La Baleine

LA BALEINE

We have been arranged into groups to understand one article. Then, we have to present it to the class in a simpler language and with some gestures and actions to let the class understand. The image below has three paragraphs in bold letters, those are the paragraphs we have to understand. The sentences in points right below are the simplified sentences in the correct structure.

• Les baleines à fanons sont les grandes créatures de l’océan.
• La baleines à fanons, c’est une des espèces la plus grande sur la planète terre.
• La baleines à fanons est une créature intelligente.
• Elle mange de petits animaux comme le krill, avec ses fanons.

• -Les fanons de la baleine franche sont plus magnifiques que ceux de la baleine à bosse.
• -Les fanons de la baleine franche peuvent atteindre 4 mètres de longeur.
• La baleine à bosse bonde au dessus de l'eau.
• Elle fait de la gymnastique dans l’océan.
• Dans l'Antarctique, elle mange le krill;
• Dans l'hemisphere nord, elle chasse et mange de petits poissons comme l'anchois.

Adobe Photoshop - My Silly Portrait

In this Design unit which we started not long ago, we're working with Adobe Photoshop. Our first task was to make a silly portrait of ourselves using the style of Hanoch Piven - Making portraits out of what's special of a person, of what that person is like, and their interest. It is really fun! The above is my second one, which is the final one for now. Let me explain it a bit. The eyes are brain - Well, I think I do good in studies and I always think (I'm not trying to brag but A big part of my life is studying). I read books so I used the book as my ears because he shape fit. I put the keyboards because I play the piano (Grade 6). I think of new ideas and solutions, so I have a light bulb as my nose - "ding!". I thought I'd just put the test paper as my arms and body because the shape would fit and that's about studies too. The head is kind of like what my mind is used for, well, I do do other stuffs like entertainment of course. One thing not mentioned is the science flask, that's because I like chemistry (I also like other subjects). The hand shaking above is just to make it more friendly, I don't want to show off or offend people. The soccer ball is a reminding sign that I play games and do sports also. I am okay at soccer, but I like it, that's why it's there.

This is my first one when I explored Adobe Photoshop on the first lesson of this unit. I didn't like it as the colour behind is too dark and dim. I don't like the hair as it looks ugly, for me. Also, this whole thing for me is too showing off, especially the words. But it's just a joke kind of thing.

Up till now, I enjoyed. It was really fun and let us use our creativity. We learnt how to crop pictures, add other images, use the eraser and paint brush tool. We learnt how to use the magic wand tool, text... I like it very much!

This may not look as good as the one on the very top. However, this is my very very final one that I just did last week - 23rd of April. For me, the background colour was way better. And the yellow, thick line around me made me much sharper and eye-catching. However, we were actually asked to take away the original photo taken, and it was actually just for reference. And I accidentally deleted my old file somehow, so I had to work on a new one which is pretty much the same. The only main difference you may notice is my head (and that the photo was gone, yes). It is a blue ball which means I am a calm and cool person. The "atom head" make the idea of my interest in Science more obvious. And of course, the shape fits a head, I have a lot more interests than Science.

Lab Report- Thermal insulator

Purpose: The purpose of this experiment is to find out the best thermal insulator. A thermal insulator is a material that doesn’t conduct heat (or doesn’t conduct as much heat), viz. poor conductors. With that, thermal insulators don’t let heat pass through them.

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Question: What is the best insulator?

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Hypothesis:

If it is a better insulator (a worse conductor), the water will lose less heat (keep more heat) and the change in temperature will not be as much. It is because insulators doesn’t absorb heat so they keep it in.

If aluminium foil is the best insulator, the change in the water temperature will be less. It is because insulators keep in (or out) heat, so not much heat goes away; Insulators keep in heat because they cannot conduct heat or cannot conduct much heat; Aluminium foil is a good insulator because it has a light coloured and shiny surface that reflects thermal radiation which is infrared radiation.

