(or “Kids do final editing, some drawing, write a small bio, and in the afternoon have free time to do some microscopy work – oh… and also the reading!)
The students’ bios:
Kara Kamai loves wolves. Kara loves happiness. She is Eight.
Laurene Holmes is 8 years old and is a native. Her favourite colour is green and her favourite subject is playing the Wii and writing. Her birthday is in November. She is happy and nice, and she likes wave pools and Planet Lazer. She also likes potlatches.
Hannah Parnell likes puppies and dogs.
Trask Bryant is 10 years old. He loves sports. In fact, he plays soccer, basketball, and bowling. Also, of course, he loves science.
Corben Kern loves hockey and explosions.
Keenan Vickers likes reading Goosebumps because it’s scary He goes to Sexsmith Elementary and he loves to look at stuff i the microscope.
Daisy Brisebois is 8 and she likes swimming.
Jaime Rose Holmes wrote 4 poems for the book. She is 9 years old and will be 10 in August. Her favourite sport is soccer, gymnastics. She also likes swimming and bowling.
Tyler Schadow likes to blow up rubber gloves. He likes writing stories about turtles. He goes to Cliffdrive School!
Tianna Parnell likes bunny rabbits and she likes science and math.
Josh Kamai likes hockey and trucks. He is 13 and he goes to Bayview School.
Tex B. is a made-up name. He likes to invent stories and he loves to create graphic novels the most. He likes the Smurfs and he likes creativity!
Bob B. likes looking at stuff under the microscope, even though it is sometimes gross.
Some final pieces for you to read:
- – -
Bob B.
HOW MUCH DNA!
DNA, that thing that has so much power and such a big length.
My! … If you got all the DNA out of a person, you could stretch it all the way to the sun and back FOUR times!
Oh my, how much DNA!
- – -
Kara Kamai
I HAVE A FRIEND
I have a friend
but I don’t know who it is
You know I’m excited
My friend, where are you?
What are you?
I know who is it!
Mike!
- – -
Trask Bryant
BASKETBALL STAR (THE PROLOGUE)
There once was a boy named Michael Jordan. He lived in North Carolina. For all of his life, heplayed basketball. This is his story.
“Michael! Get inside!” Dad hollered.
“Dad! Please, one more shot!” Mike begged.
“O.K. Fine.”
Mike shoots. He scored from downtown. Dad was astounded. “Holy cow Mike! You are an amazing basketball player! We will sign you up for the North Carolina Wildcats. Mike, you better get some sleep. We have a long drive to the Wildcat tryouts.”
“Good night Dad.”
“Good night Mike.”
- – -
Jaime Rose Holmes
HELLO MY NAME IS JAIME
My time here at CEDAR SCIENCE camp was great for my first time. My favourite part was looking at the pond water. We found this little bug. It was called Triops. Some people thought it was a tadpole. And we found a little worm called a nemotode. It looked so cool! The second day we made cartesian divers. Then the third day, we heard about the human body (did you know that you could lose three-quarters of your liver?!) On the last day we read to out mom’s and dad’s. That was a great week at the CEDAR SCIENCE camp.
(or “Kids isolate strawberry DNA, which looks like snot thank-you-very-much, and writes a story with multiple endings)
SYNOPSIS: Today, Timon and Dave were running the show. Timon talked about DNA, what it does, and how cool it is (the DNA from one person strung end to end would reach the sun and back four times!!). Then we did the DNA isolation experiment, which was mucho messy, but cool because the DNA did indeed (as promised) look like snot.
In the afternoon, Dave guided the class in the writing of a story, and an unusual one at that. This piece was left with a dot. dot. dot (as in a “to be continued”) and the students spent the afternoon trying to write their endings.
- – -
The DNA extraction experiment is a pretty standard kitchen science project. In fact, you can probably find lots of different protocols online (just google “kitchen DNA extraction”). For a pretty comprehensive write up on how to do this, we recommend reading this excellent article from the Science Creative Quarterly.
And we have pictures!
Anyway, the group story (which was done in a very interactive manner), read as follows:
And here are the collected endings…
- – -
KEENEN’S ENDING
When he entered the forest… Dave said, “I’m going to set up my camping stuff.”
Then Dave heard the bushes shake and a bear popped out of the bush! Dave ran into Baldie. Baldie said, “Are you Dave?”
