2021 Reflection

Hola~ As you know, today is the last day of the school year 2021. For this reasoning, I will be taking the time to reflect on how my year went. First of all, I think this year has given me a lot of opportunities to get out of my comfort zone and learn new things along the way. 

One of my highlights this year was definitely the Year 10 camp in Term 2. It was my first time attending a school camp and it sure was enjoyable and memorable. The camp consists of 3 days and 2 nights of staying in the Outdoor Education Boyle Lodge area. During those times, we were provided with outdoor activities that challenged us to connect and cooperate with the people within our assigned group in camp. I was in Group 4 with a few fellow year 10s from my kahui and a half from Mohua. They were all lovely people which I eventually became friends with after camp. One of the activities that I particularly liked in camp was the night activity called "solo." In which individuals have to stay in a certain spot in the woods and stay there for more than 45 mins without any flashlights or devices of any kind. The purpose was to connect with nature and your surroundings. I boldly volunteered to participate in this thrilling activity. At first, it was slightly terrifying as I am alone in the woods with pure darkness. However, I ignored the fear and focused on what was on the sky instead. It was a beautiful starry night sky. It was a little rainy but it wasn't too heavy. The whole experience was calming. It gave me time to reflect on my life and meditate for a bit. Coincidentally, I saw a wishing star. Which made my experience a lot meaningful and memorable. Other than that, the other camp activities were also equally interesting and memorable. For instance, the cook-out, flying kiwi, and sleep-slope required us to slide down our way back in the steep mountains. It was fun. Here's a picture of me and with the rest of the group 4 above ↑

The second highlight of my year was being able to cook my chosen cultural dish in Home Economics (cooking). As part of our learning topic around Cultural foods, we were tasked to make a certain dish from our chosen country. I picked South Korea as my country and have decided to cook a South Korean dish called "Jjangmyeon" which is technically a Black bean noodle. We spent the first few weeks researching all about our dish such as the recipe, cooking methods that are used to make it, etc. After the preparation, I was finally ready to cook the actual thing. The ingredients were slightly different from the ones that I have learned from the internet but I managed it and deal with it. Not going to lie, there were some moments of weakness during those times where I was so anxious and didn't what was the next steps. Luckily, my fellow cooking classmates helped me out a bit and it kind of lessen the pressure burden over my shoulders. In the end, my dish was delicious. It had this exotic mouth-watering salty taste from the black bean paste. But with all the pasta, pork belly, and veggies mixed in together. It was like a slice of heaven. I was overall proud of what I have managed to produce. Here's a picture of what my dish looked like:

The last, of my highlight this year was the prizegiving which was today. I managed to somehow receive a trophy award for an excellent attitude for Year 10s. It was my first time receiving a trophy award so it was quite unexpected yet a wonderful achievement to have and earn. I am grateful and thankful for the teachers that acknowledge my behavior or attitude as to be labeled 'excellent' for the year. Thank you. Here's a picture of me with my trophy award: (will load soon).

Overall, I think this year has been another good year for me. There were some ups and downs but I managed to get past it and survived another year in high school. Next year will be 2022. I am excited about what 2022 has in store for me and everyone. Hopefully, the pandemic and virus all over the world will soon disappear and things would go back to normal. I wish everyone the best summer holiday. BYE! 

Social Studies: Why was a Treaty needed in NZ (essay)

In the 1830s, there were 100,000 Māori and 200 Europeans living in New Zealand. The behaviour of the Whalers, the Missionaries’ desire to help protect Māori rights and the Musket Wars were reasons that a treaty was needed. The Declaration of Independence was another contributing factor to the need for a treaty.

Firstly, one of the reasons why a treaty was needed was because of the Whalers. But what are ‘Whalers’ exactly? Whalers is the name given to the group of people of European settlers who came to NZ in the late 1920s. Who behave freely and lawlessly in the Bay of islands of New Zealand. Although it wasn’t just European settlers, Maori people eventually joined them and sinned with them. The following behaviour of Whalers was the key cause that entered the British crown and Māori into the treaty. Starting with the optimistic side, it was a place for them Whalers to stop by, restock and refresh. On the negative side, they spent most of their time partying, drinking and hooking up. Moreover, the fact that NZ wasn’t a civilised undeveloped country by then, only encouraged more sealers and whalers from around the world to go to NZ. It wasn’t acceptable. In fact, NZ was given the name ‘Hell hole of the Pacific.’ In contrast to that, the area is presently known as Korareka in Maori and Russell in English. With this whole thing happening, a treaty was needed at all costs. Obtaining a treaty would make things clear and have rules and boundaries around the country and lawless behaviour prevented.

