The Mighty Five - January Post

The Mighty five: The five national parks in Utah

    Have you ever heard of the Mighty Five? They are the five scenic national parks in the state of Utah. Each park is unique for it’s own features. Reaching from the Southeastern part to the Southwestern part of Utah, our national parks contain many different landscapes. If you are looking for an adventure go to Bryce, Zion, Arches, Canyonlands, or Capitol Reef. In Bryce you will stare up at the towering “hoodoos”. At Zion, the oldest national park, you can hike the narrow slot canyons. You can race the sun at Arches to see the sun rise in between the archways. At the largest national park , Canyonlands, you can ride your bike, or the rapids. Finally, Capitol Reef you can watch the stars or peer over the jaw-dropping cliffs. The five national parks in Utah are something to add to your bucket list!

The Amazing Penguin Rescue

The Amazing Penguin Rescue

We all know about oil spills and how they can hurt the environment, but do you know how people can help? On June 23, 2000 an oil spill threatens thousands of African penguins. Humans helped these penguins by thousands of people showing up to help these penguins.

Since the oil spill threatened the penguins, thousands of people donated their time to help them. In the article “The amazing penguin rescue” it quotes, ”All across the beach people were capturing the penguins to load them into crates.” Since there were over 40,000 penguins with each 1 fighting back, by biting and flapping their wings, it took a large group of people to capture these penguins so they could be saved. Because of their love for penguins these humans helped save them from the oil spill.

Humans helped these penguins by thousands of people coming to help and donating time to help these penguins. Because of humans ability to work together they were able to save the penguins. This truly was the amazing penguin rescue.

January Post- Audrey Godfrey

Horse training is a fun and adrenaline pumping experience for you and your horse, if you do it right. Horses are fun animals to work with and ride, if they’re trained, and if they are trained correctly. Horse training can be a fun or unpleasant. It really depends on you and your attitude and patience towards the horse to determine if you experience is fun or not. Training a horse can be dangerous, especially if it’s wild. If you approach your horse with calmness and gentleness you will have a much more pleasant experience. If you are jittery and not confident, then your fear might have an effect on the horse. You can look calm and relaxed on the outside, but be screaming on the inside. Another key element for training a horse successfully is to be firm. You always need to be firm and demand respect from your horse. If you let it get away with a bad habit or bad behavior, the horse might continue to do that bad thing and it could cause much more problems in the future. I’ve learned a lot about myself and about the horse I’m training through my experiences. I love training, and it is so much fun. I love working with these majestic and magnificent creatures so they can be even more enjoyable and rideable!

Human Robots

Human Robots

Scientists are building special robots that can help humans with their everyday jobs, and they don’t mind doing the dirty work. They have to be programmed a special way to be able to do this. Sometimes it is difficult for robots to do this but scientists are still working on it. We have come a long way but we are not done yet.

Before the robots can work like humans, they have to be programmed. They can be programmed in different ways for different jobs. Some robots are robot athletes and compete with other robots. Scientists are working on a robot that can be a life saver in emergencies. It will be difficult because they have to teach them many different moves. But building sport robots is great practice.

Building the human robots is quite a challenge for scientist. It must be practically perfect before it can put peoples life in its hands. We have made so many discoveries about the human robots and are discovering more each day. We have come a long way but can still go further. Maybe someday you will have a human robot in your house!

January Post: People Saving Penguins

People Saving Penguins

In the last 20 years there have been many oil spills throughout the world and many animals have suffered including penguins. Luckily, there are some people dedicated to saving these little flightless birds. In September of 1998 and June of 2000 there were 2 horrible oil spills. They injured and poisoned over 50,000 penguins. Many humans helped the penguins by making their condition more bearable in so many ways.  

A couple things that humans did to save the lives of these poor little birds was to provide them with a temporary home, care for them day and night, and they were able to provide them with tiny sweaters to keep them warm.. According to the article “The Amazing Penguin Rescue”: “A team of scientists and volunteers [transformed] a warehouse into a penguin rescue center.” Also according to the article, “Saving Penguins One Sweater At A Time!”: Workers at Phillip Island Nature Center came up with the brilliant idea to collect teeny-tiny penguin sweater to keep them warm because they couldn’t do it themselves. Humans providing these things for the penguins shows that they are devoted to helping the penguins recover from their injuries. Therefore, this information shows that these humans were able to come up with ideas to help solve the problem on how to save the injured penguins from the deadly oil spills.

