Science Fair

The annual science fair at Stanley School was on Monday evening, and Caden presented a project on the best way to build "spinners" - basically tops - out of LEGOs. Basic measurements included height, weight, and diameter, and Caden determined how those factors influenced how long a LEGO spinner would spin.

Scientist in training

Today, Mama needed to weigh some mussels for an experiment she is running. Dada was working in the yard, so Mama enlisted Caden as her official data recorder:

All summer in a day

As we were walking in to school today, Caden remarked, "I think the MCAS finished yesterday. That means we can go out to recess again. But we missed the warm weather." Last week, the older kids in Caden's school had to take the MCAS standardized tests that are used to rate the school and the commonwealth in terms of educational performance. While they were taking the tests, recess was cancelled because administrators were worried that the noise made by kids outside would disrupt the tests. Last week coincided with the warmest March week on the North Shore since records have been kept, with temperatures reaching into the 80s, but the kids were kept indoors. This reminds me of the Ray Bradbury story All Summer in a Day, set on a planet (it's actually Venus, which doesn't make sense unless you remember that the story was written in 1954) where the sun only emerges once every 7 years. In the story bullies lock a little girl in a closet during the one hour of sunlight.

Kindergarten Halloween Parade

On Halloween morning, we all headed over to Caden's school to watch the kids parade in their costumes:

And in the evening, Caden roamed the streets in search of candy. Here is a conversation that occurred during our tour of the neighborhood.

Mama: "When you go up to someone's house, say 'trick or treat' and 'thank you'. That's what tonight is about."

Caden: "No it's not. It's about getting candy."

Trick or treat

Museum

This morning, Caden announced that he was going to build a museum after breakfast. Inspired by our many recent museum visits, he constructed the following:

Curator Caden

Front door view

Displays

Coral Carbon Blues

Caden spent the past several weeks rehearsing for his first stage performance: Coral Carbon Blues, a musical about climate change and other human impacts on coral reef ecosystems. The performance was on Sunday. Dada was at a conference, but Mama recorded the show so that Dada could watch it later. Here is a short clip. Caden is a damselfish. The damselfish run across the stage to try to eat the algae and are scared away by the potato cod, highlighting the importance of non-consumptive effects (e.g., fear) for coral reef functioning. The song goes:

Rain forest of the sea,

Medicine chest of life,

My coral reef

Ain't it nice?

Paradise.