Design Technology Challenge

LI: To design and make a holiday decoration that fits the client brief.

This term, LS2 has been designing and creating Christmas felt decorations for the foyer in the school office. At the start of this term, we planned our decorations as well as the materials we needed. At some of our sessions, Mr Johnston, our client would visit and give us a brief of what he wanted for these decorations. Ms Ferguson also visited to give us information about the design technology process to help up plan our designs. Once we planned our design, we moved onto creating our decoration. 

At the end of finishing our products, we wrote an evaluation. With my products, the positives, was that I made sturdy stitches, chose colors that worked well and stitches didn't come out. The things that I need to improve on, is cleaner stitches, making the stitches the same size and using the same color cotton as my felt. My designs meet my original criteria as it was close to 10cm and it was a celebration decoration, like our client(Mr. Johnston) wanted. At first my first design was hard to make, as it was my first time, but on my next two designs it was easier as I knew what to do. Next time I would try to make smaller stitches, so its more sturdy, I would make the stitches neater and would add more stuffing into my design to have a 3D effect. 

My opinion of this challenge is that it was really fun and I enjoyed it, as I learnt how to sew two different ways and used my creativity to create these designs. I found, that it's an easy process of making these decoration, and would definitely do this again. I am proud of my designs, as I worked hard to create it. 

Elections

LI: To think deeply about a change I would make.

‘If I was Prime Minister I would decrease the prices of houses and rents, as some people can't afford it. I would also create more houses, for homeless people, so they have shelter, food and clothing. This is, because a lot of people don’t have the main things they need in life to survive. This week, we went through a google doc to help us figure out which political party, we would vote for. 

Elections

LI: To decide which political party will get your vote by making an informed choice.

To decide which political party I would vote for, I read a summary of the policies each party wants to introduce should they win the election and the right to form a government to run NZ. Doing this allowed me to make an informed decision.

If I was 18 I would vote for Labour because, they have handled covid 19 well, as it was their first time experiencing it, and have kept us protected and healthy. This means if Labour won the election in my electorate Jenny Salesa would be our member of parliament and Jacinda Ardern would become the Prime Minister.

Natural Disasters #2

LI: To research natural disasters.

Last week for our distance learning, we researched natural disasters. For the second DLO, we included, the safety rules for our natural disaster and the signs. I really enjoyed learning these safety rules and signs, as it will be a huge help in case there is a natural disaster. This information is by https://www.civildefence.govt.nz/get-ready/get-tsunami-ready/

Natural Disaster #1

LI: To research about natural disasters. 

Last week in our learning, we researched about natural disasters, which included the subjects, (literary and inquiry). We chose a natural disaster and created three DLOs. In this first DLO, we answered the questions, ( what the natural disaster is, what caused it, what it looks like and an example of a time where and when it happened in New Zealand. I really enjoyed learning about a natural disaster. Did you know, tsunamis can travel at the speed of 500 to 805 kilometres and hour?

Hauora

LI: To create an information poster that explains the four walls of Hauora.

Hauora is a Maori belief of health, towards New Zealand, which consists of four walls (Tana Tinana, Tana Hinengaro, Tana Whanau, Tana Wairua). When these four walls are standing together, they are strong and powerful, which helps us with our wellbeing. If one wall collapses all four walls collapse. This week, we created a canva/information poster about Hauora, for our inquiry topic. In this information poster, I included explanations of each wall of Hauora, what would happen if each wall collapsed and icons relating to each wall. 

Making Connections With Problem Solving

LI: To explore problem solving.

This week, we learnt how to make connections, using Tangrams. We made Tangrams, as our internet connection stopped. A Tangram is an ancient Chinese puzzle, used to create different shapes and figures. In the 19th century, when Chinese were traveling to Europe to trade, they made Tangrams, using wooden blocks as they were bored. We started off with a piece of A4 paper and a pair of scissors, as we listened and followed a set of simple instructions. This procedure, was a way of problem solving. In small groups, we helped each other and communicated. We used our Tangrams to create different animals, by problem solving and collaborating with each other. While making animals, we tried different options, until we completed our animals. I really enjoyed learning and creating Tangrams, as it is a way of problem solving and working together as a group. This was a challenging activity.

Experimenting With Ultra Violet Lights

LI: To design an inquiry to test predictions on effective UV filter.

LS2 has been trialing the electronic sensor for the Kiwrious project. We are working with Suranga, Sonia, Evan, Dawn and Yvonne from the AHL at Auckland University. Our mission was to use the Kiwrious sensor to find a material as a shelter.  I found that the brown paper was the most effective filter to keep Zally protected from the Ultra Violet light. After testing out each material, we created a DLO about each material we experimented on. My DLO will show what I did in this experiment.

Optical Illusions

LI: To explore optical illusions.

This week, Mr Johnston came to LS2 and taught us about optical illusions. An optical illusion is something that tricks your eyes, making an object look different. Mr Johnston gave us an optical illusion activity, where we drew a fish and a fishbowl onto two different pieces of paper. Then we created a DLO, explaining what optical illusions are, how it works and an explanation of the activity Mr Johnston gave us. I really enjoyed learning about optical illusions. 

What Is Light?

LI: To use our understanding about light to create a DLO.



This week for Inquiry, Mr Johnston came to LS2 to teach us about light. Cassius and I worked together to create a DLO about the information we gained about light. In our DLO, we included what light is and interesting facts. Two interesting facts I found out about light, is that light can only travel in a straight line and white light is made up of the 7 rainbow colors, also known as ROYGBIV.

