Join the Science Olympiad Team!

The Science Olympiad is coming back to Tritt! Third - Fifth grade students can apply to Tritt's Science Olympiad Team. Students in this club will specialize in events like Bridge Building, Crime Busters, Egg Drop, Paper Rockets & more - leading to an All-County competition in mid-March and State event in early May. Practice will be on Wednesdays, from 2:15-3:30, November - March. For more information and to apply, please use this LINK by October 30th (opens in September)!

Robotics Boot Camp 2023

Mr. Giunta and Mrs. Pascual will be offering a robotics boot camp this summer for rising 5th grade Tritt students. Camp will run May 30th - June 2nd from 3PM-5:00PM each day after the Tritt Specialist Summer Camp. Students will build a “BaseBot” in quarter 4 of 4th grade in the Science Lab. In camp, students will collaborate in teams to iterate those robots, adding sensors to collect input on colors and distance, and code for autonomous operation to solve unique challenges. This is not a prerequisite for, nor guarantee of admittance into, the Tritt United Robotics Club in the fall but would allow interested students to get an idea of what the robotics club is like. The fee is $100 per student. Profit will be benefit the Tritt Robotics Club. Spaces are limited. REGISTER HERE.

Robotics Boot Camp

Mr. Giunta and Mrs. Pascual will be offering a robotics boot camp this summer for rising 4th & 5th grade Tritt students. Camp will run May 31st - June 3rd from 3PM-5:30PM each day after the Tritt Specialist Summer Camp. For $100, students will collaborate in teams learning to build, code, and drive a robot to solve unique challenges. This is not a prerequisite for, nor guarantee of admittance into, the Tritt United Robotics Club in the fall but would allow interested students to get an idea of what Tritt's robotics club is like. A MyPaymentsPlus fee will be set up after you register. All proceeds will benefit the Tritt Learning Environment. Spaces are limited FULL! CLICK HERE to be added to the Wait List.

Robotics Team earns State berths!

In the 2021/22 season the Tritt United Robotics Club was back in a big way with 8 united teams and 24 students.. Team Zeta earned a Teamwork Challenge Award at a December Tournament earning a berth to the State tournament and an Innovate Award at a nationwide tournament in January. Team Gamma earned a Skills Award and Team Theta a Design Award at tournaments in January, also earning berths to the State tournament. Three other teams (Beta, Heta & Gamma) earned at-large berths to the State tournament in February.

Infection Detection

We are kicking off Quarter 2 in Science Lab by watching how germs spread in our classroom. We did the same experiment as in the video below from Mark Rober. In our case we played Head Up Seven Up and tried to trace the UV powder back to the original couple of students.

This next video from MythBusters show has far the germs from our sneezes can travel!

How can the spread of a communicable disease be reduced?

Why might it be important for scientists to determine patient zero?

Science Fair Results 2020!

I am so proud of the work our 5th graders did this year! We need a scientific literate society, and these students are going to be leaders in that regard!

This morning twenty-five of our students were able to present their work to science educators from WestRock Recycling, Chattahoochee Nature Center, Cobb County Parks, Cobb County Water, Cobb County Schools, Society of Women Engineers, and Project Lead The Way. The six highest scores are advancing to the district fair in February. They are, in order: Jack E (Blick, 1st Overall), Jack C (Blick), Bryce G (Wender), Paige R (Wender), Devon P (Sweirski) and Eliana R (Stone). Congratulations!

Below are pictures of all the projects. .

Blick:

1 - Jack C, "Fastest Shot"

2 - Jack E, "Soccer Shot"

3 - Scarlet, "Which cup will keep temperature best?"

HM - Oliver, "How do weight and aerodynamics affect speed?"

HM - Grace, "10-degree Lacrosse Stick vs Basic Lacrosse Stick": 

Dino: 

1 - Arya, “What do sugary drinks do your teeth?”

2 - McKinley, “What liquids will evaporate the fastest"?”

3 - Brody, “What melts ice the fastest?”

HM - Lia, “Why should you not put a bottle in the freezer?”

Gardner: 

1 - Adam, "Does temperature affect batteries?"

2 - Vanessa, "Dog Breath"

3 - Ian, "Do you catch more fish in the day or night?"

