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.