Dry Dry Deserts

Examples of books made by students in elementary / primary school - grades 1 to 5.

Elementary books

Aloe is kinda like a mix of fern and cactus but it really helps the environment like if you get a cut put aloe on it and if there was no aloe there won’t be as much food for the animals aloe can live everywhere except cold cold cold places like I’m in Pennsylvania and I have one.

Saguaro cactus is one of the tallest cacti. It’s as tall as 60 feet taller than us. It’s roots are really long to absorb more water and it gives shade and homes to many creatures mostly birds .

Nomad travel when resources in the area is almost gone. They travel to a new area like an oasis to find plants and water.

Nomads are people who don’t stay in one place for a while. They are found mostly in deserts they breed animals and sometimes release the animals into the desert so that they are part of the food chain. Nomads travel in caravans (big group of animals ridden by people).

     Nomads live in huts made of dead grass and sticks. There farms are in there camps they grow cactus for water and wheat for food they also breed cattle for food to.

     Food webs are very important to every ecosystem. It’s what holds everything together.  If an animal turned extinct, the whole entire ecosystem will become unhealthy for a long period of time.  If the ecosystem becomes unbalanced, the ecosystem could completely change or disappear.  Animals within an ecosystem want to keep the populations balance. Above, you will see a food web.  Every animal has its part, which helps the others survive.

What is photosynthesis? Photosynthesis is what plants do to get food. Step one, the plants absorb the sun’s rays. Step two, they drink the water that’s in the soil. Third, they breathe in carbon dioxide. Lastly, they mix it up like the ingredients in a recipe and make it into sugar and oxogen . It gives us and animals the oxygen it produces and eats the sugar — not all, just most.

Fun Fact About Plants Not all plants eat sugar — some eat bugs in the rainforest.

     If there were no animals or humans, the plants will die.  If there were no plants, humans and animals will die.

     If it weren’t for photosynthesis, It would not be easy for plants to get food.

     Decomposers are little creatures that eat dead things and turn them into something useful. 

Fungi grow on dead logs, trees, and thing on dirt. Do you wonder why they are eating dead stuff? They are on the ground to eat dead animals or plants. The fungus grows and can take over ants and kill frogs. The fungi includes things like mushrooms, moss, and bacteria. They all break up the dead stuff and turn it into soil for plants to grow if there were no fungus there would be dead things everywhere.

    Snails, you’ve seen them. They eat the dead stuff and turn it to soil. Without them the world would have a lot of dead animals and plants. They have a leg that looks like a like a belly. Did you know they are blind? They use their antennas and touch things to see.

Deserts can be found in Asia, Africa, North America and South America. Most Deserts are found on or next to the equator. The biggest desert is the entire continent of Antarctica. It’s also the coldest desert. The oldest dessert is the Namibian desert, found in Namibia and the hottest desert is the Sahara desert, which is found in the northern part of Africa.

     Threats are everywhere in the desert but people also can cause threats to a desert. Deserts can also be threats.  They can destroy forests, savannas and all other ecosystems when the desert system is broken.

Desertification is caused by people or animals destroying plants in an area. If we do nothing, animals will lose their homes and plants will die even though it takes a long amount of time.  One way to help stop killing plants is don’t pollute.

     Fennec foxes are becoming endangered because humans hunt them for their fur or keep them as pets. If we don’t stop, there will be no fennec foxes, no more bugs and less jackals and eagles in the desert. We can help preserve this system by not hunting them or keeping them as pets.

     The diagram above shows an energy pyramid for a desert ecosystem. All energy starts from the sun. Then, the producers use the energy from the sun during photosynthesis to make sugar. The cactus uses 90% of this energy to grow and make fruits and seeds and heal themselves. The rest of energy is stored for later use. The next layer is primary consumers such as jerboas, goats, and bunnies.  10% of the energy from these is sent to this layer. These animals are almost always herbivores. They use 10% of energy to grow and heal. Moving up the food chain we have the secondary consumers, fennec foxes and eagles. They eat the primary consumers to get energy.  10% of the energy is now their’s. Now for the apex predator.  Some apex predators, such as the jackal and bobcat will eat anything in the pyramid to get its energy.   

