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Project Nim vs Half brother

The grade 7/8 class and the Snow Lake students have just recently finished reading the book Half Brother by Kenneth Oppel. After the reading was over, we watched the documentary Project Nim. Project Nim and Half Brother are very similar, but also very different.

Some similarities are both chimps didn’t like the dominant male in the book the dominant male was Richard, in the documentary the dominant male was Herb. Both Zan and Nim were sold to a biomedical lab, both were saved from the biomedical lab. Both were truly loved by one person in the documentary nim only loved Bob, in the book Zan only liked Ben. Both liked to sign hug, but weren’t actually learning language. Both were truly connected to 1 female chimp Zan connected to Rachel, and Nim connected to Lily. All the students were just helping to get extra credit and Herb, and Richard the dominant males didn’t try to help when they were being sold to a biomedical lab. Both loved the kitten.

The differences between the 2 are that the book takes place in British Columbia the documentary took place in New York. Zan was brought into a family with an only child;Nim was brought into a family with 7 children. Nim learned many more signs then Zan did every day, and Nim had to go to school to learn. Zan just got to stay home and learn. Zan was treated much better then Nim was. Nim had to go to school and had no toys to play with or his own bedroom.

Some new information I learned was that even though chimps only grow to be five feet tall they can be five times stronger then a full grown man. I also learned that chimps are social creatures, they can’t be alone in a cage they need a friend.

there are happy things that happened in this documentary. Nim went to a horse ranch instead of a biomedical lab. Henry saved Nim from going to a biomedical lab with Bob’s help. Bob helped Chris Burn get more chimps from the biomedical lab to make Nim happy to have a friend. Nim finally found a chimp friend named Lily who eventually became a mother to Nim’s children. When Bob came back for Nim and everybody started to care for him.

Bobby Chromik

There are some disturbing parts. Herb left Nim and didn’t come back to help him even when he went to the biomedical lab. Nim threw Stephane around like a rag doll and almost killed her. Nim getting poked and prodded in the biomedical lab.

so after reading the book and watching the documentary I have a question Why do we test these products on chimps if there going to be used on humans we aren’t the same so it might have a different affect on us ?

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Fylers win Pittsburgh goes golfing

My favorite thing is the Philadelphia Flyers. The flashing colors of orange as they rush down the ice with the puck. The talent as the the rookies try for their first goal. The announcer voice bellowing that there’s only one minute left in the third period. Most importantly the celebration of the players as Jaromir Jagr scores the goal to come back from the 3-2 to tie the game with 10 seconds left.
 clydeorama

Then all the unhappy away team fans leaving the arena as Claude Giroux stupendously puts the puck past Marc-Andre Fleury to score the game winning goal on the power play in over time, to put out the Pittsburgh Penguins. Amazingly awesome.

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The Yankees are Losing, the Yankees are Losing

On April 26 the grade 7/8 class went to Tillsonburg to learn about the war of 1812 with some Americans. Both came to Robin Barker-James’ farm re-enact the battle of Lundys Lane, the massacre of Fort Niagara and to have a little debate on who really won the War of 1812.

One of my best moments was the cannon training. This one was a British Canadian win as the British cannons were the only ones left standing. Logan, Jeff, Brayden, and I were the ones manning the last cannon as so it was a good moment for me.

My best moment was the massacre of Fort Niagara. This was a complete embarrassment for the Americans as the British won without a fight. As our native allies create lots of noise to convert the americans attention on them which left 2 or 3 guards to stop our force from marching right in the fort. They were easily bayoneted so the British force could walk right in. As soon as the first volley was fired the Americans surrendered for their protection.

One thing that I learned is that the British are the best bayonet fighter in the world at this time. The British could easily just get close enough then bayonet their way to victory because they were so good at fighting with the. The Americans were more of the kind to shoot their way to victory not stab. This was sad when the Americans completely owned us in the bayonet training.

The big thing that came out of this trip is that even though during war we were enemies ,we weren’t so different from each other. Though we wore different suits, we had a lot in common with each other, we both had facebook , we both thought it was a fun day, and we both liked to share a good insult to each other about hockey.

