I Wonder part 2 : Great Blue Issue 5 May 2000

I Wonder
Part 2
Contents

Photo Physics
Preserving Cheese
Puppy's Choice
What Do Marsha and Cindy Like to Eat?
Why do Siamese Fighting Fish Fight each other?
Which Wax Will Make Our Skis Faster?
Solutions and Solubilities
Formation of Sugar Crystals
Does Taste Effect Hearing?
Taste the Difference! Can You?
Testing Wings
Airplanes
About the Pothole
Looking for Animal Signs at the Pothole
Bird Watching and Counting at the Pothole
Getting to know the Pothole Plants
Water Critters at the Pothole
Soil Study Group Investigation: More about the Pothole
Observing Bud Growth of Trees at the Pothole
How Did the Earth Get Here?
Freezing Liquids
How Stars are Born
Amanda's Tomato Plant
Training Alison's Dog
Great Blue Poem

Contact Us heron@wicip.org

Photo Physics
by Erik
Lincoln Elementary

Introduction

My first question is, " Can I make a motion picture with an old brown camera from the 1950's?" My second question is, "Can I make a virtual slide show on the computer?" But I will get to that later. Anyway the reason I chose these two projects is because I'm interested in photography.

Procedure

This project is about an old Bell & Howell movie camera from almost 50 years ago. The very first thing I had to do was find out how the camera works. This is a picture of the camera.

Next I had to find out what kind of film it needed, what company made it, and what size of film the camera needed. Luckily I found an internet website all about the camera (the film auto 8, which is it's real name). After that I needed to get the camera some film which is called 8mm magazine. That problem took me to the phone. I called Star Photo, Kodak Pictures West and East, the Camera Company, and many more places. The only problem was that none of the places I called had the information I needed. I found out that magazine 8mm film is not available because it was made such a long time ago when they made the film that they stopped making the film. So that is how my first project ended, but the second one is yet to come.

Moving on, the next project I started working on is my Kid Pix Slide Show. It's called the Funky Dance Party Dream.

This is the main plot of my story. A little chick name Chick falls asleep on a hill. It has a crazy dream about many different things. It wakes up and many things change in its life. It took a short time to make my to make my slide show, but I did it and this is the end to my project.

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Introduction

If you're tired of moldy cheese like me, my experiment will help. That's why I chose this experiment. I also like working with molds and messy liquids. I wanted to see if salt water preserves cheese the best over vegetable oil or vinegar. My hypothesis was that the salt water would preserve the best.

Procedure

My experiment was to see which liquid would preserve a chunk of cheese (approximately 2 inches by 2 inches) the best. The liquids I used were saltwater, vinegar, and vegetable oil. I filled about 3 inches of a glass jar with liquids, added the chunk of cheese, and let it sit for 5 days in my dining room.

Results

During the 5 days the vegetable oil preserved the best in all three trials. It had no change in appearance and had no odor. The vinegar did the worst. It turned dark red and smelled like vinegar.

The pick of salt water came in second. The cheese was a bleached color and was disintegrating. In all trials, none grew moldy. I did this experiment three times, but there was no difference between each trial.

Interpreting Results

I think it happened because the vinegar took all the oil out of the cheese and the cheese rotted. The salt water cheese floated to the top of the jar and surfaced. I believe the air made it moldy. The vegetable oil had oil and so did the cheese. Possibly it just mixed well.

New Directions

If I did this experiment over, I would put the exact amount of cheese in each jar. I would put the cheese in the exact amount of liquid. I would have done it for 15 days to see if it grew mold.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank my mom and dad for not throwing my experiment away.

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Introduction

I have a dog at home and I've always wondered about her tastes. My question was, "What food do dogs prefer?" My hypothesis was that dogs prefer beef if given T-Bonz, a Toothbrush Biscuit, and rawhide.

Procedure

Constants: time of day-4:30 p.m.; place-living room; same dog-Sandy (1 year old) Independent Variable: type of treats- T-Bonz, Tasty Biscuits, rawhide, and Toothbrush Biscuit. Dependent Variable: puppy's choice of treats.

I did three trials for my experiment. Each trial had three steps, or rounds, to it. My first step was to place a rawhide and T-Bonz on the living room floor, call the dog, and allow the dog to eat one. No praise was given. My second step was to place the winner treat (the treat the dog chose) and a Toothbrush Biscuit on the ground, call the dog, and allow the dog to eat one. The process was repeated during a third step in which a Tasty Biscuit and the winner of the second round or step were placed on the ground, the dog was called, and the dog was allowed to eat one. I did all three steps on each of these days: 3/7/00, 3/8/00, and 3/9/00.

Results

Each time Sophie ate T-Bonz. Beef won and nothing else was chosen.

Interpreting Results

Each time Sandy chose the T-Bonz (that's beef).

The data supported the hypothesis that Sandy would chose T-Bonz. These findings agree with the statements on the T-Bonz package that say, "There's nothing like a chewy T-Bonz." Dogs eat meat; that's why they like T-Bonz.

New Directions

If I were to do this experiment again, I think I would try to see if my dog chose the treats by smell or by looks. As a side experiment I rubbed a T-Bonz on a Tasty Biscuit and my dog chose the Tasty Biscuit.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my mom for helping me and my puppy for being so patient. Thanks!

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Introduction

I am in third grade and my friend, Caitlin, has two rats. Their names are Marsha and Cindy. This year after reading Caitlin's article in the Great Blue Journal, I thought it would be fun to test her new rats. My question is what foods do Marsha and Cindy like best? I thought it would be a good thing to know because then we can feed them the foods they like best.

Hypothesis: I thought Marsha would like the Fruit Loops best because it seems like she has a sweet tooth. I thought Cindy would like the green vegetable best because she seems more healthy.

Procedure

I put out five different foods: carrots, cucumber, cashews, saltine crackers and Fruit Loops cereal. I put the food on 5 different lids and set them in the cage. I made a grid to collect my data. I watched them 5 times on 5 different days. Every time either one of them nibbled at something I counted it.