Dave said, “Yes”
“Well, I can help you.” So he helped. Then Baldie shrunk down and went into the bears body and made the bear healthy, but also made him lose his memory.
THE END
- – -
DAISY’S ENDING
When he entered the forest… He left – because he hated camping.
Then suddenly, the white blood cell heard someone coming! So he shrunk and hid in a bush. He watched as a boy was walking by. He was very excited because he thought it was Dave. When the boy got closer, the white blood cell saw that it was not Dave! But luckily, the boy was very sick! The white blood cell smiled because at least the boy was sick!
The boy was named Skylar. The white blood cell watched as Skylar was coughing, and so, the white blood cell went in. He saw that Skylar’s lungs were too tight! So, he went in the lungs and fixed them and then decided to live there.
5 days later…
Cough cough! He was sick again so the white blood cell saved him from…
… the two germs, Egg Bod and Inky! Inky made him cough Egg Bod did not. So the white blood cell save him again
THE END.
- – -
LAURENE’S ENDING
When he entered the forest… And as he was fixing his tent, a big mosquito came along and bit Dave right on the arm. After that, Dave fainted because he had never gotten bitten by a mosquito before. When he woke up, Baldie was there. He said, “I went inside your body and made you back awake awake!”
So Dave said, “Thank you” and apologized for running away every time he saw him.
After all that talking, they both heard something. They got up and looked behind the tree. It was a kitten. The kitten was soft and fluffy. So then they both went home into their beds.
The next morning, Baldie heard Dave coughing in his bed. So then Baldie came running to him. When he got there, he quickly jumped into his body right away. Baldie went to his mouth and stopped the coughing right away – before Dave could say “butter pudding!”
When he stopped coughing, he went out of his bed and drank a cup of water. When he drank the water, Baldie yelled, “No! I must get out of this body right away!”
So he jumped out of Dave’s body and then he started to glow green, then red, then gold, then purple. Then he said to himself, “What is happening to me? Aahhhhh! I know what’s happening to me! I am getting stronger and getting new powers. And they are see-through powers, going through walls, and invisibility!”
After that, they both went to said and said to themselves, “I wonder what will happen tomorrow.”
THE END
- – -
JOSH’S ENDING
When he entered the forest… He exploded! He walked on a landmine and exploded to the sky. Baldie the white cell saw him in the sky and then Dave crashed down from the sky to the bottom. Baldie was angry because he couldn’t go into Dave’s body anymore.
So, he decided to get to get Dave back and go in his cells to fix him. He went to his heart, and he fixed his blood, and then Dave woke up.
But then the Sasquatch chased Dave in the forest all night long!
THE END
- – -
KARA’S ENDING
When he entered the forest… Suddenly a red ant bit him. And then he got bit by a mosquito, and then the devil sent an evil wolf to bite him.
So Dave got fairly sick and just lay there. But then he got up and came after the animals and scared them away. And then Baldie Duvall shrunk and went to Dave’s body and fixed him. He used medicine and himself to fix him.
So then Dave got up and screamed like a little girl. Baldie Duvall said, “It’s o.k. I fixed you.”
But Dave said, “I don’t fell well.”
Baldie Duvall said, “You better get some rest then.”
So Dave took the bus home. Baldie Duvall packed up Dave’s stuff, then learnt to drive, and drove to Dave’s home. When Dave got to his home, he went straight to bed. Then Baldie said, “Go to sleep so I can fix you!”
Dave slept for five and a half hours, and Baldie got to fix him for five and a half hours. So Dave woke up and saw a plate of food in his body, and he said, “Gross!”
Anyway, Dave was fixed, and Baldie Duvall got his wish, because they became friends.
THE END.
- – -
JAIME’S ENDING
When Dave entered the forest… he saw a Sasquatch. The Sasquatch took him to the cave. And then Dave yelled, “HELP ME BALDIE!” Then, the white blood cell was big and the white blood cell fought the Sasquatch. It shrunk and jumped into the Sasquatch’s body and pulled him back and so the Sasquatch let go of Dave.
Then Baldie jumped out of the Sasquatch’s body and jumped into Dave’s body, which made him run faster and faster. Then Dave got in a truck and drove out of the forest.
