Vocbulary Pictures

Exhaustion-

Methodically-

Swoon-

Abruptly-

Muttered-

Inflammatory-

Fettered-

Prophet-

Mimicking-

Incredulous-

A Christmas Carol

By Charles Dickens

*****

A Christmas Carol is my favourite classic. It follows the story of Ebeneezer Scrooge, a crabby, money-loving businessman whom Disney's Scrooge McDuck is based on.

Scrooge's story starts on Christmas eve, exactly 7 years since his business partner, Jacob Marley, had died. Scrooge ended Christmas eve by putting down an offer of a Christmas dinner by his nephew and denying some money to men who want to donate to the poor. Then he grudgingly allowed his clerk christmas day off and left his counting house for home.

But Scrooge wa in for a big surprise when Jacob Marley decided to visit him. 7 year-dead Jacob Marley. Marley warns Scrooge of their wasted time on Earth and that Scrooge will be haunted by three spirits.

After that Scrooge finds himself whiling through time, seeing the fate of all he knows and reliving his most emotional Christmases. My favourite part is Fezziwig's Party, a party in full swing with two fiddlers that Dickens describes unbelievebly.

Scrooge's journey through christmas past, present and future has made many films and I have just seen Disney's A Christmas Carol, 2009. An animated movie and very well pictured, after reading the book and seeing the movie I relised that the two were almost identicle. To the left is Scrooge from the 2009 film, whom I think has a very accurate expression on his face.

Vocab Words- Picture deffinitions

Placid-

Immaculately-

Subtle-

Feighning-

Unequaled-

Water Questions 2

1. (Q) List the main reasons for water scarcity.
(A) Low rainfall, variations in climate, land degradations, population growth and water pollution.

2. (Q) What is a drought? What type of hardships do you think that a drought could cause if you were living in a village in a poor country such as Ethopia?
(A) A drought is when there is little or no rainfall and water scarcity in a large area. Hardships would be problems with washing and quenching thirst.

3. (Q) How does land degradation affect the supply of fresh water?
(A) It stops infiltration and creates run-off, thus transforming more fresh water from rain into salt water in the ocean.

4. a) (Q) What is El Nino?
(A) The strong winds that occur when the wind reverses over the Pacific.
b) (Q) Why does El Ninooften cause drought in Australia?
(A) Wind blows away storm clouds and water vaper in the air from Australia.

5. Observe the map showing the global effects of El Nino in 1982-83.
a) (Q) What effects does El Nino have on the availability of fresh water?
(A) El Nino takes away a lot of water from south east asia and Tasmania.
b) (Q) Name the countries and describe the problems that arose from decreased rainfall caused by El Nino.
(A)Indonesia; more air pollution and forest fires, Philippines; drought, Papua; drought and famine, Australia; drought.

Water Treatment Plant

As part of grade 6's 'water' unit we visited a water treatment plant. There we walked around the plant and learnt how they cleaned the water from the river.

Our first station was the filters. Water flowed into the water plant from the river and flowed through a filter to take out all of the large pieces of junk in it. It then went on to flow through a finer filter which took out all the tiny pieces of junk.

The second station was where special chemicals were mixed with the water to create floc. Floc is a combination of dirt in the water that the special chemicals make coagulate. The floc floats to the water.

Station number three was where all of the water flow into large pools to let the floc settle. Once it has floated to the bottom of the pool the floc is called sediment.

Station four is where chlorine is added. Chlorine kills most diseases and dirt. The disinfected water then flows out through a filter which removes all remaining chlorine and surviving diseases.

Our final station, station five, was a room with a few vials and chemicals where water is tested to see if it was potable, which means able to drink. Here we compared the dirty water with the clean water and saw the difference.

After the tour of the water plant we saw a movie about how to save water. In all it was an educational field trip.

The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey

*****
by Trenton Lee Stewart

Mr.Benedict, Reynie and the crew are back! For the second mysterious installment Mr. Benedict decides to hold a world-wide treasure hunt as a 1 year anniversary for defeating the evil Mr. Curtain. But Mr. Benedict's evil twin isn't gone forever! In fact, he has just struck again... by kidnapping Mr. Benedict and Number Two! Just when everyone was going to have a happy reunion! What could happen next? Why, a world wide hunt for the missing twosome of course!

New cast members are added into this life-threatening puzzle. Cannonball and Captain Noland help the children race across three adventure-filled countries in the fastest ship ever known to mankind... the Shortcut! McCracken leads an evil force against Mr. Benedict's strong troopers. Then there is Her Majesty the Queen, Kate's new falcon friend. But all of Mr. Curtain's carnivorous comrades are back too! Jackson, Jillson, Martrina, S.Q... all of the master mind's extreme executives are back and as mean as ever! (Except, maybe, S.Q.)

But along with these evil crew-members come the ten-men, business men armed to the teeth. Pencil darts, whip ties, shock watches, calculator bombs, even laser pointers with real lasers!
How can Reynie, Sticky, Kate and Constance work past these thugs? The answer lies in a book of hags and bullfrogs, clues and warnings, pigeons and falcons, deserted villages and dusk-wart, salamanders and sea-planes. Will team Benedict prevail, or will rules, schools, tools and fools be too much for them?

Water Questions

1.(Q) What percentage of the world's supply of water is fresh water?
(A) 2.5%

2.(Q) Where is the world's supply of freshwater found?
(A) In ice, rivers, lakes, the atmosphere and ground water.

3.(Q) Even though the supply of fresh water is abundant it is still a problem. Why?
(A) We do not capture enough rain water.

4. Observe the map of world average annual precipitation (opposite).
a)(Q) Describe the changes in rain fall that occur as you move from the southern to the northern tip of Africa.
(A) The land starts with a low amount of rainfall, then in the centre of Africa there becomes more rainfall and up at the northern tip there is again, little rainfall.
b)(Q) Describe the changes in rainfall that occur as you move from the western to the eastern tip of Australia along the Tropic of Capricorn.
(A) For two thirds of the way rainfall is scarce, but as you reach the eastern side rainfall is more common caused partly by the Great Dividing Range.

5. Observe the map above of water availability per person.
a)(Q) Which parts of the world appear to have a large amount of water available per person?
(A) The northern end of continents seem to have the most water per person.
b)(Q) Which parts of the world appear to have a small amount of water per person?
(A) The northern end of Africa seems to have the lowest water per person rate.

6. Observe the diagram of water use.
a)(Q) What are the main uses of water?
(A) Agricultural and industrial uses are the two main uses of water.
b)(Q) Which uses have increased the most over the last century?
(A) Agriculture and Industrial uses are the two water uses that have increased the most over the last century.