Science Fair SECRET!

"Don't tell anybody. Okay Luci?"

She promised me that she wouldn't tell a soul..."with scout's honor" she said. (Only she isn't a scout).

I didn't want anyone to know what my science project was going to be because just in case they copy my idea at the last last minute. It is such a great idea! Luci said so too.

Ms. Clay said that we could start setting up on Tuesday. So I didn't want anyone to know until then... for sure!

My journal is a safe place to write in...and so I will keep track of it all right here. I am making Crystals for my project. REAL CRYSTALS! And I got a book all about it. All you have to have is sugar and water...well, I really mean salt and water and lots of other stuff. We tried the sugar thing first, but it didn't work so well (the sugar stuff burnt and whewy...that was bad...and so forget the sugar) and then we did the salt thing. You take 1 cup of water and 2 cups of salt and cook it. I can't remember exactly how we did it now. Anyway, take lots of cups and jars and ice cube trays or bowls or whatever and take lots of pencils or pens or straws or whatever to put across the cups and jars and ice cube trays and bowls or whatever and they will hold the string that goes down with a nail or paper clip on the end in the water and salt. Then just wait for a few days...and then keep waiting. And we are still waiting!
Kaylee is using clorox water and food coloring to show how flowers can change their colors. It's cool because you can see that they really drink the water up into their stems and stuff. I might put coloring in my cups. Yeah, that would be awesome. And it would NOT be copying because hers is about flowers and mine is about Crystals. Plus, it's a great idea and ideas are just floating in the air sometimes and don't really belong to anybody.

Autumn is taking sodas like Mountain Dew and coke and 7-up to show which one bubbles most. But when she put a nail in a cup of Mountain Dew and coke then that soda eats the nail right up in a few days! No wonder mom doesn't buy soda very much. That stuff would eat my stomach away! GROSS! Plus, Misha is using dish soap and 7-up and water to see what cleans a penny the best. That is sorta like a science experiment...but sorta like a clean the house chore I think. Maybe her mom wants to know how to clean things better, I don't know. But whatever helps them I guess; it just doesn't seem so much like science but more like Saturday chores.

Garrett is doing "Protect the Geysers" and it is awesome! He has two big buckets and they erupt... so on Tuesday morning, we all went outside to watch. Some of the kids got tired of standing by those buckets and GAVE UP and went inside and missed it...but not me. I stood right there for the whole thing. One of the buckets was clogged and so it never did anything but fizz a bit. Ms. Clay finally told us to come in. I think Garrett used lots of baking soda for that. Maybe he will give me his secret recipe so I can show mom and dad. Even my brother would like that.

Hunter is having a rotten egg experiment. He has some clothespins to plug your nose with. NOT ME! I WON'T even go NEAR his desk. What kind of an experiment is that?
Regge is doing a beeper thingy. And he keeps making it beep real loud. "Turn that off!" Logan shouted at him and some of the girls plugged their ears and lots of kids just rolled their eyes. IT was LOUD! But Regge said he had to try it out to make sure it works. Well, believe me...it DID!

Cody didn't have a clue about what to do on Tuesday...so Ms. Clay told him to think really hard about it because he only had three days until the science fair on Friday. He didn't have a clue about what to do on Wednesday and so Ms. Clay told him to think really really hard about it because he only had two days until the science fair on Friday. He didn't have a clue about what to do on Thursday and so Ms. Clay told him to think really really really hard about ti because he only had one day until the science fair on Friday. Cody didn't have a clue about what to do on Friday and so Ms. Clay took him out into the hall and they had a long talk. When they came back in, I thought Cody would be crying, but I saw Ms. Clay wipe her eyes and so I know there was a REAL reason that Cody was not prepared. I know that for positive sure because Ms. Clay gave him a magnifying glass and some newspapers and some water to see how things get amplified sort of.

Madison made clouds with hot water at the bottom of a jar and a container of ice on top...only she was to supposed to put it in the freezer on Thursday and she forgot. Margaret made mothballs dance, Kate had a pea experiment, and Jaden made a volcano! Luci did an ant colony...just like the one I did last year. I even helped her find the queen. When she took the black paper off her jar we could see all of the tunnels and now I wish I had done that again...because I put all my containers and strings and things on my desk and my poster all about Crystals and I had about three little ones started but I was still WAITING.

On Friday we marched into the gym in rows. Each row got twenty minutes to set up their science project and then they had to go back to the room and find something quietly to do. That means read! I put up my poster. It said: COLORFUL CRYSTAL CREATIONS. That is pretty clever. And I put my best 9 containers on the table in front of the poster. They looked like color all right...but I needed to borrow the magnifying glass from Cody if anyone wanted to see the crystals hanging in the bottom of three of the cups. I am still WAITING!