In conclusion to my essay, humans helped the penguins by making their conditions more bearable and creating different ways to help them recover fully.  This is important due to the fact that things like this happen every year. Animals habitats are either destroyed or harmed by humans. This causes the death and injuring of countless innocent animals as well. Luckily, there are some people out there willing to help those poor animals who can’t help themselves.

Skylar's new post about Jimmy

    Jimmy was a water bear. He didn’t care about much really. He was the type who could easily ignore just about anything and move on. Nuclear radiation? No big deal. The empty void of space? Not a problem.  Nothing seemed to bother Jimmy the water bear. Nothing except being called by the name Mr. Tardigrade. Being called by a scientific name was about the only thing Jimmy couldn’t ignore. It didn’t matter if he was swimming in the gigantic hot springs or freezing in the ice of Antarctica, he simply did not like being called a tardigrade. Instead of being angry at the name callers, he simply asked them to stop calling him that. And you know what?  They listened. They listened because they knew Jimmy was a nice guy. They listened because that is people do when a water bear speaks. One little hiccup and Jimmy went on with his microscopic life just as he always had. He swam and ate and he lived without fear.  Nobody could step on him because water bears can survive the pressure of 600 times our atmosphere. Pollution couldn’t bother him because he was toxin resistant. He was never hot and never cold. Life was perfect for Jimmy. He was a water bear, and water bears don’t care--as long as you don’t call them a tardigrade!

Homework is a problem. Students should not have to do it. Homework causes anxiety, it does not affect grades, and homework gets in the way of after school activities.

First of all, homework causes anxiety. Teachers are always piling more and more homework on us. It can be very stressful. Some students struggle with homework and they can’t get help from their parents. Homework causes kids anxiety and then they are not happy. Homework is not worth all the stress some kids have to go through.

Secondly, homework does not affect grades. In a debate from Debate.org someone said, “The average seven hour school day is more than enough time to learn.” Some students are in situations where they don’t even do homework or their parents do it for them. Studies have shown that homework doesn't really do anything for kids, except cause more anxiety and stress. Homework does not affect grades

Finally, homework gets in the way of after school activities. If students aren't stuck doing hours of homework, then they could get a job or do something to help the community. Many students have things they do after school, such as sports or music lessons. With all the homework we get, they stay up very late trying to get it all done. It also takes away from family time. In the article “Should Schools Ban Homework” it says, “Students need between six to seven hours of fresh air and sunshine.” Homework get in the way of after school activities.

Therefore, let it be resolved that homework should be banned from schools. Students should not have to do it. It causes anxiety, it does not affect grades, and homework gets in the way of after school activities. Let’s face it: no one likes homework. I so move.

Penguins saved from oil spills

Have you ever wondered what we do to save penguins from man made disasters, such as oil spills? In the ‘Amazing penguin rescue’ and ‘Saving the penguins one sweater at a time’ It talks about how people save penguins from oil spills. When ships get damaged and leak oil through the water, it brings danger to many animals. The damage to the penguins is devastating. The oil burns their eyes, spreads their feathers apart, which make them cold and they get hypothermia. They try to get the oil off with their beaks and swallow the oil in the progress.

People helped penguins by making sweaters for them. In ‘Saving penguins one sweater at a time’ it says “The workers were scrambling to save the oil-slicked birds, but the penguins were in bad shape. They could not keep warm. to make matters worse, they were trying to preen their feathers to get rid of the oil. In the process, they were swallowing the toxic oil, which would slowly kill them. If the workers didn’t act quickly, the little penguins were not going to survive. Then the workers had an unusual idea: sweaters. Teeny-tiny penguin sweaters.” There was just not much they could do for the penguins, until they came up with the sweater idea. Therefore, humans saved the penguins by brilliantly making them sweaters.

Humans helped penguins also by taking them to a warehouse to keep them warm and feed them food there. In ‘Scholastic News’ It says, ten miles from the island, outside the city of Cape Town, a team of scientists and volunteers has transformed a warehouse into a penguin rescue center. They work with astonishing speed. The warehouse contains hundreds of round enclosures, each large enough to accommodate 100 penguins. other areas of the warehouse have been designated for washing penguins. one room is filled with ten tons of frozen fish, the amount needed daily to feed the penguins.” Everyday they have to force feed the penguins because they won’t eat. The humans helped the penguins, even when they would fight back and bite them with their sharp beaks. People have made a warehouse into a penguin rescue center because they care for the penguins and will risk getting hurt for them.

