Why We Should Make Wise Choices?

LI: To structure and write an explanation.

Why Is It Important To Make Wise Choices?

Have you ever made wise choices? Wise choices are important, as it helps lead towards the right path. Wise choices are an important thing that not many people think about, especially when it comes to plastic pollution. In beaches and environments, people have been throwing plastic, constantly every day!

As a result of plastic increasing around the areas, sea animals have been harmed and suffocated, due to the bad choices we have made. Have you ever cared about how sea animals feel and react when they swallow plastic? Imagine if you were in a sea animal’s position, dying and feeling their pain. Because of us, we have been using plastic constantly, leading to the death of sea animals.

The majority of plastic has ended up in drains, leading to the oceans, rivers and lakes, the habitat of sea animals. Many people have access to the facilities of plastic, but why aren’t they doing anything to stop this situation. In a few years, we could’ve decreased the amount of plastic polluting our oceans. Because of our choices, this leads to consequences, and consequences lead to affecting our environments, oceans and sea animals.

What if your favorite beach was filled with plastic, and couldn’t swim anymore, due to your actions? This is what could happen in a few generations, if we don’t do anything about it. Imagine if all sea animals had died and you couldn’t eat fish and chips or any cultural and special dishes, consisting of seafood! It's time to put a stop to using plastic, for a safer environment.

We need to act now and make wise choices throughout our life, to have a cleaner and healthier future generation! 

This week in writing, we practiced writing explanations for our assessments next term. This is an explanation that tells others why we should make wise choices when it comes to plastic pollution. For this explanation we did 5 minutes of planning and 40 minutes of writing as this is how much time it takes for our assessments. After writing our explanations, we proof read our explanation and used DRAFT (delete,rearrange, add, fix and talk), so there aren't any mistakes.

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.

Food Tech | Corn Fritters

LI: To follow a recipe to make corn fritters.

At Tamaki College, we did food tech with Mrs Heka. This week we made corn fritters with salad on the side. We listened to a set of instructions to create our dish. I worked with Sakshi. We collected all our equipment and ingredients.

To make the batter of our corn fritters, I measured out the wet ingredients (2 eggs and 1/4 of milk) and mixed it, while Sakshi measured out the dry ingredients (1/3 of flour and 1 tablespoon of baking powder). After they were mixed separately, we put the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, and mixed thoroughly until the batter was creamy and had no lumps. After that, we mixed a can of corn into the batter, and greased our pan with (1 tablespoon of oil). We added small batches of our batter into our pan and flipped it once it was brown. In our lunch boxes, we added our salad and corn fritters, with dressing and sweet and chilli sauce.

Once we finished cooking, we washed the dishes and wiped our work spaces, ready for next week. I really enjoyed making the corn fritters, which were very delicious. Next week, we are making mac and cheese.

History Of New Zealand

This week for Maori language week, we completed different DLO's to teach others different information about Maori. In this DLO, I included what Maori Language week is, how it started and and interesting fact. This was a really fun activity, as it helped me learn about the Maori culture and language.

Exploring Maori Place Names

This week for Maori Language week, we created multiple DLO's, to teach others different information about Maori. Haylee, Taheesha and I worked collaboratively to complete this activity. In our DLO, we included different places in New Zealand, with the meaning and what we found interesting. A place around New Zealand I found the most interesting, was Waitanga, meaning weeping water or noisy. I really enjoyed doing this activity.

Taupanga | Maori Language Week

Since this week is Maori Language week, Haylee, Taheesha and I created an interactive app where you can learn some basic words in Maori as it is a challenge that was set. In our app we’ve included some time words, greetings, days of the week and months of the year in Maori, we’ve also included a small quiz at the end where you can test your knowledge on Maori. We’ve enjoyed learning some words in Maori and enjoyed creating this app for others to learn the language.

Tuakana Teina

This week for Maori language week, we helped ruma kotahi (room 1) and ruma korua (room 2) create string art panels. For this art block, my buddy, Mila drew her designs, as I helped her. Then we cut the string and used glue to attach it on Mila's designs. Once we finished attaching the string, we painted over the string. Helping our little buddies Maori context, is called tuakana teina, meaning teaching younger kids Maori. This was a really fun day of painting. I am excited to continue on our art panels next week.

Family Tree

LI: To create a family tree.

This week for our Te Reo challenges, we did a challenge, where we created a family tree with some kowhaiwhai patterns. The grey swirls of my pattern represents my parents, uncles and aunties and the little designs represent their children. I really enjoyed creating a family tree.

Biology

LI: To understand the meaning behind the acronym MRS C GREN.

MRS C GREN is an acronym for life process, which stands for (Movement, Respiration, Sensitivity, Cells, Growth, Reproduction, Excretion, Nutrition). This week for Science, we learnt about MRS C GREN, which is a part of Biology, and created a DLO about it. We used collaboration and smart searching by skimming and scanning for keywords to help us select and reject information needed for our DLO. Something name, name, name and I found interesting, was that even living organisms with one single cell can grow. We really enjoyed learning about MRS C GREN.

Biology

LI: To look for evidence in the data/an image and infer what might be happening.

 This week for our Biology Science, we did a challenge where we gave our inferences of what might be happening in a footprint image. Science is empirical, which is based on observations. We also used our prior knowledge and observations. Haylee, Florence, Taheesha and I worked together and negotiated to pick which inference was correct. In this DLO, we included, what Empirical is, our biology activity and what we saw in a image of footprints. Something we found interesting, was that science is based on observation and is empirical.

It's Cool 2b Me!

LI: To strengthen our ability to make positive life choices.

This week for our DARE Program, we created a DLO about ourselves. In our DLO, we involved fun things we like doing, who we would like to be, our goals, our favorite foods, great things about us, what we wish for and qualities we look in friends. This was a really fun activity to create, as it helps me know why its cool to be me.

Painting Sunflowers

LI: To paint a still life of sunflowers in the style of Vincent Van Gogh.

This week in Art, we painted a still life of sunflowers, in the style of Vincent Van Gogh. First we practiced painting sunflowers. We watched a video on how to make sunflowers, as we didn't know how to. We then painted our background for our sunflowers. We also drew a vase and circles for our sunflowers, using chalk. When we painted our sunflowers, we thought of the tone and shading needed, made use of all the space that was available, used layers of paint, mixed and blended the colors to make different shades, created sharp edges and lines, thought about the brush stroke direction, dabbed the brush and didn't overload the brush with paint. I really enjoyed painting these sunflowers as it was very fun to do. 

Vincent Van Gogh Timeline

LI: To create a timeline to show the life of Vincent Van Gogh.

This week, for literacy and inquiry we worked together to create a timeline of Vincent Van Gogh’s life. We used our smart searching skills to find information about Vincent Van Gogh. Vincent was an Impressionist artist, meaning he liked to paint a moment in time (still life). I worked collaboratively with Haylee, Florence, and Taheesha to get this timeline completed. We enjoyed learning about Vincent Van gogh as we were able to learn something new. Something we all found interesting was that he cut off a part of his ear and sent it to his girlfriend, because he got into an argument with Paul Gauguin, who is one of his friends. This was interesting, because we wouldn’t imagine someone cutting off part of their ear.