SLJ Day 2 Activity 1: Up In the air - Flying Solo

For this activity, compare and contrast these two aviators. 

                             

On your blog, share your comparison between the two women and be sure to include at least three similarities and three differences between these two aviators.

Jean Batten Image Link, Amelia Earhart Image Link

SLJ Day 1 Activity 3 - Scaling New Heights

For this activity, please select a charity that you are interested in. 

The charity I chose is Save the Children.  Save the Children is working to relieve the suffering of those affected by war, poverty, natural disasters, disease and violence by delivering vital health and care services.   Everyday 18,000 children under the age of five die from preventable causes, every hour of everyday 300 children are dying of starvation, millions of children around the world are trapped in child labour.  Save the Children is doing the best they can to help these children that need our help and support.  I believe this is an amazing thing they're doing because I believe every child on this earth deserves to have a fair chance at life. 

Image Link One & Two

Save the Children Website Link 

SLJ Day 1 Activity 2 - Discovering Aotearoa

For this activity we would like you to think about your own experiences and your own cultural background. Where does your family come from? Do they come from Europe like Abel Tasman, Polynesia like Kupe, or somewhere else?

On your blog, please tell us about your cultural background. Where do you and your family come from?

My own experiences:
I was born in Dumaguete, The Philippines.  When I was 4 mum and I moved to New Zealand and started a new life in a small area called Rotumanu with my dad.  When I started school I was very nervous since I was quite shy back then and didn't really talk to other children.  As years passed I met some amazing people, and I try to keep in touch with most of them, but I haven't seen majority of them in years.

Bloodlines:
My mum's bloodlines are basically just Filipino & Spanish.  On my Grandad's side his mum was Spanish and on my Grandma's side both of her parents had Spanish bloodlines
My dad's bloodlines I believe is just kiwi, I'm not quite sure what goes beyond that.

Cultural background:
I didn't really get a full taste of the Filipino culture back at home since I moved away when I was 4, but here in NZ I've got some relatives and they have shown me heaps of cultural things such as parties ( which are really hyped ).  My mum talks to me in Filipino.  I can understand what she says, but I cant speak the language itself.  My mum cooks and bake some Filipino dishes, along with myself.

Link One, Link Two, Link Three

SLJ Week 1 Day 1 Activity 1 - Explorers, Setting Sail

For this activity, make a list of ten food items that you could take with you. Please think carefully about what you will take as you won’t have access to a refrigerator or freezer while at sea. Please explain why you would select each item.

On your blog, post your list of 10 food items you would take on an ocean voyage and the reasons why you chose these items.

If I were to voyage the ocean with Naiona I would have a spectacular time, but would also get home sick, and sea sick..

The list of food items I have selected are:

1: Oatmeal - Oatmeal can last 18 - 24 months at room temperature and there are many benefits to eating oatmeal such as being incredibly nutritious.

2: Carrots - As we all know carrots can be eaten raw and that's very convenient for the journey, since you can literally just eat it straight up and carrots are full of vitamins, minerals and fiber that are good for your health.

3: Tuna - Once again you can eat this food item raw and it's convenient since you don't need to go the extra mile just to eat it.  You can just pop the can open and enjoy it, it's that easy.

4: Muesli - Muesli can last up to 3 months if stored in a cool and dry place, which will be found on aboard.  It can also be a great snack, or breakfast.

5: Pre Cooked Rice - Bringing along pre cooked rice is quite helpful since we may not have a rice cooker with us.  Pre cooked rice is good with any dish, which is a bonus.

6: Brown Bread - Since it lasts for a decent 5 - 7 days and it's full of wheat and provides a good source of fiber, and is much healthier than white bread itself.

7: Beef Jerky - Beef jerky can last 1 - 2 weeks, but in our case it would only last a week since we wouldn't have a refrigerator with us, and storing it in a cool area like a fridge expands the lasting of it.

8: Dehydrated Fruit - Since they can last a good amount of time and are a great snack.

9: Canned Baked Beans - You can eat it without having to warm it up, and they are high in protein and can last 3 - 5 years if unopened. 

