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Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Days 53, 54

November 1 & 2, 2011 Days 53 & 54

Ecosystem Mad Lib

*Using Ecosystem Vocabulary words below, write fun Pond Observation Mad Lib for your Almanac!

Write at least 15 good sentences using the vocabulary and telling the stories of Summer & fall Pond Observations for all three ponds. Mad Lib “blanks” should include: pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, nouns, & verbs!

1. Energy: usually derived from sunlight, but rarely and in small quantities derived from other sources, this energy then moves through the ecosystem

2. Abiotic factors: including water, soil minerals, and atmospheric gases the abiotic environment is made up of many objects and forces that influence one another

3. biotic factors: including producer organisms, consumer organisms, and reducer organisms; an organism’s survival  and well being depend largely on getting the food it requires on associates with other living things

4. Producer organisms: usually green plants are capable of capturing sunlight energy through the process of photosynthesis

5. consumer organisms: include some plants and all animals in the community

6. reducer organisms: are mainly bacteria and fungi that decay and decompose the bodies of dead plants and animals

7. Nitrogen: a colorless, odorless, gaseous element that constitutes about four-fifths of the volume of the atmosphere and is present in combined form in animal and vegetable tissues,

8. Biome: a complex biotic community characterized by distinctive plant and animal species and maintained under the climatic conditions of the region,

9. Rain forest: A tropical forest, usually tall, and densely growing,

10.  Desert: a region so arid because of little rainfall that it supports only sparse and widely spaced vegetation or no vegetation at all

11. Coniferous forest: a type of forest characterized by cone-bearing, needle-leaved trees

12. Tundra: one of the vast, nearly level, treeless plains of the arctic regions of Europe, Asia, and North America.

*Using Ecosystem Vocabulary words below, write fun Pond Observation Mad Lib for your Almanac!

Write at least 15 good sentences using the vocabulary and telling the stories of Summer & fall Pond Observations for all three ponds. Mad Lib “blanks” should include: pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, nouns, & verbs!

*First draft with a few mistakes to fix/ edit

The pond at the farm is a perfect example for* an ecosystem. The abiotic factors (*def) of the pond at the farm make it very functional as an ecosystem. An ecosystem is a *system of a biome* where the food cycle goes on. There are ecosystems all over the world. There are some located in the tundra, the amazing rain forests, the deserts, and the coniferous forests (forest filled with pine trees*). Climates and environments outside *effect the ecosystem as well, such as solar energy. Producer organisms, consumer organisms, and reducer organisms are mainly involved with the ecosystem as well. They are the plants and animals associated with the ecosystem. These organisms combined together are called biotic factors. There is one more important detail that you need to know to complete an ecosystem, which is nitrogen. Nitrogen is a gaseous element of an ecosystem that both abiotic and biotic factors need to survive. *One or two more “fun” sentences about the farm pond as an ecosystem. 

**Second draft with mistakes fixed & extra added sentences**

The pond at the farm is a perfect example of an ecosystem. The abiotic factors (including water, soil minerals, and atmospheric gases such as Nitrogen) of the pond at the farm make it very functional as an ecosystem. An ecosystem is a biome system where the food cycle goes on. There are ecosystems all over the world. There are some located in the tundra, the amazing rain forests, the deserts, and the coniferous forests (forest filled with pine trees, like the state of Maine). Climates and environments outside affect the ecosystem as well, such as solar energy. Producer organisms, consumer organisms, and reducer organisms are mainly involved with the ecosystem as well. They are the plants and animals associated with the ecosystem. These organisms combined together are called biotic factors. There is one more important detail that you need to know to complete an ecosystem, which is nitrogen. Nitrogen is a gaseous element of an ecosystem that both abiotic and biotic factors need to survive. The pond ecosystem at the farm has all of these elements which makes a wonderful food chain and ecosystem. If something disturbs the ecosystem such as rain, snow, a leaf, or even a plastic bag, the plants and animals learn to create a new ecosystem with the new environment. If an animal or plant is taken away from the eco system the animals remaining in the ecosystem have to adapt and learn to survive in the new ecosystem. In the winter, when the fish are taken out of the pond, it disrupts the ecosystem and the plants and animals remaining such as the lily pads, the frogs, the rocks, and even the algae have to work together to create a whole new ecosystem. This ecosystem process is same with the ocean, the desert, and even a flower. If the community in the ecosystem works together after a disruption, everything in the ecosystem is all right.

**Final Mad Lib! (for almanac)

The pond at the farm is a _____________example of an ecosystem. The abiotic __________(including

                                                (adjective)                                                                                          (noun pl.)

water, soil minerals, and _____________gases such as nitrogen) of the pond at the farm ________it

                                                      (adjective)                                                                                                    (verb)
very functional as an ecosystem. An ecosystem is a biome ________where the food cycle________ on.

                                                                                                                (noun)                                                  (verbs)

There are ecosystems all over______________. There are some ___________in the tundra, the amazing

                                                                (adjective + noun)                           (verb)

rain forests, the deserts, and the coniferous forests (forests____________ filled with pine trees, like the

                                                                                                                                (adverb)

 state of Maine). Climates and environments outside __________________the ecosystem as well, such

                                                                                                                (adverb + verb)

as solar energy. Producer organisms, _______________organisms, and reducer organisms are ________

                                                                                (adjective)                                                                                   (adverb)

 involved with the ecosystem as well. __________are the plants and animals _______________with the

                                                                                (Pronoun)                                                           (verb)  

_______________. These organisms _____________together are called biotic factors. There is one more

(noun)                                                                  (verb)                  

important _____________that you need to know to ________________an ecosystem, which is nitrogen.

