Inquiry: Bus Stop Activity

This week for inquiry, we have started a new rotation. To start off we have had a bus stop activity to complete. The point of this activity was to activate our prior knowledge, and to build it. Prior knowledge is what you already know, and to build it is to expand your knowledge. Because our topic is space, our questions were What do we know about science, What do we know about space, How does space affect us on earth, What do you know about the planets in our solar system, What do you know about the moon, What do you know about the sun, and finally What words do you know that are associated with space. For this task, Learning Space 2 collaborated with Learning Space 1, and we have all enjoyed it.

Inquiry: Growth Science Experiment

Today, we had our second session of science with Mrs Wells from Tamaki College. In today's lesson, we continued on our experiment with beans. In our experiment, we have used different items to mix with soil to see how it would affect the growth of the bean plant. The fertilizers we are using are Mandarins - Mrs Wells, Tea Leaves - Nyjah, Foam Soap - Me, Crushed chocolate - Giovanni, Salt - Victoria, Mashed Potatoes - Julian, Pear skin - Mele, Peanut Butter - Alex, and Pencil shavings - Fui. The method we are following is, Get an ice cream container, Put on gloves, Get a scale, Place empty container on scale, Get soil from junior garden, Measure 40g of foam soap, and place into ice cream container, Measure 400mls of soil that goes into the ice cream container into the beaker, Use hands to stir and mix fertilizer and soil for 1 minute, Label your containers, Measure 200mls of soil and place into 1 pot, and another 200mls into another pot, Mark 3 cm from the tip of your finger, Push your finger into the middle of the soil, Place 1 bean seed (Phaseolus vulgaris) into the hole, Cover the seed with soil, Water with 20 mls of water every Monday Wednesday, and Friday for two whole weeks.

What we have done today, is mix the fertilizer and soil together, we have added the beans, and for the next 2 weeks, we will be watering the plants, and seeing the result of the soil and fertilizer. We would like to say a big thank you to Mrs Wells for coming in to do this experiment with us, and we are looking forward to seeing the end results.

Tech: Final Session Of Metal Work

Today, we had our final session of tech for our first rotation. In this rotation, we could create either a pizza cutter, or a cake server, I chose to create a pizza cutter, and I am very happy with the end result. I had a lot of fun over the last term, and I would like to say a big thank you to Mr Naicker for teaching us, and to Mr Tom and Mr Dunn for taking over for the last 2 weeks. In today's session, we finished the final details for our project, along with filling out our planning paper. The final step was a little test. In the test, we received two small pizza's, and a cake that we would test the pizza cutters and cake servers ability. I would like to say one more thank you to our teachers before we move into the next class.

A Visit To Stardome

Yesterday night, Learning Space 2 were given the opportunity to visit Stardome where we could learn about stars, planets, and constellations. We went in a bus, and when we arrived we got to look around the building. First we entered the dome where we met our show presenter Tobias. While in the dome, we got a proper look at how constellations work, and we got to learn about the different opinions on what the constellations make up. We got to see close up what Jupiter and Saturn really look like, and we found out that sometimes the rings of Saturn seem to have disappeared, although it is only the angle of which the rings are facing us. Some facts that we learnt were that Jupiter has 67 known moons, that the rings of Saturn are actually tiny ice moons and dust, and that the stripes on Jupiter are actually storms that are spinning at a rate of 100km per hour. I along with my class had a lot of fun at Stardome, and we are very thankful for the opportunity.

Writing: Emperor Penguins Information Text

This week, we have been learning about informational texts and how to write them. For this exercise, we learnt about a penguin type of our choice, and took notes to eventually use to write an informational text of our own. The penguin type that I chose were emperor penguins. I had a lot of fun doing this activity, and I hope that we continue to learn about and write informational texts.

Emperor Penguins

The Aptenodytes forsteri. Or more commonly known as the Emperor Penguin, is the largest species of penguin, and our topic for today.

Appearance

Emperor Penguins are a beautiful species of penguin. Adult penguins are very large in size, and have white bodies. They have dark black backs, yellow and white necks, and a dark black face. Emperor Penguin chicks on the other hand seem like a completely different type of penguin. Chicks have all grey bodies, along with a white face. The back of their heads are completely black, and they are adorable.

