Piranha Report from 3rd Grade

Back when I was in 3rd grade, we were assigned to do a big animal report.  My animal was the piranha.  For the report, I had to do research about the piranha and write a report that included its habitat, predators and prey, reproduction, adaptations and cultural impact.  We also had to make art about the animal.  I made a model of a piranha using Model Magic on top of a base made of plastic plates.  I used buttons for the eyes and a plastic milk jug cut into pointy pieces for the teeth.  I painted it with acrylics. 

I also wrote a poem . . .

And I made a diagram with watercolors...

And a comic about a piranha feeding frenzy...

Here is the text of the report: 

Description:
One of the most amazing animals is the piranha.  The word piranha means "toothed fish" in the Tupi language.  Another name for piranha is "Caribe" which means "cannibal."  There are 30 different species of piranha.  They all belong to the Serrasalmus family.

Piranhas are a cold-blooded, fresh water fish.  They breathe through their gills.  They swim in schools and they are omnivorous.

A piranha has a round, flat plate-shaped body and a stubby, bulldog snout.  Piranhas are also marked with red, green or black markings, and the older they get, the more colorful they become.  Piranhas are usually 6-10 inches long, but some can grow to 24 inches.  Their most notorious feature is their small, triangular, razor-sharp teeth. 


Diet:
A piranha is an omnivore. It eats flesh, except it usually eats dead or dying flesh.  Normally, they don't attack live prey.  However, in the dry season when food is scarce, piranhas are aggressive and will attack other animals. 

They hunt in schools.  When many piranhas attack, it is called a feeding frenzy.  They eat quickly to get as much as they can. 

Some of the things that piranhas eat are: each other (if desperate), seeds, fruits, insects, shrimp, birds, rodents, reptiles and the scales, tails and fins of other fish. 

Piranhas have the reputation as man eaters, but it is not true.  There are no reports of any human being killed by piranhas.  Sometimes, they eat the dead bodies of people that died of other causes. 

Habitat:
The piranha lives in the low land tropical rivers of the rainforests of South America.  Piranhas live in the major rivers, streams and lagoons of: Venezuela, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina and Uruguay.  They live in rivers that lead to the Atlantic Ocean, including: the Amzaon, Orinoco, Essequibo, Lapata and Sao Francisco rivers.  Since it's a fish, it makes a nest in the mud in breeding season.

Reproduction:
Like all other fish, piranhas spawn to reproduce.  "Spawn" means to lay eggs.  Piranhas mate in the rainy season.  Piranhas change color in breeding season to attract mates.  Piranhas attach their eggs to floating plants or lay them in a nest they make in the mud.  Both parents guard the nest from predators. 

Little is known about baby piranhas.  When baby piranhas hatch, they are independent.  Their parents do not take care of them.  Babies are about one inch long.  They hide and hunt in the roots of squatic plants.  Since piranha babies are so small, they are vulnerable to predators.  If they survive, they live about five years.

Adaptations:
Here are some adaptations the piranha uses to survive.  It has gills so it can breathe underwater.  It also has scales to let it swim faster.  Adult piranhas have few predators.  South American crocodiles, or caimans, and the wide-mouthed catfish can swallow a piranha whole.  No other wild animals mess with piranhas.

The piranha has many structural adaptations to obtain food.  Its sharp, triangular teeth rip flesh.  To keep their teeth sharp, they grow new teeth throughout their lives.  Their lower jaw is bigger than their upper jaw and it closes like a trap.

The piranha has a strong sense of smell.  It can smell a drop of blood in 50 gallons of water.  Taste buds cover its body to sense if there is something good to eat in the water.  They also have a lateral line, which are small hairs and pores on their sides.  It can sense vibrations in the water which alerts them to predators or prey.

Piranhas also have behavioral adaptations to  help them get food.  They swim in schools and they will attack prey together.  This is called a feeding frenzy.  In a feeding frenzy, piranhas swarm the prey, but they rotate and take turns biting so every piranha gets some of the food. 

Other:
Piranhas help people by being a source of food.  People fish for piranhas, but piranhas can be a problem for fishermen because they eat the bait and the catch. 

