Category: School

Monarch Day Care

My caterpillar drawing

We are raising Monarchs.  I have been wanting to do that for a LOONNGG time.

Monarch EggNow I have lots of caterpillars and eggs–mostly eggs.   On Thursday, 7 August, we saw out of our window, a Monarch laying eggs on some milkweed around 1:30.

On Friday, we collected two eggs.  We snipped off some of the milkweed leaves and we also learned two caterpillars there and got them.  We put them in airtight containers with milkweed leaves.

Saturday one egg hatched!  We also washed out their frass (caterpillar scat).Caterpillar’s home

We had four containers on Saturday.

  • Blue lid container the caterpillar is .5 cm.
  • Peanut butter container the caterpillar is .5+ cm.  (I don’t have an accurate ruler)
  • “The Hatchery” has one egg with a black spot.  We think it is a head, it means it will be hatching soon.
  • Butterfly rearing container has one egg.

On Sunday we found 5 caterpillar eggs at church and four more in a field near our house.  We put them in The Hatchery.  We also found one large caterpillar near pupation stage, probably 1 to 1 1/2 inches long.

We put some milkweed in the refrigerator for caterpillar food later.  We fed the caterpillars Caterpilllar eatingfresh milkweed and cleaned out the frass.

Today’s– Monday– stats.  I have an accurate ruler now 🙂

  • Got new cage for big caterpillar.  He is 4.5 cm long.  Eats one leaf in one night!  He is eating another leaf.  He is a EATING MACHINE!
  • Blue lid container the caterpillar is .9 cm.   Color is darker than before.
  • Peanut butter container the caterpillar is .8 cm and fat!
  • “The Hatchery” has one egg with a black spot and 6 white eggs.
  • Butterfly rearing container has one egg.  I think we have a new caterpillar but I am not sure.  We can’t find the caterpillar but we think we see frass on the bottom.

Eating MachineI know that Monarchs are in their eggs 3 to 5 days.  Then they are caterpillars for two weeks and grow to about 5 cm.  They make a chrysalis and turn into a butterfly!  Then they will live different lengthsMonarch Caterpillar on milkweed leaf of time.   Monarchs go down to Mexico or Lower California in fall.

I will keep you updated!

Andrea has a blog about what she is learning too.   She is doing a very good job!

A Better Brief on My Test

All I remember about decided to study for my amateur radio test, is sitting on the couch, reading a library book. The book was the ham radio one, I don’t quite remember why it made me excited, but I do remember starting the class the beginning of May.

How I learned about my test was reading the radio book, and writing down the answers–I am surprised I did not get writers cramp because I was part of a class. (Grandpa offered to take me to the class and got the book for me). I think there were 5 people besides me in class.  all of them where older.

The class itself was tell the answers of the questions that were asked in a notebook that the teacher gave me. I thought for the homework if I didn’t have Momma to help me, I would DEFINITELY get writers cramp. I just read the book if we didn’t do the homework. I could answer most of the questions by memory when the teacher asked the questions.

The test was sort of easy once I understood what it would be like. The real test was different than the practice tests I got at home. It was set up differently and the orange paper threw me off the most.

I was really nervous taking my test, so thank you for praying for me. It helped me a lot.

I did not pass it on the first try. When I did not pass it on the first try I felt bad. I missed it by one–which made matters worse. I knew I could retake it then but I still felt sad.

The second time I passed it and then I tried the General Class test. I got half of the General questions right. It was not enough to pass. But I did better than Momma!

Now I am waiting for my call sign. It’s kind of like my name and it helps identify where you got your license from, but not where you are.

Depending if I use a base station or a hand held radio, I can talk around the world on the radio!

Here are three of the questions I needed to know. Do you know the answers to them?

🙂

What is the term used to describe opposition to current flow in ordinary conductors such as wires?
A. Inductance
B. Resistance
C. Counter EMF
D. Magnetism

8)

What formula is used to calculate resistance in a circuit?
A. Resistance (R) equals voltage (E) multiplied by current (I)
B. Resistance (R) equals voltage (E) divided by current (I)
C. Resistance (R) equals voltage (E) added to current (I)
D. Resistance (R) equals voltage (E) minus current (I)

😉

What is the resistance of a circuit when a current of 3 amperes flows through a resistor connected to 90 volts?
A. 3 ohms
B. 30 ohms
C. 93 ohms
D. 270 ohms

I Passed!

It was a hard test but I passed my Amateur Radio Technician test!

