Category: Grade 7

Conserving the Red-crowned Cranes

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The Red-crowned Cranes lives in Eastern Asia. They live in colder climates. Their natural habitats are marches. They build their nests in water that is shallow and damp ground. Unfortunately, they are decreasing in population because of human activities. There are only 2,700 Red-crowned Cranes left in the world, estimated by scientist.

The Red-crowned Cranes are endangered because of habitat loss, overexploitation, harassment by humans, fire and poison. The habitat loss of the Red-crowned Cranes are due to the destruction of migration paths, breeding grounds and areas that are cold. Drainage of wetlands are also part of the habitat loss. Another main reason of habitat loss is the development of the humans. Humans are building roads, clearing forest, channelizing rivers and enlarging agriculture. The marshlands are being turned into factories, rice fields and farmlands, causing their habitat to decrease in number. The Red-crowned Cranes are also facing overexploitation. They are being hunted and eaten. Another danger that the Red-crowned Cranes is that humans are harassing them. The Red-crowned Cranes are also being poisoned by the pesticides in grains.

There are many organizations that are conserving the Red-crowned Cranes. For example, the Wild Bird Society of Japan. They do many events that help the Red-crowned Cranes. One example is that they are protecting areas in the Kushiro Shitsugen that are legally not protected. They even set up a Nature Center that gives explanations on Red-crowned Cranes, give nature information, and has photography contests. The photography contests are held because they want other people to know the beauty of Red-crowned Cranes and the conservation acts of the Red-crowned Cranes in Japan.

You can also start help conserving the Red-crowned Cranes by spreading the awareness on Social Media. I wrote 5 Guidelines To Sharing Information On Social Media. If you want to know more about how to help conserve bird species, check out this link: https://share.kas.tw/allche22/2017/06/06/humans-responsible-for-jeopardizing-bird-species/.

Bibliography:
1) (n.d.). Retrieved June 09, 2017, from https://www.zoo.org/page.aspx?pid=1858#.WTZ9KhOGNE5
2) (n.d.). Retrieved May 31, 2017, from https://www.konicaminolta.com/kids/endangered_animals/library/sky/rc-crane.html
3) Red-Crowned Crane. (2013, November 24). Retrieved June 09, 2017, from http://www.ourendangeredworld.com/species/birds-bats/red-crowned-crane/
4) (n.d.). Retrieved June 09, 2017, from https://www.savingcranes.org/species-field-guide/red-crowned-crane/
5) (n.d.). Retrieved June 09, 2017, from http://library.sandiegozoo.org/factsheets/red_crowned_crane/red_crowned_crane.html
6) Wild Bird Society of Japan / Tsurui-Ito Tancho Sanctuary. (n.d.). Retrieved June 09, 2017, from https://www.wbsj.org/en/tsurui/

5 Guidelines To Sharing Information On Social Media

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In this interdisciplinary unit, it was about combining both Language and Literature and Science to communicate the information collected of an endangered species to spread awareness. Language and Literature helps communicate the information collected, and in Science, it is about finding data. Social Media is a great way to share scientific information to a wide range of audience. If you want to post and share the information, you would want to make sure that it is your best work. Here are few guidelines that would help you do that, with examples of students in Grade 7 who demonstrated that specific guideline(s).

The first guideline is to use correct grammar and spelling when posting a post. Make sure that everything is well-written in the correct form. There should be no grammatical errors in the post. If you don’t use correct grammar or spelling, it might make the reader feel that the author of the post unprofessional. Also, if there are grammatical errors or spelling mistakes, it might be misunderstood by the audience. Before posting, read the text again to proofread what you wrote.

@h_seria (2017, May 25). Climate change is the main threat for polar bears.Let’s #SaveTheArctic! This is my infographic ↙️https://t.co/q61TR2l6Q1#KASeaBears pic.twitter.com/O13LCbR1DE. Retrieved June 05, 2017, from https://twitter.com/h_seria/status/867717574422810624

This is a good example of someone who posted a grammatically correct post. Every word that should be capitalized is capitalized. There were no incomplete sentences. The sentences were punctuated correctly. Seria also included an infographic that gives more information about her topic.

