This Week's Subjects

This is what I've been doing for the past few weeks for my subjects. In English, we are starting to write an essay about a director and I chose Quentin Tarantino to write about we had to choose two movies, and I chose Django Unchained and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. I also need to do a speech on it as well. In P.E., we are learning how to play badminton with a training program and it's helping my skills. In History, we had a guest speaker who spoke about the Chinese in the Central Otago Gold Rush, I learned a lot and used it for my assessment. In DVC, we are designing a cafe to build in Taylor's Mistake on the beach. 

Klara and the Sun Post Reading Task

 Locate 3 new vocabulary words in the articles and define them.

Mysophobic - A strong reaction to specific sounds

Sentient - Able to perceive or feel things

Nascent - Displaying signs of potential

What important themes/ideas does Klara and the Sun show? (according to the articles.)

It shows the nature of future intelligence and the cost of loneliness and relationships. As Klara is a artificial friend to Josie and their relationship even though Klara is not even a real human being. Klara helps Josie with loneliness and it shows how people can be affected when they are lonely. 

Locate another article about Klara and the Sun and record something that you learned from it. 

This article helped me know more about the theme of the book and the idea of the book. It takes it more in depth.   

https://www.allofusbookclub.com/loving-what-we-dont-understand-in-klara-and-the-sun/

What connections can you draw so far between Klara and the Sun and Blade Runner 2049?

The artificial intelligence is similar as there is artificial life in Klara and Joi. They cure Josie's and K's loneliness in the film and they feel accompanied by the artificial people. They are not real humans. 

Has your understanding of what it means to be human/have personhood changed since studying these texts?

Yes as the artificial intelligence don't have feelings or emotions and it shows in these texts. Humans have feelings and emotions. 

Passion Project

 Pizza Passion Project

Austin, Andre and I practised making pizza for our passion project and it was good, I enjoyed making it and it tasted good. I think we are ready to make the final product on Friday. We didn't even have a recipe, we made it without one. This week, we will make an even better pizza and will have a chicken pizza with the pepperoni one. I'm excited to make the final product.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck

 Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck Summary

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck tells the story of Greg, a middle school boy who can't seem to catch a break. Greg's luck begins to go downhill when his best friend, Rowley, starts spending all his time with his new girlfriend, Abigail. Greg sees everything else as spiraling downward and it isn't until he starts making decisions for himself that Greg begins to see his luck change. His school year gets a lot better. I liked this book as it is relatable for middle schoolers or high schoolers. You can see someone elses perspective of school and their life which is interesting. 

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth by Jeff Kinney

 Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth Summary

Greg faces challenges with the start of a new school year. He's not friends with his old best friend, Rowley anymore and doesn't know anyone else who is best friend material. Rowley got a pimple before Greg and Greg was jealous because having a pimple is being 'manly'. Other kids his age are starting to attend boy-girl parties and post pictures of their exciting lives online. He tries to find new friends but cannot and in the end, will get back together with Rowley and try get into a party which he does. I think it is a good book and it is pretty realistic to some high school students. I personally liked reading the book.

Far-right threats to Maori women

Far-right threats to Maori women

13 August 2021, The Press

Maori women have been getting racist threats including Siouxsie Wiles, who was threatened after her work on COVID-19. Some have been even getting racist mails which is really bad because the racists know where the Maori women live because they have been sending letters. They even get rape threats and they get threats and racist comments everyday through email, Tiktok, Instagram etc. This needs to change.

1.5 Persuasive Writing

Pathos

Pathos is greek for emotion and it is used to show emotion. Your argument on your persuasive writing will be a lot better with showing emotion towards your argument. For instance, if you want your audience to be sad then you will show sad emotions in your writing so it makes your audience feels sad. The emotions can be love, humour, anger or any emotional response. For example, if you are convincing your audience to not do drugs, you can make them feel sad about how their parents will feel about you doing drugs which will make them not want to do it so they don't disappoint their parents. 

Logos

Logos is greek for logic and logos is used to show logic like data or statistics. The points are straight forward. You use facts to convince your audience rather than trying to appeal to the audiences emotions. For instance, if you write about a Nike shoe and say that they have the most comfortable shoes shown by statistics because it's really soft fabric then your audience will most likely be convinced into your argument. If you use logic and facts then your audience will be more convinced because facts cannot be proven wrong because they are true. 

