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Pelham Students Display Artwork, Science Projects

PELHAM, N.Y. – The work of hundreds of Pelham kids was in the spotlight Thursday night, as Siwanoy Elementary School students exhibited their science fair experiments and Hutchinson Elementary School pupils put their artwork on display for crowds of admiring parents.

“You’re seeing physics, biology, chemistry, social science and earth science,” fourth grade Siwanoy teacher Gail Sider said of the projects in the gymnasium. “The range is wonderful.”

Even though the science fair was mandatory only for fourth- and fifth-graders, Sider was pleased to see kids from kindergarten to third grade taking part as well, combining for “at least 200 projects.” The students began working on their experiments in February.

“What’s so crazy is that you can almost see from right here to Intel – you can see that these kids are just really pumped up about science, and hopefully they’ll continue with it,” said Sider.

“There’s real scientific method going on and real questions," Sider said. "You can see it in the fifth-graders, and you can see it in the kindergartners.” Her goal, through these events, is to “keep encouraging kids to observe and to wonder because that’s what science is really all about.”

Pelham Manor Mayor Jim O’Connor, whose daughter is in fourth grade, was “impressed” with the “huge variety” of projects and thought they were great.

“Everything from sort of pure science to sports to food,” he said. “It’s great fun. I know my daughter and her partner had fun doing it – I’m sure everybody did.” His daughter Sarah and her partner Stephanie Elmer “spent a fair amount of time” determining how much water is needed to soften hard brown sugar.

Over at Hutchinson, the gymnasium and halls were filled with more than 700 pieces of artwork, said Emlyn Taveras, an art teacher at Hutchinson and Siwanoy.

“We try to give every child an experience with every medium. So this actually just a small piece of everything they do throughout the year,” said the fourth year art teacher.

“There’s always 3D pieces, painting pieces and then we have our curriculum that we like to exhibit and celebrate. The hardest part is choosing the artwork for the art show because there’s so much variety. We just try to make sure we show each grade staggers their artwork.”

The exhibits included “Modern Art,” “Celebrating Cultures,” “A Tribute To Great Artists” and “Animals in Art.”

The pregnant Taveras was thankful to her 25-student art club of fourth- and fifth-graders who helped her set up the art gala and is glad the show “keeps growing and growing.”

Margaret Valente, the mother of a first-grader and a second-grader, said the show was “beautiful and amazing.”

"They’re very proud of their work,” she said of daughters Katie and Courtney. “It’s a great event. They love it. More importantly, it’s that they’re taking pride in that it’s shown and that it’s out for everybody to see.”

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