The results are in and they are awesome! If you’re a current OVCS family, I hope you have had a positive and fun learning experience over the last couple of months leading up to this final showcase event.
And if you’re not a current OVCS family, or you missed our event, I am thrilled to share some of this year’s amazing Academic Fair results with you!
The Process and Project Criteria
As a reminder, here’s a quick outline of the Academic Fair project process and criteria. This was a multi-subject project that students worked on for several weeks and then presented to judges, the school, and their families on April 13th!
Each student was instructed to incorporate knowledge from five academic and artistic areas, except for PreK and Kindergarten who worked to complete class projects.
Subjects could vary by student and by project, and might include social studies, history, geography, government, mathematics, literature, science, health, research writing, creative writing, public speaking, visual art, dance, music, drama, and Bible.
While this was a school-wide event, each grade level was given age-appropriate instructions and expectations.
The judging criteria was based on content, a verbal interview, creativity, organization and neatness, inclusion of each subject area, and use of different mediums.
The variety of topics and flexibility of the criteria allowed each student an opportunity to have fun and excel while learning valuable life skills.
Project Showcase
And now on to the amazing results! After weeks of hard work and set-up, we were so pleased with what we saw and how the student presented their topics with knowledge and confidence.
Here are some examples from the various grade levels…
PreK
The PreK class completed a class project all about animal habitats.
Kindergarten
The Kindergarten class completed a class project all about the human body.
Primary Grades
The variety of projects and skills in grades 1 – 3 can be seen in these examples ranging from a variety of animals to steam engines.
Upper Elementary
The variety of projects and skills in grades 4 – 6 can be seen in these examples ranging from lobsters and bees to The Sherman Tank.
Junior High
The variety of projects and skills in grades 7 & 8 can be seen in these examples ranging from military stress training to ballet.
High School
The variety of projects and skills in grades 9 – 12 can be seen in these examples ranging from maple syrup to criminology.
Results and Feedback
As you can see, the results were amazing and the feedback we got was priceless! Here are a few quotes…
“I’m nervous they might ask questions I don’t know.”
– OVCS Student
“I’m excited and nervous, thrilled to be done with my project!”
– OVCS Student
“I’m excited to see what my grade is and answering all these questions for the first time”
– OVCS Student
“I want to find out what everyone learned.”
– OVCS Student
“I heard the judges ask one student what his favorite part of working on the project was, his response, “All of it!” Another student was SO nervous before her interview with the judges, but she did great and later asked her teacher if she could go back up and see the judges. I thought that was sweet. I can’t tell you how many kiddos are already saying they want to do this again next year!”
– OVCS Teacher
“We received huge positive feedback from all! It was a joy to see the different strengths of the students shine through, what some lacked in one area (say, artistic ability) they more than compensated for in another (public speaking). I love the little victories – the nervous, shy kid who overcomes and is a rockstar during their interview. It was a great experience. Even the judges all LOVED it and are already committed to next year.”
– OVCS Teacher
“I thought this was a brilliant exercise in planning and time management, in addition to the actual learning that occurred. The students were given age-appropriate instruction, ample time, and we had fun discussing it at home. After the final event, we were already planning our topic for next year!”
– OVCS Parent
We couldn’t be more proud of these students or their hard work. Congratulations!