UPDATE: This just in... | An eye for news: Gillette Stadium | Front Page News | Corridors and classrooms | The World Around Us | An eye for news: Ringling Bros. Circus | An interview with ... | May I ask a few questions? Angela Hucles | May I ask a few questions? Harry and the Potters/Math the Band | Fun and games | Pleased to meet you | An eye for news: Baby chicks | To the Cove and beyond! | Cunniff Culture | May I ask a few questions? Mike Reiss | An eye for news: Battle of Lexington and Concord | An eye for news: Shubert Theatre | An eye for news: Magic class | An eye for news: Bonaparte | An eye for news: Scott Wahle | Archive: Front page news | Archive: The world around us | Archive: Corridors and classrooms | Archive: Cunniff culture | Archive: Fun and games | Closer look: Super Bowl | UpdateIndex | Help
VIEW: Home | This just in... | An eye for news: Gillette Stadium | Front Page News | Corridors and classrooms | The World Around Us | An eye for news: Ringling Bros. Circus | An interview with ... | May I ask a few questions? Angela Hucles | May I ask a few questions? Harry and the Potters/Math the Band | Fun and games | Pleased to meet you | An eye for news: Baby chicks | To the Cove and beyond! | Cunniff Culture | May I ask a few questions? Mike Reiss | An eye for news: Battle of Lexington and Concord | An eye for news: Shubert Theatre | An eye for news: Magic class | An eye for news: Bonaparte | An eye for news: Scott Wahle | Archive: Front page news | Archive: The world around us | Archive: Corridors and classrooms | Archive: Cunniff culture | Archive: Fun and games | Closer look: Super Bowl
“This time last year it was just a hole in the ground,” said Officer Lloyd Burke.
Before ... The police station grows out of the ground in November 2008 (above); the front entrance on the west side in May 2009 (right)
Outside the side door where the prisoners will come in is a concrete cutter and a pipe bender. On the ground is reinforcing wire for the concrete to hold up the wall.
There are sticks in the ground with orange tape on them. They are called “stakes” and they mark on high the pavement is supposed to go.
“You don’t want the pavement to be higher than the building, because then you’d have water in the building,” Officer Burke said.
[Editor’s note: A number of Cunniff Kids News staff reporters recently accompanied the third-graders from the Cunniff School during their recent trip to Boston’s Museum of Science. The following stories were written by those reporters.]
*****
The exhibit called “Frogs’’ was on the third floor of the Museum of Science. The room was humid, dark, and hot, like a rainforest because frogs are used to that climate.
The exhibit showed frogs in two different stages of life and included about 12 tanks of frogs and one tadpole tank.
There were many different species of frogs, including the leafy frog, tree frog, the American and African bullfrog, and the Goliath frog. The leafy frog was about the size of a computer mouse, and it was the color of leaves (tan, brown) to camouflage it from enemies. The tree frog was bigger than the leafy frog, and was greenish-white in color. It had white stripes on its back, and bumps that oozed natural sunscreen to protect it from the sun.
The American bullfrog and the African bullfrog were very similar looking, but the African bullfrog was much bigger, about the size of a small dog. Because the Goliath frog is endangered, the Museum had a mold of the skeleton of this huge frog that is the size of a small baby!
The exhibit had a virtual frog dissection screen where a person could dissect a frog and see its internal organs. Using this tool, third-graders learned that frogs don’t have a rib cage. There were also screens around the room with facts about the different frogs, such as how they live in the wild, what they eat, and what they look like as tadpoles.
This was an important exhibit because the third-graders learned about frogs in science this year.
The students watched the workers empty some of the hatched chicks into the other section. The workers also “watered” the eggs. All they did to “water” the eggs was take a bottle filled with plain water and spray them. This softens the eggshells, so they will break easier.
Each egg had a different number written on it so the worked could keep track of how many hatched each day.
Next time you go to the Science Museum, be sure to “chick” out the chick exhibit!
One exhibit at the Science Museum was called “Virtual Fish Tank.” The Virtual Fish Tank is a machine that allows a person to create fish.
In the room, there are three screens about the size of a computer screen. On the screens, a person can design fish. Two characteristics to be picked are how hungry it is and its personality (for example, is it nice or shy?).
After picking the fish’s name, by clicking the “release” button, the fish goes through a tube and swims onto the big screen that is the fish tank.
After the fish is in the tank, a person can turn a wheel that feeds it. It is important to think about the fish’s personality, because it can get eaten by some of the other fish in the tank, if you’re not careful.
There is a science playground in the Museum of Science.
When people first walk into the room, they will see a red light zooming across the wall. This is a light you can race with a friend.
There is a swing that counts how many seconds it takes a person to swing 10 times.
There is weight seesaw where one person sits on one side and another sits on the other side and then the people try to equal the weight.
There is a rope that goes stiff to wiggly to let people climb, a bicycle wheel that people can spin, and a place where you can race your friend with your own bouncy ball.
Also there is a metal round spot on the floor with a handle bar that people can stand on and spin and get dizzy.