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Variables:

Independent variable: Type of material

Dependant variable: Temperature of the water

Constants: cup, amount of water, amount of time

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Control: Do it once with no insulator

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Materials: a styrofoam cup, insulators, thermometer, A few cups of hot water, timer, notes

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Procedure:

1. Boil some water and pour about 2 cups (cups as measurement) into the styrofoam cup.
2. Put a lab thermometer in the water
3. Make a small hole in your type of material you are using as an insulator. Put the thermometer through the hole and push your insulator down to cover the cup with it. You can use tape or rubber band to make sure the cup is sealed so the hot air doesn’t come out and affect the results.
4. Wait until the thermometer shows the highest temperature and record it. And then start timing immediately.
5. Write down the temperature every minute. Do it until the 30th minute and then stop.

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Observation:

No matter using aluminium foil or wool cloth, the temperature decrease for about one degree celsius per minute, although sometimes the temperature of the water goes down more or less.

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Results:

Aluminium Foil

Time Temperature (degrees celsius)

0 81

1 79

2 76

3 74

4 72.5

5 71.5

6 71

7 69.5

8 68

9 67

10 66

11 65

12 64

13 63

14 62

15 61

16 60.5

17 60

18 59

19 58

20 57

21 56.5

22 55.5

23 55

24 54.5

25 54

26 53

27 52.5

28 52

29 51

30 50

The difference between starting and the ending temperature: Aluminium foil- 31ºC

Wool cloth

Time Temperature (degrees celsius)

0 83

1 79.5

2 77

3 75.5

4 73.5

5 72

6 70.5

7 69

8 68

9 66.5

10 65

11 64

12 63

13 62

14 61

15 60

16 59

17 58

18 57

19 56

20 55.5

21 54.5

22 54

23 53

24 52.5

25 52

26 51

27 50.5

28 50

29 49

30 48.5

The difference between starting and the ending temperature: Wool cloth- 34.5ºC.

The graph below shows the data of both insulators I used- both wool cloth and aluminium foil. It also shows the comparison of the two observations for using aluminium foil and wool cloth as the thermal insulating cover.

In the above line graph,

Green is representing wool cloth,

Red is representing aluminium foil.

For wool cloth, the temperature of the water decrease faster, and then it starts to keep in the heat, and the temperature decreased slower.

For aluminium foil, the temperature went down quite quick at first, but then it slowed down and the temperature decrease became steady.

If the time is divided into three parts: 1st part, wool cloth loose temperature quicker; 2nd part, both the cup of the two materials have the same temperature decrease; 3rd part, wool cloth loose temperature quicker again.

The below graph shows the change in temperature of the whole grade:

Change in Temperature of Different Groups Using Different Materials- Whole Grade

The materials used for each group:

1. Control- None
2. Royce Mushroom- Royce Chocolate Cooling Bags (2), Tin Can (Metal Can), Polyester
3. Coat- 1 Winter Coat, 5 Napkins, 1 Tin foil, 1 Hoodie, 1 Cotton
4. Sarrah’s Love- Tin Foil, Polyester, Foam, Plastic Box
5. The Young Scientist- Aluminium Foil
6. The Young Scientist- Bubble Wrap
7. Hat- Hat, Aluminum (and hands)
8. Unicorn Three Skin- Aluminium, tape
9. Cream Puff 0 Some- Wool cloth
10. Cream Puff 0 Some- Aluminium Foil
11. Snoopies- Jacket, sand, cotton, tin foil, Plastic bags, plastic tiny, tape.
12. Chicken Mcnuggets- Wrapped with tin foil covered with 2 computer mouse pads
13. and 3 computer cover with tape holding them together. Then covered it with a jacket, toilet paper and lastly, a towel which was used to cover the tinfoil.
14. Snowy-Oceanz- Styrofoam Cup, Tin Foil and Packing Tape.
15. Little Purple Ponies- Wrapped in cotton covered in paper shreds and taped with electrical tape. Then covered in more normal packing tape, the top was covered in aluminium foil. And the final layer was covered in a lot of toilet paper.

The more materials are used to cover up the cup, the temperature decrease is slower. Which means, it can keep in more heat when there are many layers of materials.

