...I guess that’s how nature works “eat or be eaten“

Feb. 20-24, 2012

Last week in our general science class we had an outdoor activity and we have to observe

and count the organisms living in our designated area.  The area assigned to our group was

the garden in front of the office so each one of us made sure to do our work quietly and to

behave.  

Everyone was busy doing their work, identifying and counting the different organisms in their areas.  Well the most common organism that can be found almost everywhere were ants and “ants” was on the top of almost everyone’s list of organisms.

Some of us had difficulties in counting the organisms so we just estimated them. While we

Are  doing our activity I saw my classmates looking at something , the expression in their

faces show great amazement so I went to check it out and when I came to see it I saw our

teacher in general science holding a folder and a plastic drinking cup together and in

between those are the trapped caterpillar and bee.  She put it on the bench for us to see it

better, we saw the bee attacking the caterpillar. Although it was quite interesting to watch the bee attack the caterpillar I also felt sorry for the caterpillar because it was so helpless, but I guess that’s how nature works “eat or be eaten “.  

When the caterpillar was finally dead the bee was trying to lift it but the caterpillar is too heavy to be lifted  and there’s a plastic cup covering them that’s why the bee can’t get out. Everyone was scared to accidentally topple over the plastic cup because it was the only thing preventing the bee from escaping and if the bee escapes it might sting us. Someone tried to move the  plastic cup and the bee dropped the dead caterpillar then began flying around inside it tried to knock over the plastic cup that’s why everyone ran away from the bee afraid that it might escape and sting them.

I think that this is such a nice activity it was nice for us to go out for a change of environment

and since it was hot in our classroom I enjoyed the refreshing wind outside.  I look forward

into doing something like this again  Thank you Ms. Montemayor .

Trip to Nature

       Box #      Instructions:

1                                  Wow the air is so fresh sit for a while and feels it.

2                                  There is a butterfly follow it on square 9

3                                  Look at the big trees they’re all around jump two steps

4                                  The sun’s ray is very hot go under the big trees in square 3

5                                  Do not move a lion’s roar seems so near

6                                  Sprawl on the ground covered with mosses , lichens and wild plants

7                                  Now there’s a lake with very clear water you will be entertained with different fishes , snails , and some crabs stay and miss one turn

8                                  There are some ants and spiders go back to square 6

9                                  The wind is blowing very fast go to square 20

10                               Do not play twice , do not argue it’s safer to stay here

11                               Move fast  you are approaching a very refreshing view of a forest jump to square 25

12                               There are many predators here turn to square 35

13                               There are many wild plants stay here don’t worry the place is safe

14                               Not even grass can survive here go back to square 13

15                               The place is rocky be careful you might fall. Oops!

16                               The place is very cold

17                               Where your hat the sun shines brightly go to square 38

18                               There are birds living on the trees count the nests until you reach square 30

19                               This is a grassland beware of biting insects jump to square 28

20                               Stop! It’s dwelling with wild animals miss one turn

21                               There are rocks of different colours and designs admire them.

22                               There is a river with fishes stay and watch them swim you will miss one turn

23                               I can hear the sound of a wild boar seek refuge to square 18

24                               There are cactus plants around some are tall and some are dwarf visit another place by going to square 25

25                               There are germinating young plants do not harm them go to square 37

26                               The rain gently falls go under the big umbrella trees around you

27                               There is no vegetation here go to square 31

28                               The place is very cold wear your sweater

29                               There are mists on the grass try to wonder how they are formed you’ll miss one turn

30                               Danger sounds of snakes abound miss one turn

31                               There’s the sea wonder how it gained it’s saltiness stay and miss 2 throws

32                               Earth worms fill the place wet go to the next square

33                               There is a little pond with tadpoles next time you come here frogs will be jumping all over the place leave them and go to square 36

34                               You’re near the top of a cliff and below you can see vegetation move up 3 steps to see it better

35                               You are already tired seat and relax miss one turn

36                               Sea shells are scattered around pick up sum and bring them as you move one step forward

37                               Stay here for a while watch the sun as it sets

38                               Don’t be in a hurry relax

39                               It’s a safe place ducks chickens and other fouls are in the area

40                               Congratulations! You’re trip to nature is over till your next journey  

From Nitrogen, To Nitrogen...

Feb. 6 – 10, 2012

Last week in our general science class  we’ve studied about the different cycles in ecology

such as the water cycle , the carbon , oxygen cycle . and the nitrogen cycle.   Our teacher 

told us to present about one of the different cycles and make a story about it . So she went

around and assigned what cycle  would belong to each group. We were hoping that we’d get the water cycle  since  it’s so easy and we’re already very familiar about that cycle since

we’ve been studying about it since elementary.  The cycle that got assigned to us was the

carbon , oxygen  cycle  . Even though we didn’t get the cycle that we want we still did our

best to make a presentation about the cycle that was given to us.  

