Testing Labels

Last Post For the Water Project!- Week 4 - Grade This Post

I have finished the water project! I think I was very successful. I made a total of $845 SGD! That is $345 over my goal. I finished the ten books.
They were:

• Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
• Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff
• Saffy's Angel by Hilary McKay
• So B. It by Sarah Weeks
• A Mango Shaped Space by Wendy Mass
• Meet the Austins by Madeleine L'Engle
• Flipped by Van Draanen
• Rules by Cynthia Lord
• The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman
• Smile by Raina Telgemeier

By favorite book was a four way tie between Hunger Games, So B. It, A Mango Shaped Space, and Rules. But I would recommend any of these books. I just wanted to say a big thank you to all my friends and family who sponsored me. Without you I wouldn't have been able to achieve my goal.

As for the writing the children's book, I have finished that too. Instead of getting it printed, I turned it into a powerpoint that looks like a book. I think that it is awesome and well done. I am sending it off to the States to my aunt's school! I hope that I make a difference in some of the classrooms. I chose to send it off to the States because SAS knows a lot about water scarcity, but an average student in the States might not know what water scarcity is.

I am very happy that I completed the water project successfully and I hope that I have made a difference! 

"Water is being depleted many, many times faster than nature can replenish it."
-Maude Barlow

Writing For the Water Project-Week 3

This week I have written the book and now I have to do the illustrations for it. My mom is friends with a designer, named Joey. I want the illustrations to look like collages of pictures and clip art. Joey is coming over to help me put all of the pictures and clip art together. I think it will come out really cool. After the illustrations are done, I am sending the book off to the states, where my aunt, Chrissy, is going to show it to her school. She is the principle of the school.
Here is a sneak peek:
"I heard this noise coming from the bathroom. We went in, and saw that someone left the water running. I turned it off because we were wasting so much water.
"Oh no, why did someone leave the water running?"
"They probably forgot to turn it off." John told me.
That reminded me of even another fact.
"Did you know that a person taking a five minute shower uses more water than a person in a developing country uses in a day?"
"Wow. Imagine how many days it would be if someone took a 30-minute shower. That's a lot of water.""

Books I Have Read-Week 3

I am making progress for the read-a-thon. So far I have read Pictures of Hollis Woods, by Patrica Reilly Giff, Saffy's Angel, by Hilary McKay, Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, and So B. It, by Sarah Weeks.

Pictures of Hollis Woods was about a foster child. She goes to live with a women named Josie. Josie is getting old  and forgetful, and she worried that foster child care will take her away from her. Before Hollis lives with Josie, she lived with a family during the summer, but ran away after a incident. She runs away with Josie so that no one will separate them. They run away to the house where she stayed with the family before. I really enjoyed this book and I would recommend it to anyone.

Saffy's Angel is about a girl named Saffy and she finds out that she is adopted by her aunt and uncle. When her grandfather dies he leaves a present for each of his grandchildren. He leaves Saffy an stone angel. Saffy is determined to find the angel, and with the help of her new friend, named Sarah, it might become possible. Saffy remembers having a stone angel in her garden when she lived in Italy with her real mom. So she and Sarah go on this amazing adventure.
The Hunger Games is about a girl named Katniss. Every year all of the twelve districts chose one boy and one girl per district. They are chosen randomly. When Katniss's twelve year old sister gets picked to participate in the Hunger Games, Katniss volunteers. The Hunger Games is a reality tv show, and the only rules are kill or be killed. The boy from district twelve is Peeta. She barley ever noticed him, but he has definitely noticed her. What I got out of this book is that reality tv can go too far. It is a really great book.
And lastly, So B. It, is about a girl named Heidi, whose mom is mentally disabled. One day Heidi's mom, So B. It, appeared with Heidi on a woman named Bernie's door step. Bernie has taken care of them ever since. Heidi has a lot of question like: who is her dad, where did they come from, what is her history, if she has any family, if anyone knows about her mother, what is her mother's real name, and most of all what is soof. Soof is a word that So B. It often says. They think it means something, but they don't know what. Heidi goes on this adventure to find the answers to all of her questions.
Now I have started to read A Mango Shaped Space, by Wendy Mass. It's about this girl named Mia and she is keeping a big secret. When she sees numbers and letters she sees colors along with them. This is called synesthesia. Now this disability is getting in the way of school so she has to reveal the secret. She has to accept her disability and embrace it. I can't wait to find out what happens next.
To all of my sponsors, a big thank you. I'm running ahead of schedule!

Water Project Money Jar-Week 2

This is a picture of me holding my "Water Project 2012" jar. I am storing all of my money that I have collected from the read-a-thon. I can't wait to see how high the money will fill the jar by the end of the project.

Water Project Money and Sponsers-Week 2

I have just received money from my family in the US. My dad was away at Boston, and he pick up the money from my family. I wanted to say thank you to grandma and papa, Chrissy and Paul, Barbra, Uncle Collie, Aunt Joanne, Aunt Mary, Aunt Karen, Aunt Mame, Uncle Dave, Kelly, Sean, and a very, very big thank you to my Great Grandmother. My Great Grandmother, Nana, passed away in October, but my grandmother wrote a note about how much she thought Nana would be proud of me.
"Dear Hana,
This is a very special donation to your worthy project.
I am making a gift in loving memory of Nana.
I think she would be very proud.
Love,
Grandma."
So far I have gotten $400 us, or $505 sg. I still have more money to collect.
I have reached my goal already. I wanted to raise at least $500 sg. I'm so happy that people have given money.
Thanks!

