Book Reflection - Wananga

 The book that I decided to reflect on is the book that we are currently reading in ESOL. The name of the book is Skink Gully. The story is about 3 boys going on a holiday. In the first chapter, it stated that they have just finished school and were ready to go on their summer holiday. Dylan and his dad decided to go to a farm and spend time together. Dylan invited Nimish, his friend, to go with them. In the second chapter, it just stated that they found some evidence from right outside their cabin that someone has been close to them, even go as far as to watch them. Zeb the dog has been sensing that someone has been out there all night, but Dylan and the others just decided to ignore it. This chapter was also called "Bodies" because that was where they found a lot of dead bodies of animals. The first one that they found was brought by Zeb. It was a dead feral cat, which mainly means that it was a wild cat. The next dead body that they found was a body of a dead sheep. The latest chapter that we read was, of course, chapter 3. Not that many things happened in chapter 3 than in chapter 2. All that happened was they found a tail of an Otago Skink, which was rarely seen in the area where they were from. 

Burger Competition - Home Economics

 Last week for Home Economics, we had our burger competition where we competed with other groups from my class. The members of my group are Shiela, Skyler, and Rieya. It has just been announced that we won the "Best Over All Burger" for the competition. 

Evaluation:

1. How does colour enhance the overall effect of your meals?

The colour of the patty that we made was golden brown, it was the perfect colour and it was also perfectly cooked. We also put mayonnaise, lettuce, and tomatoes which helped add a little more colour to the burger.   

2. What did it taste like?

So far, that was the best-tasting burger we made out of all the other ones we made before. The patty was cooked perfectly, golden brown on the outside, and steaming hot on the inside. It was not raw which was a very big relief for my group since it was a very thick patty. The lettuce and sauces that we put into the burger held everything together.

The comments of the judges made every effort that we put in worth it. They complimented the way the burger was constructed. But they especially mentioned the patty, which was the one that we mainly focused on. The only error that we had was the bottom buns getting soggy after some time. The reason being is that the seeds of the tomatoes were not removed, which caused the juice to fall onto the buns. Next time we do this, we'll remember to not make the same mistakes.

Holiday Trip - ESOL

 Out of all of the holiday trips I went to, my most favorite was when I and my family went to Auckland and Hamilton to visit my grandmother. We went there in 2019 to celebrate Christmas and New Year. The flight only took one hour from Christchurch to Auckland. We arrived there in the afternoon and my grandpa was the one who picked us up from the airport. He's not Filipino that's why I felt a bit shy to talk to him. Fast forward to when we finally arrived at Hamilton, my grandma greeted us with excitement, along with my aunt. That was also the first I saw my Aunt's new dogs named Olaf and Willy. Willy was an outdoor dog that's why he was rarely in the house, unlike Olaf. 

After a few days of spending time together, my aunt invited us to go to Auckland to go to Rainbow's End and to also visit her restaurant. In Rainbow's End, I got to go to the extreme ride which was only available for 2 hours on that day. The ride was called Stratosfear. 

Corrosion Experiment - Science

Investigating Rusting 

Hypothesis: All of the test tubes will have a corroded nail except for the one in D. 

Aim: To investigate the factors that cause rusting in iron. 

Equipment: 

8 test tubes
Test tube racks 
A bung
8 iron nails
Boiled water 
Tap water
Salty water
Cooking oil
Calcium chloride
Vaseline
Nail polish
Zinc

Method:

1. Label four test tubes A - D and place them in a test tube rack. 

2. Test tube contents: A = Iron nail and tap water, B = Iron nail and salty water, C = Iron nail, boiled water, oil, and D = Iron nail and calcium chloride. Sealed with a bung.