The second guideline is to include visuals that supports the data or gives information. For example, graphs could support data and give information. Graphs are easy to comprehend and communicates the idea or information faster. When you post articles/blog posts or information on Social Media, you can just attach the graphs at the part where you want to support the data and/or give information. Another way is to put the graphs in an infographic. In an infographic, there would be words, data and visuals. Also, adding visuals would make the viewer to want to read the post or article/blog post. It would catch the viewer’s attention.

Shen, A. (2017, May 26). The Plight Of The Christmas Frigatebird: Habitat Destruction. Retrieved June 05, 2017, from http://share.kas.tw/jiashe22/2017/05/26/the-plight-of-the-christmas-frigatebird-habitat-destruction/

Take a look at Anthony’s blog post on Christmas Frigatebirds. In the beginning, you would see an introduction and an infographic attached to the blog post. The infographic gives information of the conservation status, range, population, the estimate of breeding pairs and threats of the Christmas Frigatebirds. There are also visuals that are included which makes the infographic look full. You wouldn’t want your infographic to look empty.

Anthony also included another picture that was a map in the same blog post. This picture gave information about the Christmas Frigatebird. These visuals that were included inside of Anthony’s post were informational and helpful.

Not all social medias allow you to include a lot of information in one post. This leads us to the third guideline, write a strong headline and attach a link in one post. The headline is like a brief introduction to your article/blog post, so make sure the headline allows you to make the viewer want to go to the website where there is more about the topic.

@MirandaLi9 (2017, May 31) Scientists predict that after 2 to 3 generations, Pandas would go extinct! More information: http://share.kas.tw/mirli22/2017/05/30/save-the-pandas/ #KASendangered Retrieved June 05, 2017, from https://twitter.com/MirandaLi9/status/869970721811816448

On Twitter, you can only tweet 140 words. So you cannot write a lot in a tweet. In this tweet, Miranda tweeted a strong headline and attached a link to her blog post. The blog post contains more information about pandas. This allows viewers to go to the link and find out more about pandas.

When you are posting information, use appropriate language. Appropriate language is words that is used correctly, easy to understand and no swear words. Make sure that your words are used correctly, or else, you might confuse the viewer. Your message may not be conveyed. If you use words that are hard to understand, it would limit your audience. You don’t want to limit your audience when you want to spread awareness or information. Especially when you are sharing scientific information, don’t use terminologies that are difficult. Also, don’t use swear words in your posts. If you use swear words in your post, it would be impolite.

@ShenAnthony (2017, May 24). Protect the #christmasfrigatebird. Degrading #Habitat by mining could be corrected by government intervention! https://t.co/ZcoJi25A5n pic.twitter.com/FaPas8erkp. Retrieved June 05, 2017, from https://twitter.com/ShenAnthony/status/867375545184436225

This is an example of a tweet that doesn’t include In this tweet, there were no hard words that would limit Anthony’s audience. People can understand the message. Anthony’s tweet on protecting the Christmas Frigatebirds did not include any difficult words, but still conveyed a message.

The fifth guideline is that be sure the information that you share is cited correctly. The sources used should be cited, this would allow the reader to know where the information you are sharing is from. Citing your sources is really important because, you are giving credit to the author(s) of the sources you used.

Shen, A. (2017, May 26). The Plight Of The Christmas Frigatebird: Habitat Destruction. Retrieved June 05, 2017, from http://share.kas.tw/jiashe22/2017/05/26/the-plight-of-the-christmas-frigatebird-habitat-destruction/

This is the bibliography from the blog post by Anthony Shen that had been analyzed earlier. He cited the sources he used in APA format. This shows where he got the information from and gives credit to the author(s) of the articles. If a reader wanted to know where he got his information from, the reader could go to Anthony’s bibliography on this post and find the sources Anthony used.

These are a few guidelines that could help you with your posts on Social Media about the information that you would want to share.

Humans RESPONSIBLE For Jeopardizing Bird Species

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Written By Olivia and Allison

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has reported that 12% of birds species in the world are endangered. Furthermore, it has also been calculated that 150 birds species are extinct. A wide range of bird species are endangered due to human activities. Both African Penguins and Red-crowned Cranes are being threatened by habitat loss.