Piranhas help keep the water clean by eating dead animals.  During the flood season, people can't bury their dead. So they leave the bodies in the water and the piranhas eat the flesh.  Only the bones are left, which are decorated and then buries after the flood.  This is how piranhas are part of the native culture. 

The natives use the piranhas' jaws as a cutting tool.  In fact, their word for scissors is "piranha."

Piranhas are not on the endangered list, since they have few predators. 

Piranha can be seen in San Francisco at the Academy of Sciences in the rainforest exhibit.  They are in a separate tank so that they do not bite or hurt any other fish.  The Academy also has a dried piranha in the Naturalist Center. 

There have been several horror movies about piranhas.  One of them was called "Piranha."  It was made in 1978.  In these movies, piranhas are exaggerated as man eaters.  Even though this is not true, they are ferocious. 

Precious Metal Clay Leaf Pendant

For my Grandmother's 70th Birthday, I made her a sterling silver necklace in my PMC class.  PMC stands for Precious Metal Clay.  It is 99.97% silver (Sterling) particles that have been suspended in rice paste (aka Mochi!).  You can sculpt it like clay and fire it in a kiln where the mochi burns off and just leaves the silver.  Then you polish and tumble it 'til the silver shines. 

This design was made from a real leaf that I imprinted into a piece of the PMC 3.  I set a stone and made a bail (loop) that looks like the stem folded over.  When polishing, I added a patina of sulfur oxide (it smelled like rotten eggs, but it gave it a goldish tone). 

My mom gave me a chain to go with the pendant.  My Grandma loved it and she wears it all the time. 

Seedfolks Poster

We've been reading the book, Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman, in Language Arts class.  It's a story about a poor, broken neighborhood in Cleveland, Ohio that is changed when an empty lot in the neighborhood is turned into a garden.  The story is told through different characters who lives are changed by the garden. 

In this assignment, called a "one-pager" we were told to draw a poster showing the name and author of the book, two direct quotes, a one-paragraph reflection on the story and picture that represents the main idea of the story. 

My poster shows four hands of different ethnicities linking together, making strength.  The border is all the vegetables they planted in the garden. 

It's drawn with sharpies and prismacolor pencils. 

Homo Erectus Poster

 As an assignment in Social Studies class, I made a poster for an early hominid.  I had to show its abilities and when it lived.  I decided to make him like a comic book character with superpowers (for hominids).  I chose Homo Erectus and his abilities were the ability to use fire, and being biped, which allowed him to walk and run while carrying something in his arms.  These abilities were important because fire allowed them to move to colder climates and being biped helped them migrate as well.  It spread the hominids further around earth.  Homo Erectus didn't wear clothes, so I solved how to draw that by making him carry a beaver in a censored area!

It's made with sharpies and prismacolor pencils. 

PEMDAS

PEMDAS is the order of operations in math.  PEMDAS stands for Parenthesis, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, Subtraction.  You use the order PEMDAS when you have a mathematical equation with multiple symbols. 

For homework, I had to make a mnemonic device to help remember PEMDAS, the order of operations.  Mine says "People Everywhere Motivate Dogs and Seals."  I drew a picture of weird Oka Loobas (funny people!) encouraging seals and dogs with treats.  I used color pencil and sharpie. 

Lobos Creek Valley / Ansel Adams Nature Walk

This evening, I went on a nature walk in the Presidio.  It was a guided hike by a Presidio Ranger named Jess.  We were learning about Ansel Adams and his connections with nature in the Presidio.  Ansel Adams was a famous photographer.  He loved beauty and nature and photographed what he saw.  He was born in San Francisco and grew up in the Richmond District, very near Baker Beach and the Lobos Creek Valley.  He played there every day and that helped develop his appreciation for nature.  When he was an adult, we was also an conservationist and environmentalist.  Here is photo of Ansel Adams in his older age, standing near Baker Beach, where he used to play, explore and take photos. 

On tonight's hike, we looked at Ansel Adams photos and then explored the environment and played a fun game. We hiked down into the valley and Jess opened a large container with hats and props that represented animals and plants in the Lobos Creek environment.  There was a Western Bluebird hat, a Gray Fox hat, a Xerces Butterfly, a yellow-eyed salamander, there was also lupine and an oak tree, plus sand dunes and an old-fashioned camera like Ansel's.  We wore the different "costumes" to act out the relationships of the different plants and animals in the dune habitat.  Here are photos of me wearing the gray fox and the Western Bluebird hats. 