Ethos

Ethos is greek for customs or character and is used to show credibility for the writer. Ethos make sure that the argument is reliable and trustworthy. Ethos is best used to unlock trust from the audience. It's great to show that you understand your audience and show that you can be trusted. You have to show that you actually care or are passionate about your argument so it looks trustworthy and reliable. Also it is sometimes good to admit some wrongs to greater prove that you can be trusted. If you are also an expert about your argument then it makes you more trustworthy. For instance, if you are trying to convince your audience that it is good to wear covid masks and you are a doctor then your audience will believe you because you are a doctor.

Putting pathos, logos and ethos together would make a great persuasive argument and your audience will most likely will be persuaded by your argument,

Memory by Margaret Mahy

Memory is a book that we are reading at Whanaga by Margaret Mahy. Here's the summary for the book.

Jonnys in a bad way. after a night of trouble., he sets out to find his dead sisters best friend. But wandering through the deserted city late at night, he finds someone else instead - old Sophie West suffers from senile dementia, a brain disorder causing loss of memory and disorientation. She is reduced to living  on her own in genteel but dreadful squalor - her only companions a mass of cats. As a temporary outcast himself, Jonny takes refuge with her.

Jonny came back from finding his dead sisters best friend which shows resilience after a bad incident. He feels sad because of his sisters death but he's still going through it and hasn't gave up. 

What is Commitment?

Commitment means dedicating yourself to something. You do whatever to make sure it's done or you do it. It feels good when you finally get it done and you feel good that you committed to it. I read an article about the Bucks winning the NBA Championship, they were down 2-0 and they came back to win 4-2, they stayed committed to basketball. Giannis Antetokounmpo is the Bucks best player and he always trains and commits to train for basketball to get better for the games.

EOTC Week

Today for EOTC week, I have done Maori definitions. It is about the marae. Here's what I done:
Waiata- A waiata is the Maori word for song
Pōwhiri- A Maori welcoming ceremony
Kaikaranga- A Kaikaranga is the woman who calls to the marae
Rangatahi- The Younger people
Kaikōrero- Kaikorero is when the men give a speech
Wharemanaaki-  The Wharemanaaki is the Restroom Building in the marae

Happier Narrative Writing

Today, we watched the Happier music video and we have to make a narrative writing about it, here's what I wrote (this is the girls perspective):

It was my 12th birthday. My mum got me a cute dog. I really like this dog and I always wanted one because all my friends have dogs. My uncle took a picture of me and my dog and put it on the wall. I have him treats in my room and we played all night. (A few years later, the dog grows up) In the morning I had to go to school, I hate school but I had to. I finished school and I had soccer practice after school. They always bully me there but my passion is football/soccer. But when I go home my dog is there to make me feel happy. My dog was acting strangely today, I asked my mother what it was but she said "There is nothing wrong with him." It was the weekend so I can play with my dog! I went to go see where he was, he was just sleeping. But suddenly I see my dad come in and grab him and take him to the vet. He's not moving or breathing at all. I start panicking and crying. We arrive at the vet and they take him in a room. A doctor comes out 15 mins after and says "I'm sorry to say but your dog has passed." I was shocked. I have never felt this way before. (20 years later) It's my daughters 12th birthday, I got her the same breed dog as my old one. I gave it to her she was so happy. Just like me back when I was 12. A tear rolled down my face. My uncle took picture of it and put it next to my picture of me and my dog.

Overall I think this task was fun and helpful. You have to have good memory and it was very fun doing it. I hope we do something like this again.

Passion Projects

This week we have been started doing passion projects. I chose community sports and

we chose to do a basketball tournament for charity. We do passion projects every Monday and Thursday.

• Basketball tournament donates a can of food and gives the can of food to charity.   
• Basketball tournament donates clothes that are too big or small for you.
• Basketball tournament donates money to play the tournament.
• Do a sprint to donate stuff to your favorite charity.

