Nature’s Classroom. By Justin

 When we went to Nature’s Classroom it reminded me of a camp/hotel kind of place. I was really excited and nervous to go. When I got to the parking lot at school to go I started to cry a little bit. Once I got into school I was fine for about ten minutes. Then every five minutes I would cry but not in a scared way.  When we put our stuff on the bus I was fine. When we got on the bus and after thirty minutes being on the bus I started to get really bad anxiety.

 

Twenty minutes later I started to calm down. We finally arrived at Nature’s Classroom in Becket Massachusetts. We went inside and found out our room number then unpacked some of our stuff and then went to dinner. After dinner we had transition time which is when we had 20 minutes to do whatever you need to do to get ready for your next class. The first night we had little fifteen minute classes with all of the group leaders.

 

After those classes we had singalong. That’s when some of the group leaders go up on the stage and sing songs with us. I didn’t really enjoy that because some of the songs that we sang were songs that I listened to with my mom and it made me think of her. So that me really sad. But afterwords I felt better. When we got back to our cabins My friends and I went to bed.

 

Overall I had a good time and a bad time at Nature’s Classroom.

Week #7 How to live like a wolf (By Fiona)

I got out of my car, too excited to go inside the gate. I was going to the wolf sanctuary.

Wolves are my favorite animal and I have my reasons to love them so much. I feel like I am so connected with them. They are amazing animals, and what is so smart is that they travel in packs with a leader. They do this so that the pack doesn’t go off and do whatever they want. If that happened then the wolves wouldn’t survive. The alpha or the pack leader is usually male because male wolves are bigger, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t female alphas out there. Once the pack hunts the alpha always eats first, to prevent fighting over food. Wolves are loyal, brave, sensitive and fierce. They never leave their pack behind.   

There are probably more breeds than you think.. There are about 39 different breeds of wolves.

There are also different positions of a pack, They include; The alpha(The leader), Beta(The wolves in line that will eventually replace the alpha when dead) and finally the Omega( The lowest position of the pack.) So wolves are pretty much one of the coolest animals in my opinion!!!

Picture drawn by Fiona (Me)Photo on 11-20-15 at 11.27 AM

ALL WOLF BREEDS:

Dog, Labrador wolf, Honshu wolf, Arctic wolf, Dingo, Mexican wolf, Indian wolf, Manitoba wolf, Eurasian wolf, Tundra wolf, Tibetan wolf, Iberian wolf, Hokkaido wolf, Arabian wolf, Northwestern wolf, Alaskan Tundra wolf, Bernard’s wolf, Greenland wolf, Great plains wolf, Northern rocky mountain wolf, Florida black wolf, Alexander Archipelago wolf, Texas wolf, Kenai Peninsula wolf, New guinea singing dog, Steppe wolf, Yukon wolf, Hudson Bay wolf, Newfoundland wolf, Vancouver island wolf, British Columbia wolf, Cascade mountain wolf, Baffin island wolf, Mogollon mountain wolf, Mackenzie river wolf, Canis lupus dingo, Gregory wolf last but not least the Southern Rocky mountains wolf.

Here are my sources: Source 1  Source 2

 

Awesome Otters Week#7 – By Olive

I have always liked otters. When I was little I always wanted to be a one. I thought that the idea of being able to dart underwater and catch fish sounded fun! When I was at the pool I would practice holding my breath. These are some things I know about North American river otters. A North American river otter is a mammal that is a part of the mustelid or weasel family. Some of the different members of the weasel family are, BADGER, WOLVERINE, FERRET,  and more.

You can Identify otters for their stout body, short legs, tapered tail and glossy fur. Otters stout body, webbed feet, flat head, and their closable nostrils help them get around and hunt underwater easily. Their eyes, ears, and nose are on the top of their head so they can see, hear, and smell better while the rest of there body is in water. Fur color can range from light brown to black, with a lighter, grayish colored chin and throat. River otters can be found in all watersheds of New York.

 

Otters eyes are shaped in a way that helps their underwater vision be sharper in situations where the water is murky. They use their ‘motion sensitive’ whiskers that help them cue in on prey location and movement. Although fish comprise the majority of their diet, amphibians and crustaceans and other aquatic invertebrates are also taken when available. They are mainly only social with there the other otters in their family.  These are some pictures of some North American otters! One of them I drew.

Photo on 11-20-15 at 11.52 AM
Photo of a North American otter by Olive

Otters at London ZooCreative Commons License Jamie Davies via Compfight

Week #5 Activity 1

Activity #1

 One of the foods I think is very popular in the USA is Sushi. I think Sushi is great because it originated  in Japan. The reason I think Sushi is cool is because most of the foods people like in this country are from Europe and America….(In my opinion).