Baldie saw a bad cut on Dave, so he went to the cut and healed in about two days. Then Baldie came out and said, “Sorry for going inside of your cody, especially because you said not to, but I did. So sorry, but at least I got you away from that Sasquatch. I guess I should be going now. Bye…”
“Wait,” Dave said, “I guess you could stay with me. Thanks you sssssooooooo much. I will always be there for you. Thank you – thank you – thank you.”
“O.K. O.K. O.K. Just stop saying thank you and stop hugging me too, ” said Baldie, “O.K.?”
Then Dave was sick the next day, so Baldie went inside Dave again, and saw a big bite by his neck! It was by the Sasquatch. So Baldie called all the white blood cells to gather at the bite. It too about one week to heal.
THE END
- – -
CORBEN’S ENDING
When he entered the forest… Baldie Duval got scared. He got scared because Dave also brought pickles.
Pickles made Baldie a wimp. This was funny to the Sasquatch.
And then, the next day, the white blood cell got revenge on the Sasquatch. He told them that he will throw pies at the trees and his face.
The Sasquatch decided to blow a horn in Baldie’s ear, but the problem was that Baldie doesn’t have ears!
So the Sasquatch put bacon and beans in the pickle. This gave Baldie Duvall a really bad stomach ache, and made him fart for a whole century.
THE END
- – -
TYLER’S ENDING
When he entered the forest… Dave got kidnapped by a Sasquatch! Then the white blood cell shrank and jumped into Dave’s ear. He did this because he wanted to be close to Dave, so later on, he can save him (the day before, Baldie had stopped eating pickles).
They ended up in the Sasquatch’s cave. The Sasquatch asked Dave weird questions like, “Do you have hair on your armpits?”
THE END
- – -
TRASK’S ENDING
When he entered the forest… Dave suddenly saw Wayne Rooney playing soccer. Wayne said, “Let’s play some soccer. You are now a member of Manchester United’s practice club! This club is for regular men who want to learn from the pros. Your family paid for the membership! Your family is awesome and they are great fans of my club.” Wayne said all of this with a lot of excitement.
Dave eventually became the towel man for Manchester United. And for the huge white blood cell, Baldie Duval, let’s just say it got ugly.
THE END
- – -
TEX’S ENDING
Suddenly… a piece of paper fell onto Baldy’s head, and he had a new fear of Wanted Dark Germ.
Suddenly Baldy heard “AAAAH!!!” He looked over and it was Dave!!! All of a sudden Baldy fainted. Two minutes later he woke up. “AAAAH.” “Who, what, what’s happened to me?” he said.
Dave showed him. “Wow,” he said, “this blood cell is huge.” Quickly, Baldy started to shrink.
Dave told him, “Don’t be afraid. I heard you were afraid of Dark Germ. I’ll protect you from him, and you take care of me. OK?”
“OK,” said Baldy.
THE END
- – -
HANNAH’S ENDING
When he entered the forest… Dave left because he knew that the Sasquatch was looking for him in the forest, and he saw that the Sasquatch was with the white blood cell.
Dave got very scared and then ran away from both the Sasquatch and the white blood cell, Baldie Duval.
THE END
- – -
TIANNA’S ENDING
When he enter the forest… Then the Sasquatch was very mad at Dave because the Sasquatch was in the middle of sleeping, and Dave was making so much noise!
So the Sasquatch started chasing Dave out to the middle of the forest. Then Dave started to get a high temperature and a flu (a really bad flu), and so he had to go to the hospital. Then Baldie Duval came to try to help him but the flu bug was very strong, and Dave needed a little surgery.
THE END
(or “Kids learn about organs and stuff – better yet, to identify the tissue under microscopes, and to write an ode to a liver?)
SYPNOSIS: Today, we had Maisam and Shannon in charge. The morning started off with a quick look see at 5 different microscope slide samples. The students had to guess what they might be out of the possible choices: heart, lung, brain, blood, and liver. This isn’t as easy as it sounds. Anyway, then Maisam took them on a tour of these various organs, highlighting cool facts, culminating in a -DUM DUM DUM – challenge! In other words, with this new knowledge could you correctly identify the slides?
All of this human body talk also led to some great use of word play for a session in poetry writing. Here, students were asked to compose odes, poems, and even letters to an organ of their choice. Rapping optional!
- – -
So… Can you guess which slide is which organ? (Again, the choices are heart, lung, liver, brain, blood)
And get a load of these poems!