Periscopes

LI: To explain how periscopes work. 




This week for Inquiry, Mr Johnston came over to LS2 and taught us about periscopes and how they are used. Cassius and I worked together to create a DLO about periscopes, including what a periscope is, an interesting fact and how they work. Mr Johnston taught us that the angle of incidence equals to the angle of reflection. Something interesting I had found out was that soldiers used periscopes to observe the area to see if their enemies were near by.

Explorer Vs Adventurer Venn Diagram

This week for Inquiry, we learnt about different explorers and adventurers. We created a Venn diagram, about where we think different explorers and adventurers go in each box. If we didn't know some explorers and adventurers, then we used our smart searching skills to find out if they were a explorer, adventurer or both.

Places Named By Early Explorers

 This week in Inquiry, our topic was about early explorers who travelled around different countries, like New Zealand. We created a map and marked out the different places Kupe, Captain James Cook and Able Tasman named or was named after. In our map, we also included why these places were named. Something I really found interesting, was that there were interesting meanings behind these places. These places are named, so they are respected, to feel proud, and for people to notice you. Places get named by friends, themselves, physical appearances, important people and what happened in a place.

Enterprise

This week in inquiry, we learnt about the wants, needs, service and products. To understand more about these words, in groups we created a DLO, showing the meanings of each of these words and some examples. A need is something that you required, like water, food and shelter, while a want is something you desire, but don't really need it. A product is a item that is bought which you can use and a service is when someone who works for others in return of money.

Water Filter

In inquiry, our topic was water filter. For this activity, in groups we created water filters to turn dirty water into clean water. First, we made a plan of our water filter and the equipment we needed. The equipment my group used was bottles, an elastic band, a cloth, grass and some rocks. When we tested it out, the dirty water didn't really turn out clean.

Early Maori Enterprise

This week in inquiry, we learnt about Maori enterprise and economic. First we made notes about the enterprise and economics. Then we turned it into a 5 sentence summary. We used a strategy to write our summary. For this strategy, we tried to have 10 syllables in each sentence, to make it shorter and take out all the words we don't need. Then as a group we read it to the class.

Our Old Summary-

In the early Maori enterprise, Maori were the first to exchange different items and vegetables from long distances with hapu and iwi. During 1840-1860 The Maori produced and supplied food to the villages that were in spring. In the early 1840’s Maori created large markets of food produced by tribal teams. The inland Maori traded with the coastals tribes, while the west Maori gave kai moana. As the Maori were trading, they traded too many valuable items which left with nothing else to trade.

Our New Summary-

Maori were the first to exchange items. Maori traded with hapu and iwi. They also created markets of food. Whanau would also make kai-moana. Maori started exchanging years ago.

Translations Of The Solar System In Maori

This week in inquiry, with Ms. Anderson, in partners, we created a DLO showing the translations of the solar system in Maori. My partner was Farzana. In our DLO we included attributed images of the planets, interesting facts and the translations in Maori. After we created the DLO we started to record it. Farzana and I struggled to say the Maori names and recorded a few times because we were struggling, but we finally finished it.

Stardome Trip

Yesterday on Thursday night from 5:30 to 7:45, we went to the Stardome to learn about Space. When we went inside Stardome, a guider named Tobias led us into a big room. We sat on seats which we could lye back on. Tobias introduced himself to us. When we looked up, we could see the sky. It was beautiful and looked real. When we looked to the left we could see the sun. It was really small compared to the sky and clouds. It was really cool, because the sky from daytime turned into night time, where all the stars were seen.

 Tobias taught us about the constellations that different countries from around the world saw. One of the constellations we saw was the scorpion. If we found a bright orange star and we connected it to other stars that Tobais showed us, we could see the scorpion. Tobias added a image of the scorpion to show it to the other people who couldn't see the scorpion. We also looked at the hook and Sagittarius constellations. The special hook was from Maui.

After we learnt about the constellations, we learnt about Jupiter and Saturn. Tobais zoomed into Jupiter and Saturn. The planets were so big, the light flashed on my face. I learnt that Jupiter has a total of 96 or 98 moons. I also learnt that Saturn's ring was actually made out of tiny bits of ice and dust.

After we learnt about the constellations and the planets, we went outside of the room and looked at different information about space. Something I saw was Yuri Gagarin and Sputnik 1 Lego figures. My group in reading were reading about Yuri Gagarin and Sputnik 1. Yuri Gagarin was the first cosmonaut to orbit Earth in vostok 1. Sputnik 1 was the first satellite to launch into space. There was really cool entertainments, like Angry birds, pulling the lever to connecting parts of a rocket together and weighing yourself to see your weight on different planets. I enjoyed experiencing my trip to Stardome.

Dare Impact Message

This week we were lucky to have Constable Cyrus to teach us about the dare program, like drugs, alcohol and cigarettes. We learnt about the 4 l's which are lungs, love, liver and livelihood. We also learnt about the affects of drugs, alcohol and cigarettes. After learning about the affects and the 4 l's, we created a DLO to show a message to others, about drugs, alcohol or cigarettes.

Comparing Role Models & Heros

This week Marieta, Joel, Miiana, Villiami, Alex and I created a DLO about the similarities and differences of role models and heros. My group and I decided to do a venn diagram for this DLO. A role model is somebody who some else is looks up to and a hero is someone who you would like to be.