            It is amazing how people are coming together to help the penguins, by either volunteering to feed and bathe them, make sweaters for them, or help clean up the toxic oil. these people are sacrificing their time and money just for the penguins. Therefore, that is what people have done to save penguins.

Should Celebrities Advertise Junk Food To Kids?

Do you think that celebrities should advertise junk food to kids? Would it be a problem? I think that it is their decision! The first reason why i think that it is their choice is because it is not their responsibility to watch what kids around the world eat? That is their parents job! They can eat and drink whatever they want to!  The second reason i think that is it is up the child of what they eat! My third reason is it is not very fair to let kids eat whatever they want and not let the celebrities! I  think that it is the celebrities choice if they want to be on an advertisement or not!

The first reason why  i think that it is their choice is because it is not their responsibility to watch what the kids around the globe are eating! It is the kids choice to pick what they eat! The children look at what their parents eat and thats what they eat! They were taught that in their younger years! That is why i think that it is the nonsense!

The second reason why i think that it is the celebrities choice on whether to be on a commercial or not is because it is up to the kids on what they eat! It is just a person! They shouldn’t think just because that person is doing that i might as well too! They should never think that! It is not the celebrities fault that there are obese kids on the planet! There is only obese kids because of what they put into their bodies! It is up to them!

My last reason is that it is not very fair that kids get to eat whatever they want and celebrities would have to stick to a diet or something and not be able to eat any treats! It is not very fair to let kids eat junk and not let celebrities just because they are famous?? i think that they should be able to eat whatever they want. People are on junk food advertisements all the time? Why not celebrities? It will help the company get more customers! Well of course it might affect peoples weight and all but they shouldn’t put the blame on the celebrities? Why make it so other people can eat it but not famous people??

There are some reason that make me want to say “no, celebrities can’t be on advertisements!” It just makes people want to eat bad food more and gain more weight! I bet thats the problem! It might sound crazy but some people are obsessed with famous artists and celebrities, and want to do whatever they do! They might just start eating what the famous character does! It might start something terrible! I mean how terrible would it be if everyone on the planet just ate junk food? What would that start? What would the future be like? It would be terrible. That is why part of says to not let celebrities be on advertisements.

As you can see, there are some reasons that  i think that famous people should not and should be on advertisements! It is kind of a hard decision. For the most part…I think that it is there choice on their life and their decisions! It is up to them on what they choose. If kids get fat and overweight, it is not the celebrities fault! It is the child's decision if they want to eat all that junk! Part of it is the parents choice also! As you can see i think that it is the famous person’s choice to choose what they do and what they eat.

No More P.E.

You're in schools and you have to go to P.E. You hate that class then you end up in that class hating it. P.E. should not be aloud in school. People are not fit enough to do P.E. and they might get laughed at. P.E. should not be able to be in schools.

Kids are not as healthy and maybe they will get embarrassed. They will be sad and they would want to get out of that class. Kids are embarrassed easily and they would not be able to go back to school because they would be sad and depressed.

People are not in shape and they would get laughed at and they would be sad. 

people would make fun of them and would get mean to them. P.E. should be removed 

from schools and out of the country. Kids are not in shape and they would get laughed 

at.

P.E. should get removed from the schools across america. People would get 

laughed at because they are fat. They would not be able to do anything because they 

have health problems. kids are going to get laughed at. Maybe even they could even 

think of suicide. P.E. should be taken from schools.

Arjen Robben

Arjen Robben

My favorite soccer player is Arjen Robben. I found out about Arjen Robben when my favorite country soccer team, the Netherlands, played in the world cup four years ago. I saw Robben playing and he has been one of my favorite soccer players ever since. I am going to talk about what he is doing today. I’m going to talk about how he got to where he is today. I am also going to talk about how good of a soccer player he is.

Arjen Robben plays right mid, or right wing. For his career he plays on the Bayern Munich club. So obviously he lives in Munich, Germany. For his international team, he plays on my favorite country team, the Netherlands. He is 5”11, and he was born in 1984 so that makes him 30 years old. He is starting to get kind of old but I think he still has a couple more years ahead of him. He makes 5.5 million dollars, and he is married to Bernadien Eillert. His soccer number is number 10.

