Journey to Christmas

Geometry - School Playground Area

• The playground area is 10 metres square
• Right in the middle is a tower (T)
• 3 metres N of the tower is a slide (S)
• 4 metres east of the tower is a swing (W)
• In the NE corner there is a netball hoop (H)
• 7 metres south of the netball hoop there is a drinking tap (D1)
• In the SW corner there is a basketball hoop (B)
• 6 metres north of the basketball hoop there is another drinking tap (D2)

Rubbish in Schools

I think students should take home their own rubbish on a daily basis. Even if that means having half eaten sandwiches lying in the bottom of their bag it’s a lot better compared to half eaten sandwiches lying on their school grounds.

If students took home their rubbish each day, they wouldn’t want to bring home a ton of food packets. So, hopefully if this happened they would be able to eat food not in packets like fruit and vegetables which give them a lot more energy compared to something like chips. Plus, they wouldn’t have to take this kind of rubbish home because it could be used for worm farms and composts at schools.

A lot of students don’t even bother to put their rubbish in the bin so having no bins will be better. That sounds crazy but usually people litter because they can’t find a bin around. By not having any bins they’ll know not to litter and to just chuck it in their bag later. They wouldn’t want to say they went to a bad school but if you saw rubbish all around their school grounds do you really think it would be a good school to go to?

When some students put their rubbish in school bins they usually just sit on top with all the other pieces of rubbish at the bottom of the bin, so do you know what that means? The wind can easily push it back to the floor and it’s an easy target for seagulls. Usually seagulls dig to the bottom of the bin but having lots of rubbish sitting at the top and on the floor will make it easier for them to munch on. This also attracts rodents too.

These reasons are why I think schools shouldn’t have bins and that students should take home their rubbish daily. It will not only make their school environment cleaner but it will also have students not bring all this junk and instead, bring healthy things to help them grow strong and healthy.

The Cobra Snake

Cobra Snake

Cobra snakes belong to the elapidae family which are a family of venomous snakes found in tropical environments around the world. There are 270 different kinds of cobra snakes. When they are threatened or angry their necks flatten and make a hood kind of shape. This is an advantage to search for food.

They live in places in Southern Asia, Africa and East Indies. Cobra snakes enjoy the hot weather so its unlikely that they’ll be found in cold areas like Canada and places in Europe. Their habitat is in forest and near streams.

These snakes are 6 ft (2 meters) long and can vary to yellowish to dark brown in colour. Their skin is scaly and they have small heads. Cobra snakes are famous for their hoods. They flatten their necks into a hood, making it more menacing.

Cobras are cannibals which means that they eat the same species as themselves. They also eat other things including birds, rodents, bird eggs, and small mammals. The venom from cobras are deadly to humans but they aren’t capable of eating and swallowing a whole human.

They have a lot of venom in them. A single bite from these snakes can have the power to kill 20 grown men or one fully grown elephant. Cobra snakes are considered to be one of the most venomous snakes in the whole world.

A Biography on Alan Bagnall

Alan Bagnall is a very well known New Zealand author. He writes children books and poems. His work is aimed at an audience for children and sometimes adults too. Alan Bagnall was born in Lower Hutt on the 28th of December in 1940. He’s now 73 years of age and lives in Lower Hutt in Mahina Bay.

His favourite food is fried mush containing bacon, liver and tomatoes. He also likes to eat fresh apples and egg sandwiches. People call him Baggy because of his last name, Bagnall. A way he relaxes is through riding trains, bushwalking and gardening. When Alan Bagnall was at school he was very shy and he looked up to his Grandfather. He enjoyed arts and crafts and didn’t like dancing because he found it embarrassing.

Alan loved Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson when he was a child. If he could meet anyone from the past he’d want to meet one of those anonymous parents who made up nursery rhymes thousands of years ago.  His favourite author changes all the time but he admires Ezra Jack Keats and Barbara Kingsolver very much.

