Animals Are Amazing

Welcome to our JR Wilcox Grade 2 IB animal blog! We are studying amazing animals and this blog will be used to describe and teach you all about how amazing animals are!

What did you like the most?

My favourite part of this unit was:

the videos because they are cool. Or as Wolf Cub says "Aww. Sick!" because there are dolphins saving whales, what to do if a grizzly bear comes to you, making the blog because there are so many pictures and our ideas. Also my last one is very very strange, doing this! I like it because it's fun to me to explain why I like it. JONAH

reading the Poison book because it was really fun and I enjoyed it because I like reading about poisonous and venomous animals. MASSIMO

the Earth movie because animals are my favourite thing and that is why I have two pets at home. I have one cat and one dog. Did you know that all of the characters in the Earth movie were animals? I have another favourite of this unit. It is the National Geographic videos. I love them. Some are scary and freaky but some are cool and sweet. IVY

when we had our project. But we were watching videos too. My animal was a rattlesnake. Also in art we are doing sculptures and mine is a lion. RACHEL

learning about animals and discovering the way they live. It was really fun. It was my favourite unit. It was super fun! I wish Grade 2 would never end! JACK

watching movies and learning about animals and we have been learning about where they live and their predators and when we were in art we are making sculptures and it was so much fun. And we were reading a Poison book and there were so many cool things in the book. And the unit is so cool. ALICIA

watching all those crazy videos because they were awesome. They were so cool. They taught me a lot about animals, like if an animal was almost extinct or if an animal is so popular or if it is least popular or if it is the world's greatest animal. If there is a new kind of animal like the Super Cow because before my teacher showed the class that video I didn't know anything about a Super Cow. I didn't even know it existed! Another video was the Komodo Dragon. My teacher read us an article that said the Komodo kills with venom, not bacteria. My teacher read that to us and now we know that and some people in the world don't know that yet and we do! ALYSHA

when we read the Poison book. When we saw the venomous animals like the King Cobra. It is one of the largest snakes ever. JAHKOBE

videos because I just like the videos because lots of people say "Cool!". I love animals because when I was a baby I thought were animals were scary. IDELA

we watched videos and it was awesome and we saw a video of a hawk versus bunny. It was so sad and I cried. It was so sad because I love bunnies. I also like the video of the two headed snake called "The Golden Girls" and our unit is cool. It rocks! SAORY

watching videos because we learned lots of new things and we put it in our books and we are going on Raz-Kids and we read about animals on the computer. We learn lots of things! CLEVAL

videos because I love videos and everyone got to see and it was big too! My favourite videos were Sea Monsters 1, 2 and 3. MIKAYLA

the movies on YouTube because some movies are "versus" and some are telling you how to stay alive like "Bear Attack!". I like when one animal fights another one because it looks very cool. Some are really funny. NATHANIEL

when room 106 and room 104 wrote our Animal Song for J. R. Wilcox. I loved to do it. I like the Poison book, the Nasty Nature book and the Venomous Snakes book. I like videos. It told our class and now we can be knowledgeable and know some more things we might like or got to know it. And to know all about Earth's amazing animals. The videos are giving room 106 some good things on how to help all of the animals we got to help. KATELYN

the videos because the videos help me know how to protect the animals and not to do the wrong thing and not to hurt the living creatures and that is why we in room 106 are writing about animals. We made up a song and it is about animals. And we sang about not to hurt animals and not to throw a can of Sprite. TCHISSOLA

movies and videos because the movies and videos are so cool. We read a book about poisonous and venomous spiders like the Black Widow spider. The Black Widow girl spiders are venomous and the boy spiders are not. KALIAH

the poisonous animals and the movies about all sorts of animals like the Chinese Tiger and in the movie they said that Chinese Tigers are getting extinct and they also said people are throwing their garbage in their homes and they are killing all the Chinese Tigers and that is why they are getting extinct. MICHEAL

when we went to see the Earth movie. That was my favourite part of this unit because we watched a wolf trying to catch a baby gazelle and also when the mother polar bear came out of the hole and had two cubs. Then they went down this big huge snow hill and then they started to walk to find food. Also when the father polar bear tried to fight the walruses to eat the baby walrus. LUCAS

What actions can we take to protect animals?

Volunteers help salamanders
avoid roadway massacre

NEW HAVEN, Vt. - The black salamander with yellow spots sat on the roadside in the dark, ready to make a go of it. But it was not on its own. It got help from an escort - one of 45 people who volunteered on a recent night to carry salamanders, frogs and newts across the road during their annual migration to mate.

On rainy nights in early spring, roads between forests and vernal pools are hopping and crawling with activity. On some nights, hundreds of amphibians cross small stretches of asphalt to mate. But many don't make it.

From rural Vermont to urban centers like Philadelphia, human escorts, called bucket brigades in some places, help amphibians make it to their mating areas without getting squashed by cars. It's part education, part conservation, and part science.

"It's an extraordinary thing and people deserve to know about it," said Warren King, a member of the Otter Creek Audubon Society, who organizes a crossing in Salisbury. "And it needs to be protected. There are sites where many of the critters that are crossing never make it."

On a recent night, University of Vermont student Kaitlin Friedman walked with other volunteers along the asphalt with flashlights and clipboards, moving wood frogs, peepers, blue-spotted, red-backed and four-toed salamanders across the road, while jotting down how many they saw. They also kept count of vehicles, and the amphibians that didn't make it, trying to identify the flattened carcasses.

