Otter's Explorer Project

To complete Otter's lessons on the Explorers, he had to put together a "book" of 6 different accomplishments of famous explorers. Attached is his PowerPoint presentation. I showed him simply how to use PowerPoint and how to find some pictures for the explorers; the rest of the work is from him. He also drew maps from all of the Explorers' travels, but we could not get the scanner to work - hopefully at some other time I can post these on!

So, I needed to do a webpage because Blogger cannot do Powerpoints, but you can go to the webpage and click the link and this will open up the PowerPoint that Otter

http://tmpelletier3.googlepages.com/home

Enjoy!!!

...coming soon...

Otter is still working on his Explorers stuff and probably won't do a post until some time next week:) Stay tuned! This one is going to be AWESOME!

Thee Mighty Saga of Explorer Learning

We learned about explorers, landforms, and division this week.

This week we learned about Greeks and Vikings explorers.

Greeks:
There was once a blind poet named Homer. He was a Greek and also was the author of Odyssey. The Odyssey is just about this guy named Odysseus that wanted to go home. He had to battle a giant cyclops, pass swirling whirlpool and Battle a humongous army. Odysseus explored the islands and sent out troops to explore the new territory they found. Odysseus is a character from the book that Homer wrote. Some of the islands Homer mentioned in it were real and he mentions some of the maps in it to show how big the Greeks though the world was. Homer never wrote down the story, it was passed down through generations and then eventually was written into a book. The Greek king named Alexander the Great wanted to explore lands while he led his troops to battle so he brought geographers and recorders so he could record the land and see the different animals that lived there.

Vikings:

We also learned about Vikings. There is this one Viking that I thought was pretty cool named Erik the red. He first lived in Iceland with his mother, father, and two sisters. His dad had been banished from Iceland for murdering a man. Erik grew up and killed two men. He also had to be banished from Iceland. He grew up and had a son. He named his son Leif Erikson. Did you know that Christopher Columbus wasn’t the first one to discover America? Leif Erikson did. And to learn about what Vikings ate were going to make Viking bread. You can too at food network .com. I also read the kids' version to Beowulf. It was about this hero named Beowulf who fought ogres, Serpents and a giant monster named Grendel [In mine he didn’t have to fight his mom]. Beowulf was written during the time of the Vikings and he was kind of like a Viking in the books.

We also learned about the world map. Mommy told me about the places I just talked about were. We also learned about the Map. We learned about longitude, latitude, the Prime Meridian, and the equator. I am exhausted from all the writing so only a little more info. I also learned division. So if you have a question from division just shoot me an e-mail. I also [and this is the last time] learned about different land forms. They are named: strait, Gulf, Lake, bay island, river, isthmus peninsula, archipelago, and that’s all by!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Space Exploration

This week we learned about the universe. This is a information blog of which planets are which. The planet that is closest to the sun is Mercury. It is named Mercury because Mercury was the messenger of the gods and was very fast. Mercury the planet is also very fast. It takes Mercury eighty days to orbit the sun. That is the shortest year in the solar system. The next planet is Venus. Venus is the same size as Earth. Venus used to have water but too much carbon dioxide got in the air, held onto heat, and made all the water evaporate. Earth is the planet we live on and in my last blog I told you so I don’t have to tell you anything about it. Mars. Mars is the god of war. The Romans named it because it has that bloody look. Mars is like the moon. It, long ago, got scar by asteroids and meteorites. The next planet is Jupiter. Jupiter is one of the gas giants. The red spot on it is a humongous hurricane that has been raging for hundreds of years. Jupiter is bigger than all of the planets combined. The next planet is Saturn. Saturn is also one of the gas giants. The ring around it looks solid but it is not. It is really a bunch of gas. The next planet is Uranus. Uranus is the god of the sky's. It is also a gas giant. It has many moons. The next planet is Neptune. Neptune and Uranus are sister planets. And Pluto isn't a planet any more. So there you have it, the secrets to the solar [means sun] system.

Explosion of knowledge

Explosion of knowledge

This week was awesome!

