May 2

Amazing Volcanoes

You are there 

Have you ever wondered what a volcano is or why they happen? Imagine you are in a hotel enjoying the view by the volcano Mount Saint Helen’s, then suddenly BOOM  out of nowhere ash and smoke start spewing out of the top. Then you see that half of Mount Saint Helens is gone. You see smoke coming your way but lucky you get into your car and drive away as fast as you can.        

What is a volcano?

A volcano is a mountain that opens downward to a pool of molten rock below the surface of the earth. When pressure builds up, eruptions occur. Gases and rock shoot up through the opening and spill over or fill the air with lava fragments like lava and ash. Eruptions can cause, lava flows, hot ash flows, mudslides, and avalanches. Volcano eruptions have been known to knock down entire forests like the one by Mount Saint Helens, the whole forest was gone. Volcanoes are formed when magma from within the Earth’s upper mantle works its way to the surface. At the surface, it erupts, and forms lava flows and ash. Over time as the volcano continues to erupt, it will get bigger and bigger.

Why do volcanoes erupt?

The Earth’s crust is made up of huge slabs called plates, which fit together like a big puzzle. These plates sometimes move. The friction causes earthquakes and volcanic eruptions near the edges of the plates. The theory that explains this process is called plate tectonics.Scientists have volcanoes into three main categories: active, dormant, and extinct. An active volcano is one which has recently erupted and there is a possibility that it may erupt soon. A dormant volcano is one which has not erupted in a long time but there is a possibility it can erupt in the future. An extinct volcano is one which has erupted thousands of years ago and there’s no possibility of an eruption.

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What is the Ring of Fire?

The Ring of Fire is an area of frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions in the basin of the Pacific Ocean. The Ring of Fire has 452 volcanoes and is home to over fifty-one percent of the world’s active and dormant volcanoes. Ninety percent of the world’s earthquakes and eighty-one percent of the world’s largest earthquakes occur along the Ring of Fire.

Why are volcanoes good for the earth?

Volcanoes are good for the Earth because they provide nutrients to the surrounding soil. Volcanic ash contains minerals that are beneficial to plants, and if it is very fine ash it is able to break down quickly and get mixed into the soil quickly. Volcanoes have formed many islands, mountains and parts of continents. Igneous rock is the rock that is formed by cooled lava and It helps build roads. Also, beautiful stones like amethyst are turned into jewelry. Pumice is a natural glass that helps polish and grind stones and metals. It is also used in making hand soap and other household items like cleaners. You know we have global warming if volcanoes erupt the ahs will cool down the Earth and make it better.  

Did you know that a volcano can reach temperatures like 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit or 1200 degrees Celsius? Volcanoes are very cool and interesting but very dangerous. People who live by volcanoes are endangered and constantly having to move. Scientists are studying volcanoes to better predict earthquakes and eruptions and make life safer for people who live near volcanoes.

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May 2

The great pacific ocean garbage patch

The Great Pacific Garbage patch.

Floating in the northern pacific ocean there is a huge trash island the size of Texas. When you leave your trash at the beach where do you think it will end up? Did you know there are 79,000 tons of plastic that are floating in the pacific ocean! To stop adding trash to the trash island we need to start recycling. Imagine you are on a boat and you see a huge trash island with plastic, paper, bottles, cans and many other pieces trash floating by the size of Texas. Have you ever seen a turtle trapped in a piece of plastic fighting for his life?we need to bring awareness to the dangers of not recycling and littering.

Filling most of the space between Japan and California in the upper part of this gyre,  a few hundred miles north of Hawaii ,is where warm water from the south pacific crashes into  cooler water from the north. Known as the north pacific subtropical convergence zone, this is also where the trash collects.The trash island is like a galaxy of garbage, populated by million of smaller trash islands that may be hidden underwater or spread out over many miles.