He wanted to be a writer so he could entertain classes as he taught his students. When children at school write he uses that time to write as well. Alan Bagnall likes to share his writing but one of the worst things about it is knowing that some people think it’s rubbish. If Alan wasn’t a writer he’d like to be a plumber. He helps them sometimes on drainage jobs.

Alan Bagnall said to people who want to make a career out of writing is to write for fun and to share with your friends. He said the best writing isn’t always appreciated by publishers because publishers are looking for stuff to sell. The best things in life don’t have a market value.

Manaiakalani Film Festival 2013

For our second year being part of the Manaiakalani Film Festival we wanted our movie to be bigger and better. We also wanted it to be different so we based our film entry on changes of matter. Our plot inspiration came from this article about a group of scientists making meat patties from cow cells. They named their meat patties 'Frankenburger' and we used this as the title of our movie.

The film crew consisted of Aaron, Williefred, Naanise and myself. Before we started filming we had to plan and create a storyboard which took a couple of weeks since we were still deciding on the ending of the film. As part of the film crew we were in charge of making the movie for our class. We wanted this movie to be bigger and better than any other movie at The Manaiakalani Film Festival.

When we created this movie we asked the question... if cow cells could be turned into patties, what would be the outcome if the cells from other animals were used to make food instead of what we normally eat today? If you were to think about eating food created from cow cells, would you? This type of question, as our teacher would say, is 'food for the brain'! What would be the consequences from eating chicken burger made from cells of a chicken? Would you still eat it?

Special thanks to Ms Bullôt for providing the resources and equipment needed to create this movie and we also thank her for her support and encouragement across the journey of this movie. 

Gravity Experiment - What Goes Up Must Come Down

Yesterday I carried out an investigation on gravity, what goes up must come down. I tested out seven different materials and dropped them at the same height. On my database sheet I predicted which would hit the floor first from the same height.

Once I wrote down my hypothesis I tested it out. I first dropped a small marble and a ping pong ball. I guessed that the marble would hit the ground first but the ping pong ball was actually first. The materials I used were a small marble, a ping pong ball, a rubber, pencil, paper clip, a flat piece of paper, a feather and a crumpled piece of paper from the flat piece of paper.

If you drop two different objects at different heights it changes the affect of the outcome. But it wouldn’t change an affect if they were dropped from the same height because usually the heavier object would land to the ground faster.

The table below shows my results

Object Dropped		Which hit the ground first? (guess)	Which actually hit the ground first?
Marble	Ping pong ball	Marble	Ping pong ball
Rubber	Paper Clip	Rubber	Rubber
Marble	Pencil	Marble	Pencil
Flat Paper	Feather	Flat Paper	Feather
Crumbled Paper	Feather	Crumbled Paper	Crumbled Paper
Feather	Paper Clip	Paper Clip	Paper Clip
			3/6 correct

Interpreting and Expressing Visual Ideas to Match Text

I Know What It Was

They said it was just

an owl in the tree

but they didn’t

fool me!

I saw teeth

not a beak,

red eyes

not gold,

and I won’t be told

it was only fluff and feathers

round its thorat;

it was a collar

and those weren’t wings

and the silky folds

of a black, black cloak

That was no

Too-wit, too woo

I heard

It was

I’ll get you-ou!

Patricia Leighton

Working at Home - America's cup

26/09/2013

Discussion Questions

   

Factual

1. Where did the first America’s Cup take place?

2. Who introduced the idea of sponsorship in sport?

3. Who sponsors the cup for the winner of the challenger series?

4. What was the name of the NZ boat that won the America’s Cup in 1995?

5.  In 2000 some of the members of Team New Zealand left and went to which team?

Answers

1. The first America’s Cup was located in England around the Isle of Wight during 1851.

2. Sir Thomas Lipton was one of the first people to introduce sponsorship in sport.

3. Louis Vuitton sponsors the cup for the winner of the challenger series.

4. The boat which won the America’s Cup in 1995 for New Zealand was called Black Magic.

5. Some of the members from New Zealand’s team joined Alinghi which was a new Swiss team.

Challenge

Make a timeline from 1851 to the present day showing who has won the America’s Cup over

the years. Use the information in this article to help you or, if you have access to a computer,

jump online and draw up a more detailed timeline.

