Sydney+D.

Sydney September This month my favorite activity we’ve done is definitely dissecting the owl pellets! We were asked to dissect owl spit up and attempt to find every bone concealed in the pellet. We used tooth picks and our fingers to pick apart dry fur and bone. Then we used to bones to identify what kind of animal was eaten, and then we assembled the bones into that animal and pasted it onto paper and hung it up in the hallway. The outcome of this assignment was that owls eat small rodents, shrews, birds and moles. Since those animals are all nocturnal, then that means the owl must also be nocturnal so it can hunt and successfully capture its prey. I chose this project to write about because it was very interesting and fascinating to be able to be so hands on nature and a specific predator, and learn from just a small owl pellet.  November Sydney  During November, an exiting activity that we did was creating our own paper. First, our tables were given scrap paper to tear into small pieces. Next we beat those small pieces in with water and starch with an electric beater. We then layered the wet paper onto two small screens to dry. A few days later we received the final product, which was thick and hard. It led me to believe that all construction paper is recycled paper. We did this activity as a demonstration as to how you can reuse and renew and recycle old and worn out objects. Like recreating paper. I really enjoyed this activity because it was fun. I also learned about how easy it is to save a little instead of throwing away a lot. I hope Mrs. Crawford will find us more activities as fun as recreating paper!

Sydney October This month in science once of the activities that I enjoyed doing was we learned about sources of Americas resources. We were divided into groups and our assignment was to read about our assigned source of one of the resources and then to make a poster that demonstrates it. My source that I read about is called hydropower, which means water power; I learned that hydropower generates electricity, about 11% of Americas and 25% globally. The poster demonstrates the way the waters energy is made; first a dam must be made so there is a large water source, the water then flows into generators and turbines and the electricity is produced. A positive aspect of this source is it creates no pollution, but a negative is the dams and reservoirs can flood, damaging wildlife around it. Afterwards, all the groups shared their resource poster, this was a fun experience and I was able to learn a lot of new information.

December/January Sydney

We have recently started a new unit, on cells and how they work. We began the unit by watching a movie called “Walking With Ryan” which showed and interviewed the cell parts that help it function. We learned about parts like the mitochondria, nucleolus and many more. (We also learned their purposes and their contributions to the cell) Then, after the movie, we had to match the cell organelles to their functions. So far, I have learned a large amount, and this activity could be very useful if I, or anyone, decide to enter a career in medicine. I am so glad we learned about this because I am absolutely fascinated by this topic, and I hope we can learn more about the human body in the future!

 March Sydney

One activity I performed this month was the creation of a bloop. A bloop was a way of understanding how genetics work. My table group had to pick beads out of bags; each color determined what gene or phenotype the bloop should have. After a random selection of beads, using the color key my table and I was able to construct our bloop. It had blue antennae, wings, a curly, red tail, and green eyes. We then had to go through each body part that was “picked” (wings, eyes, antennae, and tail) and using a key given to us, we determined whether the said trait was homozygous, heterozygous, dominant or recessive. This activity helped me because I finally was able to understand phenotypes, genotypes, dominant and recessive genes, and how heterozygous or homozygous traits make up a persons appearance, which was the goal of creating a bloop. I chose this activity because it was the most productive and informative project.

 Drug Abuse Resistance Education

For the past few weeks, Summit sixth graders have been taking a D.A.R.E. class to inform us how to make healthy choices. We learned the effects of tobacco, alcohol and marijuana. A D.A.R.E. officer comes in every Friday to discuss drug/alcohol abuse. I think this class was very informative; it reminded us all that as we get older we have to make more and more decisions. One of the 1st topics we talked about was smoking. Smoking damages your brain, mouth, throat, lungs, heart and your liver. A survey reported that 11/100 8th graders have smoked in the last 30 days, I think that is a reasonable number considering that amount of peer pressure that floats within schools and sports. Smoking also causes yellow teeth, bad breath and mouth/throat/lung cancer. Marijuana, which was our next topic, also causes mouth/throat/lung cancer. Marijuana slows your reflexes and affects your short term memory. (This is important to simple things like riding a bike.) Alcohol also affects your reflexes, coordination and your ability to remember certain things (like your ABCs for example) When alcohol enters your blood stream, it can cause diseases, too much alcohol will poison your liver and you can die. There are many laws against drugs and alcohol trying to protect under age kids from experimenting with it. Unfortunately, laws can be broken. (Hence the saying “laws are made to be broken”) The D.AR.E. officer gave tons of insight to peer pressure situations, and how not to give in to them. This class was made to help create healthy choices, and I think it had an effective and good impact on us all. I pledge to stay drug and alcohol free.

By: Sydney

Summit Success After seven long years at Summit, its heart breaking to leave, but I will leave with a head full of knowledge. I am extremely proud of the enormous amount I’ve learned in math and writing. I’ve learned so much in math and writing the thoughts seem to percolate out of my mouth and mind. Sixth grade has been, by far, the most educational year. I was never skilled with mathematics, but sixth grade opened up a whole new world for me. PEMDAS (parentheses, exponent, multiply, divide, add, subtract) equations were difficult, but numerous worksheets later I got the hang of it. I wrote in my reflections how much I was improving each week. A few weeks later in early November I learned to cross multiply. I was always doing lattice but because Mr. Estell insisted on cross multiplying I had to learn it. It seemed at the time that everybody but me could perform the difficult art of cross multiplying, but no more! I’ve also become very skilled with writing, the words pour from my mouth to my hand to my paper. I’m so proud of some writing assignments, two of those were recreations of “Hansel and Gretel”, told from the Witches point of view and “The Three Little Pigs” told from the Wolfs point of view. Those stories were entertaining to write and I loved the final copies of them. I’ve been recognized by the advanced class’s teacher (Mrs. Tiefenback) and Mrs. Aerts for being creative. At school I’ve been nominated for a special arts class at nagel, but to get into it I have to write five pages on five artworks I’ve done. I’m going to write only about artworks I've created in art class at school. Outside of school, I like to make random and useless things like harness to take you up a tree or boards to make triple swings. Pointless, really, but fun! Sixth grade was a rewarding year. I’ve improved greatly in mathematics and writing, thanks to worksheets and writing assignments. I enjoyed making all of the artworks that I have made. I hate to say it, but I have to: good bye Summit! It’s been a pleasure. -Sydney