Arjen Robben spent the early part of his career with Groningen and PSV Eindhoven but it was not until he signed for Premier League and went to Chelsea for £12 million in the summer of 2004 that he truly hit the European stage. Three years later he left Chelsea and went to Real Madrid for £24 million. On Real Madrid Robben did spectacular. He was always compared to the best player in the world, Lionel Messi. That year Robben lead the team to win the league in front of Barcelona, Messi’s team. Later he moved to Bayern Munich and lead the team to even more league victories. Up until this day Robben has been playing for Bayern Munich.

Ok, so Arjen Robben is one of the best wingers in the game. He has so many perfect small touches that leave defenders scrambling to get back. My favorite thing that Robben does is his cut to the left. What happens is he is running down the side of the field with the ball, and when he is near the 18 yard box, he cuts in. Like I said, his touches are to perfection, so when he makes a perfect cut, it opens up a shot. If you don’t know anything about Robben you need to know he has a killer left foot. So when he cuts to the left he hits the ball like none other and the ball goes screaming to the goal. Robben scores the majority of his goals like that.

In conclusion, I hope you are starting to realize how good Arjen Robben really is. He is an amazing soccer player, an inspiration to me when I am on the soccer pitch. The guy is truly amazing. He went from playing for small teams to being one of the best soccer players in the world. Even though, he will stop playing soccer in a couple of years I will always remember him as one of my favorite soccer players ever.

Should schools ban Junk-Food? (January Post)

    Do you think that you are eating healthy? Chances are that you are not. Twenty percent of adults are either overweight or obese. That is 60 million people out in America. I think that schools all across the country should ban junk food  because most bad or good eating habits develop in the school cafeteria (which is where we spend most of our time at), kids keep buying more and more bad and unhealthy foods and it leads to bad eating habits.

    The average american eats fast food about 159 times per year. If you do the math that is about three times per week. Eating out three or more times is proven the be very unhealthy for you because it is about 990,000 calories each year. For a person from age 14-18 you will need about 873,600 calories per year.

    Poor eating habits develop in the school cafeteria at an early age which leads to a lifetime full of health risks, complications, and consequences. Every 12 ounce can of soda can increase your risk of a heart attack by 75%. Eating too much added sugars per day can cause major health issues such as obesity, diabetes, heart attacks, and in the worst case scenario, sometimes death.

Most schools have either vending machines or school stores where they can purchase junk food items but kids don’t know where to draw the line and give themselves a limit. Schools with vending machines and/or school stores tend to be a distraction in class and outside of class. Kids can make sticky messes and leave trash everywhere or they can eat it during class, distract other students along with themselves, and get themselves in trouble.

Vending machines and treat stores in school help because it can raise money for lunch, go towards the cafeteria, or even to the school itself. Although it helps, it is still causing people to be more overweight, and obese because kids are constantly buying food and it becomes an addiction. I think that we should ban junk food in school because it leads to bad habits, obese children and it is a distraction.

What I Did Over Christmas Break

(Post for January)

 My Christmas break was unusual, although it started out pretty normal. I got lots of soccer things for Christmas like cleats, a soccer jacket, a soccer ball, and even a soccer goal. Every thing was going great for me. However, one day soon after Christmas, me and my little brothers got a letter in the mail. It said that our family was going on a surprise trip. We got exited and started freaking out. After that day we got in the car and drive off. It was kind of weird not knowing where you were going to sleep that night. All my mom and dad said is that the place we were going was interesting.                           

After driving in the van for about five hours, there we were and there it was. I was out in the middle of nowhere near Death Valley. All we saw was a one hundred year old hotel. The paint was coming off. The walls looked like they were about to fall down any minute There was a lock on one of the doors. It looked like the place had been abandoned for years. But, there was no other place for us to sleep the night, at least that's what mom said. 

 We walked into the rusty old hotel. It was lined with green carpet. There were lots of random images painted on the walls, and it smelled really bad. It was very surprising to see two people were actually there. They gave us our key and then we walked down to the room. As I walked down the hall, I saw the pipes on the walls. Room after room after room. It just kept on going. There was real paint on the walls that was starting to come off.  At the very end of the hall, there was a very large creepy mirror on the wall draped in red velvet.  My dad told us that when it got dark, the images in the mirror would talk back to you.

Finally we found the place where we would be sleeping.  There were small beds, a desk, and one, very foul-smelling bathroom. The room had no heater, and it was freezing. "Oh great," I thought, " I will just have to sleep in the van." 

