Wananga: Personalised Passion Project Blog - THE BEAST KING KABUKI

What is Genius Hour? Genius Hour means to Create. It is a chance to unleash your creativity and be able to work on something that you are passionate about. It could be a passion that you already have or a new passion that you are interested in learning more about. One of the main outcomes of this will be for you to create something through your passion.  Given that you are working on your passion, it will be up to you to make sure you create something at the end of this.  

What else is Genius Hour? Genius Hour is a time when students are allowed to explore topics that interest them the most. The instructional focus of Genius Hour is much more about the process of exploration than the content. Students are tasked with researching their topics of interest and teachers help guide their research more thorough questions than direct learning/content delivery. Students have the freedom to access resources and people in the building who can help with the topic they’ve chosen.

For our personalised passion project, we are doing it as a group and our project will involve sustainability and creativity. We are making a beast king Kabuki (Japanese) out of sustainable materials such as newspaper, cardboard, empty tissue rolls, glues and etc. We will make it a life-size figure and there will be two of them. 

(inspiration)

Driving Questions: How can we use sustainable materials (recycled) such as newspaper and cardboard to create are--a life-size statue?

Detailed Plan: 

Date -  Week 8	What is researched, planned oir actioned?	Location	Who is involved?	Contingency (Identify potential problems and solutions)	Equipment Needed
Wednesday	We brainstormed ideas of what we could make as a group.	We did this at school.	The whole group  (7 members)		Chromebook
Thursday	We gathered our equipments such as the cardboard and newspaper. We began to make the body parts of the statue.	At school	The whole group  (7 members)	How we can stick the pieces together without using much glue.	Cardboard Scissors Stapler
Friday	We continued to create the body parts of the sustainable statue.	At school	The whole group  (7 members)		Cardboard Scissors Stapler
Notes	Create the body parts of the second statue	At school	The whole group  (7 members)		Cardboard Scissors Stapler

Music: Term 3 Music Performance

 What instrument are you performing on? And what will you perform? My group and I will be performing "Can't Help Falling In Love" by Elvis Presley and we will be using our voices and a piano for our instrument.

Are you doing a solo or group performance? I will be performing with a group because I think that with more people, it would be more fun, less nervous, and it will improve our collaboration skills, creativity, and innovativeness.

What do you need to work on first? In my opinion, my group and I will need to work really hard and contribute. We need to work on the piano and voice rhythm so that they will match to create a harmonic piece. 

What will be challenging? I think the challenge will be performing in front of the class and trying not to make a mistake.

Salo - Salo Night

Last night was the night where "Salu-Salo" was celebrated. There were varieties of performance and entertainment involved. 

The performers presented a show about the history of the Philippines and the colonization of Spain. There were also games to entertain the audience, the hosts asked a few questions about the history of the Philippines such as what does "KKK" stands for, the full name of a famous author in the Philippines, "Jose Rizal", and more. 

There was also a performance about "Tinikling", a dance where bamboos are used. The performers were amazing, it was a breath-taking sight. There was also a fashion show where traditional Filipino clothing was presented. I was actually pretty amused at how many clothings we had in the Philippines, I didn't even know half of the traditional clothing, I learnt a few things about my own culture. 

The food was exceptional, as expected, haha. Everyone was having fun and enjoying their night. 

Business Studies: Two New Zealand Entrepreneurs

 Karen Walker

Karen Walker was born on the 4th of December 1969. She grew up in the Auckland suburb of Remuera. Walker attended Epsom Girls' Grammar School to pursue a career of becoming a fashion designer. After graduating in 1995, she launched her first two boutiques, with only a hundred bucks. 

Karen Walker is a New Zealand fashion designer. She began her fashion label back in 1987 and opened her first store in Newmarket, Auckland. As time went on, her business grew, Walker started selling off her clothes in Barneys, New York, in 1988. It was the same year where she presented her first runway collection.  

Walker’s sales soared when Madonna, an American singer-songwriter and actress, also referred to as the “Queen of Pop”, wore one of Karen Walker’s designed clothes. When Walker’s sales soared, she became well-known. Walker has designed clothes worn by famous actresses, actors, singers and more. Artists such as Bjork, Sienna Millar, Natalie Portman, M.I.A, Alexa Chung, Beth Ditto, Michael Haneke, Liv Tyler, Rihanna, Claire Daines, Zooey Deschanel and Jennifer Lopez. 

