Photos of Bootanical Garden Fest and another Kid-ism

A fourth-grade student with whom I'm working, who shall of course remain nameless, has been studying the brain during Science. He has a tendency to be VERY literal, despite having an outrageously high IQ. While reading his handout on the parts of the brain and their jobs, he periodically called out with questions such as, "what is the hypothalamus? What are hormones?" I, being the good teacher that I am, encouraged him to keep reading to find the answers. Then it happened....

"What's puberty?"

Gulp. Gasp. Choke. Think, Michelle! Think quickly!

"Well, it's when your body goes from being a boy to a man."

"Oh."
Long Pause, then, said in a somewhat quiet voice to himself, "Geez! That must be AWFUL!"

Someone later pointed out to me that I probably gave him a mental image of puberty being sort of like the Hulk's transformation. Wimpy man to bulging green creature...could be scary for sure...but not as scary as puberty!
We went to the Botanical Garden for the Halloween Festival (Bootanical..get it?). They currently have an installation of some fantastic, giant insect sculptures made of wood. Check 'em out: