From Another Point Of View

My class of gr. 7/8 watch a documentary called “Project Nim”. It was about a chimp in the 1970’s  that was take away from his mother at birth and gave to a human family. The reason they gave them this chimp was for a experiment for a university in New York. They wanted to see if you could teach a chimp sign language, so we could communicate with another species. Also my class read a book called “Half Brother”.  It was based on the story of Nim’s life.
                                                                                                                        hdurnin 
Here are some similarities between the book and the movie. Herb, the dad figure in Nim’s life and scientist conducting the experiment, didn’t think that Nim was a real baby, just an experiment test subject. In Half Brother that’s what Richard thought of Zan. Nim loved to play in the backyard with Stephanie’s kids. In Half Brother, Zan loved to play with Ben in the backyard.  Then after all of the work they did the university thought  Nim was speaking real language, just like what Richard said in the book. Next Nim was sent to a place where they study chimps and didn’t experiment on them, just like the place that Helson owned in Nevada U.S. as in Half Brother. They had  to have a cattle prod on them at the research facility, just like at Helson’s, to protect themselves if a chimp went out of control. Also Nim started off with a nice chimp called Ben at research facility, just like at Helson’s with Rachel. They tricked Nim into the cage so they could leave, just like at Helson’s when Ben slowly slipped away. But they left Nim a toy, just like Helson’s when they left Zan a blanket.

Also there are some differences too. There was no schedule or rule for Nim at Stephanie’s house. There was no times to learn signs, it was just whenever they felt like teaching him. But in Half Brother Richard had a strict schedule. When Nim did something bad, he didn’t get in much trouble. But in Half Brother, if Zan did something bad there would definitely be consequences. Nim was biting people, even people really close to him. But in Half Brother Zan would never bite anyone close to him. Nim was sent to a lab to be test chimp for human products. In Half Brother though, Zan was almost sent to a lab, but Ben found out in time to stop it.

I have some happy things to tell you about the story too. Nim got a bigger home with more land and trees to live and play on while the experiment  was still going. When the experiment was over, Nim was sent back to the research facility that he was born in. In that research facility each chimp had a job to do, to help out, such as clean the pens  or sweep  the kitchen floor. Lastly one of the workers at the research facility, Bob, and Nim became really good friends and would go out and play together.

But if there are happy things, there are always disturbing things too. When he was hanging out with Bob, they would drink alcohol and smoke marijuana. Then the way they were testing on animals in the lab sent chills down my spine. It was sickening. Finally the way they tricked the baby chimp to  come to them to do test on them. They say”Come here little guy” in a really calming tone, then stick a needle into them.

Lastly there is some new information that I thought I share with you in and I documentary. When people didn’t share something, or you have or turn your back on Nim to quickly they will get really mad. It is considered disrespectful to them. One more thing I learned was what it really looked like in a testing lab. I thought it would have been a little bigger cages, but they are so small. They could hardly move around. Also that they just sat in their cage all day and night with nothing to do. The only reason they would come out unless it is some type of test.

Neighbors Shouldn’t Fight

My class of gr. 7/8 when on a field trip to a farm on the outskirts of Tillsonburg, Ontario. The reason we had this feild trip was because we have been studying a unit in history about the War of 1812. The man who owns the farm Robin Barker-James, hosts re-enactment of battles, mostly War of 1812, U.S. Civil war, World War 1, and World War 2. As some of you may know that the War of 1812 was fought between the British and the Americans. So a group of Gr.7-10 students from Michigan came up to fight the battles against us.

One of the best moment of the day of this field trip was when we were fighting the battle of Lundy’s Lane. I was a Tecumseh, a great First Nation Chief. So they sent me and the other First Nations up to scrimesh. In other terms, slowed them down well the british were getting set up. So we marched up at them and we were no less than 15 paces away from the American line. Then as they slowly walked at us; my heart was beating a little faster then normal. By the time they were done marching they were 5 paces away now. Then all of a sudden, I heard “Fire!” come from the British officer and the American officer. I was shot, well not really. I just got hit with a piece of dog food.

The thing I learned from this experience was how to scout out the area before the battle starts. Since I was a First Nation, the British officer told me and some others to scout the area. So we found a trail that leads into the the American fort. After we found the way in, we reported back to the officer. If we didn’t scout, we might not have been able to find the way into the fort and lost the battle.

