Safari Park Adventures

Over winter break,  my family and I traveled to the Safari Park. Safari Park is similar to the zoo except they let some of the safari animals out in the hills.   They have animals such as parrots that will sit on you if you have nectar, gorillas, rhinoceros, giraffes, lions, elephants, and even cute baby animals.  There were also some unusual animals such as cheetahs and jaguars. These animals as well as lions, gorillas, and elephants were not let out in the wild. 

Safari park is located in the hills so there are many animals in a secured area covering many acres of land. We took a tram to the hills and visited some of these magnificent animals.  There were many baby giraffes that even though they were very young, they still were pretty tall.  We also saw different types of endangered rhinos, some that had horns and some that didn't.  Some of the rhinos were endangered species that didn't have horns because the horns were hacked off.  These hunters believed that the horns have medicinal properties, which isn't true.  The Safari Park owns one of three rhinos species left in the world! 

After the tram, we visited some animals in cages such as bats.  Bats are nocturnal animals so they sleep all day upside down.  Seeing bats for the first time was pretty incredible.  As we headed along the trails of the park, we went to the elephants.  The elephants were the cutest animals you could imagine.  There were so many of them and there baby's were huddled close to the adults.  The elephants were playing so well that I thought I could go over there and touch one.

We continued on our path and went into the parrot exhibit. The parrots were in a caged area, flying overhead looking for people  with nectar in there hands.  My dad bought us a small cup of nectar which we all shared.  I got so lucky that two parrots landed on my hand and drank the nectar.  The parrots didn't have sharp nails so when they landed, it felt like a kitten purring against your arm.

Isn't that cute!

The last sight of the day was the cheetah run. The cheetah run is a 100 meter dash that a cheetah runs along with his companion Miley his female husky-mix domesticated dog.  The cheetah was raised as a baby together with it's best friend, the dog. Now the cheetah relies on the husky to show her how to do things. The cheetah was extremely fast.  It ran the course in less than 6 seconds. Wow! My mom caught a very short video of the cheetah run.  



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What did you think of the cheetah run?

Which animal is your favorite?

State Fair- Wyoming

In 5th grade, every student picks a state to learn and write.  I chose the state of Wyoming. 

My goal in this project was to persuade my class to visit my state.  Wyoming is filled with so much history and information, that it was hard to pick and choose which sections would be most persuasive to get people to visit the state.  For me, the most difficult part of the project was the oral presentation.  I had to say it over and over again until I had it memorized within the correct time limit.  After putting together my talk, I still had one more step, create a presentation board for the state fair.  Doing the presentation board was easy because I knew in my head where I wanted everything to go.  After I placed everything down on the board, I thought it needed more color so I made a red border around the section headings. 

Wyoming has so many interesting facts that it will amaze you.  Wyoming is known for its beautiful parks such as Yellowstone National Park. Yellowstone is filled with nature as well as animals such as grizzly bears, elk, buffalo, and deers all roaming throughout the park.  Yellowstone has the largest population of grizzly bears in the United States! Yellowstone is not only filled with animals it also has waterfalls and geysers like Old Faithful.  Old Faithful erupts every hour and astonishes the visitors viewing it.

Yellowstone isn't the only incredible place to see, there also is Devils Tower National Monument.  This gigantic rock column was the leftovers of a volcano that erupted many years ago.  As you continue your journey through Wyoming,  I encourage you to look up and view the high peaks of Grand Teton National Park.  These peaks rise over a mile above the valley floor!  Wow!

Since Wyoming is natural wonders, it has the lowest population in the country.  Don't let that discourage you from visiting, as the state has many dude ranches for people to explore and enjoy the Wyoming lifestyle of horse back ride and hardy foods.  Wyoming also has the largest outdoor rodeo in the world!  I hope I will be able to visit this state someday.

The whole 5th grade presented there posters to the other parents.  After my mom visited my poster, she went around and viewed posters from some of the other states.

What interesting facts can you share about the state that you live in?

Candy Cane Lane

A few days ago, on a cold evening, my family and I bundled up and went on a stroll to Candy Cane Lane.  Candy Cane Lane is blocks of houses lit up with Christmas lights and fascinating decorations.  After you see these images, I think you will be just as amazed as I was looking up at the lights. 

Candy Cane Lane started in 1952, when some homeowners decided to amaze the community with a display of holiday lights and decorations.  There success has been ongoing since with blocks of lights to see.  One house even hired a Santa to visit and take pictures with kids in his sleigh.  Some people come from hours away just to see these extraordinary sights.  It was good we arrived early because as we were driving back, the exit from the freeway was lined with miles of cars waiting to exit and see the lights!

There were lines of cars seeing the lights with many kids standing on the seats popping there heads through the convertibles.  Viewing the lights was amazing, but walking and viewing the lights was even better.  The best decorated houses had music playing.  There was even a building with a train in front of it puffing out thick clouds of smoke.  Some houses even had a motorized seesaws and merry-go-around spinning.  Others had a display of blown up Santas riding on motorcycles, sleeping in bed, and skiing.  Even after seeing all the houses, I still couldn't decide which one was my favorite.  I think the neighborhood did a fantastic job of making the holidays special and exciting!  Hopefully, I will come back next year and take another stroll through the neighborhood!

