biodiversity2010

African Art

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As part of our investigations on biodiversity, we have been looking at Africa as an area of interest. We found these artworks by the Senufo people of Korhogo from the Ivory Coast in West Africa.

The cotton material used in traditional artworks is dyed using many different colours from trees, leaves and teas. Bold designs are painted on the material and include geometric patterns, animals and flowers.

Each of the animals or flowers motifs has a different meaning and the artworks usually tell a story of village life.

We have attempted to represent a variety of animals in our artworks, can you identify the animals we have drawn?

Seed Poetry

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We wrote these poems about our growing seeds….

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 Seed …peacefully waiting for life

Warmly covered and comfortable in the soil

Protected and warm

Seed …. bursting out like a beautiful flower.

By Shaima

 

Peacefully the seeds wait for life

Comfortable, covered in soil

Warmly awaken

As the water hits  they launch out of the soil.

By Lizzie

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Seed …. the seed waits calmly for life.

Blanketted in the moist soil, the seed awaits growth.

Feeling energy to live, the seed tingles with warmth and awakens.

The shoot blasts through the soil as if out of a cannon.

By Irina, Gogouli, Odelia and Fonzelina

 

Seeds …. waiting to be planted

Seeds …. using the soil as a warm bed

Seeds … mysteriously awaken from deep sleep

Seeds …. exploding through the soil and sprouting leaves.

By William

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Seeds … sleeping peacefully and calmly waiting for life

Waiting  ….

A surge of life ..

Bursting for a new adventure.

By Irene

 

Awaiting the unimaginable

Cocooned in natural, enriching soil

The soil, a guardian.

Full of life and energy, pumped to begin its quest.

By Sioeli

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The seed, resting, waiting to be put in soil ….

Comfortable in its new home.

About to come to life …

A new adventure as it bursts out of the soil.

By Mahrukh

 

Waiting calmly for a new life.

Blanketted in warm soil.

Sleeping and comfortable.

Bursting out furiously – ready for a new life.

By Ebaa

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Tundra Travel Team

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Our task for homework this week was to create a travel poster advertising an ecosystem that we had investigated at school. Here is Deon’s wonderful effort:

TUNDRA TRAVEL TEAM

Is it a hot summer day today? Are you sick of the endless summer sun’s scorching heat?

Then what are you doing sitting here – get up and go to the tundra!

Have the holiday of a lifetime and ask the “Tundra Travel Team” to give you a chilled, relaxing and memorable journey to the tundra.

If you love the sight of the sun, come in the summer and experience 24 hour sunlight.

If you want to bring out the dark-side in you – come in winter and experience 24 hour … DARKNESS!!!

Walk in the soggy frozen permafrost while viewing spectacular and breathtaking species of animals and plants like the miniature willow tree, the musk oxen, the arctic fox, the caribou and many more.

So it’s your choice: you really can come on a memorable trip to the tundra!

Or …..

You can sit here reading this pamphlet.

Savage River
Attribution: Image: ‘Savage River‘
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24681636@N00/2254770731

 

Environmental Acrostics

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We had the choice to write about biodiversity for homework – and these people wrote these acrostic poems 🙂

P  eaceful

L  iving things

A  mazing colours

N  ature is what we all need

T  rees help us live

S  ave our environment!

By Shaima

P  lants are taking over.

L  ong vines everywhere.

A  rt of nature.

N  ature spreading wildlife –

T  aking over our land.

By Marwan

E  very place is a home to someone or something.

C  old regions like Antarctica shelter penguins and seals.

O  pen savannahs allow lions to chase their prey freely.

S  ome creatures live in the water  – like fish and whales.

Y  ou might even have something unexpected in your backyard!

S  ometimes a habitat is right for one, but not for another.

T  earing down ecosystems results in the extinction of many species.

E  xtinction of one species may result in the extinction of many.

M  any don’t realise the importance of ecosystems.

S  ometimes ecosystems are home to thousands, even millions of different species.

By Irina

T  here are only 3000 tigers alive.

I  nstinctively trying to survive.

G  reat, magnificent beasts lying their heads to rest.

E  very day they do their best.

R  oaring loud they scream and shout

S  oon we’ll see none plodding about.

By Justin – this poem is to warn people about the dangerously low numbers of tigers, and if we don’t do something about it tigers will become extinct.

Seeds, seeds, seeds

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Seeds are the givers of life – they are like the energy of the whole world!

Did you know that there are more than a million types of seeds in the world?

Seeds are a very important part of life and today in class we studied seeds; we used runner beans and had to draw them and label the parts of the seed. We found the three main parts of the seed: the coat, the embryo (which contains the first leaves, the root, and the stem) and the cotyledon (food).

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We also got to sketch a number of other seeds as well – some were tiny, some were flat, one was pink(!) and one was wrinkly.

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We watched a video about the “Seed Hunter” – a scientist who is trying to save and store the world’s precious seeds. He puts them safely in a vault in Norway called “the doomsday vault” to keep them safe for future generations.

We saw weird seeds that we had never seen before and wondered about seeds for the first time ever!

  • What would happen without seeds?
  • If seeds can save our very survival on this planet then why do we keep purchasing artificial products?
  • How do seeds help to save the world?
  • Are seeds really “green gold” – are they really so precious and important?

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We looked at seeds as a key to genetic diversity on this planet and some of us are quite interested in genetics now.

Who would have thought that seeds could be so interesting???

Thanks to Evan, Mahrukh, Irene, Irina, Thien, Toa, Ebaa, Marwan and Deon for your words and ideas.