After our family unloaded our bags, we took a tour of the hotel. I was completed surprised by what the tour had in store for us.  The door with the lock on it turned out to be an opera house. There were pictures and paintings on every wall, every door frame, and ceiling.  Every inch was covered with paint. The paintings had a king and queen, knights, cats, jokers, and much more. 

Staying overnight wasn't that bad, actually, even though  I had to sleep on the floor. It was cold, but it worked out in the end. That was the highlight of my Christmas break.   

    

Rebekah: January: Foxes Part 1

Chapter 1: Mother

I carefully licked clean my new born babies, waiting impatiently for their eyes to open. One of them, with a shining black coat began to squirm, and I lowered my head to see if the baby’s eyes were open or not. Slowly, they began to flicker open, and I caught a glance of a dazzling green color.

           “There, there,” I whispered, rubbing my head as gently as I could against the cub. The small fox began to make a small mewing sound, asking for food as two others began to fidget around. The smallest of the four lay still, and I carefully nudged it with my muzzle. In the distance, I could hear a coyote howl, and I looked around for the predator, wrapping my tail protectively around the young ones. I didn't realize at that moment that the coyote had made its way down the close hill and was hiding in some nearby bushes.

          Suddenly a sharp bark startled me as the predator soared out of its hiding spot, eying my cubs. I growled at him, hoping he’d back off, but he knew I was too weak to fight back. He growled in return and bolted forward. Before he could reach me, another red fox, with a black coat, shoved him over and barked viciously, clawing at him.

          “Cole!” I shouted, recognizing the father fox. He turned to look at me, and the coyote took his chance. With a thunderous growl, he bit Cole’s neck hard. Blood gushed out of the wound that covered more than half of his neck. With an earsplitting yelp Cole fell next to my fox hole, gone. The coyote grabbed Cole, shook him a few times, and then focused on me and my cubs. He lunged forward, grabbed the nearest, and only boy cub, then suddenly looked scared and ran off as more foxes charged.

           “NO! My baby!” I screamed, but I was too weak to stand up. I only barked after the coyote, even though I knew it was no use.

           A young female fox poked her head in and asked quietly, “Are you okay?” I nodded, but sniffled, knowing that I would never get my cub back again.  “I’m sorry about your cub madam.” the little vixen continued. “My sister got stolen by an eagle because she ran away after she learned to run.”

           “Thank you.”

           “I’m June. I can play with your cubs when they get older and watch them for you when you’re gone.”

           “Thank you for offering June.”

           After June left, fox mothers swarmed my fox hole, asking questions, until finally, a father shooed them away, so I could focus on my cubs.

           

Music.

Music

There are so many different kinds of music to listen to. So much variety. It is amazing how much talent people have to make music. Being able to listen to the music that other people make and liking how it sounds, is so fascinating. Sometimes I want to make my own, and I want to see how people would react to it. Would they like it? would it relate to someones life? Music can change your mood no matter what it is. When you are having a bad day, just listen to some happy tunes and it will take the stress away.

Penguins - Lucy DeLand - January Post

Saving the Penguins

    Many penguins in the world are in big trouble so people around the world are trying to help. According to the article “Saving Penguins, One Sweater at a Time”, Over the past 15 years, more than 1,000 penguins have been saved by people because they give them sweaters. Studies show that if penguins get into an oil spill, then their feathers will all clump up and then dry. The reason why penguins have lots of feathers, is to keep themselves warm. But when their feathers are letting cold water on their skin, they get cold. Since that happens people are saving them by giving them sweaters to keep them warm.

    Oil spills in the ocean are among the most devastating disasters. When oil spills happen, people find as many penguins as possible that they can save. After that, they bring them to a warehouse where they can wash and feed them. Then, they put a nice, warm, cozy sweater on them. This helps the penguins stay nice and warm for their habitat.

    In the end, people want to help penguins survive, and in order to do that, they bring penguins to a warehouse where they can wash, feed, and care for them. Penguins usually don’t have much trouble living on their own, but once and oil spill comes, they are in danger. As long as people keep saving penguins, they will rebuild a better family instead of losing one.

