Fascinating Food

Here are some fasinating food facts, to find out more visit this site – http://www.buzzfeed.com/justinabarca/food-facts-that-will-blow-your-mind#3acs3ll

1. Ripe canberries will bounce

2. An average ear of corn has an even number of rows, normally 16

3. Having dairy may cause acne

4. Most wasabi is not real wasabi, but coloured horseradish

5. Apples belong to the rose family

6. One of the most popular food toppings in Brazil is green peas

7. About 70% of olive oil being sold is actuallly not pure olive oil

8. The most expensive pizza in the world costs $12,000 and takes 72 hours to make

9. Radishes are a member of the cabbage family

10. Mcdonalds sells 75 hamburgers every second every day

11.Peanuts aren’t nuts, they’re legumes

12. Ketchup was used as medicine in the 1800s 

13. Apples float in water, because 25% of their volume is made of air

14. The popsicle was invented by an 11 year old  in 1905

15. One of the most hydrating foods to eat is the cucumber, which is 96% water

 

 

 

To Explore the Universe

An astronaut. That’s what I want to be. Nothing else. Why? The answer is simple.

I want to know what’s up there and to see it face to face. See the twinkling stars up close and to see the bright moon. To look at the incredible Milky Way Galaxy and see all the planets. To experience what’s like to fly in a rocket. To see androids, comets and black holes is what I want to do for living. Nothing else.

However, I’m only 6 years old. I’m too young to explore the universe. So for now I have to keep my feet planted to the ground and watch the sky through my home made telescope.

Birds

The birds flow around the sky,

All together in their flock,

Big birds, small birds, were all in the sky,

I think they rock,

Pigeons, eagles and more,

Were all there in the sky,

Flying around so high,

As they danced and sang their song,

Parrots gave rainbow colur to the picture,

I just had to capture that moment,

Clink went the camera,

As the picture was taken,

As I watched with my binoculars,

All I could do was smile,

As the birds flew above my head,

My cheeks turned bright red,

Now all I can think about,

Was the moments with the birds,

I wish I could fly with them someday,

To see what is up in the land above.

– Ana-Maria Barlin

 

Scared

Shane’s eyes met mine. We stared at each other as the footsteps were coming closer. My heart felt like it was going to burst out of my chest and all I could think about was who the footsteps may belong to. Shane froze to his spot, not moving a muscle while I moved to hide behind one of the many bookshelves’.

“Shane,” I whispered.

Shane suddenly twitched and looked all around the room with an alarmed look on his pale face.  

“It’s me, Lauren. I’m over here.”

Shane scanned the room until he found me. I smiled and he walked towards me. Suddenly the door opened only to find Wayne, the school bully with his “gang”.

“Why am I not surprised to see you here Lauren and Shane?” Wayne bellowed.

I was frightened and Shane was too. We both had a terrified look on our faces and Wayne knew we were scared, he always knew.

How was he going to frighten us? What was he going to say? I thought

“Well kiddos, I am not going to beat you up today,” Wayne said coming closer towards us.

I looked at Shane, he was surprised.

“But, I know something that will frighten you,” giving me a piece of crumpled paper, then Wayne left with no further words.

“That was close,” said Shane, giving a huge sigh of relief.

I opened the piece of paper and read it aloud. Shane and I stared at each other petrified and shocked.

Freshwater

I have recently been offered an amazing opportunity. This is a sort of opportunity that you have to grasp with both hands. This opportunity is called PECP ( Primary Enrichment and Challenge Program) at Freshwater Senior Campus. This program involves many schools from the lower north shore to take part. Myself and two other girls and two other boys are taking part this semester!

This program runs for 16 weeks and so far we are up to Week 6. So far it has been great. The teachers that are involved in this program include Annabel – sometimes teaches us (she is nice and sweet), Mr. Permentil – teaches us and sometimes sport ( a very genuine guy), Ashley – our main sport teacher (very funny) and the most important person, Lorna – our main teacher and runs this awesome program (really nice) !

So far we have done:

Week 1 – On the very first week of Freshwater everyone was super excited. We studied “Why Popcorn Pops”. We learnt about the theory of popcorn and made a hypothesis of what we thought was going to happen. At the end of the lesson we all got to have some nice, tasty, warm popcorn! For sport – Mr Permentil taught us how to play European Handball. We all enjoyed it.

Week 3 – In this lesson we dissected a sheep’s brain. It was gross! We also got to do a simple questionnaire about which smart you were. This questionnaire was fun to complete and discuss as we all had different answers. For Sport – Ashley took us out to the basketball court as we played a game of Bin Ball. This game yet again was very fun as it was all about stratergy.

Week 4 – This lesson involved three balls, that you toss in the air and to try and catch them. It was juggling! Everyone made our very own juggling balls and had a go at juggling. I have not yet mastered this skill, however, I’m still practicing because practice makes myelin and myelin makes perfect! For Sport – We played Bin Ball again but added a few extra rules.

Week 5 – This week we were supposed to do rocketry however, due to the weather we could not do it : (. Instead though  we made Zines.  Me and my partner created our own fractured fairytale and stuck it into our very own Zine.

I am super excited for the next following weeks of Freshwater. I will keep everyone posted about what we have done. : )

 

A Book Review – Wonder

The book Wonder by R.J. Palacio has been a big hit at my school and when I read the book I understood why. The book is happy, touching and sad all at the same time and tells you about how you should never judge a book by its cover.

Wonder is a book about a boy named August who has a odd looking face. Despite that he is a pretty normal kid, however, many people do not believe that.