S.W.O.T. Analysis

Strengths We are donating to the homeless We are doing sports we enjoy Playing along with the community People will get healthy	Weaknesses Easily distracted - Try not to get distracted and commit to our work We don’t do much work  - Do more work We leave work at the last minute -Try to commit to our work and finish it
Opportunities Building the confidence To make a difference Connect with different people Practice your favorite sports Have fun	Threats Dangerous People - Ask a teacher to supervise us Stray dogs - Run or Bad weathers - Check the Weather No equipment - Tell someone to bring the equipment No money- We don't need money.

Persuasive Writing: "Cats are better than dogs"

Both of the best pets in the world, cats and dogs but which one is better? In my opinion I think dogs are better because they defend/protect your home from anyone who is trespassing. Dogs make you get up and exercise because they need to go for walks and they want to play fetch. Some dogs can guide blind people where to go and that is very helpful for blind people while cats can't do that. 

Some dogs also help the police catch criminals, the dogs run after the criminal and bite them or just take them down until the police officer takes them. Cats could run away or hit by a car easily so you have to keep them inside which could get messy with cat hair everywhere. Dogs don't go on roads and don't run away, you leave them in a fenced area and they will protect your home. Cats aren't very helpful, they might be cute but not helpful. Dogs are very helpful, they can do multiple jobs that helps  humans. What's your opinion? Do you like cats or dogs?

In the Holidays

I was playing Fortnite and my brother came in the room and asked me if I wanted to go play basketball, I said "Yes." We drove to the courts and I took my first shot and it swished in. My brother said "Let's have a shooting competition." He went first and got 8/10. It was my turn, I got... 6/10. I lost but I keeped on practicing. I was improving, I got way better at shooting after this. I was getting 7/10 a lot but then I started getting 9/10 and 8/10. It was very hard because they were three pointers, three points are very far from the hoop. My brother was helping me get better because he is good at basketball. We were there for 2 hours, we had our last shootout before we go to Burger King and have some food. We got really hungry because we were there for 2 hours. My brother got 9/10, I got 9/10 so we tied at the last one. We had to go because we were hungry. We went to Burger King and I got a chicken burger combo and my brother got the same. So we went back home and I played Fortnite and Rainbow Six Siege with my friends Austin and Murtaza. I watched Netflix aswell. Overall it was a fun day and I hope to get better at basketball.

Business & Enterprise: Market Day

Today was Market Day and our company name is Boom Boom Pop Shot and we did balloon popping. You throw darts at balloons and you try to pop them, if you pop the balloon you can get lollies or even a stuffed animal. Today, my favourite part was going around and buying some stuff from other sellers. I brought a fortnite game, it was so fun. I liked how we sold out and so much people had fun. If I did it again, I would use more tape on the balloons or go inside because the balloons were blown away by the wind. But we got them all back and sticked them back on.

NZD DLO

In maths, we have learning about NZD and our group are doing a D.L.O. I have finished mine. Here it is:

DLO By Sam and Austin

Today, we had a task to pick a class pet we picked a frog because they are cheap. All the details are on the slide:

Tessellations

In maths, we been doing tessellations. We drawed these shapes and saw that they tessellate butg most of the didn't. Here's the chart:

Polygon Name	No. of Sides	Interior Angle	Tessellate - Yes or No
Equilateral trian	3	60 degrees	Yes it can
Square	4		Yes it can
Pentagon	5		No it can’t
Hexagon	6		No it can't
Heptagon	7		No it can't
Octagon	8		No it can't
Decagon	10		No it can’t
Dodecagon	12		No It can’t

Paperboy

Vince Vawter wrote Paperboy. I think Vince Vawter wrote this book because he had this experience and he wanted to share it. He wanted to share this story because he had this experience before. I want to ask Vince Vawter that did a lot of people bully him because his stuttering. Also I want to ask him, did he think this book would get famous.

Paperboy Novel Study

For Reading, we are reading about a book called Paperboy. My first impression was I think it looks good because it has a award on the front so it must be good. On the cover it looks like a boy that delivers newspaper and mail. He looks unhappy. On the back, it says hes doing his best friend's paper route for the month of July. But he isn't looking to forward to interacting with the customers because there's a neighborhood junk man, a bully and a thief, that does all the trouble. I feel good about doing a novel study because it is fun and I get better at reading while doing it.