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The Reindeer

WALHT: write a captivating narrative that engages our readers while also maintaining the correct structure.

The Reindeer

Imagine looking up at the night sky on Christmas eve seeing flying reindeer pulling Santa’s sleigh. This folklore are why reindeers are well known. Sadly they can’t fly but the species are at least concern and they aren’t endangered.

The reindeer is apart of the deer family with other animals including moose, deer, elk and chital. A reindeer’s body has the colours of gray, brown and a hint of yellow. Most calves which are baby reindeer start off with brownish-red fur then develop their colour as they mature into adults. Both female and male grow antlers but male’s antlers are larger in size. There’s a rare population of female reindeer that don’t have any antlers at all.

Reindeer calves are usually born during daylight hours in the morning because they need enough energy to follow their herd at night. Within a couple of hours after they’re born they’re up and following their mothers. When they’re adults, reindeer measure up to 180cm long, stand up to 110cm at the shoulder and weigh about 81 to 153kg. This mammal lives up to 10 to 15 years.

Reindeer have different herds which are groups of them together. The group of mammals usually follow a leader who leads them to different areas. Sometimes a herd of reindeer drag people in sleighs in cold snowy areas. They originated in Siberia and later grew in Norway. Now they can be found in Eastern Europe, Alaska, Canada, Russia and even in China.

Instead of seeing them flying in the sky you could see them together in a herd out in the wild. There’s a lot more to these mammals besides them pulling Santa’s sleigh from the well-known folklore.

Making Sherbet

Today we made sherbet. I mixed a part of baking soda, citric acid, raro and icing sugar all together. My hypothesis was that it wouldn’t react to my tongue and that it would just taste sweet. It felt like a big bang when the sherbet touched my tongue. I could feel it fizz and foam all around my mouth. The citrus taste was from the raro and citric acid and the sweetness was from the icing sugar. I think the foaming reaction came from the baking soda.

Science Investigation : Exploring the Chemicals

We are learning about chemical reactions. Today, we mixed different acids with different bases. We used test tubes to place our liquids and teaspoons to collect different acids. To mix the two different things together we used popsicle sticks and a glass beaker.

My hypothesis for citric acid and vinegar together would be for it to fizz up and foam. When we added the vinegar to the citric acid it foamed and turned yellow/brown in colour. It also smelt very bitter from the vinegar.

My hypothesis for the raro and lemon juice was for it to bubble up. What really happened was that the two dissolved. It smelt like orange juice and looked fizzy. The colour of it was very concentrated as well.

My hypothesis for tartaric acid, baking soda and vinegar was for it to fizzy, foam and bubble up. It did exactly what we thought it would. At the bottom of the beaker the baking soda and tartaric acid which wasn’t touched by the vinegar turned crystally and hard.

My hypothesis for chalk, raro and lemon juice was for it to go bubbly and hard. When we poured the acid into the base it didn’t have a very big reaction. When we mixed the two together with a popsicle stick it just dissolved and turned red in colour.

Manaiakalani Student Leaders Conference 2013

Last Friday I was lucky enough to attend the first ever Manaiakalani Student Leaders Conference at Tamaki College. I was one out of four people to represent my school at this years student conference.

When we entered the foyer people handed us schwag bags filled with different goodies. Tamaki College’s hall filled up quickly with different leaders from all the schools in the Manaiakalani cluster. After a quick introduction from Mrs Burt we had to mix and mingle with all the other students there at the conference.

