Writing - Write an effective argument for our chosen political party.

WALT: Write an effective argument for our chosen political party.

Who are you going to vote for?

Personally, I believe that the Green party is a good option. They have multiple good policies, in areas such as education, health and environment. One of these, is to make public transport (such as buses, trains and ferries), completely free to under 19s, and free to tertiary students, apprentices and disability beneficiaries, during off peak times.

Make public transport free for under 19s and free during off peak times for students and apprentices. The Green Party would make public transport free for all under 19s and free during off peak times for tertiary students, apprentices and disability beneficiaries.

Everyone under the age of 19 would be eligible for a Green Card. This would allow them to have free transport on buses, trains and commuter ferries. I believe this is a good idea because it will encourage young people to use public transport, which will in turn reduce traffic, and pollution. In addition, this would help young people get involved with things after school, as well as make it much more affordable to travel to school by public transport. To help make education affordable to everyone, the Green party has proposed to fund schools enough for education to be free.

Fund Schools enough for education to be free. The Green party would fund all state schools enough so they would not need to seek donations, fees or fundraising. I believe this would make education much more affordable, as families would no longer need to pay school donation/fees, and we would be able to spend that money on other things, such as food, clothing, and other important items. This would also benefit schools, as they would no longer need to use time fundraising, and would be able to use this money to help students. Another good idea, is to charge for the sale and export of bottled water.

Charge for the sale and export of bottled water. The green party would put an immediate 10 percent levy on the sale and export of bottled New Zealand water. Revenue from the levy would be shared on a 50/50 basis to local councils and mana whenua. They would be expected to use this money to clean up local waterways, and to protect drinking water. I believe this is a great idea, because currently businesses can export water(that they got for free) for little to no extra cost. This is unfair, as they can make a good profit from selling our water. Furthermore, the money made from this levy will be used to clean waterways and protect drinking water, which will benefit all of us. On the other hand, here is a policy I do not agree with…

Require parents of immigrants who join their children in NZ to pay for their own healthcare and superannuation - this is one of ACT’s policies, and honestly, it makes little sense. Why make immigrants pay for their own healthcare and superannuation, when New Zealand’s healthcare is probably one of the reasons people come to this country? A much better option, is to simply tax them as we tax everyone else. Perhaps some sort of

housing tax, but honestly, charging them for health care is absurd. What if they require hospitalization, and because of this policy, are unable to afford proper care? This is hardly good for New Zealand’s reputation. Going back to my main points, here are some of the reasons I believe green party has many valid policies.

So, as I have covered, the green party has many solid policies. I believe they would be a good choice to vote for this election. They have policies in multiple areas; these will be beneficial to everyone. So, who will you vote for this election?

My next steps are: Emotive language - I need to use it more.

Careers Education C.V. Writing

In CAREERS EDUCATION we have been learning to write a skills based Curriculum Vitae.

A skills based C.V. focuses more on the skills that we have,  rather than our work history.

Here is a link to our online Modelling Book that shows the process we have followed.

Three things that I have learned about writing a Curriculum Vitae are:

1. It has to be very neat and formal so the employer will be more inclined to employ you.

2. If it is your first job you should make a skills based CV, because you have little to no job experience.

3. You always need to make sure the spelling and punctuation are correct, this can be the difference between getting the job and not getting the job.

Here is a link to my Skills based Curriculum Vitae.

Student Led Conference 2017

Leadership Writing Article

In writing I have been learning to use a wide range of punctuation appropriately and with increasing accuracy like . , ! ? “”
- colon :
- semi-colon ;
- hyphen -
- parentheses ( )
- brackets [ ]
- ellipses ...

I have been especially focusing on using parentheses and semi-colon. I have highlighted these in green where I have used them as well as other punctuation that I changed because it was used incorrectly. Here is a piece of my writing that shows this:

Leadership is a skill of being able to motivate people/teams to work towards a goal.The six traits of an effective leader are integrity, resilient, trustworthy, goal focused, motivational and active thinker. My key leadership role for 2017 is a House Captain(for Rimu). We lead the houses and organise games and activities for the school. This year we are doing a project to contribute to the school, motivating people to pick up rubbish and not litter the school grounds.

One leadership trait of an effective leader is motivational. Being motivational means you are able to give people reasons for doing something and inspire them to do it. An amazing example of a leader that has shown they are motivational is Richie Mccaw. He has motivated people not just in New Zealand but around the world to play and support rugby by leading the All Blacks to victory many times. As a house captain it is very important to be motivational as we need to lead our houses and get them interested in how their house does. I am going to become more motivational by improving my public speaking; it is definitely not my strong point. Leading by example is also a possible way to show I am motivational. Another vital trait for a house captain is trustworthy.