3. Leave the test tube undisturbed for at least three days. 

Test Tube	A condition present or absent	Observation after experiment
A	Nail	The nail only rusted at the top and didn’t really look different from how it looked before the experiment took place.
B	Tap water + Nail	Out of all the other test tubes, B was the one that corroded the most. The whole nail was covered with rust.
C	Salt + Water + Nail	This test tube was not as bad as the one before. It still rusted but only a little bit.
D	Oil + Water + Nail	This nail didn’t corrode as much as the other ones since it was covered with oil, preventing air and water from touching the nail.
E	CaCl + Bungs + Nail	This nail was the only one that did not corrode out of all the other nails.
F	Vaseline + Water + Nail	Same as the one with the oil, this nail didn’t corrode as much because it was covered with vaseline that has the same substance as oil.
G	Nail Polish + Water + Nail	This nail corroded and covered the whole nail. When you shake it, the rust just stays on the nail, unlike the other ones when shaken.
H	Zn + Water + Nail	With the last test tube, it only corroded the Zn but hardly the nail. There were also tiny pieces of rust floating in the water.

Experiment followed:

Before Experiment:

 

 

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch News Article - Social Studies

Following up with the Great Pacific Garbage Patch blog post, we then needed to make a news article about it. The news article that I created basically includes the facts that I also had put into the slideshow. The only difference is how I presented it. Anyways, I used Canva to create this poster. 

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch - Social Studies

 For our first activity back in Term 2 for Social Studies, we looked at the pollution in the ocean. I found this topic very eye-opening especially for those who aren't really aware of how big of an impact we humans are making. As we all may know, the ocean is the lung of our planet and we're putting it in danger. Plastic pollution is the main one that is causing it to fall apart. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a really good example of it. All the marine debris that we're used by fishers gets left out in the ocean which would end up in things called Gyres. Gyres could simply be explained as big whirlpools.

Here is a slideshow that pretty much sums up everything that I said, plus some extra facts about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch: 

Cyberbullying - Wananga

 For today's lesson in Wananga, we talked about Cyberbullying. How it may affect people who are experiencing it and how to get help when experiencing it. We first watched a video that talks about it, how it looks like, and gives people advice on how you can cope with it. Anyways, Cyberbullying or Cyberharrassment is technically bullying but on social media. They use the internet to spread rumors about you or to make fun of you. 

Let's first talk about being a victim of Cyberbullying. It could be really become hard since the bully might be anonymous and you might not really know how you could cope with it. A common thing that they do is send nasty messages to you. The first thing that you should do is take a screenshot of the message that they sent you, block the person, and tell a trusted adult. Show the adult the screenshot that you took and use that as a piece of evidence against the bully. 

Now talking about being the bully. Think about the things that you say before actually saying it. Think about what the person is going through. Think about how it may affect them and their mental health. Just don't do it in the first place. 

The Star Fish - Social Studies

 For today's lesson in Social Studies, we read a poem as a class. There were just enough people to read out the poem which was very satisfying. Anyways, the message of the poem was that "Something small can make a big difference". At a part of the poem, the man was throwing the starfish that he sees back into the ocean. When someone asked him why he was throwing it all back into the ocean, he said that if he didn't do it, the starfish would actually start to die slowly. He was actually saving the starfish. This is a very good example for us humans too. Even if we just do something small, it may make a big difference. 

THE  STARFISH  POEM

Once upon a time there was a wise man 

who used to go to the ocean 

to do his writing. 

He had a habit of walking 

on the beach 

before he began his work. 

One day he was walking along 

the shore. 

As he looked down the beach, 

he saw a human 

figure moving like a dancer. 

He smiled to himself to think 

of someone who would 

dance to the day. 

So he began to walk faster 

to catch up. 

As he got closer, he saw 

that it was a young man 

and the young man wasn't dancing, 

but instead he was reaching 

down to the shore, 

picking up something 

and very gently throwing it 

into the ocean. 

As he got closer he called out, 

"Good morning! What are you doing?" 

The young man paused, 

looked up and replied, 

"Throwing starfish in the ocean." 

"I guess I should have asked, 

why are you throwing starfish in the ocean?" 

"The sun is up and the tide is going out. 

And if I don't throw them in they'll die." 

"But, young man, don't you realize that 

there are miles and miles of beach 

and starfish all along it. 

You can't possibly make a difference!" 

The young man listened politely. 

Then bent down, picked up another starfish 

and threw it into the sea, 

past the breaking waves and said- 

"It made a difference for that one."