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Conclusion:

The results of my group shows that aluminium foil is a better thermal insulator. The reason behind is that aluminium foil reflects radiation because its surface is shiny and bright-coloured (silver). When the cup is sealed (or when aluminium foil is wrapped around) and it reflects radiation, the radiation has nowhere to go. The radiation will keep bouncing back and forth in the cup.

The results of the whole grade shows that: the more layers of materials are used to cover up the cup, the better the insulation. And for the best group of materials, apart from having many layers, it also has aluminium foil. The answer to “what is the best insulator”, is more layers of materials (thick layer), and aluminium foil, and poor conductors like tissue and tape. More layers insulate heat more. It is because with more layers, the thickness increases and air pockets form (air is not good conductor as its particles are far apart). Therefore, it creates a longer path for the heat to come out through conduction, and with more layers, the hot air inside comes out more hardly. All makes less heat-loss. Convection doesn’t affect the results because the cup is well-sealed. Radiation cannot come out because there is aluminium foil.  Aluminium foil is a good thermal insulator as it reflects radiation with its shiny and bright-coloured surface.

My hypothesis is partly correct.

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Evaluation:

We didn’t do the control, so we used the other classes which might be a little different due to the environment and condition. Also, when we started, we started timing a little bit late, and it was quite messy. However, we then managed it. I think the experiment was controlled. We used a timer and check the temperatures at the right time. We check the temperatures carefully. We made sure that the cup was sealed. The amount of water is the same. The amount of time was the same. We used the same brand of cup. We measured the difference instead of the ending temperature so it wouldn’t be affected by the starting temperature.

Although it is good, to make it better, I think we can do it a few times and take the average of the temperature difference, so if anything happened we will noticed.

Ma Chambre

Ma Chambre

Il y a un bureau.

Mon lit est au-dessus le bureau.

Un blanchet est sur mon lit.

Une chaise est devant le bureau.

Une échelle est à cote la chaise.

Un piano est derriere la chaise.

Des livres sont sur le piano.

Essay - How Do The Characters In The Book Wonder Demonstrate Greatness

How Do The Characters In The Book Wonder Demonstrate Greatness?

By me,

For xxx teacher

What is greatness? How do we demonstrate greatness? The book “Wonder” written by R.J. Palacio is about a deformed boy called August. He goes to school for the first time, tries to fit it, when he is borned to stand out. He is in fifth grade and has a really hard time dealing with bullies. However, with the support of his family and friends, he succeeds in being a good student that everyone likes. And through August, his classmates all learn about greatness. At the beginning of the school year, Summer is the only one who sat with August at lunch, and they become friends; Jack is both a classmate and a good friend of August; Julian is a bully who never rectifies. “Wonder” is a touching book that teaches people about greatness, but what is greatness? In the book, “Greatness, lies not in being strong, but in the right using of strength…” How do the characters in the book demonstrate greatness? The characters demonstrate greatness by being loyal and brave, by being kind and caring and sympathetic, and by being inspiring and lifting up others’ hearts.

