Flashes of gold, silver and tie-dyed swirls soared into the sky above the Sunset Middle School playing fields Thursday afternoon, falling to earth in graceful spins or with a silent crash.

“That was awesome!” cried 14-year-old Ashley Ball, a grin of absolute glee on her face, as she watched a classmate's rocket shoot more than 100 feet into the air.

According to Lynda Sanders, a science teacher at Sunset, and the rocket ringmaster, more than 300 students designed and built their own rockets from scratch, starting with only flat sheets of cardboard. The students added fins made from either cardboard or balsa wood, conical noses and other features to make the rockets as aerodynamic, or interesting looking, as possible. The project was part of a lesson on using scientific principals and methods, as well as working to design, build and individualize each rocket, Sanders said.

Students excitedly counted along with Sanders and Maureen Kelly, a fellow science teacher, as each rocket was launched. Out of about 40 students launching on Thursday, only a handful of rockets didn't fly. Or some did - but didn't go far.

Brianna Sears' rocket made it off the launching apparatus, a long metal rod that held the 8-inch rocket upright until it could be fired with a jolt of electricity to the fire-cracker inside, but flew about 15 feet into the air before falling to the grass and extinguishing with a soft whooshing sound.

Brianna, 14, wasn't too disappointed, easily laughing with friends about the failed launch. She readily admitted that her favorite part of the project was spray-painting her rocket a variety of red, white and black.

“My parachute didn't work - it was blown off by the wind,” Ashley said with a smile.

Overall though, most of the rockets made it into the sky and sailed over the fields. Some parachutes opened and helped the scorched rockets float safely down to the ground, despite of a stiff breeze.

According to Sanders, building and blasting their own rockets off the launching pad and into the air is an activity students look forward to all year long. By the time the end of the school year comes around, they've been looking forward to it for a long time, she said with a laugh.

“Building rockets was being done when I came to the district 18 years ago,” she said. “The students used to make the rockets out of kits, but now we start from scratch to make it a bit more difficult. They do a hypothesis, choose variables and build their rockets as a group.”

The shrieks and shouts weren't limited only to the eighth-grade students, but were taken up by first- and second-grade spectators from Madison Elementary School.

Paul Zenchenko, a Title I teacher at Madison Elementary School, was inspired by good weather and the possibility of combining some mathematics instruction with Sanders' science project. He brought his first- and second-grade math class to see the rocket launching on Thursday.

“I asked them if they wanted to work on a word problem or come out to see the rockets,” he said with a grin. “I got a unanimous vote for the rockets.”

Sanders said her students worked in groups for several weeks to make their rockets different based on the body length and number or placement of fins. Based on which rockets flew the highest, students will turn in worksheets explaining their conclusions on how the variables affected the way the rockets flew - or didn't.

“Normally there might be a 50 percent chance of success,” Zenchenko said with a laugh. “But Lynda's got about 90. She won't let them fire it unless they follow the instructions.”

With each rocket that zoomed into the sky, cheers erupted from the crowd, and proud owners sprinted down the field to collect the remains of their rockets. Weeks of work translated into seconds of joy and excitement, and an afternoon of fun.

- Hallie Winchell covers education news for The World. She can be reached by calling 269-1222, ext. 235; or by e-mailing hwinchell@theworldlink.com.