Savita's Post

Honey Bees! Where are You?

By: Savita

Go outside and enjoy the air. There is something missing! B--U--Z--Z! Thatʼs right, where are all the honey bees?? Are they in town? Lately I have not been seeing honey bees in my backyard. Many beekeepers are seeing that their bee hives are empty and many dead bees. That causes a lot of worry for important crops growth. All across the United States, honeybees are flying away from their hives and dying. Oh! That is not good news. We learned in our Environments unit, this year, that bees have a big role in helping to produce fruits and nuts that we enjoy. They are like “mini farmers.” They do not just create honey for us to eat, they are pollinators. They pollinate food from one flower to another. California’s almond crop alone depends on the bees for pollination. Many scientists believe that the bees got exposed to a diseases or poison. It is very hard to know exactly what happened. Since the bees have died far away while visiting flowers, it’s hard for scientists to go examine their dead bodies which are not near the hive. “It isn’t like studying a large animal like a cow that doesn’t move around much and is easy to find out in the cow field,” says Dr. Jeff Pettis a researcher on bees. Researchers have some ideas about what could be affecting bee health: 1) Sick from poisons widely used to kill insects 2) They might not be getting enough good food to stay strong 3) A virus bacteria can kill the bees. Do you think humans are playing a role in trying to kill the bees? Have you noticed there are fewer bees now?

Julie's Post

Animal Protectionby:Julie

Animal activists in China say a now-famous magic trick with goldfish swimming in sync for the Lunar New Year, may have involved abuse including magnets placed inside of the goldfish, and are asking the state broadcaster not to show it again.
Hundreds of millions of people watched the magic trick during a China Central Television on the Jan. 30 eve of the Lunar New Year festival. This TV show is China's most popular broadcast of  that time of the year. I think that they should not put magnets inside of goldfish. Animals shouldn’t be treated this way. For example, in circuses, animals are trained cruely. So far, the animal activists are not sure if they really put magnets. If they did, do you think they should? Why or why not? What type of magnets did they put ( shredded or whole?) and how?

Kelly's Post

Music
By Kelly

Music is enjoyed by many people, all over the world. Whether it’s rap music, Beethoven, elevator music, or a commercial for a new toy, there are some things all music has in common. It has speed, loudness, and a tune. Most music also includes notes and patterns. Some music you might hear today is by artists (the person who wrote the song) such as Bruno Mars, Ke$ha, Katy Perry, Justin Bieber, Taio Cruz, Mike Posner, Flo Rida, Lincoln Park, P!nk, Lady Gaga, B.O.B., Rhianna, and Taylor Swift. Artists you might have heard when your parents were kids are U2, the Beetles, the Police, Michael Jackson, and the Who. Some music can make you feel different emotions like happiness, sadness, joy, or even anger. If you have never played an instrument, you might want to know what all those crazy lines and symbols mean in sheet music. The symbols mostly represent notes; a stick with a colored in circle in called a quarter note, if the quarter note has a flag on the end of the stick, it is an eighth note (two or more eighth notes can be connected with a line on top), a not colored in circle and a stick is a half note, and a circle stands for a whole note. The different  types of notes are for how long you hold them. Notes can also be placed on different lines or spaces to show which note to play. Do you play an instrument? If not what instrument would you like to play? What music do you like to listen to?

Andy's Post

Disaster in Japan
 by : Andy

On March 11, 2011(Japan Time), a massive 9.0 earthquake struck Japan. In just minutes, giant waves slammed in to Japan’s coast at 500 miles per hour, the speed of a jumbo jet. The tsunami destructed everything in its path. It ripped houses off their foundation, turned roads into rivers, and tossed cars and boats as if they were toys. The death toll is more than 9,000 people and there are more than 13,000 people missing.
The tsunami was so strong that it came all the way to the coast of California by the morning of March 11(Pacific Time). Luckily, it was only a small wave by then but it still damaged boats that were docked.
    The tsunami damaged the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant. In normal operation, a large amount of boiling uranium is used to generate power. The power plant uses electricity to pump water in to the plant to cool the uranium down.
    When the tsunami hit Japan, it cut out the power for the power plant. Therefore, the cooling system was not able to operate causing the uranium to overheat. If everybody left the reactor alone, the uranium would get so hot that it would melt through its container! This is what scientists call a meltdown.
     In history, there were only two nuclear meltdowns, once at Three Mile Island Power Plant (only a minor meltdown), and again at Chernobyl Power Plant ( the worst nuclear disaster ever).
    Since the reactors are getting so hot, there have been a few explosions. Fire fighters are desperately trying to prevent a meltdown by spraying large amounts of water from their fire trucks and flying water spraying helicopters around the site. There has already been  some traces of radiation from the Japanese nuclear power plant found in California! Nobody knows for sure what will happen next to the Fukushima power plant.
President Obama wants to build more nuclear power plants in the United States to get green energy. Do you agree with President Obama or not?  What do you think about this disaster in Japan?

