River

Author's Note:  I used Stream of Consciousness to make this poem on a river. 

Narrow and cool

Moving rapidly

Splashing at turns

Murky, dark waters

Rushing down for miles

and ends up in the Gulf

Leaves



                                                      

    Leaves are an extraordinary sight during autumn when the colors change, and you can see the bright oranges, yellows, reds, purples, and browns.  But, do you really know why those colors are there, and why it is only some trees?  Do you have other questions?  I am 100% sure that you do.

Why do leaves change color in autumn? 

     When summer ends and autumn begins, days will become shorter.  Then, there won't be enough sunlight or water for the trees to go through photosynthesis.  But what is photosynthesis?  Photosynthesis is the process of how plants make food for itself.  Plants would take water by their roots and a gas called carbon dioxide from the air.  Sunlight would be used to make the stored water and carbon dioxide into oxygen and glucose (sugar).  The glucose is the "food" for energy and growing.  A pigment called chlorophyll also helps the process of photosynthesis.  Chlorophyll makes plants have the green color.  Chlorophyll also allows plants to get energy from light.  When photosynthesis stops, the chlorophyll will fade away, which would bring out the bright, beautiful colors. 





Maple Tree



What kind of trees or leaves change color?

     Leaves change color on many deciduous trees, shrubs, and plants.  Deciduous means their foliage will  fall off during autumn.  Oak and maple trees are two of the many deciduous trees that will lose foliage during autumn. 

Is there a reason why leaves will change color?

Trees in winter

     Leaves will change their color during autumn because the tree itself will have to conserve water or survive better in the winter.  To do that, the leaves will have to change color and then eventually fall off.  That will reduce damage caused by insects during winter.  In addition, the process of changing color and falling off can keep the tree from being damaged or destroyed completely.

What colors do the leaves turn?  Why?

Red & Purple	Trees such as maples will have glucose trapped in the leaf after photosynthesis stops.  When the nights are cool and little sunlight shows, the glucose will turn into a red or purplish color.  That will make the leaf a red or purple color.
Orange	Orange is the color the green chlorophyll turns when it fades. Also there are carotene pigments in the leaf that make it orange.
Yellow	Somewhat like the color orange, when the green chlorophyll fades, the yellow comes out due to xanthophyll pigments.
Brown	Brown is the color the leaf turns when there is waste left inside the leaf from glucose.

Chart made by Mai Vo

How did the colors get into the leaf?

      In fact, the colors were always in the leaves.  It just couldn't be seen. During the summer and spring, there is a lot more chlorophyll in the leaves.  All of the green will cover up the orange and yellow pigments until autumn.  Then the red, purple, and brown will come during autumn when photosynthesis is concluding.  It may be a bit confusing for how the color changes, but it is because of each leaf's process.  (Look back at the chart if you need to.)  

What We See

Wavelengths

When you look at a leaf, it appears to be green unless it is autumn.  Green is the first color that hits our eyes.  As stated previously, chlorophyll works like a dye to turn the leaves green during photosynthesis.  So, what is seen is a leaf being green.  There is also a different reason why we see green leaves, and they are called wavelengths of light.  A wavelength includes the rainbow colors red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple.  For example, when we see a green leaf, all of the wavelengths will be absorbed into the leaf, but mostly the blue and red wavelengths.  The green would be reflected and that is what we see - a green leaf!


Thank you for reading through my project.  Please leave a comment about it.

Resources: 

"Deciduous - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deciduous

"Autumn Leaves - Fall leaf colors - Why do autumn leaves change color and fall?." Science projects, ideas & topics - science fair projects - easy kids science projects & experiments, science articles. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Oct. 2010. <http://www.sciencemadesimplehttp://www.coolquiz.com/trivia/explain/docs/leaves.asp

"Leaf - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Oct. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaf

"Autumn Leaves." Kidzone - Fun Facts for Kids!. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2010. <http://www.kidzone.ws/plants/autumn1

Unknown, Pat. "Star*Dreamer's Thanksgiving." Star*Dreamer's Corner. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2010. http://www.star-dreamer.com/11/.

Horton, Jennifer. "HowStuffWorks "Anthocyanins"." Howstuffworks "Science". N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Oct. 2010. http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/life/botany/leaves-turn-red1.htm.

"Blog Improvement Overview: 9 Areas to Improve Your Blogging | Visionary Blogging." Social Media Strategy Help -- Visionary Blogging. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2010. http://visionaryblogging.com/blog-improvement-overview/.

"Chlorophyll - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorophyll

"BibMe: Fast & Easy Bibliography Maker - MLA, APA, Chicago, Turabian - Free." BibMe: Fast & Easy Bibliography Maker - MLA, APA, Chicago, Turabian - Free. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Nov. 2010. <http://www.bibme.org/>.

