Category: Ako | Learn

Aretha Franklin Song RESPECT

I completed this task so that I could achieve a CARE award in order to get a badge. For this task I needed to research about Aretha Franklin’s song RESPECT.

Aretha Franklin is a famous singer who was in the music buisness for over 60 years. One of her most famous singles RESPECT. Aretha Franklin created because she noticed that everybody wanted and needed respect. This song was noticed by many people and became an anthem for feminism and civil rights.

I enjoyed this task becasue I got to learn how a song can change society and make a better changes in the world. I found this inspiring on why and how this song became an anthem for feminism and civil rights.

Escape From Afghanistan

LI: To explain in fewer words what the text is about 

 

Our challenge in this activity was to summarise the text in our own words. We were challenged to use powerful vocabulary instead of simpler words. My summary tells the journey of all refugees and the journey they went through.

I found this Mahdi’s journey stressful because all of the obsticals he came to were stressful

Tension Graphs

LI: To gauge the tension in a text

Escape from Afghanistan Tension Chart:

My name is Rez Tension Chart:

From Afghanistan to Aotearoa Tension Chart:

When I compare these graphs I noticed that these refugees had a really hard time setling into a new country and leaving eveything they have behind. 

I found this activity interesting because I was able to learn more about refugees and how they come with the obsticals they face.

Synthesis Challenge

LI: To compare and contrast the way authors hook us in and build tension in a set of texts.

Our group has made the decision that “My name is Rez” has the best introduction out of three texts. As It states what Rez’s childhood has been like. For example “We have never had our own homeland”. Meaning that she has endured psychological trauma and emotional scars that will forever be attached to her for the majority of her life. In act 1 it explains that her life is filled with hardships from being punished for getting something incorrect, to having both of her parents’ villages being bombed. The horrors they faced seemed to never end. But in the end she became a lawyer that helps refugees come to New Zealand and she had a prosperous life.

Our challenge in this activity was to compare and contrast the ways each author built tension and hooked us in using evidence from the texts to support our thinking. When we had read all three texts in the set we wrote a collaborative statement to convince other students why one of the story beginnings was better than the other(s).

I found this activity interesting because I got to learn about different refugees and the ardous journeys they faced.

Procedural Writing

LI: To write a set of clear instructions that show how to make a hangi.

How to make a hangi

You will need:

Equipment/Materials

  • Shovels
  • lighter/matches 
  • stones/iron
  • paper
  • lighter
  • twigs/kindling
  • metal baskets
  • Cloth sacks
  • hook tool
  • Gloves
  • cylinder of water
  • big leaves
  • wood
  • at least 2-3 people to dig the pit.

 

  • Ingredients:
  • Vegetables(potato, carrots, taro leaves, kumara, pumpkin,  cabbage.) 
  • Meat (ox, chicken, beef, lamb, pork)

Numbered Steps:

  1. Dig 1m(4ft) deep pit. Make sure it’s slightly larger than food baskets.
  2. Gather wood and volcanic stones then stack the wood piling the stones on top
  3. Light the wood on fire and let the wood and stones wait for about 3-5 hours so they heat up, you will know when they are ready once stones start turning white.
  4. Prepare the vegetables and add garlic powder and seasonings to add flavor.
  5. Collect meat for the hangi and season with salt and pepper or garlic powder, commonly chicken, pork and beef. 
  6. Line baskets in foil or banana leaves and place food in making sure meat and vegetables are in separate trays.
  7. Soak sacks and sheets in water and place on the side of the pit so dirt can’t get in.
  8. Place all the food trays into the pit on top of the hot rocks making sure the meats are added first and then the vegetables.
  9. Put a wet sheet on top of the trays that is long enough to touch the bottom tray, then add more wet sacks and sheets on top of everything.
  10. Let the food cook for at least 4 hours and then remove all sacks and sheets carefully so that no dirt gets onto the 
  11. Use gloves to transfer the trays of food and let it cool down.
  12. Carve meat to serving sizes and enjoy!

Today we unpacked how to follow and write a set of instructions. To do this effectively your instructions need to be explicit and the steps to follow ordered. Each step begins with an instructional verb and should be written in a way that is easy to understand.

SAFETY MESSAGE: Always make sure someone is looking after the Hangi to make sure that nothing burns and the environment is safe.

I enjoyed trying to follow the steps of the worksheet at the start because it taught me thayt I should always read the instructions carefully before I do anything.

Research About Scurvy

LI: To understand what a balanced diet looks like and why it is important for human health.

For our first Inquiry topic for Term 2 we did a study about what a scurvy is, how can people get affected, and what can we do to avoid it. We wrote did you know facts to help us be able to learn about scurvy such as, Did you know Scurcy can bo killed by eating Lemons and Limes? Scurvy is caused by lack of Vitamin C for at least 3 months. I was mostly common for pirates/sailors.

I found this activity helpful because I got to learn about Scurvy and what I can do to prevent it so I don’t get it.

Kauri Dieback

LI: To gather statistics and protect the Kauri Tree from getting the Kauri Disease.

The following week after camp we did a research about the Kauri Dieback. Then we created a DLO about the Kauri Disease on how we can prevent it from destroying our nature. Though we can do things such as cleaning our shoues before and after walks to stop the disease from killing our tree. 

I found this activity interesting because I learnt about the Kauri dieback and how it can effect our Kauri trees and kill them.

Statistical Investigation

Our math group created a diagram which shows the top six rivers in Auckland from smallest to largest. We used our collaborative skills to find out the data of each river. We put these rivers in this order from shortest to longest Whanua, Puhoi, Tamaki, Waitakere, Hoteo, Waiora. We used our knowledge to come to the conclusion on what river is the longest out of the 6 rivers in Auckland, which is Waiora being 65 km long.

I found this activity useful because I learnt how to make a statistical investigation.

Digital Escape Rooms

LI: To create a digital escape room that allows others to practise their knowledge of prefixes and suffixes.

This week I learnt how to create a digital escape room using Google forms. All my questions are on the affixes because writing the questions/answers and wrong answers really made me think about what meanings to some suffixes and what words have more than 1 suffixes.

I found this activity fun because creating an escape room is a fun way to learn about affixes, and after craking the code for a game to learn even more is very helpful and exciting.

Mrs Anderson has created a page on our site with all our escape rooms on it.  Click on this link to crack our codes and increase your knowledge of affixes.

Word Building

LI: To build words from a base word using prefixes and suffixes.

This week we have been learning how words are build from a base word using suffixes and prefixes. A base word is a complete word by itself that changes when you add a prefix or suffix. Our challenge is to see how many words we could make from one base word. In this DLO the word we used was ‘excite’.

We found this activity fun because this is a helpful and fun way to learn how to spell words and how prefixes and suffixes can change the meaning of a word. For example un means not, and happy means an emotion of expressing cheerfulness and glee. So if you put them togeather it creates un+happy then the meaning changes. Unhappy-not happy, or a emotion for feeling sad and gloomy.