Word Christchurch student event

On Thursday I had the privilege to be able to attend a Word Christchurch high school students event at the University of Canterbury. Me and a group of 14 other students went and listen to 2 authors and 2 poets talk about what inspires them to write.

1st Session

The 1st session was spent listening to Laurie Winkless who is a certified physicist turned science writer. She started out interviewing other scientists and writing for magazines such as Forbes, BA Business Life, Wired, and The Londonist just to name a few. She was then approached by Bloomsbury publishers and asked if she could write a book about science. Her debut book is Science in the City and it looks into the unknown world of science in the UK. Her 2nd book, Sticky, is due to be released somewhere around 2020. Sticky focuses on what keeps cars on
roads, trains on tracks, and also looks into the longtime debate about why curling stones move on ice like they do.

Interval aka we went to the university library cause we nerds

We then had a break which we spent looking around the University library. The library is 11 floors high and each floor is categorized, for example the 10th floor is mostly history and classics and the 4th floor is pretty much all languages. My

friend Chloe ended up getting so excited the the librarian had to tell her to be quiet. They also had a display about Japanese photographs, because photographs were black and white the Japanese would hand paint the colors. I have to say that exploring the library was one of my favorite parts of this trip. We also found a statue that was scarily realistic. 

2nd Session

After our excursion to the library we made our way to the 2nd session which consisted of 1 author and 2 poets reading from their books. The first speaker was a poet named Holly McNish. The 1st 2 poems were from her book Nobody told me. This book of poems tells the tales of her first couple of years with her newly born daughter, one about her seeing her body in a mirror, and 1 about the color of her daughters skin while they were in Sydney, Australia (her daughter is mixed race so she got dark brown skin, just to add context). She also read a poem about how much she loved her shoulders and about all the dumb stuff she did when she was a teen. The 2nd Speaker was Juno Dawson who read the first 2 chapters of her new book Clean. Clean tells the story of teenager Lexi, a heroin addict, and her experience in rehab. Juno Dawson also had the privilege of being able to write one of the first Doctor Who books for the 13th Doctor, the first female Doctor who will be played by Jodie Whittaker. She decided to read the first chapter of the book which excited me greatly because I thoroughly enjoy Doctor Who. The 3rd and final speaker was Omar Musa. Omar is a author, poet, and rapper from NSW, Australia. The first poem he read was actually a rap about curry noddle soup and how it should become the national food of Australia. He then read a poem about the story who was a victim who became a kidnapped slave forced to work for a fisherman in Thailand (this is a real story by the way). Lastly he read a short poem about depression which wrapped up the event. 

Holly McNish (left), Juno Dawson (centre), Omar Musa (right)

Thoughts on the event

I wouldn't say I enjoyed it but I wouldn't say it was unenjoyable either. I felt this way most likely because I thought it would be more about giving young writers advice on how to improve writing, world building, character development. This event was more about inspiring young writers. It kinda worked cause I got to go to the library which inspired me. Word Christchurch is also happening on this Saturday (1st of September) and the speakers at this event will be there among others. 

Enjoy this photo of my decapitated body on the ground.

WE ARE GOING TO HAVE ROBOTS SHOOT LASERS AND KILL PESTS

So I lied we're not going to do that BUT we are going to make robots that will aid us in destroying pests. This was the start of our business and enterprise unit. We did this so we could learn how to solve problems and learn to pitch our ideas as if we were in the Dragon's Den.

A good example of the Dragon's den (probs cause that's the name of the show).

Our learning objective was to take a real-life problem and come up with a solution. My group decided to take on the challenge of protecting New Zealand from foreign countries. We decided to create a robot that is able to scan for a variety of pests. this is our pitch. We were originally gonna do the challenge where we figured out a way to keep cows cool, I insisted we should do something more challenging. I'm not sure what I would do next time if we're to do this again, this went fairly smoothly and we worked pretty well as a team. Something I learnt was the process of creating a product and how not every idea is going to work.

