Commitment

Hi there!

This blog post is from late May 2020. 

Today I will be writing about what commitment, one of our school values looks like to me.

So, what does commitment look like to me?

• Commitment to school
• Commitment to sports
• Commitment to family 
• Commitment to trying new things
• Commitment to goals
• Commitment to friends

How do I show commitment to school?

• Learning ready
• sit down
• get device ready
• respectful, quiet inside voice 
• patiently waiting for instructions
•  Positive/growth mindset
• always sit with someone who will keep you focused
• always try your best
• don't be afraid to fail or make mistakes, you can learn from that mistake

How do I show commitment to sports?

• Showing up to training's
• trying my best
• trying my hardest
• showing up on time
•  Practicing at home
• Be a team player
• respect my coach 
• listen to my coach
• respect my team mates

How can I show commitment to family?

• Connect with them
• Help make family meals
• Hang out with them
• watch a movie
• go on a walk

How can I show commitment to trying new things?

• Don't be afraid
• If I have an opportunity to do something, take it because it might be the only chance I get to do it.
• Carry on doing it if I enjoy doing it. 

How can I show commitment to goals?

• Always work towards those goals no matter how small or big they are
• Work on them constantly/as much as I can. 

Thanks for reading!

Home Economics: Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Hi there! 

This blog post is from late May 2020.

Today I will be writing about how I made Dairy Free Banana Chocolate Muffins.

Ingredients:

• 2 c self raising flour 
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/2 c dairy free chocolate chips
• 100g butter
• 1 c soy milk
• 1 egg 
• 1 c mashed bananas (2-3)
• 1 t vanilla essence
• 100g dairy free spread

Method:

1.  Mix flour, salt, caster sugar & chocolate chips in a bowl.
2. In a separate bowl melt butter then add milk, and egg and beat to combine
3. Mash & measure the bananas and add to liquid ingredients
4. Tip liquid mixture into the dry ingredients. Fold carefully. Do not overmix.
5. Carefully spoon muffin batter into prepared muffin tins (line with paper cases.)
6. Optional topping: Mix 1 T sugar & 1/2 t cinnamon and sprinkle over top of muffins. Drop some chocolate bits on each.
7. Bake at 220°C for 12-15 mins, testing to check if muffin is cooked. Cool for 2-3 mins before removing from pan.

SUBSTITUTIONS for Banana and Chocolate Chip Muffin Recipe

Make the Muffins as per the recipe adding 1t Vanilla Essence to the milk, egg, butter mixture for added flavour

No Egg is to be used in the recipe. 

Instead use the Egg Replacer provided. Check instructions on the packet

Add 1t Vanilla Essence to the milk, egg, butter mixture

No Butter or Milk (Dairy) is to be used in the recipe. 

Instead substitute the Butter with 100g Olivani (Dairy Free spread)  

Instead substitute the Milk with 1c of Soy Milk

Add 1t Vanilla Essence to the soy milk , egg, Olivani mixture

Reduce the refined Sugar by using ¼ c of Apple Sauce and ¼ c of Caster Sugar

Add 1t Vanilla Essence to the milk, egg, butter mixture

Replace the Self Raising Flour with Plain Flour and Baking Powder

Ratio  =  2t Baking Powder : 1c Plain Flour

Add 1t Vanilla Essence to the milk, egg, butter mixture

Replace the Butter with 75ml Canola Oil

Add 1t Vanilla Essence to the milk, egg, oil mixture

Thanks for reading!

Social Studies: Rats and Mice

Hi there!

This blog post is originally from early 2020. 

Today I will be writing about a rat outbreak in Australia and a temple in India which worships them. 


Where did this happen?

• Australia 

How did this happen?

• Massive rainfall, leading in massive growth spike. 

How many offspring can 2 mice parents make?

• 2,000  in a matter of months, 100 million a year.

How much wheat did they eat?

• 50,0000 tonnes of wheat

How did they kill them? How many dead?

• 1080 poison 
• 100 million dead 

Where is this happening?

• Karni Mata Temple, Deshnoke, 30 km from Bikaner, in Rajasthan, India. 

Why is it happening?

• They believe that the rats are a form of the gods and they worship them because of that belief. 

What special treatment do they rats get?

• They are really treated as if they are celebrities. They aren't treated as rodents, and also are feed before others get to eat as well as getting to eat whatever they like. 

Thanks for reading!

