Kids Spin Their Wheels for Science

Last Thursday, Nov. 16th, the 5th graders at my school had the oppurtunity to partcipate in the annual Soapbox Derby. The fifth grade teachers, with the help of the school, parents, and the PTO, give the fifth grade students the oppurtunity to learn about simple machines, forces of motion, and other aspects of science through building and racing their own cars.

The Daytona News Journal came out to watch the even and write about it. Click here to see the article. If, for some reason, the link will not open, following is the article.

Kids Spin Their Wheels for Science

By NICOLE SERVICE Staff Writer

DELTONA -- The crowd roared as the little yellow taxi cab made its way down a ramp.

"Brooke, Brooke," they shouted as the car coasted for more than 100 yards.

The car's driver, Brooke Wallis, 11, and her partner, Amirah Hill, 10, grinned for each and every one of those yards.

"I think we are in third place," Amirah said to Brooke, her friend since second grade. "We did good."

They were among about 40 Sunrise Elementary School pupils racing in 20 homemade cars in the school's annual Sunrise Derby.

Each year fifth-graders are given the challenge to build a car they can sit in and steer, then compete to see whose car can coast the farthest down a ramp or to see who can push and steer the fastest.

And they get to do it all in front of about 100 cheering, and in some cases, laughing parents, classmates and teachers.

"The derby helps students study force and motion and the concept behind simple machines," said fifth-grade teacher Laura Bernstein. "It's truly a good way to learn science."
The movie "Taxi" inspired Brooke and Amirah's little yellow cab, complete with taxi sign and numbers.

"I thought why couldn't we do that," Brooke said. "It would be something different."
She said it took her and Amirah, with some help from Brooke's father, two weeks to build the car.

Jordan Lewis and his partner, Marcus Polite, both 11, added a more personal touch to their camouflage car. Painted on the back was a black cross with the words -- In memory of Tony.

"Who is Tony?" the crowd kept shouting.

At first Marcus would just shrug and walk away, not answering his classmates' question, but eventually he explained that Tony was his father who recently passed away.

"I thought it would be a nice way to honor him," he said.

The two weren't too happy with their car's performance, though.

"I thought it would be faster," Marcus said. "But it's not about winning. It's about learning, competing and being a good sport."

"Yeah," Jordan added. "This was the most fun I had in school all year."

Regena Koning and her 10-year-old daughter Cheyenne were new to the whole soapbox derby event.

They were pretty happy with the performance of Cheyenne's powder-blue car, but admit they were amateurs.

"They had parents here who just reused old cars," Regena Koning joked. "They had kids in this before so they learned from the year before what they did wrong and how to tweak the cars to go faster. They were some pros."

It's the second year for Brooke's mom, Suzan Wallis.

Last year, she was there to cheer on her son. This year she stood by the finish line, cheering on her daughter and Amirah, with camera in hand.

Bernstein said parents and students have come to value the event.

She said one year, they actually thought about not doing the derby.

"You would have thought we canceled their sweet sixteen," Bernstein joked. "They were so upset. This is now part of the school's tradition."