In the 2000s, Walker became the first New Zealander to have a solo show at New York fashion week. Karen Walker was also appointed as the “Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit”, for her services and contribution in the fashion industry during the, "2004 New Year Honours." In 2007, Karen Walker received the prize of, “Prix de Marie Claire” for best creative talent. Later on, in 2009, she was awarded the “World Class New Zealand Awards”. Ten years later, she was promoted to “Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit,” for her excellent services in fashion designs. 

In my opinion, Karen Walker is a hard-worker designer. For instance, in her interview for the online magazine called Fashion NZ, a reporter asked how she dealt with failures and the challenges she faced during the process. Karen Walker stated, “Well, it’s not easy to build a brand or a successful business, especially over three decades. Not everyone succeeds in this way, and we’re very aware of this. Over 30 years, we’ve faced thousands of challenges and continue to. When there are failures, it’s best to embrace them, and learn from them.

The fashion business is based upon the premise of constant change and, whilst this is, in part, our reason for being, it’s also one of the major challenges. We have to be constantly living in the future and pre-empting and managing changes that are out of our control.” She could’ve given up during her 30 years of service in the fashion industry, on top of that, she had a lot of competitors who could be more creative than her, but she didn’t. In my point of view, she was ambitious, she strived to do more, to be better, to be more successful, and to prove to everyone that she is not just any entrepreneur. 

Resources: 

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Walker_(designer) 
• https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/seven-world-class-kiwi-entrepreneurs/UR5VWAG6NAXQXNMTTKJK3LMLXY/
• https://www.famousfashiondesigners.org/karen-walker
• https://fashionz.co.nz/karen-walker-on-30-years-of-her-eponymous-brand/ 
• https://thespinoff.co.nz/business/12-02-2020/karen-walker-on-why-she-closed-the-department-store-after-10-years/
• https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/my-heels-are-killing-me/story/2018651799/karen-walker-the-gate-keepers-have-gone

Ray Avery

Sir Raymond John Avery is a successful New Zealand scientist, entrepreneur, inventor and author. He was born in Kent, England and grew up without having parents. He’s spent most of his childhood in orphanages to foster homes. At the age of 14, Avery used to get in trouble with the police, he slept in the streets of London, eventually, he found sanctuary in the library. Avery spent most of his time reading books, he discovered fascinating things, from there, he developed an interest in science, furthermore, he was able to educate himself. 

A teacher in London who found Avery encouraged him to attend an agricultural college. From there, Avery studied at Wye College and graduated with a degree in science. He eventually became a scientist, where he began to conduct his experiments. 

1973, Avery settled in New Zealand, where he became a citizen, from there, he continued his experiments in Auckland. Consequently, Avery took a role as technical director of Douglas Pharmaceuticals. Years later, Avery moved to Fred Hollows, where he concentrated on issues such as treating blindness. 

Motivated, Sir Avery worked blood, sweat, and tears. Because of Avery’s perseverance, he’s gained, multiple supporters. He was able to publish his first book of autobiography about his life in 2010, called “Rebel with a Cause”, where he wrote his story about living in an orphanage, following his dream and making his dream into reality. 

Sir Avery said in an interview that surviving his childhood was the hardest thing he’s ever done. From childhood, Avery suffered from mistreatment of others and abuse. He’s also had difficulties such as dyslexia and hearing problems which made his life more difficult than it ever was. 

I strongly believe that Sir Raymond Avery is a strong man. I can’t imagine myself without a mum and a dad, furthermore, a family, and Sir Avery must’ve been longing for the love from his parents, yet never received it. I don’t know Sir Raymond, I’ve just discovered him from my research of New Zealand entrepreneurs, I feel pity for him, I pretended I was in his shoes during his childhood. It was sad and lonely, walking in the streets of London, starving, crying, resentful. Sir Avery had nothing but only dreams, but he was brave, he had a strong spirit. He was able to educate himself, he wanted to learn and be out of misery, because of this, he became the successful man he is now.

