Page School Rocketry Unit

      This was our 4th year building and launching with the 6th grade at the Dr. John C. Page School in West Newbury. This will be a short description; a longer one describing the third year was published in the Nov/Dec issue of SR. Each year we try new things and hopefully make it better. This year we added a prebuild session and added a second launch per team on launch day.

For the pre-build, we had eight students stay after school one day the week before the build to help make parachutes, assemble launch bags (motor, igniter, plug, wadding), fill glue bottles, etc. - things I usually do myself beforehand. This worked out well; the kids did a good job, enjoyed it, and saved me a lot of work. I think this is a keeper.

      This year the 6th grade has 62 students split into three classes. We group the kids into teams of two and each class builds a different rocket - Thing-a-ma-jig (FlisKits), Razor (Custom Rockets), and School Rocket (Balsa Machine Services). Of course, the Thing-a-ma-jig is our favorite! There is a point during the build session where it is helpful to have the glue dry a little before going on and I give a ten-minute (very basic) lesson on rocketry, thrust, combustion, etc. After school, I stay and inspect the rockets and correct any glaring mistakes and re-glue things if needed.

      Launch day is the big day; all the kids are excited and I'm always nervous. This year we had each team launch their rocket twice - the first time with an A8-3 and the second with a Quest A6-4. The kids prepped their rockets in class that morning, watching me do everything, went off to lunch and then headed down to the field. After their first launch, they would prep their rockets again on the field. This was the first time we were doing this and I wasn't sure how it would go. We had one teacher stationed at a table for the re-prepping to help the kids, which worked out very well. For each launch, the kids recorded their tangent angle using and Estes Altitrak and timed their flights with a stopwatch at a station 200 ft from the launch pad, with the Math teacher there to help. Using those two measurements, the kids calculated their flight altitudes and average speed in ft/sec and mph. We had four teachers, one teacher's aid and myself as proctors, which was just enough to keep things moving along and avoid total chaos. We also had about a dozen parents show up to watch and the principal with his ever-present camera. Actually the principal is great and is very supportive of the program. We only got one 'fun' flight in after all of the launches - 62! I launched Jim's 'Streaming UFFO' that he kindly lent me. It flew great and the kids loved it. I didn't get a picture of it in flight with my camera but I'll post a flight picture once I get one from someone else.