Results

On day 1, Marsha liked the carrot best and Cindy liked the cucumber best. On day two Marsha liked the Fruit Loops and cucumber best and Cindy liked the cucumber best. On day three Marsha liked the Fruit Loops and cashews best and Cindy liked the cucumber best. On day four Marsha liked the saltine cracker best and Cindy didn't like much of anything. On day five Marsha liked the saltine cracker best and Cindy liked the Fruit Loops and saltine cracker.

Interpreting Results

I noticed that Cindy eats more than Marsha and sometimes Marsha copies Cindy. Cindy did like more nutritious foods than Marsha.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my friend, Caitlin, and her sister, Emily, for letting me use the rats and also for helping me with the food and watching the rats.

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Introduction

My question was why do Siamese fighting fish fight each other? My hypothesis was that they protect their territory. There are two names for the fish.

One is the Siamese fighting fish. The other one is betta.

There are two types of bettas. One is called short tailed. The other is called long tailed. I came up with this question on my own. I wanted to learn more about bettas, that's how I came up with this question.

Procedure

I put my fishes in different tanks because one of them could have died from fighting each other.

I got most of my information from Pet World Warehouse Outlet. I called them up. I asked them some questions about bettas. One question was why do bettas have different colors. They said betta's have different color from where they are from.

Betta's are found in swamps in Asia and bettas are very popular in Asia. When bettas are mad they open their gills to show that it is mad. Then I thought what would happen if I put a mirror up to see what will the betta do when it sees its reflection. When it saw its reflection it got mad right away.

Acknowledgments

I want to thank my Dad for letting me use the fish. I want to thank Pet World for answering my questions.

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Introduction

We are in Mrs. Bostrom's 3/4 class. We got our idea for our project because we are both interested in skiing. We also like to go fast so we wanted to find out which wax would make our skis go fastest. We use different waxes depending on temperature but wanted to know if we could go even faster if we combined two different waxes.

Procedure

We assembled 4 skis that were two different sizes. Next we got 3 different colors of wax. We put the combination of two waxes on the skis. We pushed the skis down a hill. Each one had a different mixture of waxes on it. We used a tape measure to record how far each ski went. We also had a stopwatch to record how long it took each ski to travel 50 feet. After each ski passed the 50- foot point and had stopped, we took out the tape measure and found out how far beyond 50 feet the ski had traveled.

Results

The short ski with the green and purple traveled the farthest and went 50 feet the quickest. The short ski with the purple and orange got to 50 feet second fastest but did not go as far as the long ski with the orange and green wax. The ski with no wax was the slowest and also did not go very far past 50 feet.

Interpreting Results

The best wax mixture was the green and purple mixture. We think this was the best one because the temperatures were close together, (orange was 37-27, purple was 27-18 and green was 18-9).

New Directions

If we did this again we would use more waxes and more skis. We also had all the snow melt on us several times during our project so it was hard to get out and test. We would hope for a snowier winter next time.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank our parents for helping us with this project.

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Introduction

My project is about solutions and solubilities. A solution is two substances that dissolve when mixed. Solubility is whether a substance dissolves in another substance. I did this project because I wanted to learn what dissolves in what.

Procedure

I got some cold water, some hot water, some 91% Isopropyl rubbing alcohol, some nail polish remover, some 100% mineral spirits paint, thinner and some corn oil. Those were my solvents. I did five different experiments. The first experiment was to see if sugar would dissolve in any of the solvents. What I did was to stir it one hundred times. The second experiment was to see if when I put a tea bag in the solvents, the solvent would darken. I let the tea bag sit in the solvents for three minutes. The third experiment was to see if a straw would dissolve in any of the solvents. I let it sit in the solvents for three minutes. The fourth experiment was to see if corn oil would dissolve in any of the solvents. I stirred the solvents one hundred times. The fifth experiment was to see if candle shavings would dissolve overnight.

Results

Interpreting results

These are the things that I didn't expect. I didn't expect candle shavings or corn oil to dissolve in 100% mineral spirits paint thinner. I also didn't expect a tea bag to make tea in the nail polish remover. And I didn't expect that nothing would dissolve in 91% Isopropyl rubbing alcohol.

Acknowledgments

I want to thank my Dad for helping me find my materials.

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Introduction

My experiment was on the formation of sugar crystals and how food coloring affects it. I thought that the more food coloring I added, the smaller the crystals would be.

Procedure

I mixed 2 and 1/2 cups of sugar with 1 cup water to make the mixture. When the sugar was completely dissolved, I poured equal parts into 3 glasses and put pencils with cotton strings hanging down from them on top. I put no food coloring in one, 1 drop in another, and 2 drops in the third.

Results

I pulled the strings out after 36 hours. 48 hours later, I wrote down what I saw when I looked in the glasses. When I pulled the strings out, the one with no food coloring had crystals on most of the string that was submerged. The one with one drop was really small and the one with two drops was a little bigger because it had a little lump on it. All of the glasses had a half inch of crystal on the bottom and a thin crust on top. The one with no food coloring still had a hole where the stirng and the crystal on it was, but the hole had sealed up on the ones that had food coloring.

Interpreting Results

I was wrong. The food coloring didn't matter.

New Directions

If I did this experiment again, I would do several trials. I would also measure more exactly.

Acknowlegments

I would like to thank my dad for helping me cook the sugar water and my brother for not eating the candy.

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My question is does tasting effect the way you hear? I did not get the answer but I got half of it.

Friday, February 9, 2000. My first day. I studied with my school nurse. She tested me. She taught me how to test people. She gave me something hard, corn chips or something. Then she gave me banana bread. She asked me if I could hear the sound. She gave me a corn chip and asked if it was harder to hear the sound. It was harder for me to hear. Then she gave me banana bread. She asked me the same question. I said it sounds like the first time.

The nurse only tested one ear. I decided to test both ears at the same time by having kids wear earphones and listening to musical notes I tape recorded. The next day I looked in a graph book and found two graphs that I thought I could use, but only used one of them.

Wednesday, February 13, 2000

I saw which ear people had in common for hearing and those four people are Vangie, Shanay, Brent, and Erica.

Vangie said she could hear the sounds clearly the second time. I gave her a cracker and told her to make a crunch and I marked the same sound I did before she had the cracker.

I started testing other people. Each time I had the volume on the tape recorder at three.

