Owl Pellet Dissection (Aidan)

Hi. I’m Rus. Two days before Mom and Dad’s anniversary, we did a very fun science experiment. We are studying flying creatures in our science this year, and one of the experiments was taking apart owl pellets. Connor, Shaila, and I waited a while for them to arrive in the mail, and we were very excited when they did. We could not wait for the evening when we could dissect them. I had never seen an owl pellet before, and I was surprised to find how much fluffy stuff was packed into it. Before we started dissecting, we laid newspaper out on the table, and took out Ethan’s dissecting set that he used for his science labs. Mom bought five owl pellets, so Ethan showed how to open them up with the extra one. We all took a pellet and began to dissect. As I slowly opened it layer by layer, I found many more bones than I had ever expected. My greatest find was a few jawbones and an almost complete bird skull. After I had ripped the whole pellet apart, I searched through the pieces for bones. Most of my time was spent searching, and finally, I could not find any more bones. I noticed while I was dissecting that the kids had taken off their gloves. They had not been so sure before, but they were very enthusiastic now. Ethan identified many of our discoveries, and he dissected two pellets because of his meager finds in his first. I laid out my pellets in one long line. After I finished my line, I sorted the bones onto paper. We had a great regional meal after that (Mom wants me to mention that we SCRUBBED the table first! J), but that has been posted about already. We had a lot of fun with our owl pellets.

By: Aidan
Age: 11 (6th Grade)

Aidan's First "Super Essay"

 Aidan Piercy

Writing class

Mrs. Piercey

4/20/2016

The Amazing Jobs of Robots

                Did you know that a group of tiny robots, which weighed less than an apple, pulled a 2 ton car? Robots can do a lot of work, and we rely on them every day of our lives. Whenever you look on the internet, you are using a robot. When you drive your car, you are driving something made by a robot. Even when you eat something like cheese or drink milk, you owe your snack to the work of a robot. Robots help adults and children alike.

                Robots do a variety of jobs. These include jobs too terrifying, tough, and tedious for adults. Robots help adults so much, yet we take them for granted. Robots are tough enough, “brave” enough, and “patient” enough to do  jobs some adults would never dream of doing for a living.

                You may think bombs, chemicals, and radioactivity are cool. Well I bet you would think differently if you had to disarm and handle them. Robots do dangerous jobs like this every day. After battles, artillery shells, which have not detonated yet, may be left on the ground. Alarmingly, without robots, men would have to disarm these by hand. Disarming these shells, robots keep adults from having to risk their lives every day! Imagine if your boss called you from the police station and said, “You have to disarm a bomb stuck in the house on Washington Street!” What would you say? Thankfully you would probably never be in that situation. Robots would do the job for you. The police force uses robots to disarm bombs, and this has saved many lives. Have you changed your mind about the excitement of bombs, chemicals, and radioactivity?

                Now you know that robots do jobs too terrifying for adults, but did you know they do astonishingly tough jobs? These jobs, which range from dangerous procedures in the surgery room to missions in the military, are jobs only robots can do. Removing tumors, robots help surgeons with surgeries they never would have dreamed of doing before. Amazingly, a robot snake that surgeons place in the patient’s body, slithers around and helps the surgeons by finding what is in the patient’s body. It doesn’t harm the patient. The military uses robots too. A dog named the alpha dog, which is immune to bullets, can carry supplies over long distances. It listens to verbal commands and watches visual signals. Robots do tough jobs day after day, but they never complain about it.

                Hopefully, you now understand the many helpful jobs that robots perform. You know robots do terrifying and tough jobs, which many people would never dream of doing, every day. Did you know that  they do tedious jobs too? Imagine that you wake up in the morning, get dressed, shower, eat breakfast, and drive out to work. You park your car and slowly walk into the building that you work at every day. After the drive you feel tired, but your boss says you need to work on a big job today. “You need to check for any cracks on that jumbo jet over there. If you miss a crack, you’re fired!” What do you do? Crawling around on an enormous passenger jet, you check for the tiniest cracks that could cause explosions that may even kill passengers in the plane! Because of the lives at stake, you would have to check very carefully for any of the deadly cracks. Thankfully, you will never have to do jobs like this. I am sure you know what would do the job for you! Robots would! Robots crawl over passenger jets, checking for the cracks that could kill many people. Unlike humans, they don’t become bored and make mistakes. Robots are the perfect ones for the job. Some robots “stand” at an assembly line all day handling the same car parts, day after day, week after week, year after year. You now see all the tedious tasks robots do for adults.