Later, Andrew Patterson had a very inspiring talk about technology and our future. He introduced different websites including TED.com and khanacademy.com. Five students from Tamaki College advertised their business, ‘Geek Cafe’. After their talk we had a delicious morning tea  which was provided by Tamaki College’s Year 13 Catering and Hospitality students. Lunch was also catered by them.

We then did a design challenge provided with smartphones from two people from Telecom, Devon Stewart and Dion Keating. We worked with the students sitting with us at the table which were the leaders from Pt England School. The scavenger hunt was difficult because we had to download different aps and we had to text in our answers. We ended up coming in second place to Stonefields who came first.

Our second challenge was to make a video using the ap dropbox. In our little video we involved our highlight of the day which was how we needed three things to get to our dream job. They then showed all the videos on the big projector.

After a long day at the Manaiakalani Student Leaders Conference for 2013 I learnt about how important it is to have a plan B if your plan A doesn’t work out. Overall, the whole day was very inspiring. It made me think that if you have a goal you’ll need to have a strategy or a plan to get there.

Why Breakfast is Important

Breakfast is a very important meal for students to have daily. Having this meal gives you the strength and energy for the school day ahead of you. Without eating something for the start of the day it’s most likely you’ll slack off and get tired easily. I think that all students should have breakfast every morning because it’s good for their mental and physical health.

First, not having breakfast changes your mood and the way you think. Not having food in your stomach before the day starts makes you hungry which makes you feel different moods. Not a lot of people like others who are irritated so do yourself a favour for everyone, including yourself by having breakfast.

Second, without breakfast you lack energy and it’s harder for you to concentrate. People who skip breakfast usually can’t think straight and it’s harder for them to cope in class. By eating the most important meal of the day it’ll give you energy for your brain to think and pay attention in class.

Third, if not eating breakfast is in your routine it may cause diseases and sicknesses. If you don’t eat you may get sick and it’ll have a stronger effect on you compared to people who have breakfast. Having something to eat in the morning is good to have in your daily routine and it’s healthy for you and your body.

So, it is good for students to have breakfast in the morning. You’ll prevent the consequences like getting sick or having the urge to sleep during class. After all, it is the most important meal of the day so it’s time to do something about your health by eating breakfast.

The Penny Farthing Bicycle

WALHT: Use information skills to find information and combine it together using words and images to inform others.

Penny Farthings

The Penny Farthing is a type of bicycle that has two different sized wheels. One large front wheel and a much smaller wheel at the back. The front wheel can be up to 5 ft high which makes it harder to ride on. This bicycle was popular in the 1870’s till the 1890’s which was in the Victorian era.

Invention and Inspiration

It was invented in the 1870’s by James Starley and was given the name ‘Penny Farthing’ when the bicycle was nearly outdated. The name of this bike got it’s inspiration from the old British coins, pennies and farthings. When the penny is on the left and the farthing is on the right it forms the shape of the two wheels.

Getting on the Bicycle

The disadvantage of this bicycle is that it’s difficult to get on and off, and falling off of it is a serious hazard. To get onto the seat of the bike one foot would have to be placed on a peg behind the back wheel. The rider gets a hold onto the handlebar and lifts themselves onto the saddle. In most photos of people riding penny farthings they’re on clear roads since it’s most likely they’re avoiding potholes, stones and animals on the road.

Riding the Bicycle

Riding the penny farthing is similar to riding a normal bicycle. To avoid falling it’s important to pedal steadily and to keep balance. When people ride penny farthings their backs are always straight. If not it’s most likely they’ll fall off which can cause bad injuries.

The Penny Farthing Today

In the year 1888, John Dunlop re-invented his son’s tricycle which made it the new trend. Because of this it made the penny farthing obsolete (out of date). Five years later penny farthings were no longer being made. People who were interested in this bicycle adapted the design and built new penny farthings that are much more safe and easier to use.

Technicraft Term 1

Made with WeVideo

Technicraft Filpbook

Click on the photo above to read my FlipSnack Book.