Another reason that a treaty was needed was to defend Māori rights. One group that felt strongly about this was the missionaries. Missionaries came to New Zealand at the Bay of Islands in 1814. They established one primary goal in mind at first. It was to convert Māori people into Christianity. The missionaries have taught Māori modern effective ways of gardening and farming skills encouraging them to convert to Christianity. Interestingly, the first Māori people were only converted to Christianity not until 6 years later during the 1820s. However, with the arrival of European settlers or Whalers, they began to grow worried on behalf of Māori with all the number of sins being committed, lands being sold and the violation of their rights in their own country. Therefore, they decided on another goal, which was to keep the law and order among the European settlers. To achieve this, they promoted the treaty of the Waitangi to help strengthen the missions and protect their Māori converts from undesirable European influence. Overall, with the desire of Missionaries to protect Māori converts and Māori rights, a treaty was definitely needed.

Another reason that a treaty was needed was the Musket Wars. During the 1800s to late 1820s, the rivalry between Māori tribes began creating conflict. Those conflicts led to Musket Wars. Māori demanded muskets to give them a massive advantage and power. Therefore, they traded with the European settlers for potatoes in exchange for muskets. These muskets generated an impact that has led to thousands of bloodshed. It was estimated that 20,000 Maori were killed during the musket wars. Land borders also changed during this war.

Lastly, what's the final reason? The final reason that a treaty was the existence of the Declaration of Independence. On 28th of October 1885 is the date of the Declaration of Independence in New Zealand. The declaration states the sovereignty that existed in 1835 and was designed to promote and protect the rights of Maori. About 34 chiefs have approved the Declaration of Independence. It had provided a portal for the Treaty of Waitangi negotiations. It, in addition, gives them freedom because if it breaks down they would have the Crown as a backup plan as the king would gain possession if anything had gone wrong. This would boost the relationship between the Crown and Maori. This was tremendous for the treaty signing.

In conclusion, this essay has demonstrated that a treaty was needed because it improved relations between the Crown, the Maori and the Missionaries. The treaty also ended the muskets wars and improved the Declaration of Independence. It allowed them to form a government, enact laws/regulations and promote new connections with other nations.

English: Writing Portfolio

Today in English, we are making a writing portfolio blog. Within the portfolio, we were tasked to paste in three main writings we had in English this year and additional work from a subject of our choice that we are proud of. 

Science: Germination Experiment

For the past few weeks in Science, we have been doing an experiment around Germination. Germination is the name of the process where a plant grows from a seed.

Aim: To observe and record germination in bean seed.

Equipment: 200 mL beaker, newspaper, water, bean seed.

Method: 

1.) Get a newspaper and stuff it inside the beaker. Make sure it covers the edges and the bottom of the glass. 

2.) Get a pencil and poke the newspaper on the side to make an opening and place your bean seed inside it.

3.) Pour a decent amount of water into the beaker and wait for 1 or 2 weeks for the bean to germinate.

Observations/Results:

Conclusion:

I think the whole experiment was fun and it went well. It never failed to amuse me to watch the growth of the bean into a plant every day. I watched the bean grow from the embryo stage into a full developed plant.

Social Studies: Treaty

These past few days in Social studies, we are learned about the different kinds of treaties. We had to pick one treaty from a textbook and do research about it and turn it into a presentation of your choice answering the four main questions about the treaty. Here's my presentation:

Courtesy:

The Treaty of Waitangi - Te Tiriti o Waitangi Learning book

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zwsrd2p/revision/5

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom#:~:text=On%201%20May%201707%2C%20the,so%20unite%20the%20two%20kingdoms.&text=British%20imperial%20ambition%20turned%20towards%20Asia%2C%20particularly%20to%20India.

Textiles: Bucket Hat Pt. 2

Hi! This week in Textiles, I have finally finished sewing my bucket hat together. Therefore, I am blogging about it and answering a couple questions regarding commercial patterns.

What are commercial patterns?
Commercial patterns are patterns used in sewing to guide or direct how to sew a certain piece of clothing or garments and accessories through templates and so on. It is issued worldwide patterns by the States, Canada, and the UK.

What pattern did you use?

My class used a bucket hat pattern made by HelloSewing online. The bucket hat had 3 commercial pattern templates; the top, brim, and crown. These parts were sewn together on a 10mm line. The instructions were clear and easy to follow. However, it was quite confusing at first but I got through it. The pattern that was used most was Bent Double-Headed Arrows (cut on the fold) and cutting lines. There were also a few but wasn't used as much. 

