Social Studies- Political Poster Nelson Mandela

Hi there!

Here a political poster I made for Social Studies.

Thanks for reading!

Home Economics: ANZAC Biscuits

Hi there!

Today I will be writing about how I made ANZAC Biscuits in Home Economics.

Ingredients:

Amended Version:

1 cup Standard Grade Flour

1 ¾ cups rolled oats

½ cup White Sugar 

¼ cup (firmly packed) Soft Brown Sugar

1 cup desiccated coconut

125g Butter, cubed

¼ cup Golden Syrup

2 Tablespoons water

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 pair of food handling gloves

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 150°C conventional bake. Line a baking tray with baking paper.

2. In a medium sized bowl, sift together the Standard Grade Flour. Add the rolled oats, coconut and sugars; mix well.

3. Combine the Butter, Golden Syrup and water in a small saucepan and stir over low-medium heat until the Butter melts and the mixture is well combined (ensure the mixture does not simmer or boil). Remove from heat and stir in the bicarbonate of soda. Add immediately to the dry ingredients and use a wooden spoon to stir until well combined.

4. Roll 1-2 tablespoons of mixture into balls and place onto a tray about 5cm apart. Use your fingers to flatten each slightly (until they are about 1cm thick) and bake for 16 minutes (for a chewy biscuit) or 20 minutes for a crunchier biscuit.

5. Set aside for 5 minutes to cool slightly before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Keep in an airtight container for up to a week.

Notes:

• My group decided that we would remove cinnamon which was previously included as we read a review which said that it didn't go well.

Sensory Evaluation:

My ANZAC Biscuits turned out pretty good. They were golden on the top and light brown on the inside. The biscuits had a crunchy outside layer and a soft, chewy inside. When looking at the biscuit, the coconut and the oats were very visible and were eye-catching. The coconut and oats provided the biscuit with great texture, the outside's crispiness complimenting the inside's soft consistency. Some spots on the outside of the biscuit were goldener and crispier than others, this also add texture to the biscuit. The biscuits were dense, resulting in them being chewy biscuits (baking time also effected this). There was even distribution of the coconut and oats through out the biscuit this was good because every bite you took was the same as the last. The biscuits were sweet, I could taste the golden syrup the most in the biscuit. Luckily, the golden syrup didn't overtake the flavour of the coconut or oats. The biscuit left a lingering sweet flavour in your mouth, the same goes for the coconut and oats.

Improvements:

Some things that I think that could have improved my ANZAC Biscuits was rolling/packing them tighter as they started to fall apart when I flattened them, resulting in them falling apart more while baking. Apart from this, I was extremely happy with my end product.

Here are some photos of my end product:

 

Thanks for reading!

Social Studies: Robert Mugabe Facts Poster

Hi there!

Here is a blog post about Robert Mugabe who was the leader of Zimbabwe.

Thanks for reading!

Social Studies: Past & Present Leaders

Hi there!

Here is a timeline I made in Social Studies about past or present leaders.

Thanks for reading!

Home Economics: Mini Pastry Savouries

Hi there!

Today I will be writing about how I made Mini Pastry Savouries in Home Economics.

Ingredients:

• 2 pre-rolled sheets of flaky puff pastry 
• 1-2 eggs
• pinch of salt
• pinch of pepper
• 1-2T Milk
• 1-2 slices of ham, shredded (optional)
• 1-2 cherry tomatoes, chopped (optional)
• 100g Edam cheese, grated (optional)
• frozen corn, thawed (optional)
• frozen peas, thawed (optional)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Using pastry cutters, cut circles to fit patty pans. Chill in fridge. 
2. Mix: egg, pinch of salt, pinch of pepper, 1T milk. (Make again if needed/if you run out!) Whisk with fork.
3. Transfer egg mixture into a measuring cup.
4. Place ham, cheese, cherry tomatoes or whatever your preferred toppings into your pastry case.
5. Carefully pour egg mixture into each case. Don't spill any!
6. Bake for 8-10 minutes.
7. Cool and eat.

Notes:

• Keep pastry as cold as possible
• My group left our ones in the oven for an other 7 minutes after switching to the 'fan bake' setting. 

Sensory Evaluation:

My Mini Pastry Savouries turned out amazing. The pastry was soft and flaky on the outside as well as being soft on the inside of the pastry. The egg mixture was well seasoned and was soft and springy when bitten into. My group added cheese, ham, cherry tomato to our pastries and it tasted really good, the different toppings provided for a nice array of texture in the pastries. The tops of the pastries were light brown and crispy while the inside was soft and light. Our pastry puffed up very nicely in the oven and gave extra volume to our product. There were many different flavours in the Mini Pastry Savouries, they all went together brilliantly. I will definitely be making them again!

Here are some photos of my end outcome:

Thanks for reading!

Social Studies: Governments

P.E.

Hi there!

Today I will be writing about some things I have learned about Basketball as well as some other interesting things too. 

- Who created Basketball? What was his occupation?

James Naismith created Basketball in 1891. He was a physician, physical educator, sports coach and innovator. He was from America. 

- When and where did the word 'marathon' originate from?