Underwater Viewer Experiment

On May 10th, Room 8 went out on their very first scientific expedition to find out what sat at the bottom of the sea. Underwater viewers were designed and constructed to help with Room 8’s discovery. The purpose of the underwater viewers were to see things clearly beneath the water.

Our location was set at the Tamaki River. The seabed was muddy and surrounded with mangroves and mudflats. Some of the areas were easy to walk on while other surfaces were more difficult since there weren’t a lot of shells which meant it wasn’t as firm.

A lot of creatures were found on the mud including shrimp, crabs, sea slugs and sea snails which were mainly found underneath rocks. Some sea creatures left behind shells which were scattered along the areas we were examining in. Non-living items including tyres, pipes from drains, broken glass and rusty chains from the boats were also found.

The difficulty of this expedition was reaching the waters edge because at the time we experimented the tide was low. The closer we came to it, the mud became softer to a point where we got stuck. Our underwater viewers weren’t used during the expedition. If the tide wasn’t low that day, the area where we found things would have been under the water. Without the help of our device we still discovered what sat at the bottom of the sea.

♥ My Mum ♥

The first time I felt a special connection between my mum and I was when she first held me after I was born. When she held me in her arms she knew I was her daughter and I knew she was my mum.

I remember the evening of my first day of school she came home and straight away took a photo of me dead tired on the floor since my mum loves to capture moments on camera. Every now and then we have arguments but after every banter and every day I’ll always love her. She listens to me, understands my problems and trusts me. My mum means everything to me. I can talk to her like she’s my best friend and even though her job is something about ICT, she always says her first priority job is to be a mother to myself and my two older brothers.

I admire how strong and brave she is and how she can easily relate to me. She’s my inspiration, my role model and of course, my mum.

Mini Movie

Mediation at St Patrick's School - Powered by GoAnimate.

Easter Eggs

Chocolate Easter eggs are special treats often received during Easter Sunday. Some people buy these eggs while others make them themselves. Here is a way to make your own Easter eggs.

The only ingredient you’ll need is melted chocolate. You could have white chocolate, milk or dark depending on what you fancy. To melt this ingredient you’ll need to break the block of chocolate into different pieces and place it in a bowl in steaming water. The heat from the water will warm up the bowl which will melt the chocolate.

Secondly you’ll need a mould to shape the melted chocolate. This mould could be any shape including, an egg or rabbit. To make a hollow egg you would need to shift and tilt the melted chocolate of your choice around the sides of the mould to make a scoop sort of shape.

Once both sides are set, carefully take them out of the mould and use melted chocolate to secure them together. Making a hard egg filled with chocolate is the same as creating a hollow egg except you would have to fill the mould with chocolate up to the brim of the mould so the inside isn’t empty and hollow.

After the eggs have are attached together you can wrap them up in coloured foil and decorate them to give to your loved ones this Easter.

Technicraft Week 3

The Year 8’s at St Patrick’s School went to Mr Clark’s technicraft room for our third week at Pakuranga Intermediate. When we put our bags down we pushed all four tables to the four corners and grabbed our chairs towards the centre.

We all sat in a circle and started our class activity with a warm up.  This is a practise that Mr Clark, uses at the beginning of each class.  This particular warm up involved playing ‘Fruit Salad’ and ‘Whiz;. In Fruit Salad we were all given a name of a fruit. I was orange and when the person in the middle shouts a fruit name all the people who were given that fruit name in the circle have to run to a different free seat. They can call two fruits as well and call out Fruit Salad. When they call out Fruit Salad this is when the game starts to get hectic. Every fruit runs around and tries to find another seat that wasn’t theirs in the previous round. After this game we played Whiz and it was a game about listening. I wasn’t very good since I was the first one out during the real game.

