Climate Change Blog Post - Science

🅲🅻🅸🅼🅰🆃🅴 🅲🅷🅰🅽🅶🅴

Currently, in Science, we are learning about Climate Change. 

What Is The Green House Effect?

The greenhouse effect is one of the reasons the earth's worldwide climate is rising (global warming). Usually, solar radiation comes through the atmosphere and some of it is absorbed by the earth's surface. And then the solar radiation is reflected from the surface and atmosphere. But, greenhouse gases can prevent this. While most of the solar radiation is reflected, some of it is reflected back to earth and bounces back and forth between the surface and the greenhouse gases. Kind of like a game of ping pong. Except for this ping pong continuously heats up the earth's surface when it is absorbed.

Effects Of Global Warming

• Disease- Disease may spread because certain pests and bacteria can survive hot, wet temperatures.
• Weather Patterns- Seasonal and regional weather patterns could change dramatically. There could be more and more frequent and stronger cyclones, storms, and rain.
• Seal-level Rise- Towns on the coast would be in grave danger. They'd go from being suburbs to swamps. Roads and railways would be flooded.
• Rainfall- Intense rainfall could lead to flooding of rivers and streams, maybe even flash floods.
• Agriculture- Certain areas may not be able to grow individual crops. 

What Is The Solution?

Biofuels. The way we can use biomass to fuel cars, rather than actual fuel. Biofuels is an organic type of fuel we can make- which is a lot quicker than the slow geological formation of fossil fuels like oil and fuel. 

Planning Card - Social Studies

Lawless Behaviour

State your point

In this paragraph, I am trying to prove that a treaty was needed to give rules and laws around certain things in New Zealand. If not, things would have gotten really messy.

Why your point matters

The point is important because they were trading and there was prostitution, etc. They needed to enforce laws so this would stop, although not everyone would listen.

What evidence/facts am I going to use to support my point?

For example,

• Prostitution
• Trading
• They drank profusely, 300 sailors 12 ships at a time

Sum up your point

The lawless behaviours needed to be addressed and that's what the treaty did.

Maori Rights & The Missionaries 

State your point

In this paragraph, I am trying to prove that they needed the treaty to help them protect the Maori rights, to prevent more killing and support them with purchasing things such as land.

Why your point matters

The point is important because without the treaty it would allow more slaughter, leading to the Maori population dropping and more Europeans/missionaries would take over.

What evidence/facts am I going to use to support my point?

For example,

• More killing= population change
• Maori rights unprotected
• Maori land is lost due to Europeans

Musket Wars

State your point

In this paragraph, I am trying to prove that they needed the treaty to stop/prevent musket wars and find a better way to trade/not trade at all. 

Why your point matters

The impact/effect of all of this is because it started out as trading food and land for muskets and then it evolved into wars- considering the musket war.

Declaration of Independence

Open with your question

In this paragraph, I am going to answer what the declaration of independence is and what it did for New Zealand.

Answer your question

Interestingly, it was needed to be signed by 34 chiefs, specifically the north island, and it earned us a flag.

What evidence/facts am I going to use to support my point?

The flag, and the peace between other countries.

Why my point matters

Because it started us off and now here we are. Our own flag, we're a developed country, etc.

___________________________________________________________________

My Social Studies Essay

Why Was A Treaty Needed In New Zealand?

In 1830 there were approximately 100,000 Māori and 200 Europeans living in New Zealand. The behaviour of the Whalers, the Missionaries’ desire to help protect Māori rights and the Musket Wars were reasons that a treaty was needed. The Declaration of Independence was another contributing factor to the need for a treaty.

A reason a treaty was needed was the lawless behaviour of some of the British settlers- like whalers. Although there were a few French, American, and Australian settlers, British settlers were the majority. Considering they were at sea for months at a time, once they arrived ashore at port Kororāreka, they let loose and were unquestionably reckless. Most of the time there were around 300 different Europeans from 12 different boats in one place at a time. They got drunk, fought, diseases were spread, and prostitution was also involved- meaning pakeha had their way with young Māori women. Kororāreka was now known as ‘the hell-hole of the Pacific.’ While all of this chaos and recklessness occurred, local Māori was trading with pakeha. They traded things like food and land for jobs on their boats where they could sail the seas. Within the span of 10 years, several whaling stations were set up around Aotearoa. For these stations to be located, the whalers had to have permission from the Māori, so they came to terms. Young Māori women were arranged to marry whalers. 