I felt sad when I looked around at everybody else's tables. I felt really sad when I heard Regge's beeping over and over. Ouch...there goes my ear drums. There should be a school rule about NO BEEPERS at science fairs. I felt really really sad and almost got some tears when I saw Cassandra's 'Progressing Plants in Process' project and her beautiful growing garden and her hydro whatever. Her hair was perfect and she had two little pea pod barretts to match her ruffly garden apron. Kids walked by my part of our table and looked way down in my cups and then looked at me and didn't say anything mostly...and then they oohed and awed when they stood around Jaden's volcanos and Cassandra's plants.

Luci and me thought maybe Cassandra's parents did her project by themselves and so it didn't really count so much. Or maybe her uncle is a 'horticulture' guy (that is a really great word that means a garden man. I like big words, but I wasn't liking her perfect project right then). Or maybe she has an aunt who does fancy lettering for her perfect poster and is like pro-fession-al! Or maybe...she probably has a grandma who sews her cute clothes and bought her those pea pod barretts? We watched Luci's ants for a while...and wondered how life and a science fair could possibly be fair.

And then I heard a girl say, "Who is Hadley K?" and it was a girl from a high grade and she was looking at my crystals! She looked at them for a long time and she said that mine was the best project of all. And she asked me lots of questions because she wants to try it. They are 'so pretty' she said. And after she left...I looked at my poster and yup...it was pro-fession-al! That girl changed my whole science fair. I thought alot about that. And then I got a great idea!

My crystals did not work...but I could try an experiment that would. When I think about it...that girl changed me from a frown to a smile in a minute. How did she do that? I thought and thought about that. She wasn't extra extra pretty. She didn't have fancy clothes or matching barrettes and shoes. She didn't think she already knew everything. She was just kind. ..plus, she was interested. That's all. And 'kind' feels good. I decided to do an experiment. I looked around the gym and saw other kids that sat by their projects all alone too. I thought I was the only one. "Luci, we need to try a people experiment." I whispered to her all about my great idea!

Well, Luci started over by Kaylee's table and I started by Olivia's table and then we would meet in the middle. The experiment: Be interested and Be kind to everyone who sat alone by their project. Ask a question, say something nice, and see if they smiled. Then meet back by the ant farm in twelve minutes. "Ready Luci?" She nodded her head and then she got a little bit shy because on her side was Carter and she thinks Carter is really cute and so FINE...of course, she couldn't talk to Carter... and so we traded places.

I hope I always remember this science fair...and I will (because that's what journals are for) and I want all my kids to know about our GREAT PEOPLE EXPERIMENT when they get to earth! ok, so...Luci and I went all around the gym. I told Hannah that she had pretty rocks and a nice chart. Makayla had nice colors on her poster. Kadence organized her pictures in a circle and I like circles. Jacob had his solar system in a neat row and I like neat rows. Sienna chose good pictures for her animal food chain.

And Regge...oh brother...I would have to get Regge's part of a table. I wanted to PLUG MY EARS and PASS HIM BY. BEEPERS should NOT be allowed at Ephraim Elementary. But there he was, all alone, right NEXT to Cassandra's crowd of giggles. (Are people there because of her plants or because of her pea pods and popular?) "Regge," I tried to think of something good about his project. I wanted to be interested. I had to be kind. "Well...hmmmm...I think you...well...good job Regge!" I was still trying to think of something that was sincere. I can't throw lies into my experiment or it isn't REAL. "Do you want me to Beep it for you Hadley?" "Oh NO!" I said quickly...(maybe too quickly)..."Actually I already heard it" (On Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and about thirty two times already on Friday I thought.) "No, I just wanted to tell you that you spelled everything just right on your poster." Oh brother, that was lame. "And... your beeper thing...is LOUD...and it is probably the LOUDEST experiment in the whole school." Regge got a big smile on his face. "You got that right!" he said. And I knew by his smile that I did. I did get that right.

On the way home from school, Luci and I talked about the volcanos and ants and dancing mothballs and water magnifiers and cleaning pennies and yucky soda and peas and garden plants and barrettes and clouds and protecting geysers and lots and lots of stuff...but mostly we talked about the best secret experiment of the whole science fair. The people experiment. EVERY time we were nice to someone, they felt better (and we know they did) because they smiled. And that was the best thing ever to prove. And when I think about it, the results of that experiment happened lots faster than growing crystals...still W-A-I-T-I-N-G!

Points aren't the only things that Count!

