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BOAST Kids Newsletter
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This newletter contains articles about :
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What participants think about BOAST and the Hands-On Science Lesson on Air Pressure |
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U of I Veterinary Medicine Open House | |
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The Howard Hughes Poster Session |
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Internet Kids Workshops | |
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Participant/Volunteer Interviews |
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Miscellaneous Stories and Articles |
I liked BOAST because when we went to computers, we got to learn about things like countries and we got to print things up. We learned about how many people live in China and we learned that they use to tie up the little girls' feet, but they didn't tie up the boys' feet.
We also got to go buy books at Pages for All Ages bookstore in Champaign. I got a Goosebumps book that had a boneman and a bonedog on the front. I liked to go there because they had a whole bunch of good books like coloring books and books you can write in.
I want to tell you about the air-pumping jar. There was a jar that had a balloon inside. The jar had an air pump on it. When you pumped air into the jar, the balloon got bigger. When you let the air out of the jar, the balloon got smaller.
I liked the pop can activity because when you had the tongs and put the can in the water, the can smashed in! (See photographs of this lesson.)
I liked the balloon in the jar activity. I pumped air into the jar where the balloon was and watched the balloon get bigger and bigger. Then I let the air out of the jar and watched the balloon get smaller and smaller.
In another activity, I blew a balloon up and gave it to a volunteer who put it in a bucket of ice and water. When he put it in the bucket, it froze and got smaller and then he took it out and I blew on it and watched it get back to its regular size. I took the balloon home with me and my brothers broke it!
Now I am going to tell you about the aluminum can activity. First put some water in the can and then take the tongs and put them on the can and flip the can over as fast as you can and watch the can pop! (See photographs of this lesson.)
I liked it when the water was boiling in a special jar on the stove and when the volunteers took the jar off the stove and put an egg on top of it, it made the egg get sucked into the jar. I also liked watching the cold water boil and crush the aluminum pop can.
(See photographs of this lesson.)
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I did my poster on the sun. Jenny helped me with it. We did a science experiment with solar energy. The thermometers were the most fun!
At the Practice Poster Session I showed my poster to all of the BOAST volunteers. At the Howard Hughes Poster Session, I had lots of fun! I liked to show off my poster to everyone. I liked to eat lots of grapes and bread. Maybe next year I will do a poster on hurricanes. (See photographs of the Poster Session.)
We did our poster on Tyrrannosaurus Rex, the king of the dinosaurs. We cut pictures out for our poster. The pictures were copied from books and showed T-rex. One picture showed a lady looking at dinosaur footprints. T-rex was a meat eater. T-rex could eat a hundred meals a day! Some of T-Rex's teeth were six inches long and he was twenty feet tall!
We made some fossils out of clay for the Poster Session too. We made fossil dinosaur skeletons and footprints. We baked the clay in the oven so it would get hard. Then we mixed up some plaster and poured it on top of the T-rex fossils so they would look like they were buried. Gabriel liked to pour the plaster, but Kenneth didn't like it because he though it was too gooey.
To help us get ready for the Poster Session, we talked in front of four classes at Kenwood Elementary School in Champaign. We talked about T-rex and we liked that because people were asking us questions.
We went to the University for the Practice Poster Session and talked about T-rex and our poster in front of the BOAST volunteers. We showed them the fossils we had made and we showed them the footprints too. Then people asked us questions. We got a prize for being in the Practice Poster Session. We got a BOAST hat and some candy. When we got back to Bradley Park where we live, Kenneth and Quintrell took the posters to Tanya and Victor's house and read our posters to Victor and Aieasha, Baby Joe and some of the other kids. They really liked what we had done!
On the night of the real Poster Session, we dressed up before Ellen came to pick us up and drive us to the Poster Session. The Poster Session was held at the University in a fancy building. At the Poster Session, people asked us questions. We had some fruit, cheese and bread to eat. Mr. Starwalt, who teaches at Kenwood, came to see our posters. Mr Huddle, our principal, came to see our posters and brought his kids too. Then Claudia Washburn gave us our shirts. The shirts had Superman on them. We liked our shirts! Then we went upstrairs to the third floor and had dinner. There were different kinds of fancy food. Dan, a Howard Hughes Fellow and BOAST volunteer, gave us some coffee. We liked the coffee. Then we had desert. It was apple pie and ice cream and the frosting was really good! Then we listened to the speaker and then we went to the bathroom and went home. When we were walking to the van, we saw people going to the Kranner Art Theater and we wished we could go there too! (See photographs of the Poster Session.)
