Mandarin

In Mandarin, we had to do an Chinese food and we had to find a recipe, create a plan, cook the food using a variety of different chinse cooking methods and do an evaluation.

Mitosis Stop Motion

This is our stop-motion video about Mitosis for science, Mitosis is the process of cells dividing and creating various DNA.

Chasing Coral

Chasing Coral Presentation

Response to Rwandan Genocide

What is Genocide?

Genocide by definition is "the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular nation or ethnic group"(usually the minority group). WWII is an example of genocide, as Hitler tried to wipe out all of the Jews. Now Genocide can occur for many different reasons but there are a few that have occurred in each major genocide these are blame, hatred and desperation. A genocide doesn't just happen overnight, people don't just decide to kill their neighbours and entire cultures, there is always a background of blame, hatred and desperation between the groups. Take WWII for example, After WWI Germany lost all of its resources and went into the great depression. They were already desperate, the Germans then blamed the Jews for there misfortune because while the Germans were not doing so well the Jews were very successful as they were very good businessmen. Just these two things don't cause genocides there is usually a tipping point. This can come in many ways such as a new leader coming in with lots of great ideas on how to improve everything and who to blame or a big event. In the case of WWII, the tipping point was Hitler, although he did many atrocious things he was a very good speaker who could persuade anyone to see his point of view (hence why so many Germans were all for getting rid of the Jews). He persuaded the Germans into thinking that the Jews were the main cause of Germany misfortune and that getting rid of them would benefit them greatly, and that turned into the Holocaust/genocide. So basically a genocide is one group of people trying to wipe out another, and the main components of a genocide are Blame, Desperation, hatred and some sort of big event.


What happened in Rwanda?

So In 1994 Rwanda (a small African Country) fell into genocide. There had been a conflict between the Tutsi and the Hutu (the two main groups that occupied the country with the Tutsi being the minority) The conflict between the two groups had been silently going on for as long as anyone could remember as the Hutus were jealous of the Tutsi success and blamed them for the lack of their own success. The genocide did not start overnight the Hutu extremists and some parts of the government had been planning some sort of attack on the Tutsi but nothing was set in place. Some Tutsis had been hiding out from everyone out and tried to stop the government (these people were called the Tutsi rebels). After a while, the Rwandan President agreed to sign a peace treaty with the Tustis and this angered a lot of the Hutus.  The big event that set off the genocide was the death of the Rwandan President. His plane was shot down before he could sign the peace treaty and the Hutu blamed the Tutsis for his death (although many think that this was not the case) This is the main event that set off the 100-day Killing spree. The radios had been used for a while by the Hutu extremists to voice their opinions about how the Tutsi are cockroaches and they are no good, but after the death of the President the talk over the radio went from why they are no good to telling Hutus to kill the Tutsi saying things such as "watch your neighbors" and "kill the cockroaches" and that is exactly what a lot of people did. The weapon of choice of the genocide was a machete, this was because they were extremely cheap and very effective so they were used a lot to kill the Tutsi. Not all of the Hutus were trying to kill the Tutsi as a lot of them were married these people were killed as they were"traitors" they became refugees. A man named Paul Rusesabagina who was a house manager at a hotel way a Hutu married to a Tutsi and had Tutsi children although his life was threatened many times and he was one of the main traitors he was able to successfully harbour and shelter 1268 Tutsi and Hutu refugees in the hotel during the Rwandan Genocide. Throughout the 100-day Genocide, it is estimated that around 1 million Tutsi were slaughtered.


How could we stop/decrease the impact of genocide?

Genocides are manufactured from a background of hatred and blame and these are things that we as humans cant take away as they are emotions we all feel. So there has to be other ways to prevent genocide? Getting rid of poverty and improving the quality of life especially in developing countries will help stop genocides as poverty and desperation are two big factors in creating a genocide. Countries need to have early warning systems set in place in case acts of genocide break out. These warning systems will allow people to get to safety as protecting the public should be a top priority. Military assistance would also be a very important thing in stopping a genocide. Not only to protect the public but if the need be standing with guns between the fighting to make sure that the people aren't being killed. Preventing genocide would benefit the world immensely not just by stopping mass killings but making sure that cultures can grow and develop throughout time.

Year 9 Art - 2017

 What are the 5 Key Competencies and how can we display them in the Art Classroom?

1. Thinking -

• Think about the art you are making
• Relevance
• Creative Thinking 

2. Relating to others - 

• Help each other
• Friendly
• Follow instructions respectfully  

3. Managing Self - 

• Leaving the room as tidy a I found it
• Manage my time wisely
• Keep bags under desk
• 2 student per table only
• Manners
• Looking after your artwork

4. Using language symbols and text a-

• Using a blog for Art
• Famous Art

5. Participating and contributing - 

• Respecting the Art Room 
• Look after and clean

Symbols of Me

Favourite Food - Pizza, Macaroni and cheese, Ice cream

Favourite Animal - Dog, Cat, giraffe and Hedgehog 

Favourite Colours/shades - Black, White, gold, aqua, coral, sliver 

Foot Size 6 or 7 1/2

Favourite TV show - Riverdale, Big Bang Theory, Pretty Little Liars and Gossip Girl

Favourite Song - Ed Sheeran and 5SOS

Love Singing - Yeah (but I can't sing)

Loves art - Yes (but I can't draw)

Favourite superhero - Avengers, Italian job.