Besides the whalers and their irresponsible ways, another reason a treaty was needed was to protect Māori rights. One group that felt strongly about this was the missionaries. The relationship between missionaries and Māori was superb. Without this special ‘bond’ between the two, things would be very different. Missionaries also taught Māori a number of things such as religion, farming, the British ‘way of life’, and writing and reading in Māori. Māori became very worried about the constant prostitution, spreading diseases, whaler recklessness, and the thousands of deaths caused by the Musket Wars. Missionaries were also concerned, but they focused on how much land Māori was losing and the affect it would have on the Māori. They even bought a few big land plots for them. The relationship was very influential towards signing the treaty since missionaries supported it. Hundreds of Māori were encouraged and agreed to sign.

Furthermore, off the topic of Maori rights, a treaty was also needed to prevent/stop the 19th-century Musket Wars. Before muskets were introduced, Māori fought wars with traditional weapons. Pakeha traded with the Māori, they exchanged muskets for large amounts of food, flax and sometimes land. Now that a lot of the Māori society had muskets, that lead to war. It was either over self-defence or revenge. Either way, massacres still took place. It is believed that approximately 20,000 people were slaughtered due to these wars. It first started out with iwis in the upper north island (Nga Puhi- who were the first to gain muskets) and they slowly made their way down to the lower north island and upper south island causing wars all the while. This forced the iwis without muskets to trade with pakeha so they could stay safe. 

Lastly, the treaty was needed so the Declaration of Independence could take place. On the 28th of October 1835 to be specific. New Zealand did not have a flag yet, which meant that they couldn’t trade very fairly. Chiefs didn’t even have authority over big groups of people, the ‘iwis’ were basically small extended families- which they kind of are. The Declaration was signed in the home of James Busby. He was sent here because 13 rangatiras had written to the king and requested protection from other countries. Once James Busby was here, he decided a flag would help other countries respect New Zealand (New Zealand couldn’t trade because their ships and wakas were being seized by Australian customs for not sailing under a flag). So, Busby invited 25 rangatiras to choose a flag, which they did. And then, on the 28th of October 1835, the Declaration of Independence was signed by 34 northern chiefs. Signatures continued to be added until 1839 when there was a total of 52 signatures. The Declaration was signed in agreement that Māori would still have mana over Aotearoa, New Zealand would still be an independent country, there would be annual meetings where they would solidify laws, and that they would send a copy of the Declaration to the king.

In conclusion, there were many different reasons why the treaty and Declaration of Independence were needed. Without these two agreements, New Zealand wouldn’t be how it is today. Wars would still be at large and the behaviour of everyone would be appalling. We wouldn’t have laws, we wouldn’t have been able to trade, and instead of just Kororāreka being known as a hell-hole, all of New Zealand would be. I’m thankful our ancestors took the step and made Aotearoa a better, beautiful country.

Music - All You Need To Know About Composition

COMPOSITION

What is Composition?

'A creative work, especially a poem or piece of music.'

What style of composition have you chosen to do and why?

We chose to make a horror video where our teammate becomes possessed. 

What ideas do you have so far and what do you need to work on?

Tanaya and her friend Taianu are sitting around talking when Tanaya gets a feeling like someone is watching her, also she hears faint whispers in her ear. Then she runs off to the bathroom where she looks in the mirror... and becomes possessed. She comes back out and Taianu notices the sudden change in her behaviour. She gets creeped out and runs away. Tanaya follows Taianu around and keeps scaring her. Then... Taianu 'kills her'. At least she thinks she has. At the end we see Tanaya in the mirror come up behind Taianu and scare her once more. 

We've gotten the idea of the video, we've filmed it, and now we need to find a reasonable app which we could add it together. And considering we're in music, we need to add some eery music.

Rock Cycle - Science

Rock Cycle

Volcanoes - Science

Currently, we are learning about volcanoes in Science. We've done a lot of research on our blog topic which was to choose a volcano (worldwide) and learn about it. I chose...

Mount St. Helens

How do they form?

Volcanoes are formed when magma rises up from the mantle and reaches the earth's surface. Eventually, the magma (turned lava) will cool down and turn back to rock. It will continue this process and over time, so much rock would have hardened itself to form the mountain of the volcano.

Where is it located?

Washington, USA.

When did it last erupt?

10 July 2008 

How much damage was caused?