HM - Ria, "How do you prevent apples from turning brown?"

HM - Lauren, "How can I reduce cramps when running?"

Stone: 

1 - Eliana, "Music for the Brain"

2 - Elizabeth, "Smell and Taste"

3 - Evie, "Does vision affect your taste?"

HM - Sam, "What is the fastest way to cool a can of Sprite?"

Sweirski: 

1 - Ilia, Do plants know math?"

2 - Devon, "Memory Masters"

3 - Enzo, "The Music Dilemma"

HM - Mei, "Is the 5-second rule real?"

Wender: 

1 - Bryce, "Student Retention"

2 - Caroline, "Pooch Smooch"

3 - Paige, "Do dogs have a paw preference?"

HM - Ollie, "Creekwater Health"

Congratulations on selection to the 2019/20 Tritt VEX IQ Robotics Competition Team!

The following students have been selected for this year’s Tritt Robotics Team:

5th Graders: Caleigh Bacon, Kate Bezbatchenko, Yuri Sung, Bryce Gilbert, Enzo Kukreja, Ethan Greenberg, Everett Soller, Jack Allgood, Johnny Howell, Raghav Sundar and Tristan Batherosse

4th Graders: Cayla Wise, Hailey Mallory, Julianna Crowell, Mira Ballantyne, Riley Wilhoite, Alex Moody, Charles Weiner, Fonti Fontanillas, Jack Mitchell, Jay Carlton, Kaden Brown, Nicholas Andrews and Noah Needle

International Schoolhouse of Pancakes

The Tritt Tiger Foundation purchased TWO PancakeBots this year to help our students learn about 3D printing. Fifth grade was excited to be the guinea pigs for Chef Giunta and Chef Pascual!

Students studied liver cells and onion cells with Mr. Giunta using microscopes, learned the PancakeBot Painter software with Mrs. Pascual and drew their cells, cooked them up in the Science Lab, and labeled pictures of their cells in the Technology Lab. Below is a time-lapse of a plant cell, and at the bottom is the explanation of an animal cell!

Congratulations Science Fair Winners!

Elizabeth Perkel, Bridgitte Butler, Noa Irizarry, Cora Anne Davis and Haley Elwood represented Tritt Elementary at the Cobb / Paulding Regional Science Fair on February 9th.

In our best showing yet, each girl earned a medal: 2nd place for Elizabeth, and 3rd for each of the other girls. A special shout out goes to Suzie Tierney who came down with the flu and wasn’t able to join us.

2019 Science Fair Results!

Our 5th graders worked hard on the Science Fair for the last two months! Take a look at all of the projects below!

Lupiani: 1st - Haley Elwood, “Apple Oxidation”; 2nd (tie) - Suzie Tierney, “Is Lie Detection Possible?” and Elizabeth Perkel, “What is the most effective way to wash hands?”; 3rd– Hannah Nothdurft, “The Rose Knows”

Gardner: 1st - Beck Chaney, “Best Foot Forward”; 2nd - Josie Hutchinson, “What type of soda causes the most damage to teeth enamel?”; 3rd – Hunter Foree, “Can daises survive on other liquids?”

Blick: 1st (tie) – Cora Anne Davis, “Jelly Bean” and Regan Gilbert, “What is the best way to reduce bacteria on your toothbrush?”; 2nd – Finn Roche, “Which liquid makes a plant grow faster?”; 3rd – Ava Chao, “Which sippy cup leaks the least?”

Dino: 1st – Noa Irizarry, “Listen, I promise you’ll smile”; 2nd (tie) – Beatrice Hartwig, “Are you sure you want to eat that cheese?”, and Krish Patel, “Vita-Plants”, and Masha Kozhanova, “Salty Alum Crystal Growth”; 3rd (tie) – Claudia Martin, “Rise Up”, and Carter Whitley, “Wood versus Fire”, and Ivy Yera, “Flour Power”

Pizzuto: 1st - Bridgette Butler, “Which household item has the most bacteria on its surface?”; 2nd – Bryson Markus, “Does your drink rot your teeth?”; 3rd – Max Kalina, “What is the best way to hard-boil an egg?” and George Hoeller, “How hard is your favorite candy?”