Resources:  

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Avery_(scientist)
• https://www.newsroom.co.nz/who-is-sir-ray-avery#:~:text=From%20an%20orphanage%20in%20England,mistreatment%20and%20%E2%80%9Csystematic%20abuse%E2%80%9D.
• https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/kerre-mcivor-mornings/audio/ray-avery-more-creativity-needs-to-be-put-into-curriculums/
• https://thespinoff.co.nz/media/11-09-2018/why-is-sir-ray-avery-is-trying-to-take-down-the-news/

Social Studies: Who is Greenpeace?

Who is Greenpeace? Greenpeace is an independent international organisation campaign that uses non-violent action and creative communication to expose global environmental problems and promotes solutions to the environmental issues that is essential to make our future better. Their vision is to improve a greener, healthier and more peaceful planet. 

What have they done to make positive change? Greenpeace makes positive changes in the world because of its hard work on investigating environmental crises, documents, and data. Their investigation provides a search and evidence and their perpetrators in order to give out information to people and enable their campaigns. Greenpeace encourages and persuades those who are in power to help make a change, to provide support such as financial support and manpower. Greenpeace reaches out to people such as business leaders and politicians to make these demands come true and make positive actions so that they can improve the environment and enhance the lives of the people. They engage local communities who can help out to make changes to the planet. Greenpeace exposes to the world the causes of environmental destruction and what the outcome would be if it is continued for a long time. 

What are they doing now to help protect our oceans? Greenpeace addresses serious threats to our oceans, from climate change to pollution, to mining, to overfishing. Greenpeace is taking action with its new rescue plan by creating a global network of ocean sanctuaries, (A general type of marine area where a limit from human activities is placed). 

Resources: 

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Greenpeace

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/social-sciences/greenpeace

https://www.greenpeace.org.uk/about-greenpeace/

https://www.greenpeace.org/international/act/protect-the-oceans/

Social Studies: What is Ecotourism?

What is Ecotourism? 

Ecotourism was established in 1980 by Clause-Dieter - an academic and adventurer. Ecotourism is a form of tourism that’s goal is to travel responsibly to natural and fragile areas with the involvement of sustainability. Ecotourism has a lot of benefits to our environment, this includes the animals, insects, types of species, and resources. They practise conserving the environment, improving and enhancing the lives and well-being of the locals. Ecotourism was established in 1980 by Clause-Dieter - an academic and adventurer. Ecotourism focuses on educating travellers on local environments and natural surroundings and ecological conservation. Protecting the environment is an important aspect of ecotourism, which is why it has established its principles, firstly, travel to natural destinations, second, build environmental awareness. Third, provides direct financial benefits for conservation, provides financial benefits and empowerment for local communities, respects local culture, supports human rights and democratic movements. 

Why is Ecotourism a growing trend? 

The popularity of ecotourism arose in the 1980s and it’s been increasing by 10%. The ecotourism industry has grown rapidly and became one of the most important sectors of the international tourism industry. It provided a lot of benefits to the locals and improved the lives of the people. It has helped the economy such as employment opportunities can be assessed, raised individual awareness, protects the natural habitats and pristine environments. It allows countries and communities to build their economies without harming the environment, as a result of increased visitors that can enjoy untouched destinations. 

How can ecotourism help our ocean? 

Ecotourism has a lot of positive impacts on the environment such as conservation awareness among people, it has improved landscape characteristics and quality, and well-preserved water resources. 

Ecotourism Facts: 

• Ecotourism can be done in cities. 
• Since the 1990s, ecotourism has been growing from 20% - 34% per year. 
• Tourism is the world's largest employer.

Resources: 

• https://ecotourism.org/what-is-ecotourism/
• https://greenerideal.com/news/1001-rise-of-the-eco-tourist/
• https://www.torontosom.ca/blog/what-is-ecotourism-and-why-is-it-important
• https://traveltips.usatoday.com/advantages-ecotourism-61576.html
• https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/thesescanada/vol2/OKQ/TC-OKQ-6852.pdf
• https://www.bootsnall.com/articles/6-things-you-didnt-know-about-ecotourism.html
• https://www.nathab.com/blog/spotlight-on-sustainability-ecotourism-facts/

All Summer in a Day by Ray Bradbury - English

 In our lesson in English, we read a story about people who moved to Venus, a wet planet, where it rains, rains, and rains, a planet where the sun appears every 7 years, to set up civilisation to live there. 