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Aieasha: "Where do you go to school?"
Sarah: "I go to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign."
Aieasha: "What are you studying in school?"
Sarah: "I am studying music and English."
Aieasha: "When will you graduate from school?"
Sarah: "In one year"
Aieasha: "What do you want to be when you finish school?"
Sarah: "I want to be a music teacher."
Aieasha: "Why do you want to be a mentor?"
Sarah: "I want to work with great kids like Aieasha helping them view the world in a new way."
Aieasha: "Are you left or right handed?"
Sarah: "I am right handed."
Aieasha: "What is your favorite kind of food?"
Sarah: "Chocolate"
Aieasha: "What is your favorite movie?"
Sarah: "Howard's End"
Aieasha: What kind of books do you like to read?"
Sarah: "Classical books"
Aieasha: "Where were you born?"
Sara: "I was born on the northwest side of Chicago."
Aieasha: "What kind of music do you like to listen to?"
Sarah: "Folk music"
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Veterinarians help animals. They are doctors for animals. They give sick animals medicine and feed them special food.
We saw a man put a horseshoe on a horse. The horseshoe protects the horse's foot.
At the Open House we saw horses, cows, pigs, baby chickens, snakes, birds, dogs and cats. We also put our hands into the stomach of a cow and sat on saddles that horses wear. (See the drawings we made at the Open House.)
At the Open House, we interviewed Kent. He is a veterinary medical student. He likes his job because he likes animals a lot. He likes to make animals better when they are sick.
We milked a cow. We felt like we were working on a farm.
We watched a worker cut the sheep's wool. We learned that after the wool is cut, it is made into clothes that people wear.
Antonio saw this sign at the Open House and copied down what it said because he thought it was important to know before you buy a puppy:
"Before you get a puppy, test to see if it is:
Social: Does it interact with the other puppies?
Dependent or Independent: Does it follow you around?
Dominant or Submissive: Does it jump and nip at the other puppies?"
Answer these questions before you decide on which puppy to take home.
I petted the snake and its skin was soft. I touched the cow's head and it was soft. I squeezed milk out of the cow's udder.
The baby chicks were little and they were yellow. I picked up the baby chick and petted it. The baby chick was a little heavy. It was soft and warm.
I petted the horse. It was soft. It was big! We watched a man put a shoe on the horse's foot.
I petted a dog and it licked me. The dog was a little black puppy. There were three puppies, but I only petted one. (See the drawings I made at the Open House.)
At the Open House the following students weighed themselves on the animal scale outside the horse surgery room. First they stood up and weighed themselves. The results were:
Then one of the kids asked how much he would weigh if he were sitting down. A discussion with predictions followed and then everyone weighed himself again while he was sitting down. Some people were surprised to find that each person weighed the same amount when he was sitting as when he was standing!
After that, someone wanted to know how much everyone would weigh altogether, so we all stood on the scale and some other people joined us! Our combined weight was 850 pounds!
A veterinarian helps animals by feeding them special food when they are sick. The veterinarian also puts fluid in an animal's veins when it is sick.
We saw many pieces of equipment that veterinarian's use. We saw an IV that can be put in the vein of an animal. We saw X-rays that are used to see bones. We saw a stethoscope that is used to hear the animal's heart beat.
We interviewed Robin Hayes. Robin is a veterinarian. Robin likes to ride horses.
We saw chickens, goats, pigs, and lizards. We made sure we held the chicks carefully! (See the drawings we made at the Open House.)
At Veterinary Open House, we learned that veterinarians do lots of things to help animals. They feed the animals, give them medicine, and take care of them when they are sick.
We also saw some of the equipment that veterinarians use. We saw a stethoscope that is used to listen to animals' hearts. We also saw a respirator that helps the animals breathe and an X-ray machine that takes pictures of the animals bones.