Art: Attempted Use of White Space

 Hi there! 

Since New Zealand is still in lockdown and schools aren't open, school has become interesting. For Art class, this applies too. Our teacher set us to a really cool task to draw in a similar style of Joanna Margaret Paul. We had to try instil the use of white space. Paul would use white space to her advantage, creating spectacular pieces of work. Here is some more information about her:

Joanna Margaret Paul was a Kiwi artist born in Hamilton on the 14th of December 1945. As a child, she was always around artists and people of literature, something she and her family regarded very highly. After finishing boarding school at Samuel Marsden Collegiate School, she went on to the University of Waikato to study History, English and French. 

She graduated Elam School of Fine Arts at the University of Auckland in 1969 and had her work featured in an exhibition while studying there. Paul passed away in 2003, her works have since been featured in Victoria University’s Adam Art Gallery and the London Film Festival in 2016. 

Here is a link to the instructions if you would like to see.  I used charcoal pencils, watercolour, and coloured pencils to make my pieces, but you can basically use anything, as long as you can colour with it. Below are some attempts of mine using white space while drawing a still object. 

The images above were my first attempts at drawing using white space. As you can see, I left a lot of it. I drew one of the many orchid plants in my house, the plant didn't actually have any flowers. But, I felt like drawing a flower as my confidence levels regarding drawing were high and I had a "what the heck" attitude brewing so I went for it. Also, adding to the "what the heck" attitude, I decided to stray away from 'normal' colours and instead used dark and light brown. Something in me was drawn to them, and I am really glad I listened.  Considering these two images were my first attempts and I am not the most confident at drawing, I am pretty pleased with myself. However, I didn't colour some of the leaves properly, so they look a bit transparent. 

The images above were my attempts at using white space with watercolour. I did these a couple of days after my first attempts, since I finally found the watercolour kit I got on my sixth birthday which I was struggling to find. I used black water colour for most of my water colour pieces. However, the brown in the palette called to me again and I used it to draw a Bundaurg Ginger Beer glass. I used a thick stick I found in the back of my garden to do the drawings. I also used a cabbage tree leaf. I really enjoyed using the stick to draw the images. Depending on how I held the stick, I would get a different type of stroke which I found very cool. I would get a lot of colour onto the stick, and as it got depleted of colour I would use it to outline the next strokes I would take. Again, the transparent leaves came to haunt me, but I am still proud of my effort!

In this drawing, I used charcoal pencils to draw the image. It is from a different orchid plant, however I added a couple more leaves to it as it originally had (I accidentally broke a leaf off, sorry again mum). I used a black charcoal pencil first, then, when I had finished with my drawing I went over with a white charcoal pencil to give a "smudged" effect. When I started drawing this, I got was bit shocked because I had gotten used to the freeness of the water colour, whereas the pencil was the opposite. Transparent leaves appeared once more. But, if I keep on forgetting to make them opaque, I might as well make them a signature piece in my future drawings so they are legible. 

I really enjoyed attempting to use white space, I noticed as I did more and more drawings I got quicker at doing them too. I learned that I am masterful in drawing transparent leaves and that although it is peaceful, drawing in a garage with the door open gets very chilly. All in all, what matters is that I did the work, but most importantly, I had a lot of fun doing so.

Thanks for reading!

Science: Genetic Disorders - why do they occur?

 Hi there!

Before lockdown, in Science class we were learning about Genetics and Evolution. Since we are now in lockdown, our learning is a little different. I decided I would make a post about genetic disorders. 

What is a genetic disorder?

A genetic disorder is a disease caused by mutation or change in a person's DNA sequence.

Why do genetic disorders occur? 

Genetic disorders don't just occur one way. You can actually inherit genetic disorders from your parents. Some don't show up right away when you're  born but instead appear when you are in adulthood. Most of the time, inherited genetic disorders show up when you are born. Some genetic disorders people inherit from their parents are: 

- Huntington's Disease 

- Cystic Fibrosis 

- Haemophilia

Some genetic disorders can occur because of errors in DNA replication, or environmental factors like: radiation exposure, cigarette smoke, some chemicals and ultra violet rays. These factors can cause changes in the sequence of DNA, the mutations can then lead to genetic disorders. 

A human's genome, or complete set of genetic instructions is like a recipe book. However, unlike a recipe book, our genome can change. The changes can affect the bases in DNA (adenine, guanine, cytosine and thymine) or a chunk of DNA. Sometimes it can even affect chromosomes too.

