Elmer and the Dragon

I read 3 Dragon books by Ruth Stiles Gannett. They were about the adventures of a boy named Elmer and the dragon he saved.  These were fantasy books, so it couldn't really happen.  There's tigers eating pink lollipops, birds finding treasure, and flying dragon.

My favorite book was the third one, The Dragons of Blueland  because the bad guys fell in the water.  This happened when the dragons got out of the cave.  I'm wishing that there were more books,but its the end of the series.   

Italian Fest

2 days ago I went to the Italian Fest in Port Washington at Bar Beach.  My dad got me unlimited rides.  I went on the caterpillar, dragon coaster, the dinosaurs, etc. Today I am going again, and this time my mom is coming.  Mom said she would take me on the bumper cars.   Christine wants to go the haunted house, and i told her that when she is in there, she will be screaming.  Mom said next time Chrissy can go with Dad.  And Grandma is coming.  And I've been looking forward the space sled.                        

Charlie And The Chocolate Factory

It was about a boy who loved chocolate named, obviously, Charlie.

In the wrapper of a Wonka bar, he saw a brilliant flash of gold.

It was a golden ticket.

He had won a tour of the Wonka chocolate factory.

He was so excited.

Actually, there were 5 kids who had won golden tickets.

But now there was another contest.

Mr. Wonka was old couldn't take care of the factory anymore.

So he was going to give the whole factory to the kid who was the best listener.

All the other kids didn't listen to Mr. Wonka, and got in trouble.

So Charlie won and was given the whole factory.

Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson was born April 13,1743.

He wrote the Declaration of Independence.

He was 3rd President of United States.

He built Monticello - a big house on a little mountain on it.

He was an inventor. Here are some of his inventions.

When he was President, he bought Louisiana - but it was more than it was more than Louisiana. See image below.

He was the father of University of Virgina.

He died July 4, 1826 - which is exactly 50 years after everybody signed the Declaration of Independence.

What Is Fire?

Fire is a chemical reaction with oxygen which releases a lot of energy. For more information click on my link.

We made a campfire last Saturday night.

My Dad and I got all the sticks.

We started a good fire with matches.

There are many ways to make a fire - click here.

Fires are very dangerous. You have to be careful and stay away from it because it could burn you.

Also there is danger from a fire spreading. So you have to keep anything that can burn far away. And you really have to watch where the sparks land.

To be safe, my dad brought the hose next to the fire.

Plant Lessons

Yesterday I learned about leaves.

Leaves are green from a chemical called "Chlorophyll".

Chlorophyll is a green pigment that helps the sun absorb energy.

Plants use that energy to make food.  This process is called "Photosynthesis".

I also learned about two kinds of trees: coniferous and deciduous.

Coniferous trees are trees that have needles and cones , like a Christmas tree.

Deciduous trees are trees that have leaves, like a maple tree. 


Q: Why do leaves change color from green to brown, red, and yellow?

A:  In the fall, the chlorophyll disappears and the other pigments can be seen.

Swimming Like A Fish

This summer I learned to swim!

I can jump off the diving board in the Southampton pool↑!

First I swam the width of the pool.

But now I can jump off the diving board and swim the entire length!

The key to swimming is to close your mouth and use your arms and legs to float.

Funniest Video

Our Galaxy

I use this sentence↓to help me remember my planets:

Martha
Visits
Every
Monday
and (asteroid belt)
Just
Stays
Until
Noon
Period

The first letter of every word represents a planet.

For example: the "M" in Martha is represents Mercury, the first planet. And the "E" in every stands for Earth.

Central Park

Last Thursday we took a train into NYC, and then a subway to 72nd St. We walked three blocks east, to Central Park ↑.

First we went to a playground that had a little water park.

Then we looked for the bathrooms.

Then we went to a huge water park at Heckscher Playground. There was a lot of kids and we had a lot of fun.

Then we met my Mom, and had dinner at a Mexican restaurant.

Then we and took the train home.

A Wimpy Kid

This is a series that I'm reading.

The first one is a movie, but the rest of them are not.

I might see the movie.

But I will have to be good.

I know every movie has a villain.

Well, the the villain isn't a person.

In this movie, the villain is actually a dairy product.

How Many Seconds Are In A Century?

Today I asked my dad how many seconds are in a century.

So he took out a piece of paper and we figured it out.

And here is our equation:

60sec/1minute · 60min/1hour · 24hours/1day · 365days/1year · 100years/1century = seconds in a century

This is called the factor-label method. All those fractions after the first one are actually equal to one.

When we multiply it out, most of the labels cancel out:

60sec/1minute · 60min/1hour · 24hours/1day · 365days/1year · 100years/1century = seconds in a century


Now we have to do the arithmetic:

60 · 60 · 24 · 365 · 100 = seconds in a century


We tried doing it on a calculator, but the answer was too big!