Firstly, the characters demonstrated greatness by being kind, caring and sympathetic. August was being a really kind, caring and sympathetic person. During Halloween, at school, when Jack didn’t realize August was listening behind his mask, he badmouthed August, “Actually, what he really looks like is one of those shrunken heads. Have you ever seen those? he looks exactly like that” (77). August heard it, and he was angry with Jack. August ignored Jack for quite a period of time. However, when Jack asked if he could become friends with August again in text, August accepted. Jack asked, “... really really really sorry for wat I said dude, OK? can we b frenz agen?” (166) August replied to Jack, “yes dude we’r frenz agen” (167). He didn’t hesitate or interrogate Jack. It shows that he was a really kind person that forgave people easily, because he understood how it felt to lose a friend. August’s mum was really kind, caring and sympathetic too. She always forgive her family members, August’s friends, and Via’s - August’s elder sister - friends. Once, August lost his temper with Mum when she was asking him about school, because he wasn’t in the mood. August apologized to Mum at night, and Mum said, “Shh… You have nothing to be sorry about…” (60) She forgave him because she understood how difficult August’s day at school was, when people treated him poorly, and that he was unhappy. This shows she was a kind, caring and sympathetic person. Summer is another example. At the beginning of the year, no one was sitting next to August. Summer went to sit with him, because she felt sorry for him - She didn’t do it because she thought he was weak or special with special needs, she didn’t do so because she was asked, but because she was kind, and she felt sorry that no one sitting with him, and they became friends. Once, Charlotte, a good student, asked Summer, “Did Mr. Tushman ask you to be friends with him?” (119) Summer answered, “No. I’m friends with him because I want to be friends with him” (119). This shows that what she did was out of pure kindness and sympathy. She could understand how August felt when he had no friends, and she went to be his friend because she was kind. She is a being really kind, caring and sympathetic. It also shows that she was loyal and brave too because she told the truth. Hence, the characters demonstrated greatness by being kind, caring and sympathetic.

Moreover, the characters demonstrated greatness by being loyal and brave. There was a popular girl called Savanna in school, and Summer was invited to Savanna’s Halloween party. When Summer was in the party, Henry, Savanna’s boyfriend, asked, “So, we want to know why you hang out with the Zombie Kid so much” (Palacio 122). Summer answered, “He’s not a zombie” (122). At the time when Summer had a chance to let go of August and be in the popular group that was spiteful to August, she didn’t. Summer didn’t let go of him, hide the truth, or badmouthed him because she was being a loyal friend both inside and outside. She was also really brave because it was dangerous to not pretend she didn’t like August, but to stand up for August instead. Jack was also a character who was loyal and brave. Although Jack once betrayed August, it was out of anxiousness, because Julian the bully was talking to him. However, he was still a true friend of August. Jack realized afterwards August was listening, he felt guilty and was ashamed of himself. On the same day, Jack was arranged to be partners with August for a Science project. Julian said, “You should tell Ms. Rubin you want to switch partners. I bet she’d let you” (154). Jack became really angry because of the way people were treating August, like August was scary and dangerous. Julian asked Ms. Rubin if they could switch partners and Jack stopped him. Julian said to Jack, “You don’t have to be friends with that freak if you don’t want to, you know…” (154) He went so mad for August he punched Julian right in the mouth. Although hurting others wasn’t what he should do, it showed he was a really loyal friend to August. He didn’t hide the truth, but he showed to others that he liked August, and would always stand up for him. Therefore, the characters demonstrated greatness by being loyal and brave.

Last but not least, the characters demonstrated greatness by being inspiring and lifting up others’ heart. Grands was a character who lifted up one’s heart. Her words lifted up Via’s heart and covered her like a blanket. No one to really took care of Via since August was borned. Everyone’s attention went to August, who was physically deformed and weak. Once, August had a surgery and Via had to stay with Grands. They went to a beach and Grands told Via she loved her more than anyone else in the world. Grands said, “You are my everything” (87). No one was paying attention and Via felt very lonely. At the time, this warmth of Grands’ words covered her like a blanket. That lifted Via up and kept her warm. Daisy, August’s dog, inspired someone too. She inspired August. August always thought that everything in the world is about him. August was not considerate to anything else, not until Daisy died. One day, August and his family were all arguing, about Via being embarrassed of letting her classmates know about August. August went mad because of the way his family treated him, like he was still small and doesn’t understand or know anything. August went into his room. That was when Via told him Daisy had been sick and was in pain and was whimpering. August realized not everything was about him. Before, he didn’t even notice Daisy was getting old and sick. On that day, he went to see Daisy and finally paid attention to her, he said “Bye little girly. I love you” (221). The other morning when he was about to go for nature retreat, he saw Daisy’s ghost when he woke up. August was really nervous about leaving home and being bullied more in nature retreat, but Daisy’s ghost gave him confidence. In the book, he thought, “It didn’t make me sad to see her at all: it just filled me up with nice feelings inside” (256). Daisy did inspired him, changed him, lifted up his heart and gave him confidence. August was a character who inspired a lot of people. One of the people he inspired most is Jack. In the beginning, Jack was a person who discriminate the kind of people like August - people who are deformed and has some physical problems. He then felt sorry for August and became friendly to him. Then, Jack found out that August was a cool dude and he became August’s friend. He said in the book, “At first, I admit it, I was only friendly to him because Mr. Tushman asked me to be especially nice and all that. But now I would choose to hang out with him. He laughs at all my jokes. And I kind of feel like I can tell August anything.” It shows how he changed and realized people like August could be cool and fun. However, he still wasn’t a loyal person before. At halloween, in the classroom, when he didn’t know August was there and said to the popular people, “If I looked like him, seriously, I’d kill myself… Tushman asked me to hang out with him at the beginning of the year…” (77) He still wasn’t a loyal person at that time, but after he recognizes it, he regretted and finally understood how August must have felt. He changed and became a greater and more loyal person. August taught him a lesson and inspired him, a lot - that people with problems can be good too, and that being a loyal friend is important. Thus, the characters demonstrated greatness by being inspiring and lifting up others’ heart.