Here's a picture of my finished bucket hat:

Reflection:

The process of making it was quite challenging for me because I have never really seen anything like this before. It was definitely confusing and it kept on testing my patience as I always get something wrong and had to unstitch it. But overall, it was fun. It taught me to have patience and trust the process. I am also familiar with the commercial patterns now. 

Social Studies: Line Graph Population

Today in Social Studies we are making a line graph.

What does the graph show:

The graph shows the population of Maori and Europeans throughout 1836 - 1901

Why do you think the number of Maori changed?
I think the population of the Maori decreased due to the introduction of a fatal disease at that time and as well as all the bloodshed of the outcomes of the war with Europeans.

Why do you think the numbers of Europeans changed?
I think the population of the Europeans due to lands being sold to them led them into NZ growing their population over the years. 

Textiles: Bucket Hats Pt. 1

Hi, Today in Textiles we are blogging about our progress so far in making our own bucket hats. As you can see from the picture below, I am on the stitching stage of the top bit of my hat. You can see the pins around it to ease out the shape. This bit of the process is quite difficult to do as it is hard to stitch in circles and not get the brim of the bucket to get accidentally sewn together on the bottom. However, it is okay as sewing doesn't really come naturally to everyone. I don't have any particular reason behind choosing this material, I just simply like the Beige colour.

Social Studies: Mihi/Pepeha

In class, we are learning about our Mihi/Pepeha. It's a traditional way how you would introduce yourself in Te Reo. Here's mine. 

Ko Aoraki toku maunga
Ko Waimakariri toku awa

Ko Canterbury toku rohe   

Ko Elisha Mae toku ingoa

Social Studies: God Poster Activity

Today in Social Studies we've been learning about the Gods in Maori mythology and their deities. As well as their similarities compared to other gods in other cultures such as Ancient Greek, Ancient Roman and so on. We had to create a poster about it. I chose the god of the earth which is Papatuanuku in Maori mythology. She shares the same similarities of the greek god Gaea, who is also a mother-earth figure. 

Textiles: Commercial Patterns

Hi. Today in Textiles we had to cut and paste the correct symbol with the correct label of commercial patterns. We had to choose to do it digitally but I preferred to do it on paper. 

The commercial patterns were confusing and tricky to match with their own definitions because the descriptions match the other symbols too. However, I got through it in the end. 

English: The Secret of Walter Mitty (Late Post)

Greetings. This week in English, we began reading a short story called 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Therefore, this blog will be about me answering the post-reading tasks based on the story. 

A drawing picture of one of Mitty's daydreams.

[Mitty imagined he is one of the successful famous surgeons that can only cure the patient]

Comprehension Question: 

What were Walter’s daydreams about? Rank the daydreams from your favourite to your least favourite.
Mitty Walter daydreams being a war pilot, a doctor, a sharp-shooter, and a captain. In the final daydream, Mitty imagines himself smoking a cigarette while in front of a firing squad. 

What was Walter Mitty doing in his waking life?
He was avoiding his inadequacies in real life.

Does Walter Mitty enjoy his life? Why or why not?

He doesn't enjoy his real-life nor content. He desires to be a cooler person with a cool life. 

Wananga: Passion Projects

こんにちは! In Term 3 2021 for Wananga, we are doing Passion Projects. Here's a slideshow I created to present my overall work for passion projects. It includes all the details and information about my project from research to the end results. Enjoy. 

Here's a picture of my painting:

"Desederium"

BYE!

Science: Geological Timescale (SciPad work)

Greetings. Today in Science Biology we learnt about the geological timescale. We made a timeline showing how life on Earth has changed over the past 4,600 million years.

Home Economics: Eating Patterns

Hi, Last week in Home Economics, we were learning about eating patterns at specific times and days. We were tasked to make the 1950s and modern dish plates from playdough. The plates are divided into three categories; vegetables on the top, right-hand side are the carbs and on the left-hand side is the meat. 

Here's what I came up with:

The 1950s dish:

The modern dish:

Wananga: Interpersonal Skills

Greetings. Today in Wananga, we are learning about the 8 fundamentals of communication skills and how it is beneficial in a job of your choice. I'm going to pick the job of a teacher to discuss my answers. It is important to have empathy being a teacher so you could teach better by understanding your student's perspective. And just like empathy, that goes without saying having good conversation skills is also important as a teacher. Because, how would you be able to teach students effectively if you yourself don't have good communication skills? Without it, you can't express your ideas to the students properly which will lead to having a poor understanding of the lesson discussed. It is also important to have a respectful vocabulary to set up a good role model for the students and it is just professionalism in general.

