6th - Emma's Blog

Last week we worked on our murder mystery with Shane. We took red thread from some of the suspects and burned them seeing if one of them looked like the thread found at the murder scene. I experienced that you have to take time and effort if your doing something like this because you could screw up by going to fast or touching something like when we were burning the fire and you moved the fire something could have burned that wasn’t supposed to be burned. So far this had been one of the best things in science i have done while going to this school.

I learned that you have to take your time with doing things like we did this past week. Yes I actually did learn some things I cold use in everyday life. I participated in my opinion very well because I was taking thinks really seriously not to screw up. I would’ve used more strings so we could see even more different features that we could learn about. What could of other people done differently? Could we of been more specific with the experiments? Why did Shane choose to do this murder?

This past week we have been working on our our biome project with Shane. In doing this project I learned that getting so into something can get you distracted  and not work on the other piece of the project. I also learned about a plant called a Monkeys Brush that I would have never known if we didn’t do this biome project. My partner in this Avery and I think we work good together. I have chosen to do the Boa Constrictor which is a very interesting animal to learn about. And for my plant I have chosen the Monkeys Brush it is a beautiful plant to learn about. This project has been very exciting to work with because I love learning about different places in the world that no one may know about, but I would think people would know the Amazon Rain.

 

I learned many different things doing this, I have never done a Wix website so it was a different experience for me because at my old school we never did any of this stuff that we do here. This will now help me so I will know how to do things in the future and know things that other people may not know about the animal and plant I did. Avery and I were excited on when we got the idea of using hot glue for our waterfall so that excited me. I think I participated well in the diorama but need to work more on my Wix site. Work harder then get stuck in one thing and forget about the other.

 

3 Questions:

Should I have done better?

Did I choose a good plant and animal?

What would happen if people cut down the trees in the Amazon Rain Forest, would it be a bad thing or help?

 

This past week my class and I learned that during the worst time of malaria they had to parachute cats into Borneo, isn’t that insane? They had to do that because after all the old cats died from killing geckos that had horrible diseases. All the rats flourished and the people of Borneo were threatened and scared because of two new diseases that rats carried. So finally the UK decided to parachute living cats into Borneo so they could kill the flourishing rats and the people of Borneo wouldn’t feel threatened any more. After the UK did this the rat population started to lower and the people didn’t feel so scared.

Even though the parachuting cats into Borneo killed all the rats, it messed with the food chain. It also screwed up Mother Nature. I got to learn why and how they parachuted cats into Borneo. So they would kill all the rats because of the diseases. I did participate during this. I would have limited the cats they were sending in so they wouldn’t mess everything up.  What were the diseases the rats carried. What would have happened if there were no rats left there. How did it affect all the native animals to Borneo, and what would the people do if this happened.

 

Dear, Mrs Cuttatree

I am a Barn Owl, my scientific name is Tyto Alba. I live in deserts, grasslands, forests, fields, and urban areas. I am broad with pointed wings, large head, and heart shaped face. I am a pale tawny color with white under my wings and on my belly, I also have fairly long legs. I am 40.64 centimetres long, my wingspan is 106 centimetres, and I weigh 460 grams. I usually lay 1 to 13 eggs, depending on how the food supply is that year.  

I am a night hunting bird and I dont have large eyes, I rely more on sound than sight. In fact, I have the most acute hearing of owls. I use my heart shape ruff and my movable ear flaps to direct and amplify sound, allowing me to focus on the sounds made by my prey. I also have forward facing eyes and binocular vision. Because of that I need to bob my head up and down side to side in order to see. 

I am an experienced hunter, so I do not typically have to migrate south. Unlike young owls, who are inexperienced, who may need to fly south in order to find prey and nesting areas. As long as I have good hunting grounds I can stay in my home territory. 

I live in many places such as… open and partly open habitats, grassland, farmland, in or near towns. I nest in tree cavities, and structures built by humans, like barns, abandoned buildings, and duck nest boxes. My typical diet contains mostly mammals, like mice and small rabbits.

I am on top of the food chain, although I can be harassed by crows. Mrs.Cuttatree if you cut trees down then I will have nowhere to perch to listen/look for prey. If I can’t perch to hunt then my prey population will sky rocket. And we all know what people think of too many mice. Barn Owls are incredibly interesting because they have asymmetrical ears and they live all over the world, but my numbers are in decline due to habitat loss. This is why I think you shouldn’t cut the trees, also you are not just destroying my habitat but other animals’ habitats too.

 

Sincerely, Mr. Barn Owl

The Field Guide to Natural History of North American Birds. ( pg. 288-289) Paul Ehrlich, David Dobkin, Darryl Wheye

THE SIBLEY Guide to Birds (pg. 272)

THE SIBLEY GUIDE To Bird Life and Behavior (pg. 336-338)