Diet

Emperor penguins are carnivores. The typical Emperor Penguin diet links to aquatic life in the arctic oceans. They eat a variety of fish, krill, and squid. Adult penguins will then regurgitate food to their chicks as they are unable to eat and hunt food alone. This being because chicks are too small to eat something as big as a whole fish. Although on the other hand, Emperor penguins are a feast to some of their predators. This includes leopard seals, and orca’s (Killer whales) for adults and chicks. Although on the other end of the spectrum, Skua birds hunt for eggs and newborns.

Habitat

Emperor penguins can be located around the coasts of Antarctica. This allows them to hunt for sea life, and swim without having to travel the extremely large continent of Antarctica. Because of the tremendously cold temperature of the Arctic, their large bodies act as a big coat for penguins in general. Penguins cover their feathers with a special oil that keeps them dry. So swimming through the water is no problem for these guys.

Facts

In the water, Emperor penguins black and white bodies serve as a form of camouflage. While swimming, they can dive as deep as 565 meters while holding their breath for a whopping 20 minutes! Out of water, they are the only species who still inhabit open ice in the winter, and if they need to move around, but are out of range to swim, they slide on their stomachs (Tobogganing) on the ice rather than walking or waddling. Like other penguins, Emperor penguins have colonies, and the population in a single colony can vary from a few hundred, to over 20,000 penguins!

Emperor penguins are interesting creatures. Large in size, and at a cute factor of 100, they are one of the best types of penguins and waddle on.

Reading: Reading Response

This term for reading we have been reading a range of different texts that all link to space. Our challenge was to use the information that we read in our texts, and to go through a range of challenges and responses to the text. This would involve giving feedback, and giving facts. Although there was a catch, in order to do a task, you must write a comment on someone's response who did the same activity. Within our comment, we should add feedback, and a question. This means if they replied to the comment, and answered our question, we could start a dialogic conversation where we could talk to each other giving feedback, and receiving feedback. For this DLO that I have created, I made an info graphic that spoke about Mars, and if we don't clean up our act, we may pollute our Earth so much to the point where we have to more to and live on Mars. On the DLO, I have a few facts, a paragraph about Mars, and an image in the background. I really enjoyed this task, and my favourite part about creating was learning about Mars, and drawing the image.

Reading: Reading Response

This term for reading we have been reading a range of different texts that all link to space. Our challenge was to use the information that we read in our texts, and to go through a range of challenges and responses to the text. This would involve giving feedback, and giving facts. Although there was a catch, in order to do a task, you must write a comment on someone's response who did the same activity. Within our comment, we should add feedback, and a question. This means if they replied to the comment, and answered our question, we could start a dialogic conversation where we could talk to each other giving feedback, and receiving feedback. For this DLO, I created a quiz using Kahoot based on the text 'The Problem With Pluto'. In my quiz, I included questions such as who named Pluto, what it is now called, and how long it takes to orbit the sun. I enjoyed creating my Kahoot, and my favourite bit about the task was having other people play it.

Reading: Reading Response

This term for reading we have been reading a range of different texts that all link to space. Our challenge was to use the information that we read in our texts, and to go through a range of challenges and responses to the text. This would involve giving feedback, and giving facts. Although there was a catch, in order to do a task, you must write a comment on someone's response who did the same activity. Within our comment, we should add feedback, and a question. This means if they replied to the comment, and answered our question, we could start a dialogic conversation where we could talk to each other giving feedback, and receiving feedback. So far, my favourite part of the different types of challenges has to be the creating section. This being as I enjoy using my own ideas to create and share with my peers and other people all around the world on my blog. Each week, we have been reading a new story, and completing 6 overall activities. 1 Remembering task, 1 Understanding task, 1 Applying task, 1 Analysing task, 1 Evaluating task, and 1 Creating task. My favourite activity that I did was creating an animation, because it is something that I already enjoy doing, and I liked the challenge of creating a whole animation in the time frame I had. I have linked the animation if you would like to watch it. My animation shows the difference between cartoon rockets, (And how they launch) and real rockets (And how they launch). Overall I have really enjoyed the last few weeks of reading, and I am happy to revisit the challenge again.

Inquiry: Growth Science Experiment

Today Alex, Nyjah, Julian, Victoria, Mele, Giovanni, Fui and I took part in a science lesson from Mrs Wells from Tamaki College. In the lesson, we have started a science experiment that we will work on for the next few weeks. In the experiment, all of us will be using a different type of fertilizer to see the affect in growth on a bean plant. The fertilizers we will be using are Coffee grounds - Mrs Wells, Tea Leaves - Nyjah, Foam Soap - Me, Crushed candy - Giovanni, Salt - Victoria, Mashed Potatoes - Julian, Pear skin - Mele, Baked beans - Alex, and Pencil shavings - Fui. We would like to give a very large thank you to Mrs Wells for visiting us today, and we are very excited to continue on the experiment.