 

 hdurnin

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Animal Slavery Such a Terrible Thing

The grade 7 and 8 class at Turnberry   is reading the book Half Brother by Kenneth Oppel via Skype with a class in Snow Lake, Manitoba. In the story so far ,the Tomlin family has adopted a baby chimp named Zan. Mr. Tomlin ( Richard) is teaching it to communicate with sign language. Mr. Tomlin’s son Ben is having to help his brother learn sign language too, along with Sarah ,hired man Peter, and many other University students.Right now in the book there is a lot of talk about animal slavery.  The question I’m answering is Peter describes Zan’s situation – being taking from the wild and brought up as a human – as a “kind of slavery” What does he mean by this? Do you agree or disagree? Explain.

I agree with Peter that this is kind of slavery.  Richard took Zan away from his home in the wild which is where all chimps learn ,and is now forcing him to learn.For example, Richard taking away Zan’s time with  Ben  which is when Zan signs or learns the most  but instead  has him learn in the “learning chair”.  Richard is using Zan to make money,but Zan is not getting anything from it.  For example, Ben said he didn’t want to get paid unless he could get something for Zan with the money.  In conclusion I think Slavery is a very cruel thing to see, hear, and do hopefully someday animal slavery will stop.


cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by timparkinson

Why would someone ever want to be that cruel to a poor little creatures ?

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Speech time

What is ambidextrous, absolutely adorable and non-aquatic?That is what I am here to talk to you about.
Good day Mrs. Durnin and fellow classmates.  I am hear to talk to you about a topic that has become extremely important to all of us.The snow kitten or as some may know it the polar bear !The polar bear is Ambidextrous, cute, white, but as they get older they become a formidable opponent. Against anything or anyone in it’s path, anything  well maybe not climate change. The polar bear is the youngest of the 8 known species of bear,they are largest  non-aquatic predators. There’s usually 2 to 4 cubs in a litre,cubs usually stay with their mothers for 21/2 years. Their features are very important in the kind of weather condition’s they indure . Their toes are not webbed, but are excellent for walking on snow as they bear non-retractable claws which dig into the snow like ice-picks. Their nose’s are able to detect prey that are almost a kilometre away and up to a metre under the compacted snow, using their heightened sense of smell. The average male polar bear full grown is about 8 to 11.5   feet tall standing on it’s back legs, and weighs 770 to 1500 pounds.The females are 500 to 1000 pounds, and 6.5 to 8 feet tall on there back legs. Polar bear population has recently dropped significantly in ten last ten years Today, 25,000 to 40,000 polar bears roam the Arctic.  Most polar bears can be found in the Arctic circle. The Arctic circle is a combined 8 country’s Canada, U.S.A (mostly Alaska) , Russia, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland. 60% percent of polar bears live in Canada .They live in a snowy and icy habitat, but recently the ice caps have melted. So polar bears have had to wait longer to go out on the ice to catch there main food source seal, They also feed on walruses, belugas, narwhals, waterfowl and seabirds.With that much meat in there diet it’s surprising they’re not fatter. To catch seal’s Polar bears find a seal air hole and sneak up on it slowly and sit there until a seal comes up to breathe and then they scoop him right out of the hole. Wow these bears are patient when it come’s to a meal. The polar bear is classified as Vulnerable on the I.U.C.N. Red List of endangered species. Which means  International Union for Conservation of Nature  is the world’s most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological species. Ursus maritimus is the scientific name. It means sea bear.Later, the scientific name Thalarctos gained acceptance. It is a combination of the Greek thalasso, meaning sea, and arctos, meaning bear of the north. The polar bears skin is actually black, which allows them to soak up as much heat as possible from the sun. There fur is also transparent. They are also great swimmers and will swim from ice floe to ice floe. They dog-paddle with their head and much of their back above water. Their blubber helps to float them as they swim. They can swim at an average of 6 miles per hour.Polar bears have been known to swim 161 kilometers at a stretch. Man that would get you to Toronto from here.

 ucumari
In conclusion, it is obvious to this adolescent that bears are clearly amazing animals.  It would detrimental to our environment if we did not take the inititative to protect their well being within our ecosystem.  We should do whatever we can to stop climate change so then one day further generations can see them.