During the day of the presentation when we presented ours I think it was ok but I also think that it was quite hilarious .  I enjoyed watching the other group’s presentation I think the stories that they’ve come up with were quite interesting. I also noticed that I understand the cycles better because there’s a story in it.  After all the presentations, our teacher  discussed about the different cycles that have been presented. 

The cycle that took my interest the most was the nitrogen cycle because it amazes me how the atmospheric nitrogen  from the atmosphere  gets into our system.  Our teacher told us that the cycle goes like this:  

From the atmosphere the atmospheric nitrogen  will go down to land either by lightning or rain, then once it’s on the ground nitrogen fixing bacteria which live in legumes will turn the nitrogen into a useful substance for plants such as nitrates and nitrites.  Then the plants will absorb the nitrites.  After the plants have absorbed the nitrites, humans will eat the plants and that’s how nitrogen will be included in our system.  

But since it’s a cycle we need to return the nitrogen into the atmosphere  so when we die decomposers will break us down into ammonia, this process is called as ammonification  then ammonium shall again turn into nitrites by the help of nitrifying bacteria, and this process is called nitrification, then once it returned into being a nitrite denitrifying bacteria  will turn the nitrites back into atmospheric nitrogen and the cycle goes on.

Jan. 9 -13, 2012: Light: wave or particle?

Last week in our General Science class we studied about light. What I learned was that light

can be a wave at the same time be a particle we also studied about reflection and refraction

but to understand it better we had a group activity involving lasers, mirrors, a protractor and

pushpin the first thing we did in our activity was to get a bond paper and fold it crosswise.

Then we placed the protractor on the crease while the mirror is lying in front of the protractor

Then we turned off the lights and pointed the laser to the mirror. As the light from the laser

bounces back we’re suppose to measure in which degree on the protractor is the light

parallel to then after we get the degree we minus it by 90 and the difference that we’ll get is

called the “Angle of Incidence” we have to repeat the experiment three times but in some

cases we can’t see the laser’s ray that well so our teacher told us to sprinkle some powder

on the light of the laser as we sprinkled the powder we were all amazed because we can

clearly see the laser’s ray I noticed that this is what they do in one of those “spy” movies.

We had another experiment and our second experiment already involved pushpins. We also

had a short evaluation test about light and at the end of the test was a bonus question worth

ten points and the question was: “what is the meaning of L.A.S.E.R.? “  I smiled when I saw

the question because I know what laser means it means: Light Amplification by Stimulated

Emission of Radiation.  We also studied about Refraction  and other things about light. It’s

been a while since we saw Miss Montemayor because Miss Hannah was the one who’s been

teaching us everyone in our class wonders when she’ll come back but while miss

Montemayor is away I think Miss Hannah is doing a very good job in teaching us General

Science I especially like the activities that we do about our lessons it makes me understand

the lessons better. Thank you for teaching us.

Jan. 23 – 27, 2012: “ Ours is a Finite Earth”

Last week was the start of the fourth quarter as the quarter starts we changed our sitting

arrangements in our general science class we also changed our groupings .Our topic in

general science this quarter is all about ecology and how to protect our environment.

We started our lesson by discussing about the 7 principles of ecology.  I think that studying

about the principle of ecology helps in understanding how things are connected to one

another in nature and how we can take care of our mother earth besides just like the 7^th

principle states “ ours is a finite earth” meaning our resources are not infinite and if we don’t

take care of ecosystem  will soon suffer from thirst and hunger. I also learned that the reason

why there are so many pests and rodents in the city is because people destroyed their

natural habitat and because of this unbalanced in nature there are so many mosquitos and

other pests that cause diseases I learned that people are the ones who are actually

responsible why there is dengue I remember the time when my mother told me that there

were no such disease called dengue before but because of the unbalanced caused by

humans there are now.  It’s also quite interesting to learn that the nature has the ability to

heal itself take the famous “ Smoky Mountain “ for example before it was full of garbage

and it was a dumpsite but when they prohibited the dumping of garbage there 20 years

after it turned into a natural mountain I believe that our polluted surroundings today could

could also be cleansed by nature if only people would stop polluting. Our teacher told us that

in some countries they launch their garbage into space because there is no space left to

throw the garbage hearing that It makes me think that we they must’ve have a lot of garbage

for them to throw some of their garbage into space and maybe we would need to throw our

garbage in space to if we don’t stop polluting . Studying ecology isn’t only about the study

of how an organism interacts with its environment it’s also about how we can protect our

environment  and I believe that studying ecology would make us care about mother earth.