Another interactive exhibit was the musical staircase. It is a tall, wide staircase inside the Museum near the cafeteria that makes sounds when it’s stepped on. Some of the sounds include musical notes and beeps and bells.
Cunniff Kids News staff reporters
He gets new comics on Wednesdays and puts them on specific shelves, then moves older comics to other shelves. He keeps up to six months’ worth of a comic, and he sells some of the more expensive ones on eBay.
In the back room, some older comics are displayed in glass cases. The comics are from the 1960s and ‘70s, when comics sold for 12 cents. Now, he says, the average comic sells for $3 or $4.
But on the first Saturday of May, comic books will cost zero dollars.
Free Comic Book Day is usually tied to a movie that is coming out, and this year’s movie is “X-Men Origins: Wolverine.”
“In the past, people have dressed up as comic book characters,” Philbrick said. “Feel free to dress up.”
The Comic Stop also sells trading cards, including Yu-Gi-Oh!, Pokemon, and Magic. Pokemon is the best-seller, but one Friday a month Philbrick runs a Magic tournament where he serves pizza.
Kids, parents, and teens go to The Comic Stop.
“Every Wednesday, a lot of the same customers come in,’’ said Philbrick. “A lot of customers are in their 30s, 40s, and 50s. They’re old -- like me.”
Surprisingly, Philbrick doesn’t read most of the comics he sells.
“I still enjoy them, but I don’t read as many as I used to,” Philbrick said. “I tend to collect them more than I read.”
The Mr. Potato Heads sat on the bookcase shelf, next to all of the books ever published by Charlesbridge Publishing.
The company started in 1980, publishing text books. Now they publish all kinds of books, including kids’ picture books, books for babies, nature and science books, and chapter books. There are about 30 people who work at Charlesbridge Publishing in third-floor offices in Watertown Square across from the fire station.
Taylor, who works in marketing, said, “The first books were textbooks, but we got bored of that, so we started publishing picture books [in 1989].”
The first picture book they published was The Icky Bug Alphabet Book, illustrated by the Icky Bug Man, Ralph Masiello. That book is in the bookcase with the Mr. Potato Heads in the editorial library. The company has made about 400 books since it started.
Charlesbridge publishes books twice a year -- in the “spring” (Feb. 1) and the “fall” (July 1). It makes about 30 books a year. The amount of copies depends on the book. Sometimes it makes 10,000, 7,500, or 5,000 copies. Sometimes the book is made in paperback and hard cover at the same time.
Lynne works in editorial. She said the editors are the first people to work with authors. Editorial is in charge of fact checking.
“We especially do it for science books,’’ said Lynne. “Part of our job is to make sure that everything is correct.’’
The editors work closely with the design department. Whitney, who works in design, said design organizes pages and works with the illustrators. When the book is ready, the sales and marketing department makes sure the public knows about the books.
Not just one person at Charlesbridge decides to make a book. A team meeting with all of the editors and designers picks the books.
About 200 pieces a month come from authors who want Charlesbridge to read and publish their stories. They go into a “slush pile.”
“Sometimes there are stories and authors that are really, really good,’’ said Lynne.
“What REALLY happened to Humpty’’ was a typewritten story by Jeanie Franz Ransom that came into the slush pile in 2003. “Humpty” went back and forth with the author four times. It took six years to publish. Each project is different, Lynne said, but the average time for a book to be published is three years.
“Humpty” is a funny story about Humpty Dumpty, so Charlesbridge wanted drawings that fit the story. Whitney said design has its own slush pile and it has a file with pictures. She said design tries to match the story with the illustrator.
“We said, ‘Who is a funny illustrator?’ That's how we found Stephen Axelsen,” said Whitney. “We sent him the story and he said, ‘It could be like a comic book.’
Whitney said design works with the illustrator. The artist sends along a first set of drawings and then a second set, and then sends “final art,” which is scanned onto computers and sent to Singapore. Many of Charlesbridge’s books are printed in China.
Taylor said one year before the book is ready, marketing sits down and makes a plan.
“We get it to the bookstores and tell people about it,’’ Taylor said.
Book are sent out for reviews to newspapers and magazines, and authors do interviews on talk shows, like “Oprah,’” and news shows, like “The Today Show.’’
Books are sold to bookstores, schools, museum gift shops, parents, teachers, schools, and libraries. Marketing also makes posters, T-shirts, bookmarks, and catalogues.
Whitney, Taylor, and Lynne had a hard time picking a favorite Charlesbridge book. Taylor and Whitney had the same favorite new book, “Unite or Die,” which is about the Constitution.
By TIA P. and BETH P.
The third-graders of the Cunniff School went to Gore Place in Waltham on Oct. 21.
The people who run Gore Place want to move the Carriage House to its original spot. The Carriage House had been moved years ago because the city wanted to build a street.
The archeologists, who are college students, working at Gore Place have found lots of artifacts, like glass, marble, and animal bones.
When they are digging, every different level of dirt is a different color.