Sources

Department of Conservation, 2018, https://www.doc.govt.nz/nature/pests-and-threats/animal-pests/

BioSecurity New Zealand, 2018, https://www.mpi.govt.nz/protection-and-response/finding-and-reporting-pests-and-diseases/keeping-watch/  

Ministry of Primary Industries, 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylXS81xpz2g
SuburbanStuff Fairfax, 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkKo6vnCHVg
Department of Conservation, 2018, https://www.doc.govt.nz/nature/pests-and-threats/methods-of-control/
Engadget, 2018, https://www.engadget.com/2018/07/23/new-york-jfk-airport-screen-luggage-ct-scanner/
Sci-News, 2016, http://www.sci-news.com/technologies/real-time-hand-held-scanner-airport-security-04040.html
Landcare, 2009, http://www.landcare.org.nz/files/file/80/pest-control-guidelines.pdf
EPA, 2006, https://www.epa.govt.nz/assets/FileAPI/hsno-ar/HRE05002/HRE05002-010.pdf

I know a bunch of film words now YAY

At the moment in English we've started looking into film study. My class is doing this on the 1998 film, The Truman show. We've also recently started looking into the language of film, words such as setting, dialogue, special FX, etc, and what they mean. We had to come up with a creative way to present our learning and I decided to do a Prezi. I'm excited to learn more about the meaning of films and how they affect us as a society.

Unfortunately I'm unable to present it on Blogger so here's a link

I STUDIED POTATOES!!! I really enjoyed it too

In social studies we've started our unit about early European settlement. Last week we choose 1-3 topics about Maori life before European settlement, I chose Maori medicine and Maori potatoes. I made two posters that we DIDN'T EVEN GET TO PRESENT AND YES I'M SALTY ABOUT THIS. Anyway below are the two posters I PUT MY HEART AND SOUL INTO.

I even got books out from the library

Yeah so my party trick and way to flirt is to recite the history of potatoes in New Zealand now

So instead of presenting our posters we ended up having to make a video about one of our topics. I chose medicine with Connor and Nadia.

Yr 9 Home Economics

1st practical = Savory cases
For our first practical we made savory bread cases which are like spaghetti but my group put cream corn in replace of spaghetti. Below is the recipe we used, we did have to multiply everything by 3 so we would have enough. Ways that I showed hygiene and personal safety was wiping down tables, wearing oven mittens when needed, tying hair up.

Savory Bread Cases

Ingredients

• 2 slices of wholegrain bread
• 1t margarine
• 2T grated cheese
• 2T baked beans or creamed corn
• 1T finely diced celery or onion
• 1 slice of ham

Method

1. Trim crusts off the bread
2. Spread margarine thinly onto one side of bread
3. Press into muffin tins margarine side down
4. Fill each case with fillings (baked beans or corn, celery, onion, ham and cheese)
5. Bake in oven until lightly brown and cheese is bubbling.

2nd practical = Chicken stir fry
We cooked veges (carrots, broccoli, cabbage) and chicken. My group decided to use sweet and sour chili sauce as our sauce, there was also soy, honey and soy, and teriyaki. I actually made this for dinner and it was really good. I demonstrated personal hygiene and safety by washing my hands, holding the knife correctly, making sure the wok handle is facing towards the back of the stove, and using the correct cutting boards and knifes

Chicken Stir Fry

Ingredients:

70g Chicken (1breast)

1 carrot

1 onion

3-4 pieces of broccoli

1 zucchini  

2T sesame oil

1 pkt 2min noodles

Method:

1. Chop up chicken into strips
2. Place in glass bowl with sesame oil
3. Chop up vegetables in julienne strips
4. Sauté chicken and onions together. Sauté means to brown.
5. Add broccoli and carrots and cook for five minutes.
6. Add remaining vegetables of your choice and cook for a further 5 min
7. Boil a pot of water
8. Place the broken noodles into the boiling water and cook for 2 minutes
9. Drain noodles in a colander and add to the vegetable and chicken mixture
10. Serve

What is the difference between Personal Hygiene and Personal Safety?

