Fourth Graders

California Sea Lion

Mr. Science enjoyed the afternoon at the Central Park Zoo with their California sea lions. What interesting animals. They are a marine mammal. That means they spend most or all of their life in water. They migrate from as far south as Baja, Mexico to as far north as Alaska.

They have adapted to ocean habitats in order to live, and live comfortably. What are three adaptations wild sea lions have made to survive in their habitats?

For Fourth Grade Eyes Only

If you are here, it means you've made it to the fourth grade. CONGRATULATIONS!!! Welcome to our class blog.

This is a very cool tool we will be using in our class all year long. We will be using the Internet to post our writing, create podcasts (more to come with this later),  speak audio clips and film video clips here. Our class is basically going to be publishers, radio DJs, and T.V. actors all in one.

"What tha heck?" you say?

Well, as my dad would tell me when I would ask the same thing, "Stick with me kid..."

Ahhh yes. Many adventures await us this year. If you're up for it, I promise to take you to places you've never dreamed.

But.............ah yes, the "but"...........but there is a price to pay.

"What do I have to pay?" you ask?

Well, if you are really interested in seeing things you've never seen before and doing thing you've never dreamed of doing, and you are willing to pay the price, simply tell me about it by cilcking on the comment button below and typing your respone. You have to type more than one sentence. C'mon.

Jazz

Jazz music is considered the only art form to have began in the United States. And not only did it begin here, but it came from African Americans in the late 1800s. Jazz is a combination of black spirituals, ragtime, and blues. But that is putting this art form in a box...jazz cannot be so simply contained like this.

Jazz can be performed by many instruments including ones voice. In the video you see a man playing a saxophone in Central Park. There is no one correct way to play jazz. J. A. Roger said, "Jazz isn't just music, but also a spirit that can express itself in almost everything."  To learn more about jazz music click here.

Lewis Carroll

While on a walk in Central Park the other day I came across this sculpture. I wondered about it so I took a picture because I wanted to investigate this curiosity when I got home. After all, it isn't every day one sees a sculpture of a rabbit in a waists coat looking at a pocket watch, a similar sized man with a very large hat on, and a girl sitting on top of a mushroom. When I got home I discovered that the girl is named Alice and she had quite an adventure with the rabbit and the man.

In fact, a man named Lewis Carroll told the entire story of Alice and her adventures in a place called Wonderland. Below is the start of his story. Read it and see if this first little bit captures your curiosity.

Hurricane Katrina

In New Orleans, Louisiana a large tropical storm called a hurricane left many Americans with out food, clean water, shelter, medicine, and in many cases, their lives. Scientists give hurricanes names. They named the hurricane that blasted New Orleans- Katrina.

Time for Kids, a magazine for kids, has a short article about what happened when Katrina hit.

Maybe you have some feelings or thoughts about Hurricane Katrina and what has happened to the people living in the areas affected. There are other children who have had thoughts and feeling and have written about it. Look here to see what other kids are saying. If you have something you want to say, feel free to do so in the comments. We may be able to get your thought on the Time for Kids web page.

Frog Adaptation

Mr. Science spent the morning at the New York Botanical Garden wading around in one of their pond habitats. While I was wading I heard a small voice croak up at me and say, "Hey Mr. Science, watch where you're walking." I looked down and didn't see anything. So I asked, "Who said that?" and a small frog waived his little foot at me. I appologized and waded a different direction.

I didn't see him because he was blending in with his environment. He was green just like the plants he was sitting on.

Watch the video below and see if you can spot the frogs in their pond habitat. How does being green help the frogs?

Balto

In Central Park there is a statue of a dog named Balto. Balto did something very special for the children of Nome, Alaska in 1925. Can you tell me what he did? And, can you tell me the sporting event that evolved because of what he did?

Palendromes

A palendrome is a number that reads the same forward and backward. For example 22, 575, and 1331. To make a number that is not a palendrome like 23, into a palendrome, all you need to do is add that number (23) to the reversal of itself (32). For example, 23 + 32. The answer is 55 which is a one step palendrome.

In some instances, you will need to repeat this step more than once. In the example of 57, you would first add 57 + 75 to get 132. Next you would add 132 + 231. The answer is 363, which is a two step palendrome.

My question for you is:

How many one step palendromes can you find in the numbers 1-100? List them in the form of a number sentence. For example, 23 + 32 = 55.