The Reading: https://www.mukilteoschools.org/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx?moduleinstanceid=183&dataid=731&FileName=6-All-Summer-in-a-Day-by-Ray-Bradbury.pdf

Making Salts 2 - Science

 Aim: To produce copper sulfate salt by reacting copper oxide with an acid. 

Equipment: Copper oxide powder, dilute (0.5mol L-1) sulfuric acid, 50mL measuring cylinder, two 100mL beakers, bunsen burner, tripod, gauze mat, funnel, filter paper, thermometer, spatula, evaporating basin, stirring rod.

Method/Steps: 

1. Add 20mL of sulfuric acid to a 100mL beaker. Heat the acid until it reaches 70 Celcius then turn off the bunsen burner. 

2. Once heated, use a spatula to add pea-sized portions of copper oxide to the beaker. Stir the mixture for 30 seconds. 

3. Repeat step 2 until no more will dissolve. Allow the beaker to cool. 

4. Fold the filter paper and place it in the funnel. Place the filter funnel into the second beaker. 

5. Make sure the beaker is cool enough to half at the top. The contents should still be hot. 

6. Gently swirl the contents of the beaker to mix, and then pour into the filter paper in the funnel. Allow filtering through. 

7. Rinse the beaker and place it back on top of the tripod filled with 50mL to 60mL of water. 

8. Place the evaporating basin on top of the beaker and carefully pour some of the solutions from the beaker into the evaporating basin.

9. Gently heat the beaker until the solution in the evaporating basin has reduces by half. 

10. Leave the evaporating basin to cool. Once cool, move the evaporating basin to a warm place where it will not be disturbed and observe over the next few days. Blue copper sulfate crystal should form. 

Observations: Sulfuric is heated up, took off from the heat and out copper oxide powder then stirred for 30 seconds and filtered it turns to the colour blue and creates salts/crystals. 

Word Equation: Copper Oxide + Sulfuric ACid = Copper Sulfate 

Name of the reaction happening in method 2? Neutralasation 

Home Economics For This Term

In our lesson in Home Economics, we have to make a blog post about all of the things we've cooked this term. The food we have cooked this far are hamburgers, cupcakes, 4-way wrap, chow mein, spaghetti with meatballs, taco bowl, potato salad, etc. 

We are focusing on the colour, texture and flavour of this term and how they are significant when cooking. 

Firstly, colour plays an important part in the food industry because it attracts consumers. There's a saying that "You Eat With Your Eyes First", the reason why this is true is that when food looks good in our eyes, we expect them to taste as good as they look. It helps the consumer to make a decision whether they should purchase the product or not. The way a certain food looks gives consumers an impression of its quality and taste. 

Secondly, texture is essential because it determines the quality of the food and its nutritional value.

Lastly, the flavour is probably the most important as all of them, flavours come in different varieties such as artificial and natural. Flavour determines the quality of the food as well as its nutrition. When food tastes good, it gives happiness to the consumers and fulfils their desires. 

For instance, in a burger, we added a lot of ingredients that combined well together. These ingredients have different nutritional values, rich in vitamins and proteins. When we see lettuce in a burger, we will think that it's juicy, crunchy and healthy. When we see meat, we expect it to be savour and chewy. Tomatoes, sweet and sour, soft and juicy. 

Therefore, we should always take note of the texture, colour and flavour of the food we eat, this will help us enhance our techniques and skills with cooking and knowledge. We should also observe and be mindful of the food we eat and cook; How we cook things and how we can be safe while we do so. This is so we can pass the knowledge on to other people. 

Vietnam Song - Social Studies

 Title: 

Give Peace a Chance by John Lennon

Lyrics: Ev'rybody's talking about

Bagism, Shagism, Dragism, Madism, Ragism, Tagism
This-ism, that-ism, is-m, is-m, is-m

All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance

C'mon
Ev'rybody's talking about Ministers
Sinisters, Banisters and canisters
Bishops and Fishops and Rabbis and Pop eyes
And bye bye, bye byes

All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance

Let me tell you now
Ev'rybody's talking about
Revolution, evolution, masturbation
Flagellation, regulation, integrations
Meditations, United Nations
Congratulations

All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance

Ev'rybody's talking about
John and Yoko, Timmy Leary, Rosemary
Tommy Smothers, Bobby Dylan, Tommy Cooper
Derek Taylor, Norman Mailer
Alan Ginsberg, Hare Krishna
Hare, Hare Krishna

All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance

All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance

What is the message of the song? The song is about achieving peace, ending wars and fights against people and loving each other instead. They want people to love each other and not fight in a war or have a war with each other. They want peace instead of war.