- – -
Laurene Holmes
BRAIN
The brain is special because it has over 100 billion totals and without it, we will forget everything and still be in grade one. Without the brain, we would not grow or know what 100 + 50 is.
LUNGS
Our lungs.
Without.
You. I.
Would die, because you suck in air through my mouth
And I. We.
Would die without you.
BONES
The reason why the bones are so special
is because without it,
we would not have blood and strength to do push ups
and or do exercise and do things.
- – -
Jaime Holmes
DEAR HEART
Dear Heart,
You’re awesome because you pump rich oxygen blood to every blood cell in my body. Thank you so so SO SO SO
SO MUCH
So don’t leave me. I will die without you.
You are like a rose to me. I will die if I go for heart failure.
- – -
Corben Kern
ARMS AND LEGS
Arms and legs are destroyed.
Landmine!
Or cancer.
Blown up and flying over the place.
Or it gets sick, and dies.
I hope I don’t.
BLOOD!
You have to get a needle, the doctor will get an x-ray.
He will get a needle and suck it all up.
It’s as simple as that.
Bleed it out.
- – -
Hannah Parnell
THE JOB OF A HEART
The job of a heart is to keep you moving.
The job of a heart is to keep your blood,
keep on pumping your heart
to stay alive and strong
THE JOB OF A BRAIN
A job of a brain is to keep you thinking.
Is to move your body.
The Job of a brain is to be smart and very good.
The job of a brain is to be helpful.
A job of a brain is to be strong and wise.
A job of a brain is to help you on math that is very hard.
- – -
Daisy Brisebois
DEAR LUNGS
I feel sorry for you, for getting asthma.
I just saw how tight my muscles squeeze you.
It must hurt a lot.
I hope my puffer helps.
Keep doing your best.
Sincerely Daisy.
DEAR LUNGS,
Hmmm. Where would I find an awesome pair of lungs? In my body!
To me, being with you is like a day in splashdown park. Lungs, I love you.
- – -
Kara Kamai
THE JOB OF A HEART
A job of a heart is to be a muscle, a strong one.
A job of a heart is to love.
A job of a heart is to be great.
A job of a heart is to be strong.
A job of a heart is to be loving.
A job of a heart is to be happy, not blue.
A job of a heart is to be great!
A JOB OF A BRAIN
A job of a brain is to be thinking.
A job of a brain is to be slimy.
A job of a brain is to be healthy.
A job of a brain is to be gooey.
A job of a brain is to be great!
A job of a brain is to be happy.
A job of a brain is to be brain storming.
A job of a brain is to be sweet.
A job of a brain is to be strong.
A job of a brain is to be fresh.
A job of a brain is to be wise.
HEY THERE BLOOD
Hey there blood. What are you doing?
Hey there blood, you keep me clean.
Hey there blood, sweeping the germs.
Hey there blood, keeping me cute.
Hey there blood, keeping me shiny.
Hey there blood, keeping me fluffy.
Hey there blood, keeping me delicious.
Hey there blood, keeping me straight.
Hey there blood, keeping me great!
HEY THERE EVERYONE
Hey there everyone, what are you doing?
Hey there everyone, you doing something?
Hey there, EVERYONE!
- – -
Tianna Parnell
DEAR HEART
Dear heart, you are awesome because you are keeping me alive and there is not any other organ that can keep me alive.
- – -
Josh Kamai
THE BRAIN
Thank you brain for great ideas
Keeping me moving for 13 years.
Thank you for hear, smell, feel, taste.
Thank you brain for helping me, giving me talents.
Thank you for commanding.
- – -
Bob B.
HELLO BLOOD
The blood cells, those miniature blood cells.
You guys come in two colours like the Sun.
Red and white.
Make pink like your engine
But anemia and leukemia kill you but
You will always start.
- – -
Tyler Schadow and Trask Bryant
YO HEART!
Yo, heart! Every night you make feel alive
At sat night.
Yo heart, you pump blood all over me.
David Beckham is watching you and he go ohhhhh!
Yo heart, you’re a ragin’ bull even the men from top go ohhhhh!
Yo heart, the O2 go through you at the speed of light.
Yo heart, you pump blood all over me.
David Beckham is watchin’ you and he go ohhhhhh yeah!