I LOVE to eat Sushi because I like the flavor. The flavor tastes like nothing else. Sushi is a Japanese food made from fish, vegetables and sometimes rice combined with other ingredients. Sushi can be cooked or eaten raw. People want to eat Sushi because it looks beautiful.

Here is an example of what Sushi looks like: 

#7030 sushi Nemo’s great uncle via Compfight

 

Sushi originated in the 8th century. I think it is the best looking, most beautiful food I hqve ever seen and I was inspired to try it. Ever since then, I have loved Sushi. The original type of sushi, known today as Nare-Sushi was first made in Southeast Asia. Sushi wiki.  

 

 

Blogging challenge week #5 by Justin

Activity #1 

 

I will be talking about America’s favorite foods.

                 www.notyourstandard.comCreative Commons License Kayla Seah via Compfight

The most popular foods in America

The chart below tells you what America’s favorite foods are. The chart is broken up into categories so it’s more organized. I did that so you could see it better and you could see the most popular one and the least popular one.

 

For junk food Pizza is the favorite, followed by Hamburgers, French fries, Chicken tenders and Ice cream.     

Meat Cheese Vegetables Fruits
Chicken is the best Mozzarella is the best Potatoes are the best Orange is the best
Beef is second Cheddar is second Tomatoes are second Apples are second
Pork is third Other cheeses are third Onions are third Bananas are third  
Cream and Neufchatel is fourth Head Lettuce is forth Grapes   are forth
Provolone and Swiss are tied. Sweet Corn is fifth Water      melon is fifth
Romaine and leaf lettuce are number six Strawberries are sixth    
Chile Peppers are last. Peaches and Nectarines are 7th

 

 

Edublogs Challenge Week 5 Activity 1 By Matt

Today, I watched a video about copyright. Some things I learned were …

You cannot just use a photo off the internet because there could be a copyright licenseon it, that means that you can either (when it is copyright) find the license where you have to give attribution to the creator, or the license where you can not use the photo or video! You can use creative commons to find photos or videos that you can use but you have to give attribution to it’s creator.

 

Sobia- My Town

The Hudson Valley has so many places to go and see including the Hudson Walkway  over the Hudson River, the Galleria Mall (which is a mall in Poughkeepsie,) and so many more places. One of my favorite places to go to is one of the restaurants called Red Lobster because it has great food even though I don’t eat the Lobster because there is still mac and cheese and their bread which is famous in my family. Also I love to see the lobsters that they have in the tank when you walk into the restaurant. Another place I like to go to is the Hudson Walkway because I like to ride my bike there with my family which I do sometimes. The Hudson Valley is a really nice place to go and I love living there.

 

Nature’s Classroom by Ben

Nature’s Classroom Blog Post

Nature’s Classroom was very fun. One of my favorite parts was field group. Field group was when we would split up into assigned groups and hike, look for animals, rock climb and much much more. This period was usually between breakfast and lunch and was about a hour but on special days sometimes longer. Field group was definitely the highlight of the trip for me.

I had a bunch of friends in the group so I wasn’t lonely. The first day we got to know our field group and it’s leader. Our field group leader was Rustache (his real name was Russel…I think). He was very funny and nice. He’s the kinda guy you would see on one of those hardcore survival shows. He pretty much knows every little thing you could know about nature. Anyway, the first day all we did was go hiking. As we walked he would point out interesting things like multicolored moss and pine needles that turn your spit green.

The second day we had a little more time. Most of our group wanted to go to the farm but before we went to the farm we had to partake in a variety of different challenges that took mental and physical strength. We flew through the first challenge which was to swing across a rope onto a small platform. The second challenge was a little harder. We had to get through a giant spider web (Wire put together) but when ever someone touched the string we would all lose. To make things even harder the holes would close after someone would pass through. We finally realized if someone stuck a hand through the web we could all take turns going through without it closing. We went to the farm and we had lots of fun with the animals.

The third day was the most fun. We went to the beach. Not to swim but to climb rocks and look at nature. We saw a seal that was very cute. No one was allowed to go to close to it because it would get scared. After that we walked down the shoreline finding shells of various sizes. We also found a little crevice and hid in it. As we hiked our path was blocked off by a field of rocks ranging from 4 to 10ft. We started to climb. We got lots of cool pictures of us on top of HUGE rocks.

We were done climbing within 1-2 hours. We decided to go to a miniature zoo. It was only one building but it had lots of fascinating cool creatures in it. The complex even had a touch tank were you could touch various sea creatures. That was one of my favorite days field group wise.

