Geometry Task 22

Netbooks

Oceanography

Phoenix

“The Phoenix was a brave, strong and courageous beast, it would give out the brightest light when it was ablaze and heal the strongest of illnesses with its fiery breath”

“ Mum”Tim asked “How can something heal someone with fire?”

“Well sweety”  his mum continued “ Deep in the Phoenix’s body there is an essence which gives life to anyone that it wants to”

Every night his mum would tell Tim this story and every night Tim would ask more questions and his mum would answer them. But one night Tim wondered where his mom knew all these things about the Phoenix, Tim knew that the Phoenix was mythological meaning it wasn’t real...

or was it?  

“Mum” Tim said “Why do you always talk about the Phoenix?” His mum gasped she had never thought that she would have to reminisce that awful, awful experience and she refused to!

“ Im sorry Tim but you’ll just have to go to bed today without a story, mummy feels too tired to tell a story tonight”

“But mum why?”

“ I'm sleepy Tim now goodnight” and with that Tim’s mum left the room. This was the first time she had lied to Tim and had never wanted to do it again.  This creature, the Phoenix had a very deep meaning to Tim’s mum this was so deep that it was her life. This was how it had started.

“Goodbye Dez” the voice in his head said

“No come back Jasmine don’t die yet, just wait I will save you! These thoughts ran through his mind giving him the will to strive on through the harsh environments before him. Jasmine was infected with an incurable disease called Saphirixinia to save Jasmine he had to tame the Phoenix which lived on the Peak Mountain Top. This was a long distance away and with this distance a package of obstacles came that he would have to face to get to the peak. Jasmine was Dez’s close childhood friend they had  been together in the good times and the bad and they were only apart when it was time to sleep. He would do anything to save her even if it risked his life.

He prepared his equipment and set off on the next morning.  They climbed rocky mountains, ran up long distant hills and even had to make makeshift shelters to stay heated from

the frigidness of the Himalayas. There journey was not in vain because the moment they reached the peak of the mountain the Phoenix arose from its sleep. This was any natural creature’s instinct they would try to protect their territory and/or their babies.

The Phoenix was as strong as the stories had said, the Phoenix burned anything in it’s way and the bullets shot from the crew of Dez did minimal damage to its flaming body. But nonetheless Dez fought bravely against the Phoenix and in few short moments the tides turned and Dez overcame the ‘Bird on Fire’. The defeating of the bird left ashes scattered everywhere turning the mountain into a barren wasteland. The crew and Dez picked up the sizzled pieces of ash and journeyed home.

“Hello? Dad? Mum? Are you here?” Jasmine looked around confused and finally found a friendly face, the face of her old childhood friend. “Dez!” She called out

Dez woke up with a fright “Jasmine you're awake!”

“Why what happened to me?” She asked

“Well” Dez said “You died don't you remember?”

“Wait, was this about my Saphirixinia?”

“Yes but I saved you I journeyed up to Peak Mountain Top and tamed the Phoenix which gave you the breath of life”

“Thank you Dez you saved my life I owe me living to you”

“No need to thank me but if you're that not exhausted maybe you could verse me in a game of... Donkey Kong?”

“Come on then bring it on!”

Student Leader Conference

Being chosen as one of the Students Leaders from my school I was excited because I had the opportunity to meet other students and to collaborate with other students who had been chosen by their school. We were privileged to be able to attend the first ever Manaiakalani  - Student Leader Conference.

When we entered the Auditorium we were instructed to wear name tags so that we could be recognized by the other Student Leaders and their supervisors. We were escorted to our corresponding table which we shared with Point England. At first I was shy to converse with the other Student Leaders but after the Icebreaker session the tension diminished and we were soon talking freely to one another.

We were introduced to Anderson Patterson a journalist that had been around the world interviewing leading brands like Google and Mr Khan the maker of Khan Academy. He said that when he was little he was shy but he had wanted to build up his confidence and when he did he ended up being the man he was, a respected journalist. He had set up a presentation which included videos from Ted.com and Khan Academy, he talked about how you should always have backup plans and strategies to get ton your dream and gave us an inspiring speech about how you should build up your confidence.

