The First Democracy – by Evan S.

Source: http://westerlund10.wikis.
birmingham.k12.
mi.us/Mackenzie+C’s
+ancient+Grecce+wiki+terms


Did you know ancient Athens had the first democracy? Every year, 500 citizens (only men were citizens) were selected to decide on laws. Then the remaining citizens whose names were not drawn voted on the laws. The majority won. Athenians felt this was the only fair way for all citizens to have a voice.

However, the Athenian democracy didn’t last. After the Peloponnesian War where Sparta won, Athens was once again ruled by a small number of people. Even though the democracy in Athens only lasted 100 years, it was a fair government that inspired America’s democracy. We are very thankful that the Athenians came up with the idea!

You may be wondering why we do not have the same government as Athens. There are two types of democracy. A direct democracy and a representative democracy. A direct democracy is where people vote for their own laws. A representative democracy is where people vote on representatives to make and vote on the laws for all citizens.

As you can see, the United States and many other countries have Athenians to thank for democracy. Even though the Athenian democracy only lasted 100 years, their government inspired equal representation for all citizens.

Recently, I’ve become more interested in government because it seems more important now that I’m older. That’s why I chose to find out more about the origin of democracy. All of this information came from Ancient Greece for Kids.

What Makes a Plane Fly? – by Ethan R.

This picture is from a NASA web page for kids.
Source: http://www.grc.nasa.gov/
WWW/K-12/
airplane/forces.html


Today I will be talking about the four major components involved in making a plane fly. Those four are lift, thrust, drag and weight.

First, I will inform you about LIFT. Lift is the force that opposes the weight of an airplane to keep the airplane in flight. Lift is generated by every part of a plane, but most lift is generated by the wings. Lift happens when a flow of gas is turned by a solid. The flow is then moved in one direction and lift is generated in the opposite direction. There must also be motion between the object and the flow to generate lift. In other words, no motion- no lift.

The next component in making a plane fly is THRUST. Thrust is the push of an engine in an aircraft. Thrust is also a force that is the opposite of drag. For an airplane to fly, it must have more thrust than drag. The engine usually causes the thrust for an aircraft.

The third component is DRAG. Drag is a force that slows something down. Drag makes it hard for an object to move. The thing that generates drag is the wind resistance.

The last major component in making a plane fly is WEIGHT. Weight is the pull of gravity on an object. It’s important to know about weight to help a plane fly because a plane needs something to push it in the opposite directions from gravity so it can fly.

Resource: NASA Web Page- click here to see it

A Virus Spread Through Our Class! – by Caitlin

We spread our “virus” by sharing powdered drinks. Three carriers infected nearly half of the class!

Two weeks ago, in GT class, we did a virus simulation. Our example was that we were at a party and we were sharing drinks. We used cups with flour and baking soda as our “drinks”. Only three out of twenty-three cups had baking soda.

The rules were simple; we each shared with a boy and a girl and every time we “shared” we poured our powders together in a larger cup and then separated the mixture evenly between the 2 people. Then we all stood in a line while Mrs. Lasher poured vinegar into each cup. If your “drink” bubbled, you were infected. The bubbling was the baking soda’s reaction to the vinegar.

We all had our guesses as to whom was infected, but we didn’t know for sure. After the the vinegar had been poured, we found out that nearly half of the class was infected! At the end, everyone submitted their data to Mrs. Lasher and she made a chart with it. You can click here to see the chart. As a class, we tried to figure out who were the original carriers of the virus.

When I Went to Sea World- by Samantha F.

When I went to Sea world I got to see stingrays! I even got to see sharks, fish and coral! I went with my brother, Luke, and my Dad!

We bought stuffed animals! I got a dolphin! Luke got a shark! We got to go to Aquatica, the water park at Sea World! We fed the dolphins! I got to ride Journey to Atlantis! Luke didn’t want to, even though he is tall enough! Luke had a big hissy fit because before he got the shark stuffed animal he got this shark grabber snatcher thingamabob. He was happier when he got the stuffed animal!