OXFORD —  In what turned out to be its final event before temporarily closing, Oxford Elementary School students and their families descended on the school Thursday night as part of its OES Reads! program.

Family Night is just one event during a month-long mission to get books into the hands of all kids. This year Reads! was combined with STEM projects. OES reading interventionists Laura Foley and Jane Strauss gave a presentation to parents on ways that STEM learning connects to literacy.

Trail mix packs, dubbed “scat snacks,” were handed out to all kids and they were given a wide variety of STEM activities to participate in.

STEM inspired activities included boat building, where children fashioned their own tin foil boats to float in a pan of water. Each builder loaded their boat with a cargo of loose change to see how much weight their boat could support before it sank.

Teachers assisted students in an egg drop challenge. Using cardboard, plastic bags, newspapers and other materials, kids built protective contraptions for their egg and dropped them from second floor windows to see how the eggs could survive their fall.

Kids could also build towers using toothpicks, gum drops and mini-marshmellows and create paper robots and use pennies for balancing experiments. They also participated in a balloon static race where they created static electricity with balloons to push an empty soda can across a table.

“Reading tents” were set up for kids to have a quiet place to read some of the STEM-related books on display.

As part of the overall celebration, sixth grade students collaborated earlier on a project to choose a school pet, which in the end evolved into a choice for a school reptile. All students at Family Night got the chance to vote on three finalists – a rosy boa snake, a turtle, or a lizard.

Much to the relief of faculty and staff, the lizard won the final tally. Oxford Elementary School will become the future home for a yet-to-be-selected rainbow gecko.

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