Shanay said the same as the first time with the cracker. Brent said the same as Shanay. Erica said the same as Vangie. Dulce and Susana said the same as Brent and Shanay.

Then I stopped doing my project and began practicing a song for the Variety Show which was about two weeks away.

Tuesday, March 7, 2000. I haven't written as much detail as I probably should have. I can't remember some of the stuff that I did.

Wednesday, March 8, 2000. This day I made a new record of three sounds, but I only used one. I used a low sound and a high sound and an in-between sound on my teachers keyboard. I will use these sounds and have the kids listen to them for my test.

Thursday, March 9, 2000. I tested a new girl named Brenda. She said the same thing as Vangie and Erica. I only tested her because we have a short day that day.

Friday, March 10, 2000. I went to my school library and did some research and took some notes on hearing.

Monday, March,13, 2000. I went back to the library to find more book on hearing. I didn't find much. I couldn't do much more because we had a very important project to do for Art.

Thursday, March 16, 2000. I started back on my Great Blue project. I went to my school library and took notes on tasting. I looked and looked and looked for books about tasting but they all were checked out.

Friday, March 17, 2000. We had to stop doing our project, so this is the last day. If you want to finish this project, you can. It's a great project.

Results

I didn't collect enough data to get my answer. If I had more time I think I would know the correct answer.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the people who let me test them, my teacher, and Ms. Schultz for giving me the paper on hearing. That helped a lot.

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Introduction

Are kids favorite sodas really their favorite, or do they just think so because of advertising? In other words, I wanted to know if advertising affected people's taste preferences between two sodas similar in taste. I got my question from a similar taste test that my cousin did. I thought that while not everyone would know their favorite, at least a few would. I think that it is important to know how much advertising affects us all.

Procedure

To answer my question I set up a little test. First, I got all of the supplies that I needed. These included cups, crackers, a form for the students to fill out, white labels for the cups, 7up, Sprite, water, a marker, and an extra form along with my notebook to write down data. Second, I wrote either water, soda h, or soda 9 on white labels (with the marker) and stuck them on the cups. Third, I had my aunt and grandmother take all of my upplies to school (they were taking care of me while my parents were out of town).

During recess we put a form and one cup each of 7up, Sprite, and water at each child's place. I wrote in my notebook, "soda h= Sprite, soda 9=7up." When the class came in from recess, I gave them the test. On the form they answered the question "Which do you think you prefer: Sprite__ 7up__ don't have a preference__." Half of the class tasted Sprite (soda h) first and the other half tasted 7up (soda 9) first. In between sodas they sipped water and nibbled a cracker ( to clear their taste buds). Then they answered the question: "Which do you prefer: soda h__ soda 9__ can't tell__." After they had finished filling out the form they handed it in to me.

After that I spent a while recording my data. When I was doing this I found that some of the kids forgot to fill out parts of the form. To solve this problem, I had to look at the other parts of the form to find the answers, and this took extra time.

Results

After recording my data I found that twelve people correctly identified the soda they preferred and ten didn't. The majority of the people that couldn't identify their favorite soda strongly preferred the other soda, but the correct kids didn't have such a strong preference.

Out of the people that were incorrect, about which soda they preferred, six thought they preferred Sprite and only four thought that they liked 7up better. Does that mean Sprite has better advertising? Well not exactly, as there could be other reasons. Since I couldn't do another test, I'll never know the exact cause.

Interpreting Results

My hypothesis was right. Some people could tell and some couldn't. I found this information interesting because I didn't really expect a certain result.

It was surprising that things were about half and half. I wonder what this means.

New Directions

If I did this project again I would test more people, and other soda pairs.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank my class for letting me test them.

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Introduction

I got this project idea from something I did last year, and because I like planes. I like mechanical things too. I'm really working hard on finishing my project. I have all the pieces I need to complete two test planes. Now I'm waiting for a day to test my planes. While I'm testing , I'm going to record the distance traveled by each plane, and any other strange things that might happen. I really enjoy working on my project because I like to build things. Great Blue is a great idea. I really like reading about the other kid's projects in the journal.

Procedure

First I planned to make two gliders but instead I bought a glider and I made two sets of wings for the glider. I used a pencil, tape measure, clipboard and paper. I made the small wings for the glider. I made big wings too. I used a knife to cut the balsa wood. I bought the balsa wood from a hobby shop. I threw the glider, measured how far it went, then wrote the measurement on a piece of paper. I threw the glider and
measured how far the big wings went, then I recorded the data.

Results

I tested each wing eleven times. It took me a couple days to do all the tests. The glider a broke a couple of times

Interpreting Results

My results were that the big wings went farther than the small wings. Sometimes the glider looped in the air, turned around in the air and came back. Both wings flew really good but the big wings flew the best. I was wrong about my hypothesis. I thought the small wings would work the best.

New Directions

If I would of went farther in my project, I would of made a really big wing, or an even bigger wing.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank my family and myself, and all the other adults.

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Introduction

I am tired of making airplanes that can't fly as well as others. I decided to do an experiment that put the "weak" planes up against the "great" planes. I decided to test four different planes and see which one would go the furthest. My hypothesis was that the heaviest planes would lose because they were more bulky. I thought the lightest plane would win.

Procedure

I made and flew four different planes. Each flight was measured by a yardstick. I copied my results down on a chart. I used the same kind of paper for all of the planes (magazine type paper). I got all of my models from one book that I got from my grandma for Christmas. I flew them all in a hall at Randall School. These were all my constants. My independent variable was the plane styles. The dependent variable was the distance they flew. I completed three trials of the experiment. Here are diagrams of the plane designs used.

These are descriptions of each design:

1. The Stunt had wings shaped like a wine glass-wide at the front and narrow at the bottom.

2. The Square had a flat surface with wings that were rectangular. My bet goes here.

3. The Hornet had big triangular wings with 1/4 inch of edges staying down and with wings that were narrower.

4. The Eagle was almost the same thing as the Hornet, just with edges staying down and with wings that were narrower.

Results

You can see that the Hornet came in first. Again, it was one of the more triangular tipped planes. I was surprised that the Eagle came in last. I thought it would get close.

Interpreting Results

I don't know why I got the results this way. Maybe it was because each plane had its own specialty and flew its own way. I really don't know.