Accidents #4

Accidents #4

“That’s right viewers, the area commonly known as the peaceful town has had a major accident leaving one dead and two hospitalized.”  one of the reporters said.  I couldn't believe it.  Someone in the accidents is dead.  It must have been the person who crashed into my parent’s car because I knew my parents were alive, well my dad was halfway alive.  While I was deep in thought one of the reporters spotted me and ran over to the elevators with the cameraman in tow.  “Hello, I’m Jimmy Greenwood from Reporters Live, I’m wondering if you know Frank and Sara Lenny or John Rezinla?”  

“I know Frank and Sara.”  I replied tiredly with tears on the verge of breaking at the mention of their name.

“Wonderful, would you mind talking about them when the show comes back on?”

“You know, I don’t really feel like it.”

“Come on just a few minutes wouldn't hurt, now would it?”  Jimmy said pouting.

“The girl said she didn't want to do it, now why don’t you go back to your own darn business!”  Nurse Kay said clearly annoyed.  “And why don’t you and your buddies take your interviews outside, this place is crowded enough already.”  Acting sad, but a clearly annoyed Jimmy, turned to the other two reporters talking to each other and waved them outside.  “If you feel ready to talk about the accident just go outside.”

After him and the other two reporters left; I turned to Nurse Kay and said, “Thanks, Nurse Kay.  I was going to break down if he stayed any longer.”  

“Oh, it’s no problem doll face, I have to deal with him on a regular basis, in his free times he likes getting sprained ankles and terrible scars.  Every time he is in here, he will go up to people sitting in the waiting room and try to get every drop of info in his no good head.”  Nurse Kay said while shaking her head.  “If you ask me, he needs to get his nose out of people’s business.”  I couldn't help, but smile.  The nice forty year old women with a southern accent, I had met a few minutes ago had turned devil when Jimmy Greenwood wouldn't leave me alone.  “Kay, is there a phone I can use to call my aunt and uncle?”  I asked trying not to remember the conversation I had with my mother.  “There is one, follow me.”  she said as she turned around and entered a long empty hallway.  

Halfway down the hallway, I turned towards one of the sides and I was face to face with my reflection.  I studied my face tracing every detail trying to remember how I looked today.  My caramel colored hair looked the same, but it was no longer in a ponytail.  My ocean blue eyes looked more teal colored and were puffy from crying.  I remembered when I was younger I would try to count the freckles on my face.  “Hun, are you coming?”  Nurse Kay called from the end of the hallway.  Taking one last glance in the mirror, I ran to Nurse Kay.  

“Sorry, I got distracted”

“Oh, you’re fine sweetie, if we didn't have that mirror up I am pretty sure I would be a huge mess.”

“Why is that?”  I asked curiously.

“Checking my reflection is what keeps me sane in this place, also the doctor I usually assist likes us to look our best, it makes people feel more comfortable he says.  Oh, look at that, here we are.”  She says stopping in front of tall white door that was open a crack.  “Phone is on the desk just enter nine before calling the number.”  As I enter the room, I recall my aunt’s phone number.  “Okay so nine, seven, five, one,”  I say each number aloud as I dial it.  “zero, two, six, enter.”   I hold the phone to my ear and wait for a response.  “Hello, who is this?”  my aunt Rose’s voice said.  “Hey, aunt Rose this is O.C." 
"O.C., are you okay?" she said with a voice saying that she had been crying, "I just heard the news!"

Are Science and Religion Enemy's?

                        Yes, I think science and religion are enemy's. Why? Because science and religion often have different explanations for the same thing. Two examples of this are how the Earth was created and human evolution. In those situations, science and religion have two completely different ideas. Although, I do think that enemy's is to strong of a word. They are in conflict with each other. That is why I think science and religion are, not enemy's, but in conflict with each other.

December Post Seth

Dear Scotland,

For many generations a large majority of your people have believed that a gigantic monster existed and lived in your most famous lake, the lake, of the Loch Ness.  While the story of the Loch Ness monster has been going around for decades, is there really a need to keep looking for it?  Think about it, no one has found any real evidence of its existence for more than 80 years, you’ve also done sonar scans of the entire lake and found nothing of any tremendous size living in it, and how could it live in it, the lake is too cold for almost any plants to grow, let alone giant fish.

Just because the Loch Ness monster is interesting and scary, how does that mean that it is actually real?  More than 1,000 people have claimed to have seen the monster come out of the lake, and what evidence did they bring back? NONE!  What I’m saying is that shouldn’t one of these many people have taken a photo!  Whether it had been with a camera or a cell phone, how did each of these people see the monster without thinking,”Hey, I should probably bring some evidence back with me so people don’t think I’m crazy,”.  I believe that this is respectable evidence that almost all of these people are attention seekers or otherwise people that just want to freak out the locals.