Favourite Sport - Netball, Tennis

Me as a Movie Poster

Movie Genre - Horror Movie

Title - Never ending death 

Colours - Black, grey, red, blue 

Science Inventions

In science we are working on our inventions and my group is making an electric motor out of copper wire paper clips and magnets we them had to do an PMI on our invention and how the whole thing went.

How did we make it? We made it by using copper wire, battery, blu tack magnet insulation tape and safety pins we used the battery as a base and then put the safety pins on the sides and stuck them on with insulation tape we then put a magnet on the battery and then put the coiled wire on top.

How does it work?  Our invention works because current and power from the battery travels up the safety pins to the wire which heats it up and when you  flick the wire it spins and the magnet allows it to continuously spin around and power stuff


Positive - Minus - Interesting

Something positive about our invention was that we got our motor working well it was spinning and the wire was heating up and continuously spinning.

A minus/something negative we found out while mailing this project was that we had to use different magnets because the first magnets wasn't strong enough to keep it spinning

Something interesting was when we found that we needed to use safety pins instead of paperclips because paper clips couldn't hold up the wire and make it spin because it was to heavy.

Music goals

In music we are learning to set proper goals so we can achieve our final goal faster. My group especially can do this by playing together and learning everyone rhythm. Making sure that we don't rush ahead and so that we can create strategies so that we can learn to play the chords well and fast without having to stop between chords.

Music

Today in music we are working on the techniques to learn our instruments and our songs I personally need to work on the chord changes because I need to get then fast enough that I don't have to keep stopping and also my strumming patterns because sometimes I will miss a strum and it puts off the whole song. My group and I also have to learn to play in time with each other. We also have to work on playing at  the right volume because we don't wan to over power each other.




I think that I met my goal I learned some new skill so that I can change chords much easier I also think that i have learnt a new strum so that I can get the strum right. As for My group We managed to learn how to play together easier so that we are all playing in the same key. We had a major break through with the help of Miss Lee 

Chords

In Music we have been learning how to play chords we learnt ho to play chord progressions such as 

C   F  G
Am F G
G   C  D
Em  C  D

Once we had practised these chords we played them to a partner and they had to guess which chord progression we were playing


We also learned about chords themselves such as major chords have a fluffy and light sound and miner chords have a dull sound. We also learned that chords are made up of 2 or more notes normally 3. We learnt these chords on piano but they can also be played on guitar.  

Classical and Baroque Music Characteristics

In music we have been learning about the differences between the Characteristics of Classical and baroque music.Here are some examples of differences and the different characteristics between the different types/genres of music.

Classical Music Characteristics

• Classical music has a lighter and clearer texture than Baroque music and is less complex.
• The dates of the Classical period in Western music are generally accepted as being between the years 1730 and 1820. 
• It is mainly homophonic (which is a clear melody above a subordinate chordal accompaniment).
• The strings on a piano were banged with a small hammer every time you pushed a key

Baroque Music Characteristics

• The era of Baroque music was based around 1600-1750.
• During the Baroque period, the orchestra started to take shape. The string section became a self-contained unit.
• Composers would add other instruments in ones and twos: Flutes, Recorders, Oboes, Bassoons, Horns, and occasionally trumpets and kettle drums. There was a lot of contrast, especially in the dynamics. Sometimes there were also echo effects.
• Pianos in the musical era of baroque were called harpsichords they strings were plucked each time a key was pushed down like a harp giving it a completely different sound altogether 

Heath - Changes

In heath we had to take one of the experiences that we have gone though and relate it to a quote from the Dr Suess book oh the places you'll go here is what I created.

Health - Map of changes

In heath we had to make a map of the changes that have happened throughout our lives the good and the bad he is mine.

Weekly reflection

This week on Tuesday Finlay and I went to the Rotary Speech Competition to represent grey main school and The topic of my speech was HAPPINESS and some of the other topics were: Racism, child Abuse, My move to NZ, two speeches on Happiness, Disney, Pollution, My family, Junk Food, two gymnastic speeches. When we got there we all had a buffet for dinner and dessert.And once everyone had finished we started the speeches. To decide who went first the names were drawn out of a ballot and I was 2nd to last. After everyone had gone I have realised that I was the only person who didn't have note cards. Once all the speeches were done they took a minute to decide on the winner in 3rd place Was Alyssa who's speech was on her family. 2nd place went to finaly with his speech on happiness and 1st place went to me I won the competition.