Oh, and before I forget, here is the-story-on-the-white-board-about-mike-vs-cruel-and-nasty!
“She looks different from angles through the bottle and I make her move like my brother when he is happy!” (DAY TWO)
(or “Kids make cartesian divers, which is a very wet activity, and then write a little poetry, which is not so much)
SYNOPSIS: Today, we had Heather and Elena taking charge. Heather had found this awesome site about Cartesian Divers, which René Descartes used to demonstrate things like buoyancy (Archimedes’ principle). This involved making these floaty things and generous use of the glue gun.
All the while, Elena made sure everyone was keeping track of their senses, so that they would have lots of good notes. This came in handy since, in the afternoon, everyone had a chance to write a couple of poems (which you can read below), as well as help compose a group poem (at the bottom).
- – -
If you really like the Cartesian Diver stuff, you have GOT to check out these websites (1 | 2). They rock, plus they even have lots of little “how to” videos.
Here are whole bunch of pictures from the day:
Using gum to show the effect of density!
Getting the supplies needed to make the divers.
We used big beakers of water to test the bouyancy of our divers first.
We also decorated the divers. This one looks pretty.
This one looks like Batman
This bottle has two of them!
- – -
And now check out some of the poetry written!
Tex B.
LE TRAVAILLE D’UNE PIEUVRE
Le travaille d’une pieuvre
est de manger, atracer,
et survivre. La pieurve doit
se developer de bonne manière.
Son travaille est de se faire
manger et digester sans causer
de maladie.
THE JOB OF AN OCTOPUS
The job of an octopus
is to eat,and survive. The octopus has to
grow well.
It’s job is to eat
and digest without causing illness.
CARTESIAN DIVERS
On est dans un laboratoire, un vrai
laboratoire qui est utilisé par des
scientifiques. Dans cet endroit aujour d’hui
on a construit de plongeurs
extraordinaires. Le mien me regarde
avec ses yeux au-dessus de sa
moustache dorée.
Mon plongeur descend à sa vitesse
extrême en tournant et en tournant.
Quand j’écrase la bouteille toutes les
petites boules montent à la surface.
J’aimerait découvrir de nouvelles
sortes de poisons. Je me demande s’il y a
d’encore de poissons à découvrir
dans la mer.
CARTESIAN DIVERS
We’re in a lab, a real lab
that’s used by scientists.
Today, in this place,
we made awesome
divers. Mine looks at me
with his eyes above
his golden mustache.
My diver descends
with extreme speed,
turning and turning.
When I squeeze the bottle
all the little bubbles
rise to the surface.
I’d like to discover
new kinds of fish. I wonder
if there are still more fish left to discover
in the sea.
- – -
Bob B.
CARTESIAN DIVERS
I am in a lab of the Michael Smith Building.
It is full of weird machines that I don’t know their purpose.
My diver isn’t really a diver but a red octopus with glasses and a goatee.
As my octopus diver sinks… I hear a little splish, splash!
When I squeeze, the water level in my fiver goes higher and sinks, but as he sinks he spins.
If I was a deep sea diver, I wouldn’t like to see a torpedo but lots of fish and crabs.
I wonder if there exists crabs, of the size to eat humans.
- – -
Laurene Holmes
CARTESIAN DIVERS
I am in an ocean. It smells like ocean water and the creatures that live in the ocean. The diver that I made today is just twirling, floating there. With her gold hair, and purple dress. And the bottle that the diver is in, is see-through. When I squeeze it, the diver turns down and when she comes back up, the bottle RUMBLES like lightning. The bottle is decorated with stickers that I put on it. I like my diver, and if I was a deep sea diver, I would swim all around watching the creatures swimming around and I would feeding them. Then I see a person swimming. I ask them if they would like to have a tour around the ocean. The tour was great.
THE JOB OF A PERSON
The job of a person is to go to school, eat healthy – like an adult.
The job of a person is to do their homework, and to learn and be smart.
The job of a person is to have lots of friends and to not be mean to others.
The job of a person is to have fun all the time, and to listen to others.
- – -
Hannah Parnell
CARTESIAN DIVERS
I am in a science lab. It is filled with machines.
My diver is just standing still in the water. She doesn’t want to wreck her dress!
She looks different from angles through the bottle and I make her move like my brother when he is happy!