Water Project Book- Week 2

I have collected water facts for the book that I am writing for the water project. The book is going to be about a older sister and she is teaching her brother about water scarcity and water facts. She is taking him around the house giving facts and telling him how to save water in different ways.
These are the facts:

1. More people have a mobile phone than a toilet.
2. An American taking a five-minute shower uses more water than a typical person in a developing country slum uses in a whole day.
3. The water and sanitation crisis claims more lives through disease than any war claims through guns.
4. Women spend 200 million hours collecting water in a day. That is equivalent to building 28 empire state buildings each day.
5. Every 20 seconds a child dies from a water related disease
6. 3.575 people die each year from a water related disease, that is equal to the entire city of Los Angeles.
7. The majority of illnesses is caused by fecal matter. Only 10% of waste gets treated, the rest goes into our lakes, rivers, and oceans.
8. Three things most of the world can't do: 1. Take a hot shower . 2. Get clean water from the tap. 3. flush away yesterdays dinner.
9. More than 3x more people lack water than live in the US.  

     

Hunger Games- Week 1

I have just finished my first book for this water project! I read the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. It was a fantastic book and I couldn't stop reading it. There was sad parts, happy parts, funny parts, and some very surprising parts. I couldn't believe half of what I was reading. I recommend this book to every on because it has a little bit of almost every genera. Next, I will be reading Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff. I have read it before, but I didn't have a good understanding. I excited to read the book again.

Water Project Readathon- Week 1

This week is science we started our water project. The goal of the water project is to raise awareness for water scarcity. I am writing a children's book on water scarcity and how to save water. I am also doing a read-a-thon to raise money. The money will go to Ms. Carter's Fiji foundation. I just sent an email to all friends and family asking for their support. This is my reading list for the read-a-thon.

1. Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
2. Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff
3. Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry
4. Meet the Austins by Madelenie L'Engle
5. A Mango-Shaped Space by Wendy Mass
6. Saffy's Angel by Hilary McKay
7. So B. It by Sarah Weeks

I received a very dear email reply from one of my friends. It was very thoughtful and one of the kindest emails I have ever gotten. It said, "It would be a real honor to support this noble cause and such a wonderful project."

It you have any more book suggestions, please comment.

~Hana

Water Scarcity Solutions

This week in science we have been learning about water scarcity. We got into groups and tried to come up with reasonable solutions. My group said that we should use salt water in toilets instead of clean water, because the clean water is going to waste and we have plenty of salt water. We are running out of clean, fresh water. Here are some solutions that scientists have come up with. Our idea is original so no one has come up with that solution but here are a few solutions that scientists have come up with
One of them is play pump. So what happens with Play Pump is that there is a merry-go-round and when kids play on it it will pump water out of a tap. It sounds very cool and a very easy to do.

Global Water Crisis

This week in science we have been learning about safe drinking water, what places don't have safe drinking water, and what are the causes. I think that these facts are pretty cool.

• 1.1billion people don't have safe drinking water.
• There is no such thing as new water.

Elodea with Salt Solution

Today in science we did an experiment with elodea. It was pretty cool. When the salt solution was running through the cells it looked darker and smaller. This is because plasmolysis took place. Plasmolysis is the process in plant cells where the membrane pulls away from the cell wall due to the loss of water through osmosis.So basically it's when the water in the cell leaves so the organals clump together.

Dengue Fever!

This week we had to make a public service announcement in science. We pick a disease and studied about it. I pick dengue fever and made a radio news report. Enjoy!

~Hana

Viruses

Over the past couple of weeks we have been working on viruses. My group had made a video on them (see on past post). Here is some information on viruses:

They are a non-living pathogen that needs a host cell to live in. Some examples of the virus are, Rhino Virus (cold), Small Pox (small pox), and Influenza (flu). Viruses cause Hepatitis B, aids, HIV, Cold, Flu, Chicken Pox, Small Pox, and Yellow fever. Viruses are much smaller than protist and bacteria. You can only see them under a electron microscope. They are a nano-meter. They get inside the human body be sneezing, coughing, exchange of saliva, touching, animal bites, and insect bites.They attack cells by injecting their DNA into the cell making them to produce many viruses, ruining millions of cells because viruses over work them.

Virus Video

This week, we worked in groups in science. Some groups on protist and bacteria, but my group work on viruses. The project was to teach the class about viruses. We could do anything we wanted to. My group, Amy, Jack, and Phillip, did a video. The will explain all about viruses.
Enjoy!
~Hana

New Micro Life Video

 I have posted a video so that you can see this micro life much better. This one is so much cooler.

~Hana
Enjoy!

Micro-Life in Pond water

Today in science we looked a drops of water. There were different kinds of water, some of the were pond, worm, fish tank, and hay water. It was so cool. So here is a video of pond water microbes. Look for moving things in the video. :)

Holiday Microlife

Avian Influenza-
http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures

            This year over the holiday I am going to Paris, France. For homework last night, we had to find out what are the most common disease in that place. I found out that in Paris there are two diseases lurking around. The first one is Avian Influenza A (H5N1) Virus. These outbreaks are mostly found in wild birds and poultry that have high rated death. This disease started in 1999. Since 2003, 560 people have been infected in parts of Asia, Eastern Europe, and the middle east. This can be prevented by getting a shot.

Measles-http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb

            The other disease that is going around is the Measles. This disease is still common in Europe and it is one of the most contagious disease. It can be spread by coughing and sneezing. The symptoms are rash, high fever, cough, runny nose, and red watery eyes. This can be prevented by getting a shot.