The African Penguin is located in Southern Africa. This type of penguin species are located within 24 tropical islands such as the Dyer Island which currently contains the largest colony. It is one of the penguin species that can survive in hot climates, due to their modified wings that enables them to swim efficiently with 12.4 miles per hour and more adaptation features. To avoid the hot sun during daytime, African Penguins cool down in the waters near their shelters and dig out burrows for nesting sites. Their main diet mostly includes pelagic fish such as sardines, horse mackerels, round herrings, anchovies and squid. An adult African Penguin typically eats 14% of their own body weight.

The Red-crowned Cranes are located in Eastern Asia, where there are large wetlands. The migratory population (mainland population) lives in the mainlands of East Asia and in Russia and China. The migratory population also divides to two/three wintertime subpopulations. The resident population is in the Island of Hokkaido, Japan. The natural habitat of the Red-crowned Cranes are marshes. Marshes are a sort of wetland. There are more grass than trees in marshes, unlike swamps, where there are a lot of trees. The Red-crowned Cranes feeds on rodents, fish, amphibians, insects, corn, plants, grass, invertebrates that are aquatic and more.

The African Penguin and Red-crowned Crane’s population are decreasing due to human activities. African penguins are critically endangered because of nature destructions that humans cause. Overfishing and climate change are affecting their prey to relocate to further places, prompting the penguins to swim longer distances in order to hunt for food and feed their families. Many African Penguins die from either starvation or fatigue during the journey. A large amount of fish have also been reduced in the ocean due to industrial fishing. The main human activities that caused Red-crowned Cranes to be endangered are because of the developments of the humans. Examples are roads, the expansion of agriculture, clearing forest and the channelization of rivers. There are marshlands being turned into factories, rice fields or even farmlands. Leaving the Red-crowned Cranes, who lives that area, no home.

The methods we can use to conserve birds species is by spreading the awareness. You can go on your social media accounts and share how a wide range of bird species populations are decreasing. Spreading awareness can let the general public know more this important topic. The Wild Bird Society is an organization that helps the Red-crowned Cranes. An organization called Bird Life, South Africa includes more information about the African Penguins how you can get involved in saving this species.

There are many birds harmed due to human activities. We need to take action to conserve these unique bird species before they become extinct. Birds are very important in our ecosystem because they show indicators of the biological health in our environment. Since we are mostly responsible for endangering birds, we should help to sustain them before it is too late. Every bird matters.

Bibliography:
1) What threatens bird populations? Is it man or environmental changes? Find out here! (2017, January 26). Retrieved June 06, 2017, from http://www.seethewild.org/bird-threats/
2) Marsh. (2012, October 09). Retrieved June 06, 2017, from https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/marsh/
3) The 1,300 Bird Species Facing Extinction Signal Threats to Human Health. (2017, May 25). Retrieved June 06, 2017, from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/08/140825-bird-environment-chemical-contaminant-climate-change-science-winged-warning/
4) (n.d.). Retrieved June 06, 2017, from https://www.zoo.org/page.aspx?pid=1858#.WTZ9KhOGNE5
5) Braun. David, Maxwell. (2010, June 2), African Penguin Declared Endangered. Retrieved June 6, 2017 from http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2010/06/02/african_penguin_endangered/

Red-crowned Cranes Infographic

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The Red-crowned Cranes are important in both the Japanese and the Chinese culture. There is a tradition of folding 1000 of Red-crowned Cranes to resemble contentment, peace and the hope of health in the Japanese culture. In the Chinese culture, the Red-crowned Cranes represents auspiciousness and long life.

There are only 2750 Red-crowned Cranes left in the world, estimated by scientists. The Red-crowned Cranes are endangered because of human activities, which mainly creates habitat loss. Examples are the destruction of migration paths, breeding grounds and areas that are cold. The drainage of wetlands are harming the Red-crowned Cranes’ habitat. The development of the humans, like constructing roads, expansion of agriculture, cleaning forest and channelizing rivers are another part of the cause. Their natural habitat, which are marshlands, are turned into factories, rice fields and farmlands. The Red-crowned are also experiencing overexploitation, they being hunted and eaten. Some are encountering harassment by humans. Pesticides that humans put in the farm are really bad to the animals. The pesticides includes toxic chemicals that kills the bugs and insects, which poisons the grains planted in the farm. When the Red-crowned Cranes go eat the grains, they get poisoned.

Fire, that destroys and burns the nests of the Red-crowned Cranes are also harmful.

Here I created an infographic talking about the Red-crowned Cranes.

