John F. Kennedy and the civil rights movement

                                                             http://www.loc.gov

In the civil rights movement there were a lot of great people, but the one I'm talking about is John F. Kennedy.  He was a big part in the civil rights movement, he was one of the reasons African Americans we're treated equally.  He helped by giving African Americans federal jobs and ended home discrimination by allowing African Americans to buy better houses in the 1960s.

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                                                             wikimedia.org

He also helped end bus discrimination by saying that African Americans could sit where they want.  He enforced laws against voter discrimination by motivating African Americans to register to vote and making proposals for African Americans that lead to the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

He also helped end education discrimination by enforcing the law of putting whites and African Americans in the same school.  He also helped end racial discrimination and thought all people should be equally treated.

A lot of African Americans didn't have as much power as other people, but because of John F. Kennedy every person today has rights. When I went to a history center I learned a lot of African American history like how a lot of blacks helped fight in the civil war and how there was a lot of people who helped in the civil rights movement.

                                                                thinkquest.org

He also made proposals that lead to something called the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  His civil rights proposals became law under the act and one of them was saying that all people should have equal access to public places.

Bye that's the end of my blog.

birds

There's been a lot of animals I've talked about.  Now I'm talking about birds.  As you probably know, birds have feathers, but there are other special things about them like how they have two types of feathers.  They're called contour and down feathers.  Contour feathers are what make birds look smooth, sleek and colorful.  Down feathers give a layer of protection from a bird's skin and  keep birds warm.

Birds are also warm blooded or endothermic and their body temperature stays the same.  Each one of a birds' feathers is connected by hooks, so if one of their feathers get ruffled, they connect it back with the others.  Birds also constantly breathe through their air sacs to make them lighter and fly easier.

They also don't have any teeth, so they use their beak to tear the prey apart.  Some birds might not have beaks, so instead they have bills.   Water birds have these.  Bird's bones are hollow because if they weren't, they would be too heavy to fly.

They also have curved wings so air can lift them up from below. Also Georgia's, official state bird is the Brown Thrasher.

My favorite bird is the Peregrine Falcon. They can fly up to 202 mph and are also raptors.  That means they hunt other animals.

They eat mammals, reptiles and insects by diving through the sky and catching them by surprise.  They used to be endangered because of DDT, but they're not endangered any more.  DDT contaminated all of their food and put chemicals in lakes and plants.

They can live anywhere except polar regions, high mountains and tropical rain forests. It's also the fastest flying animal in the world. They live on scrapes or cliffs.

Bye that's my blog

Reptiles

Hey, I'm talking about reptiles.  Yeah, like dinosaurs, crocodiles and snakes.  Some people think they're amphibians, but they're not because they can't breathe under water.They also have dry and scaly skin because they stay in the sun all day.

Some reptiles, like crocodiles and alligators, go in water but they stick they're heads out to breathe. They also stick them out to see their prey. They also have large scales called scutes.  They shed them one at a time.

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Snakes are another reptile group.  They have different ways of catching prey. Some might use venom or swallow them whole.They also shed there skin all at once.They also have these things called pit sensors that can sense heat in mammals thats why they are able to know where the prey are when they're hunting. They  also  gluide they're called flying snakes.

Turtles are another reptile group.  There are different types of turtles like the sea, alligator snapping and the mud turtle. They also have huge scales called scutes and have to come up to surface to get some air to breathe.

Lizards are reptiles too.  They have to shed their skin in pieces.  There are also 3,800 species of them. Some lizards have detachable tails and can live on any continent except Antarctica because reptiles have to live in warm areas. They have to because they're cold blooded and need warm body temperatures.

Bye...that's the end of my blog.

year 2012

This year is going to be awesome!  I've already had an awesome 3 days and 2012 just started.

Winter break was good.  For Christmas I got gift cards, a remote control car and video games.

My Grandpa came over from Los Angeles to visit for Christmas and we had a good time eating and watching movies.

New Years was also good.  On TV we watched the ball drop in New York.

My friends and family celebrated in their own way.  We had a good time drinking champagne, hot chocolate and eggnog.

I hiked with my friends and moved into my new house.

Happy 2012, Bye!

Amphibians

Hey people! I know my last three posts have been about animals that live underwater, but now I'm talking about animals that can live on water and land.  They're called amphibians. Amphibian means double life because amphibians can live on land and water.

That's because they go through this thing called metamorphosis.  That's when they start off living in the water and breathing with gills as a tad pole.  When they go through metamorphosis they lose their tail, grow legs and live on land by using lungs to breath.

There's three types of amphibians. One is called arans, which are frogs and toads they can jump really high. Frogs jump higher than toads because toads are bigger than frogs.  Some frogs and toads have special ability's like poison, gliding, camouflage or seeming bigger by puffing up.

The second one is urodeles which are newts and salamanders. They have long flat tails, arms and legs.

                                                                                                                                                           

The third one is apodas. They're called caecellians because their look is like a snake or a worm, but they're amphibians and don't have arms or legs. They also don't see really good and light affects they're eyes so they stay underground.

That's the end... Bye.

bony fish

                                        

Hey all you people out there! Today I'm talking about bony fish. Yeah, they're the fish that look like Nemo and his friends.


You guys might wonder how fish float so much better than us.  Well, they have this thing called a swim bladder.  A swim bladder helps fish float around everywhere like a balloon.  When it inflates they float up, when it deflates they sink down.

Hey, have you guys ever wondered how fish know when a predator is coming? Well, they have have a thing called a lateral line. They're organs that can sense movement in the surrounding water around them.

Fish breath using gills.  Oxygen from the water passes through them and when the oxygen runs out and turns into carbon dioxide, it goes back into the water.

Now let me tell you about the different types of fins like the dorsal fin.

The dorsal is at the back of a fish.  There can be up to three of them on one fish.  It's used to keep balance in the water.

The caudal fin is the tail fin.  It's used to swim away from predators.

The pectoral fin is on each side of a fish near its head.

The anal fin is at the bottom of a fish and is used to stay straight while swimming.

The pelvic fin is on each side of a fish  at the bottom and helps it go up or down.

The adipose fin is between the caudal and dorsal fins.

The lateral line on a fish is a sense organ that detects movements in water.



The flying fish actually glides using his pectoral fin by pushing them up. They live in tropical areas and can glide to as high as 160ft.

They can stay in air  for 45 seconds and can go up to a distance of 1,300ft. in one glide. They do this to escape from predators or to get somewhere fast.

The American Eel can go up to 6ft. long and live in fresh waters. They also eat dead fish, carrion and insects and can weigh up to 9 pounds.

These fish spawn once a year and stay in groups.   They have to jump over things, dodge predators and swim through obstacles to spawn.

Bye all you people.

Why leaves change color

Hey, Have you guys ever wondered how leaves change colors?  Well they don't really change, they have this thing called chlorophyll that makes them look green.

Leaves need a lot of sunlight to do photosynthesis and that's how they make chlorophyll.  It normally happens in the Spring and Summertime.  In those seasons, the sun normally stays up for 15 hours a day.

When fall comes, the sun is only up for 11 hours a day and the leaves don't have enough sun light to make chlorophyll. Since they can't appear green, they change colors.

Cartonoids are the chemicals that are in leaves when they turn orange or yellow.  Anthocyanins are in leaves when they turn red or purple.  The last chemical is called Tanins.  They make leaves look brown or black.

Now we're at the end of the leaf life cycle when it's winter and all of the leaves die because they have only have 9 hours of sunlight. That's not enough sunlight for the trees to do photosynthesis, which is how they make their food.

 

That's the leaf lifecycle...Bye.