DRP DRP Week 1 I sure wish my

DRP

DRP– Week 1 I sure wish my family could just buy the things we need. But for one thing, there are no stores close by. For another, we don’t have enough money. What I would really like to be able to buy is soap! It takes my mother many days of planning and working to make soap for our family. She saves the wood ashes from the fireplace in a barrel. She also collects the grease and fat from cooking and butchering animals. Then, on the day of soap making, my mother, my sisters, and I spend many hours outdoors making the soap. First, we boil the grease and fat in a large iron kettle. Then, we pour water on the saved ashes. As the water filters down through the ashes, a brown liquid drips out a hole in the bottom of the barrel. This liquid, called lye, is added to the boiling fat. The mixture slowly begins getting thicker. While it is still warm, we pour it into rectangular shaped molds. Mother cuts in into bars with a wire and then leaves the bars to harden. This soap is very caustic on our skin. Do you know what? Sometimes it is fun being a kid. We don’t have to take very many baths.

DRP—Week 2 Hares or rabbits? Rabbits or hares? Are they the same or are they different? There is a difference, and it can be seen at birth. Baby rabbits (called kits or kittens) are born without hair and are blind and helpless. Baby hares (called leverets) begin life with fur and with their eyes open, and they can hop soon after they are born. Also rabbits are usually smaller than hares and have shorter hind legs and ears. You will often find rabbits living in shrubs and tall grass, while hares like open fields. There also some similarities between these two animals. Both animals belong to the same mammal order called Lagomorpha. They can both be found on every continent except Antarctica. They also look very much alike. Rabbits and hares are herbivores. They are both nocturnal animals, sometimes staying up all night to play and eat plants. Neither of them hibernates. They are active all year and must search for food even in the winter. Even the names sometimes get mixed up. The Belgian hare is really a rabbit and the Jackrabbit is really a hare!

DRP—Quiz 1 There is a spot in Arkansas where you can be an authentic prospector and hunt for diamonds or semi-precious stones such as jasper, quartz, amethyst, or agate. Many of these stones are hiding in a field near Murfreesboro, Arkansas, along the banks of the Little Missouri River. Diamonds were first found in this old eroded volcano pipe in 1906. In 1972, the area became part of the Crater of Diamonds State Park. The 37 -acre diamond field is plowed up often to bring up the stones from down below. You usually have to dig for the stones, but you will sometimes find a few lying on top of the ground shining like the sun. The largest diamond ever found there was the 40. 23 carat “Uncle Sam. ” But most people, if they are lucky, find only 2 -to-5 carat semi-precious gems. You can bring your own shovel, or you can rent one there. The greatest thing about this prospecting adventure is you get to keep what you find. Sounds like fun!

DRP—Week 3 What can roar, but can’t purr very well? What cat lives mostly in Africa? What cat has the scientific name of panthera leo? This cat is a lion. Lions are the only members of the cat family that live in family groups called prides. A pride is often made up of twenty to thirty cats, usually related females, young males, and cubs. The pride also has one or more large adult males to protect and defend the group. Each pride has its own home territory. The males guard this home against other prides and animals. The females usually do the hunting, though a female would never hunt unaccompanied. Their favorite prey is antelope and zebra, but they are even powerful enough to bring down a giraffe or a large buffalo. Lions can’t run fast or far, so they must capture their prey by surprise. Hunting at night also helps them. Although the lioness is the one who stalks and kills the food, the male lion claims his share first.

DRP—Week 4 Humorous drawings have been used around the world for thousands of years. The comic strip, on the other hand, began in America. A young artist by the name of Richard Felton Outcault crated “The Yellow Kid” cartoon character which began appearing in the World in 1894. Following in the Kid’s footsteps were the “Katzenjammer Kids” in 1897 and “Mutt and Jeff” in 1908. Soon, funny papers filled with a variety of comic strips began appearing in most city newspapers. But no all comic strips project humor. Some cartoons, such as “Little Orphan Annie” in 1924, “Dick Tracy” in 1931, and “Brenda Star” in 1940, brought mystery and intrigue to the strips. Movies, TV shows, and toys were by-products of other comics such as “Peanuts, ” which started in 1950. Despite TV, video games, and the Internet, comic strips continue to appeal to many people.

DRP– Week 5 Alaska, which became America’s forty-ninth state in 1959, was purchased from Russia in 1867 for $7, 200, 000. This mountainous, volcanic territory was originally called Russian America before being renamed. Being almost twice the size of Texas, it is the largest state and the most difficult to traverse. Having very few major roads, the chief most of transportation is small plane or snowmobile. In recent times more vehicles such as SUVs and RVs can be seen traveling on the oftentimes dirt or gravel roads. The southern mountains and wilderness areas are favorite destinations for tourists. For many years Native Americans, Aleut, and Inuit people populated this vast land. In the late 1800 s, when gold was discovered, people from the lower forty-eight began settling in Alaska. Today Alaska’s economy is built around tourists, oil, metals, natural gas, coal, forestry, agriculture, and fishing. Alaska can still be called Americas last frontier on Earth.

DRP– Week 6 The year 2089 has been a good one for the Barber family. They have been living at the new settlement on Earth’s moon since last January. It has been hard getting used to the barren look of the terrain. The kids, Jordan and Devin, miss their old friends on Earth, but they have made some new ones among the other families living nearby. Dr. Barber keeps busy setting up and conducting experiments at the lab. Mrs. Barber works in the medical clinic trying to keep people healthy in this harsh environment. The kids have daily lessons to do on their visual screens. This is also their way of keeping connected to their friends and family back on Earth. All of the homes and other buildings in Lunar Settlement are built underground. Oxygen is made and piped into the buildings. Tunnels, with moving sidewalks, connect all the buildings so the occupants can easily move 4 around. A special system also helps maintain a form of gravity. Everyone hopes houses can someday be built on the surface so they don’t have to live like moles anymore.