The Tamaki College Catering Team served our morning tea and lunch which was famishing by the way and the organisation of when to eat was very good. Overall the Conference was fun, exciting, social and breathtaking. I felt equal with the other student leaders and I even got a photo of myself, the only bad thing about the Student Leader Conference was that I won’t get to do it again.

Telegraphs

The Telegraph was a way to communicate to people from a long distance without the use of Pigeon Post. Before the making of the Telegraph civilizations like the Greek and Chinese used signals using smoke or beats from a drum.

The disadvantage of this was that the weather would affect the effectiveness that these signals would work including the Semaphore. The Semaphore held a series of hilltop stations, on these stations movable hands would be situated to make signals like letters or/and numbers. The stations would also have a pair of telescopes so that they would be able to see the signals being made from other telegraphs.

And because these signals visuality were weakened by weather others methods were created so that effective long distance communication could be produced. In the 19th century electricity was introduced and many inventions had been made using this new resource, one of these inventions were the Electronic Telegraph.

The research done by Sir William Cooke, Sir Charles Wheatstone, Samuel Morse, Leonard Gale and Alfred Gale had been used to create the electronic Telegraph. Sir William Cooke and Charles Winstone created a telegraph system which used five magnetic needles which would point to panels of letters or numbers, this used an electrical current. This telegraph system was later used for railroad systems in Britain.

Samuel Morse although had created another telegraph system using a single circuit telegraph which would function when the operator key would be pressed. When the key was pressed it would send an electrical signal to a receiver. To use this telegraph all it needed was a key, a battery, wire and a line of poles between stations for the wire and receiver.

This was later called Morse Code this was named after Samuel Morse. Letters and numbers were sent using codes like dots and dashes. The codes were marked by marks on a piece of paper which would be translated into english by the telegraph operator. But when time passed the operators were able to hear the code and translate the code by hearing the clicking of the telegraph and thus a receiver was made for the telegraph which created noises which made listening to the code easier.

Pigeon Post

Pigeon Post

Pigeon post is the process of sending pigeons to transport messages to other people or parties. Pigeons were chosen for these tasks because they had the natural ability to find it’s way home when it was sent to transport a message.

Before the making of telephones and telegrams Pigeon Post was used to send messages to others. Pigeon Post was believed to be first used by the the Persians. This though was carried on through the ages by the Romans, Mughals and the Greeks. The Persians were the first to train birds these of course included pigeons. These were their means of communicating to faraway lands.

To send messages the senders placed their message or messages in a plastic capsule to protect it from weather conditions e.g. rain and is then tied to the leg of the pigeon. When a pigeon is sent it is also sent with another bird carrying the same message because one might fail to deliver their message due to predators like falcon etc. Usually the pigeons used for these jobs are Rock pigeons or Racing pigeons, these birds are called Carrier Pigeons a.k.a Homing Pigeons.

The use of homing pigeons in todays modern day life are plenty for example if there were a day when the communication technology would break down then what would we do? Then what would you do ? Pigeons maybe the only reliable natural way of communication. This is also cheaper than sending messages through mail because the only thing it costs is pigeon food is that too much to ask?

Printing

Gale

Gale was reading a book about aerodynamics to enhance his knowledge for his future career which was to become a jet pilot in the marines. This had been his dream ever since  his father died. Naturally, this was a tragic day for his family.  It was a day of grief and sorrow but the most prominent detail of all was the denial.

Gale’s father had been selected for the marine fighter jet squad due to his past knowledge of army jets. His first flight had been in a rebellion in Syria. It had been nothing for the jets because of their immense training.

But since his fifth flight he had been going to  tougher missions meant for A - Squad jets.

October the 8th was the last time Gale and his family had seen his dad -  if  they had seen disaster coming they would have begged him to stop. It was that day,  he was sent to exterminate the remaining rebels in Syria but this time they had prepared for the jets. They had bought an arsenal of RPG launchers and had used them against the jets but had only severed a few, Gale’s father had been one of these few.

The rocket propelled grenade had been too fast for , the jet was nothing compared to a rocket. It had hit an engine on the right wing of the jet. A crash landing would have been less excruciating for Gales family  but Gale’s father had been blown to smithereens. The funeral had been in the main cemetery in Clover Park. The marines that had known Gale’s father had come and paid homage to him . The atmosphere grew heavier every passing minute. The tremendous sorrow that came that day could have set off an atomic bomb.