If I was a deep sea diver, I would like to meet an octopus. I wonder how old a turtle can be!
THE JOB OF JELLYFISH
The job of a jellyfish is to be a ghost of the ocean.
The job of a jellyfish is to be beautiful, dangerous, and a family to baby jelly fish.
- – -
Jaime Rose Holmes
CARTESIAN DIVERS
I’m in a seat on the desk, in a science lab with 20 people writing poems.
My diver is a tube with pink hair. By Mike, she is smiling, pink skirt, an apple sticker, goggles, ‘O’ arms, and a green shirt.
When I squeeze, my diver goes down, and I hear little bubbles when I put my ear by the diver.
Then the bubbles go pop. Whenever I squeeze the bottle, I see the bubbles go up.
All the time, I squeeze the bottle, the diver goes down by twirling. And when it hits the bottom, I let go. It floats back up and it looks like it’s jumping to the top for air.
If I was a deep sea diver, I would want to see swordfish sword fighting, or jellyfish dancing, twirling up.
I wonder what you would do or say.
A JOB OF A MARSHMALLOW
Is to be tasty for people to eat.
A job of a marshmallow is to be perfect forever and ever.
Because it tastes good – that’s why.
- – -
Joshua Kamai
WHAT ICEBERGS ARE GOOD FOR
Icebergs are good to sink ships. Icebergs are good to make ice cubes.
Salt water is not good for icebergs.
Icebergs are good for freezing polar bears.
Icebergs are good for more water.
CARTESIAN DIVERS
Lab with machines.
Batman diver twirls up.
Travels straight up. Splash.
When I squeeze the bottle, he sinks.
Deep sea Batman fights the Penguin.
I wonder how he stays down there for so long.
- – -
Keenan Vickers
CARTESIAN DIVERS
I’m in the lab with lots of students.
It smells fresh.
My diver looks like a pirate. My pirate feels squishable.
My pirate hears talking. When I squeeze the bottle, the pirate spins.
I wonder…
UNDERWATER LIFE
Underwater life is fun to explore.
Underwater life is good for tasty fish.
Underwater life is bad to swim in because of sharks and jellyfish.
Underwater life is a great place to see turtles and whales.
- – -
Kara Kamai
CARTESIAN DIVERS
I’m in the science room and it smells like the ocean.
But in this science room, it’s a spaceship.
My diver is seventeen and her name is Sara.
She’s a great diver. She is a great writer and singer.
She just loves to dive.
She’s my favourite diver ever.
She wonders if she can pet the shark.
That would be scary because the shark would bite.
I love my diver!
CARTESIAN DIVERS II
She’s in a crazy room. My diver looks like a star.
It has goggles and a big hat, and a blue shirt.
She hears bubbles going up and down. She sees herself going up and down.
If she was a deep sea diver, she would see a shark with sharp teeth.
The shark is fast too.
She wonders if she can pet a shark like petting a dog.
A JOB OF A HORSE
A job of a horse is to run and rest.
A job of a horse is to be GREAT!
THE JOB OF A TREE.
The job of the tree is making food.
The job of the tree is keeping itself healthy.
The job of a tree is to be beautiful.
The job of a tree is to be GREAT!
THE JOB OF THE CAT
The job of the cat is to keep her kittens safe.
The job of a cat is to love to her people.
The job of a cat is to drink water, and to eat food.
The job of a cat is to keep herself safe.
The job of a cat is to be GREAT!
THE JOB OF A WOLF
The job of the wolf is keeping her babies safe.
The job of the wolf is giving her babies food.
The job of the wolf is being nice to the people.
The job of the wolf is keeping herself safe.
The job of a wolf is to be loving.
THE JOB OF A BOAT
The job of a boat is keeping the people safe.
The job of a boat is not to go very fast.
The job of a boat is to be healthy.
The job of a boat is to be safe.
- – -
Daisy Brisebois
THE JOB OF A MARSHMALLOW
To make more marshmallows.
To make more smiley faces.
To make big fat… butts!
CARTESIAN DIVERS
I am in a lab – yay! It smells like gas.
She is a fashion model, that dives for silver.
When wet, I hear banging.
If I squeeze the bottle, I wonder if my diver girl sings, will live.
If I was a deep sea diver, I would not want to go in the water.
Because I would be too scared.