A Visit To Tamaki College

Today, the year 8's spent a few hours at Tamaki College after our tech, so that we could further understand how a day at college works. This includes switching periods, going around the school, and learning in a different environment. During the day, we had our usual session of tech, although once we were done the year 7's left the school, leaving us with the teachers in Tamaki College. First we headed to the library to eat, following walking to a classroom. In that class, we had a teacher that gave us a maths lesson. In the lesson, we were given a challenge involving co-ordinates. What we needed to do was (With a gridded piece of paper) follow directions that gave us co-ordinations, where we would dot the answer. When we were done, we would rule lines from dot to dot to reveal an image. The image we ended up with was an alien that we could now cut out, and design. I along with the rest of the year 8's really enjoyed the lesson that was given. Once we were done with our first period, we switched to another classroom where we were given a science lesson. In our lesson, we conducted multiple science experiments that all involved dry ice. Dry ice is solid carbon dioxide that does not melt, but rather defrosts into a gas, further returning to a solid. The first experiment we did was to fill and tie off a rubber glove with dry ice. The result turned out to inflate the glove, to the point where it would pop, although that took time. The second experiment was to receive a paper cup with a hole at the bottom, and plastic wrap on the top, and fill it with dry ice, the next step was to fill the cup slightly with water, and slightly tip the cup. Now if you flicked the plastic wrap, it would launch a ring of carbon dioxide. The final step was to put out a flame using the carbon dioxide ring. The next experiment we conducted was to fill a small plastic container with dry ice, fill it with water, put the lid on, tip it over, place it into a plastic bowl standing upright, and the container would launch into the air. The final experiment consisted of filling a bowl with a lot of dry ice, then add a significant amount of water, grab a paper towel soaked in detergent, and slowly slide the paper towel over the rim of the bowl. This would then form a bubble which would expand, and due to the pressure of the carbon dioxide, the bubble would eventually pop. I along with my peers had a lot of fun today, learning, and experiencing. We would like to thank the teachers that taught us, along with Mr Dunn (The deputy principal) for showing us around the school.

KiwiSport: Gymnastics

Today we had our second session of gymnastics for our KiwiSport for term 2. Today, we had new rotations, and different challenges. This includes back rolls, 1 leg handstands, star jumps, 180 jumps, and a few extra stretches. I managed to do each task, and I had a lot of fun. Our instructor Steve is doing a great job instructing us, and I believe that everyone is enjoying the lessons.

New Zealand Sign Language Week: DLO

Last week was NZSL (New Zealand Sign Language) week. In class we learnt a bit about the language, which includes the alphabet, (Which means we know how to spell words out) and a few words to go along with it. After we had learnt about the language, it was time to create a DLO to teach others about the language. In my DLO, I have included what Sing Language is, where it is used, and an example of using sign language. What I found challenging about Sign Language was reading other people spell out words, as sometimes they would go to fast making it impossible to spell out, or the wouldn't face their hands towards me, so I couldn't see what they were saying. Overall I really enjoyed Sign Language Week, and I hope that we do more activities based around the topic.

Maths: Bread Problem

For maths, we were given a selection of word problems. Our challenge was to choose one problem, work it out, and create a DLO that would show our learning. There were 3 problems in total, and I chose the problem based on bread. The question was "A bread company makes 7 types of bread. A restaurant chain ordered 398 loaves of each kind of bread. How many loaves of bread in total did the restaurant order?" I chose this problem, because I knew that it could easily be solved using place value. On my DLO, I included the question, then the answer, and finally my working out. The final step was to create a ScreenCastify where we would explain everything.

Tech: Metal Work | Session 9

Today, we had our first session of tech for term 2. We have started this term off by continuing on last terms work to get our projects finished. In my group, we have been doing metal work with Mr Naicker, and today I was working on my blade for the pizza cutter I have been working on for now 9 sessions. I am now up to the final stage of my pizza cutter, as next week I will be putting my handle and blade together to finalise the project. I have had a lot of fun working with Mr Naicker for the previous term, and I am glad that he taught us everything we needed to know in order to do metal work.