Micah Cole insisted on saving a blueberry muffin for Mister Jason.
The fifth grader brought in homemade muffins that he made from a recipe in a book passed through generations in his family. On Wednesday, his table at Eugene Field Elementary was loaded with muffins and a loaf of sandwich bread he had baked.
On the floor were crumbs from those baked goods. A lot of crumbs.
Cole sympathized with Mister Jason, the custodian who would eventually sweep up those crumbs.
“He should have his pick,” Cole said, pointing to the remaining treats.
Field hosted its Primary Years Programme Exhibition March 6, featuring 59 fifth graders showing off projects based on interests they have developed.
Rachelle Certain, coordinator for the program, said that the exhibition is a culminating event of the students' year.
“All of the skills they have been working on leading up to fifth grade,” Certain said. “Research, communication, thinking, social skills, self-management, this is where they put that all together.”
Resembling a science fair, students stood at tables and demonstrated passion projects of theirs for a crowd of more than 100 parents, family members and friends. They created displays, passed out handouts and gave demonstrations.
Or, in Cole’s case, samples.
The fifth grader has enjoyed baking for several years now, and has baked enough to pass on his own helpful advice to aspirants.
“On baking shows, they will show them multitasking, getting ready for the next step,” Cole said. “But I think that’s a bad idea, because it makes it easier to mess up what you are trying to do.”
The students’ presentations capped off about six weeks’ worth of work, Certain said. They started with collecting a variety of interests, then honing in on one.
Several students explored construction with Lego bricks and sets, diving into the hobby and its history. Bennett Franco took the thrill of the build a few steps further: Instead of showing off a kit he built, he assembled kits that others could build for themselves.
The kit contained pieces and instructions to build a Lego version of Flappy, a stuffed eagle at Eugene Field. The kits were sold a fundraiser for a legacy gift the fifth grade class of '24 will eventually leave to the school.
Franco reverse-engineered the Lego hobby with help from his dad and some artificial intelligence, he said. They even built cardboard boxes used to package each kit.
“We used an app where you put together the Legos and then it makes the instructions for you,” Franco said. “We ordered pieces off the Lego app, sorted them and put them into bags.”
Exhibits spark further development
For some students, the exhibits helped develop an interest in pursuing passions long after fifth grade is done.
Maeve Fisher highlighted her aspiration to get into veterinary medicine. Her display featured key points of how veterinarians keep pets healthy, and included a handout about how people could take care of their own pets.
Her deep dive helped crystallize a plan for her future and a career goal she has had since before she started school. She also learned things that will help her better care for her family’s three dogs: Bowser, Magner and Scarlett.
“I have wanted to be a veterinarian since I was 5,” Fisher said. “The coolest thing I learned was that they have emergency vets, where if someone was supposed to go to an interview, but a dog or cat had an emergency, they would have to cancel everything and help it.”
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Greta Cox demonstrated her skills on a bass guitar. As the event progressed, she played bass lines from songs by the White Stripes and the Pixies on an Ibanez owned by her dad. Her presentation talked about how music works as a type of medicine.
The instrument’s low sound caught her interest, she said.
“It just kind of sticks out to me,” Cox said. “It just has a deeper sound. I like a lot of bass lines more than guitar lines.”
Cox said the exhibit helped her build some stagefright-beating strategies that will come in handy soon. The toughest challenge about her exhibit was fighting nerves as she played for friends, family and strangers for the first time.
But she’ll be doing that more often — after a successful tryout, she made one of the bands at Feedback School of Music.
“I just hope I can play in a band professionally,” she said.
Others, though, found the exhibits as just an interesting hobby. Cole does not plan to develop a career in baking, he said.
“I’m really good at math, so architecture is my jam,” he said.
The Primary Years Programme through International Baccalaureate emphasizes a thorough development of students through an inquiry-based curriculum. It is also available at Boyd and Rountree elementary schools, and continues through Pipkin Middle School and Central High School with paths for careers and diplomas.