In 1980, a chunk in the side of the mountain collapsed, 57 people died, thousands of animals died, more than 200 homes were destroyed, 297 km of road and 24 km of railways were covered. But in 2008, there wasn't as much damage. 

Not too long ago, we chose our teammate's mountain (Mauna Loa) and created it out of 'paper mache'. We needed 4 spatulas of potassium iodide in 20ml of water, 35% of hydrogen peroxide, dishwashing liquid, green food clouring, and gold glitter. Reaction:  H₂O_2 ---> H₂O + O₂ 

Here's the video of our volcano erupting:

E-asTTle Practice Writing - Persuasive - English

For the past few English lessons, we've been practising our E-asTTle writing skills. Below are some things I could improve to the text I've written.

I am aiming to improve my writing in the following 3 areas: -Organisation: - Structure & Language - Ideas

I will do this by:

Organisation: I need to improve the flow from one paragraph to the next. My paragraphs don't exactly fit together nicely, I just changed the idea for each paragraph. That's not necessarily a bad thing, I just need to find a way to improve. Structure & Language: I don't think I did too bad on this one, except I could probably throw a few more rhetorical questions in there, also express my opinion a little more so the topic of the text is clearly shown many times throughout the writing.

Ideas: Towards the end, I think it related to the wider world and my ideas had been elaborated on. But, the relation to the wider world isn't very strong and could be a little more sturdy. My ideas weren't very philosophical, so I should improve this too.

Changes:

Scientists Should Not Be Allowed To Test Drugs, Chemicals, Or Cosmetics On Animals

Firstly, I unmistakably agree with the question. Animals should not be used as test subjects. People argue that animals should be used for product testing because how else would we know if the product could injure us? And then there are others who disagree with these people and think animals should not be test subjects. Do you think scientists should be allowed to carry out these experiments?

I, of course, think they shouldn't. There are various different animals used for scientific, chemical, cosmetic, and drug products/research such as; fish, rats, guinea pigs, rabbits, birds, and more. They use animals because they’re not considered ‘human’ and can’t talk back to refuse. This is also a reason why people think animals should not be used for testing- because of the fact they can’t talk and defend themselves.

That reason specifically is why I think animals should not be used for tests. They can’t defend themselves from the pain scientists cause. Just because they are not human, it doesn’t eliminate their sensations of pain. When they are tested, they’re put in harm's way. The products used on the animals could very well be (and usually is) toxic or lethal. Here’s a frightful fact; did you know over 100 million animals are crippled, abused, poisoned and killed in US labs alone each year?

Aside from the obvious abuse, another reason, 92% of most drugs tested safe on the animals are not always safe for humans considering our different DNA. While they were perfecting the ‘safe’ product, I’m sure many animals perished for no reason because, in the end, we can’t even use the product. 

I don’t think animals should be used as test subjects anymore. It could cause a lot of species to become extinct. Before we know it, animals won’t inhabit earth anymore and there’ll be only us. We need animals more than they need us, so we should start treating them with respect instead of sickening lab experiments. So, what do you think?

(Key: Unchanged text: This Changed text: This)

Physical Education - Gymnastic Sequences

In P.E, we've been learning gymnastic sequences.
Below are three sequences I've attempted. The beam, floor, and trampoline. The beam sequence needed to have four dip walks, a cat leap, a pivot turn, and a tuck jump dismount. The floor sequence needed a forward roll, a half turn, a backward roll, and a cartwheel. And the trampoline sequence needed 10 controlled bounces, a seat drop, a half turn, a tuck jump, another half turn, and another seat drop.

I've definitely got a lot of things to work on such as completing the sequences without any stops in the middle, improving my cat leap because that was a pretty pathetic 'leap', and getting a higher bounce for the tuck jump. I think I did my cartwheel quite well considering I haven't done one in yonks.

Pad Thai - Home Economics

The practical on Friday was to make Pad Thai.

Skills with the team
We all pitched in an helped make the Pad Thai, we did almost mess up... badly, but we saved the dish.
Improvements
Next time we need to keep an eye on the recipe steps to make sure everything we're doing when we're doing it is right.  
Time management
I think we did a great job with this lesson because we had plenty of time, in the end, to eat our meal before the lesson was over.
Feedback
My teammates said it was quite sweet and we all think the peanuts should've been softened, maybe?
Taste, Texture, Colour
Our dish was sort of sweet, but it still tasted good. It was a nice creamy colour. Although in the pictures it looks quite sloppy, it really wasn't.
Next step for own learning
I should definitely help out with a few tasks and keep an eye on the recipe next time we have a practical.

