Book Reviews - Heroes Of The Holocaust

Hello Bloggers, This weeks task for Inquiry is to complete two different Task of our choice. The first Task I chose is to complete a Book or Film Review that we have watched or read recently. We have to list why we like it, what it is about, why others would like it, and an overall conclusion/Rating of what we thought about it. Heroes Of The Holocaust (Which is the novel I chose) is about a young girl, Maria Andzelm who was a Catholic Teenager growing up in Nazi-occupied Poland. Her Jewish friends and neighbours have hauled away one by one to undisclosed locations, never to be heard or seen from again. Later on in the novel, Maria's Family took in two Jewish men. However, they knew that if they had been caught they would either be put to immediate execution or sent to a concentration camp. They hid these men underneath the floor of their barn. Every day, Maria brought them food to satisfy their stomachs and books to feed their minds. She did this every day for two years and paid a terrible price.

Why I liked it? - I like the Heroes Of The Haulocast because it is captivating and it is a Biography, it talks about the War and how these Teenagers put their lives at risk in order to save the Jewish. The overall rating that I would conclude for this is 4 Stars out of 5.

The Technological Enhances Of The Hungi

 Hello Bloggers, This Weeks Task We Are Continuing On With Out Inquiry And Our Hungi Poster/Presentation. While we have students in our class Sailing today, we were put to the task of learning more about New Zealand's Culture, Traditions, and Heritage. Over the past week, I have finished that task and created Diagrams of each individual. Once I had finished that, I moved onto something creative which was a poster. One of my questions was - How has the Hangi changed overtime? The new and improved Hangi has changed drastically over time. There are multiple new technological enhances and negative effects on this. The new Hangi is upheld by 3 crates that are laid out with hot stones that you can also lay your vegetables on top, with an oven underneath. To keep your vegetables nice and fresh, you have to wrap tinfoil around the outside until it reaches the bottom of the dials. The new Hangi is easily accessible and will only take between 3-4 hours to cook, rather than having to deal with the whole process of setting up the pit, heating the stones, preparing the food, and then placing the food into the pit to cook. - Why is the Traditional Hangi, Better than the improved? The Hangi holds values and it was a tradition passed down from generations by ancestors. You also get to contribute to making the Hangi yourself (The freshness and flavour are more alive), Think about the Time Management, When preparing for the Hangi it takes a long day check if the food has texture. Have you and your family had a Hangi before and shared with your Family and Friends?

Leaders Trip

Hello Bloggers, This Weeks Friday Task Is To Blog Something From The Start Of This Term. On the first two days of the Term (Monday and Tuesday), all of the Leaders were able to participate in going to Papanui Youth Development Trust, where we learnt about the Seven Habits, how to improve our Leadership Skills, Motivational Speeches, Self-development, Team development, Strategic thinking, Ethical practice and civic-mindedness and Innovation as well as many other activities. Papanui Youth Development Trust was very educational, and I took so much knowledge and gained information. The Seven Habits Tree are - One is "Proactive", Proactive behaviour involves acting in advance of a future situation, rather than just reacting. It means taking control and making things happen rather than just adjusting to a situation or waiting for something to happen. Two - "Begin With The End In Mind", Planning for a Goal or Dream that you wish to succeed (Painting the bigger picture) 

Three - "Put First Things First", Start by putting the things that are more important, for example, School rather than playing with friends. Four - "Think Win-Win", Everyone has a fair chance. Five - "Seek First To Understand Than To Be Understood", people form opinions based on their own experiences, you filter everything you hear through your life experiences, your frame of reference. Six - "Synergize", To put it simply, synergy means "two heads are better than one." Synergize is the habit of creative cooperation. It is teamwork, open-mindedness, and the adventure of finding new solutions to old problems. Lastly, number 7 which we haven't discussed yet is "Sharpen the Saw", Balance feels best. On the last day of our leaders trip, we had to write a speech for an overall conclusion and experience. What activity have you been able to participate in while being a Leader?