We took a stroll into the valley and we talked about different roles of the animals and plants.  We also saw real lupine, and an endangered flower called the San Francisco Lessingia, which is coming back from near extinction. I learned that the Xerces Butterflies are officially extinct and the gray fox has not been seen in that ecosystem in a long time.  We talked about ways that kids can help protect the environment.  I suggested that we Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.  Jess added that it's import to also "Replenish."  Next summer, I hope to be in the Naturalist program for kids at Chrissy Field. 

The Raven's Quill - Literary Magazine Cover Drawing

The Raven's Quill is Rooftop School's student literary journal.  Every season, an edition is published.  For the first season, I was chosen to draw the cover.  My inspiration was Alaskan Native American art.  The raven is important to Alaskan culture and there are plenty of folk tales about them.  This raven is holding a quill and writing.

I also have a poem published in Volume 2.   The theme was "Celebrations" so I wrote a poem about Diwali, the Festival of Light from India. 

Here are links to the Raven's Quill from last year.

The Raven's Quill, Volume 1, Fall 2011

The Raven's Quill, Volume 2, Winter 2012

The Raven's Quill, Volume 3, Spring 2012

Periodic Table in Art - Nitrogen

Nitrogen is present in all living organisms.  The Nitrogen cycle is where an animal poops or dies and the nitrogen is absorbed into the ground.  The plants then use the nitrogen to grow.  Then, humans or other animals eat these plants and the cycle starts again.  If nitrogen cycle is badly disrupted, we will all die.

Nitrogen is also used to make fertilizers and explosives.  Nitrogen is also the 5th most abundant element in the universe.

In my art, I decided to represent the nitrogen cycle by showing poop, then plants, then humans.  I used marker on paper that has flowers embedded in the design, because plants are a major part of the nitrogen cycle. 

Bee Vision and Ultra Violet Photography

Today, I experimented with ultra violet light and learned about how bees see differently than humans.  When humans see, the objects we're looking at absorb and reflect different colors of light from our rainbow.  What we see is the reflected color.  Our vision is limited to seeing red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet light.  When we see white, it's all the colors being reflected by the object.  When we see black, all the colors are being absorbed.

There are types of light that go beyond what we can see with our eyes as humans.  One is called ultraviolet light and it is just past violet on the light spectrum.  Bees can see ultraviolet light.  Here's an interesting video about how bees see:

I decided to try to photograph what a bee might see.  I followed the instructions from the Instructables website on how to build your own UV light filter for a digital camera.  You take a blacklight bulb and break it.  Tape a piece of the blacklight glass it to a bottlecap or ring that fits around the camera lens.  I used the lid to a sea salt grinder and black duct tape.  Here are the instructions:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Photography-in-the-Ultraviolet-spectrum/

Here are some of the results of my photography in the community garden across the street from my house.  I found that the filter on the camera makes it necessary for a very long exposure.  To help solve that issue, I used a tripod, but the wind was blowing the plants and the sun wasn't that bright, so it hard to take the UV photos.  I'll try it again on a day when the conditions are better. If you want a closer view of the photos, just click on them to make them bigger.

Ratha Yatra, Chariot Festival, in Manipur, India

Here is a new video I made to share a special festival called Ratha Yatra that took place in my dad's hometown of Manipur.  We celebrated it when I was there in June.  It was the first time I experienced the holiday and my dad hadn't been in Manipur to celebrate it for more than 30 years.

4th Grade Biography Report - Pele

In 4th grade, my teacher assigned a biography report.  We could choose anyone we wanted to do, and I chose Pele.  I wrote a report and made a poster.  On my poster, I used color pencil, watercolor and sharpies.  In the middle is Pele's portrait wearing his Brazil national team jersey.  In the background are the different teams he played on and other facts about him.  

This is the report I wrote:  

Pele was the greatest soccer player the world has ever seen.  He is from Brazil and he is known for his speed, balance and his hard, accurate shots with both feet.  He is known around the world and he uses his fame for good causes.  I chose to do my report on Pele because I like soccer and I admire him.

