Read-Aloud: ``Mother Bruce´´

 

Click here: Read Aloud: Mother Bruce

 Click here to read the e-book:

After Peaches

After reading, please fill out this online Book Report. After you finish all 10 questions, click ``Print´´, then save that page as a PDF file and send it to your teacher. 

Advanced Graphic Novel (e-book)

 For advanced readers: 

Enjoy this Chapter Book called Food Fight. 

Click HERE for access.

https://www.tumblebooklibrary.com/ViewOnline.aspx?Is5=true&ProductID=6131

Summary:

Devin and Nadia are in a desperate race to stop a multinational corporation from gaining control of the food supply and destroying their mother's career in the process. While Devin and Nadia spend summer vacation at a university camp for little kids—Nadia as a counselor and Devin as an unwilling participant—their mother's research project is vandalized and her motives are questioned. Devin, Nadia and Simon stumble upon shady characters, corporate conspiracy and a plot to take over the nation's food supply with genetically modified fertilizer.

After reading, answer the following questions:

1. What is the main goal of Dr. Chang's research? 

1 To find areas to turn wasted food into compost 

2 To teach the public how to eat healthier 

3 To help farmers use less water to grow their crops 

4 To create more landfills for waste products 

2. Devin runs away from the University Day Camp for all of the following reasons except: 

1 He's older than all the kids. 

2 He isn't paid according to the agreement. 

3 His sister treats him like a slave. 

4 The camp is boring. 

3. Ingredients listed first on a package of food means that those items: 

1 Were used in smaller amounts 

2 Were used in larger amounts 

3 Are considered the healthiest 

4 Are considered the least healthy

4. Who is responsible for setting up Dr. Chang to be fired from her research position? 

1 Dr. Stines 

2 Dr. Mitchell 

3 Mitnick 

4 Amir 

5. What is the proper order of the "Food System," how food gets to our table? 

1 Production, Distribution, Processing, Access 

2 Processing, Production, Distribution, Access 

3 Production, Processing, Distribution, Access 

4 Access, Production, Processing, Distribution 

6. How does someone break into the research lab at the University? 

1 Tey break the top-security lock. 

2 Dr. Stines secretly gives them a key. 

3 Mitnick is hired to hack Mrs. Chang's passcode. 

4 The door is accidentally left open. 

7. What is worrisome about genetically modified foods? 

1 It may lead to health risks in people. 

2 It could produce flavorless vegetables. 

3 It can decrease the number of calories. 

4 It attracts more insects. 

8. What does Devin see the two teenagers doing at the Research Station? 

1 Digging up the corn 

2 Driving through the corn fields

3 Picking the main door lock 

4 Spraying bleach on the crops 

9. What is Grenco's goal? 

1 To grow award winning corn 

2 To create a better irrigation system 

3 To gain control of food production 

4 To monopolize the seed economy 

10. What is the objective of being a "locavore"? 

1 To help prevent pollution 

2 To grow higher quality crops 

3 To stop relying on local farmers 

4 To increase fruit exports

The Paper Bag Princess

Click HERE to watch and read this exciting book! 

https://www.tumblebooklibrary.com/Video.aspx?ProductID=4160

Then... answer the following questions.

1. Why did Elizabeth's voice go from soft to loud when she spoke into the dragon's ear? 

a. She didn't want him to hear her. 

b. She didn't want to hurt her voice. 

c. She was trying to wake him up. 

d. She wanted to make sure he was really sleeping. 

2. How did Elizabeth feel about Ronald at the beginning of the story? 

a. She admired him. 

b. She loved him. 

c. She was jealous of him. 

d. He annoyed her. 

3. Why did Elizabeth wear a paper bag? 

a. She liked the way it looked.

b. She had nothing else to wear. 

c. She thought Ronald liked the way it looked. 

d. She found it in her closet. 

4. How did Elizabeth feel about Ronald at the end of the story? 

a. She admired him. 

b. She loved him. 

c. She was jealous of him. 

d. He annoyed her. 

5. Which phrase best describes what the dragon was doing when he agreed to fly around the world twice? 

a. showing off 

b. taking his turn

c. being a gentleman 

d. expressing himself 

6. Why didn't Prince Ronald act grateful when he was rescued? 

a. He only cared about Elizabeth's beauty. 

b. He only cared about himself. 

c. He wanted Elizabeth to feel good. 

d. He was afraid Elizabeth would need extra clothes to keep warm. 