New Directions

I thought it was a very nice experiment and lots of fun. Next time I think I should make more models and have a wider place to fly them in because the planes kept banging into the lockers.

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Our class has been doing a year-long study of a special ecosystem, called The Pothole. This place is not actually a pothole like the one you may see in a street. This is a Department of Natural Resources wetland. Part of what makes this place so special is that it is an environmental treasure. There is a pond (about

100 yards long and 45 yards wide, depending on the time of year and water levels) and lots of plant and animal diversity.

Originally, Mr. Jeff's 4/5 class, the Sixers, started going to this place for field study about ten years ago, with one other class. While other classes have joined in and dropped out over the course of this project, Mr. Jeff's classes have continued to go and observe many changes over time and study the health of the ecosystem. We were lucky enough to join them this year.

By year's end, we will have gone thirteen times for field experiences. We went once each month up through March, and have gone every Wednesday since March 1. We will get to go 7 times consecutively until Spring Break, and one more time after break. While our two classrooms are studying the Pothole ecosystem, there are two more Lincoln classrooms that are doing an ecosystem study at the Arboretum. At the end of the project, we will all get together to share and compare our studies.

The first several times we went to the Pothole, we had about nine groups, all led by an adult leader. These first visits we were getting acquainted with the place and practicing our observation skills. There was a lot to see each time, especially the changes through the different seasons and the changes in weather.

Once March came, each student chose one specialty area to research and investigate. Mr. Jeff's class did the same and collaborative research groups were formed. Each groups studied one of the following areas: soils, birds, animals, water critters, trees and plants. All groups collected data to try to answer a set of questions. As a result, our class offers you six investigations, in different topic areas.

We have learned a lot of scientific and environmental things on these outings. We've honed our science skills by designing and using data collection protocol, taking detailed field notes, drawing representative illustrations, and by practicing the correct use of scientific language. The best part is that we are learning about the interdependence of this ecosystem. That means we are learning about how everything depends on each other and needs the whole food chain to work smoothly.

While we are not finished collecting data or even analyzing it all, we would like to share with you what we have so far. Each group will share a collaborative article that tells you about the questions the group has been asking and investigating over the course of our study.

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Here's a map of the Pothole. Many of the places at the Pothole are referred to in one of 3 ways: by the name we have given it, the name kids in Mr. Jeff's class have given it, or by location.

We are hoping to have our completed projects ready for the Watershed Fair at Edgewood College in May and our end-of-the- year school science extravaganza. You can also get more information about our ongoing ecosystem study by looking at our web site about the Pothole.

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Looking for Animal Signs at the Pothole
by Shoshana, Drew, Manuel, Toby
Lincoln Elementary School

Introduction

Our group is the animals investigation group. Our original question was: What kind of animals live in the Pothole? We started out looking for signs of animals since we knew it would be difficult to actually see many when we were there on our trips. We mainly looked for signs that the animals have been there. We got interested in our question by seeing different signs of animals on our first few trips, before we got into our specialty groups. We saw things like scat (a lot of it and different kinds), tracks, animal hair, and rubbings.

We all had a different hypothesis about what animals actually live at this place and where we would find signs of them. Here are some initial hypotheses that our group members had:

Shosh: We think we will find a lot of animal signs but not all of the ones that are out there, of course.

Toby: I think we won't find all of the animals, but signs.

Manuel: We will find more animal signs near the forest.

Drew: I think we'll find more animal signs around the pond and forests because the animals need water and there are plants near the trees.

Procedure

We used a whole bunch of materials. Each time we brought our field notebooks, pencils and data tables. Then there were things like binoculars, magnifying glasses, and plastic collection bags that we used later on.

Each time we went to the Pothole, we went to different places. We didn't have a protocol like the other groups because we tried to go to places we hadn't studied before, usually two, each time. We would get information by looking around carefully, picking things up that were interesting and moving grasses and rocks. Once we arrived each visit, we decided as a group where we'd like to go that day.

On our walk to those places, and once we got there, we looked for animals in a few different ways. We learned that the best ways to do this are to push away grasses (to look for animal homes), keep an eye out for scat, move big stones and look under them and, depending on the season, look for tracks. We also found some trees that had obviously been rubbed by some animals (probably deer) so that the bark was worn away. We looked for bones too and even found a skull and some other deer body parts. visited the Pothole. We used field guides and books to help us identify tracks, scat and different animals. One day in the winter when the pond was frozen over, we saw a deer carcass and parts of the deer in different places. Another day we found the tail of some animal, that had to have been a rodent. The tail was long and white. When we got back to school, another group told us they saw the body that went to this tail. We then used an identification book to figure out it was a weasel.

After looking over our observations, we are pretty sure we have seen signs of: deer, muskrats, various rodents, birds, fish, insects and frogs. We have seen tracks of things that could be fox, dogs and maybe coyote. It's hard to tell just because the tracks are similar and because we had a hard time finding clear tracks.

It worked for us to go to different spots and stay away from the water. One reason for this was that we didn't want to get wet. Some kids in our group didn't have boots, so we had to stay in places that were drier. It didn't work to go to the same spots because we were getting bored. Also, around the pond was too wet, so going near there was more of a problem. If you forgot your boots on those wet days, you better hope you had an extra pair of socks and shoes back at school!

Two of the many things we learned were that we have to be exact when we're collecting information and there's lots of barbed wire around the edges of the Pothole.

Further Investigations

Each of us has other questions we would still like to investigate, that have to do with our animal study. Here is just one from each of us:

Toby: How many different kinds of tracks can we find?

Manuel: How many kinds of hawks can we find at the Pothole?

Shosh: What animals leave scat in the dogwoods?

Drawing Conclusions

From the animal signs we saw, we figured there were some animals that definitely lived at or Drew: How many different insects could we find there?

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Ms. Rosenberg, our teacher, for editing and setting up our writing. We would also like to thank Ellen, our group leader, and Mrs. Stanford-Taylor, our principal, for letting us go to the Pothole. Also, thanks to Ms. Barlow and the group members. Everyone was very helpful.

