Showing posts with label Week 11. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Week 11. Show all posts

Thursday, March 27, 2008

The Revenge of Typhon Chapter 1, English/Language Arts Weeks 9 - 20

The Revenge
Of
Typhon


~ Demigods and Titans: Book # 1~






By E. G. Lenac






I am Attacked by Killer Fish-Kids


My name is Evan Matt Lenac, and I have a brother named Caeden. He’s two, I’m 9 ½. My cousin/half-brother, Jack, is 12. My dad married my Mom and my Aunt, so they both had kids with the same dad. My Mom has a new husband, John. While he was my dad (and he still is) instead of my other dad whom-I-don’t-know, mom had Caeden.

I must’ve been coughing in my sleep, because when I got out of bed and climbed down the stairs, Mom said, “Hey Ev, could you go back to your room for a sec? I heard you coughing.”

I apparently fell asleep again, because I woke up to a loud knocking on the door “Evan!” my Mom said, “Come out!” I got up, finally noticing my stomach, and bounded down the stairs.
“Seriously Evan!” Jack (who lives with me) exclaimed, “You’re acting like its Christmas!” “Oooooooh, sorry,” I said sarcastically, “I didn’t know it was a rule to not be hungry. Anyway, it’s almost Christmas.”
Mom said “Now boys… let’s all eat, I have dinner ready,” she looked at our surprised faces and said with a small laugh, “I mean…breakfast.”

We were halfway through our meal of cereal when Caeden started crying. “I’ll get him,” said my Aunt, Alison. Though John (“Dad”) was the one to get him.
Later, after we finished breakfast, I got up to do homeschooling on the loft computer with Jack. “Evan,” Mom interrupted, “I enrolled you in a new school, a public one. Allison did the same with Jack,” my Mom said, “I promise you; it’ll be a lot of fun!” She also said, “You’ll be going there tomorrow; so you can do your homeschooling for today.” I shrugged.

I struggled through Math (Jeez, long division is hard!), ate lunch (Boiled eggs, mmm…), breezed through Science (I learned about erosion in second grade!), and aced Social Studies (Ancient Greeks).
I ate dinner, then went upstairs, crawled into the bottom bunk, and passed out.

I woke up the next day when Jack cannonballed out of the top bunk, onto me.
The clock read 7:01. Can’t be late for school.
Caeden screamed something like “EWVAN! CO BACK!” as Allison took Jack and I out the door for school. I didn’t have time for breakfast.

First, I don’t like buses. I’ve only been on one once before. Yeah, the no-safety-belt part is cool, but it makes me get this feeling in my gut like I’m falling at light-speed off the Chicago Sears Tower.
Second, I don’t like to be in public all the time.

School was the best of both words, so I decided to walk there. Using street corners and smelly alleys, I got there faster than you can say “Windows XP Professional.”

Once we got to Hartnet Middle School, Jack went wacko. His eyes bugged, and you could almost say there was something cartoony about him. Were there little moons and stars flying above his head? Did his eyes glow in the dark? I saw that he was staring at the building.
That was the tackiest paint job I’d seen in my life. Bright orange, acid green and flaming, neon blue. I knew it was a crazy paint job, but not that crazy. IF you are scared of colors, it would make you act like that, but I couldn’t figure it out (especially since Jack just unfroze and stared at me back).
“What the-.” He said, looking past my shoulder, but it was too late. “STAMPEDE!” I screamed, as a parade of kids got off the bus.
“-heck,” Jack finished. “That was close,” I said. The bell rang. “We’d better go in,” I suggested.
If the outside was bad, the inside was worse. There were rows of prison cell-like lockers, a Dr.-Frankenstein’s-lab type Principal’s office, and a Dentition Center that looked like Dracula’s Castle.

Once we got to Math, there were about thirty-five guys, and twenty-five girls.
Everybody stared at us when we sat down.
I leaned over and muttered in Jack’s ear, “Welcome to Jurassic Park.” Jack snorted.

