Festival of the Arts - Post 3

Why Do We Yawn? ι ( ¯ ö¯)ﾉ

Why Do We Yawn?

*YAAAAAAAAAWN!* Yawning. The most BORING thing ever. Have you ever wondered why we yawn though? Or when we yawn when we wake up? Or even when we yawn during class then.. BOOM! Someone else randomly yawns! It’s weird right? Well we yawn everyday and it’s actually helpful for our body!

Still wondering why? Well keep reading…

Yawning. We do it everyday, but first of all why?   

Yawning actually helps our brains. When our brain is exhausted it gets overheated. Just like a computer our brain works best at a certain temperature. When we yawn we, we breathe air and that air cools down our brains. Exhaustion and Sleep Deprivation both increase our brain temperature. Our brain is not working when we are bored or exhausted, so it gets overheated.  (Just like when you leave a computer running but you are not using it, it gets overheated). The human body takes in less oxygen when we are bored or exhausted because our breathing is being slowed down. Soooo…. Basically we yawn to keep our brains cool! Keeping our brains cool is important so that they can function well, so we can learn and focus better. It also keeps us aware of what we are doing!

So.. why is it contagious? Why does my classmate yawn right after I do?  Some people say it’s not contagious, some people say it is. So what’s the truth?..

As far as we know, contagious yawning is true. Contagious yawning is most likely linked to Empathy. Empathy is the ability to share and understand the feelings of another person. Contagious yawning begins when you are around 4-5 years old. This is when empathetic behaviour begins to develop. Research shows that children with empathy related disorders such as Autism, yawn less compared to others. Research also shows that you are more likely to copy the yawn of someone socially/genetically close to you. Eg. Family, friends, classmates! The mirror neurons are also linked to contagious yawning. Our mirror neurons in our brain activate when we do an action, see someone else doing the action, or hear someone talk about the action. Our mirror neurons help us with our learning, self awareness, and relating to others. When we see or hear someone else yawn the mirror neurons in our brain become activated and as a result we copy the yawn.

This is why we yawn, and why it is contagious. Next time you yawn during class and someone else yawns, you’ll know why! How many times did you yawn while reading this? Well now you are an expert on yawning…

Fun Fact…

Humans are not the only ones that yawn.. Animals yawn too! Whaaaaaaaaat!

Writing - School Lockdown

“I still remember the day very clearly. It all happened so sudden. I was lucky to be alive… “

In 1998, when I was 19 years old, I was offered a computer intern job in my old school’s basement. The teachers offered it to me cause I was a really good student while I was still in school. I didn’t really have anything to do at home except play games, but my parents didn’t want me to become those sweaty addicted gamers, so I took the job. I was working with two of my old school friends - John and Liam. The job was really fun, and I loved it - well at least before the lockdown….

It was October 20th, 1:30pm. I was working on some documents for Mr Smith. He was my most favourite teacher of all time. He was incredible. Suddenly while I was about to sip my cup of milo, on the speaker I heard,

“Lockdown Lockdown Lockdown! Lock your doors, turn off all the lights, AND HIDE!”

I quickly panicked in fear and spilt my milo all over me! I thought to myself, “Luckily this shirt is black, phew!”

Even though it was super hot I ignored it. There was no door in my office, so what I did was just turn off all the lights and sit on my wheely chair. The wait felt like 100 years, so I decided to play some games on my Iphone to make the time pass faster. I lowered the sound on my Iphone just in case. I thought to myself, “I’m so smart!”

After a few minutes I decided to text my friend John. I asked, “Hey John, what’s going on up there?”

To avoid becoming bored, I played games on my phone, then unexpectedly I heard the door gradually open ajar… I heard footsteps coming near my office… while panicking I crouched down and hid under my desk to stay safe. A man came inside. He looked quite young and his height was around 180cm. He was wearing a gray hoodie, navy shorts, and nike shoes. My heart was beating rapidly with fear. All I could do was hope that he wouldn’t see me under the table. There was a moment of silence. The tension was so chilling. I was super anxious. Then what I thought could only happen in horror movies happened in that very moment… My phone dinged. As that happened, my heart sank to the ground. There was nothing left to do except beg to him not to kill me. I was sweating so much.

“Please Sir don’t kill me! I’m begging you!”

