Term 2 Home Learning

Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

There is a place where the sidewalk ends
And before the street begins,
And there the grass grows soft and white,
And there the sun burns crimson bright,
And there the moon-bird rests from his flight
To cool in the peppermint wind.

Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black
And the dark street winds and bends.
Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow
We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And watch where the chalk-white arrows go
To the place where the sidewalk ends.

Yes we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go,
For the children, they mark, and the children, they know
The place where the sidewalk ends.

Peppermint-suggests that the wind is cool and refreshing

Bends- suggests that the wind changed direction

Asphalt- a dark tar-like substance used in surfacing roads or waterproofing buildings. Hence describes the colour of the flower.

Chalk-white arrows- Maybe suggesting shooting stars


I like this poem because it is interesting. There were also parts which I didn’t understand at first which made me want to find out more. Although I am still trying to understand the whole poem, so it captivates me. There are also good adjectives used to describe the nouns. For example: crimson bright, asphalt etc.


My Poem:

School, the six-letter word...
Is just life that is absurd.
From being a know-nothing-kid,
To a big-brainer kid.

School, the six-letter word...
Cannot be described using a few words,
Because it is just amazing,
With the main motive of learning!

School, the six-letter word...
Is just a pretty small society.
That gives one many memories,
That involves our buddies!

School, the six-letter word...
Is just made up of a variety of things.
Every Tik, every Tok,
Has something that one can talk about!

Shift in Earth's Axis

The 2010 Chile 8.8 earthquake may have changed the entire Earth's rotation and shortened the length of days on our planet, a NASA scientist said on Monday.The quake, should have shortened the length of an Earth day by 1.26 milliseconds, according to research scientist Richard Gross at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.
"Perhaps more impressive is how much the quake shifted Earth's axis," NASA officials said in a Monday update.The computer model used by Richard Gross and his colleagues to determine the effects of the Chile earthquake effect also found that it should have moved Earth's figure axis by about 8 cm or 27 milliarcseconds.

The Earth's figure axis (axis around the Earth where the Earth's mass is balanced, offset from the Earth North-South axis by 10 metres) is not the same as its north-south axis, which it spins around once every day at a speed of about 1,604 km/h.

Strong earthquakes have altered Earth's days and its axis in the past. The 9.1 Sumatran earthquake in 2004, which set off a deadly tsunami, should have shortened Earth's days by 6.8 microseconds and shifted its axis by about 7 cm or 2.32 milliarcseconds.One Earth day is about 24 hours long. Over the course of a year, the length of a day normally changes gradually by one millisecond. It increases in the winter, when the Earth rotates more slowly, and decreases in the summer, Gross has said in the past.

The Chile earthquake was much smaller than the Sumatran temblor, but its effects on the Earth are larger because of its location. Its epicenter was located in the Earth's mid-latitudes rather than near the equator like the Sumatran event.The fault responsible for the 2010 Chile quake also slices through Earth at a steeper angle than the Sumatran quake's fault, NASA scientists said."This makes the Chile fault more effective in moving Earth's mass vertically and hence more effective in shifting Earth's figure axis," NASA officials said.

Gross said his findings are based on early data available on the Chile earthquake. As more information about its characteristics are revealed, his prediction of its effects will likely change. The salt-measuring NASA satellite instrument destined to be installed on an Argentinean satellite was also undamaged in the earthquake, JPL officials said.

2010 Chile Earthquuake

The 2010 Chile Earthquake occurred off the coast of the Maule region of Chile, on 27 February 2010 at 06:34UTC. The earthquake was a magnitude of 8.8 and lasted about 3 minutes. It was the seventh strongest earthquake recorded in the century. The cities experiencing the strongest shaking—VIII (Destructive) on the Mercalli intensity scale—were Talcahuano, Arauco, Lota, Chiguayante, Cañete, and San Antonio. The earthquake was felt in the capital Santiago at Mercalli intensity scale VII (Very Strong). Tremors were felt in many Argentine cities, including Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Mendoza and La Rioja. Tremors were felt as far north as the city of Ica in southern Peru. Tsunami warnings were also issued in 53 countries, and a tsunami was recorded, with amplitude of up to 2.6 m high, in the sea at Valparaíso, Chile. The epicenter of the earthquake was offshore from the Maule Region, approximately 8 km west of Curanipe and 115 km north-northeast of Concepción. The earthquake also caused seiches to occur in Lake Pontchartrain to the north of New Orleans, United States, located nearly 7,600 km from the epicenter of the quake.[20]

Purpose of Blog

This blog post was meant to be the first. Sorry for the late blog post......