Everything was spinning and lit up with "Its a Small World After All" playing in the background

Hansel and Gretel walking to the yummy witches house

Puffed up decorations

Santa and us

The Train

The flickering lights made this image blurry but still amazing!

How did you spend the holidays?

Taking a Stroll Through the Neighborhood

A few days ago, My mom, brother, sister, and my friend Leah, went on a stroll through the neighborhood.  It was a cloudy, cold and drizzly morning.  As we were walking,  we noticed the gorgeous trees of Autumn.  Most of the leaves of the trees had fallen off which made it fun to walk through them.  The leaves made a crunchy sound as we stomped through them.  One house had many leaves for us to grab a few and  throw up in the air.  Instead of snowflakes falling, we had colorful leaves falling! As we were walking, we saw a huge leaf that took up half of my body!

My favorite leaf was a blood red one with a little bit of yellow.  Leah and I had a great time collecting our favorite leaves and making a bouquet with them. Every one had a good time included my dog Romeo, who raced after us.  As soon as we arrived home,  it started pouring cats and dogs!  We got very lucky to arrive home in time. 

We've had some unusually hot and cold weather lately, so we still have flowers and roses blooming in November.  Who ever heard of that?

I think this flower is unusual and gorgeous because of its shape and color.  If you look at it closely, it looks like a bird.  This flower is called bird of paradise. What do you think?

 

What does your neighborhood look like?

My Edublog Nominations 2012

I am very excited to be part of the Edublog nomination process.  I have been blogging for two and a half years, and I have come across many interesting blogs that deserve an award.  

Here is my list of blogs that I nominated:

 

Best Class Blog

Mrs Yollis’ Classroom Blog

Mrs. Yollis has been an inspiration to many current and new bloggers. She started me on the path to blogging and I am grateful to her for it.  She has a new interesting post up almost every week and supports her student bloggers by leaving comments on their blogs.  She also comments back to many of her readers on her blog.

 

 Best Student Blog

Come Somersault with Sarah

One of my favorite student bloggers is Sarah's blog.  Sarah is my younger sister, and she has become a great blogger. She has been blogging for one and a half years and publishes new posts a couple of times a month a

Best Twitter Hashtag

#comments4kids

I love the #comments4kids hashtag! When I publish a new post, Mrs. Yollis tweets it out using this hashtag.  I always get some really lovely comments from everyone that received her tweet. It is wonderful!

Most Influential Blog Post

Family Blogging Month By: Mrs Yollis’ Class

Mrs. Yollis came up with the idea of having family blogging month a few years ago.  She does Family Blogging Month in the Spring and in the Winter. This is a great way for family to find out what we learn in class.  Last year a lot of my relatives participated in her blog. She also likes to compliment the family's comment by giving each child a point on a chart for every comment they received.  At the end, the student with the most points gets a prize and a chance to do a guest post on her blog.

Check out these great blogs and let me know what you think!

Race Day

Training for the 5k is exciting, but competing in the race is even better.  My day started on a chilly morning with the sun almost out.  I warmed up with my track and field group that were also getting ready to run the race.  There were thousands of people watching, walking or running the race.  While I was resting from my warm-up,  I looked around, and tried to  find the start line.  Since there were so many people, I couldn't even see it! There was also a DJ warming everyone up before the race.  A giant clock counted down until 8:00 am and the horn blew the start of the race.

We were running a large loop around the streets in our neighborhood. The week before the race, I ran this loop in practice 3 times.  I was just halfway through the race when the sprinklers of the house I was running next to went off.  I got soaking wet, and it felt great to get wet midway through the race.  Toward the end of the race, my PE teacher was standing and cheering me on. As I made my way to the finish line, my mom and sister cheered me on as well. It was a lot of fun seeing Mrs. Yollis and some of my other teachers at the community event.

Next to race, there were there were many different booths set up advertising and giving away free samples of different foods and drinks.  Later, we went to check my race time on the board and I came in 7th place in the 10 and under group with a time of 28:16.2.  I was extremely happy that I was in the top ten and that my hard work payed off.  I will be joining the track and field team in February to become even faster.

Look at all the cold runners behind me

 

Disney Hall Concert

At the end of summer, my family and I went to see a concert at the Disney Hall.   Unlike the other stages with the orchestra in the front and seating in back, the Disney hall is a round circular hall that has seats all around it.  It is also has an interesting shape from the outside.    Disney Hall construction started in 1994 and finished in 2003.  The project was launched in 1992, when Lilian Disney, widow of Walt Disney, donated $50 million.   The Disney Hall has an amazing acoustic sound so even thought there weren't a lot of musicians, there was a lot of sound.

The Palpiti Arts (the name of the program) supports musicians ages 19-32 and invites then to come from different countries to perform in the U.S. One of the violin soloists, Pavel Sporcl, had a blue violin specially made for him by a Czech violin maker Jon Spidlen. My favorite piece  played that evening, Minimax, was by Paul Hindemith and this piece made everyone laugh.  It was a parody on military music and had some funny sounds and funny interactions between the different instruments.  The name Minimax came from combining the name of Prince of Furstenbuer two pet names, Maxi and Minzi.

 

Top of the building

What interesting building have you seen?

Where were they located?