When Ms. Clay told us to choose kickball teams at recess...I ran out those doors and to home base as fast as I could because I knew exactly who I wanted to have on my team. First, Jaden... because he can kick harder than anybody in our whole school and he never kicks fly-balls. He kicks low and fast. So fast that even if you could see the ball, you can't catch it in time. Yeah, and for sure we need Madison because she is the best at catching the close-up flyballs. She has no fear and she just reaches right out and grabs those balls no matter how high they go, no matter how long it takes them to come down. Luci just has to be on my team because she is my best friend and we are always on the same team.

"Jaden!" "Madison!" I yelled. "Jaden!" "Madison!" and my hands waved frantically to tell them to come over my team. "Luci, help me yell their names! We have to have them on our team...we have to!"
Well, then Ms. Clay came and told Ryan and Misha to be the captains. They could take turns choosing their teams. I know that Ryan can run fast...but he never listens to the girls and so I squished over by Misha and started to whisper as loud as I could: "Misha, choose Jaden!" And right then- she did choose Jaden. Then Ryan chose Isaac. Then I whispered: "Misha, choose Madison!" And right then-she did choose Madison. Then Ryan chose Skyler. Then I whispered: "Misha, choose me!" But she didn't hear me I think, because lots of kids were telling her to choose them and she probably got all mixed up and so she just chose Shelly. Then Ryan chose Garrett. Then I yelled to the top of my lungs: "Misha, choose me!" But everybody was yelling to the top of their lungs and so she couldn't hear anybody and so she just chose Olivia. Then Ryan chose Hunter. Then Misha chose Hannah. Then Ryan chose Issac. Then Misha chose Luci! Wahooo! Finally! I could put my hand down and not yell my head off anymore. She would choose me next, I just knew it.But the worst possible thing in the whole wide world happened. Ryan drummed his chin with his fingers and looked all around. Twice. I think he wanted everybody to memorize that he was the big captain boy. Anyway, people were waving and jumping and shouting: "Choose me, choose me." Then Ryan told everyone to be quiet-- and he chose-- "Hadley K."

What?! How could he do that? My team was on the other side...couldn't he see that? Why not Autumn or Caroline or Kaylee? Why not choose Logan or Jacob or Eli? Why me? I slowly stepped over to the wrong team which was now MY team. Misha chose Emma. Ryan chose Cody. Misha chose Carter. Ryan chose Kadence. And they kept calling all the names until everybody had a team...even if it was the wrong one.Plus, we had to start outfield and so the other team would probably get two ups and we would probably only get one or maybe one and a half if we were very very lucky because recess isn't that long you know. My day was pretty much shredded to bits and ruined. I looked over at Misha's team. They had the two fastest runners in the universe, the three best catchers know to mankind, the fastest throwers in our entire town, and my best friend on top of all that. It wasn't fair. I couldn't even look at our team.

Regge, Margaret, and Neil were chosen last. Well, Regge has to take over the whole thing no matter what and won't listen to anyone much. Margaret has new shoes on and can't really kick or run in those fancy things--plus she doesn't like sports. And Neil, well, he is Neil.

The real team got 11 homeruns before we finally got their runners out. I was way out in left field and so I pretty much just stood there the whole time watching Luci and Misha smiling and talking on the real team. The bell couldn't ring fast enough for me. Math was better than this. But after a long long time, we were up and after a much longer time, it was finally my turn to kick that ball. My first serve was way wobbly and so it had to be thrown again. Then the next serve was slow and smooth and I kicked it with all my best. Not too low for it to be a pop ball. Not too high for it to be too short. But just right for it to speed sail between the pitcher and 3rd base. It went fast and so did I. First base, Second base, and almost to third, when I tripped on my shoelace and fell down so hard. My elbow was all scraped up and stingy, and my shirt had grass stains everywhere. Most everybody on my team came over to help me up. "Are you ok?" Hunter wanted to know. When Ryan saw my elbow he said, "I'll go get teacher!" and started to run. Somebody shouted: "I'll get some wet paper towels," I tried really really hard not to cry too much. I looked around at my team. "You sure ran fast Hadley!" "Does it hurt alot?" Everybody was being so nice to me and trying to help me feel better.

After recess, when we were all back in our desks, Ms. Clay was telling us about our new spelling words. I looked down at the bandage on my stingy elbow. Our team only got 3 runs, the real team got 11; but just then an idea popped into my mind. 'Points aren't the only thing that counts'. I thought about all the people on my team that tried to help me. Maybe they weren't the fastest runners, or the best catchers, or best kickers, but they were there when I needed them. I sorta think that I was on a winning team after-all!