The main plot of the story is that August had been home schooled by his parents for his whole life, however, now he is going to a real school. The book shows you about the reaction of many classmates and teachers.

What I loved about Wonder is that it didn’t only focus on August’s views, it also told you about the reactions from his friends and family members.

I thought it may be a good idea to include the blurb.

‘My name is August. I won’t describe to you what I look like. What ever you’re thinking, it’s probably worse.’

Ten year old August wants to be ordinary. He eats ice-cream. He plays X-box. He feels ordinary – inside.

But Auggie is far from ordinary. Born with a terrible facial abnormality, he has been home schooled by his parents all his life, in an attempt to protect him from the cruelty of the outside world. Now, Auggie’s parents are sending him to real school. Can he convince his new classmates that he’s just like them, underneath it all?

I would truly recommend Wonder to anyone who likes “quirky” books.

Age group: 9+

 

 

Some More Fun Facts

Here are some more fun facts:

From the website: http://www.begent.org/funfact.htm

  1. If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days, you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee.
  2. The strongest muscle in proportion to its size in the human body is the tongue.
  3. A person cannot taste food unless it is mixed with saliva. For example, if strong-tasting substance like salt is placed on a dry tongue, the taste buds will not be able to taste it. As soon as a drop of saliva is added and the salt is dissolved, however, a definite taste sensation results. This is true for all foods. Try it!
  4. The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.
  5. Your stomach has to produce a new layer of mucus every two weeks otherwise it will digest itself
  6. It’s possible to lead a cow upstairs…but not downstairs.
  7. Dogs have four toes on their hind feet, and five on their front feet
  8. The ant can lift 50 times its own weight, can pull 30 times its own weight and always falls over on its right side when intoxicated.
  9. Butterflies taste with their feet.
  10. Starfish don’t have brains.
  11. Polar bears are left handed.
  12. An ostrich’s eye is bigger that it’s brain.
  13. Snails can sleep for 3 years without eating
  14. Porcupines float in water
  15. Many hamsters only blink one eye at a time.
  16. A pregnant goldfish is called a twit.
  17. A giraffe can clean its ears with its 21-inch tongue!
  18. The number of possible ways of playing the first four moves per side in a game of chess is 318,979,564,000.
  19. No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver and purple.
  20. 111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321
  21. Men can read smaller print than women; women can hear better than men
  22. Pearls melt in vinegar.
  23. If you put a raisin in a glass of champagne, it will keep floating to the top and sinking to the bottom.
  24. Studies show that if a cat falls off the seventh floor of a building, it has about thirty percent less chance of surviving than a cat that falls off the twentieth floor. It supposedly takes about eight floors for the cat to realise what is occurring, relax and correct itself.
  25. More people are killed annually by donkeys than die in air crashes.
  26. A rat can last longer without water than a camel
  27. To escape the grip of a crocodile’s jaws, push your thumbs into its eyeballs – it will let you go instantly
  28. 40% of McDonald’s profits come from the sales of Happy Meals.
  29. First novel ever written on a typewriter: Tom Sawyer
  30. Mel Blanc (the voice of Bugs Bunny) was allergic to carrots.
  31. The dot over the letter ‘i’ is called a tittle.
  32. Most lipstick contains fish scales.
  33. Donald Duck comics were banned from Finland because he doesn’t wear trousers.
  34. Ketchup was sold in the 1830s as medicine

 

 

Riddles

Please try and answer some fun riddles:

Source: http://www.funology.com/riddles/

1.In a one-story pink house, there was a pink person, a pink cat, a pink fish, a pink computer, a pink chair, a pink table, a pink telephone, a pink shower– everything was pink!
What color were the stairs?

2.What occurs once in a minute, twice in a moment and never in one thousand years?

3.Take away my first letter, and I still sound the same. Take away my last letter, I still sound the same. Even take away my letter in the middle, I will still sound the same. I am a five letter word. What am I?

4. If an electric train is travelling south, which way is the smoke going?

5. Mr. Blue lives in the blue house, Mr. Pink lives in the pink house, and Mr. Brown lives in the brown house. Who lives in the white house?

 

 

A Poem

I Have No Idea What To Write

I have no idea what to write,

All my ideas are out of sight,

Maybe about a dog who flow a kite,

Or a cat who learnt how to write,

I still have no idea,

Oh dear!

Maybe about a bird who flow around the world,

Or a possum who spoke our words,

Possibly about a crazy girl,

Who lives in a house shaped as a swirl,

Or maybe about a young boy,

Who was allergic to soy,

And then what happens?

I don’t know!

My piece of paper is still blank,

Who can I thank?

My brain for giving me a great story idea?

No I can’t, because I don’t have an idea!

I scribble down the words: One day on a cold day in May,

Dot, dot, dot, what’s next?

There was a massive T-Rex?

No, no that isn’t right,

I still don’t know what to write,

I look at my watch,

4:30 it read,

I’ve been at this for 30 minutes,

It was nearly time to cook the spinach,

And then when I’m asked what I wrote,

I can’t say I didn’t know,

I’ll say I had a soar throat,

However that is a total lie,

My throat is perfectly fine!

My eyes were full of water,

Yes I was going to cry,

The writing competition ends tomorrow,

And I want to enter,

I just don’t know what.,

Suddenly, an idea popped into my mind,

It was that greatest idea of all time,

I had it planned out word for word, paragraph by paragraph,

Know I was full of joy!

I will write about not knowing what to write,

It was brilliant,

 Absolutely brilliant,

I now know what to write!

– Ana-Maria Barlin (Me)