- – -
Tyler Schadow
THE JOB OF A TURTLE
The job of a turtle is to go slow wherever it goes.
The job of a turtle is to float, float, float.
CARTESIAN DIVERS
It looks like a science room.
This room looks like a really educational room.
My two men look like Mr. Professor meeting with a Mr. Nothing.
Mr. Professor likes to spin up and down.
I would find king crabs at the bottom of the ocean.
I wonder what I want to write.
- – -
Trask Bryant
CARTESIAN DIVERS
I am in a laboratory, I feel happy.
I smell chemicals and water.
My diver is standing in water.
My diver is green haired and has a green body.
He also has red eyes and a red nose.
I heard a splash when my diver entered the water.
My diver is super quick.
When I squeeze the bottle, my diver sinks.
If I was a deep sea diver, I would find lots of plants at the bottom of the ocean.
The plants would be huge and small and skinny and fat and different shapes.
I wonder if there is any light at the bottom of the ocean?
THE JOB OF A SHIP
The job of a ship is to transport people from place to place around the world.
To be big, and to fight through fierce storms.
To bring resources to poor desperate countries that are in need.
THE JOB OF A SUBMARINE
The job of a submarine is to sink underwater.
To be balanced, to be…
- – -
Corben Kern
THE JOB OF A WRIST SHOT!
The job of a wrist shot is to score goals.
To score top corner.
The job of a wrist shot is to be accurate.
It is to hit the net.
The job of a wrist shot is to be done not looking.
It’s to win the shoot out!
THE JOB OF A TORPEDO
The job of a torpedo is to blow up boats and submarines.
It’s to sink through the water.
The job of a torpedo is to make holes, to explode, to carry gunpowder.
It’s to sink aircraft carriers so the planes have nowhere to land.
The job of a torpedo is to destroy people.
CARTESIAN DIVERS
In Vancouver, a science room, learning.
The diver is going down, Mr Football, orange, yellow, red, blue, silver, brown, white.
Wet rock, it looks like a boat.
I wonder like a diver.
If I was a deep sea diver, I’d pick up a torpedo and bring it to the surface. Then drop it and let it blow up.
I wonder if I can destroy the world.
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Tianna Parnell
CARTESIAN DIVERS
I am in the toy room, and it is a very delicate room and you are not allowed to eat – you might spill food or juice on stuff.
And the diver toy is very fancy, and she is a dancer girl.
And the bubbles come up, and it is probably very loud for he fish, but it is not that bad for us humans, when the bubbles come up.
And when you push on the bottle, she will dance for you.
And when I squeeze the bottle, she performs for you guys.
She twirls like a ballet dancer.
If I was a deep sea diver, I would like to meet a mermaid and see jellyfish eggs, and go to water school and see a catfish.
I wonder if a catfish meows.
THE JOB OF A FISH
The job of a fish is that it make more and more fish.
And you eat the meat from him.
They live in the ocean.
They look very beautiful, smell very good.
They eat plankton for us, so that it does not grow very big.
A job of a fish is to make sushi.
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And… last but not least… the group poem!
SINK OR FLOAT: THE DIVERS
Everything floats or sinks.
A sponge absorbs water!
Humans float in the water.
When I have air in my lungs I go up,
but when I don’t, I sink.
A submarine sinks and floats. That’s why
it’s called “submarine.”
A ship floats.
The ship tips up and flips over
when it sinks.
A boat can float,
a rock cannot!
A teeny, tiny hair can FLOAT.
Parts of the diver float
after he meets a shark.
A rock is going to sink
fairly fast.
(Splash.)
My diver is diving for gold –
when she comes back, she always has gold.
(or “Kids do a little biodiversity, a lot of microscopes, write a screenplay, and what exactly is that squiggly thing in my droplet?”)
SYNOPSIS: First, we settled in. There are a total of 13 students and 7 instructors (Dave and Mike were the main instructors today). Next Dave gave a quick talk about biodiversity – actually, he showed a picture of a starling, one of the most common birds in Vancouver, (well, in the world even) and no-one could identify it. Contrast that to a picture of Pikachu, which everyone instantly recognized! Basically, this showed just how out of touch with the ecological world many of us are.
