DroughtTour Game

My name is Zander. At my school, we made game boards. We had fun making them. The game is called "DroughtTour." The goal is to get a matching set of location, crisis and cause cards. Whoever gets a matching set wins.

If you land on a Stop Sign, you lose a turn. If you land on a space that says "trade out", you pick an opponent and you and your opponent both roll the dice. Whoever gets a higher number gets to take the opponent's card. 

We started with a cardboard pizza box. We drew an outline of California. We used paper mache to make the mountains. Then we painted it. We put our track down using paper. 

I thought it was impossible to make your own game. I learned that anything is possible if you put your mind to it.

Social Studies: Current Events

There were two big things that happened in the news last week. One was an incident and one was an accident.

An accident is something bad that happens but it's nobodies fault.

The accident last week was in Berkeley. People had a party on a balcony, but it broke. The balcony came apart and the people fell down to the ground and died. Six people died. 

Synonyms for incident are event or occurrence. 

The incident last week was that a white man in South Carolina shot and killed nine black people in a church. Our friend sold cupcakes to help support the church after the incident. 

The incident and the accident have something in common. In both, people died. I feel bad that people died in both places.

Boy Pumpkins and Girl Pumpkins

This is a male pumpkin flower. You can tell because it just has a long thin stem straight to the flower.

This is a female pumpkin flower. You can tell because it has a baby pumpkin at the base of the flower. The baby pumpkin is attached to a thick stem. Hopefully this baby pumpkin will grow in to a big, orange pumpkin.

Female pumpkin flowers have to be fertilized with the pollen of male pumpkin flowers. Sometimes bees take the pollen from the male to the female. Sometimes my mom does it. She brushes the pollen from the boy flower on to the girl flower.

This is our biggest pumpkin so far. It is around the same size as a lemon. To grow bigger pumpkins need water and sunlight. Right now it is really cold in El Cerrito and windy. I hope the sun comes out so the plants can grow. My mom also gives pumpkins fertilizer from a bag. It is kind of like vitamins for pumpkins.

Growing potatoes in a bag

These are pieces of potatoes from a grocery store. When we bought them they did not look like this. They looked like potatoes without the eyes sticking out. Eyes are the things that are sticking out and they grow when the potatoes have been sitting around awhile.

When you potatoes with eyes growing out in soil, you can grow new potatoes. We put these potatoes in soil. We put them in a bag my mom bought from the Dollar Store.

We covered the potatoes with a little more soil. We also watered.

The potatoes will start to sprout leaves. I know this because we have another potato plant growing in a bag in the backyard. When you put more soil in the bag, and give it water and sun, it will continue to grow. The potatoes grow inside the dirt. Potatoes are root vegetables.

I like growing because we can mashed potatoes or french fries or just eat carrots and potatoes.

What I'm Learning on Brainpop about Health

I like to watch Brainpop. It is a website with movies and games and quizzes. 

On Brainpop Health, I have learned about broken bones, First Aid, antibiotics, Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), addiction, smoking, alcohol, caffeine and pasteurization.

Here is a little bit about what I've learned:

First up, broken bones:

Broken bones are when people get injured. It is called a fracture. There are a few different types of fractures. A stress fracture is caused by too much physical activity over a long period of time. An incomplete fracture is when the bone breaks but doesn't break all the way through. A complete fracture is when the bone breaks all the way through. A closed fracture is when the bone breaks but doesn't break the skin. An open fracture is when the bone breaks through the skin. Sometimes there can be an infection near the broken bone, so the body will try to heal the infection first and then attempt to heal the broken bone. Kids are less likely for them to break a bone because their bones are more flexible than adults. 

Older people, especially women, have pretty sbrittle bones. Women can get a disease called osteoporosis. To prevent osteoporosis, women should have plenty of calcium and vitamin D.

Next up, First Aid: 

First Aid helps someone when they get hurt. The reason why they call it First Aid is because it is the aid you need before you see the hospital. Something that you might need is a little First Aid box. You should have one at your house but it is a good idea to also bring one if you are going camping or hiking.  Sometimes your school should have plenty of them and if you play sports your coach probably has one too.

Inside a First Aid kit there are bandages, rubber gloves, disinfectant, gauze, a cold pack, and some antiseptic ointment and burn cream. 

You should never panic. That would just make the situation worse. You should always stay calm.


Next up, smoking.

Smoking is using something called a cigarette. A cigarette is made by a plant called tobacco. Smoking is very bad for you. If you smoke you get addicted to it. The addiction is caused by something called nicotine. One of the ways to never get addicted to smoking is to never start it in the first place.

Eggscellent Science Experiment

My question: What kind of water will make an egg will float and which will make it sink?

My equipment: salt, spoon, 2 eggs, and 2 big glasses filled with water.

My Method: 

1. Fill both of the glasses with water. 

2. Then fill a tablespoon with salt and pour the salt in to the water. Repeat this five more times. Only fill one glass with the six tablespoons of salt.

3. Drop an egg into the plain water.

4. Stir the salt water really well.

5. Drop the other egg into the salt water.

My predictions: I think the plain will make the egg float and the salt water will make the egg drop.

Results: The salt water caused the egg to float and the egg sank in the plain water.

Why?: The egg floats in the salt water because the salt water is denser than the egg. The plain water is less dense than the egg so the egg sinks to the bottom of the glass.

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Danny and the Champion of the World Vocabulary

Insolent:

Rude and Disrespectful

Strode:

Walked Away

 Postage:

Stamps

Groggy:

Tired or Sleepy

 Rigid:

Very Hard or Firm

 Petrified:

Extremely Scared