The characters in the book demonstrate greatness by being loyal and brave. They demonstrate greatness by being kind, caring and sympathetic. They demonstrate greatness by being inspiring and lifting up others’ heart. These are really good ways to demonstrate greatness - not being strong, but using strength the right way. How they demonstrate greatness is also important to us, we can demonstrate greatness like them too, so keep them in mind. However, different people demonstrates greatness in different ways, how do you demonstrate greatness? Do you do it like how the characters in the book do it?

ECA Reflection

I took Golf and Leadership, Golf and Blogging, and now Golf and Maker-Space. Here, I'll talk about Golf. I have joined golf twice this year and is joining it again now. I had tried Golf with my parents a few times before, in indoor golf rooms and driving ranges. However, I have never actually took golf lessons before. I though I would give it a try, maybe I'd like it, maybe I'd be good in it. Although I still cannot control the hitting very well, I sure can hit it up now. It is better than how it was before. I can also aim quite accurately for putting. In the small putting range at school, I could put in 3 hits for sure, and I've tried once quite a few times. It was pretty good I thought. Golf was also really fun. I like the success I get and the improvement and the playing with the other gold ECA schoolmates. That's why I joined Golf for ECA again this time. I am looking forward to even better aiming and accuracy in golf.

Science Fish Kill Essay

Fish Kill Essay (Final Draft)

By me,        Date: 28-11-2013

For xxx teacher

Have you ever gone to Mana Mana? The sand you are stepping on may be the sand that tons of dead fish once lied on. Some people say that there was a fish kill in Mana Mana before. Why are there fish kills? How does it affects us? How can it be solved?

Firstly, why are there fish kills? Fish kills may be caused by water pollution, oxygen depletion, infectious diseases, parasites. There are a lot of possibilities, but water pollution includes a lot of the possibilities and is probably the most possible and common reason.

Water pollution, what is water pollution? It is a pollution which occurs when too much foreign substances go into water, damage the water quality and make the water non-potable- undrinkable or dangerous for organisms to live in. Pollution can go into water in many ways- acid rain, inroad soil, runoff containing fertiliser or other substances, chemicals released from industries, sewages… Water is easily polluted and is really hard to be cleaned. It is because water is the “universal solvent” which means it dissolves many things. This causes water to dissolve almost everything that gets in its way, and by the time it damages the quality of itself and get polluted. This also causes water to become difficult to clean.

This ability of the “universal solvent” causes itself to dissolve almost everything that gets in its way, and by the time damaging the water quality and gets polluted, and difficult to clean. This ability of the “universal solvent” causes aquatic life to always be difficult. The reason is that water is too hard to keep itself clean and the aquatic life is then dangerous when that lot of variety of chemicals dissolved in water- which may be harmful- flowing around in water reaching different water areas easily, without being seen. Therefore, it is really important to keep water resources clean.

