From the Fairfield-Sun.com

Drawings by two students at The Unquowa School in Fairfield students are among those featured in a special gallery show, featuring 150 works by children from 22 countries, now open at The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk.

Maeve Kelly’s piece is called ‘Lady Liberty.’

Maeve and Olivia have entries in the 17 presented by Creative Connections in Norwalk now through Labor Day. The free exhibit is displayed in aquarium’s IMAX Theater lobby, which can be entered without paid admission.

Theme of the 2013 show is “Illuminate! Bringing My Culture to Light.” The drawings and paintings were created by children, ages 8 to 16, who were challenged to share a cultural belief or value that is meaningful to them. The catch — they also had to include a natural, man-made or symbolic source of light.

“It’s interesting to see how the children’s responses range broadly, while at the same time reflect similarities — such as family, friends and community — despite their different worlds,” said Judith Bacal, the aquarium’s exhibits director.

Pieces are included from 22 countries around the globe, including China, Poland, Uganda, Cambodia, Guatemala, Latvia, Cyprus, Turkey, Senegal, Nepal, Mexico and Ireland.

Two Unquowa School students are part of the Maritime Aquarium’s children’s art show. Olivia’s entry is entitled ‘Christmas Time.’

Children from Connecticut, including dozens from 16 schools in Fairfield County, are equally represented. Maeve’s entry, “Lady Liberty,” represents our nation’s freedoms, while Olivia’s “Christmas Time” celebrates her family’s holiday traditions.

Generally, other moments or topics chosen as meaningful by Connecticut students include Fourth of July fireworks, parades, school days, Relay for Life events, religious celebrations and gatherings of family and friends.

Previously during the school year, through Creative Connections’ ArtLink program, the artwork of the Connecticut students was exchanged with the pieces by the students from overseas, allowing insights into their partners’ cultures.

I usually reserve this activity for the last science lesson of the year but due the mature and responsible nature of our young scientists, not to mention the weather forecast for this Friday, we moved up the famous water squirter battle. First students made predictions about what type of holes would enable the bottle to squirt the furthest. Next we made the holes and headed out to test our hypotheses! We filled our bottles with water from the rain barrel, being careful not to waste a drop. Large holes won out, although the person holding the squirter might have had something to do with it! We all enjoyed spritzing each other with our remaining water.

The 7th graded ended the year looking at the human body. As part of their exploration of the circulation system, they dissected sheep hearts. Sample student expressions in pictures are real, not posed.

More than thirty Unquowa students and parents showed up Sunday night to view the conjunction of Jupiter, Venus and Mars. We saw Castor and Pollux, but it took awhile to find the planets. Mr. Knebel used his compass and kept looking North North West and found several mistaken suspects. A parent’s iphone app solved the problem – the planets were below tree level on the horizon. It was fun to be in a crowd of excited stargazers with the Big Dipper directly overhead as noted by the students!

What a great show! The students in Chorus and Drama came together for a unit on Musical Theater. It all started in the classroom with lessons on the history of musical theater and what goes into making a musical – choreography, vocal techniques, acting, and so much more! Students then used improvisation to create different scenes for our Unquowa Musical. Using the information they had learned in class they then chose songs that would fit into their scenes. After learning the choreography and perfecting their lines and music, the students put on a short musical for their families and the school! It was a wonderful experience!

In Physics, work is defined as moving an object a distance. To lift an object up is “doing work” and is equal to its gravitational Potential Energy. The 8th grade students calculated PE and momentum and acceleration of various rides at Lake Compounce as part of their physical science final. They used their minds in the am, their thrill emotions in the pm.