We went to Florida!

Last week my friend Leon and I went to Florida. We camped out on Little Talbot Island near Jacksonville.                                                                                                                        We found a lot of jellyfish that were washed up on the beach, we picked them up and put them back in the water. Leon found a jellyfish that had a live crab inside it!!

 

We rented sea kayaks and paddled down the inlet. It was really windy which made it hard to move.

When we were on a hike we found a tortoise siting in the middle of the path!

Hike to Swallow falls

We went on a hike to Swallow Falls State Park. While we were there we found a lot of cool icicle formations on the cliffs!!!                                    

                                            

One of the ice formations had crumbled and fallen down across the path!!!!

Mountaintop Removal

                    Mountaintop removal coal mining is a type of coal mining where they use explosives to blow off the tops of mountains so that they can get to the thin coal seams beneath the surface. The coal mining companies claim that this type of coal mining is cheaper to meet the energy demands of the US. However it has a very bad impact on the environment and destroys the mountaintop ecosystem. They burn down hundreds of trees, then they blow up the mountain peaks, causing landslides and giant clouds of dust that settle over the communities surrounding the mountains. They then start to excavate the coal with giant cranes and trucks. They take all the rubble and dirt from the excavation and put it in what is called a valley fill. A valley fill is a spot between two mountains where there is a big pile of rocks and dirt. All the gunk and sediment can fill up rivers and streams and greatly damage the native ecosystem. A slurry pond is a big pool of water full of mud, toxic chemicals, and coal ash. These slurry ponds sometimes leak causing massive floods that destroy houses and have even killed people.

                     People from throughout appalachia protest and picket against mountaintop removal. People setup committees and foundations to educate people about the effects of this type of coal mining, such as Keeper of the Mountains Foundation, and the Coal River Mountain Watch.

  My father and I designed a diorama of a mountaintop removal excavation site.

It includes an endangered stream, a leaking slurry pond that is threatening a small community, and a devastated mountaintop. 

                  
          

At the Y

On monday my friend Caileigh and I went to the YMCA for P.E. We played capture the frisbees. Then we went to the pool and took swimming lessons. It was fun!

SuGO

Yesterday I went to Accident to the GEARS building. My friend Collin and I built a robot out of Legos. It had light sensors and tracking eyes and four wheel drive.  Then all the teams brought their robots out to the arena and put them on a table so they could Sumo wrestle each other.  We fought a lot of battles, but we didn't win the competition.  At the end they put every single robot on the table and had a brawl. We won one of the big brawls.

Summary of The Establishment of the Thirteen Colonies by Don Nardo

What made the colonization of the US unique was the diversity of the people came together: people who came voluntarily and involuntarily as well as the people who were already here.

The first people were the Native Americans who came across the Bering land bridge and spread across the Americas.  The Indians of the Northeastern Woodlands of northern Canada to southern Florida were split into groups based on what languages they spoke.  They started out as hunter gatherers and eventually became farmers and grew many native crops.  

 In 1492 Columbus landed in the Caribbean. However he was not first European to sight and set foot in the Americas.  Sometime between AD 985-989 Leif Eriksson sailed from Greenland to Labrador, but did not return to the Americas.  Columbus' landing sparked a mass migration of Europeans explorers.  These visitors traded with the natives and brought back good to their European countries.

Religious persecution and the desire to escape poverty led many settlers to journey across the Atlantic to North America. They landed in the Northern US and set up towns and trading posts. They learned farming skills from the Native Americans.  Some Africans were forced to come to the Americas to work as slaves.

Colonies were established in Massachusetts, Virginia, Connecticut, Rhode Island, North Carolina, South Carolina, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and Georgia.  Most of the colonist believed that the native americans were inferior. They colonist desire for expansion into native lands brought them into armed conflict. The colonists continually expanded their land and forced Native Americans to move.

Legos

A peaceful day
The townsfolk are
Going about their business.

Then out of no where
An evil mutant bionicle
Jumps into the street.

Sword meets sword as the
Terrible dragon-headed giant
Steps into view.

Cars swerve, people run in
Terror.  A helicopter is
Swatted out of the air and
Crashes in the park.

Houses crumble to dust.
At the press of a button
The bank explodes
Showering tons of
Rubble over the scene.

The battle droids jump
Out of their spaceship
And begin raiding the neighborhood ...

                                                             "Time for dinner" my
                                                                   Mother calls.


                                          Anything can happen when I am playing with
                                                             My Legos.