Later, after Math and Science and English and History, we went to the gym.
On my way, I heard a voice. “Elate edaw…” I was in the doorway of the gym before I realized I had understood it perfectly: “Come here.” Somebody wanted me, and I was gonna figure out who. “Elate edaw,” “Elate edaw,” the voice chanted. I ran into the gym and almost crashed into the opposing team of basketball players. “Ave,” the biggest teammate said. The others smiled and bowed creepily. I stared at them. They looked like thirteen year-olds that had been mutated with Dr. Frankenstein DNA. Once again, I had a delay in understanding them. They had said, “Hello.”
Creepy. Now they were probably going to start giving me wedgies.


Everybody was in the gym.
“Okay, basketball time.” The coach had a metal ball cage full of basketballs, and emptied it into an enclosed area, like a ball pit. “Your goal is to lift all of the basketballs out, and at least try to get one in the hoop,” the coach said, “In one minute.”

Then something happened. The other team grew considerably larger, five foot ten, six foot three… but it didn’t stop there. They kept growing until they were seven foot two. The coach said, “C’mon, thirty seconds! Jeez you haven’t moved at all!” like he didn’t see anything wrong.
Then the strangest thing of all happened. Like a humanoid lake monster in a Sci Fi movie, they sprouted shark tails and dorsal fins.

Now let me tell you something. What is worse than a five foot ten teenager with bloodshot eyes and the air of someone who wants to give you a wedgie, is a seven foot two teenager with bloodshot eyes, shark fins, very sharp teeth, and the air of someone who wants to give you a wedgie.

I did the only logical thing. I screamed, “AAAAAAAH! HEEELP!”

They started stalking forward, shark tails thrashing. I started to become woozy. I didn’t have a weapon, will, or conscience.

***


“Oh, you’re awake at last!” I heard someone say, as I regained conscience. “I wonder how long he’s been awake.” Someone was hurrying into the room. “Wh- where am I?” I croaked. “You’re just in the school doctor,” she said.
Without warning, she put a needle in my arm that worked as a tranquilizer. My head hit the pillow, hard.
I woke up in my bed. I looked at the clock. Midnight. I looked out my window. I felt a strange urge to get out there and find a safe place. That sounded nice. I decided to pack. I scribbled a list down on a piece of paper: Food, Water, assorted blankets, precious things, and a box of cookies. That sounded nice. I thought, hesitated, and scribbled pen, paper, and envelope.
There. Now the trouble was getting it, getting out, and getting past Jack. Jack followed me secretly downstairs though. Once everything was in the pack, I flung myself outside.
It was cold. It was windy. It was… Jack!
“What’re you doing here?”
“Following you!”
“Fine, come with me to… wherever we’re going.”
“You don’t know?”
“I’m working on it!”
We continued in our negative conversation for the next block, until Jack said, “Fine. Just stop snapping.”
I suddenly cut across an alley. There. That red building. That place seemed safe. “D’you wanna go there?” I asked Jack. I figured he’d take it rhetorically, but he said, “Sure.”
We walked over. And…
“It’s deserted,” Jack said.
I muttered ‘great’ and moved on.
“Y’know what? This was a crazy idea anyway,” Jack said. I agreed.

"Evan… Evan!" Someone was shaking me.
“Wh-what?” I asked dumbly.
I was in the gym room, surrounded by teenagers that were out cold, and a very surprised coach.
The venture had been a dream.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Science Week 11

Environmental Science 5
Lesson 11
THE TUNDRA BIOME

It is very cold in the tundra. In fact, some of the ground stays frozen year round. The frozen ground is called permafrost. In the summer, the ground melts only one meter down. It makes lots of mud. Under the mud, the ground is still frozen.

1. What kinds of animals are there in the tundra? Name and describe at least five. Draw at least one.
Caribou: A large moose-like creature that migrates in hge herds every winter. Also known as reindeer

Alaskan Wolf: A white wolf that hunts in packs. It is sometimes used as a sled dog.