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Nothing like a good family argument

Turnberry and Snow Lake have decided to read the book half brother by Kenneth Oppel via skype,there are many of themes so we made a connection to one of them. In the story Half-Brother every time Ben’s family fights they get farther apart. This reminds me of the Percy Jackson series. Every time the gods fight over if Percy should live,or not Poseidon gets farther apart for his brother and sisters because they want to kill his son even though he can save the world.


dougmino

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Funny Christmas storys

My family’s Christmas’s are very funny but I’m just telling one very funny story. Dec 24,2007 My family was over at my cousin’s house for a Christmas Eve get together. We got there and started to eat then it came time to open gift’s. My family opened ours gifts up first we all loved what we got. Then we realized that we had forgot there gift’s.So we drove back home got the gift’s. Just to know that they had fallen asleep so we set the gift’s at their front door and finally went to sleep after a long night. We woke up the next morning having the phone to keep ringing . Eventually we got tired and picked it up. It was my cousin’s calling that we never came back. We eventually got to tell them that they we at the front door. Peel Christmas’s will never not be funny.

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Polar Bears

The main problem is that green house emissions have caused ice caps in the arctic to melt. As a result polar bears have had to re adapt to live longer each year in Churchill, Manitoba. Just recently the government put polar bears as a species of special concern. When data collected by a source clearly shows that they should be in the threatened category. I made a Glogsterto summarize my research.

The steps we toke were first we started to look at Andy MiKel’s blog. Then we started to raise money to adopt a polar bear.We had started Nov 18th we ended at Nov 30 th. That gave us just 2 weeks to raise $250. At first it was just our class ,but as we got closer to our goal we started to get other people getting into the donations. After the 2 week was a sigh of relief we had made our goal with some money to spare all together we raised $294 . The next day we all celebrated with coke’s special white cans with polar bears on it, and special donuts from Tim Horton’s ,not to mention a skype call with the man who inspired us Andy MiKel.

I thought that this hole experience was amazing. Not only did we get to adopt a polar bear we also got to see what we can do as a class if we all work together. I almost couldn’t donate because my dad doesn’t believe that polar bears are endanger  of becoming extincted over the next few decades. I made a<a href="” target=”_blank”> Glogster to summarize my research.
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Running + Math = BLOG

This September,  my class practiced  Cross Country running every day.  It wasn’t enjoyable, according to the Jacob scale of fun.  Then we made a goggle speadsheet on the data.  The data is about the pace compared to distance.  As you can tell, I am never going to be a cross country runner.   There is one way I can improve my Cross Country running.   The way I improved in my running is in my attitude towards running.  Before September, I would never want to run any distance.  Now, I look forward to a chance to run.  Who knows, maybe someday, my dad and I will run a marathon (not likely)!! I also think after all that training, moaning and groaning, I can now run faster and longer then I used to.  There are certain goals I made for my physical fitness when running.  Those goals are to build my endurance when running.  I also wish to achieve a kilometer in less than five minutes.  I will have to make sure that I do not goof around and that I pay attention to feedback. 

This graph shows Pace and Distance for my Cross Country Training.

 

 

 aldoaldoz

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Ten Marks and a Train Ticket

The book Ten Marks and a Train Ticket written  by Susy Golstein, Gina Hamilton and Wendy Share. This story’s all about a Jewish boy and his brother trying to escape from Nazis persecution. Here is a link to my timeline summary.

Graphics-I chose an image in my head that should be in the book. That image is when Benno and Heinz got stopped at the border to Holland. They got taken back to Berlin but got on anther  train but troubles weren’t over yet when the train they were on had some Nazis soldiers on it. Benno and Heinz had to go to a empty compartment that had no light. They were very lucky when the soldiers turned around. To me  this image is pretty terrifying.
Quotation- After Kristallnacht life in Berlin was very unsafe for Jewish children. I could often her the Hitler Youth laugh and shout “Kill the Jews”,This quoat was very important to the characters. Benno had finally figured out why his parents were whispering so much Berlin was very unsafe. Benno’s parent tried really hard to get Visas and to get out of Germany. This showed that Benno’s parent really loved him and Heinz.

Two questions I still have are how did Heinz die?
Why did Benno move to Canada?