Wananga: Pyramid Scheme

Hi, Today in Wananga we are creating a poster informing others on the dangers of the Pyramid scheme. Here's the poster I created in Canva:

Science: Mutations

This week in Science Biology, we are learning about mutations. Mutations are basically permanent changes in the base sequence of DNA that produces a different outcome on the organism.

The human species first appeared in what is now called Africa. They were dark-skinned, dark-haired and dark coloured eyes. But in the present times, we now have a range of different colours of skin, hair and eyes. Therefore, Blue eyes are basically a new allele = mutation. Blue eyes first appear in humans about 6,000 to 10,000 years ago.

It is a beneficial mutation because blue-eyed humans get the advantage of coping better with seasonal affective disorder. A disorder that occurs when there is less sunlight at certain times of the year.

It also has the advantage of seeing unmoving objects better than moving things. Blue-eyed humans can also see better in the dark because lighter pigment makes the iris more translucent meaning it lets get more light into the eye.

Bonus:
Blue eyes may have more advantages because based on societies' beauty standards blue eyes may appear more appealing and look attractive and fascinating than the common eye colours in the world today which is dark-brown.

English: Yellow Brick Road (Post-Reading Questions)

Greetings! After finishing reading the Yellow Brick Road novel in English we were tasked to make a blog answering in a full sentence the post-reading questions in our blog about the story.

Here's a link to the Yellow Brick Road story so that this post makes sense to you

1.) The narrator of the story believes that they are moving to Wellington was because to have a better life by getting jobs that would lift his family out of poverty. Evidence on the story:
"We'll make lots of money and be rich as anything because Wellington is where the money is. And you have to go where the money is, ay Dad. No use staying in Waituhi and being poor all the time, ay”

2.) On Page 1, the big difference between Waituhi (narrator's hometown) and Wellington that was mentioned by the narrator himself was that Wellington is where the "money" is and the bigger population of Pakehas than their own hometown.

3.) On Page 3, the narrator's dad explained to his uncle Sam that they were moving to Wellington because there were no more jobs at home and they had enough of plenty of seasonal work such as shearing, fruit-picking etc. Moreover, there is apparently plenty of work in Wellington; plenty of factories. And he wants his kids to have a better life than he had.

4.) The narrator's attitude towards moving to Wellington changes as he encounters a lot of signs when they got nearer to the city which overwhelmed him and made him feel anxious. Moreover, the people they also encounter on the road the way to Wellington was not so friendly.

5.) Emerald City, Yellow Brick Road, Flying Monkeys, scarecrow, tinman and cowardly lion, are all allusions (references) to a famous book "The Wizard of Oz". I think the author made this comparison because it has the same story theme which is where the protagonist starts a journey into a destination that will solve all of their problems and which turned out to be fake. Meaning, the destination of their journey isn't going to solve their problems. 

Social Studies: Estimation Deaths (Bar Graph)

Greetings! In Social Studies in my previous blog, we had to create a map of where the locations of these death camps. Now we have to make a bar graph showing the estimation of deaths in those locations.

Here's my bar graph:

English: Yellow Brick Road (Pre-Reading Questions)

Greetings! Today in English we are starting a new set of work about the 'Yellow Brick Road' story. This post is answering the pre-reading questions regarding the story.

1.) Witi Ihimaera is a New Zealand Author born in Gisborne, NZ in 1944. One of his famous works that were adapted to films is The Whale Rider (1987).

2.) I have never come across an expression called "Yellow Brick Road" before in my life. I am assuming it means something metaphorical like having an existential crisis and that yellow brick road represents that 'road'.

3.) Based on the title, I predict that this story is going to be about a protagonist who goes on a life-changing adventure, either for worse or better.

Science: Dominant and Recessive Allele

Hi, This week in Science Biology we are learning about the Dominant and Recessive Allele on humans and animals. 

Science Lockdown Weekly Question: 

We have some sheep here at home who have just had lambs. The mums have white wool, the dad also has white wool. But we have two mums who have had twins - one of the twins has white wool and one has black wool. Using terms like allele and dominant and recessive try and explain how this can happen - use a Punnett square too if you want. 

My Answer:

White wool is the dominant allele The black wool is the recessive allele.

