Head O’Meadow Elementary School hosted its annual Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math (STEAM) Night on Thursday, February 5.

Third and fourth grade students, accompanied by a parent or guardian, came into the school Thursday night and explored different STEAM activities set up throughout several classrooms. Much like past years, this year’s STEAM Night had a special theme: wizarding.

Head O’Meadow math and science specialist Chrissie Pierce, who helped lead the event along with the school’s math team, said they went all out when it came to making STEAM Night magical for students and adults alike.

When students and their accompanying grown-ups walked in, they each received a brown paper bag to store their goodies in and a lanyard with three stars on it.

Afterwards, everyone gathered in the cafeteria for the “kickoff” portion of the event. Every table was draped in a black tablecloth topped with several candles and a small stack of books.

Head O’Meadow staff turned off the lights in the cafeteria for a special video, where the Sorting Hat from Harry Potter welcomed everyone to Head O’Meadow’s “Wizarding World of STEAM.”

Depending on which of their necklace’s three stars was filled in, students would start their wizarding journey in one of three rooms: the Owl Emporium, Olivander’s Wand Shop, or the Potions Lab.

Regardless of where they started, every wizard had a chance to pass through every room and master each kind of STEAM magic.

Pierce said they used artificial intelligence (AI) to create the video of the Sorting Hat, which she called “really cool.”

The Owl Emporium had students dissect owl pellets and learn about the food chain. They learned that owls are at the top of the food chain, and had to figure out what happens to the parts owls cannot digest.

Since owls only digest the soft part of what they eat and cough up the rest in the form of a pellet, it was up to students to figure out what their owls had for dinner.

Parents and guardians watched as their kids carefully inspected the outside texture, color, size, and shape of owl pellets.

Down the hall was Olivander’s Wand Shop, where students made wands that lit up using an electrical circuit.

To make their magic wands, students used a battery pack, a wooden dowel, and a colored LED light of their choice. Students held their lights and twisted wires while grown-ups helped them hold everything together.

They worked together to wrap the wire from the battery pack to the other wire of the lightbulb to form a complete circuit. By the time they finished wrapping the second wire, their magic wand lit up. The kids and grownups taped their wires together to secure the circuit and used the dowel to hold the light in place.

The last room was the Potions Lab, where students learned about chemical reactions and created their own “magic potions.”

Students could make four different potion recipes: Twinkle Tonic, Stardust Delight, Bubbleburst Brew, and Phoenix Emblem Elixir.

Each potion used glitter and food coloring, along with other magical ingredients, to make sparkly, different colored concoctions.

After students filled their round potion bottles, they had an adult glue a cap onto them to keep the magic inside. The students and grown-ups finished their potion-making process by writing a label and putting it onto the bottle.

Reporter Jenna Visca can be reached at jenna@thebee.com.