    We are going to learn about food chains. They are similar to food webs but smaller. In the diagram above, you will see a food chain. In this diagram you will see a food chain. This is how matter travels in a food chain. Matter is anything that takes up space. If animals invade an ecosystem, they won’t have predators or kill plants or animals or both. 

The atmosphere includes all the air around Earth. It is a shield from radiation and is a blanket that keeps us warm.

Geosphere is solid non living things like rock, dirt, and ores it can also be sand dunes and canyons.

The spheres all work together to create the world. The biosphere makes the animals we see and the tree we see and other plants and us the geoshpere is the solid ground we stand on. The atmshpere is the air we breathe and the hydrosphere is the water we drink.

The hydrosphere is all forms and body’s of water.

The biosphere includes all living things like plants and animals it also includes dead things waste left behind by plants and animals.

     Deserts are the hottest ecosystem on Earth. This ecosystem can also be the coldest. Climate is the weather that occurs over a long period of time. For example, deserts can be sunny, cloudy, hot or cold. One important thing all deserts have in common is they receive less than 10 inches of rain per year. Deserts can get as hot as 52˚C and as cold as -1 Celsius . Droughts are very common in the desert. 

Here is a desert’s surface during a drought.

If you go to the desert and bring grapes this is what could happen because the conditions are so hot and dry.

     Kaiden K was born on December 23rd, 2010 in Pennsylvania. He has 1 brother and 2 pets. He has one cat named Snips and one dog named Cashew. Over the summer, his family visits OCNJ where he likes to swim in the ocean. His family is a group of farmers. His goal is to take over his family farm when he grows up! 

I have used many website’s like ,kiddle , epic, and National geography, deserts, and desert life cycle, a desert habitat, deep in the desert,fennec fox,

Many strange looking or cute creatures live in the desert, like the Fennec fox. When you think of animals in the desert, you think of camels or rattle snakes and lizards. They are still there. But here are a few other animals found in the desert. You might find bobcat, sand cat, jerboa, eagles, and vultures.

Photosynthesis-what plants do to make food

Carbon dioxide-air that we breathe out

Predator-a carnivore that hunts other animals

Carnivores-animal that eats meat

Equator-the middle of the Earth where the sun hits the most

Herbivore-animal that eats plants

Omnivore-animal that eats meat and plants

Oxygen-the air we breathe in

Oasis-a pool of water in the desert

Consumers are very important to ecosystems. They make sure plants don’t take over the ecosystem. There are different types of animals. Herbivores are plant eaters and are usually prey to other animals. Carnivores are meat eaters. They are usually pretorters. Omnivores are both meat and plant eaters. Animals can also be classified into mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish.

     Fennec fox are predators but they are hunted by eagles and jackals.  These cute critters use their ears to keep out the sun and to release heat as well so they don’t get too hot. Fennec foxes eat bugs and jerboas. They are nocturnal but they sometimes come out in the daytime.

Eagles are flying predators that feast on rodents. Don’t let mice outside if they are pets. They are active during the day and they have great eyesight to spot prey. They are also called raptors or birds of prey the will eat any thing smaller than them.

Jerboas, also known as the kangaroo mouse, are very tiny, and they eat only plants, which makes them an herbivore. Their main predators are eagles and fennec fox. These little creatures are fast because they can jump up to six feet off the ground. They can get away fast and are active in both the daytime and night time.

There is something in Death Valley called a salt pan.  It is it a dried  up lake and the salt was left behind.

Plants don’t like salty soil or water. There is a plant called a desert holly, in Death Valley that likes salty soil and salty water. 

Scorpions can glow if you shine an ultraviolet light on them.

The North Pole and the South Pole are deserts.

How Hot you Ask?..................3 Where Are Deserts?...............4 What was That?.......................5 Producers.................................6 Photosynthesis.........................7 Consumers of the Desert........8 Decomposer.............................9 Energy.......................................10 On the Menu.............................11-12 Earths sphere............................13 Threats are Coming..................14 Fact page..................................15 The People.................................16 Glossary......................................17 About the Author.........................18

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