Head O’ Meadow Students ‘Blast Off’ Into Summer

For one full hour last Wednesday afternoon, the sky above Head O’ Meadow School detonated with booms and high-pitched squeals as 98 rockets pierced through the air in a scene that called to mind the Fourth of July.

In what has become an annual tradition, fifth grade students ended their science unit on rocketry with a bang, igniting their homemade propellants and waiting to see if they constructed them correctly.

For the last three weeks, the fifth grade has learned everything there is to know about rockets: flight propulsion, engine thrust, a rocket’s “pitch,” “yaw,” and “drag.” Besides mastering the meaning of the terms, students discussed how these different aspects help determine the stability of a rocket at the moment of truth: takeoff.

Putting what they learned into practice, the fifth-graders set out to construct their own model rockets with the goal of creating the straightest flight path possible. As they lit the fuses that dangled at the bottom of their rockets, students hoped that an arrow-straight, high flight would yield a good grade for the project.

But it was more than a science project, as Head O’ Meadow’s student body emptied out of classrooms early to line the playing fields and watch the show. With each of the school’s four fifth-grade classes possessing two launches, it only took an hour for the close to 100 rockets to rise and fall.

With each liftoff came an equally loud approval from other students, who cheered for the best flights.

Fifth grade teacher Phil Cruz’s class had around a 99 percent accuracy rating with their takeoffs. “I was pretty happy with my class,” he said.

Mr Cruz reckoned that it was an appropriate event for the last day of the school year. “It caps off the school year. It’s exciting, it’s like fireworks.”