This blog will be used for Language Arts. It is for certain LA assignments and for ACE. In this blog, I will also be blogging about Climate Change and Disasters around the world. I chose this topic because I think it is really important for us people to know that we will continue to destroy our home, and we will be the ones suffering, not anyone else. I chose Natural Disasters because they are consequences to global warming. Natural disasters can also reveal one's personality. We will be amazed by the miracles and the victims' ordeals.

*There is no need to comment on this post.

Reflection on Multiple Intellligences Test

I feel that the test is somehow a little accurate and a little off. It is accurate because I do not know much about nature, and I am weak in languages. However, the reason why I say it is a little off is because I know myself better than I know languages. The test actually allowed me to know myself a little better. I just realised that when I moved around to study, I study better.I also realised that i am intrapersonal and it actually links up with the reason on why I thought of the subject ‘Climate Change and Disasters’. After I thought deeply into the connection, I found out that I thought of the topic because I cared for people. I knew that I was Number Smart because I was always good at numbers. In my primary school, Mathematics was my best subject and I alwaysseem to be able to do it at ease. I wonder how do they come out with the questions that can actually tell you your so-called personality?

LA Home Learning Assignment

I chose to do the activity on this particular learning style: Kinaesthetic(Body Smart)

i. When Charlie is taking a test to determine if he’s suitable for the operation










Source: http://beinghumanhumannature.blogspot.com/2008/07/psychological-homeostasis.html

This picture shows that one is nervous. Charlie is nervous because he is afraid that he would fail the test.








Source: http://www.cccoe.net/social/bodylang.htm

This picture above shows that one is worried. Charlie is worried that he would not be suitable for the operation and hence not able to be smart like the others.


ii. When Charlie realizes that his friends had been making fun of him all this while







Source: http://profalbrecht.wordpress.com/2008/12/30/ace-your-accounting-classes-12-hints-to-maximize-your-potential/

This picture shows that one is angry. Charlie Gordon is angry with his friends that they had humiliated him. He is also angry with himself that that he had been with those types of friends without knowing it.

iii. When Charlie realizes that Algernon has died.







Source: http://chuckmullis.wordpress.com/2009/02/05/depressed-about-dating/

This image shows that one is depressed and wants to be left alone. Charlie Gordon wanted to be left alone despite being offered help from Miss Kinnian. He was depressed because Algernon was the only friend he had and now he was dead and could never be by his side.

Learning Styles.

Here are the results of my learning styles if you cannot go to the website due to certain problems:
Linguistic(Word Smart)-23/25
Logical(Number Smart)-25/25
Interpersonal(People Smart)-25/25
Intrapersonal(Myself Smart)-22/25
Musicical(Music Smart)-21/25
Visual/Spatial(Picture Smart)-23/25
Naturalistic(Nature Smart)-23/25
Kinaesthetic(Body Smart)-25/25

As you can see, I am a 'so-called overall' person because all of my results are above 20/25!!!

My learning style

You may want to view my results.
Here is my learning styles results(URL):
http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks1/ict/multiple_int/questions/results.cfm


Secret code is x2g8fpb84219.


*You may want to open the link in a new tab/window so that you can copy and paste the secret code.

Help for Haiti!!!

Many countries, notably United States of America, United Kingdom, Canada, Italy and Brazil sent large contigents (over 1000) of emergency relief and medical staff, techinicians and security personnel. They also committed numerous major assets such as field hospitals, naval vessels, including a hospital ship and aircraft.
These are some organisations' help for haiti:
-The World Bank provided a funding of a massive $100 million to support reconstruction and recovery
-World Health Organisation(WHO) sent a 12-member team of health and logistics experts
-Internation Atomic Energy Agency sent eight mobile medical X-ray machines
-Organisation of American States donated US$100,000
-Europian Union(EU) has released 3 million Euros in emergency funding
-EU provided 122 million Euros in humanitarian assistance
-EU provided 30 million Euros in emergency relief aid package
These are donations from private persons:
-Jennifer Aniston donated US$500,000
-Sandra Bullock donated Us$1 million
-Lady Gaga donated more than $500,000 from her New York concert
-Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt donated US$1 million
-Madonna donated US$250,000
-Tiger Woods donated US$3 million
-Charlie Simpson, a seven-year old British boy who aimed to raise 500 Pounds by cycling round his local park in London has so far raised 206,000 Pounds(as of 16 February 2010)
-Celebrities also got together to sing for Haiti.