Pele was born on October 23, 1940 in Tres Coracoes, a small town in Brazil.  His real name is Edson Arantes do Nascimento.  Nobody knows how he got the name Pele, but it started when he was a kid playing soccer.  When he was young, he was poor.  He did not have money for shoes, so he played soccer barefoot.  His neighborhood team was nicknamed, "The Shoeless Ones." 

At age 17, he was the youngest player in World Cup history.  That year, Brazil won the World Cup.  They also won in 1962 and 1970 with Pele leading the team. 

In 1969, Pele scored his 1000th goal.  In the same year, he actually stopped a war!  He went to the Congo, a country in Africa, to play a tournament.  There was a civil war going on and the sides called a truce to see Pele play.  Unfortunately, the war continued after Pele left. 

In 1975, Pele signed a contract with the New York Cosmos for seven million dollars, making him the highest paid athlete in the world at that time.  He said that he did not do it for the money, he wanted to make soccer popular in the USA.  His last game was in 1977.  In his 21 year career, he played 1,363 matches, and scored 1,281 goals. 

After retirement, he used his fame for good reasons.  He became a UNICEF ambassador, helping children around the world.  In 1995, he became Minister of Sports in Brazil.  In 1998, the Pele Law was passed in Brazil, protecting the rights of professional athletes.  He received an International Peace Award in 1980.  In 2000, he was named FIFA Player of the Century. 

I admire Pele because he was an amazing soccer player.  He is also a good man with a good heart.  Pele changed the world by making soccer popular where it was not before.  He is a good role model for other athletes because he uses his fame for good causes.  He is a good role model for kids by being a good sport and playing his best. 

The Periodic Table in Art - Carbon

Carbon is naturally obtained from coal deposits, but is usually process for commercial use.  Two of the many allotropes (different forms) of carbon are graphite (used in pencils) and diamonds (used for fashion objects).  60-70 carbon atoms linked together forms a Buckminsterfullerene, or a "Buckyball.   Its structure looks like a soccer ball, it's made of twenty hexagons and twelve pentagons, with a carbon atom at each point.  It's named after Buckminster Fuller because its structure looks like his famous geodesic domes. 

My idea for this element was to draw a buckyball, surrounded by the letter C, the abbreviation for Carbon.  The atomic number is surrounded by a diamond, an allotrope of carbon.  I used a graphite pencil to create the artwork, an allotrope of carbon. 

Jean Paul Gaultier Paper Doll

A few weeks ago, I went to the Friday Nights at the deYoung and I saw the exhibit, "The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk."  I thought the exhibit was great, with alot of interesting fashions.  Many looked like they would take a thousand years to make - some of the dresses were made of seed beads in impossible designs.  One of the dresses I really liked looked like the statue of liberty made out of metal.  There were outfits that looked like muscles and skeletons, mermaids and indian chiefs, cheetahs and Chinese warriors.  


Back upstairs, there was the Friday Night art table where kids and adults can make art together.  That day, you could make your own paper doll inspired by Gaultier.  For mine, I made a corset out of thin strips of foam with cloth on top.  Then I used silk flower petals to make a dress and leather strips to make boots.  Then I made a turban out of fine netting.  I'm really proud of it because it looks like something Gaultier might make. 

The Periodic Table in Art - Boron

The element Boron is used in pyrotechnics and flares, it is used to create a green color.  Boron is strong enough to use as a radiation shield in nuclear reactors.  Boron has commercial compounds: one is sodium borate, or borax, which is used in laundry detergent.  It is also a key ingredient in ooblek (see my post about flubbericious gak). 

At first, I wanted to make green fireworks on a white background and then paint the card with a solution of borax and water to make  borax crystals on the surface.   But the Borax did not stick on the paper , so I made the same design on black paper with a silver sharpie and metallic colored pencils. 

National Missing Children's Day Poster Contest

Last school year, my 5th grade teacher told me about National Missing Children's Day and encouraged me to make this poster for their poster contest.  I thought of the idea that there is a storm that represents missing children.  I put question marks in the storm to show that the kids' future is unknown.  On the right, there is a home that is surrounded by sunshine.  The sunbeams are exclamation points.  They show the happiness of coming home.  In the middle, the kids are walking down the path, leading them out of the storm to home.  I want my poster to raise awareness and give hope to families with missing children.