Land Yacht - Science

Land Yacht

Aim:

To build the fastest land yacht. 

Method:

-Create the paper sail out of 1m paper roll

-Tape cardboard triangles to the sides of the metal rod

-Tape 1m paper roll to cardboard triangles

-Set sail!

Equipment List:

-1m paper roll

-2m tape

-Cardboard square

-Metal Rod

-Trolley

Research:

We searched up photos of what Land Yachts look like so we had an idea of what we were going to build for tomorrow's lesson.

Drawn Plan:

(ignore the doodles)

Result:

Discussion:
V = d / t
= 0.21
Our land yacht went 2 metres in 9.41 seconds (to work out the velocity you need to divide the distance by the time). Our land yacht for the first few seconds was going reasonably fast but then it slowed down.

Conclusion:
We should have definitely gone closer to the starting line while using the leafblower because if we did it might have gone a bit longer before it fell over. It was alright though, I didn't even think it would go 2m. It was fun making it and fun driving it too.

Essay Planning - English - CoBaB

Describe a relationship between 2 or more characters in the text. Explain how this relationship helped you to understand at least 1 of the characters.

My group chose the relationship between Mama Agba and Zélie. It helped us to understand Zélie.
We know now that Zélie needs people for support, she's a learner, and thanks to Mama Agba, she's strong physically and mentally.

Home Economics - Pizza

The practical on Friday was to make Pizza!

Skills with the team
I think we all did really well making our mini pizzas. They turned out quite good if I do say so myself.
Improvements
I think next time we should spread the toppings around a little bit better, just to 'fancy it up'. This lesson went really well, I can't think of anything else.
Time Management
Okay... this lesson was crazy. The whole class finished at record time! Due to our teacher forgetting it was Friday and thinking it was Wednesday, we finished fifteen minutes early! I'd say the whole class managed their time well.
Feedback
This period, I don't think we received much feedback? I could be wrong but I just don't recall getting feedback.
Taste, Texture, Colour
As always, delicious. It balanced itself out. The toppings made it taste juicy, while the yoghurt and flour crust was crisp and as all pizza crusts are, fluffy on the inside. As you can see, the colour of the two on the side are looking a little dark and crispy, so we could have kept an eye on that and turned them in the oven. But nonetheless, they were yum.
Improvements or modifications that can be made
I can't think of any. We had a bunch of choices to pick for our toppings, the yoghurt and flour pizza dough was so good. You couldn't tell the difference from a regular dough.
Next step for own learning
I think next time I'll make sure to help with certain steps in the recipe because I could tell my teammates were struggling a little but I was too focused on another step.

Essay Planning Continued - CoBaB (Children of Blood and Bone)

Essay Planning 

The incident of the festival helped me to understand the idea that violence is wrong and ineffective (in most cases) because usually, it doesn't help the situation at all- it only makes the situation worse. We see this when the narrator writes, 'Please-" Zu steps forward. "Don't move!" the commander shouts back, pulling out his sword. "Search us if you must," Zu responds. "We will agree to an examination. But please, lower your weapons." She raises her hands in surrender. "I don't want anyone to get hur-" It happens so fast. Too fast. One moment Zu stands. The next, an arrow pierces through her gut.'

For absolutely no reason- they shot an arrow through Zulaikha's stomach for no reason at all. She was raising her arms in surrender, she was just a child, what could a girl of her age do to an army of fully grown adults armed with many weapons. Even her magic couldn't do much harm. They didn't stop there either. The continued to slaughter men, women, and children. War was caused by the guard's hands'- a war that didn't need to take place. A war the guards could've prevented.

Furthermore, the incident of the festival helped me to understand the idea that violence is wrong and ineffective (in most cases) because it is! It is so wrong, so many people died and so many people were angered. We see this when the narrator writes, 'He punches his fist forward. Streams of fire crash through the settlement in smouldering waves. The flames incinerate everything in their path, blazing through the guards, destroying the camp. The stench of burning flesh fills the air, mixed with the scent of blood. Death strikes so quickly, soldiers don't even have a chance to scream.'

Kwame was so angered at the fact that so many of his people were murdered by the guards. He used blood magic to try to stop them but his sacrifice only stalled the massacre and Zélie was still taken.

