Think About It: Octopuses (non-fiction article)

***This article is mostly true.
Four sentences are NOT TRUE.***
Read, think, and research to find out the truth about octopuses.













Octopuses are an ocean animal belonging to the cephalopod group of invertebrates. They live most commonly in warm ocean water and are bottom-dwellers. Octopuses eat crayfish, crabs, and mollusks.
The octopus body is soft and has eight arms with rows of suckers. Octopuses use several strategies for protection, including camouflage, ink squirting, losing an arm, and biting with their strong beak.
Octopuses use their arms for a wide variety of tasks. They are intelligent animals, able to learn by watching the behavior of other octopuses.
An octopus behavior recently reported is an amazing ability to use coconuts as a tool for survival.

Scientists working in Indonesia have observed Veined Octopuses carrying empty coconut shells to hide in.
These octopuses crawl to a coconut tree at night to choose a coconut of a useful size. They then use their strong arms to crack the coconut shell against a rock. The octopus carries the two shell halves under its body, walking as if on stilts. A Veined Octopus will keep the same coconut shell until the shell is no longer of a useful size.

The Veined Octopus joins other tree-climbing octopuses, such as the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus.

Use these sources, along with others, to decide which four sentences are false:
(You HAVE TO check out the first link! It's GREAT!)
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/multimedia/videos/Hiding-in-a-Coconut.html

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/Wild-Things-201002.html?c=y&page=2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphioctopus_marginatus
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/octopus-facts-for-kids.html
http://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(09)01914-9?large_figure=true#app2
http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Northwest_tree_octopus

Pair of Picture Pie Charts

Math is for staying out of roads.


Math is for wearing helmets.

Math is for having fun with pie charts.
Come back another day for a new pair of pie charts.

Snow Fun

Do you recognize any of these characters?








The side of our shed looks friendlier...for now!

A Whole Nother Story (book review)

This is a very funny book. And it's humorous, too, in case by 'funny' you thought I meant 'odd'. In both cases you would be correct.

Here is some advice: you should keep a box of tissues handy while reading this book. Because when you laugh yourself to tears you wouldn't want to use your socks, particularly if you've named them Steve.

Not to mislead you, this story does involve some danger and misfortune, otherwise the spies and secret agents would feel irrelevant.

Without giving anything away, I will let you know the ending is quite satisfying, and not just because you've reached the last page and can say "Well, that's done."

So, if you want to enjoy an entertaining story, or want to change your name and need some suggestions, read this book.


story by Dr. Cuthbert Soup
illustrations by Jeffrey Stewart Timmins

Have a Heart

When you
...share a laugh
...share a joke
lend an ear
lend a hand
...return a favor
...return a smile
give some time
give some care
...show some joy
...show some love

Then you
have a heart...and...have a friend

<3 Dawn

Name Games (activity)

I've posted before that I think names are fun to think about.
Sometimes names have interesting meanings.

So, I am reading A Whole Nother Story (very funny, by the way).
Names are a big part of this story. If you read the book, you'll see what I mean.

This book inspired me to have a little fun with names today.
Can you tell what all these names have in common?

Megan Trump
Bella Ursa Tate
Lilly Olive Long
Quinn Thompson
Opal Marie Good
Beth Fran Ford
Ben Brett Quigley
Owen Johnson
Isaac Caleb Umpire

Check out the pictures below to see the answers.





(their initials all say/ mean something :)
You can click on a picture to see it larger.
Do YOUR initials say something?
Do some artwork with your name!

Alliteration Day!

Today is an alliteration!
My first graders discovered that today is:

Friday, February fifth!
All three words begin with the same letter.


We figured out how many days that is possible in a year.

Can you figure it out??
How many times will it happen in 2010?

PBS Kids Writing Contest!

Calling all kindergarten, first, second, and third grade writers!

You can enter this contest. Yeah, there are prizes, but it's the fun of writing a good story that matters.

Go to this site for more information and to hear last year's winning stories:

http://pbskids.org/writerscontest/

this picture: Sam types his story