I used watercolor paper with sharpies and liquid watercolor.  Here is a video showing how I made it:

I was awarded "Finalist" for the state of California! 

 

If you want more information on National Missing Children's Day, go to:  www.missingkids.com

The Periodic Table in Art - Beryllium

Beryllium was used in ancient Egypt in jewelry and headdresses.  It is the same mineral compound as emeralds.  Slightly transparent to x-rays, it is used to make windows for the x-ray tubes.  Beryllium can be mixed with copper to make beryllium bronze, which is wear-resistant so it is good to use for mechanical devices.  It has a sugary taste, but it is poisonous. 

I was interested by the fact that beryllium is poisonous if ingested.  Scientists used to taste elements for beryllium because it is sweet, but they did not know that it is actually poisonous.  So, I made a skull and crossbones with the abbreviation for beryllium in its mouth.  The eyes are green sequins because beryllium is the same mineral as emeralds.  My media was paper collage on green cardstock with sequins. 

Flubbericious Gak

This is flubber.  It's a compound made of borax, water and glue.  It's stuck between being a solid and a liquid.  It's called an elastomer or a polymer.  When you mix the ingredients together, the borax reacts with the glue molecules, causing them to link together in long strands.  The molecule strands slide past each other easily, making it flow like liquid, but some of the molecules stick together to form a putty-like material.  


Here's the recipe:  

Mixture #1:
3/4 cups warm water
1 cup white glue (elmer's school glue)
Food coloring or liquid watercolor

Mixture #2:
1/2 cup warm water
2 tsp. borax powder

Stir mixture #1 together in a bowl, and mixture #2 in another bowl. Make sure both are mixed well and the powder has dissolved. Pour mixture #1 into mixture #2. Do not stir. Allow the reaction to happen for a minute and when it all starts to congeal, then gently knead it until most of the water is absorbed.

 This amazing concoction will provide hours of fun, with little mess so long as you keep it off the carpets. clothes and wood surfaces.    Here's a video of my friend Ben and I.  We made a batch of flubber yesterday and had alot of fun with it.  

The Periodic Table in Art - Lithium

The origin of the name Lithium is "Lithos."  In Greek, lithos means "stone."  Lithium is the first metal on the Periodic Table.  It is used to make special glasses and ceramics such as the 200 inch mirror on the Mount Palomar telescope.   Lithium is the lightest metal.  It can be mixed with other metals to manufacture airplanes.

My inspiration for this art was the Greek origin of the name that means stone.  So I decided to use a Greek stone structure or a pillar.  I found the pillar picture in an antique architectural manual.  Then I used an x-acto blade to cut it out.  For the letters, I used the Epilson and photoshopped it to create the letters L and i.  Then I used the letter Sigma for the number 3, but glued it backwards to look like the number.  I used mod podge as the collage medium. 

The Periodic Table in Art - Helium

The name helium comes from the name for the Greek god of the sun, "Helios."

Helium is used to pressurize the fuel tanks of liquid fuel rockets and supersonic wind tunnels.  Helium is commercially recovered from natural gas deposits, mostly from Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas.  Helium is used to inflate party balloons and blimps. 

To represent helium, I used a zeppelin, a vehicle that floats using helium with the abbreviation "He" on its side.  In the top left corner, the number 2 is the atomic number and the sun represents the origin of the name helium.  Helium is lighter than air, so I chose vellum paper because it looks very light. 

The Periodic Table in Art - Hydrogen

I've decided to make the Periodic Table of Elements using different art forms to represent each element.  I research an element and then I write notes about its history and uses.  Then I decide what art media I'm going to use for the element, and I try to choose media that helps represent that element.  I'll share them on this blog as I create them.  There are a lot of elements so it might take awhile . . .

Hydrogen

The name hydrogen comes from the Latin base, hydro and genes, or "water forming."  Recognized first by Henry Caverdish in 1766, hydrogen is the simplest and most abundant element in the universe.  Most stars burn hydrogen for "fuel."  Scientists are trying to make cars that run on hydrogen instead of fossil fuels.  Hydrogen can be mixed with oil to make Transfat or with liquid oxygen to make rocket fuel.

