Today I went door to door around my neighborhood selling my book.  I sold 22 books in about 3 hours, for a total of $111 profit for the Stone Zoo.  That's $37/hour! One house had a very friendly lab dog, who grabbed my purse full of change and ran off with it.  Luckily, the dog grabbed a stick to play fetch, and dropped my purse.  I met lots of other dogs too.  I can't wait to go door to door again.

Today I went to the Winchester Library to donate my book.  I was lucky because this summer the library will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of their R.O.A.R. program.  The theme will be books about cats.  My book has 2 cats in it, a jaguar and a cougar!  They said they're going to use my book and may even order some copies of the book to use as prizes.

Today’s Ipswich class was about pond life.  First I studied the habitat and my teacher pointed out that there was a big beaver lodge in the middle of the pond.  When we were done observing the habitat, I went to the edge of the water and used a strainer and tried to catch some pond life (I called them critters).  The first critter I found was a damselfly larvae.  The other critter I found was an amphipod.  My class found a lot of different types of critters, including a giant water beetle and a crayfish.  I had fun at my pond life class.

This morning, I went to my first homeschool class at the MassAudubon Ipswich Wildlife Sanctuary.  The class is on journaling.  Each class we’re going to go to a different habitat and write in our journals about it.  This class was all about fields and the insects that can be found in them.  First, I went in the barn and made a collage by cutting out little pictures from magazines.  Next, the teachers explained why the field was a great place to spot bugs.  One reason is because fields don’t have many trees to give shade so there’s lots of light.  Some bugs really like light.  Then we went to the field and Andrew, one of my teachers, handed out nets and jars to help catch bugs.  First, I used a net.  I caught a moth with it but it got away.  Then I traded my net in for a jar.  I caught ten or more field crickets!  One time I caught two of them at once!  I also caught a thin green grasshopper.  We also had to pick our favorite plant so we could press it.  I chose a pink clover with white tips.  I’m surprised that I liked the class, because I don’t normally like bugs.  But these bugs were very interesting.  I loved class!  I wonder what habitat we will go to next week and what we will learn about.

Today my dad found an injured robin on the ground.  It was limping and it couldn't fly.  He brought the robin in the kitchen to protect it.  My dog Karma was trying to sniff the robin, so my dad put it in a box with holes.  We took the robin to an animal hospital, where I met a parrot that could copy words I said!  Unfortunately, they had to euthanize the robin.  I wonder how it got injured?

Today I went to Belle Isle Salt Marsh for aquarium class.  First I went to an observation tower.  I saw Tree Swallows and some Barn Swallows too.  Then on the way to the mud I saw a Northern Mockingbird, he was imitating all kinds of sounds.  When I got into the mud I realized that it was like quicksand because I sank very quickly.  People’s shoes got stuck in the mud.  One person found a horseshoe crab molt.  Other people found hermit crabs deep in the mud.  And other people found jellyfish and picked them up, because they couldn’t sting.  The teachers also searched for snails.  I got mud all over me!  But some people were even muddier than I was.  It was a fun trip.

This year I got to work on an independent project with my zoo teacher, Nancy.  I designed and built a model habitat for Golden Lion Tamarins.  Today, I went to the Stone Zoo and gave my “Grand Opening” speech and presented my work.  Nancy put my exhibit on display in the Animal Discovery Center.  It will be there all summer.  Now whenever visitors walk in they will see it!  My sign and blueprints are on display too.  I hope that people love and try to protect these cute creatures after seeing my exhibit.

Today I went to my zoo class on otters.  We learned all about otters.  Their fur is waterproof and they have webbed feet and slender bodies.  They’re great swimmers!  We played a game where we pretended to be otters and had to collect food and try to survive.  I collected 58 of the 60 lbs an adult otter needs to survive for one month in the winter.  We also got to visit the river otter at the zoo and feed her carrots.  She balanced a carrot on her head, because her mouth was full, and swam to shore.  Nancy, my zoo teacher, said the trainers taught her how to do that.  It was really funny.