We spoke to a student names Jamie who wants to be a veterinarian. He helps dogs and uses a stethescope to listen to their hearts. He wants to be a veterinarian because he thinks it is rewarding to help animals.
We saw a lot of animals at the Open House too. We saw cows and people milking the cows, people giving hay to horses, people feeding baby lambs, and people cutting the wool off of sheep.
We also learned about different jobs. We learned that veterinarians help animals, and dog trainers teach dogs how to act, and researchers make new kinds of medicine to give to animals who are sick.
At one exhibit, we saw a bunch of X-rays. We saw the inside of a turtle's stomach after it had eaten some little stones. We also saw a dog's stomach after it ate a toy and a fish hook. We also got to see an X-ray of puppies inside of their mom before they were born. (See the drawings we made at the Open House.)
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We studied ocean animals on the Internet and this is what we learned.
Female killer whales average about 5 - 7 meters in length and weigh about 1300 to 3600 kilograms! Male killer whales average about 7 - 8 meters in length and weigh about 3600 - 5600 kilograms! Killer whales eat seabirds, sea lions, and other marine animals. They live in cold areas in the ocean.
Harbor seals grow to be about 2 meters long and weigh about 170 pounds. Harbor seals eat squid, crustaceans, mollusks, and fish. They live on the Pacific coast of the ocean.
Sea turtles range in length from about 21 inches to 6 feet. Some sea turtles eat jellyfish and soft-bodied animals and crabs. Sea turtles live in tropical and temperate seas around the world.
The great white shark can be 5.5 meters long and weigh 1800 kilograms. Great white sharks eat seals and sea lions and even sometimes people! They eat you, so stay away from them!
The blue whale can be 100 feet long and weigh 320,000 pounds! The blue whale eats small crustaceans called krill. Blue whales always travel in pairs.
Coral lives in warm water that is between 68 - 82 degrees F. Some animals that live around coral reefs are sponges, fish, shrimp, crabs, sea anemones, and other animals. The coral reef provides shelter for fish.
African lions can weigh 550 pounds! They eat buffalo, giraffe, and young elephants. Their roar can be heard 5 miles away!
Tigers can weigh almost as much as lions. They eat buffalo, pigs and antelope. They always take their food to the water before they eat it.
Polar bears can weigh as much as 1400 pounds! They eat fish, penguins, and seals. They are always born with their eyes closed and they don't have any fur when they are born! They also can't swim when they are born. Their mom has to teach them to swim when they get bigger.
Other animals I looked at were snakes and sharks. I also looked at coral reefs. Coral has to grow in water that is between 70 and 80 degrees. Fish live in coral reefs too.
There are many kinds of sharks. The white shark is the largest shark in the world. It can be 45 feet long! Whale sharks eat plankton which are very small animals. People use sharks for food, medicine, and vitamins. People also use shark teeth for weapons and jewelery.
Killer whales have different lengths. The girl killer whales are about 16-23 feet long and the boy killer whales are about 23-26 feet long. Killer whales eat fish, sea birds, seals, sea lions and other marine animals. A pod is a group of whales.
A male walrus weighs about 1764-3748 pounds. A female walrus weighs about 882-2756 pounds. Both female and male walruses eat ocean worms, snails, squid, and clams. Walruses live where the water is cold.
A blue whale can be 100 feet long. A blue whale eats tiny shrimp-like ocean animals called crustaceans. I learned that blue whales are the largest animals in the world!
Seahorses are only about 2 - 14 inches long. A seahorse eats small animals like plankton and fish larvae which are fish eggs. A seahorse can curl his tail around the sea grass.
Coral reefs can be found near the United States in the western Atlantic Ocean. Coral likes to grow in warm water. Some animals that like to live near coral reefs are jellyfish, ocean worms, and sea stars.
The blue whale is the largest animal in the world. It can weigh 145,280 kilograms and grow to be about 85 feet long! Blue whales eat krill. The U.S. is trying to protect blue whales from people who kill them.
The great white shark weighs around 3000 pounds and is about 16 feet long. This shark likes to eat seals and sea lions. The great white shark is always loosing its teeth and growing new ones. Its teeth are very sharp.