People in developed places don’t treasure water as they can get it by only turning on the tap. They over consume, waste water, and pollute water. You may think  it doesn’t matter, but have you ever think of how the water pollution affect all of the natural environment? Water pollution is a serious problem now, not only because water is very polluted, but also because it affects the natural environment and wild animals, a lot. Water covers 70% of Earth’s surface and covers 99% of the living space on Earth. It provides nearly 50% of Earth's oxygen and 20% of the world's protein supply, and supports 50% of the animals living on Earth. Now 2/3 are endanger because of water pollution.

You may not care about the natural environment as long as you are safe, but do you know that water pollution also affect us, humans, and you may not be safe? For us, living in developed places, we may not care, but over a billion of people can’t get clean water as easy as us, so they drink water that is not clean and then get sick or die. You may be a murderer. If you don’t care about others’ health or life, I bet you still care about yourself. Are you having fish for dinner today? Look at the fish you’re eating, it may be a fish that’s from a river or sea filled with oil of the boats, filled with rubbish and all that harmful materials you flush or wash away. You may be eating a fish from that horrible environment you created yourself. You don’t eat fish? Beaches, beaches that have water pollution gives you rashes, ear aches, pink eye, respiratory infections, hepatitis, encephalitis, gastroenteritis, diarrhea, vomiting, and stomach aches. That’s no day at the beach, is it? So you are not going to stay safe forever with water pollution.

If you don’t care about health, do you care about money? Water pollution can damage economy as it is expensive to treat and clean the water in order to make it potable, and it’s also expensive to prevent water contamination. I bet you won’t like to pay for ten dollars for a bottle of water. People are sick because of drinking polluted water, they need medication. Medication uses a lot of money and resources. Also, beaches which may be tourist attractions are closed- because the water pollution at the beach gives people health problems like -and may decrease tourism. For example, thousands of beaches are closed in the US every year. Water pollution affects everything. Therefore, bear in mind, water pollution is a serious problem and it is really important to keep water resources clean.

Anyway, worrying is useless, why not think of a solution to solve the problem? How can we solve the problem of water pollution? There’s always a solution. We should start with personal little things. Firstly, we still have a lot  of clean water, save them, treasure them, use them in an appropriate way. Secondly, don’t dump junks into the sea, no matter when we’re on a boat or on the shore. Thirdly, we can volunteer to pick up rubbish on the beach which may go into the water and pollute them. Factories are one big part of water pollution too, and they’re now working new ways and policies to help with the water pollution. Many countries now have laws to protect water. Also, there are organisations now to tell people and clean water and save marine life. Also, instead of dumping everything from the sewage into the ocean, we can make recycle the water like how Singapore does, making potable water again. Although it may cost quite, it is an action we should take for a better future of us humans, animals, environment and economy… There are a lot of things companies and factories can do, but it is always a responsibility of all of us.

Back to fish kill in Mana Mana. What do you think causes that to happen? As you should know, Mana Mana is in Singapore, Singapore have always been reclaiming land. When they reclaim land, the waste of the machines may be releasing harmful materials into the water and this may be the cause to the fish kill. Singapore is also a trading country so ships are going in and out, and that may cause an accident of oil leakage.

Water pollution is almost the most serious problem, it affects us environmentally, affects our health, affects our economy. If water pollution is going to go worse, many bad and sad things are going to happen. For example, two-third of the endangered marine animals may all die leaving one-third of all the marine animals existing now; Water will be high-priced; More people will catch diseases due to water pollution… So bear in mind and be optimistic with working for a better future of water pollution.

Bibliography: (1135 words)

http://www.grinningplanet.com/2006/12-05/water-pollution-effects.htm

http://chinawaterrisk.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/The-Social-Impact-of-Water.pdf

http://eschooltoday.com/pollution/water-pollution/effects-of-water-pollution.html

http://www.nrdc.org/water/

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_sea_animals_die_each_year_because_of_the_sea_pollution#slide2

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-do-factories-do-to-help-stop-pollution.htm#

http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/ocean_life.html