My mom for taking pictures of leaves in/on the way to Wausau

Professor Donna Fernandez, Department of Botany- UW Madison

Mr. Roehl

Mr. Johnson









Benjamin Franklin

    Do you know the man on the one-hundred dollar bill? Yes, it is Benjamin Franklin. Even though he had a rough childhood, he accomplished a lot that should be important to all of us. He was a noted polymath.  A polymath is Greek for “having learned much,” and it is a person who excels in a wide variety of areas. Benjamin Franklin was the most important writer, printer, scientist, inventor, and politician in history.

    As a young boy, Benjamin Franklin helped his brother print newspapers. He had wanted to write the newspaper, but his brother, James Franklin, wouldn’t allow it. As a result, Benjamin Franklin used his pen name, Silence Dogood, to write letters that gave advice and other information. He secretly put them into his brother’s printing shop. He eventually ran away to Pennsylvania at age 17 and became the publisher of a successful newspaper company called the Pennsylvania Gazette. Benjamin Franklin also started the Library Company where thousands of reading material was kept for the public to read. Five years after the Pennsylvania Gazette, Benjamin published Poor Richard’s Almanac, which has some of today’s well known quotes. As Benjamin Franklin got much older, he wrote a biography about his life, but sadly died before the book was ever published.
    In 1743, Benjamin Franklin retired from his writing and printing career. He had a great interest in storms and more specifically electricity. In 1750, Benjamin Franklin published a plan to prove that lightning was electricity. He demonstrated that with his incredibly famous kite and key experiment during a lightning storm verifying that lightning was electricity. Benjamin Franklin also did many more experiments that confirmed much of the knowledge that we know today.
    As for inventions, Benjamin Franklin made some of the most important inventions in history. The bifocal glasses were invented by Benjamin Franklin. They were very helpful to many people who had many different eye conditions because they had two different optical powers. Some of his other grand inventions were the Franklin stove (fireplace), an odometer, and a lightning rod.
    Later on, politics became more of an importance for Benjamin Franklin. He changed some of the parts in the Declaration of Independence and was one of the fifty-six delegates who signed it. Benjamin Franklin was the only Founding Father who signed the four most important documents in the United States: Declaration of Independence, Treaty of Alliance, Treaty of Peace, and the Constitution. There were many other things that Benjamin Franklin made a difference in as well, but one of his last acts was the anti-slavery treaty.
    Throughout Benjamin Franklin’s life, he completed a great deal, and it changed our lives and our world. He was a man of great talent and intelligence. Out of all the writers, printers, scientists, inventors, and politicians, Benjamin Franklin is the most important one.

Bibliography

"Quick Biography of Benjamin Franklin." ushistory.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2010. .

"Benjamin Franklin." Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin

Philadelphia, the time Ben reaches, Andrew Bradford has already replaced his employee, another printer in the city, and Sir William Keith. "The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Autobiography_of_Ben

"Bifocals - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2010. .

"Franklin stove - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2010. .

"Odometer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2010. .

"Glass Harmonica ." Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2010. .

"BibMe: Fast & Easy Bibliography Maker - MLA, APA, Chicago, Turabian - Free." BibMe: Fast & Easy Bibliography Maker - MLA, APA, Chicago, Turabian - Free. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2010. http://www.bibme.org/

"Benjamin Franklin (Time For Kids Biographies Series), Time For Kids Series, Editors Of Time For Kids, (9780060576097) Paperback - Barnes & Noble." Barnes & Noble.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2010. .

Mr. Johnson for going over pre-writing and helping with questions I had

Room Redo: Painting, Cups, Walls

Today in Academy 21 we began painting our walls with murals made by my other classmates and I.  In my opinion, our room looks great!  It is very colorful everywhere you look.  On the left wall there was a dull bulletin board, but now it's covered with various, bright colored paper.  That wall is for all of the Academy 21 projects.  We haven't done much with the back wall.  On the other hand, the ceiling is full of hanging red and yellow cups.  Don't ask why, I have no idea.  The entire Academy 21 has been doing a program called Rising Stars and today a group of students made a really nice mural based on Rising Stars.  A few feet down from Rising Stars, many of the Academy 21ers chipped in on making a painting that says Academy 21 along with it's logo.  Then underneath that, there is a pretty flower and grass painting with some help from Mr. Johnson.  Lastly, is the front wall.  Three girls are in the midst of making a bookshelf mural that is inspired from the one in Mr. Johnson's room.  On the opposite side of the front wall is small painting of our online math website, Aleks.  We are only starting our room redo.  Come back to my blog soon to get updated more on the progress of the Academy 21 room. 

Morning

Author's Note: This is what I felt and saw when I looked out my window before I got on the bus this morning.  

Patchy fog covered the ground

The sun shown behind the clouds

Grass is wet from the morning dew

The air feels muggy and cool
And that was on my way to school

Aren't We Thankful to See Color

Author's Note: This poem is inspired by The Giver because they can't see color.  All they see is black and white.  I wanted to show a colorful poem to see how much we have and how fortunate we are to be able to see colors.

Red roses

Orange citrus fruit

Yellow rays of sunshine

Green fresh cut grass

Blue waves in the sea

Purple wispy skies

Pink fluffy cotton candy