Northern Right Whale: A critically endangered creature. Its massive lower jaw supports thousands of baleen plates.

Giant Squid: The largest moullusk in the world. Giant Squids can be found 6,000 feet below the surface, and are mercilessly attacked by toothed Sperm Whales. Squids never win.

Ring Seal: A seal that is favored by the Orca, and has silver rings over a black coat.

King Penguin: A penguin

Polar Bear: An arctic version of the grizzly, with a white coat and a taste for fish and seals.





2. What kinds of plants live in the tundra? Name and describe at least five. Draw at least one.
I can’t think of five!!!
Here’s one though!
Reindeer Lichen: A extremely hardy combination of a moss, fungi, and moneria.




3. Visit your special observation area at least once this week and record your experiences in your journal. What biome do you live in? Have you figured it out yet?
I live in a Mediterranean Scrub sub-biome.


THE OCEAN BIOME
NOTE: You will need to call or write to the following companies today to order their catalogs in time for the assignment in Lesson 24:
Seventh Generation: 1 Mill Street Box A26 Burlington, VT 05401 (800) 456-1177
Real Goods: 360 Interlocken Blvd, Ste 300 Broomfield, CO 80021




1. Go to the library and borrow books about the ocean, or do research online. What is the main plant living in the ocean? Are there different varieties of this plant, or are they all the same? List and describe at least five animals that live in the ocean. Draw a picture of one or more of them.
Kelp is everywhere in the oceans. However, algae and zooplankton are more common. There are thousands of varieties of them. Common Hourglass Dolphins, Spiny Dogfishes, Fish Lice, Cadborosaurus the Sea Monster (It’s real!), and Pygmy Sperm Whales all live in the ocean.

2. What food do we get from this biome?
“I” don’t get any food from the ocean. All the nasty, carnivorous people out there do. All the nasty, carnivorous people out there get tuna, calamari (blech!), sushi, crabs (fainting), and lobsters (dead with disgust) from it.
On a less-disgusting note, kelp is an ingredient in Ice Cream.

3. What would have to happen to the water in this biome in order for us to be able to drink it? I can drink it just fine, but I guess other people don’t like to. It would have to evaporate to get the salt out, rain down, and be filtered by pollutants.


4. Is there any land in your community that is protected by The Nature Conservancy or other private conservation groups? If so, describe the land and what kind of protection it receives. If not, then learn about an area near you where a private conservation group is active. No, unfortunately.


TEST

1. What does it mean when an animal becomes extinct?
The species is gone forever. It also means that a "little" thing called the food web is disrupted...

2. What are the two types of habitat that a yellow spotted salamander must have? Temparate OR Boreal Forest, and Vernal Pool


3. What is wildlife conservation?
Wildlife conservation is protecting animals that are on, about to run over the edge of, or close to, the brink of extinction.

4. What do scientists think is the best way to protect wildlife?
By making big protected areas. This does not stop some hunters, though...

5. What is meant by a "species?"
A species is a unique kind of animal. Sometimes there are two or more varieties of the same animal. These species are grouped into genera.

6. What is a predator?
Something that eats other animals. ('Tis first-grade stuff!)

7. What is meant by prey?
Something that is eaten by another animal. (AUGH!)

8. What is a scavenger?
Do I have to answer this!? A scavenger feeds on carcasses.

9. What was the insect brought in to the United States to control the cotton-cushion so farmers would not need to use pesticides?
Ladybug.

10. What is a biome?
A special kind of environment with specific terrain, plants, et cetera.

11. What are the six biomes studied in these lessons?
Ocean, Grassland, Boreal forest, Temperate forest, TRF (Tropical RainForest), and Tundra. (There are more, though: Alpine, Savannah, Scrub, Taiga, and Pelagic (Open Ocean), Costal, Benthic (Deep Sea), and Reef.)

12. Which biome is the one that has been almost entirely converted into farmland?
Grassland.

13. Which is the largest biome in the world?
The oceans cover 3/4 of our “blue planet’s” surface.