The damage is that the trash island is in endangering marine life. The trash island harming and killing animals in the pacific ocean. We can all help stop the trash island by picking up our trash at the beach, to recycle, and to stop littering. People are trying to help out and tell other people to do the same thing. Once the trash island is stopped we should not start another so let’s clean up after ourselves, to stop littering and to recy

Now do you see what harm the trash island has done? Researchers have collected up to 750,000 pieces of micro plastic from a single square kilometer. The discovery of the pacific garbage patch, capt. Charles Moore once said a clean up effort “would bankrupt any country and kill wildlife in the nets as it went.” We can all help stop the trash island by recycling and to throw away your trash at the beach. Now all of us can help marine life and to stop the great pacific garbage patch.

 

Category: Environment, Student Posts | 2 Comments on The great pacific ocean garbage patch
May 2

YAY! I got perfect attendance!

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Above: Illustration by Robert Matson; Below: Photos Courtesy of Families

At some schools in California, kids who have perfect attendance this year will get a new bicycle and helmet! Other schools in the U.S. also reward kids who don’t miss any classes with prizes like movie tickets and even money! Why should they get rewarded? It’s just coming to school every single day. Parents have to go to work every day and don’t get rewarded for that!

All they are doing is coming to school! They could have gotten all F’s in school but still got a pizza party or something just because they came to school! What if you got straight A+ all year and only got a sticker because they missed a day of school? How would you feel about that?

Plus, Parents have to go to work every day and do they get rewarded? No, so why should the kids get rewarded? they should have to work hard to earn something special! I mean I can understand if you got A+ all year and got perfect attendance, but just for attendance? It is just plain unnecessary.

Category: Community, Current Events & News, Special Events, Student Posts | 3 Comments on YAY! I got perfect attendance!
May 2

FREE PLAY!

 

Last school year, some schools in the U.S., started a new recess program. Each day, teachers set up organized activity stations. Students can choose from games like soccer, volleyball, and four-square. This type of program, called a structured recess, is used by thousands of schools across the United States.  Why can’t we just get to do what we want?

At my school, recess is free time. Of course, teachers are around to make sure everyone behaves. But we can play whatever we want. After sitting in classes all morning, students need a break so we’ll be refreshed and ready to learn in the afternoon.

Plus, sometimes you just want to hang out with friends at recess. We have P.E. class to make sure we get enough exercise. Recess should be a time without so many rules so we can actually do something without being controlled.

Category: Current Events & News, Games, Sports, Student Posts | 3 Comments on FREE PLAY!
May 2

Silence your Phone!

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Above: Mike Kemp/Getty Images; Below: Photos Courtesy of Families

Have you ever gone to a movie and been bothered by someone’s glowing phone screen when you want to focus on the movie screen? Most theaters ask people to turn off their phones before the film starts. But many theaters don’t enforce that rule. Why can’t they just do us a favor and ban cell phones at the movies?

Most people use their phone constantly and can hardly get off them! The movies are one of my favorite places because hardly anyone is on their phone. But when people are on their phone it really agitates me, why can’t they just go somewhere else to use their phones?

The movies are a place for most people to relax and watch a good screenplay, but for phone users, it’s just another relaxing place for them to use their phone. Plus it’s pretty annoying when you are in the middle of an intense movie and you keep hearing “RRRRRIIIIIIIINNNNNNNGGGGGG RRRRRIIIIIIIINNNNNGGGG” So next time you go to the movies please remember to silence your phone.

 

Category: Community, Current Events & News, Student Posts | 2 Comments on Silence your Phone!
May 2

Lets get rid of plastic bags!

Imagine an island of trash the size of Texas! That’s 268,597 square miles of trash! It’s not really a solid island but still, it’s a big blob of floating garbage in the middle of the ocean. I think we need to get rid of plastic bags once and for all. First of all bags take forever to decompose, second of all it pollutes the ocean, and finally, you have other options besides plastic bags.

It takes time to decompose

You may think that plastic bags don’t do anything to the land but they do. People throw away plastic bags and plastic trash every day. It takes about 1000 years to get rid of the plastic bags on our planet and there are 100 billion plastic bags thrown away every year. If it takes a long time to decompose plastic bags, there could be a lot of trash on our planet, for a very long time.

