Trip to Orana Park

Hola! On Monday Tz and Bh went on a trip to Orana Wildlife Park to see all the fascinating animals. We went there to learn about how climate change is affecting the animals.

On Monday morning at 8:30 everyone was seated on the tiered seating waiting for further instructions. We were supposed to leave by 8:45 but the buses turned out to be a little late than expected. Eventually, the bus turned up and we were already lining up to go inside.

The bus ride was boring, all you could do was talk and look out the window. We passed by fields with sheep and horses. I was bored out of my mind. Time was passing by slowly. 15 minutes or so later we were there! I wasn't really excited because I had been to Orana Park earlier this year. 

We were split into groups, Group 1 and Group 2. I was in Group 2 and we visited the Spider Monkeys first. They hadn't been let out yet since they had to be fed and it was windy. Bethany was our guide for Orana Park, she was telling us how in the wild spider monkey may never come down from their trees because they have everything at the top of the trees. 

Using Scratch and Sphero!

Konnichiwa! In Digital Technology we have been using different tools to create our apps and games. The one we use the most is Scratch!

Scratch is a website and an app where you can design an app or game of your choice. You have to get blocks and join them up together so you can make your character do whatever you want it to do. 

The other day we also used Sphero. Sphero is a small robot which is obviously is a sphere. You can connect to one through an iPad and control what it says, where it goes, and what colour it changes to. 

I think Scratch and Sphero are the same because you can control them and what they do. Both of their programs allow them to speak and that's another way how they are similar. 

I prefer Sphero because it's way more fun and entertaining than Scratch. It doesn't delete your work when you go out of the app. 

But for my app, I would use Scratch because using a Sphero doesn't support the idea of Body Image.

Teaching Benchball - P.E

Tēnā Koutou! This week is the third week of our second P.E Huruamanu and French Fries were the first group to show their sport to the whole class! Their sport was Bench Ball, on our class blog I have already made a blog post about it before but click  HERE  to check it out.

To start off, French Fries introduced to their warm-up.  After 40 star-jumps, running back and forth and high knees most of us were puffing but we still had something else to do. Playing sneak up granny of course! This was a fun activity that the team had thought of. People would get close to the "granny" but then they would get caught.

After doing the warm-up the members from French Fries broke us into groups. 7Bh VS 7Tz and 8Bh VS 8Tz were going to verse in a game of Bench Ball. After a lot of passing, throwing and catching 7Tz won against 7Bh and 8Bh won against 8Tz. They were both very competitive games but in the end, the year 7's versed the year 8's in a game of Benchball.

There were more year 8's than year 7's but we still had some good people on our team. It wasn't a close game at all since year 8's were winning as soon as we started. There were a lot of tall people or people who played basketball in the year 8's but the year 7's weren't going to give up just yet. After a tiring 15-20 minutes, the scores were close. The year 8 member who was defending the year 7's goal was pretty tall and played basketball. He threw the ball against the gym and one of the year 8's caught it! The year 7's were defeated but it was okay in the end.

Math

At the end my group does Math. I actually wasn't here but I know it would be a little hard. The Math we are focusing on is about P.E! We look at fields and look at their perimeter and how much paint you would need for the field to be painted and more stuff like that.



I think I helped the year 7's when we played Benchaball by shouting their name or telling them where to pass the ball. 

Personal Thought 

When we versed the year 8's I was nervous because they had a lot of good people on their team. I try being better at every sport I play so maybe next time we play Benchball I should practice on catching the ball before someone else gets it. 

A Car and a Heart On A Stick - Technology

Hola! This term year 7's from Sh and Tz took part in woodwork. We worked with the equipment I had never seen before. Our first challenge was to make something on wheels, the suggested idea was a car, but we could do something different if we wanted (has to work on wheels). I chose a car since I thought it would be easy, it was... kind of. 