We learned about the inside of the earth this time and not the outside! We learned about how volcanoes formed and went to the geology museum. I brought stuff like my binoculars, a note book, a pencil, some snacks, and some guidebooks to dinosaurs and crystals. But, before I tell you this story I have to tell you this story... this week we learned about volcanoes. Volcanoes can be made from cracks on the earths crust, mountains, or even some dents on the ocean floor. Volcanoes get their lava [magma] from the mantel. The mantel is the middle layer of the earth. As the lava rises from the mantel [since it's hot] like hot air. Then all of the sudden, BOOM!! It bursts out of the volcano. Did you know that Hawaii [according to legend] got made by a goddess named Pele? The story goes that there was a fight between Pele and her sister. Pele tried to attack her sister with her magic stick but her sister blocked and fired back. Pele was cursed to dig fire pits for all eternity. We made a model volcano with my friends. We put stuff like little action figures and toy salamanders on the volcano that made it look pretty cool when it exploded. We filled it with baking soda and vinegar and when it exploded it looked like the little action figures were getting drowned in baking soda and vinegar lava. AAAaAAAAhhHHHHHH!!! The end .Okay, subject changed. Now we are talking about the different layers of the earth. The layers are: the core, the mantel, and last of all, the crust. Okay, let's start with the core. The core is the layer farthest away from us. The core is made up of two parts: the inner core and the outer core. The core is a solid. The outer core is not solid. It is liquid. The core is also the hottest part of the earth. It is made of iron and nickel. The iron and nickel have an extreme magnetic force. The force is so great that that is why the moon is orbiting us! The moon has an extreme force too! There is also the mantel. The mantel is the middle layer of the earth. The mantel is also made of iron and nickel too just like the core. But the core and the mantel are also different. The core was solid. And the mantel is liquid. Last but not least, the crust. The crust is the part that you are standing on right now! Did you know that the farthest hole ever drilled was 12 kilometers?' yep it's true. Okay. If the two continental plates push together, it causes an earthquake. Okay, the subject is changed now one more time. This week we also went to the to a geology museum. We saw crystals, fossils, rocks and gemstones. Tell Uncle Rob that we went to that museum.

Whether, Whether, Whether you like it or not, weather, weather, weather is colder than hot!!

This week we learned about weather! I did so many cool things you won't believe it!

We watched this one really cool eyewitness movie about natural disasters! It had really cool facts on avalanches, hurricanes, landslides, well, you get the idea. I also read this book on hurricanes. It also had some really cool facts on hurricanes. I bet you didn't know that the eye of a hurricane was the calmest part of the hurricane. Before I thought that the eye was the roughest part of the hurricane. We also learned that hot air rises and cold air has to rush over and take its place.

This creates wind. We did an experiment for it where we took some paper, cut it into a circle, and then we made cuts and folded triangles in the circle. We also hooked up a paper clip to the circle. Oh, and we hooked up a hanger to the top. We hooked it on Mommy's finger, put it under the light and waited, and waited. Then it suddenly started spinning. We had created wind!

We also learned about how the earth rotated around the sun. That is why we have seasons. The beginning days of the seasons are Winter solstice, spring equinox, Summer solstice, and fall equinox. Solstice means "sun standing still." The winter solstice is when we have Christmas. In the fall and spring equinox the day and night have the same amount of time. The Egyptians celebrated the spring equinox in parties [and they did this because their plants sprouted]. The Christians celebrated Easter. Now I don’t think THAT'S weather!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WAIT folks it's not over! We also learned how clouds formed. First the sun comes and makes all the water evaporate. Then it goes up in the air and then it hits the troposphere. It start's getting cold. All the water stays up there it's so cold!

Now I am done.

Gone Winter Wild!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This week we learned about how insects, mammals, and plants have adapted to winter in ways to suit their habitat.

The insects are wicked awesome. Some insects freeze solid to protect themselves.
Some actually produce their own antifreeze! The antifreeze spreads around the insect's body making something like a snow proof shield. The antifreeze that insects make is not poisonous but the kind that is in cars is poisonous. Antifreeze is also a very good poison because it is very sweet. The antifreeze goes into a car to keep the car's engine from freezing. Unfortunately, it leaks from cars and dogs and cats come to lick it all up. Many dogs and cats die from the antifreeze.

Mammals have many other ways of protecting themselves from the cold. Some animals have very thick fur. For example, a buffalo has thick fur to protect it from the cold. The thick fur traps warm air inside and keeps the cold air out. This technique is used in varieties of different mammals.

We went to the zoo on Friday to see some real live animals out and to see their winter adaptions.We saw penguins and polar bears outside. Inside the tropical rain forest we saw tropical birds and fish. It was amazing, absolutely amazing!

Did you know that plants have ways to protect themselves too? Trees are very cool. They store up on food for the winter. Then it is finally wintertime. They tell all the leaves to shut down and stop giving the tree food. The tree forms a cork like substance that stops the food at the end of each leaf. The leaves all fall since they have no more use. In the winter, the tree eats its stored up food. All these adaptions are amazing!