Have you ever read an entire series of books? Well I've read many and I'm happy to tell you all about them.
Leonis
The first series I want to talk about is Leonis. Leonis starts off as a 14 year old slave who is destined to become the Lion Child. The story goes, the egyptian god of the sun Ra wasn't getting enough offerings from the humans, so he told them that if they didn't deliver him the supreme offering he was going to make the sun stop shining. Of course no human could deliver the supreme offering. Only The Lion Child (Leonis) could accomplished the challenges to get the 12 pieces of the supreme offering and deliver it to Ra. The main characters in this story are: Leonis, Montu (Leonis's Friend), and Menna (Leonis's bodyguard).
Here are the names of the 12 Leonis books I read this year:
Book 1 Le Talisman Des Pharaons
Book 2 La Table Aux Douze Joyaux
Book 3 Le Marais Des Demon
Book 4 Les Masque De L'Ombre
Book 5 Le Tombeau De Dedephor
Book 6 La Prisonnière Des Dunes
Book 7 La Liberation De Sia
Book 8 Les Gardiens D'Outre-Tombe
Book 9 Le Royaume D'Esa
Book 10 L'Ile Des Oubliés
Book 11 Le Temple Des Ténèbres
Book 12 L'Offrande Supreme.
I rate this series an 8 out of 10 because its a great storyline and all but the story is streached out into 12 different books and I think it could've been in 6 books. If you want to check out Leonis go to this link: Leonis
Amos Daragon
If you want to go check out my post on Amos Daragon (my favorite series yet) Go to this link: Amos Daragon
Amos Daragon - Le Sanctuaire des Braves
The Wearer Of Masks (Amos) is trying to defeat the gods in order to bring balance to the world. There are 4 continents and on each continent there is a Mask Wearer. Mask Wearer's control the 5 elements: Fire, Earth, Water, Wind and Ether. After Destroying the gods an old elf Mask Wearer teaches Amos that his fallen friends are lost souls in the endless Ether. So Amos creates Le Sanctuaire Des Brave, a place in the Ether where his fallen friends rest in peace. I rate this short series a 9/10 since it gives the reader an epic ending for the Amos Daragon saga. Amos Daragon - Al-Quatrum Les Territoire de L'Ombre
This book is basically about all the creatures, races, and monsters of the Earth Continent. This book was made by an elf named Al-Quatrum, because he wanted to make a book with all his knowledge about the different species of super natural beings. I rate this book a 7/10 because its not necessary to get it, but its a book full of fantasy related knowledge.
Les Chevaliers d'Émeraude
This is a series of books about the war between the humans and the insects! Its written by Anne Robillard. The king of insects is to be destroyed by the light keeper and protected by Kira, the daughter of the Amecareth (the king of the insects). Kira is a powerful battle mage but she is protected by Les Chevalier D'Emeraude. Les Chevalier D'Emeraude are princes and princesses who have great magic potential. Their goal: recreate the old order of the Emerald Knights and fight the insects. I've only read the first 6 books but I rate this series a 7/10.
Merlin
All of you probably know Merlin, Arthur's mage, but this story tells another tale. This trilogy tells the tale of a young boy that discovers he has powers beyond his wildest dreams and he wants to use these powers for good. I rate this book a 8/10
Hope you liked this little overview of all the books I've read this year!
Today I'm going to tell you why I love Khan Academy!
To beging with, I started Khan Academy about 2 years ago ( 2011) and so I've been on the site practicing and learning math for a long time! What I love about this site is that you get achievements when you put effort in your work. There are currently 6 kinds of achievements: Meteorite (common) badges, Moon badges (uncommon), Earth badges (rare), Sun badges (epic), Black Hole badges (legendary), and Challenge Patches.
What I also love about Khan Academy is that since Salman Khan (the Owner of Khan Academy) is a genius, Khan Academy has every math and science subject like Trigonometry, Biology, Geometry, Arithmetic, Astronomy etc.
Here's a little screenshot of my profile page. Where I can review my progress and check out my badges.
Here's another screenshot, but of the "Knowledge Map". This is the page were you can select new exercise or practice old ones. This is also were you are going to on be the most.
I also have other math ressources Like Timez Attack and some Ipad apps.
Have you ever created slime, made water turn into snow, or even coloured a leaf without touching it? Well I have and I'm going to show you all this and even more!
Here are this year's science experiments!
You guys probably remember the Air Pressure Experiment I did at the beginning of the year. If you don't, click the link to go check it out!
