Happy to be done "Habitats"

After weeks of studying Habitats, we are glad to be movin' on!



With the plan of making our backyard more habitat-friendly to small animals and birds and bugs, we planted daffodil bulbs.


And made our own bird feeders to hang in the trees:

Photo shoot @ the beach!

We went for a walk to Eaglecrest Beach and Mom let me take some pictures with her camera. I think they turned out pretty great! Some of them remind me of postcard photos!

Books I've been reading

Here is what I have read in the last six weeks or so:

Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew: Babysitting Bandit
Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew: Wedding Day Disaster
Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew: Case of the Sneaky Snowman
My Magical Pony: Summertime Blues
My Magical Pony: Falling Leaves
My Magical Pony: Silver Mist
My Magical Pony: Pale Moon
My Magical Pony: Midnight Snow
Nim's Island
Nim's Friends
Nim at Sea
Chicken Soup for the Girl's Soul
Main Street: Special Delivery
Mallory on Board
Alice in April
Magic Treehouse: Lions at Lunchtime
Magic Treehouse: Dingoes at Dinnertime
Magic Treehouse: Earthquake in the Early Morning
Magic Treehouse: High Tide in Hawaii
Magic Treehouse: Leprechaun in Late Winter
Magic Treehouse: Twister on Tuesday
Rescue Rider

A habitat near home

By our house, there is a swamp. We go there often. There is also a creek. There is lots of mud and plants and trees there.


We noticed that there was a tree freshly cut down. We were worried because the construction workers might have wrecked animals habitats.


Me and Jacob were looking under a rock to see if we could find any bugs.


Here is an example of some of the plants that were living in this habitat.


Deer poop is evidence that a deer has been there.


More examples of living things in the habitat.


This is a really cool beetle we found.


Here is an insect that we found when we lifted up a rock:


Grass grows here.

October science experiments

We had one of our friends over to do science experiments with us.

First he taught us one that he knows. He filled a container with water. Then he sprinkled pepper on the water's surface. Then you dip a Q-tip in dish detergent and touch the water with it. The pepper moves away from the dish detergent. We learned this is because you break the surface of the water. You can only do this one time and then you have to start again with new water and pepper!


Then Mom made us a batch of "goop"! We had to keep adding more and more cornstarch to the water to get it to feel right. Then we had the idea to add colour! "Goop" is neat because when you squeeze it, it turns into a solid and then when you let go, it turns into a liquid and drips out of your hand.

Aquarium field trip!

While in Tennessee, my family visited the "Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies".

Here I am touching a horseshoe crab. If you touch the bottom side of them, they pinch you but if you touch the top, it feels smooth.


These are jellyfish. They are really graceful swimmers.


The penguins at the aquarium had an inside and an outside habitat that was connected by an underwater tunnel. They seemed happy in this habitat.


When I got the chance to touch a stingray, I felt so excited. They felt really slippery, like a snake.


In the aquarium, we went through a shark tunnel. It felt so freaky because there were sharks all around us.


This was a giant crab that we saw. It was interesting to see how the workers had created a warm and dry habitat for this animal.


Here is a seahorse. We noticed that they can camouflage in their surroundings really well.


It was neat to see all different kinds of fish living in the same habitat. There was even sharks in this tank!


The aquarium had fake scenery to make it look like a real ocean.


At the aquarium, I saw many different kinds of animals in their different habitats!

September science experiments

We borrowed a science kit from our friends that was called "Tasty Science" - it gave us ideas of science experiments to do.


We used litmus paper to test different liquids. We tried vinegar, baking soda and water, plain water, and lemon juice. The results weren't as obvious as we had hoped.


Next we made our own sugar crystals. We had to mix sugar, boiling water, and grape flavouring.



We did an experiment with oil and water and food colouring. The drop of food colouring got trapped in the oil layer, and then when I poked a toothpick, it helped the colour to get to the water layer!


One of our favourite experiments to do is called "Magic Milk" - it is neat because the pattern always turns out different.



I love science!

Digestive system wondering

A lady from our church had to have her gall bladder taken out. We did some research to find out where the gall bladder is in our body. My mom helped us play this sticker game. I learned how all of the parts of the body work together to digest the food.

Modelling clay madness!

I love working with modelling clay because it feels so smooth.
In this picture I am making a blue flower.

I made a cool face.

I ''love'' my rainbow rings.

My flower kept falling over.

Modelling clay has a different texture than Playdoh.

Field trip to the fish hatchery!

This is the part of the salmon life cycle that we learned on this trip.

This is the food chain. The naturalist kept asking us: "Do the salmon need the bears? Do the bugs need the trees?" and so forth.

This is the male having it's milt taken out.

This is the female having it's eggs taken out.

There are over 2500 eggs in the female.

The black dot's on this leaf are insect eggs.

Katie was showing us the life cycle of a salmon.

These are preserved eggs, eggs with an eye, alevin, and fry.

These are a bear's claw marks on a piece of wood.

This is a tree that a beaver tried to chew down. The beaver left the tree because it is a hemlock and the wood is too hard for its teeth.

The naturalist said that she has never seen a beaver there and they don't know where the beaver's lodge is.

This is called a nurse stump. It grows new trees and plants on it's stump.

This is a gigantic ant hill.

Behind the bridge is a beaver dam.

This is the the river where the salmon spawn. The bubbles are air being pumped in to the water for the fish.

This is called a fish ladder.
Why they built it was because the salmon were having a hard time going up a waterfall.


This is a barrier to the salmon swimming upstream.


This whole tree is covered in moss.

This is the salmon ready for the dissection.

This is the swim bladder.
It helps the salmon to float.


These are the salmon's kidneys.
They're not shaped like human kidneys.

These are the eyeballs.
The plate is looking at you.

This is the gill cover. It is how the fish gets air from the water.

This is the fish's brain and spinal cord. When she pulled the spinal cord out, the whole body moved a lot.

This is the salmon's liver. It filters out poison.

This is the salmon's spleen. Its job is to fight diseases.

This is the salmon's stomach.

This is the milt sacs. They are only in males. Milt is white.

This is the heart. It kept beating even after being taken out.

This showed how few salmon survive til they spawn.