Travis Wetlands Trip - Reflection

 The Travis wetlands trip was sure well wet

I went on particular day that looked like it was gonna pour down...

and it did but before we were sent back to school we looked at some birds and insects

The insects were from the water and I also found out that damselfly starts off as in the water then grows wings to fly. 

We mostly saw different ducks sitting in the wetland with the occasional black swan swimming around.

Sadly my group didn't get to go on the walk around the Wetlands as it just randomly started pouring down with rain.

Mairehau Market 2020 Refelection

For the Market Kaleb, Jordan, Ella and me went from making calendars to hot chocolate in jars that look like reindeer. 

The design process of what we were going to make was quite the hassle to be honest as we just didn't have enough time. We wanted to do calendars but the teacher objected it as we didn't have enough time.

Ella, Jordan and Me worked on the 2nd idea which was putting lollies into a jar. We got quite far through the process of finalising it. The next week Ella went on holiday, Kaleb came back and the teacher said it would be too expensive to put lollies in a jar and went with hot chocolate and marshmallows instead. 

Once made they look quite good and better than expected, we were expecting to sell just about 1-4 of them... 

We ended up selling all of them except one that got damaged during transport.

Overall pretty happy on what we accomplished even if some of us were away for some of the designs. 

Science and Visual Arts are both important - Persuasive Writing

Science and Visual Arts are both important

Science and Visual arts are both important subjects to learn and both can help you in your career.

Depending on your career you might have to study a certain side but knowing the basics of the other can help you massively in your life. Being creative is important and Visual Arts can help with that when you're thinking of what to paint, but in jobs that you need mostly Science needs some creativity to help like getting around problems. Now granted you might not need much of one but it might be good to have an idea on it.

Engineering, you're probably thinking that you will need only Science and Maths but what happens if you’re drawing up a building plan? you would need to know how to draw and make the sizing right. How about if you're an artist, you would need to do some maths and looking at statistics to see how much someone would buy your painting or piece for?

I think that both subjects are helpful in life and shouldn’t be discredited for not being useful. Even in some more science based jobs you’ll need some art and creativity to support you in your studies. In art you’ll need to measure out and think how big you want something. That’s why I think that both subject types are useful.

'The Cay' moral

 Last term in English we read 'The Cay'.

The moral of the story that I understood from the themes of the book is "No matter what colour skin you have been painted everyone should be trusted and have trust in others"

I give 'The Cay' a 5 star rating as I think it is a beautiful book that really shows what we can be like and how we can connect with each other even after something devastating. 

Chemistry of food - Liam

 This is two images of what I had for dinner on two different days and I will name the nutrients that are in it.

Vitamins from the Vegemite, Carbohydrates from the bread and Lipids from the bread and butter

Protein from the eggs and bacon inside, Carbohydrates from the bread and Lipids from the bread and butter

The way you digest food is you chew with your teeth and mix the food with saliva which has enzymes in it. This part of digesting is called mastication. Then the chewed food goes down the oesophagus using a method called peristalsis to get it down to the stomach where the food mixes with acid and breaks the food down more. It then goes through the small intestine where it gets mixed with different enzymes and villi in the small intestine picks up the nutrients and absorbs them. The small intestine get it's enzymes from where it is stored, the Gall bladder which gets it from the pancreas. Finally it goes through the large intestine where the excess water is absorbed and gets sent to the rectum where it is stored before excretion. Then it goes through the anus as a waste product which is also known as faeces.  

Ingestion is when you're breaking down your food in your mouth and then sending it to the stomach for digestion. Digestion is when the stomach churns and breaks up the food with the stomach acid. Absorption happens when the food goes through the small and large intestine where the nutrients are absorbed from the food and go to the blood and then the water is absorbed. Excretion is when the food is now faeces and is stored in the rectum ready to go through the anus.

When were dissecting the rat to see what the digestive system sort of look likes. It was quite disgusting but I made it through. A lot of people said there was a horrible smell coming from the rat but I couldn't smell it. We had to pin the legs down so they wouldn't get in the way of the dissection. We then had to cut the skin and fur off and move that out of the way. Then there was a sort of transparent sack that was holding all the organs which we had to carefully cut open. Once open we started pulling out the liver, it took a while but we got there in the end. After taking the liver out you could see the pool of blood sitting there. We sadly ran out of time and couldn't pull anything else out but it was an interesting experience.

Fab 4 Literacy skills

Summary - Shorting down a text in your own words

Predict - You're guess on what's going to happen next from what's already happened

Question - Question what is going on in the story

Clarify - To make something more clearer or to understand it

Street Art - #2

 In this piece of street art there is a seal who looks like the bottom half of it's body is made out of metal. The tail is unscrewed from the rest of the body and trash is falling out. This piece is saying where that rubbish goes that you leave behind.

I think the grey of the seal fits well as the trash is more colourful to stand out more and make people look and understand the piece

The location is Durham street North, CBD Christchurch. I think it's here as many people work here so when they to or from work and make them think about littering or using plastic. These business's also might use plastic a lot so this could affect their consumers and make them change the plastic they use with something else. 