I watched a live hangout with the scientists from CERN and learned a little about how the Large Hadron Collider works.
I also watched Felix Baumgartner skydive for 39 km!!!
Electricity
I experimented with electric circuits and used a potato to make a battery.
I watched the last Venus transit of the 21st century as it happened.
Exotarium
I visited the Exotarium and learned about reptiles and all kinds of other creatures.
The Science Center
I always love visiting the Science Center.
The Farm
I visited a farm and had fun catching rabbits.
Pluviometer
I made a pluviometer or rain gauge and measured the rainfall.
Coloured Leaf Experiment.
Theres also the Coloured Leaf Experiment. This was done by placing a leaf in a jar filled with coloured water. Then the leaf absorbs the coloured water and it becomes the colour of your food colouring. This helps us to see how the leaf drinks the water for nourishment. For this experiment you need: a glass or jar, food colouring, and some kind of leaf. We tested lettuce and cabbage. Cabbage worked the best.
Polymers
I also made some gooey slime to learn about polymers! This experiment was fun because the slime alters between being solid or liquid, therefore we could make different shapes and textures by adding more or less water. You can find information on how to make your own experiment on the Science Bob Site.
The Water Cycle
I also created a chart to show how the water cycle works! Although I skipped the last phase (The Runoff) of the water cycle because I didn't know it. I still showed some interesting points about the water cycle.
It starts at the fist phase: Evaporation or Transpiration. Evaporation is when water from either oceans, lakes or rivers evaporates from their respective bodies of water and fly up to the sky. the second phases (Condensation) is when the water crams up together making a cluster of little droplets to form clouds. The third phase (Precipitation) is when the clouds become big and wet (cumulonimbus), they all evacuate making rain.
Critters and Bugs
We found some cool bugs again this year and we researched what they were! In the picture above, we see a Coleoptera called a leaf beetle. I found it on a rock.
By the way, my dad recently made a ladybug habitat because we want to attract more ladybugs to our garden.
I also found a large hairy spider on a piece of bark. It's called a Fishing Spider or Dolomedes Tenebrosus and it is semi aquatic. They can bite but aren't poisonous. At first when we saw this spider I was freaked out since it was 2 inches wide!
Light Photography
I love light photography!
This is created by opening your shutter so that more light comes in your camera, but before I briefly explain this, heres a link to a video that explains in detail Light Painting. Light painting happens when you open your shutter and draw something with a light source. To create this you need 4 things: a camera with an option to open the shutter wide open, a tripod if you have one, a light source, and some darkness. This specific painting was created in my basement and I used finger lights to create the colours. We took 3 separate pictures and then we brought it into photoshop to add all the elements together.
Baking bread in the Kitchen of Science!
We made braided bread to learn about yeast! Braided bread is basically normal bread dough, but before you put it in the oven you braid it. This bread taste a lot like regular home made bread, but has a bit more salt and the inside is soft.
The ingredients to make homemade bread are: 1 cup of water, about 2 cups of flour, 2 tea spoons of yeast, a pinch of salt, and a pinch of sugar. When you combine water and flour it makes the dough, when you combine the yeast and the sugar the yeast feeds on the sugar and ferments to which makes the dough rise and the salt is for taste. Making bread is chemistry at its finest!
Science Magazines!
I've read about 50 Débrouillards in the last 3 years and I learned all kinds of interesting stuff! Les Débroulliards is a scientific magazine that talks about all kinds of topics like new scientific inventions and discoveries. They also have tests, fun facts, and there's also a comic strip. Its a great way to learn about science in a fun way. Here's a picture of this month's edition.
Making Snow!
Do you know how to make snow? I do now!!!
This winter, we tried the water to snow experiment! For this exciting experiment you need: very cold weather and a pot of boiling water. What happens is that the boiling water freezes at the contact of cold air, so it turns into snow.
We also tried the experiment with cold water and saw that the cold water doesn't turn into snow.
Spring time came around and we planted a few sunflower seeds.
We also experimented with planting a few different kinds of stumps of vegetables. Like :
Bok Choy
Celery
And carrots, but we forgot to take a picture. They all grew!
Failed but fun experiments :
We tried to make a bouncy egg by putting an egg in vinegar for a few days to dissolve the shell. My mom dropped it before it was bouncy enough and it broke. It was pretty funny.
I adopted two wooly bear caterpillars, called Norm and Wormpole, and made a habitat for them to spend winter in our veranda. We thought they would become moths in the spring, but they didn't make it. Sorry guys.
Hope you liked this overview of some of the science experiments I did this year!