                Robots are very helpful. They always take on the same unappealing jobs, but they never complain. You can imagine what it would be like without robots. Humans would risk their lives every day. With robots, many people can do interesting jobs, and not jobs that are to terrifying, tough, and tedious, for adults to do easily or comfortably.

                It is clear robots help adults, but did you know that robots do lots of jobs to help kids too? Robots help kids in many different ways. They help kids by showing their teachers how kids interact and learn. Some help kids cope with physical disabilities like missing arms. Some even help kids with chores at home.

                Did you know that some robots help children in schools? Interestingly, one robot even came into a school acting as a usual fifth grade student! This robot immediately recognized all of the fifth grade students by their names, which it had been programmed to do, and fit in well with the school environment. Teachers learned more about kids’ reactions more easily with a robot in class. They created a better learning experience for the students too. Talking and playing with kids, the robot engaged with the students, making them feel more comfortable at school. Helping kids learn is very important and the robot seems to be doing a very good job with it. Now you know that robots help a lot with children at school. 

                 Robots help children at school, and they also help children with disabilities. Imagine you are a child who is missing an arm. What could you do for fun? You would not be able to play basketball, or baseball,  and you couldn’t swim easily. Thankfully for children who are missing arms, robots can help them play. Robots can be made into arms! One kind of arm is a comfortable Lego robot arm. This prosthetic arm has an attachment at the end where kids can make their own Lego creations. Imagine all of the choices you have! You could make a plow, or a backhoe loader attachment. Different sockets, which are attached to the end of the arm, can be attached so that the arm “grows” with the owner of the arm. The engineers who made the arm estimate that the price of the arm will be around $5,000.

                      Robots help with many things that change children’s lives. Helping teachers see how children interact with each other, robots help kids learn. They help kids cope easily with physical disabilities, which is very important, and help them have fun. Astonishingly, robots help kids at home. Maybe you know what I mean.  Robots help with chores! Robots help by washing the floor, vacuuming and doing dishes. Robots can be very helpful at home. Some even become part of the family. Some can answer questions. Robots make it so that kids can have more free time, and don’t have to do all the chores. These robots are small. It doesn’t take much work to get them started. They also are tough. Robots help children in many ways.

                Robots are so helpful. Children can learn more easily and comfortably with robots. Kids can use robots to do internet courses. They can help kids cope. They help them work. Robots do so much work for kids. I think kids around the world should give three cheers for robots. Imagine what life would be like if kids did not have any robots.

                Robots help adults and kids in very many ways. They help adults with terrifying jobs, and they help kids learn. They help adults with tough jobs, and kids with limiting disabilities. Robots help adults with very tedious jobs, and kids with boring chores. Robots help us in the present time with these jobs. They may help us even more in the future. Imagine if you were out on your deck one day waiting for your package to be delivered. Instead of looking out on the road, you look up in the sky. Suddenly you see something flying toward your deck. You immediately stand up to receive your package. A car flies down from the sky and floats high above your head. It carefully drops a package into your hands. As soon as the package touches your hands, the robot disappears into thin air. This is what some robots might do in the future. There may be disappearing delivery robots. Imagine if you were on the road and everyone had the same kind of car as you. Instead of turning onto the highway, you spin around on your seat and start talking to your friends. The car would turn for you! They are making cars like this! This is what the future of robots may look like.

The Evolution of Cars (Aidan) - IEW Assignment

Did you know that there are more than one billion cars on the road today? Many great inventors have experimented with various car designs. The man who made the first successful and cheap car was Henry Ford. He established his own company hoping that he could offer a reliable and affordable car to the average American. Over time his design improved to make cars more comfortable and faster.

Henry Ford was the first man to invent a successful and cheap car. Because the oldest

cars used to be unreliable, Henry Ford’s Model T was a big hit. Ford was the first inventor who

put together factory parts on an assembly line. Being so affordable, the Model T was a big

success. Edison invented the electric car around the time Henry Ford created the Model T.