Another question that could pose a problem to the existence of the Loch Ness monster is how could it live so long?  Just think, no creature can live forever, so it would have to reproduce, but that poses another question, how can there be more than one monster of extraordinary size living in the same lake, and very few people can see them?  Also, the sonar scans that you have already attempted haven’t shown any large creatures in the lake, surely one of these creatures should have been out and about trying to find food or something else. I mean, they can’t all be hiding in some random under water cave that is so gigantic that it can hold the entire family of them.

Even more questions that go against its existence is how could it even live in there in the first place?  The lake is cold enough that hardly anything can live in it, so how would it be able to get enough food to support the entire family? As mentioned earlier, there would have to be more than one monster so it could reproduce, because there is more than one then the monster would have to be eating massive amounts of food daily, but has anyone noticed anything unusually disappearing, nope.

This is my opinion that you should not continue the search for the monster of the Loch Ness.  No one has found any proof of its existence, there must be more than one monster in the lake, increasing the chances of someone finding proof, and the living environment in the lake is so harsh that it couldn’t possibly survive.

Sincerely yours,

Seth Millward

Skylar's January post all about penguins

    Oil spills are one of the worst environmental disasters that can occur. They destroy the environment, pollute the water and wreak havoc on those who depend on the ocean to live.  These disasters are unfortunate for the people involved, but they are critical for the penguins. Oil spills have been hurting penguins and their habitats for years. Fortunately, these helpless birds can survive such devastation, because of us. Volunteers have helped penguins overcome oil spills by organizing cleaning centers all over the world and by knitting them sweaters.

    In 2000, an oil spill occurred near the biggest African penguin breeding ground in the world. The devastation was instant. Thousands of penguins became coated in a toxic goo, which clumped their feathers and burned their eyes.We (as humans) rushed to the rescue. Various centers were set up for the immediate treatment of the injured penguins. The affected penguins were collected and transferred to these centers where  they were treated and cleaned. According to the Scope article “The Amazing Penguin Rescue”, this was the most effective rescue ever--more than 40,000 birds were saved. Just one oil spill affected 40,000! Our rescue efforts saved thousands of birds.

    Two years earlier, in Australia, there was another oil spill near the penguin breeding ground. This spill was not as tragic as the one in 2000, but it still had tragic results. In the Scope magazine article “Saving Penguins, One Sweater at a Time” it said that the volunteers instantly got to work knitting sweaters to help penguins. I know what you’re thinking-- “Sweaters? For penguins?” Yes. The sweaters were meant to keep the penguins from trying to get the toxic oil out of their feathers. The sweaters also worked to absorb the excess oil.  The volunteer effort made a huge difference. They saved over 1,000 penguins and now, anyone can donate mini sweaters in case another oil spill happens.

    Some penguins continue to have major difficulties as a result of these spills but with our help, they will continue to survive. All of the washing and sweater knitting paid off. Our efforts have helped, and will continue to help these birds survive. If we keep planning and helping, these penguins will live longer and have a better quality of life. Our efforts make a difference.  Let’s keep up the effort and save the penguins!

Journey to the Center of the Earth (Part One) - Brinley Sullivan

Once upon a time, there was a princess named Gladia. She was a science geek. Gladia always wanted to travel to the center of the Earth, but everyone said that it was impossible. She wanted to prove them wrong so she built a submarine to go there.

In the middle of the night, she sneaks out of her castle, and goes to the docks where her submarine is parked. She put all of her luggage in the luggage compartment, put on her seat belt, and she was on her way.

She went down to the bottom of the ocean and then her ears started to pop. So, she thought about what to do. Gladia decided to go to the luggage compartment, got her earplugs, and she was fine. She went back to steering to the deepest part so that she could start to drill down through the three to five mile thick crust.

Gladia kept drilling for five days straight. Eventually she got so bored that she got her magical teleporter and just teleported through the entire crust to the hot, liquid mantle.

Right after Gladia got to the mantle using her magical teleporter, she put up her portable force field to protect her, and the submarine, from the pressure and heat of the mantle. Without it she would have burned to ashes.

Gladia traveled through the mantle so slowly. The molten rock was like gooey tar, almost impossible to go through. But after three years and her super sonic boom that she turned on, she finally made it to the outer core.