So, we went for a walk… Collecting weeds, basically, as well as visiting a waterfall by the First Nations Longhouse to collect some freshwater pond specimens. Then back to the lab for some serious observational work – first with the plants, and then with the pond water. This is when the microscopes were in heavy use.
Then, in the afternoon, it was screenplay writing time! Here, Mike talked a bit about ways to persuade people to do things, and how sometimes the most powerful way to do that is to tell a story. Which is why the assignment in the afternoon was to get into groups and write a screenplay that may shed some light on humans and how they interact with the environment. Plus, we get to act it out and film it!
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First order of business: that squiggly thing, which probably looked a little like this:
Well, it’s apparently a baby Triops. And how did I figure that out? Well by checking out this cool website which attempts to categorize all the creepy crawly microscopic life forms in fresh water ponds. That website has all sorts of pictures to help us many figure out some of the other strange creatures we saw.
And below is a picture of some of the plant specimens collected (and the sketches) that some of the students produced.
This one below was especially interesting because it actually had a bug on it (turns out that a lot of the plant specimens had bugs on them – they came out especially when under the hot microscope light for too long).
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And now, check these screenplays out!
HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA
Setting: The University of British Columbia forest.
Josh enters with hockey music playing. Sound effect.
Josh: Destroy this forest! I want my hockey rink because I am a super star and I make ten million dollars a day! Sound effect
Snaily (a snail): I am a super snail and I don’t care about money because you can’t buy the forest back once it’s ruined.
Isabella (a beaver): And my house isn’t for sale, but I’ll chew you down some hockey sticks. Isabella chews on the tree and they fall on Josh, the hockey star, and he crashes to the ground.
Josh: NOOOOOOOO!! But I am a hockey star and I make ten million dollars a day, even if I don’t score a goal!
Isabella and Snaily (together): SCORE! Sound effect
THE END
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THE SECOND BAD ATTEMPT.
At a school field, Wayne, Katy and Tyler at sitting with their lunches.
Katy: The world cup is next year. Soccer is fun!
Wayne: I hate soccer but I like cutting down trees with my ROCKET LAUNCHER!
Katy, Wayne, and Tyler pretend to eat their lunches.
Wayne: I don’t know what I am eating but I like it.
Tyler: LET’S CUT ALL THE TREES…
Wayne: …in Montreal! We can build hockey arenas, lacrosse fields, soccer fields –
Texas (running in): Sorry I’m late! What are you guys talking about?
Wayne: We’re going to cut down trees with this rocket launcher. Why do you ask?
Texas: I ask because I wanted to know if this was going to be like your other last lame attempt to clear the forest and make big skating rinks.
A Tree: Looking scare, and whimpering. I’m tree. Please don’t hurt me.
Wayne points his rocket launcher at the tree.
Texas: Gets in front of the rocket launcher. NO Don’t!
Wayne shoots the rocket launcher, it skims Texas’ hair, hits the tree but bounces off. Sound effect.
Tree: Ha ha ha, sucker!
Texas: Well, there goes another bad attempt.
THE END
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THE TRICKY FISH
Setting: A big boat.
Fisher person 1: I hope we catch some fish.
Fisher person 2: We’ll just try very hard to catch fish today.
The Fisher people cast their rods.
Fisher person 1: I GOT ONE!
Fisher person 2: I will help you reel it in.
Then the fish starts to squirm but then it makes it on board the boat. The fish will start to talk, and the fisher people scream.
Fish: Let me go! I am the last fish on Earth.
Fisher person 2: You can talk!
Fisher person 1: Oh my gosh!
Fisher person 2: I think we should let him go.
Fisher person 1: But we are starving out in the middle of the ocean.
Fish: I want to live. Because I want MORE fish in the ocean.
Fisher person 1: I want to eat him.
Fisher person 2: We should let him go, or else there will be no more fish in the ocean.
Fisher person 1: But we’ll starve!
Fisher person 2: Well,.. eat seaweed!
Fish: I can find seaweed and bring it back.
Fisher person 1: O.K. Well, we’ll eat the seedweed and eat you for dessert!
Fisher person 2: Noooo! Let him go – let’s get this show over with.
Fish: O.K. I will be back with your seedweed. I promise O.K.? Throw me back in the water.
The fisher people throw him back.
Fisher person 1: I’m hungry.
Fisher person 2: Do you think he will come back.
Fisher person 1: We should have kept the fish.
THE END.