"It's pretty much the one time of year where you get to see a lot of salamanders in abundance and it's just really cool," said Friedman, 20, of Long Island, New York. "Plus, you know you help them across the road, you feel like maybe you're making a small reduction in their mortality rates, maybe, just for that hour or so."

John Kart, of Richmond, and his family have been helping salamanders cross the road for five years. On a recent evening, he said his 5-year-old daughter and two friends were as excited as the salamanders as they peered into a watery ditch. "We're a little early this year but often you come and it is just loud as all get out from all the peepers and wood frogs screaming down in the pond below," he said.

The half dozen cars that passed in an hour slowed down through the stretch of road dotted with flashlights, some stopping to ask what was going on. After two hours, the group had spotted 589 amphibians, and 97 dead ones.
But a few miles ahead, on a busier road in Monkton, the scene wasn't pretty. It was more of a slaughter. The escorts were finding more dead amphibians than live ones.

Within the first half hour they counted 20 dead spotted salamanders and 18 live ones, eight dead and four live wood frogs, seven dead peepers and one live one, four dead and one live eft or immature newt and 23 cars, said Steve Parren, a member of the Monkton Planning Commissioner, who works for the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department.
Two and half hours later, the tide turned - they had counted 205 live and 98 dead amphibians - but the numbers still troubled Parren.

"I don't think the area can persist with the level of mortality that we're seeing," Parren said.
The state is considering installing tunnels under the road for amphibians and other animals to use. The town has received a $25,000 grant to pay for the engineering. The full project could cost up to $350,000, said Parren.

Similar tunnels were installed in Amherst, Mass., in 1987, and have proved 70 to 80 percent effective, said Scott Jackson, a wildlife biologist at the University of Massachusetts.
But some wonder why anyone would go to such lengths to help salamanders.

The red-backed salamanders are the most abundant backboned animal in the forest, said Jackson.
"Even if don't know what would happen if they all died out at once, we could imagine some kind of ripple effect on the rest of the ecosystem because they serve as both predator and prey and are probably very important in terms of nutrient cycling in the forest floor," he said.

For Parren it's about preserving what is there.
"For me it's more we're losing the national heritage that belongs there," he said.

By LISA RATHKE Associated Press Writer

This is 'Faith'

This dog was born on Christmas Eve in the year 2002. She was born with 3 legs - 2 healthy hind legs and 1 abnormal front leg which needed to be amputated. She of course could not walk when she was born. Even her mother did not want her.

Her first owner also did not think that she could survive. Therefore, she was thinking of 'putting her to sleep'.

By this time, her present owner, Jude Stringfellow, met her and wanted to take care of her. She was determined to teach and train this dog to walk by herself. Therefore she named her"Faith"

In the beginning, she put Faith on a surfing board to let her feel the movements. Later she used peanut butter on a spoon as a lure and reward for her to stand up and jump around.

Even the other dog at home also helped to encourage her to walk. Amazingly, only after 6 months, like a miracle, Faith learned to balance on her 2 hind legs and jumped to move forward. After further training in the snow, she now can walk like a human being.

Faith loves to walk around now. No matter where she goes, she just attracts all the people around her.

She is now becoming famous on the international scene. She has appeared on various newspapers and TV shows. There is even one book entitled 'With a Little Faith' being published about her. She was even considered to appear in one of the Harry Potter movies!

Her present owner Jude Stringfellew has given up her teaching post and plans to take her around the world to preach that "even without a perfect body, one can have a perfect soul".

In life there are always undesirable things. Perhaps one will feel better if one changes the point of view from another direction.

I hope this message will bring fresh new ways of thinking to everyone and that everyone can appreciate that Faith is the continual demonstration of the Strength of Life.

Click here to see Faith on the Oprah Winfrey show:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keGv4iTquI0

and click here to see Dominic...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRBWHBkAKww

I B Unit Animal Comparison

Your project presentation must contain the following information.
Check them off when you are done.

Room 104/206 - DUE: Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Room 106 - DUE: Thursday, May 21, 2009

The Animal I Choose Is The:

These are the expectations I must meet!

1. Habitats where they live?
2. Food they eat?
3. What are their predators?
4. How big are they?
5. What colour can they be?
6. How do they survive?
7. How long do they live?
8. What countries can they live in?
9. What are their special skills/characteristics?
10. Do they have fun in a family?
11. How do they communicate?
12. How are they born?
13. How are their shelters built and what do they look like?

Presentation Expectations
Speak loudly and clearly
Face your audience
Show an understanding of your topic

Animal Song

The Animal Song
Lyrics by J R Wilcox Grades 1 & 2
Music by J. Ball

This is a song meant to unite
All people, but we’ll keep it light
Listen up, these rhymes are tight
And we kids are out of sight!

Animals need us to fight
For those who crawl and those with flight
For animals who sleep at night
Or those who sleep when it is bright

We are all animals too
I am one and so are you
We are all animals too
We’ll tell you what you can do

Endangered species die they might
Like polar bears with fur of white
Protect animals even if they bite
Like a dog who’s filled with fright

Don’t toss away your can of Sprite
Or throw your bags like a flying kite
We can act like a shiny knight
Protect animals and do what’s right

We are all animals too
I am one and so are you
We are all animals too
We’ll tell you what you can do

Even if you don’t have height
You can make a difference
Quite!
Clean the earth, clean every site
It’s not that hard, it’s a delight!

Grab your friends, give an invite
And this song you should recite
Ask nicely and be polite
And everyone you will excite!

We are all animals too
I am one and so are you
We are all animals too
Now you know what you can do!

Animals Are Amazing - J R Wilcox Grade 2 IB

Thursday, May 7, 2009