In the passing years that came the pain had eased and Gale had turned into a mature young man ready to follow in his dad’s footsteps.

The Great Wall of China

Gravity Database

During our Science time we conducted experiments that would test how gravity affects objects . We tested various objects to see which would fall first. Then we compared these objects by dropping them at the same height to find how gravity would affect light and heavy items. We had to hypothesize which object we thought would fall first and some of our results were surprising these were our results.

We used marbles, rubbers, ping pong balls, paper flat and crumbled ,paper clips and even a feather!

Object Dropped		Which hit the ground first?	Which actually hit the ground first?
Marble	Ping pong ball	Marble	Marble
Rubber	Paper Clip	Rubber	Rubber
Marble	Pencil	Marble	Pencil
Flat Paper	Feather	Paper	Feather
Crumbled Paper	Feather	Paper	Paper
Feather	Paper Clip	PaperClip	Paper Clip

I Know What It Is!

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 it’s throat;

it was a collar

and they weren’t wings

but silky folds

of a black, black cloak

That was no

Two wot, too woo

I heard it was

I’ll get you - ou!

Patricia Leighton

Where do you stand?

We are learning how to write a persuasive text that makes the audience think.

Is the possible change of school hours positive or negative ?

My teacher thinks that intermediate students should start ten minutes earlier than other students in our full primary school.  But as an intermediate student I believe that an extra ten minutes a day would not make a difference. Think about it, ten minutes everyday for what? To muck around or to learn, what child would what to wake up earlier  for school than they are used to?

If this preposterous change were to occur how would parents react to this? I think they would react to this the same way the students would because this not only affects the students but also the  parents that bring them to school. They too,  would have to wake earlier to drop their children at school .

This change in routine would lead to stressed  parents, students and teachers as they will have to change their daily routines also!. Some students at our school catch a bus.  This change in daily timetable would require that  they catch an earlier bus  to arrive  at school for this new time.  Has anyone considered whether or not there buses are actually available!

Consideration should surely also be given to those students who may have younger siblings at the same school. In the primary school, these children could range from five years old through to 11 years!  They would have to wait 10 minutes for their lessons to start. And of course having to arrive ten minutes earlier also means that ten minutes of sleep is lost and this of course could result in teachers facing  yawning faces and drowsy children.  The idea of beginning school earlier is  in my opinion is unfair!  If as in our case students attend the same school then surely the times they start school be the same.

Is the possible change of school hours positive or negative ? Where do you stand?

My Last Cultural Festival - A night to remember!

Cultural Festival ... It started like this...

The soles of my shoes touched the damp, cold and uneven path of concrete leading up to the stage where our group performances would be held. There was a mixture of ecstasy and fear detained inside my little body which was playing with my nerves.  This was my last year which motivated me to do my best and leave with a ‘blaze’.

The Kapa Haka group entered the stage with girls’ wearing traditional costumes, pupu’s and black tops while the boys were also wearing pupu’s and no tops. The performance started off with Ms.Bullot setting an introduction and us starting off the festival with the National Anthem and Pacific Greetings Song.  

After the official start of the festival we started off with Hai Re Mai then Poi E and our finale, the HAKA! We ended we a big pukana which the crowd which made the crowd cheer and after what seemed to me a long pause, we left the stage. The Chinese group came after us then the Samoan then half time started.

During half time some groups had gotten changed and people were getting out of their seats to buy food and beverages which caused a big crowding in the doorway of the hall. When halftime ended more groups performed and the prize drawing was taken.the first draw was not there or left or lost their ticket and these unfortunate people (my parents) had lost their chance and another draw was taken which gave the prize to Mrs. Oldham.

The hip hop group  was last which I would be in and this was not only scary because there were people watching but I was scared because we had to perform the best because all the other groups had given the audience a standard to judge on. The walk to the stage left my knees  trembling, heart pumping and nerves playing up but this was my last year and I was determined to have something to remember it by.

Our dance was set like a dance battle groups of either four or five would perform than leave the stage then come back at the big finale which would hype the crowd up. The performance left me feeling good and the crowd wild but most of all my parents proud.

Looking to join a new sport... Try Basketball!

