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Biography of Katherine Drexel
Science: Ducks & Their Eggs
Health: The Dangers of Drugs
In 1858, she was born to one of the richest families in the country. Her parents taught her to share what she had with others. Her parents were a good example by giving money to the poor and letting the poor come into their house three times a week to get clothes, food and whatever they needed.
As Katherine grew up she decided she wanted to help the Native Americans and the African Americans who had just been freed from slavery. After many years of praying, she decided to become a nun at 31 years old. She started her own group of nuns which she sent off to the reservations to build schools and teach the Native American people. She also sent some nuns to the South to teach the African American children. This wasn't a popular thing to do back then and she and her nuns had to be very brave. Katherine was undaunted by the people who tried to stop her.
She and her nuns built over 150 schools for Native and African Americans. Meanwhile, she was giving away all the money she was getting from her inheritance. She believed in not wasting things and recycled a lot of things. She died when she was 96 years old!
Since she was such a great woman, we should try to be like her, too. We should help people who are in need and do what is right even if it's not popular.
*A duck's nest is very well made. She lines it with grass and feathers that she plucks from her chest.
*The mother Mallard will lay 10 - 12 eggs in the nest.
*The mother duck will usually lay only one egg per day.
*The mother duck doesn't sit on her eggs until she has laid them all so that they all hatch at about the same time.
*Once you start warming the egg (incubating) it, you cannot stop or you can harm the growing duckling.
*A duck egg has to be kept at about 99 degrees Fahrenheit.
We kept our egg between 99 and 100 degrees Fahrenheit by putting it in a box with a heating pad and lots of towels on top. We called The Aark Wildlife Rehabilitation center to see if they had an incubator that we could bring the egg to. The wildlife specialist there told us that we probably did not have an egg with a duckling in it. She said that sometimes a young duck will "drop" an unfertilized egg before she is ready to lay her clutch. After warming it for a few days, we "candled" it by putting a strong light behind it. There was nothing inside growing, so we knew we had an unfertilized egg. We took the egg down the creek to the edge of the woods so that it could be food for other wildlife.
Taking drugs can affect your brain. Taking drugs can confuse and trick your brain making you not make good choices. Your brain is not thinking clearly so you do not make good decisions. Taking drugs can make your brain not concentrate and focus so that you don't learn as much. If you use drugs even once the drugs can permanently shut down parts of your brain. The part of your brain that controls your heart beat or breathing can shut down, in which case you die! Taking drugs can do a large amount of damage to your brain.
Smoking and taking drugs can hurt your body. When you smoke, tar from the cigarette clogs your lungs. You can die from smoking. Drugs can do permanent damage to your kidneys, liver, muscles and eyes. Taking drugs can also make your bones become weak and make them crumble. Drugs can also stop your bones from growing. Many parts of you body can get hurt by taking drugs.
You can also hurt your friends and family by taking drugs. If you drink and then drive you might crash and hurt or even kill yourself, your friends or family. That's not the only way to hurt other people. Taking drugs can also make you do unsmart things like start a fight with somebody. Since taking drugs affects how you make decisions, you can make your parents embarrassed because it may look like they didn't teach you anything. When you take drugs, you make your friends and family worry about you. You can hurt a lot of people by taking drugs.
Now that you see how dangerous drugs are you should never take them! Drugs hurt many parts of your body including your very important brain. You can also hurt the people around you like your friends and family. If anyone offers you drugs, cigarettes, or alcohol say, "No Way!" After you do that, you should tell your parents what happened. Remember that taking drugs in not smart or cool at all!