Edison’s car was not a success.  Although the car was not a success, the battery was used for

many different uses. Interestingly, the battery is still used today. Henry Ford successfully

invented the assembly line, providing the average American with an affordable car.

Over time cars improved and became more comfortable. In addition to the Model T  the

Stanley Steamer, which was very comfortable to drive on bumpy roads, was invented by two

brothers. It was very successful.  During the roaring 20’s, people eagerly bought cars.

Interestingly, cars were starting to be made for recreation, not just transportation. Also cars

started becoming more reliable. People started expecting cars to provide safety comfort and

luxury.

Many principles of design in old fashion cars are still being used today. Because of

Henry Ford and other inventors, we have learned how to create cars with speed. The fastest is the

Bugatti. It can go  almost 270 mph. Family cars are becoming very luxurious.  Amazingly, the

Ferrari, which is a very well-known supercar, is making a family car that can go up to 200 mph.

That’s fast! Cars have  come a long way from Henry Ford’s Model T to the Bugatti.

            Henry Ford designed the first successful car, and this most brilliant invention changed the ways Americans live. From the most basic family car to the fastest super car, all automobiles are based on the original design of Henry Ford’s Model T. Since the invention of the Model T cars have become more comfortable safer and faster. We can only wonder what the next century holds for the evolution of cars. 
By: Rus (5th Grade/Age: 10) 

Physics SPIN Club at UNH (Aidan)

Hi. I'm Rus. I have had a really fun time at UNH this year. I went to a program where we learned how
to use physics to make ski jumps and roller coasters. Our first project was a ski jump. We used Styrofoam tubes, cups, tape, and a box. We needed to make the marble land in the cup. We learned that to make the marble jump we needed speed and a smaller jump so that the marble could jump off of it. If the marble couldn't go over the jump we would either have to make the jump smaller, or the hill bigger. We worked in groups of 2. In the middle of our building, we would stop, get together with the whole group, and tell what was working and what was not. We finally got the marble to land in the cup. After the first week we used the next two weeks to make a roller coaster with hills and valleys. We used 3 tubes and worked with the same stuff and the same groups. We needed to make the marble go over as many hills and valleys as possible, and we tried to make the ride last as long as possible. Our first roller coaster did not work. The marble always jumped off the side of the track. We had trouble fitting the tubes together, and we did not have as many hills and valleys as we needed. We learned from our mistakes. Our second coaster was a complete success. After that we did a loop to loop. We had trouble with getting enough speed for the marble to go around the loop. We worked in different groups this time. We worked in groups of 3. We taped our loop to the wall. The next thing we created was a spiral. The spiral was challenging, and we needed two separate tubes. The first one was for the hill, and the second was for the spiral. The last week was when we put everything together. Our first tube was the hill. Our next was a loop to loop taped to a table. Then our third was a hill and a valley which led into a cup. We made fences to keep the marble on track. I had lots of fun making things using physics, and I became a UNH graduate!    

Exploring Veterinary Program (Leo)

~Exploring Veterinary Medicine~

     For many years, I have had a passion for animals, and have decided to pursue veterinary medicine.  Recently, I joined a veterinary group, founded by the Exploring Organization.  Exploring is designed to give high school students career experiences in certain fields.  This particular group is hosted by Weare Veterinary Hospital and led by a veterinarian there.  In addition to other benefits of Exploring,  leadership skills are taught through the leadership board composed of the participants.  During one of our first meetings, elections were held for the positions of President, in charge of overseeing the group, Program Vice President, responsible for initiating and coordinating field trips, Administrative Vice President, responsible for the program logistics, and Secretary and Treasurer, a combined position in charge of taking minutes and responsible for finances.  I ran for Program Vice President and was elected to the position.  Thus far, we have discussed the job descriptions of different veterinary positions, been taught how to perform exams on both dogs and cats, been shown how to take and assess blood samples and other tests, taken a full tour of an emergency hospital, and had a lecture from the ophthalmologist there.  Most recently, I shadowed a veterinarian and technician at Weare Animal Hospital from 8:00-11:00 and observed a Great Dane neuter.  I look forward to future opportunities in this incredible program

Our Trip to the Planetarium (Aidan)