Jan.9-13,2012: Mean Median Mode 101

For the past weeks in research we’ve studied about the Measures of Central

Tendency which is the mean, median and the mode and how to get those in an

“Ungrouped frequency” distribution.  After that we studied getting the measures of

central tendency in a grouped frequency distribution . We first tackled the way to get

the mode in a grouped frequency distribution which is the easiest of them all.  All you

have to do is to find the “score” with the highest frequency just like the one that we

used to do in the ungrouped frequency distribution  then you subtract the low score 

from the high score and divide it by two.  After discussing the process to get the

mode from a grouped frequency distribution I was hoping that we’d discuss the way

to get the median next but instead our teacher discussed the way to get the mean

first. We all asked him why he’d discuss getting the mean first and he said that it was

because it’s easier to get the mean than the median in a grouped frequency 

distribution . and the formula in getting the mean in a grouped frequency distribution

was a bit complicated. After discussing the process in getting the mean in a grouped

frequency distribution  our teacher discuss the process in getting the median of a

grouped frequency distribution. When our teacher  started discussing I saw everyone

with a blank face.   It really was a bit complicated I can hear everyone saying : “I don’t

get it” , “ what’s that again ? “  I admit I don’t get it at first either but I soon got it as I

asked some of my classmates who gets it .  Even though our lessons are getting

tougher I must not give up because I know that all these are part of learning. Thank

you for teaching us.

Ang Alamat ng Ice Cream

THE LEGEND OF ICE CREAM

Long time ago in the city of Manila, there lived a teenage boy named Betilio who loves to travel around. One day while he was wondering in the forest he saw a wounded carabao. He immediately helped the carabao by covering its wounds with leaves. After helping the wounded carabao he heard a faint voice say thank you. “Who could that be ? “ asked Betilio he wonders where that voice came from. Minutes later he heard another faint voice “turn around “ said the faint voice. Betilio was so shocked when he turned around and found out that the faint voice was coming from the carabao. “ As a reward for helping me you can drink my milk “ said the carabao  “ why would I want to drink your milk?” said Betilio “because it would give you superpowers “ Super Powers!? “ said Betilio looking very shocked and excited at the same time. He quickly returned home and get a bucket to milk the carabao .

After getting the bucket he immediately milked the carabao and chugged down the milk straight from the bucket.  Lights flashed around him as he drank the milk then he took the form of a half man half carabao creature.  He gained super strength and the ability to shoot out milk.  Now whenever there’s trouble in town he would always come to the rescue.  The town’s people began calling him “Boy Kalabaw” since he looks like a carabao.

          One  day while Betilio was taking his siesta under a narra tree, he heard the town’s people screaming in terror.  “Help us Boy Kalabaw! “, Shouted the town’s people, Betilio immediately transformed into boy kalabaw when he heard the town’s people.  He saw an old man floating turning everything into ice.  “Who are you and why are you turning things into ice?!”, asked Betilio. “I’m a powerful ice wizard and I’ll turn everything in this tropical country into ice!", replied the old man.  The ice wizard tried to blast a young lady with his powers. Luckily boy kalabaw pushed the young lady away from the ice wizard’s attack.  Boy kalabaw asked the young lady if she was all right “ I’m all right “  said the young lady then the two started asking each other’s name “ I’m Soria “ said the young lady “ I’m ….” The ice wizard blasted him with his powers before he could even say his name in return Betilio blasted the ice wizard with all of his powers the milk reacted with the ice and it turned into a cold creamy white substance. The Ice wizard died and peace was restored to their town while soria and Betilio got married and had many children. The town’s people began calling the creamy substance “sorbetilio” in honor of Betilio and Soria until later on it became “sorbetes“ or “ ice-cream” in English. Their children invented the different flavours of ice-cream which we love to eat during summer today.

                                                          THE END

  Last week was my first periodical examination day at CCSHS.  I admit that I was quite nervous at first

Because I know that I’m about to take an exam in a science high school and of course I expect the 

questions to be difficult . During the exam the first set that was given to us was research and English

I chose to answer English first because I expect the exam in research to be really hard and that It

would consume a lot of time for  me to answer it . After finishing the exam in English I began

answering  the exam in research  I was surprised that I actually  knew most of the questions that

were asked in the test. I was so happy to know that I got a score of 45 over 50 in the test I was so

happy to be able to pass the research exam and to have a high score in it I pray to god that I may

also pass the other exam’s in other subjects as well.  

 

     This Saturday we watched a film in the AVR . The film was entitled   “ Ang mga Munting Tinig “ it

was  about a city girl who moved to the province to be a substitute teacher .  I find the film quite

touching because the film shows how kids in the province live. It shows that their own parents force

them to stop studying to help them  work and earn money. The people in that province believes that

education is just a waste of time and that dreaming is only for rich people. The teacher there now

faces the challenge of changing their beliefs on education and to convince them to let their children

go to school. I admit that some of us felt a bit guilty watching the film because there was a part

there where the girl begs her mother to let her to continue studying. While in our case we would

often hope for the classes to be suspended whenever it’s raining.  While watching the film I realized

how lucky I am to be able to study especially in a science base high school.  The movie inspired me to

study harder and to do better at school. The intrams would be the next big event after the exam 

and I ‘m  quite excited about it because all day we’re just going to play games and have fun . I also

think that it would be the time for us to relax and recover from the stress brought by the

exams.Thank you sir  for giving us a wonderful week.