Mosquitoes by Shin

      Today Mosquito School came to Old Adobe School. We learned a lot! I learned about the West Nile Virus, a mosquito’s metamorphosis (egg, larva, pupa, then adult.)  We learned mosquito eaters really don’t eat mosquitoes. We also learned that mosquitoes hatch only in still water. (Mucky water, puddles, ponds and buckets.)   Problems are that they bite people and their population is kind of high. Everybody can save them and avoid them!! Stay Away from the ones that have ‘not so furry antennas’. Note this: THOSE FEMALES BITE! They need your blood to form their eggshells. Female proboscis (mouth or tube) is used for two amazing things. First, they stick their skinny, pointy tube in and make your skin feel numb. Then it makes you blood a little more thinner so it’s easier for it to suck up. It is all in their saliva.

     The males don’t bite because they don’t lay eggs but they do have to eat. Male mosquitoes suck nectar out of flowers. You can tell it’s a male because their antenna is more ‘feathery’. Now you have learned about mosquitoes. Get up on your feet and be brave about mosquitoes. They aren’t just your enemies, but they are also nature.

Run, Water, Run

Run water run,

Through the rivers and down the creeks

And farther until you stop

At the end of the beautiful land

Where the water is shallow

And runs smooth.

Go! Go… faster, faster

Run, swish, pound

Run as fast as the lightning crackles in the sky.

Don’t stop until you get to the beautiful ocean

Where you can swish and pound as much as you wish.

                                                                                         By Justin Toavs