Workaday science ties learning to earning for kids at Brown school

The ag connections in ice cream. The nutrition behind basketball. The geology of jewelry.

Science is everywhere, Brown Elementary students know, thanks to Science in the Community Day, a 20-plus year tradition at the north Turlock campus.

On Thursday, first- through sixth-graders all saw three 45-minute presentations keyed by grade. Kindergartners got a visit from “the tooth fairy,” spreading dental hygiene tips instead of cash payouts, and a peek inside an American Medical Response ambulance.

Next year, each grade’s students move up to the next three careers. Ideally, by the time they leave for junior high, each student will be thinking about 18 jobs that use science every day, explained organizers Meredith Pimentel and Michelle Hanf, both third-grade teachers.

“It’s a different perspective,” said first-grade teacher Katheryn Brewer. “It’s somebody new.”

As she spoke, Pitman High FFA students handed out cream in clear plastic containers for kids to take turns shaking into butter to spread on waiting bread.

“This is the culmination of our science,” said Brewer, who has embraced California’s Next Generation Science Standards adopted in November. This year, her young charges learned about sound waves and built towers out of paper clips to study height, engineering, and the importance of strong foundations.

But Science in the Community Day is less about standards and more about helping kids look forward, she said, with ideas of science-linked careers and the importance of staying in school to get those good jobs.

Outside, Turlock Fire Capt. Nate Benner and crew stood with their fire engine, talking to the second-grade class of Lisa MacKenzie.

Firefighters come when people call 911, Benner told the kids. “Do we call 911 if the dog ate our homework? Do we call 911 if we lost a toy?” he asked them.

“No!” came the quick response, between giggles.

Bringing fire engines, police cars and ambulances lets kids see the equipment and meet the first responders in the uniforms, Hanf said. “It helps get them acquainted so they’ll go to them if, someday, they’re needed.”

Nursing students from California State University, Stanislaus, talked to three classes of third-graders about sugar. What sugar is, why we like it so much, how much 8- and 9-year-olds should eat in a day, and the long term effects of too much sugar were all being covered, explained Katrina Ritler, Rebecca Hassid and Crystal Guzman. as Samantha Basas talked.

Three teaspoons is plenty of sugar for a kid, Basas said, adding a single can of soda has three times that much.

In the next classroom, Turlock High FFA leader Julia Brewer was helping her crew explain to third-graders how agriculture brings food to the table and cotton, wool and leather to closets. Then they got down to how ice cream is made, with tasting.

“It’s getting them the basic knowledge about agriculture, and it’s for recruitment. FFA is a great organization. It gets kids super-involved,” Brewer said.

Elsewhere, retired science teacher Eric Julien explained about new dinosaur discoveries, while retired teacher Don Rowe told of the life cycle of salmon.

Jewelry maker Brady Cowles donned rubber gloves to color metal using batteries and vinegar. “I always feel like a mad scientist when I do this,” he told the class. Types of gemstones and how they are classified, what raw diamonds look like vs. tiny clear stones were all part of his presentation to Roland Frolund’s fifth-grade class.

“We’ve studied the periodic table and metals. This ties right in with that,” Frolund said.

At another fifth-grade classroom, Kevin Van Patten with the city of Turlock’s environmental compliance division demonstrated testing the pH of water, and how earth and rocks filter work as a filter. “The earth filters out some pollutants, but not all,” he explained.

Sealed bags of blood, plasma and platelets drew “oooooohs” and an “ick!”or two from fourth-graders in Tina Cantu’s class. Nick Bronken with the Emanuel Medical Center Lab then moved on to microbiology – the study of germs, viruses and parasites. More icks.

Two very tall university students, Warrior track runner Gurpreet Singh and basketball player Timbo Thymes, talked to fourth-graders in Sarah Godje’s class about how getting fit helps people stay healthy.

“We are a health and fitness school,” Godje said, “This presentation just adds to that perfectly.”

Hanf checked her step-counting app – 10,571, and it was not yet lunch. “It is an exciting day, full of learning,” she said, grabbing her clipboard.

This story was originally published April 15, 2017 at 7:53 AM with the headline "Workaday science ties learning to earning for kids at Brown school."