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Introduction

We had a bird group of eight kids, four kids from our class and four from Mr. Jeff's class. Our first question was: How many different birds live at the Pothole? As we were counting birds each trip, many of us got more interested in the red wing black birds. We are still investigating red wing black birds in more detail and collecting data each trip too.

Robin: I got interested in studying birds because they are so nice to look at.

My hypothesis to our red wing black bird being territorial is that I think that they would kill other birds if they mess with their homes.

If you forgot your boots on those wet days, you better hope you had an extra pair of socks and shoes back at school!

Isaiah: I think that we'd see more birds each time we went because it gets warmer each time. When it gets towards spring, there's more food for birds and the water isn't frozen anymore. I am interested in this study because birds are my favorite animals and I like to study how they behave and why they fly.

Morrie: I think more birds are territorial besides red wing black birds. I think there would be more blue jays and some other birds at the pond.

Alejandro: I am interested in how birds fly.

Procedure

The first time we went to collect data, we split our group into two smaller ones. We went to the same spots but switched half way through. After we did that first trip with that arrangment, we realized that the group that started at the pond didn't get to do all their observations at home base because they ran out of time. Another problem was that we had the same area as the water critters group. We found that that group was kind of loud and we didn't get to see many birds when both our groups were at that spot at the same time.

The next time we went, we kept our big group together and started at home base. That way all the other groups went to their places and we had a good and quiet first spot to bird watch.

We had two observation places; at home base and at the north end of the pond,

Our protocol had like nine steps originally. Here's the protocol that we figured out worked the best:

1. When we arrived at the Pothole, we got our bird group together.

2. Check time and synchronize our watches.

3. Figure out how long it would take us to transition and subtract that from our total time. Then, divide that total time left in half, so that we would have half the time at each spot.

4. Once we arrived at each spot, divide the time into quarters. This was so we could observe in each direction for a quarter of the time. Our first visit we had 5 minutes at each spot. Every time about halfway, lined up with the muskrat den and the fourth telephone poll.

After that we changed it to four minutes. Ms. Rosenberg kept the time on her watch. Actually, we stuck to the shorter time at each spot and had more time at the end to study other places and things.

5. We would use our data table to count the birds, write down where we saw it, how many birds of each kind we saw, a description (if we couldn't identify it) and a drawing of it.

6. The last pat in our plan was to photocopy our data for each other and fill in everyone else's data on our own sheets. After we kept our groups the same, we didn't really do this.

Drawing Conclusions

Looking at our graph, we learned that you'll find the most redwing black birds at the pothole, compared to other birds. So far we've seen red-tailed hawks, ducks, geese, cranes, song sparrows, grackles, robins crows and red wing black birds.

Robin: I was surprised there were so many red wing black birds at the Pothole.

Isaiah: I was surprised that there were more red wing black birds each week.

Morrie: I was surprised that the red wing black birds make sounds.

Alejandro: I was surprised I saw birds here that I saw in Mexico.

Since we still are going there for three more times, we are collecting more data about which birds are there how many we can count each time. We will continue to draw more conclusions as we finish our project. In other words, we aren't finished with our project yet.

Successes and Problems

Our transition between our two spots got easier when we didn't go as far at the muskrat den to collect data by the pond. Also, instead of cutting through the tall grasses and sedge from Home Base, we followed the telephone line and then cut over. We used the same path each time, which made it a loteasier.

What didn't work for us was that we wanted to go to more spots to observe but we only had two spots. One of our group problems was that we weren't able to identify all the birds at the pothole. As we visited more we could identify more. Next time we should try hard to identify the birds we hear too. We counted only the birds we saw, not the ones we heard.

On a positive note, we learned how to identify more birds, got more interested in birds and learned that there's a lot more to learn, and that's exciting!

Learning Gains

Robin: One thing I learned was what a grackle is and that the grackles like certain trees.

Isaiah: I learned that you hear more birds than you see. I didn't know before how territorial red wing black birds are. During our project I learned bird songs and calls. Before I didn't know which birds liked to hang out in which places and not I know that more.

Morrie: I learned that male birds are different looking than female birds. I learned that if you listen to the sounds, you can also tell which birds are there and use your guide book to help figure out which birds they are.

Alejandro: I learned how to find birds in books to tell what they are.

Future Investigations

Robin: I would like to know about how different birds react. I learned that the red wing black bird reacts to crows and they try to stay away from them because they are scared of those crows. If the crow comes into their territory, they probably would react by attacking. I would like to study this more.

Isaiah: I want to study about peregrine falcons and find out what the weird ducks that were at the pothole were. I'd like o do some more observations of red wing black birds.

Morrie: I'd like to study hawks because I want to learn how to tell them apart, male and female, and identify the different kinds.

Acknowledgments

For acknowledgments, we would like to thank Ms. Rosenberg for being there with us when we needed help. We'd also like to thank Ms. Seguin for giving us some materials like binoculars and i.d. books. They were both helpful for our work.

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Introduction

Our plants investigation started with the question: How many different plants are at the Pothole? This would be a very hard question to answer because we knew we couldn't count every single plant. That would take us forever.

Emily's mom, Jeanne, was our group leader and she had this idea to choose three different areas that had really different plants. By looking at these spots, we could get a good idea of what was all over the Pothole. We measured out and staked three areas for our study. We are all interested in plants, so that is why we signed up for this investigation group. Our group also wanted to learn how to identify the plants that we saw at the Pothole and look for signs of new plant growth.

We all had our own ideas about what the answer to our major question was.

Emily: My hypothesis is I think that we will see 200 plants by the end of the weeks. And also I think we will see 90 different kinds of plants in the three areas we roped off.

Calvin: I think that a new plant will grow every week.

Dominique: My hypothesis is that we'd see 80 different kinds of plants while we are there studying them.

Our group picked three different places to study. We went to Mouse Hill, the field along the west side of the field, and the pond at the north end. We picked these three places because we wanted to see which plants grew at which spots. It was pretty obvious that different plants grew in each of these places.

Procedure

To do this investigation, we needed string, stakes and measuring tape to put together our three study areas. We also took our field notebooks and pencils each time to record measurements and other stuff. We brought along field guides to Wetland plants and water cups to take water samples.