Why should you start playing basketball? This was a question that I was asked recently and I might add it when it came to responding, I realised it was indeed a good question’.

Basketball is an excellent sports code to take up  because first of all it is a fun and competitive sport which allows each participant to play and socialize with other who have the same interest. This active and competitive  sport also helps to exercise your body and improve not only ball handling skills, but also hand and eye coordination.

As a player myself, I recommend playing basketball because it is good exercise and if you haven't played yet it is something new to do because it will give you something to do other than sitting in front of the t.v. playing Minecraft (said from personal experience).

When playing basketball you need to have good endurance and stamina to keep up with other players in the game as you will often need to sprint across the court to the oppositions to guard your hoop. Training is an essential part of this sport to build endurance which is necessary for your role in the team and to support other team players.

While playing basketball is definitely fun, and increases opportunities to be part of a group with similar if not the same interests, one of the benefits I have noticed apart from keeping fit and healthy is the improvement in my breathing.   Through the training programme I have found it most beneficial in making me more conscious of the way I breathe and using my diaphragm properly when breathing,  which is particularly important because I am an asthmatic.

Playing basketball can be fun playing because it improves social skills and can let you get to know other people. As fun as basketball it is also beneficial for keeping fit and healthy, as an asthmatic it has helped my body and lungs to breathe prior to the training given to me through basketball. So really what i’m trying to say is that if you already haven't you should try playing basketball and you never really know, maybe you’ll like it.

Basketball, I highly recommend you give it a go!

My Speech 2013

Electronic learning is research done through usage of electronic devices like laptops, desktops and ipads etc. With electronic devices we can access the internet and other services like Google and Wikipedia. With e-learning we use them to publish our stories to our blogs and give feedback to other's blogs.

I think electronic learning will enhance the way students can learn and should be used by not only New Zealand Students but also students around the world. E-learning will enable students with more resources which I believe will benefit their academic skill.

As students I think we personally prefer using the netbooks our e-learning devices to using paper and pen, this maybe because when we use paper and pen we are disadvantaged because there are more resources that we can use when we are working on our netbooks.

Since we started using the netbooks I think that students in the school were really having fun learning maybe it was because we were finally able to use something to write on other than paper and pen or maybe because we were using brand new netbooks but I think we were happy because we would be able to use the services that the netbook had to offer to not only learn new things but to also extend the learning that we had already done.

Using the netbook is like writing a story and you have all the things you need to make a good story having essential resources can really affect the way you present your work. Using netbooks has given me and all of us the assets we need to make my writing better.

If schools around the world were to use e-learning they would make their classroom a better and happier place to learn and will motivate them to use their devices to it’s fullest potential. Using an e-device has offered me assets that has made my work and academic skill better. I in a students  perspective would gladly use what the netbook has to offer to make my work the best it could be. Using electronic devices we can help students to reach the academic standard and make learning a more fun and favorable thing to do.

Social Science

The people that need help can be people that encounter temptations like addiction, people with illnesses or uneducated persons. When someone is having trouble there will be always be someone or a group of people that can help whether it be from a puppy to a human everyone will always need help. When we are hungry our parents can feed us but what about those people that are less privileged so who helps those that cannot help themselves?

 The Salvation Army are one of the many organisations that use the money that they have fundraised to benefit and help those that may need it. They service facilities for people with addiction problems and also at the moment are fundraising for the ‘Red Shield Appeal’ which is aimed to provide necessities like food and clothing. The Salvation Army is an organisation that helps those who cannot help themselves because of either poverty or illnesses which stop them from working and therefore suffer financially and cannot purchase the daily needs of not only them but their family as well.

 Connection With our School Charism Mission Day is similar to the work that the Salvation Army does fundraising and using their money to satisfy the needs of the homeless, decrepit and hungry. Our School Charism is related to the work of the Salvation Army because we use our money that we have fundraised to help family and children around the world.

Underwater Viewing Machines

 As part of our Under the Oceans inquiry, students designed and created 'Underwater viewing machines.'

Maths is Important

How would you know how much money you would need to withdraw?

How would you know how to read the time?

