Two Poems About Rain

P5041960 -A

Rain In Summer

How beautiful is the rain!
After the dust and heat,
In the broad and fiery street,
In the narrow lane,
How beautiful is the rain!
How it clatters along the roofs
Like the tramp of hoofs!
How it gushes and struggles out
From the throat of the overflowing spout!
Across the window-pane
It pours and pours;
And swift and wide,
With a muddy tide,
Like a river down the gutter roars
The rain, the welcome rain!

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)

April Rain Song

Let the rain kiss you.
Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops.
Let the rain sing you a lullaby.
The rain makes still pools on the sidewalk.
The rain makes running pools in the gutter.
The rain plays a little sleep-song on our roof at night –
And I love the rain.

Langston Hughes (1902-1967)

Read the poems. List all the verbs that the poets use for the rain. Describe the images of the rain in each poem. Are there any similes in the poems? Compare the two poems: how are they similar/different? What feelings do you get from them?

You can copy these poems on a template or write your own and create some art. Get inspired!

Basketball Shape Poem

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Biology Frenzy

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Are you mad for Biology or do you feel like exploring this field? Here is a list of relevant links to study, play and learn Biology.

A science website for kids from the American Museum of Natural History.

Biochemistry quiz     (you can change the settings and select study-cards, learn, speller etc or even modify the type of quiz questions)

Biology vocabulary quiz  at cram.com

Biology vocabulary quiz at proprofs.com
Play Quiz: The Amazing World of Biology! now!

The Biology Project is an interactive online resource for learning biology, developed at The University of Arizona.

Biology games at reviewgamezone.com

Free Biology worksheets at en.islcollective.com

Plant Your Coffee Cup!

Imagine every cup of coffee that consumers discard turning into a beautiful tree. Imagine the immense problems of deforestation and overgrazing being tackled by just sinking your empty cup of coffee into the ground. How cool would that be?

Well, a company in California called Reduce. Reuse. Grow has already imagined and designed  a biodegradable coffee cup that has seeds embedded in its walls so that it can be planted and grown! There are instructions on the bottom of the cup about how you do it.

The whole project was placed on fund raising some months ago and is now 100% funded waiting for the next step to be taken: commercial testing and potential partnering.

Read the following relevant article “A Biodegradable Coffee Cup With Embedded Seeds That Grow Into a Tree When Planted” posted at laughingsquid.com for more details. There are images explaining the planting procedure further down in this article.

 CHALLENGE!!!

Can you give instructions on how to plant a coffee cup successfully so it can grow into a tree? Remember to use sequencing words. After your attempt check how you have done by reading The World’s First Plantable Coffee Cup 

Welcome Spring! Vocabulary, Idioms, Games, Activities

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What does spring mean to you? What vocabulary, images or feelings do you associate with it? Brainstorm for a minute and then explain your choices. You may wish to spot specific words or phrases in this springtime list found at the following cool site words-to-use.com.

Gardening is the ultimate springtime activity. What about playing some games?

  1. match words and pictures about gardening
  2. The Spring vocabulary game
  3. Spring bulb flowers
  4. Spring flowers
  5. Spring in Art and Music

Idioms are a never ending story in the english language and yes… there are many built around the word spring. Do you know any? Check the meaning and use of some spring idioms. When you feel ready play some spring idioms games.

If you are in the mood, it could be a good idea to start a web quest for spring related poems; or perhaps lines and quotes have already started swarming into your mind like happy spring bees waiting to be illustrated into picture quotes. How can you make it happen? Here’s a comprehensive guide of Top 20 Web Apps to Create Picture Quotes and Meme Posters which you can read through and try.

Happy Spring 2015!grass-Whitman-quotescover

 

An Underground Park

Why would anyone think of building an underground park? Where is it going to be built? Who has designed this park? Well, read all about it in this article here or watch the relevant videos and find out. You are challenged to answer the following questions:

  1. What is New York City’s High Line and how is it connected to the Lowline?
  2. How is the Lowline connected to a revitalization project?

Microbeads and Plastic in our Products: A Mega Threat to the Environment

Super-clean, super-smooth, super-white seem to have become a common routine, if not an obsession, for most of us. We meticulously apply our toothpaste and scrub with no second thoughts. However, apart from the damage we may cause to the top layer of our skin, we also cause serious damage to the environment. Why is that? It is because of  microbeads, the tiny polyethylene particles contained in exfoliating products. Furthermore, our synthetic fabric clothes seem to add to the problem because of the microfibers they contain. 

Watch the following videos to see how this is happening. Complete the missing information as you watch.

A)  

  1. Microbeads are found in … and …
  2. Their size is less than … milimetre.
  3. Water treatment plants are not … to filter them out.
  4. Microbeads … organic pollutants in the water and they form toxins.
  5. These toxins are … to the fish.

B) 

 

  1. How serious does this problem seem to you? Why?
  2. What actions can be taken do you think?

Look at these articles for more information:

Microplastics Threaten Marine Life In The Great Lakes

Plastic particle water pollution

Microfibers, Macro problems

ANSWERS

A)

  1. toothpaste/face scrubs
  2. one
  3. equipped
  4. absorb
  5. transferred

 Dedicated to 5th June, World Environment Day and 8th June, World Oceans Day.