Afterwards we learnt about positives and negatives and how they work. When Mr Clark finished talking we grabbed our projects that we started the week before. The project we worked on was an LED frog. When a fly touches the memory wire the LED lights light up. We had to solder on wires onto copper tape at the back of our frog. I had to solder on my wires and attach memory wire into another type of wire for the battery. As I soldered on my wires I accidently burnt a bit of my hand and had to rush to the tap to run cold water over the burn. Once the battery connected and the two wires were attracted to each other my LED frog eyes lit up red. We took turns putting batteries into each others frogs and watched the lights light up. Some lights were red, green, orange and yellow. About the whole class finished their frogs by the end of the lesson.

At the end of the lesson my pink frog with hearts and red LED eyes was complete. I think in the next lesson we’ll be starting another exciting electrical project for our fourth week of technicraft.

Types of Problem Solvers

These are different types of Problem Solvers. Each animal has different points and actions which help them solve a problem. 

The Telephone Booth

Marley was stuck on a deserted and abandoned island trying to find a telephone booth to contact home. When she found the only one on the island she inserted a few coins and punched the numbers into the dial pad nervously. After five rings someone picked up on the other line. “Hello?” were the only words she heard before getting sucked down a hole making the rusty telephone booth collapse and fall after her.

Thud! Marley fell flat and was lying on the cold hard ground looking around her surroundings. It was all white and very bright. As she tried to find a way out she walked into a glass screen. Marley tumbled backwards and leaned back into the broken pieces of the telephone booth that got her stuck there in the first place. Marley tried banging on the glass screen and rolled into a tiny door at the end of a hallway. When she unlocked the door astronauts were floating around the atmosphere. Where was she? Was this space?

“I can’t” Marley choked her words out trying to breathe. A tall man dressed in a suit pushed a fishbowl on the top of her head. “Better?’

Marley nodded and asked the man how she could  get back to earth.

“You would have to find that telephone booth, put it back together and insert a few coins just like you did earlier”

“How did you know that?”

“Stop asking questions unless you want to be stuck here forever” He said then floated off.

Almost instantaneously, the door of the booth flew straight at her with the phone. She grinned and tried to find the other pieces. Near a ship she found the dial pad and the hood. All she needed were the sides of the booth and the coin inserter. Marley saw two aliens driving a space pick up shuttle and in the shuttle was the sides of the booth. She ran behind the vehicle but it was too fast for her dainty legs to follow. “Wait up!” She shouted and the shuttle stopped in front of her tracks. They threw the sides of the booth out which nearly crushed her. Marley mumbled a thanks and picked the pieces up. Now she needed to find that coin inserter then she would be fine.

“Looking for this?” The man from earlier laughed. Marley looked up at him and saw the coin inserter. She nodded and the man handed it to her then snatched it back. “This won’t be that easy” He whispered and chucked the coin inserter to an alien. The alien froze as Marley ran to snatch it off of it. “Yes, of course it won’t be easy” She told the man with sarcasm.

Marley assembled all  the pieces together and it stood up almost straight like the leaning tower of Pisa. Getting out two coins she put them in the booth and dialled away. She got sucked down a hole and she had a sudden sense of  deja vu. When Marley landed back on her feet guess where she ended up? That abandoned island that got her into this mess in the first place.

Future Positive Footprint

What I would like to appear under my name in ten years time.

24 Hours of Internet Acess

Sites I've been on during the past 24 hours.

Mission Charism in Action at St Patrick's School

St Patrick's School using values and virtues.

St Patrick's School's Mission Charism can be seen in the playgrounds and during interval by our students and teachers. Our school's Mission Charism is service, community and prayer which is clearly shown above in my collage. The students at St Patrick's play fairly, treat each other as they would like to be treated and work together side by side. 

My Wordle of values and virtues that St Patrick's School uses.

I'm Back!

I’m Angela and back on my blog. I’m now 12 years young and in my last year at St Patrick's School. I like British music and books by Stephen Chbosky and John Green. I can’t pick my favourite food but caramel frappes and arizona are my favourite drinks. One day I would like to open my own boutique in the heart of London or in New York City. I hope you take pleasure in my learning journey through my blog! ♥ :3