Monday, February 15, 2010

Science Fair, Again

The science continues for Lamb. The last couple weeks, Lamb has been enthusiastically working on her science fair project that is due this week.


This year we tested different types of acidic liquids to see if any are better than vinegar for making volcanoes. Lamb loves to make volcanoes, so she was pretty excited about the experiment.

This year, we abandoned my science-project-in-a-box philosophy and went to the standard big board.

Lamb spent about 4 hours working on the project over three days. An hour and a half seemed her limit.

I spent about 3 hours typing stuff and preparing. Lamb isn't ready for typing. I have to remind myself that Mister typed none of his first project--and his was in 3rd grade. Lamb is a year earlier and about 8 months younger for her birth month in grade. It wasn't until 5th grade that Mister typed all his project, and I still formatted it for him.

Lamb hopes for another trophy after her triumphant kindegarten debut. But I don't know how likely it is that she will get another trophy, since that doesn't seem to be quite how the fair works. But who knows?

I'm glad Lamb is interested in science. My little girl can do anything she wants when she grows up. Darn straight.

UPDATE: Lamb won a first prize ribbon! If I understand it correctly, only a couple of those are offered per grade level plus the trophy for the top project. I'm very proud of Lamb. I think she could have gotten the trophy with an expanded conclusion section, but I worried that discussing issues of how to do the experiment better or different experiments to explore the same issue would have been a bit too sophisticated for her age. And I didn't want it to seem like my project rather than her project. Oh well. Live and learn. Next year the conclusion section gets expanded. I'll just have to make sure it is age appropriate. Lamb may yet get a second trophy in science!

So tonight the science fair (and drat, I forgot my camera at home) and then off to Hill Auditorium to hear Mister in his class orchestra (and every other class orchestra in the city, too). It will be a long day. Thank goodness I have Friday off. I'm a lucky dad, no doubt.