Maths IS important! Do you believe in cashiers around the world relying on a calculator to solve the simplest of equations because maths was stopped being taught as it was considered ‘UNIMPORTANT’ what would the next era look like and what if maths did stop being taught how would we ever hope to evolve mathematically.

Maths is in everything we do it can be from counting from one to three or it can be measuring a wing of a jet plane. This just proves that maths truly is important. Many things in our daily lives can be assessed mathematically like when you check your clock to watch your favorite show on T.V. or shopping wisely to see which product is cheaper maths is everywhere.

Why should you believe in maths? You should believe in maths because no matter what you want to achieve in life you will need to use your knowledge in maths to solve and accomplish any problems you may face during work and at home. Knowing how maths is a great achievement because it lets you understand life more mathematically which opens new doors to careers like civil engineers that have to measure land and buildings or a manager in commerce giving money and sufficient change to your customer.

Maths is important because if maths stopped being taught we could never hope to achieve future technology and if you want to achieve jobs like civil engineer then you would need great mathematical skill to measure kilometre high buildings and wide, vast land to build new architecture. Maths is an extension to life which can provide deeper understanding to things in life that could open new doors in life.

Science Investigation

This week we had been experimenting with carbonates, bases and acids. We had to write our hypothesis and write our results which these were.

WALT: Observe and report on the chemical reaction that occur when combining substances together.

Experiment - Mix carbonates and bases to acids and record the reaction that follows

Combination	Hypothesis
1. Lemon Juice - Citric Acid	We predicted that the colour would change or lose it’s original colour
2. Raro - Vinegar	We predicted that the vinegar’s colour would over power the Raro’s distinct orange colour.
3. Vinegar - Tartaric Acid	We predicted that the vinegar would turn the tartaric acid into a black liquid like it’s original colour black.
4. Baking Soda - Vinegar	We didn’t really predict because we have done this many times.

Reaction

1. The lemon juice colour faded after being mixed into the citric acid which then after solidified.
2. The reaction turned the vinegar into orange coloured liquid
3. It looked like coke and solidified.
4. It rose and foamed up due to the chemical reaction.

Rubbish in our Schools

Our school excels in academic subjects but in hygiene, specifically environmental standards rubbish around the playground areas suggests that this is an area of concern. Rubbish in our school consists of a broad range of edibles to wrappers and glad wrap.

If children were to take their lunch and morning break rubbish home  - wrappers including those off muesli bars, glad wrap from sandwiches and rolls, paper bags and uneaten food, it would save it going in the rubbish bins at school. These rubbish bins are often visited by seagulls who scavenge for food.  The regular behavior of their visits results in them ravaging our school bins in search of the unfinished food discarded by pupils. Remnants of this scattering can be found around bins which usually get caught by wind.

We could also place more bins in the school so that children would not be lazy to put it in the bin as laziness is one of the leading causes of rubbish scattered in the school. Our rubbish bins could also be expanded so that it can carry more rubbish and not be overflowed by rubbish.

A further way to reduce the amount of rubbish around our school and to manage the seagull problem could also be to replace our playground rubbish bins with those that have lids on them and perhaps returning to the use of the council recycle bins in the playground too, to encourage their use. This would mean that papers and wrappers would not fly out of the bins.

Change of School Hours

My teacher thinks that intermediate students should start ten minutes earlier than other students in our full primary school.  But as an intermediate student I believe that an extra ten minutes a day would not make a difference. Think about it ten minutes everyday for what? To muck around or to learn, what child would what to wake up earlier  for school than they are used to?

If this preposterous change were to occur how would parents react to this? I think they would react to this the same way the students would because this not only affect the students but also the the parents that bring them to school. They would have to wake earlier to drop their children at school .

This will stress parents, students and teachers as they will have to change their daily routines. Some students catch a bus to school and they may need to catch an earlier one to arrive  to school for this new time.  Has anyone considered whether or not there may not be an available.

Consideration should surely be given to those students who may have younger siblings at the same school. In the primary school, these children could range from five years old through to 11 years!  They would have to wait 10 minutes for their lessons to start. And of course having to arrive ten minutes earlier also means that ten minutes of sleep is lost and this of course could result in teachers being faces with yawning faces and drowsiness.

The idea of beginning school earlier is  in my opinion is unfair!  If as in our case students attend the same school then surely the times they start school be the same.