Artist Statement:  "Her work combines art and action, educating and inspiring change on issues of pollution awareness and wildlife conservation"

Street Art piece #1

 In this piece of street art there's a Tui with stars and a celestial background. A Tui in Maori mythology means a messenger to the gods. So I suspect that the Tui with the stars is the Tui flying up to tell the gods something.

The shades of blue and purples really work together and I feel that it works well with the galaxy and space theme.

This street art is located on Madras Street, CBD Christchurch. It's quite a busy area so people would see it quite often.

Global Warning

 Our globe has been warming over the years and if we don't stop this it could cause major problems. Ever since the industrial revolution we've been burning more fossil fuels and adding more C02 in the air that we don't need. If we don't stop this now we will have problems soon.

Catch it - Summary

Literacy Shed

There are meerkats who find a unique fruit and want to take it but a vulture takes it for himself. The meerkats fight back like a dog guarding their territory and try to take the fruit from the vultures clutches. They pass it to each other to stop the vulture from getting it but fails. The vulture isn't looking at where it's going and rams into a wall. One meerkat gets too excited and kicks the fruit and accidentally destroys it making them all disappointed.

Aggressive magpies wreaking havoc - Summary

Magpies breeding season has come and they've already started to attack innocent humans. People have already started an uproar about it online. This has caught the attention of the Christchurch City Council who has said that they will remove and relocate these birds if they cause too much trouble for people.

My bird mascot activity

Scientific Name/Name: Rhipidura/Fantail

Name:

Why did you choose this bird: I like fantails in general as I see them as quite a cute small bird

What countries can you find your bird:  Fantails are an Australasian bird which means they can be found in Australia and NZ but also some countries in Asia

What good qualities does this bird have: They will follow you as you disturb the insects so they can eat them. They quite enjoy being around water like bathing in a bird bath. They can use their tails to change direction quickly.

What are their predators: Rats, Moreporks, Cuckoos. Moreporks will get some chicks and Cuckoos can take some eggs away.

What are their diet: They mostly eat insects but sometimes eat fruit.

Why would this bird be a good mascot to represent you: I'm quite friendly like fantails and like to socialise like they do when they see us walking about.

Fantails are usually quite a social bird and can take opportunities when they need food by following humans. While I may not take advantage of people I can be quite social with others. I love having a conversation with others and seeing what others interests are. If I had to design a Fantail with some accessories of clothes I would put some sort of hat on it like a fedora on it. You might just have to imagine what a fantail in a fedora.

 

Why dogs are better pets than cats - Persuasive writing

A dog lives long and is a friend for life. Dogs are great friends in life and can be around you more than a cat as cats can turn more into a lone wolf in the day. When dogs are young they are more playful and energetic so you can play with them or teach tricks. Dogs will be a constant friend in life for you as they won’t go away easily because they are very loyal to their owners, and even if they do go you’ll always have them in your heart. Lives can be rough but dogs can always help you cheer up, to do that you can get some dog toys and play with them or teach them tricks like to roll over or handshake which will make you appreciate them more. One of my dogs, named Roxxie, we taught her to do a high-five when they rolled onto her back and she still remembers to do that. I think dogs make great pets as they can comfort you in life and make it quite easier. At a young age they can be taught so much and can grow to love you. Cat’s are are statues they never seem to have any expressions or show anything for you while dogs you can see that burning love inside of them, you can see what they are thinking and feeling. I wouldn't trade my dogs for the universe.

FLT Europe Project

Ciao! In FLT we have been divided into groups depending on our interests. In the past weeks I have been learning about Italy while the rest of my friends have been learning about other countries that have pique their interests. I would like to share our learning with you in this slideshow. 

Kaleb - Germany

Liv - Spain

Charli - France

Liam - Italy

Hope you enjoy!

Media Studies Stopmotion

Film studio/ team name Cassell, Kahn and Liam

Director: Cassell

Camera person: Liam

Lead Artist: Everyone

Actors: Kahn

Thanks to others for helping us make our stop motion with some of the props and helpful tips that were given

Over the past 6 weeks in Media Studies I learnt how to use stop motion on an mobile device and learnt the struggles of trying to find the right lighting and having to change the plot a bit from our original idea. The way we made the film so steady each time was we had a shorter desk next to a taller desk, and what we did was have the camera overhanging and looking down on the shorter desk and that's where we filmed our stop motion. Even after all that I'm pretty proud of what we made together as a group.

Here is a picture from behind the scenes and the set up we had to make our stop motion, below that is our finished stop motion. I hope you enjoy!

Introduction to Media Studies

In Media Studies we explore how the news, advertising, television, radio, social, and other forms of media are made and how they influence us. 

I made a poster with the message of music calming the mind. I did this as you can get so much information from the media so you should listen to music calm the mind.

I am in a group with Khan, Cassell and we are making a Stop Motion film about the message about not taking physical actions in riots.

Tune back in next week when the film will be released! See it here first!

Picture of the poster I made for media studies:

Welcome Nau mai, haere mai ki tēnei taonga

Haere Mai, Talofa Lava, Mālō e Lelei , Maligayang Pagdating and welcome to my very own blog for learning. I look forward to sharing my learning with teachers, my school, my family and friends anywhere.