The next day the last was not so exiting. All we did in field group was go to Roller Coaster island which was a island with a roller coaster. We had a great time at Nature’s Classroom and I was disappointed we had to leave early.

My Sunday By Deanna

On Sunday, I got up and then got ready to go to Sunday school. We planned for our speech competition and what topic we were going to do for a topic. We ended up picking the topic. We ended up picking the topic, The Major and Minor signs of the Day of Judgment. My Sunday school teacher is a really close family friend. Her daughter is my best friend we are a year apart but I skipped a grade in Sunday school so every year we are in the same class. Then we talked about a protest that’s on Saturday and who is going and not. We had lunch/recess at twelve for lunch and we had Nachos with cheese or meat sauce. We went back to class and read a religious story. Then the women and girls went upstairs and the men and boys went downstairs to pray.

After Sunday school was over we had a green club meeting. We talked about a fund raiser for our Sunday school and another one for Japan. Our fund raiser is on family night, which is every Friday. This Friday we are making falafel sandwiches and have a bake sale as we need to raise about four hundred dollars. The other fundraiser is for the March of Dimes so we need to make enough money for the T shirts that are going to be purple with black writing.

After Sunday school and the green club meeting we went and got pizza. Then we went to Zena’s aunt’s house. After we ate the pizza Zena, her older brother Omar and I went outside and went to the laundry room and sat in the laundry carts. Omar pushed  Zena and I in the laundry until we got dizzy. I went in by myself and then Zena did. After Zena got spun around in the laundry cart she flew into a table and hurt her elbow. After that we left the laundry room and Zena’s older brother Omar jumped over a huge bush and landed it perfectly without a scratch. Then we left Zena’s aunts house and they dropped me off to my house.

After that, a few of Zena, her family and a few of my cousins came and I had to finish my science home work and then we talked and took pictures then more cousins came and we played capture the chicken. Capture the chicken is capture the flag but with a little twist, instead of a flag you use a soccer ball or a stuffed animal. We kept switching teams but it was fun. I would advise you to not play with my cousins because they are kind of rough. Whenever we play we play in the playroom and we closed the door so the parents wouldn’t hear us Someone always ends up getting hurt when we play because we play with seventeen years old to eight year old kids. When we play we are really loud.
Now it was eleven o’clock and everyone was still here so we ate dessert. Zena’s mom came in the room and told us that we were supposed to eat two hours ago. So we had to hurry up and eat so they could leave.

When they left it was about twelve o’clock and we had to clean up. A few of my first cousins stayed a little longer and helped me clean up. After we finished cleaning we talked about how we somehow got hurt but it was a great day.

A trip to the Hospital by Charlie

While the rest of the kids in middle school were at Nature’s Classroom, I was in the hospital waiting for news of my grandma who had fainted at a funeral. Let me start at the beginning….It was 8:00 P.M. on a Sunday when the phone rang with alarming news. My grandmother had just fainted while at a funeral! My mom (Meme) quickly gathered my sister and I in the car with my other mom and we drove off to the Kingston Hospital. I was really nervous and SCARED! I didn’t know if my grandmother was even conscious. We finally arrived at the Kingston Hospital and my mom told my other mom to drop her off while my other mom parked the car. We parked close to the building and ran into the hospital.

Inside the hospital I spotted my cousin Kayla, her boy friend Jeremy, my aunt Betty and her husband Roy. My mom had gone inside the emergency room, so I didn’t expect to see her. My sister was about ready to pass out as well because it was around 8:40; the time when she is usually in bed. I saw my cousin Kayla cry and I felt like crying as well. Then I heard good news. My grandmother was conscious.

I really wanted to go see her, but I couldn’t because there was a limit of only one person in the emergency room at a time. My mom and my aunt Mary were in the emergency room, so it was over the limit. My mom came out of the emergency room with my aunt and told me that my grandmother was OK, but it looked like she might have to stay there another night; little did we know that it was going to more than that.

I really wanted to see my grandma so I convinced my mom and sister to come with me. When I saw my grandmother she looked really tired and stressed because she had come from a peaceful funeral and the next thing she knew she was in a hospital bed. She greeted my sister and I and said she would be OK. It was around 11:00 now and it was way past my sisters bedtime. My aunts and moms suggested that my grandma get some rest. But it was hard for her. I think that our chattering kept her awake.

My cousin Kayla and her boy friend stopped by a few times to check in on things. Then a nurse came in and confirmed that my grandma would indeed have to stay for another night…maybe even two! Afterword – Meme and I would have to stop by the hospital for two more days till my grandma was free to go home.