Being Trustworthy is an important skill for any leader. It is being reliable to do what is needed or right. Sir Edmund Hillary showed he could be relied upon to keep his word by showing he could climb Mt Everest like he said he would. Being Trustworthy is an extremely important trait for a house captain to have. We are trusted to do things such as running games and organising some parts of events. I will try to finish things when I say I will and run games as successfully as possible. I need to remember to put out the flags with the other house captains. As a house captain, another trait I will definitely need to show is active thinker.

Being an Active Thinker is about being able to problem solve and think creatively. Peter Jackson has shown that he is an active thinker by thinking creatively in his movies, such as the hobbit. As a movie director, he also needs to be able to problem solve in the event of anything going wrong. It is critical for a house captain to also be an active thinker, as often we have to quickly think of an interesting game to run, or occasionally think of something to say on the spot. I might also need to problem solve at any time. I’ll try to think of engaging games to run, come up with good ideas, and, of course, problem solve. Having good problem solving skills is vital.

Finally, I will show motivational by inspiring my house; as well as improving my public speaking of course! I’ll be an active thinker by thinking creatively, and problem solving. Most importantly, I’ll be Trustworthy by running games as well as I can, and remember to do things I say I will. As I’ve already covered, these three traits, as well as the other three, are necessary to be sure of being successful house captain.

Information report- water cycle

The water cycle is the process which recycles water and moves it from land, ocean and atmosphere. Another name for it is the hydrologic-cycle. There are four main steps in the cycle. These are Condensation, Precipitation, Runoff and Evaporation. The water cycle is a never ending cycle, which is good, as there are many uses for water, such as domestic, recreational and industrial, to name a few.

When the sun's energy is applied to water, water (that was previously a liquid in oceans, lakes and rivers) changes state and rises up into the atmosphere as a gas: Water vapour. The reason this happens is because the sun’s heat separates the waters molecules; they turn into gas. In some hot places, there is lots of water vapour in the air. This is called humidity. Usually snow melts before evaporating, however sometimes dry winds can suck up the moisture in snow or ice, which changes them directly into vapour. Once water vapour rises higher and begins to cool, it will form clouds;this is called condensation. 

When water vapour rises up the temperature gets colder, and it forms clouds which will eventually come down as precipitation. Water vapour-tiny droplets of water, condense on tiny particles of dust or dirt that rises up with the vapour. This forms clouds. Warm air rises, which is why water vapour is forced to rise. Although most clouds are made out of tiny water droplets, some high clouds are made out of ice particles. When clouds combine and become heavy, the water thickens to a liquid again, and you get Precipitation. Rain, hail, snow, all kinds of precipitation. On that note, it looks like it’s going to… It doesn’t matter, the sun just came out again. Once water returns to the ground, where does it go?

When water falls to the ground it either forms streams and river to flow to oceans and lakes, or sinks into the ground as groundwater. Snowmelt as another source of water in streams and rivers. Sometimes it can stay as a solid for months, before melting when temperatures rise which sometimes causes flooding. What is more, a large portion of the world's freshwater lies underground as groundwater. While it is underground water goes through aquifers: layers of soil, sand and rocks. This cleans the water. 

These steps move water and recycle the water. [People should take more care of it.] It is necessary to our survival.

My short story

For this piece of writing I have focussing on my vocabulary and punctuation. I have been learning to: - 

Use a large productive vocabulary across the curriculum (Year 9/10)

Use a wide range of punctuation appropriately and with increasing accuracy. (Year 9/10)

The pieces of my writing that are highlighted green are where I have shown my vocabulary and punctuation goal

My Story...

“Do I have to go?” I groan.

“How many times do I have to say it, you’re going.”replied Mum.

I groan again, “ But I hardly know him.” 

“If by ‘him’ you mean your uncle, then you do know him; you’ve seen him at family gatherings - and this will be a good chance to get to know him a bit better.”

“ Fine, but why tramping?” I ask.

“ Well, he was going anyway, and your father and I figured it would be good for you.”

“ Good for me!?”

“That’s what I said, isn’t it.” Mum replies . “Now, you’d better go pack your bag- remember, whatever you pack you have to carry.”

I roll my eyes and stomp off to my room.

“Remember to leave room for food!” Mum yells down the hallway.