English - Children of Blood and Bone - Most Important

What is going to be my 'key event'?
My key event is going to be the solstice, we think the solstice is what the story was building up to and what was going to determine whether or not magic could be brought back so therefore, the solstice is the most important event in our opinion.

Who is going to be my 'important character'?
My important character is going to be Amari. We chose her because we think she was the one who had the most drastic change and who would be the best to study.

What are 3 ways the character changed as a result of this event?
My character changed from being weak to strong.
My character changed from being a kosidán to maji.
My character changed from being vulnerable and scared to accepting her inner Lionaire.

Home Economics - Sushi

The practical on Friday was to make Sushi Rolls!

Skills with the team
Not just one but all four of us were pretty skilled at rolling the sushi rolls. We kept them tight in the bamboo mat and finished them quite quickly.
Improvements
Although we were good at rolling them, next time we should divide the ingredients (mayo, avocado, carrot, capsicum, celery, cucumber, etc) more evenly amongst us. Because (for example) some rolls had a lot of carrot and others not as much.
Time management
This specific period wasn't too bad. We handled everything and got everything done on time. But sushi is quite an easy meal to put together.
Feedback
Like I said, we could divide the ingredients up between us better and maybe get the dishes done a little earlier which I think we'd all agree on. Other than that this lesson was a good job on my half.
Taste, texture, colour
DELICIOUS. It actually tasted better than I thought it would have. The rice wasn't too soft or too dry and the ingredients (other than the rice) gave it that finishing touch. We used red capsicum, orange carrot, green avocado, cucumber and celery, and white mayonnaise. A lot of different colours, textures and tastes that came together well to create the delicious sushi rolls.
Improvements or modifications that can be made
Not much, although meat would be an awesome ingredient, this sushi was vegetarian (I think) so obviously no meat was needed.
Next step for own learning
I think I could help others more. I did help my own group but there were opportunities during the lesson to help other groups but I didn't take those opportunities and I should have.

Home Economics - Fish and Chips

The practical on Friday was to make Fish and Chips!

Skills with the team
I think we did well at cooking the fish and chips, there were a few small mistakes on the way but we made them in the end.
Improvements
We did put the mayo in with the breadcrumbs which was an accident so next time we need to be aware of that.
Time management
We could have put the chips in a little earlier and maybe got the fish battered quicker.
Feedback
Our chips could have been left in the oven a bit earlier because they were still a bit pale and only had a bit of crisp.
Taste, texture, colour
The chips were a bit soft and the tiniest bit undercooked but we do only have one hour to cook so it's understandable. Like I said, they weren't very crisp.
Improvements or modifications that can be made
We could probably handle our time a little better and get most of the things done in the first half of the lesson.

(One thing I want to bring up is the paper cones we put the Fish and Chips in, it did get a little torn and batter due to the oil and heat so cardboard might be a better option)

Home Economics - Friday Cooking Lesson #1

Jam Drops

In Home Economics, we have been learning about the New Zealand food culture history. These include a lot of staple foods such as scones, and our latest challenge in the kitchen, jam drops.
On Friday, a few of my group members weren't here. So another group joined ours and we made a group of four.

The practical/task was to make Jam Drops! Basically just a biscuit with jam in the middle. Sounds easy, right? Not so much.
We found a few struggles on the way, for example, putting the batter together. You had to make sure everything was just right. The butter had to be softened, but not melted- which is what we did. We accidentally melted it. You had to fold and push as you blended the batter, not mix. Make sure the biscuits are equally separated on the tray otherwise they could bake and stick together or fall over the edge. And jam! Oh, the jam. Too much jam and it would overflow or sink through the middle. All sorts of challenges along the way, but in the end, we made them and they were delicious.

They were! They were yum. We tested one and broke it in half afterwards and it broke quite evenly might I add. The colour could have been a bit darker because they were pale when we took them out. But other than that, they turned out really nice.

Feedback from our teacher and our teammates- they could have been left in the oven a little longer. As I said before they were quite pale, not exactly the dark golden we were hoping for.

A lot of improvements could be made while making our jam drops, but I guess that's for the next time we make them.

Social Studies - Technology

'Technology is the creative process that utilises tools, resources and systems to solve problems. It also enhances control over natural and man-made environments to improve our lives.'

In Social Studies right now we are learning about technology. Our task was to create a slideshow or some sort of presentation to show how much technology has changed things. All the slides in my slideshow are just full of pictures like 'then and now'.