Angeline's Post

Devastation in Japan
by:Angeline

Have you heard of the gigantic earthquake, followed by a devastating tsunami in Japan?
Well, it started with the 8.9 earthquake about 75 miles off Japan's coast. It didn't do much damamge to the buildings because Japan's builders are "professionals" in building. They have to be because there are many big earthquakes in Japan. If the stuctures are not well built, they would have to rebuild the same buildings over and over again. So when the earthquake hit, the people were not worried. But, then the tsunami hit. That gigantic wave caught the Japanese off guard. It destroyed many homes and killed many people. Then the tsunami traveled halfway around the world, slowly dispersing itself into the ocean. It then reached Hawaii at low tide, with a wave of 3 feet. After, it reached California's coast at low tide, with a wave of 2 feet. I feel relieved and happy that we didn't get hit by a big wave. But, I feel very sorry for the many people who were killed. I hope the rescuers found the surviving people and helped them
I want to help these people by donating money to help rebuild some homes. What would you do to help?

Naren's Post

SPECIAL TALENTS

By Naren Ramesh

Everyone has special talents. It is what makes everyone different. 1 out of 10 people don’t know what their special talent is. Eventually, they figure it out but in case you aren’t sure, find out what game you are really good at. If you are really good at throwing games then your special talent is throwing. If you aren’t good at any game then think what you want to be when you grow up. If you want to be a computer engineer then you might be good at calculating math problems. If you aren’t sure then find out what your favorite subject is. That is it. Surely I have narrowed the odds. So what is my special talent? Talking and math problems. You have might have noticed I talk a lot and at math I am really good at calculating math facts. So, what is your special talent? Do you think you are a super human which is a person with really rare and amazing abilities? Why or why not?

Danhee's Post

Iditarod Race

By: Danhee

    Did you know that on March 4th the Iditarod Race in Alaska started? Thousands of Alaskans gathered at Willow Lake, Anchorage to root on 62 mushers, a person who competes in races with dogs and a sled, and 12-16 dogs per team. The Iditarod Race begins at Anchorage to Nome in Alaska. That’s over 1,150 miles! On average, a team can finish the whole Iditarod Race in 11-16 days. The all time record that Rick Swenson has made for the Iditarod Race is 8 days, 22 hours, and 46 minutes! That was set in 2002. It is still, for nine years, lay unbeaten. Since most dogs can’t stand the freezing temperatures in Alaska, Huskies are the dogs that mushers use to race. Huskies have thick fur so they can survive in very cold weather. Would you like to race in an Iditarod Race? Why or why not? Please explain!

This is Rick Swenson setting the all time record.





This is the map of the Iditarod Race. Please see the key for further descriptions.

Jessie's Post

The HP Pavilion

                                                     By: Jessie
      
             Last Wednesday I went to the HP Pavilion with my dad. We won free tickets for the tennis match. The HP Pavilion is located in downtown San Jose. We got front row seats. The first game was Fernando Verdasco  VS Rajeev Ram. There serves were very fast. One time Fernando Verdasco hit the ball so hard that it went 159 miles per hour. Last year Fernando Verdasco won the trophy. Fernando Verdasco is the top ninth for the world rating.



      Fernando Verdasco won the game against Rajeev Ram. The next game was Monfils Gael VS Bradley Klahn. I got so tired because during the game where Monflis Gael and Bradley Klahn played. It was 10 pm , I had to go back home. Monflis Gael was winning and later he won. Would you like to go? Why or why not?  

Morgan's Post

Valentine’s Day!
By Morgan Kam

      Every year, on February 14th in the U.S., we celebrate Valentine’s Day. Legend has it that a man named Valentine was an imprisoned man who fell in love with his jailor's daughter. Before he was put to death, he sent the first valentine himself when he wrote her a letter and signed it “Your Valentine”, the words still used on cards today.

      Another interesting person you would like to know about is Cupid; he is the symbol of Valentine’s Day. In Latin, his name means “desire.”  He would go around wounding humans and gods with his love arrow, and making them fall in love. In Roman mythology Cupid is the son of Venus, goddess of love.

      People celebrate Valentine’s Day by buying other people chocolates, candy, cards, and roses. I celebrate it by visiting family and friends. How do you celebrate Valentine’s Day?

Audrey's Post

Types of Art

By: Audrey

              Art has symbols, take the tree for example: the tree means life or nature. Art is creative, and you must be able to have a detailed eye while looking at things, you will imagine a lot too. There are many different types of art. The picture above is called a Landscape drawing either an imaginative place or a real setting.  You should be describing the place by using colors,and shading.

 

I have one favorite, the Abstract drawing. You do it when you draw almost scribbles or nothing that is real at all. An object with strange features, Abstract. Here is a very good example of an abstract drawing. You see, art can be anything, from a scribble to sculptures. And if you stare at Abstract picture you will notice hidden pictures or things.

Another type type of drawing is Sketching  it is the most popular, you might do it. Here is an example. Sketching is when you slowly made lines and make the out lining of a picture, you will need an eraser at the end to make the corrections. You know the cartoons like, Pokemon, Cinderella,and Snow white . Well, those are all Sketches, colored in. A lot of pictures beings shown really fast making it look like a show.

The last type of drawing is a Portrait. It should be familiar to you it is a picture of something from the waist level up. For our school pictures, those are portraits. Portraits can not be only a person actually, it can be a flower, cat,  anything living.

Have confidence in your art, don’t compare your drawing to another. Just do your best, and your drawing it would be wonderful! Do you enjoy drawing why or why not? If you do, what type of drawing?