“Fine!” I shout back.”

The night goes too quickly. All too soon I’m standing at the front door, pack on my back, ready to hop into his land-rover. “Well, are you coming or not!” His sharp words cut through my head like knives, interrupting my gloomy thoughts. “Yes” I mutter, hopping in the back. The engine throbs into life and, almost without me realising it, we were pulling out the drive, along our street and out onto the main road heading out of town. The truck is silent. That is, until a dog barks. Just once, but it’s loud enough to draw my attention. Suddenly a chorus of barks booms from….the back of the car? 

“Wha….” 

“Oh, that’s probably Yip. He’s in the back. Banjo too.”

“Umm…okay?”

The drive continues in an awkward silence until, thankfully, we turn off onto a beaten gravel road. As the land rover trundles down the road, I hear whining from the back of the truck.

“So” I say, trying to start a conversation, “ You’ve just got the two dogs.”

“Yup.”

“What breed are they?”

“Border collies.”

“How much further.” I ask

The truck veers sharply before coming to a stop beside a parked Subaru.

“There’s your answer,” he says.

I heave my pack on my back, and jump out, then look around. We had parked in a clearing, with about enough room for 10 or 15 cars. Suddenly I sense motion behind me. While I was distracted, Uncle had let the dogs out. The other dog, presumably Yip, let out a volley of barks and bounded over to me. Suddenly I’m surrounded, as the two dogs sniff and jump all over me. “ Come on” calls Uncle Jay. The dogs race over to him, so I follow their lead and run over to him. “ Steady on, you’ve got the whole walk ahead of you.”

I sigh, slow down and start walking slightly behind him. 

I soon find out that Jay is quite a fast walker. After a few hundred metres the track begins to climb quite steeply. I slow, expecting Jay to do the same, but, to my surprise he powers on with the same power, perhaps even more than before. I jog to catch up. 

As we walk, I find myself just following his footsteps. I hardly notice when we enter a forest after what must have been only an hour and a half although it feels like a lot more than that. I slowly begin to fall behind. Suddenly a fog rolls in. I gasp, as I immediately return to my senses. Suddenly I realise that the track is no longer beneath my feet. As I spin around I have a sudden realisation;the dogs are gone. Since I fell behind, every few minutes one or both of the dogs have come whirling back up the trail, perhaps sent by their master, to check on me. They haven’t came for a while though. Strange. I backtrack my steps until I find the track. I huddle up in a ball to wait. 

The wind comes. Whistling over my body, freezing cold, like winter's greeting. I shiver. It takes a few moments until I realise what the wind means; the fog is clearing. As the wind rushes through it, the fog curls into strange shapes. It would have creeped me out, except for the fact that it meant the fog was leaving.

After I while, about 10 minutes the fog had practically cleared. I got to my feet and began to tread down the trail. 

I soon reach the hut. Both dogs come bounding over to me. I grin and head inside carefully shutting the door behind me, to keep the dogs out and the warmth in. “Hello,” says my uncle. “I almost thought you’d got lost.” 

“ I di…” I start to say, but it catches in my throat. “No,” I lie, “I guess I just walked slow.” He grunts, but seems convinced, so I ask: “Where do I sleep?”

He smirks and points to the floor. I groan.” Nah I’m kidding,” he says pointing to a door. I sigh, and go in.

It turns out that I have a good time, and more importantly, the rest of the school holidays goes as planned. 

My Exposition

WALT follow the writing process to write an exposition.

This is my conclusion: 

Both Queen Elizabeth and Sir Peter Jackson are exceptional leaders; however overall I believe that Queen Elizabeth is the best leader. She has had many achievements as well as the ones I listed and has lead England and the commonwealth through many hard times. She is an amazing leader.

Click here for my exposition:

https://docs.google.com/a/oaklands.school.nz/document/d/11PpmyOGWuWSezIxOoOVafRPsplBMrMi7lrcmXQtKPdE/edit?usp=docslist_api

Argument Writing-Are devices taking over our lives

For writing we have been learning to write an argument using the writing process. The topic was “Are Devices Taking Over Our Lives”.

Something I did really well in my writing was using conjunctions.(in bold)

Here is a section of my writing that shows this.

Devices are taking over many people's lives. Kids don’t go outside much, people are often on their phones, and in addition some people are even developing health problems related to devices. Furthermore, mobile devices also provide a platform for bullies. 

