Exo-Explosion!!!

I learned that exoskeletons are kinda like shells on turtles and tortoises. A bunch of bugs have exoskeletons, even dragonflies! They have exoskeletons because, if they're strong enough, they can protect them from explosions!

If someone is inside a robot, they are inside an exoskeleton, which protects them. Suits of armor on knights and soldiers and all sorts of army people have exoskeletons on.

Purple-Eyed Peas, Purple-Eyed Peas, P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-Purple-Eyed Peas!

I just got back from Yogi and BooBoo's. I helped them in the garden a lot.

I picked purple peas. I called them "purple-eye peas." You know, because they weren't black, you know, "black-eyed peas?" I learned that when they get ripe, they turn purple. When they're not ripe, they're green.

I got to shell them, and it's really cool. You stick the shell through and they go right through and purple-eyed peas shoot right out. Here's me and Micah shelling peas last summer:

Ocean Zones, Dolphin Hands and Legs, and Dolphin-Whales

I have six scientific Magic Treehouse Research Guides. I was reading Dolphins and Sharks and I learned three things:

1. There were three zones in the ocean - the sunlit zone, the twilight zone, and the midnight zone. They are measured by how much light there is in the water.
2. I learned that dolphins - and this is really crazy - Dolphins used to have hands and legs and live on land! Zoologists studied dolphins and other ocean creatures. They x-rayed the dolphins' flippers and they saw bones that looked like hands. And when they x-rayed their tails they saw bones that looked kind of like legs. That's how they learned that dolphins used to live on land.
3. Dolphins are a small type of whale with teeth.

Since I learned that, it made me feel like a zoologist!

The World of Mohawks

Today I learned that someone was wearing a Mohawk when he died, that wild Indians and Mohawk Indians wear Mohawks, and that some warriors wore Mohawks when they went into battle.

So my new Mohawk haircut makes me feel like a warrior.

Conner's mom says - that's not quite as awful as it sounds...check out what wikipedia has to say about Mohawks. :)

What I Learned at the Zoo Today

I went to the zoo today. And I went to the reptile house. There were two zookeepers. One was telling people about the crocodile and one was telling people about the python. The crocodile and and the python were both the same size - 15 1/2 feet long. The python was from Asia and the crocodile was from Australia. The crocodile's name is Salty and I decided the snake's name should be Slimey. Salty weighs 1500 pounds and is about 55 years old and Slimey weighs 125 pounds and about 25 years old.I also learned that tarantulas shed their skin just lizards and frogs do. The zookeeper called that dead skin a "molt" and I got to touch it. It felt really soft like a cat.I got a compass from Vacation Bible School last night and brought it with me to the zoo today. I learned that the way to work a compass is to turn the compass and wait until the red arrow is lined up with the "N." "N" is north, "W" is west, "E" is east, and "S" is south. Whichever one is at the top is the way you're going.

Hydromulch

I saw hydromulch at the BRiCk. It looked like they were painting the grass very light green. But then I learned that it was just lots of seeds and fertilizer and green liquid to help the grass grow, because when they were building the BRiCk they had to dig all the grass up. So they put the grass back with a bunch of seeds called hydromulch. I also learned on wikipedia that aircraft can put hydromulch on places that had a fire. And helicopters put hydromulch on big places that need it.

Coreidae

BooBoo sent me an email yesterday that said that squash bugs are invading her squash plants. But she didn't know what the real name for a squash bug was.

So today I learned that the scientific name for squash bug is coreidae. They look kind of like aphids but not green, and much bigger. They invade squash plants, and they are brown.I also learned that wikipedia is kind of like google. But you shouldn't mess around with it without a parent if you're a kid. You can learn about lots of cool stuff there though - like coreidae!

Walrus...cupcakes??!

Hello. Conner's Mom here.


Conner has been livin' up summer for all it's worth and was worn out and ready for bed. So he gave me permission to write this post for him. Here's what the little scholar wanted to share today:


Today I learned that walruses can be...cupcakes!!

You can check my mom's blog (probably tomorrow) for more details. She can sometimes make a short story really long!

The Komodo Dragon Feeding

I learned in my book that Komodo Dragons eat birds, bugs, spiders, and small fish. But it didn’t say it eats rabbits but it does. I learned at the zoo it eats rabbits because they fed it a rabbit. It was, I mean, awesome. It’s tongue turned yellow and there was blood all over the KD. This is the movie that I made with my camera:


I also learned that flamingoes like to play peekaboo!

Flour Mites

Flour mites live in flour. And you don't want to eat them because, well, they're bugs! You know when flour mites are in your flour because your flour is bumpy and you might even see a little figure crawling through your flour.


I checked our flour out today with a magnifying glass (that I got at the Fort Worth Chilren's Museum yesterday!) because you can only see them with a magnifying glass. Flour mites are brownish-yellow. I did not see any in our flour. But Micah did.
This is what my book says they look like:
You should check your flour, too!