginative side. So yes, I think the take home challenges
are beneficial to students even though I didn’t do any.”
Anonymous
Mrs. Goodrow
Doering School
Agawam, MA
Dear Redbird, Dory, Raven, and Sparkles,
Thank you for allowing my class to come to STARBASE. I learned a lot of new things and had
fun with the experiments. One thing I enjoyed doing was CREO because I had the chance to
make a 3D item and print them on the 3D printer. Also, thank you for bringing me to CCSU
because now that is in my top five colleges.
Sincerely,
Shake ‘n’ Bake
Owen W.
Mrs. Bunick
Jumoke Academy
Hartford CT
Dear Redbird, Raven, Dory, and Sparkles,
I enjoyed the time I had with you guys for the whole week. This whole week taught me more
about my favorite hobby of programming. My favorite activity was the chemistry and robotic
programming. In chemistry, it was exciting and fun to do chemical reactions by mixing different
chemicals. When the chemicals chlorine and water reacted, it made the reaction, exothermic.
Endothermic is another chemical reaction that occurs with baking soda and water. With the
robot, I already had experience but it was still fun to program the robot to different programs.
That will soon revolutionize the way we operate and do simple tasks and become helpful in
other ways as well. Thank you for teaching us new lessons in chemistry and robot programming
over the week.
Sincerely,
Program101
Shamar J
Mrs. Bunick
Jumoke Academy
Hartford, CT
29
WE
We live, we love, we share
We learn, we think, we dare.
But we never light a flare!
And now lives are spared.
We swear, we fight we curse,
We never leave them there
I believe we can achieve,
What no one else seems to believe.
D. Wilson
Jumoke Academy
Mrs. Bunick
Hartford, CT
D. Wilson
Kelly Z.
Batchelder School
Mrs. Burbank
Hartford, CT
30
Vijaya R. and Jeysha R.
Batchelder School
Mrs. Burbank
Hartford, CT
31
Editor’s Note
Each New Year our students amaze us. It is their smiling faces, wide-eyed stares, and giggles of
delight that keep us inspired to make STARBASE even better every year. Students wrote these
messages contained in this Reflection Book for sure, but know that each and every one of you
has somehow positively influenced the life of a child. Teacher, parent, guardian, sibling,
paraprofessional, TA, student teacher, nurse, mentor, somehow you have helped the student
grow. And grow they will; into teachers, doctors, nurses, engineers, mathematicians, scientists
or anything else they dream they can be. I would call that a good return on investment!
Diane “Sparkles” Gabel
32