Geek of the Week

Kade survived the Science Fair. We launched the rockets (film canister rockets propelled by alka seltzer and water- so fun!) for FHE on Monday, and then throughout the week Kade worked on all the other pieces of his project- graphs of how each rocket launched, drew and colored pictures of rockets. On Thursday when we had to finish his poster, he was a little distracted with an unrelated project of building a self-portrait robot out of Legos (I'll try to remember to get a picture, it was pretty good.) Funny boy. On Friday, the big day, he shed some tears and didn't want to do the judging part. It took a lot of dialogue and a little bribery (a promise of ice cream if he was brave enough to try it and do his best). He was the ONLY kid in his class, and 1 of 4 kindergarteners, who did the Science Fair. We didn't get a whole lot more info but Kade's report after school was, "It was good. I liked it."

When we went to pick up his poster later that day Kade had a great time looking at each of the other projects and had dozens of questions. He loves all things science- and enjoyed being in a room filled with information. If only he could read. So I also learned a lot about science, even though it's not MY thing. He said seeing all the projects was his favorite part. Kade was excited to learn he had been awarded 2nd place and had 2 ribbons on his poster, and a certificate, and he'd won a package of MOON SAND. What a day! What a thrill! I hadn't told Kade that there would be "winners" cuz he's super competitive, I didn't want him to stress out, and that's not why I wanted him to do a project. But he was so proud of his ribbons. He said, "These are my first awards huh mom!" Perhaps not his last. Funny boy.

Hard to tell, but he's actually thrilled in this picture. Notice his rocket pic on the left and his cute chart in the center and a NASA rocket picture he colored on the right.

A few funny science geek Kade-isms:

Me:"If you could fly anywhere on a rocket where would you go?"

Kade: "To Pluto, cuz then we could build 100 snowmen."

Eh? I had to think that through. Oh, Pluto= far from the sun= cold= snowmen. I get it.

Me: "Maybe you'll be a scientist some day, and a teacher. Lots of scientists are teachers, too."

Kade: "And when scientists get old then they are wizards"

Eh? Kade had to explain: "Cuz they are good at mixing up potions and stuff."

Oh, I get it. Interesting. Never a dull moment with this boy.

P.S. We celebrated with sundaes at Artic Circle- Kade's choice.

Here is the promised short clip of Kade's robot from his 4-H Robotics class in January (it's sideways of course, because I'm challenged.) It's a Lego Mindstorm robot, they built out of Legos and programmed to do cool things- like laugh, and drive forward and backward.