The word 'marathon' originated in Athens, Greece in 490 B.C. According to a legend a Greek messenger called Philippedes ran over the plains of Marathon to go back to his village to let the know that they had defeated Persians who were trying to get to Athens. Apparently he got there and said they had won, then collapsed and died on the spot.

- Who created the modern Olympics?

Baron Pierre de Coubertin created the modern Olympic Games. He was a man from France. 

- Have the Olympic Games ever been cancelled before?

Yes, the Olympics have been cancelled before, most recently this year (2020) due to the global pandemic COVID-19. It has also been cancelled in 1944, 1940 & 1916.

Thanks for reading!

Home Economics: Pikelets

Hi there!

Today I will be writing about how I made pikelets in Home Economics.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Edmonds standard flour
• 1 tsp Edmonds baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup
• 3/4 cup, approximately

Method:

1. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. 
2.  In another bowl beat the egg and sugar with a whisk until pale and thick. 
3. Add the egg mixture and the milk to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. 
4.  Gently heat a non-stick frying pan and drop tablespoonfuls of the batter from the point of the spoon onto the surface.
5.  When bubbles start to burst on the top of the pikelets, turn them over and cook the second side until golden. Place in a clean tea towel to cool.

Sensory Evaluation:

My pikelets turned out very well. They were sweet and well cooked. They were an even consistency throughout. They were soft and sprung back easily when bitten. They were light and fluffy and had nice brown and golden colouring on both sides as well as being a pale golden colour inside. The butter used to grease the pan also provided a nice flavour which compliented the pikelets. 


Something I would change/do differently next time is instead of putting the milk and egg mixture in all at once I would add them bit by bit so that there aren't as many flour clumps in the mixture, this was a problem we encountered. I would also use an electric mixer to beat the eggs, although I got a good arm workout in I think it would be more efficient to use a mixer instead of doing it my hand. 

Here are some photos of my end outcome:

Thanks for reading!

C.A.R.R. Values Blog Post

Hi there!

Today I will write about how I have shown school values this week.

Commitment: As COVID-19 alert levels in New Zealand are slowly being relaxed, normality from pre-lockdown days is slowly coming back in a new form. I have signed up for school netball. I have gotten into the junior team which I am stoked about! However, it won't come for free. Every Thursday I will be working out with my team mates as I will have an hour long fitness session in our new school gym. This session starts at 7 o'clock in the morning, I currently wake up at 7 o'clock in the morning. I am going to have to show commitment by waking up much earlier and getting ready as quick as I can. 


Resilience: This week, I have found it especially difficult to get out of my bed in the morning and start getting ready for school. I just want to stay in my bed and sleep until I can't sleep anymore and only then get up. If I did this, I would be quite late to school!
So, to try get up with bundles of energy, I am going to start going to bed earlier and stop going on my phone before bed. I tried this out last night and I felt way more rested than I normally do. I also read for about half an hour before I went to sleep. I am going to carry on trying to do this and see how it goes. I will also try research things which could help me sleep better. 

Thanks for reading!

Home Economics: Chocolate Chip Cookies

Hi there! 

Today I will be writing about how I made Chocolate Chip Cookies in Home Economics. 

Ingredients: 

• 100g butter 
• 1/2 cup Chelsea White Sugar 
• 1/2 cup Chelsea Soft Brown Sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Method:

1. Melt butter, and add both sugars and cream together. Beat in the eggs and vanilla then mix in the dry ingredients.
2. Roll into medium sized balls, making sure the mixture is not too wet! Put on a well greased baking tray. They shouldn't spread too much so flatten slightly. Bake at 180°C for 8-10 minutes. 

Tip: you can easily half this recipe. Or roll half into a log, wrap in cling film and freeze. Cut into 15 pieces while still frozen and bake.

Sensory Evaluation:

The cookies were nice and sweet. The chocolate chips were evenly spread throughout the cookies and added extra bursts of sweetness while eating. The cookies had a nice golden brown colouring on top and on the bottom and had a light golden colour on the inside. The cookie was harder on the outside edges and got softer as it reached the middle of the cookie. The cookies were a bit hard to chew through after fully cooling down but were still delicious. The cookies stayed together well and didn't splay all over the tray when baking. They stayed together when out of the oven as well. The cookies had an even thickness throughout and were very delicious to eat!

Here are some photos of my end outcome:

Thanks for reading!

English: Kate Sheppard

P.E.: Table Tennis & Juggling

Hi there!

Today I will be writing about how Table Tennis and Juggling has been going over the past 3 weeks.

I feel like my Table Tennis skills are slowly improving, I have really been enjoying playing with my friends and different classmates I wouldn't normally talk to. It is interesting to see how other people play against each other and how they hit the ball. I still have to work on my skills and learn the rules of table tennis more in depth before I can say I know how to play Table Tennis. 

Juggling hasn't been going as well as I hoped it would. I can juggle with scarves but I can't juggle with hacky sacks yet. I have tried juggling with rings as well but I figured I should try juggling with the hacky sacks before I move onto attempting to juggle rings. I also tried spinning plates which was a lot of fun and I got the hang of it in the end. 

I am really enjoying this unit so far and I am hoping I will be able to juggle well and play table tennis well by the end of this unit!

Thanks for reading!