America's Favorite Giant Panda Celebrates First Birthday

Every animal turns one so why was Bao Bao's first birthday so special?
On Saturday, August 23rd, over 300 people lined up outside Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington D.C., to participate in the first birthday celebration of one of its cutest and most precious residents - America's favorite giant panda cub, Bao Bao.While first birthdays are always special, this one was even more so, given that only one other giant panda born at the National Zoo, Bao Bao's brother Tai Shan, has survived to celebrate this all-important milestone. Both, are offspring of Mei Xiang and Tian Tian - giant pandas on loan from China as part of the conservation effort to revive thedwindling population of these beautiful animals. The zoo's first panda couple, Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing that were a gift from the government of China, bore five cubs. Unfortunately, all of them perished within a few days!

How did the zookeepers celebrate it?

It was therefore no wonder that the zookeepers went all out to celebrate the momentous occasion. In keeping with ancient Chinese tradition, the party commenced with the young panda being offered a choice of three honey-dipped bamboo shoots. Next to each, was a colourful hand-painted poster labeled 'Long Life,' 'Good Health' and 'Many Cubs'. Given that the panda's first choice is believed to predict its future, it was fortunate that Bao Bao immediately gravitated to the 'Long Life' bamboo.

What are some of the things Bao Bao has learnt during his first year? What are some of the things in store for her before she turns two?

Bao Bao's keepers are now hoping to teach her to present her paw when she needs to get her blood drawn and lie down, during her monthly ultrasound. As the year progresses, she will gradually stop drinking her mother's milk and then just like pandas in the wild, move away from 'home', which in Bao Bao's case means shifting to a separate enclosure. Of course, this will only be a temporary home. That's because at the age of five, Bao Bao will follow her brother's footsteps and head to the special giant panda breeding program at the Wolong Nature Reserve in China's Sichuan Province.

Word search

Dangerous Decibels

Today ( 25.8.14 ) we went to a lesson with a lady called Toni and we learnt all about how to care for our ears and how we can prevent getting hearing lose. We learnt about the volume decibels ( db )of things like if you stand to close to fireworks ( 140 db ) you can get serious hear ringing in your ears. Things like washing machines, food mixers and Piano practice are all fine for your ears because they have a very low db. Up to 85db is safe for peoples ears.

We did lots if testing with a tuning fork like we taped it on the ground then put it close to our ears and it ringed for awhile and then did the same but instead of putting near our ear we put it on our hand and it almost stung our hands. Then we did it with a ping pong ball and this showed that the more you hit the tuning fork on the ground the higher the ping pong ball went. 

We also learnt that sticking Q tips in your ear can make your ear drum break. Your ear drum is so delicate it can break like tissue paper.

Thank you Toni

Mining Cavern Transforms Into World's Largest Underground Trampoline Park

How is Bounce Below different from other trampoline parks?
Trampoline parks are sprouting up all across the world. However, they all pale in comparison to Bounce Below - the world's biggest underground trampoline park that opened in the historic slate mining town of Blaenau Ffestiniog in North Wales, on July 3rd. Nestled in a massive cavern that is located inside a 100ft deep and 60ft wide former slate mine, it provides visitors with a bouncing experience like none other. 

What are some of the things visitors will experience at Bounce Below?

Visitors to Bounce Below begin their journey with a safety briefing, after which they all don overalls and safety helmets and embark on an old mine train for the short ride into the mountain. Upon arrival, the guests encounter a sight that makes even the most seasoned trampoline park visitor, gasp in awe - a series of trampolines spanning a whopping 10,000 square feet, all connected by slides, the biggest of which is a mind-blowing 60-foot plunge, as well as, chutes and ladders. The whole experience is made even more surreal, by the vibrant colours that illuminate the cavern.

What are the two ziplines called? What is special about each one?

Velocity or Titan that lie within 45 minutes of each other. As you may have guessed, neither is ordinary.The mile-long Velocity, which stands 500 feet above the ground is not just Northern Hemisphere's longest zipline, but also, its fastest, allowing daredevils to fly across at speeds exceeding 100mph. With over 8km of ziplines, the newly opened Titan is no slouch either. Besides being the largest of its kind in Europe, it is also the first in the world to feature four lines, side-by-side. This means that families and friends can experience the thrill of flying across at 70mph, simultaneously! And they are not done yet. Zip World is now focusing its efforts on building the world's first underground zipline - So stay tuned!

This looks like so much fun 

Master Chef

Here are some photos of us doing Master Chef

I don't have any of us practising because I got the idea today.

Challenge 1

Was make a pasta dish. We made Pasta pesto with rosemary chicken

Challenge 2

Baker Delight. A chocolate brownie with hot Ganache 

Challenge 3

Perfect Pie. Pecan Pie with whipped cream on the side

Challenge 4

Pizza. We made a pizza with.. well everything on it. 

We also got to create the cover for our pizza box

Challenge 5

Mystery Box. We made jacket Potatoes with mince,onion, carrot,baked beans and Cheese

Maori Myth

For Homework we made a Maori myth and mine is 

How Maui Slowed The Sun

Homework

For homework we can design our own challenge.

I decided to do it on how our Hockey team is improving towards AIMS Games.

Hear are some photos at the Winter Tournament

( Unfortunately we could not get any of as playing but I will describe the games )

For the Winer Tournament the games were only 8 minute half's with a one minute break. So they were short sharp games. We had quite a lot of break time in between so here are some Selfies and Photos.

Our team was so good that I never touched the ball.

Unfortunately could not get any photos of the game but there is one thing

WE WON THE TOURNAMENT

So to celebrate we decided to practice something