For my art, I was inspired by the Greek name, hydro genes, "water forming."  I used waves to represent hydrogen as a part of water.  The stars represent real stars burning hydrogen.  The stars also represent the universe, since hydrogen makes up 90% of the universe.  Keeping the water theme, I used wax resist with watercolor. 

I am the Golden Gate Bridge

In June 2012, the Golden Gate Bridge was having it's 75th Anniversary.  I decided to celebrate by walking across the bridge.  The weather was very windy but sunny and not that cold.   My friend Logan and I walked together.  This is a video I created with stop motion pictures as I walked across the bridge.

The next day, I read some poetry about the bridge.  Two poems were by Joseph Strauss, who was the engineer of the bridge.  When the bridge was finished, he wrote the poems to honor it.  As I read it, it wrote down words that were powerful to me, and then I used them in a poem of my own.

Here is the video I made:

Here are the poems by Strauss:

The Mighty Task is Done

Written upon completion of the building of the Bridge in May 1937

At last the mighty task is done;
Resplendent in the western sun
The Bridge looms mountain high;
Its titan piers grip ocean floor,
Its great steel arms link shore with shore,
Its towers pierce the sky.

On its broad decks in rightful pride,
The world in swift parade shall ride,
Throughout all time to be;
Beneath, fleet ships from every port,
Vast landlocked bay, historic fort,
And dwarfing all--the sea.

To north, the Redwood Empire's gates;
'To south, a happy playground waits,
in Rapturous appeal;
Here nature, free since time began,
Yields to the restless moods of man,
Accepts his bonds of steel.

Launched midst a thousand hopes and fears,
Damned by a thousand hostile sneers,
Yet ne'er its course was stayed,
But ask of those who met the foe
Who stood alone when faith was low,
Ask them the price they paid.

Ask of the steel, each strut and wire,
Ask of the searching, purging fire,
That marked their natal hour;
Ask of the mind, the hand, the heart,
Ask of each single, stalwart part,
What gave it force and power.

An Honored cause and nobly fought
And that which they so bravely wrought,
Now glorifies their deed,
No selfish urge shall stain its life,
Nor envy, greed, intrigue, nor strife,
Nor false, ignoble creed.

High overhead its lights shall gleam,
Far, far below life's restless stream,
Unceasingly shall flow;
For this was spun its lithe fine form,
To fear not war, nor time, nor storm,
For Fate had meant it so.

The Golden Gate Bridge

Written upon completion of the Bridge sometime in 1937

I am the thing that men denied,
The right to be, the urge to live;
And I am that which men defied,
Yet I ask naught for what I give.

My arms are flung across the deep,
Into the clouds my towers soar,
And where the waters never sleep,
I guard the California shore.

Above the fogs of scorn and doubt,
Triumphant gleams my web of steel;
Still shall I ride the wild storms out,
And still the thrill of conquest feel.

The passing world may never know
The epic of my grim travail;
It matters not, nor friend or foe –
My place to serve and none to fail.

My being cradled in despair,
Now grown so wondrous fair and strong,
And glorified beyond compare,
Rebukes the error and the wrong.

Vast shafts of steel, wave-battered pier,
And all the splendor meant to be;
Wind-swept and free, these, year on year,
Shall chant my hymm of Victory!

Balmy Alley Abstractions

Balmy Alley is off 24th Street in the Mission District.  It has a large collection of murals painted on the walls and garage doors that line the alley. 

Yesterday, I went to Balmy Alley and I took abstract photos of the murals on the walls.  I was thinking about interesting shapes and colors to make interesting compositions in the photos.  I wanted the the photos to look like abstract paintings. 

Here's me and Michael Jackson!

Cartoon Workshop with Sirron Norris

Sirron Norris is a famous cartoonist from San Francisco.  He's made murals and he has art classes for children in his studio.  He also created the backgrounds for Bob's Burgers, a comedy animation on TV. Sirron's name is a palindrome!

I went to Potrero library for a drawing workshop with Sirron.  He showed us how to draw expressions in faces - happy, sad, tired, mad, and "who farted?"  I learned some new techniques on how to do faces.  Here are my drawings from yesterday:  My favorite is "Mr. Pear."  

 

Here's a picture of me at Sirron's mural in Balmy Alley.