UPDATES FROM CLASSTOPIA'S HELP DEPARTMENT

Updates from Help Department
We are the HD and we are back at it again with another blog in Classtopia.  Our job has gotten a little easier because many of our citizens have learned so much about technology. When we first started, we had to help with everything. Now things look better. So we are not helping as much with the little details of signing into our accounts and all the basic stuff. Because Classtopians are starting to be more independent with their work, they need different kinds of help. Now we are helping with uploading and downloading pictures.

Although we still have problems with our handy dandy technology, we still can depend on them to save the day. Some days we have no technology to use, other days it is late, or the internet is down. On days when we have no tech we have to share the three computers in the room.

We have a slight change in our nation. Now we have to finish our work in the class before we help the Citizens. We can help ourselves by completing what we have to do first. This way we are not behind in our work. After that we are able to work with someone else who may need a lot of help. Yes, we still have citizens who are not yet advance with their computer abilities. But, we hope that we will be able to help them learn some new tech skills.

If you are wondering how much help we give Classtopians with their class work, I can tell you that our job is to help them with technology within the classroom. Then, if they need help with their work we can try to help them understand what they have to do. 

This is the Classtopians using technology in our

computer lab at our school.

Plants For The Shady Areas

                                                 

       

                           

 All plants have their own needs. Just like people, they need different conditions to thrive. Some plants like it warm and hot, and some like it cool and cold. No matter what the conditions are, there is a place in the garden for all kinds of plants. If you have a shady garden and don’t know what plants are fine in shade here are some of the plants that are good for shady gardens...

Before I begin let me tell you what shady means shady just means that your plants need less than 3 hours of sun each day. And the best 3 hours are in the morning. In California this means  that it will be on the north side of your house.

Primula (Primrose):  Primrose are found in Britain, Ireland, and also most of Southern Europe. Primrose are easy to grow if you provide the two things which are shade and moist soil. Primrose come in different colors and they will make your garden beautiful.

Clivia: Clivia miniata come from South Africa. Two common names for a Clivia are Natal Lily or Bush Lily. These plants grow better in low light which is shade. Clivia come in many colors from orange to yellow. Most people have the orange ones.

Marantas: Marantas come from Brazil. The common name of this plant is prayer plant because at night they fold their leaves up and it looks like it is praying.

Hoya: Hoya flowers come from India, China, and Thailand. Some Hoya's are epiphytic which means they grow on trees. The flowers look like decorations for a cake.

Japanese Aucuba: This plant comes from China, Korea, and Japan. The Japanese Aucuba is a shrub. This means that it does not grow into a big tree. Two of it’s common names are spotted laurel and gold dust plant. The flowers from this plant are very small.

Begonia: Begonias come from tropical climates. They are found in cool climates. Begonia can come from South and central America, from Southeast Asia, and also in Africa. Some begonia are epiphytic, and grow on trees. They mostly have pink flowers. Some have white or red. A few from Africa have yellow flowers. Begonia have lots of different needs because of where they come from. Most of them are easy to grow from leaves.

Impatiens: Impatiens are the most common garden plant for the shade. They come from many different places around the world. They are fun to grow because they have seeds that pop and spread all over the garden. Impatiens flower from early summer until early winter.

Tradescantia: Tradescantia come from Southern Canada to Northern Argentina. This Tradescantia is called Zebrina. These plants are usually found in the woods because they need some shade. Even though they need shade when they get more light they get a prettier color. There are many different kinds of tradescantia, but they all have the same kind of flowers.

Ferns: The scientific name of this plant is Asplenium bulbiferum. This plant comes from Costa Rica and North America. Some ferns can be found in dry and cold places. Ferns make excellent shade plants and are beautiful in a tropical garden. This is a great fern because it makes little babies on the tips of the fronds.

Scadoxus:  Scadoxus are found in Central Africa in Uganda and in the Belgian Congo. They come mostly from Southern African and one special one comes from Ethiopia. And that one is an epiphyte. Scadoxus are best when you put them in moist soil so if you have a Scadoxus, water it a lot when it is growing.