I also tried an Amateur Radio General test because it was free to try and I got 16 right without studying and I needed 26 correct to pass.  So now I am going to work on Morse Code and my General license.

Thanks for praying.

Test

Thursday (10 July) evening at 7:00 I am going to have a test that I have been wanting to do for a LOOOOONNNNGGGG time.  This is my first test so I am very nervous.  Would you please pray for me not to be so nervous?  And that I have fun and that I pass it.  Please pray that if I don’t pass it, I remember that it is okay and there is another test soon I can take.

Thank you!

Scat!

Scat 9

Scat is an appropriate word for poop. Scat 4 Scat is cool because you can learn a lot about animals, by studying the stuff that is in it. Ewwwww!

You can learn a lot about what animal’s eat. An owl’s scat has the bones of what it just ate. It has the fur of what it ate. If the creature eats a lot of leaves, it’s scat is green! (Second ewww!) Usually the bigger the animal, the bigger the scat. A deer is big, but his or her scat is small. Scat is not always the same because it depends on the season and the different kinds of food digest differently. Scat 2

I want to be scatologist; someone who studies scat, and a naturalist. Because I want to learn a lot about animals. Scat 7

These are picture of scat from different animals. I want to see if you know about what kinds of animals make what kind of scat. (Momma says I am a weird cookie!) I made Momma take these pictures (she earned extra Momma points!) Look at the scat picture, it has a number on it. Tell us what you think. The hints are the scat is either a bobcat, coyote, grey fox, rabbit, raccoon, red fox or a toad. Scat 6

I have read these books and they are good. I am reading the story of Reading Whodunit?Little Mole at Nature Nuts. I became a helper and I get to read books to the class.

The Story of the Little Mole Who Went in Search of Whodunit by Werner Holzwarth & Wolf Erlbruch

The Truth about Poop by Susan GoodmanScat 1

Who Pooped in the Park? seriesScat 5

Birds!

Macaw eating seeds

Petting parrots
One of the parrotsWe went to Nature Nuts and learned about birds. We saw a Senegal Parrot, an Amazon parrot, a macaw, some parakeets, Zebra Finches and one Finch she did not remember what kind it was.

You can tell a boy parakeet from a girl parakeet (on certain kinds) by the blue on his beak by his nose. If it is blue, it is a boy. The girls are white on certain kinds. It is considered an extra small parrot because of its beak. If it has a beak that looks like a parrot, it is considered a parrot!

Reading to classI had lots of fun there. I read a story. I think it was called “Who Made the Morning?” A little bird was looking to see who made this beautiful morning. He discovered God did! Then he went to discover where God lives. He learned God does not live anywhere, He is EVERYWHERE! IPirate Mark did pretty good except I got quiet every so often. Momma said that I need to learn to TALK LOUDER when I am reading.

I held one of the parrots (the Senegal). Miss Krista said I was a genuine pirate!

“Feeding” ChickadeesWhen we went outside, I tried to feed some Chickadees. Hand feed! IChickadee, a curious bird! stayed as still as I could, held out my hand with some food in it and went “st ts st”. Chickadees are very curious birds. If you do that long enough, they probably will eat out of your hand. But, they didn’t this time!Feeding Macaw

I fed the Macaw inside. It was fun. When I first tried it, it was a little scary. They are huge birds. They are strong too. This one bent the bars of one of its cages. His owner tried to bend it back, but she couldn’t.

A leaf footed shield bug

We always help clean up after class.

Momma’s getting brave!

Look what I made!

I started by cutting out the material. I used a pattern. We had to make the pattern longer. Momma was wanting to use the material for pajamas for Daddy but there wasn’t enough. “Can I have it? I want to learn to sew anyway!” Momma said “Ok” 🙂

Then I had to learn to make straight seams. Sorry no pictures of the cutting or learning to cut straight seams. My first ones looked like (yuck!) zig zags. The last ones where straight straight straight! Well, not that straight. There were not many wiggles.

I learned to sew on Mama’s sewing machine Using Momma’s machine

At first, I really made mistakes!! mistakes!! mistakes!! mistakes!! Tearing out mistakes

Here I am sewing (on oma’s machine) Sewing on Oma’s machine Now I am putting in elastic. Wow! That was quicker than I thought. Momma showed me a secret that I am not going to tell about getting the elastic done quicker.Putting in the elastic

Modeling

Modeling what I made!

I wanted to do this !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I liked it! “Momma, can I make

a quilt now?”