My Student-Led Conference

Narrative Writing

THE LAB ACCIDENT

Dr Warack Brown hurried through the musty corridors to the test lab. He donned his lab coat and strode between his many experiments over to the huge, unremarkable looking, fabric covered object in the far left corner. He pulled the moth eaten material off and stood looking at it. No matter how many times he saw it he would still be spellbound by the peculiar robot. It's coding was so complex that, even to him, it's sole creator, it seemed to have a mind of it's own. Okay, he thought, admittedly most of his other experiments had been for fun, for family and friends, even for personal gain. But this one was different. This one would change the doomed fate of the world and just happen to make him rich in the process-all in all it was a quite profitable venture. Mentally shaking himself he flicked the on switch and left the bot to warm up.

Elsewhere in the city a dirty and bedraggled boy wandered down the dim, and rather menacing alleyways that haunted the slums of the city. Nearing a corner he paused, before boldly stepping out from the safety of the wall. It was a mistake. Shouting, people ran at him, calling for their partners to loop around and trap him. He fled, rounded a corner, sprinted on. Suddenly he noticed a door in the solid looking brick wall. He could hear his pursuers nearing him. Quickly, he flung open the door, rushed inside and closed it. Breathlessly he waited, cowering  back from the dusty door. After what seemed like forever the pounding footsteps passed, and the danger was over, at least for now. The boy started to wander down the musty corridor. After passing many locked doors the boy finally reached the end of the corridor.

Ahead was, at last, light. And not just ordinary yellow or white lighting, in fact, there were many multicoloured, flashing bright lights. As the boy ambled onwards he was so taken up in  this marvellous display of lights that he didn’t notice the robot until it was almost upon him. Beeping and clanking the robot started chasing him around the room leaving a path of destruction in his wake. As soon as he sheltered behind an object the robot would wreck it and chase him on.

In his mad rush for survival the boy didn’t notice Dr Warack and his meeting attendees entering the room.  But the robot certainly did. Screaming, they scattered, and in the confusion none of them noticed the boy dart behind a clump of spare parts. Thinking quickly the boy remembered something he’d once seen in a magazine. Earlier he’d noticed a computer screen in a corner. If he could only make it to the monitor in time he might be able to recode the robot and shut it down! Finally with a plan in mind, he began to make his way to the computer. 

When he finally reached the computer he was out of breath and sensed the men soon would be too. He wiggled the mouse, opened the home screen and selected the link captioned “Robot code.” Quickly he selected edit and started typing furiously. He was beginning to feel the grasp of panic set in.

Finally he was done. He turned to watch as the robot slowed, before coming to a screeching halt. Dusting themselves off the disheveled men tried to regain their composure before making their way around the slumped robot towards the slight boy in overlarge trousers. 

“Nice work, kid”, one commented, and before long the air was full of the men clamoring their approval. Standing a little way back from the group was Dr Warack Brown. 

”Good job boy,how about you stay and work with me, I could use a skilled hand,” he said reluctantly, holding out his hand. 

“Um, sure, I’d love to”, said the boy, “but I’d still like to spend some time out in the streets.” 

The men fell silent as they shook.

By Alex

My goals for Term 4

Reading

WALT understand the effects of language features in comtemporary texts.

Writing

WALT spell everyday (difficult) words accurately in our writing.

Maths

I can recall the lowest common multiples of numbers to ten.

How to make a model hot air balloon

WALT write a procedure about how something works.

How to make a model hot air balloon

Model hot air balloons can be good fun to make and fly, however you need to be careful not to catch anything on fire.

Materials:

-light weight plastic bag

-4 straws

-fishing line or light thread

-light cardboard

-4 light candles

-tape

-scissors

-hole puncher (optional)

-a ruler

-a needle (optional)

1.Gather your materials.

2.Take four straws and connect them together into a frame by sticking  one end into another.

3.Using as little tape as possible attach the plastic bag to the frame. Try looping the edges of the bag around the frame and using a piece of tape on each side to secure the bag on the frame.

4.Make the candle holder. Cut the cardboard into a 5cm x 5cm square.

5.Cut/punch four holes about halfway from the centre.

6.Make sure the candles fit snugly in the holes. If needed, widen the holes so the candles fit.

7. If you have a needle, thread it with the thread you are planning on using. If not go to step eight.

8.If you don't have a needle, carefully make a small hole in each corner to put the thread through.

9.If you have a needle poke it through each corner and tie. Repeat steps 7-9 in each corner.

10.Make sure each thread is 30cm long.

11.Tie each thread to the balloon, one in each corner, so they are about the same length.

12.Check for tangles and make sure the knots are tight.