Stone: 1st - Avery Blackmon, “How do sugary drinks affect your teeth?”; 2nd (tie) – Ashley Anne Braun, “Effects of Flour” and Abbey Bensman, “Eggs-Periment”; 3rd – McKenzie Ellis, “Which hamster is smarter?”

The following students will be representing Tritt Elementary at the Cobb Regional Science Fair on February 9th: Bridgette Butler, Cora Anne Davis, Haley Elwood, Noa Irizarry, Elizabeth Perkel and Suzie Tierney.

"The Rise Of The Slime Economy" - NPR

From NPR: "It has become a social media sensation and even led to a run on glue sales. We're talking slime — and not the green liquid Nickelodeon famously dumps on celebrities. And for many young people on YouTube, Instagram and Etsy, it's a moneymaker.

Of the more than 5 million posts on Instagram tagged with #slime, most depict brightly colored stuff filled with glitter and pigments of all kinds. So the slime of today is far more viscous and elaborate than that green liquid on Nickelodeon. Slime has become so popular that the American Chemical Society recently published a fact sheet about it including a detailed scientific explanation for how the magic happens." Check out the rest of NPR's story about the escalating popularity of goo here. 

This week in 5th Grade we are using goo to learn about variables as a part of the scientific method. I'm partial to this recipe from the YouTube channel Get Crafty Crafty: 

When a river throws you a curve:

Fifth grade has been "diving in" to the destructive and constructive forces of nature. Here we used stream tables to witness erosion from river banks that created oxbo lakes and deltas. 

DRIFTWOOD!

I was so excited to join Mrs. Pirlot's class on their trip to Driftwood! It was 3 days full of science: reptile demos (Gators, Gopher Tortoises, Copperheads, etc.), an encounter with a Barred Owl, a nighttime hike all about our five senses, dipping into the inter coastal to capture microscopic plankton - and finding them under the microscopes, team building activities (trust fall!), campfires (I know the counselors secret language), a ferry ride, tree climbing, picnic lunches, old ruins, wild horses, a beach hike (with discoveries of crabs, fish, Cannonball jellyfish, and horseshoe crab exoskeletons), and even more when we used our seine nets! Here are just some of the pictures that I was able to take of our class and others!

And the winners are....

The judges were so impressed with all of the projects. In many cases only a few points separated the places, but they were able to choose the winners from each class. 

Lupiani
First: Jackson, “Does what a physician wear make the patient feel different?”
Second: Alaina, Nana + Lauren, “Time to Melt Some Crayons”
Third: Elizabeth, “Food Choices Matter”

Pirlot
First: Jacob, “Best Place for Bacteria Growth”
Second: Ethan, “How well do different liquids and light conditions help grow red bell peppers?”
Tie Third: Lilly, “Enzymatic!”
Tie Third: Elise + Maddie, “The Temperature Test”

Pizzuto
First: Prakash, “Electrolytes”
Second: Nathan, “What liquids work best for plants?”
Tie Third: Johanna + Kara, “Excellent Education”
Tie Third: Cavan, “Pressure”

Smith
First: Lucas, Howie + Henry, “Electric Potato”
Second: Ava, “Bubblicious”
Third: Amanda + Heather, “Candy Coke Explosion”

Stone
First: Allison, “The Golden Age of Sugar is NOT as Sweet as you Think!”
Second: Kendall, “A Plant’s Taste”
Third: Watson, “Mesh Speeds”

Swierski
First: Reed, “How do video games affect vital signs in kids?”
Second: Sila, “Does music with lyrics help people concentrate better or not?”
Tie Third: Carter + Ryan, “Drone Speed Test”
Tie Third: Ethan, “How do liquids affect metals?”

The following projects will be advancing to the District Science Fair on February 11th:
Jackson Hornsby, “Does what a physician wear make the patient feel different?” 
Allison Chaloupek, “The Golden Age of Sugar is NOT as Sweet as you Think!”
Reed Glaser “How do video games affect vital signs in kids?” 
Sila Karakayali, “Does music with lyrics help people concentrate better or not?”
Jacob Mark, “Best Place for Bacteria Growth”
Prakash Mitra, “Electrolytes”