Please comment on this blog post, thank you.

Haiti Earthquake

This is my first post on my LA Blog on my main topic. This blog post will focus more on the detailed information about the Haiti Earthquake and its history.

Haiti Earthquake

The Haiti earthquake was a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 earthquake. Its epicentre was near the town of Léogâne, approximately 25 km west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital. It occured on 12 January 2010 at 9:53 p.m.(UTC). By 24 February, at least 52 aftershocks of a magnitude of at least 4.5 have been recorded. A month after the quake occured, at least 3 million people were affected by the quake, about 1/3 of Haiti's popuplation Haitian government reports that between 217,000 and 230,000 have been identified dead, approximately 300,000 people injured and about 1 million people homeless. Approximately 1/4 of a million residences and 30,000 commercial buildings had collapsed or were severely damaged. Landmarks such as the Presidential Palace, the National Assembly building, the Port-au-Prince Cathedral and the main prison were damaged significantly. The Archbishop of Port-au-Prince Joseph Serge Miot, and opposition leader Micha Gaillard were killed. The headquarters of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), collapsed, killing the Mission's Chief, Hédi Annabi.
Many countries responded to humanitarian aid, pledging funds and dispatching rescue and medical teams, engineers and support personnel. Communication systems, air, land, and sea transport facilities, hospitals, and electrical networks had been damaged, which hampered rescue and aid efforts. Confusion over who was in charge, air traffic congestion, and problems with prioritisation of flights further complicated early relief work. As rescues tailed off, supplies, medical care and sanitation became priorities. Delays in aid distribution led to angry appeals from aid workers and survivors, and some looting and sporadic violence were observed.
The Haitian Government called of the search of survivors 10 days after the quake occured, on 22 January 2010.


*You do not need to comment on this post because it is just for your own information.

English Current Affairs Mock Session 1

This will be my first blog post on my LA Blog(www.ccadao.blogspot.com). I will be writing about my classmates' and my views on the question/main point. The central issue was:
What it means to be a Singaporean.


Socratic Circle:

Bryan was the leader of the discussion.
Kenny, who was the first to speak, stated that Kiasuism and Singlish are what makes us Singaporean.
Mervyn disagreed, he said that all that matters is commiting himsef/herself to the country.
Kenny objected and said that Singaporeans will stay in Singapore. He stated that young men and women would want to go to foreign university.
Benjamin added to the point that they may go to prestigious foreign universities to help Singapore.
Bryan asked if one does not speak Singlish mean that he/she cannot be a Singaporean?
Edwin said that taxes and complains makes us a Singaporean.
Kenny said that people do not know where the tax would go to and hence stopped paying tax.
Benjamin gave an example of one of Edwin's point, he said that if one complains to the government, people will think that he/she is brave and will start complaining.
Bryan said that the environment and nature makes us Singaporean, but Edwin said that it was the was of growing up.
Kenny made a point that all countries display Kiasuism, it is just that Singapore displays it more due to the competitive environment.
Andrew Lau said that the environment made us kiasu.


The floor:

Marcus said that Singapore is a mix of different country men while Nicholas said that it was not the distinctive appearance of us, Singaporeans. He added that Hong Kong people looks a lot like us, so it was the language that made us Singaporean.
Kai Lun also agreed that language defines us all.


*This is not the full discussion.



My opinion:

I feel that there is no correct and definite conclusion because different people have different views. However, I disagree with the point that Singlish defines us all. I think the ability to interact with other races, commiting himself/herself to the country and the passion is what makes us a true Singaporean.



Okays....bye for now :)
Thank you for reading my blog post.
I would appreciate if you could comment on it.