Then out of nowhere, he stopped me.
He told me, “Woah, chill. I’m just here hiding.”

I didn’t know if it was safe to believe him or not, so I asked,“Who are you?”

There was a moment of silence, he ignored my question and asked, “Is there an exit down here?”

I replied and asked again, “Yeah, over there, but who are you?”

“I’m just a Dad, here to pick up my son.”

I read the text John sent me, “Hey, whatever you do, don’t come up here. Some random dude just shot Mr Wilson! He’s wearing a gray hoodie, navy shorts, and nike shoes. Stay safe.”

I couldn’t believe it. I felt a shiver down my spine. Just as I was about to read out loud the text to him, I noticed I was too late. He left. My heart sank again… He probably noticed my suspicion. All I could do was run upstairs… I made a run for it. He somehow noticed me, and he tried to shoot me. “BANG!” I heard the bullet ricochet of the wall. Thankfully police officers were waiting at all exits, so I was saved. He was arrested and put into jail. Some more good news, Mr Wilson survived. No one really knows why he shot Mr Wilson.

To this day, I still hear the gunshot play over and over in my head… I will never forget what happened.

Festival Of The Arts - Post 2

Maths Screencastify - Finding the area of rectangles

If the video is not working, or is in bad quality, click here - Backup

Festival Of The Arts - Post 1

Review - The Dragon's Apprentice

The Dragon's Apprentice by Linda McNabb

The Dragon's Apprentice book is about a boy named Toby and a dragon named Klel. Klel is locked up in a room inside a castle. He is very ill and is dying because the king and his people keep taking his magical golden scales off. The reason why they are doing this is because Klel's scales can heal things. Toby tries his best to free Klel, and gets help from a new friend named Sanelle. They run into lots of problems, but they have a great adventure. In my opinion the book had a good storyline, and is very interesting, but I believe that it could still be improved. One of the things that I think would've made the story better is that the author could have added more deaths to make the reader feel emotional. Even though it could still be improved, it was a great book. If you like fantasy books I recommend reading this. I would rate it a 3 out of 5. 

Letter to Andrew Little

My letter to Andrew Little for the Social Action

Dear Mr Andrew Little,

Hello Sir, my name is Trisha and I am a Year 7 student from Hornby High School. I have been recently doing some work surrounding Sustainability, but I have been focusing on water quality. What I am most concerned about is the microbeads used in certain care products in New Zealand. Microbeads are very miniature plastic particles. They are used in care products such as toothpaste, soaps, face scrubs, and other products. To keep New Zealand fresh and clean, I believe that we should ban microbeads in New Zealand. The impact that microbeads have on our environment is appalling.

How do microbeads get into our waterways? Microbeads get into our system by getting washed down the drain. Microbeads are so tiny that they cannot be filtered by sewage systems. They get into our lakes, waterways, and rivers. Microbeads can also absorb toxins while in the lakes, rivers, or waterways. A massive amount of sea life die from microbeads, because they mistakenly believe that it is their food. It is believed that microbeads are more dangerous than discarded plastic bottles. Microbeads get in waterways, lakes and rivers >They absorb toxins > Pollute the water > Marine life eat them >  Marine Life Die > We eat the fish that eat microbeads > We eat the toxins in microbeads.

The companies that I know that use microbeads are : Clean & Clear, Clearasil, Neutrogena, Olay, and many more. Most of the companies disguise the microbeads. They call it  polyethylene, but sometimes polypropylene, and polystyrene.

I urge you to help New Zealand and ban microbeads. With your high authority in the matter, I believe that you could make New Zealand a better place. Thank you for taking your time reading this.  I would appreciate a response.

Thank you Sir

Sincerely,

Trisha Tayong
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I believe that I have achieved LO3 because I have explained to Andrew Little why microbeads need to be dealt with, how big their impact is, and how he can help New Zealand by banning them.