Sea otters can be about 2 feet long. We think the sea otter probably eats fish. Sea otters usually sleep and swim on their backs.
There are 17 species of penguins. Some are up to 44 inches tall, but others are as small as 16 inches. Penguins eat fish and live in really cold water.
The biggest ray can be 20 feet wide. Rays eat mollusks, crustaceans, and worms. If you step on a ray, it might sting you.
Coral likes to grow in warm water of between 68 and 80 degrees F. Sponges and worms live on the reef. Crabs, shrimp and fish also live around the coral. Fish, shrimp and crabs live around sponges.
Sea otters are about 3 feet long and eat fish. They are an endangered species.
Sharks can be up to 45 feet long. They eat the meat off of other sea animals. Sharks are a kind of fish.
Lions are 4.5 - 8 feet long. They like to eat buffalo. They are the largest of the African cats.
Polar bears are 8 to 9 feet tall. They like to eat seals and are very strong swimmers.
Hyenas are 3 feet long and like to eat zebras. The hyena is a hunter.
There are coral reefs in the ocean near the United States. They like to grow in warm oceans. Sea stars, shrimp, crabs and eels live on the coral reef.
We studied the comet Hale-Bopp on the Internet. We learned that it was discovered by Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp. We learned that is has two tails. One is made out of dust and the other is made out of gas. It started at the edge of the solar system, and it is like a dirty snowball. The nucleus of the comet is 25 miles across, but when it gets close to the sun, it melts and forms a cloud of gas. The gas cloud is more than ten thousand miles across. The tail is 50 - 60 million miles long. The next time you can see the comet from earth will be in 4300 A. D.
The sun is a big ball of fire which provides us with heat and light. Our sun is classified as a yellow dwarf. There are hundreds of billions of stars in our galazy that are similar to our sun. The sun is so far away that it takes 9 minutes for its light to get here. The sun came from a big cloud of Space dust that squished upon itself. The sun has been burning for over 4.5 billion years! When the sun runs out of fuel (hydrogen), it will not be able to stay as big as it is. It will begin to collapse upon itself because there will no longer be any radiating energy to work against the force of gravity.
We found this picture and learned about the sun at http://hea-www.harvard.edu/scied/SUN/sunpage.html.
We went to the university to do Internet Kids, but the computers broke, so I wrote this story instead. Rosemary, a BOAST volunteer, helped me get started.
I like rockets, so I made 46. I flew in one of them with my friends. We flew to a spiral galaxy and saw an alien rocket ship. The aliens made too much noise so I told them to be quiet and they were quiet. But then they tried to eat my head! They tried to slap me! I knocked them out and made them cry for their moms so they left.
We studied the country of Jamaica at the Internet Workshop. We learned that Jamaica is an island in the Caribbean Sea. Jamaica's geography is mostly mountains with narrow plains. In Jamaica the people speak English and Creole. The people use Jamaican dollars for money. 2,615,582 people live in Jamaica.
When I went to Internet Kids, I had fun because we got to pretend to go to a country. I went to Congo in Africa. I was surprised to learn that the people in Congo speak 60 different languages!
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One day a woman put her baby in a basket and put it in a river and it floated away into the woods. The wolves who lived in the woods found the baby and raised him. The boy was very happy living with in the woods with the wolves. He made a bunch of animal friends in the woods. His friends were named Bongo and Pongo.
One day the boy was playing around with Bongo and Pongo when some people came and started shooting at them. The boy got the wolves to help him fight the men. One man got eaten up by the wolf. Another wolf threw the other man in the river. The boy and his animal friends were happy because the men were gone. They lived happily ever after and when the boy grew up he had a baby with his girl friend.
The wolf ran after the rat every day because the wolf thought the rat was eating his food. The rat was getting fatter and fatter. Each time the wolf saw him, he seemd to be fatter. The rat thought the wolf was out to get his money since the rat had just earned a couple of dollars by scaring some kids away from a dangerous building
When the rat saw the wolf near the building, he stopped and said, "I haven't eaten for ten days. Will you please stop running after me?"
The wolf stopped running after him and they became friends.
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