By EMILY BEHLMANN

Bob Projects Video

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ebehlmann@gctelegram.com

Living on a farm, Kortnee Kingston knows a little bit about cows. She even helps raise them.

Still, when the Edith Scheuerman Elementary School fourth-grader embarked on a nine-week research project about the animal, she said she learned a lot of new things.

"I thought it was interesting that they chew their cud two times," she said.

Kingston and almost 70 of her classmates presented their new knowledge to younger students and members of the community Wednesday as the final step in their Bob Projects.

Fourth-grade teacher Tammy Rieth said Edith Scheuerman fourth-graders have been doing the Bob Projects for seven years. Modeled after the semester-long Garden City High School Buff Projects and named after Bob the Tiger, adopted by Edith Scheuerman students at Lee Richardson Zoo, the assignment requires students to complete a research paper, make a poster, create a PowerPoint slide show and give a presentation.

Marcelo Mendoza, who researched George Washington, said the project was "pretty hard." He said he got his information by taking notes from an encyclopedia, a non-fiction book and the Internet.

The notes were compiled into the paragraphs that made up a research paper, said Leonel Espino, who did his project on ants. He said he made his poster by scanning and printing pictures of ants, then writing interesting facts he had learned, like that ants communicate by touching each other with their antennae.

The PowerPoint presentation, a new requirement this year, was a pretty easy step for Isabella Zarazua, whose project was on wolves. She said she liked going online to find cool pictures that could accompany the wolf facts she included in her slide show.

Most students already had some experience with PowerPoint, and all have had experience with writing research papers, Rieth said. When they got stuck, they usually helped each other figure out the next step.

Some students said the presentation was the most difficult part of the project, though it was no problem for others.

"It's a little freaky," Devin Eikenberry said about having to talk in front of others about his chosen topic of trains. "Sometimes people have questions."

His classmate, Joe Fonseca, agreed that the presentation was scary, but said the listeners had been nice. Besides, he likes talking about his subject matter -- the Denver Broncos.

"They win most of their games," he said.

Juanita Rojas, a special education paraprofessional who works with some of the fourth-graders, said she thinks students have learned a lot by doing the Bob Projects, and that their public speaking skills have improved.

"It took awhile, but they got over their jitters," she said.

Public speaking training is one of many benefits to the project, Rieth said. Others include building the research and technology skills they'll use throughout their schooling, she said.