~Planetarium~

Hi. I'm Rus. We went on an exciting trip to the planetarium to learn about the Apollo missions. We first learned about something called max Q. Max Q is when a rocket hits twice the speed of sound. If the rocket does not break it will disintegrate. Another thing we learned about was different orbits. The inner orbit and outer orbit are the two different kinds of orbits. If you want to get into an inner orbit you have to go slowly. Once you get into an inner orbit you start to speed up. To get out of an inner orbit you have to speed up when you leave an inner orbit you can enter into an outer orbit. When you enter an outer orbit you slow down. To drop back int an inner orbit you slow down. When you hit an inner orbit you speed up. So in orbits you speed up to slow down and slow down to speed up. We also learned about some of the missions. I had so much fun at this exciting trip to the Planetarium!

Current Events Report: True Happiness (Siobhan)

~Current Events Report~

This is a current events report I wrote for an Omnibus V assignment. The theme is true happiness. 

        This article is titled ‘In the Thick of It.’ It is from WORLD magazine.  The article is about Joni Eareckson Tada, who has been a quadriplegic since she was a teenager.  

        Joni was devastated after her accident, and she implored her friends to help her end her life.  God changed her heart, and she says that she wrote her book, Joni, “"in the fight of my life. I'm in the thick of it, as they say, and honestly have no idea how long this struggle will continue or how and when it will be resolved." Later she commented: "I'm now enjoying many more good days than bad."  Joni was able to be content and truly happy, despite the agonizing pain she endured, and the shattering diagnosis of breast cancer.  

        One very moving section of the article reads: “One night she might awake at 2 a.m. in pain, unable to get comfortable. The next day she is sitting under a shady tree with the breeze blowing, overcome with the day's beauty: ‘This is what it means that hope never fails. Last night I was ready to throw in the towel and give it up. Today, it's a beautiful day.’”

        How did Joni remain faithful and content?  Today, we see people turning to many things in order to make themselves feel ‘happy.’  Yet depression and suicidal rates are very high in our nation, despite all of the pleasures America has to offer.  Where does Joni find this true happiness?  “Contentment ... has an internal quietness of heart that gladly submits to God in all circumstances.”  “He has chosen not to heal me, but to hold me. The more intense the pain, the closer His embrace.”  “Jesus went without comfort so that you might have it. He postponed joy so that you might share in it. He willingly chose isolation so that you might never be alone in your hurt and sorrow. He had no real fellowship so that fellowship might be yours, this moment. This alone is enough cause for great gratitude!”  Joni can be happy because she understands what it is to cling to God, the ultimate source of happiness.  True happiness does not result from fleeting earthly pleasures.  It results from trusting in God to work out His perfect plan in our life, which He promises will lead to eternal happiness with Him.  As Joni once said, “The weaker I am, the harder I must lean on God's grace; the harder I lean on him, the stronger I discover him to be, and the bolder my testimony to his grace."

Fieldtrip to the Currier Art Museum 2015 By: Rus

 Currier Art Museum Field trip 

      Hi I'm Rus. We went to the Currier Art Museum. We first saw a large statue in the parking lot. We then went to a class room were we got together into groups. We almost got the group to ourselves. Some of my favorite paintings and other art work that I saw are these. We first saw a picture of a family that was at a house and were caring for a baby. We told our hypothesis to every body and saw if they were right or wrong. This is called the scientific method. After that we saw a picture of New Hampshire with different scenes packed into one picture. One other thing I loved is we saw a case with Paul Revere's work. We went to a couple more things and then went back to the classroom to do some art. We learned how to do art using the scientific method. Then we did a black and black and white picture of whatever we were drawing. Then we did a colored picture and experimented with colors. Finally we used our imagination to make a fun picture. You can try this too. I loved this field trip because of all the art we got to do ,and we used our imagination. 

Report by Rus: Age 9 
Pictures by Stella aka Siobhan

Field Trip to Capitol Center for the Arts By: Rus

Ethan, Dad, and I went on a field trip to the Capitol Center for the Arts to see a science show. They brought in two Tesla coils and made them make music with the electricity. They taught how electricity comes from electrons. They also taught how Nicholas Tesla invented the Tesla coils that help with creating electricity. They also showed how static electricity can make your hair stand up.
They also showed how an electrical field can snap a tin can.They also had a robot! They also had a person who was playing a guitar that was was controlling the Tesla coils and being shocked by them by 1 million volts. This was an amazing show.