Each week we would go to the spots and observe any changes. At each spot we took notes and tried to discuss what we saw. Jeanne also taught us about a certain plant each week. She called it Plant of the Week. We also took time for a snack since we got so hungry.

Drawing Conclusions/Analysis

We haven't answered our question yet because we haven't collected all our data. So far, we have figured out that we have identified lots of different kinds of plantsr; more than we knew at the beginning. We think that these are the main plants at the Pothole that we have been observing and studying: cattails, switch grass, foxtail grass, Queen Anne's Lace, Asters (which look like baby's breath) and sedges.

There are things that we each learned. We all learned how to identify plants we had never known before. We even learned about a bunch of different kinds of grasses that are there.

Emily: I learned that there are a lot of plants at the Pothole. Now I can identify like fifteen different plants.

Dominique: I learned that you can do a lot of work there, like writing down data, collecting plants and taking samples.

Calvin: I learned how to make a dead plant move by putting a Queen Anne's Lace in the water and watching it stretch out.

Future Investigations

Emily: I would like to figure out more experiments to do with plants. We did one with Queen Anne's Lace and I hope we will do more. My mom and I are finding a few different ones from books we are looking at and trying some of them at home, that we are sharing with our group. They are really cool.

Calvin: Are there different plants around our school than there are at the Pothole?

Dominique: I wonder what animals eat the certain plants and which animals need which plants for their homes.

Acknowledgments:

We would like to thank Jeanne, our leader, the most. We'd also like to thank Kit, Ms. Rosenberg, our bus drivers and a few others. We'd also like to thank our principal for giving us permission to study the Pothole.

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Introduction

Our group looked at the question: How many different water critters are in our three areas at the Pothole? We are only looking in three spots because we have only a little amount of time to find water bugs. This group is very exciting because we get to take water samples and try to identify the animals in the water. It's also fun to walk in the water and mud to do this.

Ben: I got interested in this group because water bugs are unusual to me.

Tiffany: I thought it would be cool to find out how many kinds of bugs there are in the pond.

Becca: I wanted to see how many different bugs there are.

Kevin: I became interested because I wanted to know how many bugs are in the pothole pond.

Deni: I wanted to learn about salamanders, frogs and about the water.

Deni: I think there will be different kinds of bugs in the water. I don't think I will see insects in the water that I have seen before.

Procedure:

When we got to the pothole, we went to area 2 first. The first thing we did was take the water temperature. We kept the thermometer in the water until the 0 degrees mark showed up. Actually, we took the temperature for about two minutes. The next thing we did was to take 200 milliliters of water for a water sample. This water was taken by skimming it off the top. We went to area one next and repeated the same steps, then to area three to do the same things. When we got back to school, all the kids in our group would go back to Ms. Seguin's room and look at the critters under the microscope. We made videos of them using the scope camera attached to the video camera. Since the animals wouldn't be able to live long outside their Pothole home, we had to study them right away and try to identify them. If we waited too long, the water would evaporate and the sample with all the animals in it would be full of dead critters.

The last two visits, we took samples from four places. The last place we added was the well. Area 1 is the northern tip of the pond, Area 2 is by the dogwoods, along the pond and Area 3 is northeast of the parking lot.

Surprises

We were surprised with some of the things we found. We found larvae of a giant water beetle. Kevin spotted a salamander that Deni thought was an iguana and Tiffany and Becky saw a dead deer.

We found that if we went through our protocol efficiently, we had time left over at the end to explore more at the well; one of the most interesting places to go. One major problem we had was that we didn't always write down our research. We did learn that not all the water critters live in the same place at the Pothole. We only found copepods in the second and third places so going to a fourth place could maybe add more to our study.

If we could do this differently next time, we would make a fourth place to go to every time to get a water sample. That would be the well.

Further Investigations

We all have other questions we would like to try to investigate, if we have the time. These are also questions that we asked ourselves and our group, at some point.

Ben: Do the fairy shrimp get bigger as the temperature (of the air and water) gets warmer?

Tiffany: Will the number of copepods increase as it gets warmer?

Becca: How many different water critters are there in the world? Would I find the same critters in other ponds?

Kevin: If more water comes to the pothole, does the water get a darker color?

Deni: I would like to study the mud under the water to see what lives in it.

Acknowledgments

We'd like to thank the bus drivers, our teacher, Ms. Rosenberg, Ms. Seguin (our fearless leader), and our group for working together.

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Introduction

We were first interested in what was in the soil at the Pothole because it was some squishy, spongy stuff. It was a rich, black and thick consistency that was very different than the soil we are used to seeing or feeling at our school or where we live. We figured out by doing a clump test that the soil is different everywhere, which we will tell you more about. As we got into our soil study we got really interested in one of our sites we call the Water Hole.The hole was getting bigger each week we visited it and we didn't know why, which is why we are investigating this more now. We started out comparing the soil clumps, collected data and have spent a good part of our time investigating the mysterious hole.

Procedure

Every time we went with our soil group to our three spots we did the same tests. We did this protocol so that we could compare our data over time. This is how it went. First we went to the water hole and measured how cold it was in the soil and how deep it was. Then we would go to bush #1 and measure how cold it is and do a clump test. Then we would go to bush #2 on Mouse Hill and do the same thing that we did at bush #1. We took the temperature of the soil at two different depths, at three inches and at six inches. It was interesting to look at differences at those two depths.

Directions to the collection sites

If you ever want to visit our three spots that we keep mentioning, we wrote down the directions for you.

Water Hole: To get to the water hole, you start facing east (away from the street). Immediately to your left there is an open plain. You follow that plain east until you get to three turnoffs in the path. Don't turn! At the third turnoff, you turn right and head north. Then you will see two smaller pathways coming from your left. You go into the second pathway and at the end of that pathway, there will be a big open space. A little to your right, there will be the water hole.

Bush #1: From the water hole, face away from the street (east) and go left until you get into the pathway of the telephone polls. Then there will be a big line of bushes. Go to the one that is to the left, by itself.

Bush #2: From bush #1, we go towards the home base (west and south). Then facing the road, go back to home base. You take the same pathway you would to get to the water hole, but instead of going east, you go south. Right when you get to the line of trees, turn right into the sedges. Look around for a thorn bush. That's bush #2.