Every time I would cut the sides of my car it would turn out to be uneven and every time I would try to get it straight it would go down, and down. In the end, I got worried because if I did the same mistake once more there would be no space for the wheels to go!

But Mr.Cane used his machine to get it straight, I was done!... nearly. I still had to paint and this was going to be pretty easy. But it wasn't easy as I expected it to be. You see, every time I would finish painting Mr.Cane would put it in a box filled with other cars and it would get random paint scratches and since my car was white, it really showed up. 

I got tired, kind of gave up and continued on. At least I was done though! Now I had to move onto my next challenge. I had to cut out a heart and glue it onto a stick. Now this task was REALLY easy. I just had to cut out the heart which was done in 1 session. The stick and the platform was already cut out. And I was done on the 2nd day!!

Final Thought

Woodwork was really fun and interesting even though there were some ups and downs, I still completed all my tasks. I learned about new equipment and learnt how to use them. I'm excited to do it again next year!

Slugs, Snails, and Spiders! - Tane Mahuta

Every Wednesday I go to attend "Tane Mahuta". It is all about nature, so this term we've decided to make an outdoor classroom. The area where it is going to be built in an area at the very back of the school where no one goes since it is locked. 

When we first started Tane Mahuta it was raining, so we obviously couldn't do work. But we looked at the place we where going to be working at, the ground was filled with rotten butternuts and pumpkins. Disgusting, I know. But the following Wednesday we cleared it up alongside the indoor classroom. 

The indoor classroom was also filled but butternuts and pumpkins but luckily they weren't rotten. Inside there were expensive but rusty machines and some of the caretaker's belongings. 

What we did today...
Today a couple of friends and I cleared out some of the Ivy that was growing all around the edge of the fence. We first started thinking this was going to be easy and that we could quickly do this in 1-2 periods. But boy were we wrong! The plant had been growing there for soo long that the roots had become strong that we thought it was nearly impossible!

Since Risha wasn't here only Nevaeh and I were working on a very strong trunk from a chopped down tree. I had tried to get it out myself but it didn't work. But Nevaeh and I did it together! It was a big accomplishment since it was actually really stubborn! We then moved onto another plant but its roots are really deep in the soil, so we'll probably need 1-2 more sessions to get it out. 

I'll post next week and hopefully have more information!

Getting Closer - Digital Tech

Hey guys!

As the weeks pass we are getting closer to making our own apps. I'm excited to make my app because of these past 1 - 2 weeks we have been doing research about our topic. My issue is a social issue because it can affect anyone, and I mean ANYONE. 

Body image is a perspective on how someone's body should look.

When I was researching I found out something horrible! Incidents have been reported in the past few years that small girls have been starving themselves to look like the most famous doll of all, Barbara Millicent Roberts. (More famously known as Barbie). If Barbie was a real person she should be 5’9” and weigh 120 pounds (54kg). 

Not only are kids obsessing to be like Barbie, adults are too. A woman named Cindy Jackson has had 52 plastic surgeries to achieve her desired look. She has a world record for the most procedures ever undergone by one person. Cindy's had Botox, 5 face-lifts, liposuction, her eyes - twice. 

Jackson, 55, grew up in small-town Ohio, with a short-tempered father and low self-esteem. She recalled a comment someone made to her when she was young: "One guy said when I was 14, 'You know Cindy, when you smile, from the side your nose and chin almost meet.'"

"It was like being in the wrong body and wrong face and I felt that very much and wanted to change it," she said. When her father died, he left her some money, and she used it to start her transformation. She says she's been careful to take it slow, but also said she just wants to look beautiful and young. "I feel like a young spirit and I don't want to look in the mirror and see an old face. I feel this is me," she said. "This is the way I should look."

Reflection

Changing yourself because of a doll who's not real is weird to me. She's unrealistic with an unhealthy weight for someone who is 5'9. People want to look "pretty" and "beautiful", but the truth is... they already are. Most people who change themselves have a low self-esteem and want to look different but they could do that in other ways, healthy, ways.