Our DNA provides special codes to make protein or large molecules made from amino acids. These molecules are mostly responsible for controlling functions in our bodies. But, when a part of our DNA is changed, it can alter the protein code it makes too. This means the protein is affected and can sometimes stop functioning. 

Depending on where the mutations happen, they have little to no effect on the person, or they can greatly alter the makeup of cells in our body, leading to a genetic disorder.

Thanks for reading!

Science: The Ethics of Cloning

 Hi there! 

Today I will be writing about the ethics of cloning (as you can tell by the title). I will discuss how a clone is made, the ethics of cloning, and my opinions on some situations where cloning might be used. 

How do you make a clone?

To make a clone of any person, (let's use Leonardo da Vinci (L.d.V.) as an example) you would first need one of L.d.V.'s skin cells (all 46 chromosomes) and secondly, an egg cell (23 chromosomes) from a donor. Thirdly, the nuclei from both of the cells would need to be removed using a micropipette. Next, the nucleus of L.d.V.'s cell (with all 46 chromosomes) would be inserted into the donor egg cell, meaning the egg cell now has all the instructions to make Leonardo da Vinci. The egg is then surgically inserted into the same egg cell donor's womb. Finally, 9 months later a perfect genetic clone of Leonardo da Vinci is born. 

Ethics of Cloning

Ethics are behaviour's people have regarding right or wrong. Everyone has their own beliefs around ethics, take for example pineapple on pizza. Some people believe putting pineapple on pizza is wrong, whereas some people believe it's right. We could view this as an ethical dilemma. 

Personally, I think cloning is an ethical dilemma, some people think cloning is good, but when the thing being cloned is changed they might begin to think otherwise. This is also vice versa.

There are two sides to cloning, the positives such as being able to make copies of just about anything. But, there are also negatives, such as the reasoning behind a clone, for example, cloning strong, abled people for armies, knowing the people they clone don't have a say. 

Below, I'll put some cloning scenarios and my opinion on them. Just remember, people will all have different answers when it comes to cloning, no answer is right or wrong. Even scientists have been debating cloning for years!

Scenario 1: Cloning should be used to replicate extinct animals

I think that cloning shouldn't be used to replicate extinct animals. As much as it would be amazing to see Megalodons or Moa they wouldn't survive very long, as the environments they once lived in have completely changed. 

Scenario 2: Cloning should be used to staff armies

I think that cloning shouldn't be used to staff armies because it takes away the rights humans have. A person should not have the right to choose whether or not they join the army or any other defense force taken away from them automatically. 

Scenario 3: Cloning should be used to harvest organs for people who need them

I think that cloning shouldn't be used to harvest organs for people who need them. Like Scenario 2, people should be allowed to decide if they want to donate their organs. They shouldn't be 'bred' to give other people organs without consenting they'll do it first. 

Thanks for reading!

Science: Famous Scientist Research

 Hi there!

In Science, we were tasked with researching a famous scientist. After a long debate with myself, I have finally chosen to research about: Charles Darwin. 

Charles Darwin was born in Shrewsbury, England on 12 February, 1809. He died on 19 April 1882 in Kent, England.  

Darwin was famous for his book, 'On the Origins of Species' which he released in 1859. He gathered information to publish it after going travelling for 5 years across the world to different places. 

The book explained Darwin's ideas about evolution, however this caused a lot of controversy in the non-scientific community of the early 19th century. The evidence he gathered is seen as conflicting with some religious beliefs about creation of creatures on the world and the world itself. 

Darwin is also famous for studying the wildlife on the Galápagos Islands, a cluster of islands on the equator almost 1,000km west of Ecuador. While on the island, he noticed that the finches on the different islands were similar to each other, but not exactly alike. He noted that each bird had a variation in size, beak and claws. 

Darwin concluded that the islands were so distant from the mainland, that the finches which arrived previously to the islands had changed over time. Darwin ended up with almost 30 years of research and studied hundreds more plant and animal species. He made his theory of evolution by natural selection public in 1858. Nowadays, evolution by natural selection is the foundation of modern biology, accepted by scientists all across the world. 

Two random facts about Charles Darwin:

- He and Abraham Lincoln, former U.S. President were born on the same day.

- In Zimbabwe, there is a mountain named 'Mount Darwin', after him. 

Thanks for reading!