Materials

The materials we used were a thermometer, a ruler, a stick and of course our field notebooks, pencils and our data tables.

As far as figuring out the answers to our questions, we haven't answered our first group question completely yet. Actually, we have been working on answering both our questions and haven't figured them out yet. We do have three more field study trips so we are hoping to gather more data and information. For the second question about the water hole, we first put in a stick to see if there was an animal in there; there wasn't. Then Ben put his hand in to see if there was any water pressure. Ben thinks that he felt water pressure on the top of his hand. So, he thinks, there is water pressure.

Since the rest of us in the group are not so sure of this, we will have to investigate this more. What would that mean anyway? As you can see, we have more questions to try to answer.

In case you were wondering, to do a clump test you would first dig a hole however deep you want it. Then you take 1/2 cup of soil from that depth. You roll that soil up into a ball and look for moistness, smoothness and roughness, seeds, rocks, roots, how it crumbles and cracking ability. A good soil is moist and smooth. Then, you would record your information.

Drawing Conclusions

We hadn't planned to check for animals at each of our soil data collection spots. One surprise for us was that there weren't any other ways out of the hole except for the one that kept getting bigger. We are in search of a tool or materials that will help us measure water pressure instead of our hands. This is something we may still do.

Further Questions

We all have a list of questions that interest us quite a bit. Samantha would like to know how the water hole got there. Ben wants to know where the crumbliest soil is at the Pothole and Jeffrey would like to know how did the hole get its water.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank our parents for giving us field experience money to go and study at the Pothole. We'd also like to thank our principal for letting us go and our teacher, Ms. Rosenberg, for taking us. The other group members from Mr. Jeff's room and our group leader, Martha, were also great.

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Introduction

The Pothole has some trees but not a lot of them. The trees there are also not all in the same place. They are spread out or in small groups. At first, we wanted to know how many different trees are at the Pothole. Then, our group started to study how much the buds of four different trees grew over time. We wanted to compare trees and their growth.

Candice: I got interested because I wanted to learn about the buds and bark because I wanted to learn about how they grow. I also wanted to learn about how the buds got fuzzy. And, I wanted to learn about how the temperature effected everything.

Khounsay: I was wondering whether the trees kept growing all year round. Also, what does the bark tell you about the tree, like age? And how come some trees are small and some are big? Why are some trees slit up at the base and others aren't?

Shantay: I got interested because I never saw trees before like the ones at the Pothole. I also wanted to know more about the bark because they were all different. I was curious about how to tell the age of the tree and wanted to learn whether the bark told me this.

Procedure

We took some materials with us to the Pothole that we needed, like rulers, thermometers, snacks, 4 glass tubes to put the buds in, notebooks, pencils, data tables, and colored pencils. We also took tree books so if we wanted to know what tree is was we could look in the tree books.

Here's what our protocol was:

1. Go to our first tree; tree #1.

2. Observe the color of the buds, measure the buds, record it and sketch it.

3. Take the temperature of the soil and take the temperature at the base of the tree.

4. Hold the thermometer in those places until the temperature stops moving. Then we recorded it on our data sheet.

5. Draw how the tree looks.

6. Repeat steps 2 through 5 at the other three trees.

Drawing Conclusions/Analysis

Mr. Jeff helped us identify trees and we used the books to help us. We looked at the bark of the trees, and the shape and measurements of the buds which told us how the trees were different and how their leaves were growing at different rates.

We started to do drawings of the trees each time and started getting good at it. So we added that to our protocol.

Surprises

Candice: I didn't expect the buds on the three trees to be more furry. I didn't know the furry buds would become leaves. I learned that some buds have fur and some don't. I also learned that the bark of a tree is different. If I could do some things differently, I would identify the bark and buds of the trees and take measurements around the tree.

Khounsay: Every week we looked, the buds got bigger. I didn't know they'd grow so fast.

Shantay: I didn't expect the buds to grow that much, so quickly, because the first time we came there, they were tiny. I learned that the Pothole does have some trees. I also learned that the buds grow so fast. On our last trip, we noticed that on one side of a tree the buds were already opening and on the other side that was shaded, they were little buds still.

Successes and challenges

We worked well as a group. People helped each other out. We shared our materials well. One problem we had was when our thermo-meter broke. The day that happened, we couldn't take the temperature because the thermometer was broken. For the trip after that, we had brought a new thermometer and could continue our work.

Future Investigations

Candice: I wonder how big the buds could get before the leaves come out.

Khounsay: I wonder how fast does a tree grow.

Shantay: How long do trees live before they die?

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Mr. Jeff for helping us take the temperatures, helping our group and for being so fun.

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Introduction

I got my question from thinking about the Earth. First I thought about electricity and then I thought about where electricity came from. Then I knew we can make electricity from coal that comes from the Earth. So I wondered where the Earth came from.

Procedure

I read books about the Earth. I did a survey. I got thirteen answers and six different kinds of answers to my question. I did an experiment.

Results

I learned that other people have other ideas and other cultures think different things.In Iceland they think that the Earth was created by Odin, Vili and Ve with skin from Imir the Creator. The Huron Indians believe that animals dived down under water and brought up dirt from under water to put on turtle's back. French Polynesian culture has a different creation story. In their story, Ta-aroa put clumps of gas together to make the Earth.

Experiment. I planned to pour water on a ball of dirt.I thought that it would fall apart. My guess was wrong, because I packed the dirt too hard. It did not fall apart.

Interpreting Results

The most popular answers to my survey were the "Big Bang" and "God put it here." My favorite answer was my Dad's answer. I liked my Dad's answer because he thought of things I wouldn't think of like gasses and other things. Before I started I thought that the Earth started when an asteroid stayed in one place for a long time and plants started growing on it. I did a lot and I still think the same thing.

Acknowledgments

I want to thank Mr. Swift, Melanie Herzog, Beth Ferris, my mom, Linda, my dad, Tim, and all the people who answered my survey.

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Introduction

"We did this experiment because we were interested in freezing. We were also interested in liquids. This experiment seemed perfect for us. Our hypothesis was that water would freeze faster than salt water, Gatorade, 7-Up, milk or oil.