10: Anzac biscuits - Because they last 2 weeks if kept in an airtight container at room temperature.  That's perfect since Anzac biscuits last a decent amount of time and they're scrumptious to munch on.

Image Links One & Two

Fibonacci Exploration

The Fibonacci is a sequence of set numbers that start with one or zero.  With those numbers you must go from 0, to 1, to 2, to 3, to 5, to 8, to 13, etc.  How to solve Fibonacci is really easy as long as you understand.  You have to add the previous two numbers to create the follow up number, for example 3+5= 8, so in that matter I would put 8, then I would solve the equation with the previous number before 8 with 8, that would be 5+8 and that would equal 13, then you carry on and use the same pattern.

For this Fibonacci "Exploration" Bridget and I kind of helped each other out since the both of us didn't know what to do.  There were 3 paths to choose from and they were science, math or art.  We went down the path of art involvement which we thought would be quiet easy since both of us like art, well we thought wrong.  We had some technical difficulties along the process of coming up with ideas, but we had a little help coming from Shirley.  She suggested we do a little virtual online graph paper website where you get to create a Fibonacci spiral on.  Our original idea was to create some sort of pine cone by using The Fibonacci spiral sequence, although we tried in the end it didn't look the way we wanted.  We followed a video on Youtube which is about Fibonacci in spirals and plants, here's the link ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahXIMUkSXX0).  There was a video of her drawing a pine cone by using the Fibonacci spiral sequence and it turned out perfectly.  I guess the moral of the story is you must practice heaps to master the Fibonacci spirals. 

Something I learnt from this is that everywhere you go Fibonacci is all around you.  For example there is a Fibonacci sequence in flowers, pine cones, your fingers, feet, even your ears!  I found learning about this very interesting.  It just really fascinated me.

Jim Walsh - Swimming

Sailing Recap

On Monday the 11th of November the year 6, 7 & 8's of Te - Kinga participated in the 'Have A Go Sailing' program.  I myself have been sailing before because of this program from previous years so I had some prior knowledge stored in my pocket.  When we arrived at the Yacht Club we were kindly greeted by Simon, the organizer of the whole program.  He taught us how to set up a yacht and how to sail.  I knew this stuff, so it was kind of a revision.  After we suited up we jumped into the water.  One person had to be an "Anchor" and the other had to put the trailer back.  My sailing buddy was Bridget, here's her blog http://lakebrunnerbridgetr.blogspot.com/( shameless plug for her ).  Bridget and I were a bit anxious at times when our boat started tipping.  Most of the time we were screaming at each other because the boat was either going to capsize ( well we thought ) or we were just having too much fun in general.  Whilst gliding on the water we heard two squeaky squeals, we looked around and discovered that those squeals were coming out of the mouths of Jakob & Kyle.  My favourite parts of the whole experience was walking on the underwater jetty and jumping off, screaming at Bridget, chucking water at other people with the bailer and sailing in general.  If you have the opportunity to go sailing I suggest you go for it because it's a great experience to get involved in if you haven't gone sailing before.

Miranda Jane Caird Art Reflection

Lake Brunner School are learning how to incorporate Miranda Jane Caird's artwork style into theirs by creating a masterpiece.  We all got to video call Miranda as a whole school.  She gave us interesting art tips and answers to the questions we asked.  Weeks later each class was assigned to do a Miranda Jane Caird related artwork.  In order to make it look slightly like her style we had to add black lines.  The steps to make this type of art is quite simple.  1st step was to gently draw everything with pencil.  2nd step was to outline the parts you want to be black in chalk.  3rd step is to pastel everything up, but in my case I paste-led the mountains and water, I left the sky and watercoloured it.  4th step is to dye.  To dye we had to get ink and brush it against, lightly dab it and let it dry.  We placed all the finished artwork on the wall for display. 

Science Pendulum Art Report

Title: Pendulum Art   By: Bridget, Tara, Mary & Elsie 

Aim/Hypothesis: We thought that it would look like how it looked on the video. We also thought that it would be easy and we would get it first try.

