America's Favorite Giant Panda Celebrates First Birthday

America's Favorite Giant Panda Celebrates First Birthday

Article Comprehension:

1. 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 the dwindling 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!

2. How did the zookeepers celebrate it?

It was therefore no wonder that the zookeepers went all out to celebrate themomentous 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 colorful 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.

Of course, bamboo sticks were not the only treats in store for this cutie-pie whose name means 'precious' or 'treasure'. The zoo's nutrition department had also made a delectable tiered cake that was crafted from frozen diluted apple juice and dyed various shades of pink, with beet juice. Frozen in between, were slices of Bao Bao's favorite fruits - apples and pears. Flower appliques carved from carrots and sweet potatoes adorned the top and a large number '1', carved from frozen apple juice, completed the perfect treat. Like any one-year-old, Bao Bao attacked his birthday cake with a vengeance and kept it in a tight embrace, until it was all gone.

3. 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?

While Bao Bao may still look tiny, the cub who spends her days wrestling with a blue cylinder-shaped buoy filled with sand and sleeping on her favourite hemlock tree, has come a long way from the wriggling pink baby who was the size of a stick of butter, when born. The smart panda who now weighs a healthy 44lbs, has even learnt to respond to her name and stand tall on the scale, during her monthly weigh-ins. 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.

Dangerous Decibels

Today (25.8.14) we went to the Whare Kai for a talk about Dangerous Decibels. The lady that who was going to talk to us was called Toni. She talked to us about how sounds are actually vibrations and that that safe decibels sound is 85 so a washing machine, food mixer, piano practice and rain are all safe to hear at 50 - 80 decibels, but a heavy metal concert, firecrackers, and a bass Drum at 1 metre are dangerous and are ranging from 130 - 150 decibels.

We did a test with tuning fork and a ping pong ball. first we hit it on the floor and then bought it up to our ear. Then we hit it on the ground again and placed the tuning fork against our hand lightly. After that we hit it on the ground and placed it against the pingpong ball. The reaction was the pingpong ball bounced and then came back and bounced again. This showed the vibrations of your ear when the decibels were safe. But then we hit it on the ground 5 times and put the tuning fork against it and the pingpong ball went crazy bouncing higher and higher each time it hit the ball. This showed the vibrations of your ear when the decibels are dangerous.

Mining Cavern Transforms Into World's Largest Underground Trampoline Park

Mining Cavern Transforms Into World's Largest Underground Trampoline Park

Article Comprehension:

1. 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.

2. 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 colors that illuminate the cavern.

To ensure that jumpers of all ages, sizes and skill levels have fun, the giant trampolines have been set up at different heights. For extreme thrill seekers and trampoline experts, there is one that lies 180-feet above the cavern floor.

For novices and younger visitors, there is a bouncy net fitted just 20-feet from the ground. But given that all three trampolines are enclosed by nine-foot mesh walls, there is little risk of anyone falling out.

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

The best part is that once visitors are done with their hour-long session at Bounce Below, they can experience some of the other fun activities offered by its parent company, Zip World. These include traveling deep underground using Britain's steepest cable railway, to check out the old mines and observe quarryman demonstrating slate mining.

For those that are more interested in 'above the ground' activities, there is the choice of two ziplines - 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 -

Cooking

On Wednesday Keelin and I were asked by Whaea Raina to help her with the years 6s orientation the the tech block. We accepted, so after Hockey training we had Burger King,(and minimal frozen coke coming out of my nose) we got changed and went to the food tech room. We were cooking cheese sticks and 2 other boys were cooking chorizo puffs. Once we were done we took all the hot food out of the trays and put them on wire track. Then after all the people went up to the hall we cleaned up and went outside and messed around until our parents picked us up.

We also met Derek's little brother (who looks so much like him!!!!)

Wednesday Training

This Wednesday Training we had another couch come in her name was Frankie, she did a drill that was meant to help us pass to score goals. We were in 2 teams, it was a good drill and it did help us. At the end of every training we have a game it the team usually consisted of the people wearing red against the people wearing blue. the team wearing blue won about 5 - 0. But all in all it was a good training and afterwards for a healthy snack I had a Burger King Stunner which is a creamy mayo burger, drink, fries and a sundae.

Monday Training

Monday Morning Trainings start at 7:00am and end at 8:15pm. I get up at 6:00am and leave my house at 6:40am ( even though I usually don't make that time line)

This monday we started with our usual warm up which starts with a run and then stretches the stretches we do are High Knees, Sumos, Lunges, Scoops, Side Steps and Grapevine then we run back.

We worked on passing and dribbling today and at the end we played  mini game where this is 4 people on each team, one team is going towards the goal and the other is trying to get the ball between to cone on either side of the court.

For the dribbling it was a simple but helpful drill were you had to weave through cones and then take a shot at goal in this drill I learnt how to undercut from our coach. An under cut is where you open your stick so instead of hitting it in the flat our hitting it on an angle.

For the passing drill we just passed back and forward to each other.

My Goal for Aims Game ( for my team) is to get into the top 4. (and myself) to at least do 3 good undercuts at goal.

The skill I'm working on is my undercut


We have a Wednesday afternoon training and on Friday we have a game, this Friday we are playing BC girls A. We won the last time we played them.

Winter Tournament Dancing

Maori Myth or Legend

Winter Tournament

On Friday the 1st of August we went to blake park to compete in the winter tournament for Hockey. inn the Tauranga Intermediate School A girls team there is Melia (Captain and Forward), Ash (Vice Captain and Halve), Anika (Vice Captain and Halve/Inner), Ella (Vice Captain and Forward/Inner), Rachel (Me and Forward), Abby(Forward)Rebecca( Inner), Mackenzie (Inner) Zoe (Halve), Marijke (Halve), Leka (Halve) Danielle (Back), Savannah (Back)

First up we played Te Puke Girls and we won that game 7 - 0

Secondly we played Rotorua Girls and we won that game 1 - 0

Thirdly we played Whakatane Girls and we tied that game 0 - 0 but we won in the end because we had scored more goals in previous games and we had more PC's (penalty corners)

Lastly was the final and we played Otumoetai Girls A and we WON!! the score was 2 - 0.

So once again we won the Winter Tournament for Hockey we all got medals and the trophy to keep for another year.

Selfie's at Hockey

Most of the Team (and Makaylah)

Hockey

For the Rimu homework challenges i will be writing a blog post each week on training, skills I am working on, games and how I did and what I am doing to improve.
Since I haven't had a training yet i haven't go anything to write but my first training of the week is tomorrow.