Hippeastrum papilio: This plant is a plant from Brazil and it is epiphytic so it grows on trees. It is the most beautiful plant in a shade garden.

Philodendron: Philodendron comes from tropical places. They have beautiful leaves that are both large and small. One of them has edible fruits.

So now you know some plants that are good for a shady garden and I hope you can take care of your garden and put the right plants in it.

Beastie, My Best Bearded Buddy

                                  

My name is Kylie and this is my best friend, that is reptile friend, Beastie. She is a  Bearded Dragon. I got her last July as a family pet. Before that I had a lizard that I found at the park close to my house. That lizard lived for two years at my house. I took care of it until one day we found the cage open and it wasn’t there. I cried so much that my mom decided to get another one.

This one is so much fancier that the one from the park.

Let me tell you a little about these incredible creatures. 

They are not scary at all.  Bearded Dragons are friendly creatures, but they can become aggressive if you don’t take them out to play. They need exercise just like we do. As babies they are the size of a kindergartener’s middle finger. I know this because I used my little cousin's finger to measure Beastie when we first got her. She will one day grow up to be about 2 feet long. When she gets to be that long I will also be a lot older than I am now and will be able to handle her. Bearded Dragons can live up to 15 or 20 years. So when she  is 20 I will be 29 and she will live with me.

Wow! Cool right?

This is how I take care of her. Every morning before I go to school I feed her fruits and veggies. When I get home from school, the first thing I do is check on her to make sure she is okay. I do my homework and then it’s time to spend some time with Beastie. Because she eats fruits and veggies the morning, she needs to get something else in the evenings. So she gets a nice meal of crickets around 5 or 6 pm.  When she  grows bigger I will be able to feed her mice and worms.

Bath time for Beastie is once a week. I use the swimming pool from my doll house. I put some warm water up to her knuckles and put her in. Then I get a toothbrush and scrub her body.

I do not use soap. Soap and dragon don’t mix. They will get sick.

Bearded Dragons need to be in the sun for 12 hours a day. Before, we used to put her outside to get sun. Then my mom bought a special lamp that is like the sun. This gives her all the warmth she needs. 

When Beastie is about to shed her skin her eyes swell up. This also could mean that she is sick. I have to check her everyday to make sure that she is fine.  Another way to tell that they’re about to shed is their skin will be a grayish color. Other sign that I have to check for is when she is too hot, she opens her mouth for a long time until she cools down.

For now, she lives alone with us and she is very happy. I take good care of her and hope that she will live to be 20 years or more. Maybe one day she will find a friend and will have little Beasties. Then, I will share them with others and keep some. This will be like Charlotte in the story Charlotte’s Web, one of my favorite books.  

Below are picture of Beastie.                        

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Plants and Pet Saftey

Cats and dogs are the most common pets that people have at home. Plants are also all around us. I would like to have a dog of my own. I have already asked my parents for a dog, but they said no, because our neighbors don’t approve of a dog barking constantly. But if I did have a pet, I know that I would always want it to be safe. So this is the reason I am writing about pet safety. Maybe my parents will see how responsible I am. 

This is Adrian's cat, Luna. 

This is a picture of Isael's dog Bella.
So if you have a pet that you really love, and want to make sure that it doesn’t touch or eat a plant that is poisonous to it, well then you should read this small list of some toxic plants....

Dogs and Cats

Even though Aloe vera can help heal burns, it will cause your dog to vomit, to have diarrhea, and it’s urine will change color.

                                                                                                        This an Aloe vera plant in a pot at our school. It is about to flower, and it will attract humming birds.

Baby’s Breath may seem cute, but if you don’t want your pet to have diarrhea and vomit, then it’s best to keep Baby’s Breath away from your pet.

Begonias are usually in gardens, and will cause harm to pets. It will cause oral irritation, intense burning and irritation of mouth, tongue and lips, a lot of drooling, vomiting, and difficulty in swallowing.

 









 This Begonia grows at our school in our garden.

Daffodil plants have toxic bulbs that can cause vomiting, diarrhea, and low blood pressure.

Gladiolas cause vomiting, drooling, and diarrhea.