There are many ways to help save the Red-crowned Cranes. The Wild Bird Society of Japan is a organization that helps save the Red-crowned Cranes and also teaches other people about them. Check out this website to find out more about how the Wild Bird Society of Japan are helping the Red-crowned Cranes: https://www.wbsj.org/en/tsurui/

Bibliography:
1) Red-Crowned Crane. (2013, November 24). Retrieved May 24, 2017, from http://www.ourendangeredworld.com/species/birds-bats/red-crowned-crane/
2) Hones, J. N. (2012, May 12). Asian Symbolism and the Crane. Retrieved May 24, 2017, from http://asianlifestyledesign.com/2012/05/asian-symbolism-crane/
3) (n.d.). Retrieved May 31, 2017, from https://www.savingcranes.org/species-field-guide/red-crowned-crane/
4) (n.d.). Retrieved May 31, 2017, from https://www.konicaminolta.com/kids/endangered_animals/library/sky/rc-crane.html
5) (n.d.). Retrieved May 31, 2017, from https://www.zoo.org/page.aspx?pid=1858#.WS7hIBOGNE4
6) The Problem with Pesticides. (n.d.). Retrieved May 31, 2017, from http://www.toxicsaction.org/problems-and-solutions/pesticides

IT Assignment 6

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In this assignment, I had to make banners with websites next to them using coding. I coded and made two banners. The top banner is positioned across the page with websites on the top. The bottom banner is a square, positioned under the first banner with websites on the left side. This is the screenshots of my finished assignment.

Unit 3 Reflection

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Subject: Individuals and Societies (Year 2)
Start Date: January 2017
End Date: April 2017
Statement of Inquiry: Time, place and space influences the culture and governance of societies.
Criteria Assessed: A and C
Key Concept: Time, place and space

There were a lot of different activities that I did during this Unit. We had levels that we would have to go through. There were 5 posters that indicates where each of us were in. To represent ourselves on the posters/levels, we created our own Coat of Arms. My Coat of Arms looked like this:

Ms. Gilbert created a website that allowed to access documents and directions of what we have to do in each level. In the Introduction, we had to work on our Coat of Arms, upload it to ThingLink and add annotations of why we chose the symbols that were drawn in our Coat of Arms. We were given two websites that consisted symbols and their meanings. After using ThingLink, we had to upload it to padlet. To have bonus points, we had to upload it to three different social medias. I completed that task and got 15 more bonus points.

In each level, we would have questions that we would have to answer. The information would be from the textbook. Each level would be about a certain chapter. There would be activities, like contests, skits and simulations, that would be required to be complete. There would also be different bonus activities for each level. Some are videos, questions, letters or maps. Each of the activities would relate to the topic of the level.

Each block/class was a team. At the end of each level, Ms. Gilbert would set a due date for the assignments, you can still turn it in after the date, but it would not count as class points. Ms. Gilbert would find the average of the points to determine who the winning class is.

I learned about how the transition between the Roman Empire to Medieval Europe and how Medieval Europe ended. I learned that Christianity was the center of the society. During the Introduction, we learned about the location and geography of Europe. It is close to Jerusalem, where Judaism started. Christianity is a religion derived from the religion, Judaism. The religion soon became the daily lives of the people living in Medieval Europe. The Christian religion became so common at the time, “Age of Faith” was the name some historians call the Middle Ages. I also learned about trading, life and systems during the Medieval times. Living during that time was very different from living today.

Some of the challenges that I faced during this Unit was that there were other homework assignments that were also due that was not from I&S, so I would have to plan my time and use my time wisely and not getting off track. During the summative, I had to make sure I have progress each day so I would not have to wait till the very end to finish the whole game board. This is what my summative game looked like:

My favorite part about this Unit was our class winning Level 2. It really motivated me to do other challenge assignments. It also made me really happy. I also liked working on my summative. I was proud of the work I completed. I spent many hours on the game, creating questions cards, drawing the game board, thinking of a fun game that is also educational and would be related to this Unit.

I think the questions were great. It allowed me to understand more about the sections in the chapters.

From the assessment rubric, I feel that I undertook the activities in the Unit pretty good. I tried my best on every assignment. I learned that sometimes I would not be that careful and would make some mistakes. I would improve by rereading more. I also feel that my grammar was not so strong. I would make the answers better by revising it.