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