The Year 8 Attitude talk

On Monday, we had a guy called Phil come over to our school to talk about our attitudes towards ourselves. Phil comes from an organisation called attitude. Attitude is an organisation that is dedicated to helping young people gain skills that can help them through their adolescent years. I really liked having Phil talk to us because being a young person himself, he related to our problems. 

He first talked about being different. As a young person myself, I often find me comparing myself to other people, but Phil made us all know that we are all different. That no two people are the same. He explained that everyone has different genes and that we should all accept that. He made it really clear that we should all accept ourselves and others for who they are. 

After that he talked about what we want to be. He told us about changing ourselves for the better, he told us a story about this boy that his friend had talked to in jail. Phil's friend worked for attitude and taught some classes in a young teens jail. He meet these two young brothers who stole some things from a dairy and really hurt the dairy owner, but, one of the brothers wanted to change himself for the better, so he did. The next day, the brother was really good, he listened, he changed himself. He is now working towards arts degree in university! That story really inspired me to get rid of all my bad habits and change myself for the better. 

Next we talked about our individual personalities. Phil explained that there where four different types of personalities, the Beaver, the Otter, the Lion and the Golden Retriever. First of all, the Beaver. 

- The beaver is a person who likes to get everything perfect the first time, they are also very hardworking. Beavers are the type of people who are very detail orientated and like to get things right. 

- The next personality is a Otter. Now a Otter is an entertainer, they like everything to be fun, they get bored easily and they are very funny! Otters are the type of person that know how to make anything fun! They can turn the most boring thing into the most greatest thing you have ever done. 

- The Lion. The Lions are the leaders, the bossy ones, the ones who like things their way. Lions are very good directors, they know how to present an idea and pursued people into liking it. Lions are very bossy but they are good at what they do. 

- Last of all, the Golden Retriever. Also known as "the peace maker" Golden Retrievers like to make people happy. They are the people that you consider "too nice". They don't like saying no and they don't like to hurt peoples feelings.  

The animal that I think fits my personality perfectly is a Beaver. I think this because I am a perfectionist and I strive for perfection in everything I do, home or at school. All of my things are immaculately neat and tidy and they fit my standard. I am extremely organised and I have a list for everything. I always like to get everything right the first time and I hate it when I do not achieve. I always do things to the best of my ability. 

Overall I really liked being at the attitude talk because it inspired me to be a better person. I really hope that attitude come back to our school next year! If you have any feedback or questions please comment them down bellow. 

Saving the Whales

This is a presentation that I have created about saving the Whales of the World. 

Endangered animals in New Zealand

The endangered Canterbury knobbled weevil

Define endangered animal

An endangered species is an animal or species that is in danger of becoming extinct. Meaning it's whole species are no longer around and in some cases that is really bad for other species and environments. It is like if all the bee's die out, no one will be able to pollinate flowers and produce honey. If this happens, some vegetables will not be able to grow.  

Endangered species in New Zealand 

- The Maui dolphin                                                                  

- The New Zealand Fairy tern

- The chesterfield skink

- The Mokohinau stag beetle 
- Eyelash Seaweed

- The Canterbury Knobbled Weevil

What is it?

The Canterbury knobbled weevil is an endangered beetle in New Zealand. Some people actually thought that the knobbled weevil was extinct because there had been no sightings since 1922, but it was rediscovered at Burkes Pass Scenic Reserve in 2004. They are 16mm in length and are identified by their dark brown to grey colour and their tubercles. Tubercles are a small rounded projection which is mostly found on the bone or surface on a animal. They are mostly found on speargrass also known as Spaniard. They eat the speargrass pollen. 

What will happen if it does not receive any help?

The weevils predators are rats, mice, hedgehogs, possums, cats and stoats. Habitat loss is also another major threat to the weevil. They could lose their habitats due to intentional or unintentional fires. This could kill the Weevils habitat: speargrass. Which would result in having no more of the Canterbury Knobbled weevil. 

How did it become endangered?
The knobbled weevil likes to eat the pollen from the speargrass plant. They have lost their habitats due to intentional or unintentional fires. They could have been eaten by predators. 