It pollutes to the ocean               

Another reason why plastic bags should be banned, many other bags wash into the sewer drains and end up in waterways.  Did you know that scientists in Norway found 30 plastics bags in a whale’s stomach, that’s crazy how so many plastic bags get polluted in the ocean and land! More than 17 billion pounds of plastic bags ended up in the ocean. Plastic trash is harmful to animals because the animal can get trapped in the plastic bag. It can also eat the plastic bag which can cause it to die. Plastic bags can be polluted in rivers, lakes, and farms.

You have other options

Why do people even need to use plastic bags for groceries? Khalea Jai Hoggs from India thinks, “People have other options at stores. They can use recyclable paper bags or buy cloth bags, which they can use over and over again.” Khalea makes a good point. When you go to a grocery store the cashier worker should give you only two options–a paper bag or your own bag. Although paper bags are not the best option, it’s still better than a plastic bag.  You could choose a paper bag to help the environment, or you could always bring your own cloth bag.

In conclusion, polluting plastic bags is a bad choice as it’s invading our world, and making it into the food chain. To sum up, first It takes a long time to decompose, second it pollutes the ocean, and finally, you have other options other than a plastic bag. Although paper bags are not the best option, it’s still better than a plastic bag. Where I stand, I think that plastic bags should be gone forever.

            

Category: Environment | 1 Comment on Lets get rid of plastic bags!
May 2

Should exotic animals be kept as pets?

 

Image result for baboon in cage

Baboons are thought to be cute pets, but as soon as it’s huge teeth grow in it is abandoned.

Imagine being ripped from your home and sent to live in a cage with strange food and drinks. Find that hard to imagine? Exotic animals that are kept as pets have been forced to take that image and turn it into reality. Most kids think it is cool to have an exotic animal as a pet, but really it is bad for the animal that is being kept as a pet! From where I stand, I think that keeping exotic animals as pets is a bad idea. Keeping exotic animals as pets is a bad idea because they are not domesticated and can kill you or hurt you badly. Also, most people are unable to properly take care of the animal. Plus they could give you terrible diseases if you don’t vaccinate them properly.  

First of all, animals like dogs and cats are domesticated, but exotic animals aren’t and can be dangerous to their owners. No one should be able to keep exotic animals as pets. When they are babies they might be cute but when they get older and mature their territorial instincts kick in and it gets more and more dangerous the older the animal gets. They belong in their natural habitats. It has taken thousands of years to domesticate dogs. So, saying that wild animals are house pet’s, is like saying a wolf is a dog, or a tiger or lion is an ordinary house cat.

They are completely different in the way they think. Tigers would attack and kill us if they could. House cats are not like that.

In addition, most people are unable to provide the natural environment of the animal, along with its natural prey or territory that it eats. All exotic animals are wild and need plenty of space to roam. This is another thing, another thing people, are unlikely to provide. Most people abandon the animals when they mature because they lose their cuteness, resulting in homelessness or death. This form of severe animal cruelty. For example, have you heard of the python outbreak in Florida? This is happening because people have a problem with letting them go loose in the everglades. Also, there is nothing in that environment that eats them.

Another reason, exotic animals have very dangerous diseases that can spread diseases to their owner. Exotic animals have many diseases that humans can catch like tuberculosis. Also, they can spread parasites and if they are not vaccinated properly then the animal will suffer. Do we really want to take the chance of getting very sick or hurting an animal just so we can say “I own a tiger”? I definitely wouldn’t.    

There is no point in taking an innocent animal from its home just to put in captivity for our own amusement. How would you feel if someone took you from your family, put you in a cage and started calling you Fluffy? To make matters worse, it is very cruel to the animal because they don’t have their natural environment and probably won’t have proper care. To make it worse the animal endangers your health with parasites and diseases. Also, some animals would have no problem straight up attacking you. Why must we have such a thing just for our own amusement? Many people say that the exotic animals great pets because they can teach children about that species, but I say that is what zoos are for. So that’s what I think, exotic animals should not be kept as pets.

Category: Animals, Student Posts | 1 Comment on Should exotic animals be kept as pets?