Personal hygiene involves looking after yourself and keeping yourself clean, eg: washing hands, tying hair back, sneezing away from food, etc. Personal Safety is keeping yourself safe whether it's by holding a knife the correct way and not flailing it around the room or making sure chicken is cooked correctly

What's somethings that we need to remember when handling chicken

1. It's white inside and out when cooked
2. You're using the correct cutting board and knife
3. You wash your hands afterwards (or wear gloves).
4. You haven't cross contaminated anything

Health and safety

What does bacteria need to survive?

- Bacteria needs warmth, moisture, good temperature (4C - 60C), neutral PH levels, food, and time (only takes 1 hour for it to grow and 20min to multiply). 

2 ways we can control conditions and avoid bacteria from growing 

1. keep food that is left out in airtight containers or just keep them covered
2. Make sure your not keeping food for too long. Things like rice and chicken should be kept only for 2 - 3 days, otherwise it should be thrown out. Read expiration dates as well, for yogurt if the lid is raised then you should probably throw it out.

What is cross contamination? 

- Cross contamination is when you mix raw meats with cooked meats/fruit and vegetables. This can be done by stacking raw meats on top of cooked meats/fruit and vegetables or cutting vegetables/fruits in the juices of raw meats. Easy ways to avoid this is by stacking them on separate shelves and cleaning your cutting board and knife before you start cutting raw meats or fruits/veges, or just using a different cutting board and knife all together.

Important temperatures:

If we are not careful with the temperature our food is at then we but ourselves in the place where we could become sick.

Reflection on last weeks work

Last week we made scones for the start of our baking and measuring unit. Unfortunately the bells to signal end of class weren't working so we were late, were going slow when adding ingredients, went over time and had to stay in for half the break. All these caused the scones to be under cooked and half the class got sick. Also pretty much everyone forgot to add the cheese/sultanas to their dough, my group's sultanas all fell off and we ended up leaving with bags full of burnt raisins. I think my group communicated well though so there's that.

Scones

Ingredients

3 cups plain flour

6 teaspoons Baking Powder

¼ teaspoon salt

75g butter

1 to 1 ½ cups milk

Method

1. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl
2. Cut butter in until it resembles fine breadcrumbs
3. Add milk and mix quickly with a knife to a soft dough
4. Knead a few times
5. Place baking paper on tray.
6. Press scone dough onto this. cut into 12 pieces.
7. brush with milk
8. Bake at 180c for  10 minutes

Variations

1. Cheese scones

Add ¾ cup grated cheese, pinch of cayenne pepper to flour.

Before baking top with a little cheese

2. Sultana scones

Add ¾ cup sultanas to flour

We also made word arts that depict words we associate with personal and food hygiene. 

Preserving

Where to preserve various foods

If you preserve something in the fridge you should chuck it 2-3 days after opening. If in the freezer than store it for 3-6 months. For Cupboards you need to keep it in a airtight container and refer to the expiration date.

What exactly is preserving?

Preventing food from decomposing and preventing bacteria from growing so we are able to keep it for longer, examples are fruits in syrup, salt on meat, etc.

Recycling

Our part in recycling

We have to put in our best efforts to make sure we are not cross contaminating recyclable materials. We can do this by rinsing tin cans, bottle, etc, before we place them in the recycling bin. Also make sure you are putting the correct materials in the correct bins.

Baking Measurements

   

Wow cool my class are making a jingle FUN

This term my class are working on making a jingle to advertise Hornby. We're doing this A) because it's part of the curriculum and B) We want to enter the Fair go ad competition. This year we need to advertise a place, below is last years winners:

What is my job?

- At the moment my job is to help write a letter to Mega air so, hopefully, we can film 3 seconds of our advertisement there. I also might help with the choreography and blocking.

How will I ensure we are successful?

- I'll make sure Mega air reply to our email, if not then I'll have to call them. I'll also make sure I'm organized and ready on the day of filming. 

What am I learning?

- I'm learning how to self manage and write letters to companies. I'm also learning about the effort that goes into creating a jingle.

What am I wondering?

- I'm wondering which companies will say yes and which will say no. I'm sure some of them will have to be debated and talked about in further depth, to be honest I'm quite excited.