So we factored it:

36 · 24 · 365 · 10⁴


And multiplied the first part on the calculator:

315,360 · 10<sup>4

Then we added four zeroes:</sup>


3,153,600,000

There are over 3 billion seconds of  in a one hundred year period!

Gadgets!

I added fun new gadgets to my blog.

They are on the right margin and you might need to scroll down a little to see them.

Move your mouse over the "fish" one, and they will try to eat your cursor.   Left-click to leave food.

Use the mouse to strum the "guitar", or you can click on it play it with the keyboard.

And you can click the the strings on the guitar.
Have fun!

My New Instrument

This is my guitar ↑. It is acoustic, not electric.

It cost $99 at Guitar Center.

It has 6 strings. This is how it makes music:

The vibration of the strings causes the soundboard (top) of the guitar to vibrate in a similar manner. The vibration of the soundboard then causes the air inside (and around) the guitar to vibrate...the vibrations of the air is what you hear and what you hear is known as a sound wave or sound waves.

My 14 year-old cousin knows how to play; and he's going to teach me a little bit.

Summer Camp

Yesterday it was my first day of camp.

The school bus came to pick me up.

The ride was very long and I made a new friend named Tyler who sat right next to me.

I was part of the yellow tag group.

And I was on the the green table.

And I made a windmill for a craft.

Rate * Time = Distance

If you go 70mph for one hour....you'll go 70 miles.

If you go 70mph for two hours....you'll go 140 miles.

If you go 70mph for half an hour.... you'll go 35 miles.

The rule is:

rate * time = distance

In my algebra book sometimes they mix it up.

Sometimes they give the distance and the rate and have to solve for time.

Sometimes they give the distance and the time and have to solve for rate.

That is easy:

rate = distance / time

time = distance / rate

Another thing they want me to do is to find the average speed:

average speed = total distance / total time

New Computer

Me and my sister have a new Dell computer. It cost $635.

First to get all the folders on this computer from my dad's old computer, we had to use this thing called the data key.

After we did that, my dad set up me on a website called time4learning. It costs $20/month.

I already finished the first science unit and I also finished the 4th grade money unit.

Our computer has a webcam and we use it to Skype our relatives.

Now I can go on my computer whenever I want.

A Famous House

Yesterday I went to Sagamore Hill.

That is Teddy Roosevelt's old house.

Teddy was the 26th President.

He was very good at hunting, horseback riding, and other outside activities.

First I went to the museum, then I did a quiz, and when I finished it I got a junior ranger badge.

Then we had lunch and then we went on a tour in Teddy Roosevelt's house.

The Longest Day Ever!

In 2 more days it's the summer solstice.

That means it's the longest day of the year.

The sunrise is at 5:24am; and sunset is at 8:30pm.

So there are 15 hours and 6 minutes of daylight on Monday.

After that, the days get shorter everyday until the winter solstice.

On December 21st, the shortest day of the year, there are only 9 hours and 15 minutes of daylight.

After that, the days start getting longer again!

Moving

I was born in North Carolina.

When I was 8 months old I moved to Massachusetts.

2 years later, I moved to a different house in Massachusetts.

We stayed there for almost 3 years.

But last month we moved to New York.

I will miss my friends from Boston (see above), but I will make new friends down here. Plus I have my cousins close by in New York.

Ludwig Van Beethoven

He was born in Germany in 1770.

He started to play the piano when he was 4.

Then he started to play the violin.

His dad was teaching him all the time.

Then he started to compose his own music; that means he wrote his own songs.

He wrote songs so complicated that he needed lots of instruments to play them.

They were called symphonies they were played by orchestras.

Here is an example:

Encyclopedia Brown

I just finished the first Encyclopedia Brown book.

It was about a 10 year-old boy who wants to become a detective.

Do you want to know why they call him "Encyclopedia"?

Because he knows so many facts.

There were 10 cases & he solved them all!

There were 2 stories about bank robberies.

There was one about a stolen necklace and 7 other cases.

Helen Keller

Last night I finished a biography about Helen Keller.

She was a girl who couldn't see, hear, or talk.

Then she had a teacher named Annie Sullivan.

She learned a lot from the teacher.

But soon the teacher couldn't see either.

Helen learned how to write letters in the palm of her hands. If she could see, she could use sign language like other deaf/mute people. Here is a demonstration:



And she learned braille so she could read with her finger tips.

Church This Weekend

2 days ago it was one my cousins' confirmation.

A sacrament in which the Holy Ghost is given to those already baptized in order to make them strong and perfect Christians and soldiers of Jesus Christ.

I went there with my cousins, uncles, mom, my sister and one of my aunts.

I nearly fell asleep.

Jones Beach

Yesterday I went to Jones beach for the first time.

It is an enormous beach on the south shore of Long Island.

There were non-stop big waves and my sister and I rode them for a long time.