13.Double check everything.

14.Find a large, open space to fly your balloon.

15.Wait for a still day, dawn or dusk is best.

16.If you live in a town, or there is any fire danger where you live, it is best to attach a thin, light thread to your balloon before lighting it.

17.Light the candles, making sure the strings or balloon doesn't get burnt.

18.If it works, you can watch it float away. If not you may want to try making it lighter.

19.Pull it down if you tied it up.

20. If you didn't, make sure you find it again.

21.Have fun and improve it!

Sentences

WALT understand simple and compound sentences.

A simple sentence:  The bush rustled.  The bush rustled in the wind.

A compound sentence has two ideas (clauses) and is joined by a conjunction.

A compound sentence: The bush rustled in the wind and the squirrel ran away.

Conjunctions:

Joining words.

For

And

Nor

But

Or

Yet

So

FANBOYS 

Poetic Writing

This is some poetic writing.

How do gliders fly?

                       How do gliders fly?

Gliders are light, unpowered aircraft. They rely on thermals, wave lift and ridge lift to stay aloft. They also played a key part in the inventing of aircraft.

             Launching

To get in the air, there are four methods of launching. Aerotowing is one of the most common. It is where a tow plane is attached to the glider by a long rope. The tow plane takes off, pulling the glider with it. The plane takes the glider to the height and location the glider pilot requested and the glider pilot unhooks the rope.   

Another common method is the winch launch. Winch launching is where a ground based winch is mounted on a heavy vehicle. The winch quickly pulls in a 1000 - 2500 metre cable made of steel wire or synthetic fiber so the glider rises. When it has risen high enough the pilot undoes it and it sinks to the ground, supported by a parachute.

Auto tows are rarer these days. It needs a hard surface and a strong vehicle attached to the glider by a long cable. First, the driver takes up the slack, then accelerates hard, rapidly rising the glider to heights of about 400 metres.

Bungee launching is where the glider is launched from the top of a gentle hill into a strong wind using a "bungee".The gliders main wheel rests in a small concrete trough. The hook is attached to the middle of the bungee. Each  end is pulled by 3 or 4 people. One group runs slightly to the left and the other group runs to the right. Once there is enough tension in the bungee the glider is released and the glider gains just enough energy to leave the ground and fly away.

                                                  Flight

Gliders don't have engines so they have to generate lift and thrust another way. Once they've been launched they have to find a way to go up, or their flight won't last long. So, to generate lift glider pilots use thermals, ridge lift and wave lift. They circle around in the thermal, which lifts them up. For example if the glider is dropping 1 metre a second, but the air around it is rising at 2 metres a second, it's actually going up. When they reach the desired height they leave the thermal, and soar away. The first glider to enter the thermal chooses the direction, all the other gliders must go that way. To measure the performance of a glider you use its glide ratio. Glide ratios measure how far the aircraft can glide to the amount it drops. For example some modern gliders can have glide ratios better than 60:1 (60 miles gained, 1 mile dropped).

                                      History

Gliders were invented by Sir George Cayley in 1853 and the Wright brothers. The sport of gliding only emerged after WWI. Germany was, and still is one of the most successful places for gliding. So in the 1920s - 1930s while aviators and aircraft makers in the rest of the world were trying to improve powered aircraft, Germans were making and flying ever more efficient gliders. The first German competition was held in 1920. The record time was 2 minutes and a world record distance of 2 kilometres. Today, at last count there were over 111,000 active pilots, and around 32,920 gliders.

                                Conclusion

Gliders were one of the first successful aircraft forms. They have changed a lot since they were first flown. They are still widely used but usually for recreation and competition use.

                                            By Alex

Simpson and his Donkey

I just heard this on audioBoom and thought you'd like to listen to it too.

Simpson and his Donkey

Have you used audioBoom yet? Check out audioboom.com for more info.

https://audioboom.com/boos/3176607

Sent from my iPad

ANZAC Day poem

Australia and New Zealand fighting together.

Nations fighting together

Zero people enjoyed it.

Army's travelling overseas.

Commands must be obeyed.

Dead and wounded.

Anzac Day to remember them.

Year 100th since the war.

We will remember them.

Alliteration Writing

WALT use alliteration to write about our culture.

Sam, the smiley, sneaky South Island seal swam through the starlit sea, smiling at Sally the squid, 
Sophie the stingray and Sid the stag standing by the sea before settling on the sand for a siesta.


So What?  
I had to choose a NZ icon or animal

By Alexandra