1. All science fair projects will be submitted by Jan 18th 2008. Normally, projects would be due a week later, but we must follow a different procedure this year. Instead of having a judge visit our school and approve projects for Greater San Diego Science & Engineering Fair (GSDSEF), there is now an intermediate judging that takes place. Following our local science fair, which will be held from January 21-22, projects selected by both Mrs Alegre and myself will be advanced to an intermediate science fair. This screening science fair will be conducted at De Portola Middle School on February 6th. Projects will be either approved for GSDSEF or rejected by a team of judges. So we need to adjust our dates to accommodate this new schedule and procedure.

2. Students are encouraged to submit completed portions of their science fair project via email. Obviously, this only applies to students with both Internet and email access. They should attach a completed portion of their project, send it as an attachment and it will be evaluated, corrected and returned. This is the way of the future. As your children advance to high school and beyond they will do more and more of this electronic transfer of information. If your child or you are not comfortable with this arrangement, the traditional manner of submitting work remains a valid option.

3. By December 12th (Wednesday) the first portion of the report to be submitted is Research, consisting of 5-pages, double-space, 12-pt Times New Roman font, standard margins and saved in Rich Text Format (myresearch.rtf). This portion of the report consists of background information that helps the reader to understand the science behind the experiment. It can be completed prior to doing any of the actual experiment. I am available to answer any questions, either in class or via email (peterminton@yahoo.com), concerning any aspect of the student's science fair project.