This means there was a high chance of having a white wool lamb considering both parents were white wool genes.

Now, in this case, this has happened because...
It is due to both of the parent sheep is a (Ww - white wool but non-purebred sheep)
With the recessive allele in it (w), there is a chance of getting a black wool lamb due to both parents being non-purebred white wool sheep.

Punnet square explanation: 

                   🡫

Social Studies: Re-Creating The Past

Within the clips from an American miniseries called 'Brand of Brothers', the soldiers discovered the Nazi's concentration camps where they commit the mass murder of thousands of innocent lives of Jews due to the extreme prejudice of Hitler. The soldiers were shocked in terror at what they are witnessing. We see Jews with weak pale abnormal skinny body shapes walking around. They were all malnourished and some were in critical condition, on the verge of their own deaths due to starvation. The atmosphere of the area was dull and gloomy. Many have lost hope. Their body was almost like a skeleton with their ribs popping out. They were all wearing the same clothing with the yellow star of David sewn in it and bald cuts. When the soldiers approached them, they all clung to the fences with the visible misery on their faces willing to be saved and escape. We can also see the desperation of the Jews to live when the soldiers offered them food. It was beyond inhuman how Jews were treated during this era. It was traumatizing. The impact this discovery have on soldiers is the feeling of guilt and pity seeing what these innocent Jews have to suffer through and die without justice. 

Home Economics: NZ Food Timeline

In Home Economics (Cooking) we have this activity where we have to choose 15 dates of significant events that have happened with food in New Zealand from the History sheet and then make a timeline poster out of it using digital tools such as Canva. Here's my work:

Social Studies: The Einsatzgruppen

 Hi. This week in Social Studies we are looking at the "Einsatzgruppen" basically meaning "The cleanup squads" in Geman. No, they weren't environmental cleaning up. Those were the combat soldiers that was tasked to kill the Jews around Europe, especially those with wealth and power during WW2 under Hitler's command. The worst massacre occurred in Kiev, where 33,771 Jews were killed in a single operation.

Now the task is to locate the countries that were involved in WW2, as well as the location of the death camps, where they executed countless Jews. 

Here's a picture of my map: 

Now if you look closely, most death camps were located in Poland. This may be due to because Hitler doesn't want the blood-shedding happening in his country. And as always, thanks for viewing my post. 

Science: DNA Extraction

Hi, Today in Science we did an experiment where we extract DNA from a Kiwi fruit.

Aim: To extract DNA from kiwifruit

Equipment: Kiwifruit, water, test tube, beakers, salt, dishwashing detergent, ziplock bag, spatula

Method:
1.) Cut the kiwifruit in half and scoop out the kiwi fruit and put it in a ziplock bag.

2.) Crush the kiwifruit inside the ziplock bag until chunks are gone. 

3.) Add 2 pinch of salt and a little bit of water to the mixture and mix it together.

4.) Then pour through cloth, collect the juice in a beaker, then transfer it into a test tube.

5.) After pouring the mixture into the test tube, add Ethanol. Watch the DNA separate and collect the DNA using a spatula.

Results:

After adding Ethanol into the mixture, a complete visible change happened. There appeared two layers in the test tube. At the top is the cloudy looking texture which is the DNA that we are going to fish out. The bottom one is just the neutral mixture. The dishwashing liquid broke the DNA cells of the kiwifruit, then the ethanol separated the DNA.

Conclusion: 

I think the experiment went well and I would like to try out the Strawberry next time. 

Home Economics: NZ Cultural Foods

Greetings! In-Home Economics, we are looking at New Zealand cultural foods Maori and European.

What are these items? Put together a blog/paragraph that identifies the different food sources that the Maori had. 

There were different Māori food sources that they had, from wild plants to animal foods etc. New Zealand used to be covered with dense native vegetation, therefore, its ferns, vines, palms, fungi, berries, fruit and seeds became important foods for the Māori people. Pikopiko is one of the wild plant food examples that the Maori people had. Pikopiko can be used as a signature garnish or as a vegetable. Inanga (Whitebait) is also one of the Maori fish food. However, due to overfishing and environmental degradation, this is one of the species of fish and seafood that you should avoid eating in New Zealand.

Food was gathered and preserved - explain the gathering techniques and the importance of preserving food and how they did preserve food.

The traditional Māori method of cooking is called the hāngī or earth over. Hot rocks and water are used to create steam in a shallow pit dug into the earth. Māori had methods to preserve their food to save for leaner times or to trade with other tribes. Drying was the most used method for the preservation of their food. Food was dried in embers or, in the geothermal Rotorua area, spread on hot rocks. Shellfish were threaded onto long lengths of twisted flax and hung, drying in the sun and wind.