Making Salt Experiment - Science

 Title: Making Salts

Aim:  To produce sodium chloride salt by carrying out a neutralisation reaction. 

Equipment: 

• 50mL and 200mL beakers
• Dilute HCI (Hydrochloric acid)
• Dilute NaOH (Sodium hydroxide) 
• 25mL Measuring Cylinder
• A Glass Stirring Rod
• Spotting Tile
• Universal Indicator Solution
• Tripod 
• Bunsen Burner
• Evaporating Basin

Method/Steps: 

1. Using the measuring cylinder, measure 10mL of HCI and pour it into the 50mL beaker.

2. Every 10 to 15 drops stop adding the NaOH and use a glass stirring rod to transfers a drop of the solution to a spotting tile. Then, test its pH level using a universal indicator. 

3. Keep adding NaOH and testing the solution by repeating step 2. As you get to the neutral colour of the pH level, you may text the solution after every drop. 

4. Pour the neutral solution into an evaporation basin and evaporate the water out of the solution using the equipment.

Observation: When you pour an indicator and add sodium hydroxide together, it turns purple. When you add hydrochloric acid and indicator together, it makes red. To make a natural pH level of 7, carefully add an equal amount of drop of acid and the sodium hydroxide in the indicator. When it turns to colour green, it needs to be heated up, this then creates a chemical reaction because heat is absorbed. When it evaporates, it makes sodium chloride salt. 

The word equation for this reaction: Hydrochloric Acid + Sodium Hydroxide - Sodium Chloride + Water 

The name of the reaction in step 1: Neutralisation 

What is the name of the process in number 4? Evaporation

My Culture - Wananga

In our lesson in Wananga, we are starting our new topic, "Cultural Identity". 

In this blog post, I will be presenting my culture, The Philippines.  

Storytelling

Languagege

Music

Sports and Games

Art

Clothing

Celebration

Coconut Flakes Coated Chocolate Truffles - Home Economics

In our lesson in Home Economics, we made an extra recipe, but it's not just a recipe, it's special because it's "Christmas Edition". We made Christmas Truffles.

• Vanilla extract
• Butter
• Icing sugar
• Cocoa powder
• Coconut flakes
• Dried cranberries
• Marshmallow
• Crackers

1. In a bowl, cream the butter and sugar together.

2. Add the vanilla extract, cocoa and few coconut flakes.

3. Crush the crackers in a food processor or with your hands, completely up to you.

4. Add in the crushed crackers as well as the dried cranberries and marshmallows in the mixture. 

5. Roll them into a ball shape up to 14 grams because you want it to be a bite-sized food.

6. Once you're done, cover the ball on the coconut flakes. 

This is what it should look like

The Soldier - Visual Arts

 Yesterday, we started to look at taking photographs of small figures such as little toys. Our task was to take photos of a toy soldier that was as small as our pinkies. We went outside the learning street which was our art class is, we used the plants as our setting where we will stand or put the soldier figures to make a scene. 

As you can see here we used the point of view of the soldier looking at its surroundings, this is called the "Over the Shoulder" shot.

We used a different kind of elements and objects to make the scene more appealing and astonishing. The purpose of this is to show the audience that we can use our skills and knowledge with only a little amount of materials and money free photograph. In addition to what elements and objects we used, we used the whole of the paintbrush, we used the background of a computer that was mountains and landscapes, we used the paintings of other students in Hornby High as our setting of photography, we even used a plastic bag because light reflects on the plastic, this is why the soldier with the black and white filter has a polished look. 

I personally like these three because I think I applied the rule of thirds on this image, the plastic bag also made this pop out and instead of just using a black and white filter and just a soldier, using a plastic bag confound.