Main Star

So one of my main stars this term is to make a maths game and I found this idea on pintrest and I have tried to make it as easy as possible so you lay them on a table picture side down and pick 2 up. Then you have to either add or subtract the numbers depending what you want to do and if you get it right you get 1 point and if you get it wrong you get 0 points and you can play with as many people as you want and do as many rounds as you want. Here are some pictures

Weekly reflection

This week I have been reading the book Percy Jackson and the lighting thief and I have already read the series but I decided that I would read it again I have done a book review on  it before but I am going to do a quick one now it is about a boy called Percy Jackson and he is a half blood if you dong know what a half blood it is half human half god Percy's mother is A human and his Dad is Poseidon God of the sea. But the only problem is that the Big three (Zeus Position ans Hades) have sworn not to have kids with mortals and Zeus's last child was turned into a pine tree. So he is already In danger but the Big problem is that Zeus's master bolt has been stolen and Zeus believes it was Percy so Percy along with Annabeth (daughter of Athena) And Grover the Sayter have set off to find the master bolt before the summer solstice or Zeus and Poseidon will have war upon each other.

In maths I have been working on Estimating problems on maths buddy and I have gotten really good at it My favourite questions are the ones that have 3 first names and 3 last names and by using the clues in the questions you have to find out what  name belongs to which person. Finaly and I even taught Mr Wood how to do them.

I have enterd the rotary speech competition along with Finaly and it is were you have to write a speech on the chosen topic and then present it at a dinner and the topic this year was happiness and I will be putting my speech up very soon.

It has been a all round great week and next week is the last week of school I am so excited!!!!!!!

Weekly revision

This week we have been getting ready for the Grey Main Art Soiree. Every student has to create a piece of art to show and hopefully get there parents to buy; Totara have been tie dying t shirts. Totara 1 and 2 have just been tidying them but Totara 3 have also been screen printing them. For the screen printing we had to first make a stencil I cut out a stencil of a Hawaiian flower and screen printed it on to the shirt that I tie dyed; in total I tie dyed 3 shirts. For the art soiree there at going to be lots of dancing and singing from the school choir which I am in and there is going to be lots of fun.
Thanks for reading my post and leave me a comment telling me what you think
Bye

Weekly Revision

This week we have been focusing on writing paragraphs. We learnt what a proper paragraph has to have and then we had to write an explanation. We read an article on how human have preserved bodies here is a link to the article Click here  here is my explanation so far.

Everything that is born has to die eventually No one can outlast death even  though many different cultures have tried for thousands of years. Humans have created many ways for people to  preserved bodies one of the most well known ways is mummification

Mummification

Mummification is one of the oldest ways to preserve a body. It’s not just the the Egyptians that used to mummify corpses, but other cultures such as Aztecs (Mexico) and Pacific Islands preserved bodies as well. The first thing they did was eviscerate the corpse, making sure to leave the heart behind because it is supposedly essential for the journey to the afterlife. To prevent bacterial decay the body was washed with palm wine and spices it was then covered in salt and left to dry out for about 40 days. Finally the corpse was washed again and then wrapped in many layers of cloth and then to stop the body  from getting wet it was covered in a layer of resin. The body was then carefully placed in a tomb with worldly goods along with their organs in jars.

Fantastic Plastic  

Turning corpses into plastic is not the ideal way to preserve them. To turn a cadaver into a real life action figure there is a four step plasticising procedure that must be done. To prevent tissue decomposition the corpse is first set in a  preserving solution called formaldehyde. After that the body is opened up to reveal any organs or tissue for  display by an anatomist. Then the cadaver is placed in a sub zero acetone bath to dehydrate; as the body freezes all the water and moisture is sucked out of it. Acetone at a freezing temperature of -95 degrees is pumped in to replace it. Finally once all the water is gone and the cadaver it completely filled with acetone it is then submerged in a liquid polymer, silicon rubber, polyester or epoxy resin bath. After the bath it’s time to remove  the acetone they do that by placing the corpse under vacuum conditions the acetone quickly dissipates  and as it leaves it draws liquid plastic into the cells. The cadaver is now reconfigured into its final resting position as its plastic packed organs and tissue are restored with gas, heat or UV lights.



I have also done a lot of work on my maths I have got a lot of work done from volume to order of operations but Mr Wood has been working a lot on year 9 stuff but mainly travel graphs and i got 100%

So that's some of the stuff I have done this week let me know what you think by commenting 

Bye.

    

Kate Valley DLO

Problem solving

Today we did problem solving and the problem that we had to figure out was:

Draw five straight lines on a clock to divide it into six regions the clock numbers in each region have to add up to the same total; and this was quite hard at the beginning because we had to figure out exactly what we had to do. So we had to make six regions and they all had to end up with the same total so we quickly realised for all the regions to reach the same total we had to make the total bigger than the highest number and we thought of the number 13 so we tried it out and it worked. Here are some pictures of our solution

Waste DLO