                     (noun)                                                                             (verb)  


Nitrogen is a gaseous element of an _____________that both abiotic and biotic factors ____________to

                                                                                (noun)                                                                                  (verb)

survive. The pond ecosystem at the farm has all of these ________ which makes a ______________food

                                                                                                                (noun)                                                  (adjective)

a chain an ecosystem. If something_______________ disturbs the ecosystem such as rain, snow, a leaf,

                                                                                (adverb)

or even a plastic____________, the plants and animals learn to ________a new ecosystem with the new

                             (noun)                                                                                     (verb)

environment. If an animal or plant is taken away from the ______________the animals remaining in the

                                                                                                                                (noun)

ecosystem have to adapt and ____________to survive in the new ecosystem. In the winter, when the

                                                           (verb)

_____________________are taken out of the pond, it ________________the ecosystem and the plants

(noun)                                                                                                  (verb)

and animals ______________such as the lily pads, the frogs, the___________, and even the algae have

                         (verb-ing)                                                                                   (noun)

to _________________together to create a whole new ecosystem. This ________________process is

            (verb)                                                                                                                         (adjective + noun)

same with the ocean, the desert, and even a flower. If the ________________in the

                                                                                                                (noun) 

 ecosystem______________ works together after a disruption, everything in the ecosystem is all right.



Reading: *Sophie will be attending this play that her good friend Emma is acting in this coming weekend! And she read this novel last year. A classic!



My Accidental Masterpiece: The Phantom Tollbooth

by Norton Juster



Paperback, 256 pages | purchase

Norton Juster is the author of The Phantom Tollbooth.

"There was once a boy named Milo who didn't know what to do with himself — not just sometimes but always. When he was in school he longed to be out, and when he was out he longed to be in ... Nothing really interested him — least of all the things that should have."

It was, of course, the doldrums — his own special version of them.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of that bored child's transformative journey. The Phantom Tollbooth was the first book I had ever written and my first collaboration with the cartoonist Jules Feiffer, who provided the marvelous illustrations.

Like most good things that have happened in my life, The Phantom Tollbooth came about because I was trying to avoid doing something else. It was 1958, and after three years in the Navy I returned to New York City to work as an architect. I had also received a grant to do a book on cities for children. I started with great energy and enthusiasm until I found myself waist-deep in stacks of 3-by-5 note cards, exhausted and dispirited. This is not what I wanted to do.

In order to stop thinking about cities, I had to start thinking about something else.

I had been an odd child: quiet, introverted and moody. Little was expected from me. Everyone left me alone to wander around inside my own head. When I grew up I still felt like that puzzled kid — disconnected, disinterested and confused. There was no rhyme or reason in his life. My thoughts focused on him, and I began writing about his childhood, which was really mine.

Coming home from school one day, Milo finds an unexpected gift: a highway tollbooth, a map and directions to a place called the Lands Beyond.

So off he goes on his journey of discovery. He travels to Dictionopolis, the kingdom of words, to Digitopolis, the land of numbers, escapes from the doldrums, goes astray by jumping to the Island of Conclusions and at last rescues the two princesses, Rhyme and Reason, from the Castle in the Air. 

Not everyone in the publishing world of the 1960s embraced The Phantom Tollbooth. Many said that it was not a children's book, the vocabulary was much too difficult, and the ideas were beyond kids. To top it off, they claimed fantasy was bad for children because it disorients them.

The prevailing wisdom of the time held that learning should be more accessible and less discouraging. The aim was that no child would ever have to confront anything that he or she didn't already know.

But my feeling is that there is no such thing as a difficult word. There are only words you don't know yet — the kind of liberating words that Milo encounters on his adventure.

Today's world of texting and tweeting is quite a different place, but children are still the same as they've always been. They still get bored and confused, and still struggle to figure out the important questions of life.

Well, one thing has changed: As many states eliminate tolls on highways, some children may never encounter a real tollbooth.

Luckily there are other routes to the Lands Beyond. And it is possible to seek them, and fun to try.

Math: 2 pages Guinness book—almost done with workbook

LA Book: 2 pages, her choice. *this is a great, challenging book and Sophie seems to really like it & it’s great because she chooses the reading she wants to do and completes them on her own or we ca work together or with Bo during Farm School. I really approve of this series:

On Wednesday Sophie did another page in this book about the Blarney Stone in Ireland. She really likes this book~

Farm School: Almanac work, crossword puzzle vocabulary (20 words), picture editing

Crossword Vocabulary & Clues: *for Almanac

Expedition  - Lewisand Clarke’s journey.



Tundra        - Arcticeco-system surface.



Continental Divide – continent, add, subtract, multiply...?



Ecology – science of a globe system.



Secretary – occupation: record dates and events.



Keelboat -  big canoe.



Obtuse – crooked 91 degrees.



Biomes – Nature groups.



Nitrogen – element, fertilizer, gas



Surveyors – They map out land.



Savanna –   Vast surface of grass.



Sagacity – old wise owl trait.



Interpreter – word charade.



Naturalist – one who studies nature.



Auge – extreme hot and cold symptoms, Goddess of childbirth.



Triangle – 135 degrees, equally divided.



Organisms – Living examples: animal, plant, fungus. 



Inherited –family treasures passED down.



Energy –  sleep + food=



Acute – 89 not an ugly angle

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