Procedure

We put 15 ml of the liquids (salt water, water, 7-Up, milk, oil, and Gatorade into an ice cube tray and then into the freezer. We checked the tray every 7 minutes to see if they were frozen. We completed 3 trials.

Results

The water froze first, then milk, then Gatorade, then 7-Up, then salt water. Oil never froze.

Look below at the table to view our data.

Interpreting Results

We think water froze first because it doesn't have any extra ingredients like salt which lowers the melting temperature.

New Directions

If we were to do this again we would make the freezer temperature lower and check every 3 minutes so that we would be more exact. We would also like to see if oil would freeze at a lower temperature.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Lukas' mom for making room in her freezer.

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Introduction

I first became interested in how the stars are made when two of my friends were trying to find out "who made God?", and "how the earth was made." I first thought that the stars were all made by the "big bang." I then read a book at school called "Tales of Belief" that talked about space. This book said that God put rocks in space; some of the rocks were stars while others were planets and moons. There are many possible explanations to this question. I decided to do a survey to learn what different people thought about how stars are made.

Procedures

I did a survey of teachers, classmates, school helpers, parents and neighbors, and asked "how stars are born?" I also visited the following website: observe.ivv.nasa.gov/nasa/space/space- index.shtml.

Results

Below are the survey responses.

1. Atoms changed by different temperatures.

2. The big bang

3. By gases

4. Gases contract under their own molecular weight and gravity. Eventually the gases become so compact that they begin to create enough energy to create light and heat via a fusion nuclear reaction. The fusion nuclear reaction continues as hydrogen is converted to helium. Stars progress and mature through different stages depending on the size and age of the star.

5. Asteroids crashed and fragments formed stars.

6. God put them in the sky.

7. From fragments from explosions in space.

8. From gases under pressure of gravity.

9. The stars formed when gases exploded in the atmosphere.

10. The collision of sub-Saturn planets and macro-asteroids.

11. A spark hits gas and wham, stars!

12. Masses of gases swirling superheatedly around.

13. Gases in outer space collide and explode with great intensity and burn for years and years (maybe).

14. Summary drawings from website: observe.ivv.nasa.gov/nasa/space/space-index.shtml.

Cloud of gas and dust in space.

Cloud compressed by a supernova explosion.

As the gases cool, the force of gravity contracts the cloud.

When the core temperature reaches 10 million degrees, the hydrogen gas ignites. The hydrogen atoms collide so violently with each other that they fuse and create helium. The energy released from these reactions increases the temperature to 20 million degrees. Energy is emitted in all directions.

Interpreting Results

In conclusion, there doesn't seem to be a single answer that everyone agrees on. While I cannot think of an important reason to explore this question, I do think that it is fun and interesting. Perhaps my friends and I can continue to work on these questions and find the answers.

New Directions

If I could keep doing this project, I would survey more adults. Next time I would work in a team with someone. I would want to ask what happened before the big bang happened.

Acknowledgments

I thank all of the participants of my survey, as well as my teachers Mr. Swift and Beth and Muir's mom, Linda, and Muir and Nick. I also want to thank my mom and dad, Susanne and Dean.

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Introduction

I thought of this project because I like to plant gardens of tomato plants because growing plants is fun to do. Also what I like about tomato plants is the feeling of the fuzzy hair that grows on the stem. The hair on the stem feels a little weird. My question is: "How tall does the tallest tomato plant grow?"

Procedure

In the living machine, tomato plants grow big and tall. I measured the tallest tomato plant to see how tall it grew. First I kept track of how tall every day and kept track of how many inches it has grown. I kept track of how tall it is by using a measuring stick.

Results

The first day I measured the tomato plant it was 14 inches. The second day I measured the tomato plant it was 26 inches. The difference was 12 inches. Now, when I measured the tomato plant it is 27 inches, so the difference is 1 inch.

I know the first color of the tomato plant. It is green, and the second color is red. The tomato plants didn't grow tall enough yet for the red color.

Interpreting Results

Yes, I answered my question. My question was, "How tall does the tallest tomato plant grow?" I think it will grow as tall as a tree branch. I think that is as tall as it grows. I'm just guessing how tall it grows.

Acknowledgments

Thank you, Brian McClurg, for helping me on my project.

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Introduction

I wanted to learn how to train my dog. I found out my dog didn't know how to do many things, so I decided to train him. His name is Nido. He is eight years old. He is a German Shepherd.

Procedure

I searched the internet with my dad for information about training dogs. I interviewed a dog trainer named Maria Christina Jackson. She trains dogs to help people with disabilities. I read books about training. I learned from Ms. Jackson that my dog has to look at my eyes when I tell him to do something. I learned to keep treats in my pocket to give him. I can stop giving treats and use a hand signal when my dog starts to do something well. I also learned dogs need more training when there are distractions. I learned that dogs should be ten weeks old when they get trained.

Results

I started training my dog and wrote down what he learned. Nido has learned a lot of new things. I started training Nido to sit and lay down. It took him four days to learn to do it with just a hand signal. Then I taught him to come when I clap twice. It took a long time. It took two weeks. He still does not do this all the time when there are distractions. When I trained him to heel last time I did it outside. I put a treat at my side, and he did it.

Interpreting Results

I think it was fun to train Nido because he is calm and smart. I really liked when I was outside with distractions and he listened to me. I called him to come in the backyard with my other dog there, my brother, and my mom, and he did it. This was after three weeks of training.

Future Directions

I want to keep training Nido to do new tricks. I want to train him to jump when I have treats in my hand. I might take a dog training class with Nido and my mom.

Acknowledgments

I want to thank Mr. Swift, Beth Ferris and my mom and dad, Rebecca and Matt Toetz. I also want to thank Ms. Jackson, the dog trainer and teacher. Of course I want to thank Nido my dog.

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I like my Great Blue. I am thinking about what dogs do.
I want my dog to do tricks. Maybe even fetch sticks.
If I want him to come. The treats I have, I will have to give him some.
I am training him to drop his ball. It is hard when he is not so small.
I wonder if I could train him to read. A lot of help he would need.
I started by training him to sit and lay. It was very difficult when all he wanted to do was play.
My mom has been a great helping hand. Things are going according to plan.

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