Tesla Coil Demonstration:

And for those of you who are Doctor Who fans...

Montshire Museum Fieldtrip By: Rus

     Hi. I am Rus. We went to the Montshire museum with our cousin Elim a little while ago.The Montshire museum was in Vermont...so it was a really long drive. There are four things that I liked the most at the museum.
 
    1. There was something new at the Montshire museum. There was a room [exhibit] on light. It is amazing that all the light around us is actually made up of all the colors of the rainbow! If you see light through a prism then the light will make all the colors of the rainbow. There was another thing in the new room that I loved. It was lasers. There were thing that the light bounced off of  to make a mini light show! And there was even a place were you could make colored shadows!

    2. The next thing I loved was the observatory! You had to go up a lot of stairs. There was the first floor. The first floor had the most stuff. The the second floor was a little smaller. Then there was the third floor. It was nothing but a balcony.The fourth floor was the same as the third. You would have to go up a couple more fliest of stairs to get to the observatory. The observatory was open and very high off the ground. You could see for miles. There was even an overpass that you could see very close up to with binoculars. You cold even see the mountains.

   3. Another thing  was an activity were you had to make arches that were free standing with no glue or tape. There was an arch were were blocks had to be stacked on one standing block. There was 1 then 2 blocks on top of that then 3,3,2,1. Then we had to make bridges and towers with no tape for the bridge! The tower we had 12 inches of tape. After that we did one more arch that stood with no tape or glue.
 
   My three favorite things at the Montshire museum were these. This was one of the best field trips yet!          

Feild trip to American Textile Museum

Field Trip to American Textile Museum

by:  Rus, Age 9

      Hi. I am Rus. Filia, Tert, Leo and I went to the American Textile Museum in Massachusetts. We brought some things to listen to like Jonathan Park to pass the time away because we had a long drive to the museum. It was a little over an hour. Thankfully listening to something helped us not to be bored. We drove through a lot of construction to get out of our Lane. They are doing piping on our road, so they needed to rip up the road. They did not pave it, so it was hard to get over the road. They have holes all over the place so we need to be careful to get out of the road.

       Next we needed to find the parking lot. We accidentally went in the wrong parking lot, so when we walked around the building we found out that it was the wrong place. We were in the parking lot next to the museum's parking lot. When we got inside we found our group. After that we broke up into smaller groups. Then we all went down to a class room. We heard all about how the Silk Road stretched from Italy to China. We saw things that might have been traded on the silk road.

       Then we went back to the class room to play a game. It was a game that you had to pretend that you were traders on the silk road. You traded in your goods to get other things. There were signs that showed you how many points your goods were worth and how many points other goods were worth. This is an example  

2(points) Spices   

 4 food 

3silk 

1 Jewels and ivory

You needed a strategy to win the game.
        I also loved when we toured the museum. We saw the easiest way to lift 500 pounds! We also saw what the general store would look like and the inside of a house. We even went up and saw a lot of silk dresses. I think that this was one of my favorite field trips.

Report By: Rus
Pictures By: Leo 

 Spices

 Trading Items

 Weaving

Learning About Lobsters - Science Experiment with Rus

Hi. I'm Rus. This week we bought a lobster for an experiment. There's more to lobsters than you think like did you know that the largest lobster was 3 and a half feet! And the biggest lobster was 44 pounds! And the most amazing lobsters can live too be a hundred years old! Now that's one cool animal. A lobster is not a boring creature. A female lobster will carry 100 thousand eggs inside her for a whole year! To tell the difference between a male and a female you will see that the swimmerets on a male lobster are bigger than the females. You will find them on the tale. What is that you ask? What do the swimmerets do. What else, swim. Also did you know lobsters have compound eyes. Compound eyes make the lobster see lots of you if it is staring at you. Okay now get ready for this lobsters have teeth in there stomach. Imaging chewing in your stomach. Like I told you lobsters are not boring creatures.

The bottom of the lobster...

 ...and the top.

 Lobster dipped in butter: yum!

 Tert got a huge kick out of the fact that in restaurants people eat lobster with bibs.

By: Rus Age: 8