Rocket Inquiry Video

 Hello Bloggers, This Weeks Task Is To Continue On With Our Final Rocket Inquiry Video. Since we last launched our Rocket we have been creating a video from all of the events that have occurred this Term and presented it visually in a way that our Families and Friends can see. Before we started filming, we had to come up with an enticing Script which we will read aloud. For our Film, we used IMovie and added interesting effects such as Rockets Departing as a sound effect, Different Filters, and a VoiceOver. There was a certain rubric that we had to follow of all of the things we had to include, for example, Talking about our Wonder Project Ambassador, their job and how it relates to working with and certain functions and mechanisms of a Rocket, Finding our Centre of Mass and a Swing Test, Our Prototype for our Rocket, Aerodynamics and Stability, Newtons Laws Of Motion, and lastly, what we would do to change or modify and improve our Rocket. On Wednesday, we will have our Celebration Assembly and our Families can participate in what we have been learning this Term, while also having a friendly but competitive competition to see whose D.I.Y Rocket can fly the furthest by using different items, for example, Hex - Nuts can be used for the drag of your Nose Cone which acts as a Parachute. The Measurements will be recorded from the Distance, The Time of Flight that it was in the air for, and the distance of your Rocket calculated from Kilometers. Unfortunately, due to technical difficulties, I am unable to post my video. What is your Inquiry This Term Were you working integrated or individually?

New Zealand Sign Language Week

Hello Bloggers, This Weeks Wednesday Task Is Learning More In-Depth About One Of Our Three National Languages Which Is Sign Language. Todays Task was to challenge ourselves by learning and playing a game which our Teacher found called "Sign Ninja Game" It has a variety of different challenges, for example, the colours, numbers, names of members from a family tree, Puzzles etc you can also earn different awards and Belts. This game does progress into a more complex version. Before our lesson did start, however, we watched a couple of videos to give us a brief explanation of why Sign Language is so important to our country and the alphabet. We would then practise aloud Signing our name and other key attributes. Sign language is a brilliant tool that will help bridge that communication gap that might exist when there is a hearing impairment and even in situations where there is no hearing impairment present. Since communication is so important, that makes learning sign language invaluable for communication. Sign Language is taught at all Schools and can be very efficient. (Reasoning - Said Above) Once we had finished learning about these Signs, we had to create a video of ourselves saying "My name is" by using the letters of our name. My video is not uploading, however, I will try and get it to work. Can you Sign your name, including colours, Numbers and other things too? 

Final Rocket Launch

 Hello Bloggers, This Weeks Inquiry Task We Had To Video Our Final Outcome/Video Of Our Rocket Launch. In the previous Post with our Rocket Slide Show Presentation, we had all of the given information about our Rockets and our Rocket that had our "Three Rocket Launchers" Logo on it and it was a clear 1.5-litre bottle. However, we have now modified this and we painted our Rocket Pink including the Fins and the Nose Cone. Once we went up to launch as we were pressurising the water to 60Psi, the paint on our Rocket made our bottles dried paint crack into minuscule pieces and one of our fins flew off. Next, as we were giving our final countdown to launch our Rocket, it flew on an average 20 meters and flew for 3.75 seconds. Next time I think that we should have kept our Rocket how it was before because the paint put a major effect on this process. From the following weeks, we have been creating an Imovie about this Term during our Wonder Project and all of the events that have occurred including our Swing Test, Centre of Mass and our final rocket launch. What is your project from this Term?

Rocket Test Flight

 Hello Bloggers, This Weeks Learning Task For Inquiry Is Reporting Back On Our Rocket Test Flight. On Thursday, we had to create a Presentation that deflected on The Fins, Nose Cone, Weight, Water, Psi (Per Square Inch) And Our Overall Flight Success. Next, we had to present our reflection of our Rocket in front of the class, so if anyone had to change anything or make something different to improve their design, they could report back or take notes. For my group, we used four fins placed around the 1.5-litre bottle evenly. To get the rectangular shape we had to trace it using cut out card. For our Nose Cone and Weight, we used three Hex-Nuts that were placed around the outside edge with Sticky Tape around it to keep it secure. 

When we went outside to Test our Rocket we used 280ml of Water and turned the dial on the Pressure Gage to 60Psi. When we Tested our Rocket it glided to the other side of the field while rotating on a 360 Degree Angle, once it landed other than one fin falling off we glued it back on and our Nose Cone, as it acted as a Parachute was needed to sellotaped while being attached to the bottle. Each Inquiry Session, our Group takes Notes and has created a Slide Show to represent all of the work we have completed, and for the parents or caregivers to see on the Launch Day. Have you launched your own Water Rocket Before, and what was your final outcome of the process?