7. Which word best describes Ronald when he spoke to Elizabeth after the rescue? 

a. grateful 

b. happy 

c. rude 

d. thoughtful 

8. Elizabeth and the dragon both felt the same way after he burnt up the forests. How did they both feel? 

a. proud 

b. sad 

c. scared 

d. tired 

9. When Elizabeth got to the Dragon's door, he told her to come back the next day. Why did he say that to her? 

a. The dragon was on his way out. 

b. Ronald told him to say that. 

c. The dragon had already eaten enough for that day. 

d. The dragon wanted to take a nap. 

Melting Snow Science Experiment

 There is a lot of snow outside right now, so let´s use it for SCIENCE! 

Supplies needed for your snow science experiment:

Snow (if you don’t have snow, you can use crushed ice)
4 clear jars or drinking glasses
Ruler
Notebook

Let’s start our snow science project!

Step 1:

Measure an equal amount of snow into 4 jars. Add about 3 centimeters of snow to each. Use the ruler to measure.

Place each jar in 4 different locations. You could choose a window (with no direct sunlight), a dark room, the refrigerator, and outside the window.

Set a timer for 5 minutes.

Step 2:

Record your predictions in your notebook.

Answer the hypothesis question: Which jar of snow will melt first?

Rank the jars from the fastest melting to the slowest using your predictions.

Step 3:

Make your first observations.

When the timer goes off, check all of the jars. Observe them and record your observations in your notebook.

Have any jars already started melting? Which are melting fastest?

After making your first observations, set the timer for an additional 5 or 10 minutes. 

Step 4:

Make your second observation.

(After an additional five minutes pass, which jar is melting the fastest? Which jar is second fastest?)

Leave the jars for a while (for at least 30 minutes).

Step 5:

Make your final observations. Record in your notebook.

Which jar melted fastest?

Draw a picture of each jar in your notebook.

What did we learn with our snow science experiment?

Think about your findings. Why did first jar melt quickly? Did any jars start melting quickly, but then slow down?

Was your hypothesis correct??

How do snowflakes form?

 Snowflakes form when water vapor travels through the air and condenses on a particle. This begins to form a slowly growing ice crystal--a snowflake! There are two basic ways that the vapor can condense, and each way plays a big role in the shape that the snowflake will eventually take.

They say that no two snowflakes are the same. That may be true, but snowflakes share some striking similarities. Take a look at these snowflakes:

See a pattern? It may not be immediately clear, but they are all symmetrical in a similar kind of way. The fancy way to say this is that they all have “six-fold radial symmetry.” In other words, if you draw six evenly spaced lines out from the center of the flake, you will notice that the shape on that line is repeated on the five other lines.

Why do they have such a pattern? And if they all have such a similar pattern, why is it so inconceivable that two snowflakes be identical? To answer both questions, you have to know how a snowflake forms.

The birth of a snowflake

Snow is not simply a frozen droplet of water falling from a cloud. What makes a snowflake different is that it forms slowly, and that it grows in the cloud.

A snowflake is born when water vapor travels through the air and condenses (changes from a gas to a solid) on a particle. There it forms a slowly growing crystal. There are two basic ways that the vapor can condense. Each way plays a big role in the shape that the snowflake will eventually take.

The first way is to form what are called ‘facets.' A facet is essentially a flat face on a 3D shape, like a prism. They form naturally when a crystal grows. In ice crystals the shape they take mirrors the shape of the molecules forming the crystal. The crystal structure of frozen ice is a six-sided shape. Therefore an icy facet is six-sided as well. That is where the symmetry in a snowflake comes from.

The second way to grow a snowflake is to form branches. Not surprisingly, this is what creates those beautiful tree-like structures. Branches form because water vapor will condense on the first thing it touches. If there is a small bump on a flake’s surface, the vapor will condense there instead of traveling any further. Now the bump is bigger and even more likely to ‘catch’ water vapor at that point. The process repeats itself and a branch is formed!

Chaos ensues…

While the snowflake generally starts as a prism with six facets, its growth can switch back and forth between creating facets and forming branches. And both processes can occur at the same time. Nearly imperceptible changes in temperature and the amount of water in the air change how the molecules act and how they condense.

Imagine a growing snowflake in a cloud. As it blows back and forth, it experiences all sorts of changing conditions. There are different temperatures and moisture levels in different parts of the cloud. There are also different conditions at the microscopic level. The order in which it experiences those changes and how long each set of conditions lasts determines the shape it makes.

How likely would it be for two snowflakes to experience the same exact of conditions all the way down to the microscopic level? Astronomically unlikely! That’s why you will never find two truly identical flakes!

Grow your own virtual snow crystals HERE!