Method: First we got 2 chairs and then we put a 1 meter ruler and tied it  to the 2 chairs after that we got some string and a paper cup and tied that to the 1 meter ruler. We put a hole in the bottom of the cup so the paint would come out then we mixed pink and blue in the cup with someone holding a piece of paper at the bottom of the cup so the paint wouldn't come out. We had some newspaper at the bottom of the the good paper that we were going to use. After that then we swung the cup on to the paper and it turned out like this.  

Results:  On our first attempt the cup was a foot away from the ground.  It was quite messy and unorganized, the string was every and didn’t end up like the ones in the videos.  Once we let go of the string to let it swing and do it’s thing, it just ended up doing blotches of polka dots.  It wasn’t flowing properly and it ended up looking like a mess.  

Our second attempt was a little bit better, but wasn’t what we wanted.  It had the same problem as our last attempt, polka dot blotches and no improvement.  

For our third attempt we decided to change the pendulum by sticking a pencil through the cup and adding a bigger hole.  We secured the string to the ruler and it seemed to work wonders. We aced it at the third attempt. 

Our original idea was to keep it lower to the ground, but one of our team mates told me to put it up higher,  couldn’t do anything else but agree because that’s what makes a team. At least we tried different approaches.   

Conclusion: Overall in the end it turned looking pretty cool. It took a couple of tries to get it right but we got it in the end and it worked.  Next time to make it successful we should do the same process as third attempt, but make the hole slightly smaller.  

Mining West Coast History

Snow Camp Report

On Monday 19th of August Te-Kinga & Kotuku drove to Arthurs Pass.  As we reached our destination we unloaded all our luggage and parked it inside the Aurthurs Pass "lodge".  Gemma ( The Host ) gave us a safety lecture.  We then split into two groups that were divided between Te-Kinga & Kotuku.  Te-Kinga went to Temple Basin and Kotuku went to do a mini bird orienteering thing.  We learnt  more about the South Island, we went on a mini track loop which involved people throwing snow at one another.  Once we were all done with our activities, which took about 2 hours.  We then had lunch.  Lunch was what we had packed in our bags.  Those who wanted to could swap activities.  Kotuku didn't want to, some wanted to o the squawk squad.  Some Te-Kinga didn't particapate with the squawk squad, whereas there were only a little group remaining.  The two groups split into two.  I was in a small group consisting Cameron, Toby, Mackenzie, Abhi, Paul (Toby's Dad) & Daniel (Grace's Step-dad).   For dinner we had pizzas made by the parent helpers.  Dessert was it was self - sauced pudding.

Day 2 Highlights: We arrived at Cheeseman.  As we were waiting for the parents putting their chains on, some kids went outside to have a mini snow fight.  When we arrived at the Cheeseman day room, we hanged out there a bit.  We technically were on MT Cockayne, MT Cheesman was beside us.  Some of us hung out in the day room and just chilled there.  After fun and games Sam (Cheeseman Host) called us inside.

Day 3 Highlights:  Skiing and failing was really fun.  Saying goodbye to Cheeseman was sad-ish, but the views on the way back were gorgeous.  Car ride was energetic & fun.

P.M.I 

Positives: Snow fights, skiing, hanging out with friends, dessert.

Minuses: When I went up the T-Bar to atempt skiing down the slopes I couldn't stop myself or slow myself down, so my only option was to fall and land having my skis come off.
Interesting:  When I fell down pretty hard and my skis came off it didn't hurt one bit.

Job Interview: Jarred Klempel

Recently we have been interviewing a good amount of people and asked them about their job history etc.  We had the same questions laid out for all our guests, we added in some different questions too. With every person we interviewed there was a different answer.  Today we interviewed Jarred Klempel ( Zak & Cameron's Dad ) he gave us full answers to our questions.  He intrigued me because he went into depth with his job history.  He mentioned all of his jobs and the two that stood out the most were the air force job and when he worked on the Bumble & Friends Show where he had to blink the eye of a puppet fish.