Polar Bears

Amiable Vigorous Fascinating

Protectively Pleasantly Preciously

As fluffy as a cloud

Adorably

Extraordinary

Little Freak Letter

Little Freak - Letter to Father

Dear Father,

Help me. Why have you sold me to perform freak shows? Do you even care about me? Do you even know me? Do you know how it makes me feel? Do you love me? People call me a mutant, I’m abnormal, I’m a freak, I’m a monster. It makes me feel humiliated. Do people think I’m not a human? This is just so unfair. If they were freaks they would know how it feels. I have a talent in making wooden carvings! I could prove to them I’m more than just a freak! If you could just help me please! Please help me Father! I feel alone! I feel so unwanted! These thoughts in my head are killing me. It hurts enough to know that you don’t care about me. I just want a normal life.  I don’t want to feel like this anymore. I don’t want to keep feeling the pain I feel when I see my hideous reflection in the mirror. I don’t want to keep crying everyday. I just want you to accept me for who I am. But I’m sorry father. I’m sorry that I look so grotesque.  I’m sorry that I’m not the kid you wanted. I’m sorry that I’m not perfect, even when you know that no one is…

Sincerely,

Your Son,  Little Freak.

Water Quality - Reusing Water Sustainability assessment National Geographic Kids Magazine

I believe this meets LO2 because, I have explained how this is impacted on living things, (In FACTS box), and ways to minimise these problems.


Why is sustainability important for the future? - Sustainability is important because as humans, we need to learn on how to sustain resources on Earth. We might not always have them forever. Also, water is very important on Earth. It is very healthy and it helps with the environment.

What are some ways we can minimise these problems? - There are a few ways to save water.
 One way is to distil water. Meaning purify it.
To save the oceans and sea life, try to stop using products that contain microbeads. AKA polyethylene. Microbeads have a huge impact on sea life, and some people don't even realise that it is dangerous.
I also suggest to try take shorter showers. The average shower uses around 8 litres of water per minute.. Thats a lot.

What and How big are these impacts on the environment and living things? -

The impact that these things do to our environment is very appalling.

 Every 8 seconds, a child dies from drinking contaminated water. In China alone 700 million people drink contaminated water everyday.

Microbeads also have a big impact on the environment. Since microbeads are too tiny to get trapped in water filters, they get into our waterways, lakes, rivers, and oceans. A huge amount of sea life die because they mistakenly believe that it is their food. Microbeads can also pollute water because they can absorb toxins and release them in the water.

How can we stop these impacts? -
For the people that don't have freshwater, try to donate to charity, or come up with a clever way to help them.  "No act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted."

As for the microbeads, I suggest looking at the back of care products, and checking if there are any. If there are, try not to buy them.

STREET ART

The role of the Artist is disrupting what is 'accepted'

Sustainability Water - Reusing Water

Reusing Water Questions

 Sustainability : To keep renewable and non renewable resources by choosing to use them wisely, for our future generations.

1. Is there a way we could reuse polluted water? 

Yes, but it also depends on how polluted the water is, how you are going to reuse it, and what you are going to reuse it for.

You can also distil water. There are many ways to do this and it removes most of the impurities inside it. The process of distilling water involves boiling it.

2. How do we know it is safe to reuse water?

This also depends on how polluted the water is, how you are going to reuse it, and what you are reusing it for. Physicians have checked these kinds of things with their science stuff, and there are also ways for you to check.

If you are using distilled water, yes it is safe. Distilled water went through a process where most of its impurities were removed and it has been purified. Physicians say that distilled water is actually more safer, cleaner, and more pure than tap water.

3. Will we run out of water soon? 

Although Earth may not run out of water, we still need to remember that we might always not clean fresh water all the time. This is why we reuse water, so we don't run out of fresh water. Not all countries have clean water. We are very lucky to have clean water in New Zealand. In fact half of the fresh water on Earth can only be found in 6 countries!


Why is sustainability important for us for our future and how is it related to water? 


 Water is very important for humans. It is very healthy for our body. If there were no water, we wouldn't survive on Earth.  We use it to water our crops, we use it to wash things, we use it in our food, and most importantly we drink it. Why is Sustainability important for water? Well, unfortunately we are running out of fresh water. A lot of countries today have to live without fresh water, meaning... they live a short life and they die young. Did you know, every 8 seconds a child dies from contaminated water. Yes, this is horrible but true. Also in China alone, 700 million people drink contaminated water. Us humans need to realise that we will not have water all the time. We are running out. We all need to learn how to sustain our water resources for future generations.


I believe this meets LO1 because, I have explained why sustainability is important, and have given examples on how to take care of our resources.

Welcome to my very own blog for learning. I look forward to sharing my learning with teachers, my school, my family and friends anywhere.