I think the big idea of this field trip was that even though someone is your enemy, they aren’t that different then you are. Such as in War of 1812 many Canadians knew Americans and were friends and family.The only difference between them was the flag flying over their head.Then just because a piece of paper was signed saying the two countries are at war, all of a sudden they are enemies, sworn to kill the other.

Awesome Paintball

I am crouched down, moving really slow, my two teammate in front of me. It is quiet, just the sound nothing make my stomach flip. Then a stick crack behind me, my heart started beating really fast. Then something flew by my head, making me jump. Before I could even think, I ran as fast as I could doing zigzags through trees. I got out of there without a scratch on me. This is Awesome paintball.

cc licensed ( BY NC SD ) flickr photo shared by mcarpentier

The Untold Story Of The Animal

My class of Gr. 7/8 in Wingham, Ontario and another class of Gr. 7/8 from Snow Lake, Manitoba are reading a book called “Half Brother” by Kenneth Oppel. It is about a 13 year old boy moving from Ontario all the way out to British Columbia, so his dad could do an experiment to see if chimps could learn how to use American sign language. Ben and his family get a new born chimp and they call him Zan. At first Ben thinks of Zan as just a pet. Then as the story goes on Zan grows on him and he starts to think of him like a brother. Ben decides to go see a lecture about animal testing and how it is wrong. I am going to tell you how I feel about animal testing.

cc licensed ( BY NC ND ) flickr photo shared by AIBakker

I think animal testing is a bad thing.First of all can you imagine if you were that animal that is tested on and could never be free. All the pain and suffering they go through just to die after they are done testing on them, it is so cruel. Also animals aren’t exactly the same as us. We are different in many ways from each other.If the product that they test on them works it doesn’t mean it will work on a human. Such as if you have a cure for some type of a disease and it works on a chimp it might not work on a human, it maybe even make it worse.Next time you take some medicine or put on some make up think of all of the animals that die so you could have that. What would you do if your dog, cat, or bird was tested on?

 

My Brother From Another Species

My class of Gr. 7/8 in Wingham, Ontario and another class from Snow Lake, Manitoba are reading a book called “Half Brother” by Kenneth Oppel. It is about a boy named Ben moving to B.C. for his dad to do a project to teach a chimp sign language. It made a text to self connection to this book. In the book Ben and Ben’s mom named Sarah stood up to  Ben’s dad named Richard to have Peter a college student on the team. This is like when my brother and sister stood up to me to give back Cayden’s video games.

                                                              cc licensed ( BY ND )  flickr photo shared by Tambako the Jaguar

Funniest Christmas Ever

There is a funny thing that happened to me around Christmas time. It was Christmas morning 3 years ago. My brother and I woke up at 6:00 am. We ran to my sister’s room to wake her up to go see what we got. Then we went in to my Mom and Matt’s room to ask if we could go down the stairs. They said “Yes” but, we could not open anything in till they got up. So we rushed down the stairs but half way down my brother slipped and went flying down the stairs. He slid down on his back and then hit the ground. He was crying because it scared him. Then he seen that he got a big toy John Deer Tractor for Christmas and then he stopped. He was so happy he forgot about that he  fell. Even though he fell he still thought it was the best Christmas ever.

moyogo

Saving The Polar Bears

In a small town called Churchill.  Located in northern Manitoba on the shore of Hudson Bay. There is one thing that is special about this town. It is that they have a large population of polar bears. But that population is dropping. Why is this happening? Well it is because the sea ice is melting in the Arctic. When there is no sea ice the polar bears can’t hunt for seal so they are starving to death. The reason the sea ice is melting is global warming. Who’s fault is global warming? Well that is easy, it is us. We are the reason they are dieing and we are the ones that can help.I created a Glogsterto summarize my research.What my class did to help the poor things are to adopt one. Well not like adopting a dog or cat that you can bring home because i don’t thing it is legal to have a pet polar bear. But to send money to help them survive. We had a class fundraiser. Everyone was bringing money for the polar bears. Some brought  $20 all they way to $1. What every we could spare, we brought.

 

amckiel
This experience was very heart warming knowing that you are making a difference to someone or something in the world. Maybe next year when I am in high school the Gr. 7’s will do some other fundraiser for an other animal on the other side of the world like penguins. I feel good and my class feels good about what we did for the polar bears.