The outer core too was liquid rock and the pressure also very great. Gladia put up her second portable force field and everything was just swell. That is, until it popped. She got out her last of the remaining force fields and put it up.

January Post - Taylor Hatch

      Green and blue. Different shades of green and blue. All swirling around like the water at the edge of a waterfall. It's the strangest thing with gold flecks swirling around the edge kind of like wheat on a windy day. White bubbles collect in spots on the edges like bubbles in a sink. I turn away from the pond and find myself looking into a forest. The forest looks like something you might see on Winnie the Pooh in the Hundred Acre Woods. The grass is bright green and looks like the softest thing ever and I find myself wanting to lay down in it. Something about this place is just so mesmerizing. I lift my head up to look at the sky. I'd guess it's about noon by the position of the sun. I turn my head back towards the forest and start walking on a slim dirt path that looks like it is used every once in a while. After walking for about a half mile, I find myself in a field that has grass that's about three and a half feet tall. I look around and I'd say that the field is about an acre wide, and it's surrounded by beautiful bright green, orange, and red trees. I sit down right in the center of the field and stare at my Vans. I reach out to dust them off when I hear some faint voices.
      There's laughter, playful yelling, and conversations. I stand up and start slowly walking towards the voices. They're in the trees, I realize. I stop a moment and hesitate, debating whether I should leave the field and risk getting lost or staying in the field which is getting kind of boring. I make my decision and start walking through the trees. Twenty meters, turn to the right, forty meters, stop, look around, keep going, thirty more meters, and watch out for that giant tree, this is hopeless. Sighing, I sit down against the tree and close my eyes. The voices are barely a whisper now, but strangely I can understand what they are saying. I look up expecting to see nothing but tree but instead I see wood. A tree house! It looks old so I'm guessing no one uses it anymore. I pull a cute blue travel size mirror out of the black, blue and white backpack I have on my shoulder. Looking into my mirror, I see my ugly, not too dark, but not light, blond hair, my light blue eyes with dark blue around them, and my dark pink chapped lips. I reach back into my bag and pull out an EOS Chapstick. After putting the mirror and Chapstick back into my bag, I stand up and start walking around the tree.
     The tree was way larger than I realized, it was probably twelve feet around. There! I see a ladder and walk toward it, once I reach it, I start climbing up. It only takes me a few seconds to get to the top, but it seems like an eternity since my legs are so sore from walking so much. Once I get to the top, I fall into the house and just lay there. After about five minutes I start nodding off. I wake up due to the big crashes of thunder outside and can't remember my dream, or if I even had one. I stand up and see that it's pouring outside. Oh! It's not good to be in trees when there's lightning. I grab my backpack and hurry down the ladder. Ugh, I'm going to get soaked now! I start walking down the path again and remember that there were people here! Maybe I can find them and ask for help! I don't even know how I got here. I think I just kind of appeared here...  Oops! I tripped over nothing. Wow. Real smart Taylor, real smart. I stand back up and brush off the dirt that collected on my hands and knees. After walking a bit more, I decide to stop and rest. It stopped raining but it's probably going to rain again. So, I find a comfortable spot by a tree and just sit there. Boring. I get up and start walking again, and find that the path ends after a while. I kind of stand there for a minute but decide to follow the path back out, I'm not going to find any help. Once I turn around, I see a lady with beautiful, long, almost white blond hair and bright blue eyes and a gorgeous long white dress. "Hello Taylor."


I don't know if I' going to continue this, I've been working on it since like October but it doesn't really seem very good to me. I'm also still working on a title, so it just says January Post. Should I keep writing this???? I hope you like it!

He is the Bird- January Post

He is the Bird

I saw him

I was in the woods and I saw him

I started to run towards him

But then all I see is a bird

I searched and searched for him

I needed him

I needed his advice

I needed my grandpa

I remember the day he died

I cried and cried out for him

I hoped he would come back for me

I hoped we would listen to the birds together again

We would take walks in the woods

We once found a woodpecker

I remember him saying,

“The birds will make the best of friends, because they are the ones who listen the most.”

Now whenever I see a bird I think of him

I have found out that the birds really do listen

Sometimes I think maybe he is listening too

Maybe my grandpa are using the birds as a way to still talk to me

I listen to the birds sweet songs

I fill with joy just listening to them

I always listen for them

Just as I had with my grandfather