What is being done to help it
Since the Canterbury knobbled Weevil is critically endangered, people have been attempting to collect some of the speargrass seeds and then grow them for more habitats in a safer place for the weevil. 

How successful this has been?
This attempt to save the Weevil has not really been successful. In the new speargrass, you cannot find any Weevils, they have not really migrated. They are really close to being extinct. 

Kaitiakitanga

Kaitiakitanga 

Questions about introduced species

1.  What does introduced species mean?  
2.  Why where they brought to New Zealand?
3.  Why have their numbers exploded?
4.  What effect do they have on our native plants and animals?
5.  How is the DOC trying to get rid of them?
6.  How are stoats and weasels effecting our native things?
7.  What control methods are being used?
8.  Are those methods any success?

Anwers

1.  An introduced species is a plant or animal that is not native to the place that it is in. Some introduced species are a danger to some of the native plants or animals already living there. 
2.  Some of the introduced species were brought to New Zealand by the new-comers because they needed wildlife to help with growing food and crops. Originally they had no land mammals apart from bats. European settlers introduced game bird to populate empty forests that they saw. 
3. The numbers have grown because the animals have found mates and started reproducing resulting in more animals. Also they do not have any predators and plenty of food they are able to live happily.  
4.  Some of the introduced species do have a positive impact on our native species but most of them have a negative impact on our native species. For example stoats have eaten many native birds. 
5.  The DOC is hoping to get rid of all invasive species by 2050. They are going to develop new traps that are capable of killing rats, stoats, and possums. So far the government has committed a few tens of millions of dollars towards making the traps. 
6. Stoats are mainly eating the native birds in New Zealand they where brought to New Zealand to eat the introduced rabbits and hares. Weasels also are a major threat to the native birds, as they are eating birds eggs, which could result in extinction. 
7. 
   

Senses - practical

This morning in science we did a practical on 3 of the senses. We had to eat, touch and smell all of these things and these were my guesses. Some of these were hard to guess. 

Taste - 
1t - Vegemite
2r - Apple Sauce
3r - Cornflakes
4r - Marshmellows
5r - Sour Patch kids

Smell -
1.. Salt and vinegar
4.. Banana 
5.. coffee 
6.. Chocolate 
7.. Onion 

Touch - 
1. Grass
2. Pegs
3. Pine cones
4. Ping pong ball 
5. Buttons
6. String 
7. Cotton wool 
8. Lentils 
9. Marbles
10. Pipe cleaners 


Reflection on the practical - 
This period of science was fun. I enjoyed it. 

Experts in role

Today in drama, 8Mt did some practice with roles skills. 

For my role, I was playing an idiot from Hornby High School. We had to  describe an object that we did not see, we had to explain what it was. We used some words like, smooth, hairy, old, ancient, smells like a toilet. The we used our imagining skills,  our listening skills. This activity was okay because some people made it really funny. But some people weren't contributing to the group. 

Kaitiakitanga: Nuclear disasters

Kaitiakitanga 

Fukushima 
What was this?
Fukushima was a horrible nuclear disaster that occurred after a major earthquake, a 15 meter tsunami disabled the power supply and cooling of three Fukushima Daiichi reactors. 
This caused a nuclear accident on 11 March 2011. Loads of radioactive materials were scattered in the environment through vents, it was a very dangerous disaster. 

Where?
The Fukushima disaster happened in Okuma Japan.
  
Why was this disaster so important?
The Fukushima disaster was so important because of the impact that it had on the environment. It contaminated many things including, water, air, fruit in trees, areas on the ground and many more things. 

What effect did they have on the areas around them?
The Fukushima nuclear disaster had a negative impact on the environment. It had contaminated the environment with radiation. It had taken many people away from the area where they grew up, where they lived and where they spent their daily lives. 

What had been done to protect the surrounding areas from Chernobyl radiation?
What have we learnt from Fukushima 

Gymnastics

Today during P.E we started doing gymnastics. We are using the beams, trampoline and many other equipment. In my opinion, I don't really like doing gymnastics because I am not able to do some of the challenges.

Today I learned how to jump over a cone on a beam. This was challenging to do because I was a bit scared of hurting myself. But I overcame that fear by just giving it  a go.  I enjoyed doing gymnastics
because I learnt some new skills.