Lilies are only toxic to cats, not dogs. It will cause kidney failure.

Although Milkweed are good for monarch butterflies, it is not good for cats and dogs. It will cause them vomiting, weakness, diarrhea, difficulty in breathing, weak pulse, kidney and liver failure, coma, and DEATH. So make sure that your dog or cat does not go near it!!!

This Milkweed grows in the front of our school to attract Monarch Butterflies.

So now you know some plants that your cat or dog should not go near. Take care of your pet!

Tips and Guides to Pokemon Go

Pokemon GO is about catching little  monsters called Pokemon. These Pokemon are anywhere in the world. So if you live in Los Angeles, you can find them around the city. But you can not catch every Pokemon in one place, some rare Pokemon only live in one place. To play this game you need a mobile device like an IPhone.

It is a game that makes you active, this means you have to walk around or run around to find the Pokemon. To catch Pokemon, you have to swipe up to throw Pokeballs. Pokeballs are balls that you throw at the Pokemon to catch them.  Sometimes you can miss and they are not captured. Then you have to try again.  But a Pokemon has a chance to run away if you do not catch it. If you see a circle on the Pokemon’s face getting smaller, that is it’s catch rate. When that happens it gets smaller and you throw it at the Pokemon, you get more XP (experience) and you have more of a chance to catch it.

When you are walking around and you see a blue stick with a picture of a Pokeball. That is a Pokestop. What they do is when you tap on them it will show you where it is in a circle, then what you can do is spin it  and it will give you Pokeballs, potions, revives, lure modules, incense, razz berries, and eggs. When the Pokestop turns purple that means you already used it, then you have to wait till it turns back to blue.

There is different types of Pokeballs and they are they Pokeball, Great ball, and Ultra ball. There is different types of Pokemon and they are Water, Fire, Ghost, Bug, Grass, Fairy, Dark, Fighting, Psychic, Rock, Ground, Poison, Normal, Ice, Dragon, and Lightning. Pokemon can evolve into stronger Pokemon and this is called evolutions. But to evolve your Pokemon you will need to get that Pokemon's candy and there is three ways to get that Pokemon’s candy and those three ways are eggs, catching, and buddies but when you catch that Pokemon you get three candy’s, also to access the eggs you need to go to your Pokemon, then swipe left and you are at the eggs, the candies depend on how much your egg needs you to walk like with a ten kilometer you are going to have to walk a lot in order to get a lot of candy but there is also two more kinds of eggs and they are two kilometer and five kilometer. When the egg is finished it will show you the egg. You need to tap on the egg and it will show you the Pokemon, how much XP you got, and how much candy you got.

To access the buddy you have to press on your character at the bottom left, then press the three lines, then press buddy, and then you can choose your Pokemon as your buddy but to get candies for your buddy you have to walk.

The whole reason to get strong Pokemon is for gyms, gyms are places where you can fight other Pokemon, earn Poke coins, and claim the gym. The teams of gyms are team Valor, Mystic, and team Instinct. You get to pick your team when you are level five.

When you catch a new Pokemon it gets transferred to your Pokedex. A Pokedex shows you which Pokemon you've caught and which Pokemon you have seen.

The object of the game is to get as many Pokemon as you can and get to know new place in your city or town. The best way to get the rare ones is while you are on vacation in a foreign place.

Safety

THE MOST IMPORTANT RULE IN POKEMON GO IS TO BE SAFE while playing Pokemon Go. Many people get in trouble because they go onto people’s property, and they don't pay attention to the road and end up getting hurt. People should not drive while playing. There is a warning if you are going too fast. The game will help you to slow down.

Generation 2

On February 17 new Pokémon arrived. The second generation of Pokémon is now available. We were told on YouTube that more Pokémon were coming. There are now 80 more Pokèmon added to the Pokedex. The new starter Pokémon that were added was Totodile, Cyndaquil, and Chikorita.

This is a Pokemon called Growlithe

on the bottom left is a Pokeball.

This is me and my buddy Squirtle

These are the eggs

This is the pokedex

This is the map

Screenshot from Adrian's game
Help from Luisangel