Today was the final day for students to work on their invention projects in class. The projects will be judged/provided feedback the weekend of January 7-8, and the finalist who will move on to compete in the district competition on January 12th will be selected! Most students worked on their display boards today, which mean that we were spread all over the classroom and spilling into the hallway. My hope is that students are proud of their work and that they got the chance to practice navigating a huge challenging project and persevering through struggles. A handful of students chose to take their display boards home to finish, while other students either finished their work before dismissal or chose to leave their boards "as is."

I know there are some students who have no interest in participating in the competition side of things, and I would like to be respectful of that. However, I do encourage you to chat with your student about the reasoning behind that tentativeness. Are they afraid of not winning; is it just too much pressure; are they not happy with their work? I am proud of the work all of the students have done and would love to see them all give the competition a shot as well as learn the lessons that come along with success and failure, but I will 100% respect the wishes of the families and the students in this regard. Please let me know by the end of Winter Break if your student would not like to be considered for the District competition.