What were the key foods brought to NZ by the British Settler?
Early European explorers introduced a wide range of food plants to New Zealand, including wheat, maize, potatoes, cabbage and carrots. They also made butter in a barrel and mixed it. Kiwi fruit is also one of the main foods that British settlers brought to NZ. During the early 1800s, pigs and baskets of potatoes were used as a currency. As for our first practical during HEC (home economics), we have made scones which are also food brought to NZ by the British Settlers. 

Recources: Link /  Link  /  Link

Social Studies: Kristallnacht

1.) What is meant by the term “Kristallnacht”?
The Night of Broken Glass.

2.) When did this event occur?
This event occurred on November 9th and 10th 1938.

3.) How many synagogues did the programme claim were burned?
267 were burned and destroyed.

4.) How many Jews were claimed to have died as a result of this event?
91 were murdered.

5.) How many were said to have been sent to concentration camps?
30,000

6.) What was the reaction of the German people to this event?
They forced the Jews to pay off the cost of the event. Furthermore, they would be disowned and deported and banned from attending schools. The Germans put the blame on the Jews as they believed that it was the Jew's fault.

The Kristallnacht event was planned out in advance.

Evidence of this statement is the detailed document that was sent out on the 8th of November 1938 (the day before the event occurred). Within the document, it states what the officials can and cannot do. 

An example of this is:

“Particular care is to be paid in business sections and surrounding streets” 

“Non-Jewish businesses are to be protected from damage under all circumstances".
“Officials are to arrest as many Jews, especially wealthy ones.”

In conclusion, the event of the night of the broken glass was planned by the Germans. This document was signed by Reinhard Heydrich, a high-ranking German SS and police officer during the Nazi era.

Textiles: The Basics

Greetings. In Textiles as an introduction task for Term 2, we had to tackle the 'basics' first. Our task was to be able to show you have mastered the following skills used in textiles. I am no expert in such tasks like this but I tried my best. Here are the following basic skills we had to show: threading, 6mm seam, 10mm seam, 15mm seam, backtrack, zigzag edges and pivoting. 

Here's evidence that I can at least do the basic skills listed above:

It's not the best but I can do it. 

Social Studies: THE NUREMBERG LAWS

Greetings. Today with the subject mentioned in the title, we looked at the Nuremberg Laws and answered 5 questions relating to them. Nuremberg Laws are basically the official rules that the Nazis passed to protect the German blood and honour pure in 1935. My answers are the ones highlighted this time. 

1.) Provide two examples of ways in which the Nuremberg laws affected the rights of German Jews.
They have prohibited them from marrying or having sexual relations with persons of "German or German-related blood and Jews were taken off their rights to vote and could not hold public office.

2.)What other actions were taken that discriminated against Jews in Germany? (Remembering)
Their rights were taken off them such as Jewish patients in the hospital were no longer admitted to municipal hospitals in Düsseldor and Jews university students were not allowed to sit for doctoral exams and Jewish officers were expelled from the army etc.

3.)Why do you think that the Nazis passed these laws? (Understanding)
Nazis passed these laws because they believe that Jews want to dominate Germany and lower their ‘pure’ German blood. Therefore, they prohibited them from marrying or having any sexual relationships of their kind to Jews to keep the German blood pure uncontaminated.

4.) If a New Zealand government passed a law that provided for different treatment of a named racial group in New Zealand, what do you think the reaction of most New Zealand people would be? Why do you think this might be the case? (Applying)
If such laws would exist, it would anger some netizens and certainly find it unfair. It is because people in NZ believes in and promotes equality. In worse case scenarios, it could be the cause of the country's downfall. 

5.) Do you think these Nuremberg laws were racist? Explain your point of view. (Evaluating)
I definitely think these Nuremberg laws are racist.  I think the reason for my opinion should be pretty self-explanatory. All of these rules violate most human rights. It is prejudiced, biased and discriminatory rules. I don't think these even should exist in the first place.

Resources: https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/anti-jewish-legislation-in-prewar-germany

Social Studies: What did Hitler actually say about Jews?

Greetings, In Social studies we looked at specific statements that Hitler wrote from his book called the Mein Kampf (My Struggle) during his imprison times in 1923 after attempting to seize power by force in what became called the “Munich Putsch”. Our task was to provide two quotes, one from each statement, which shows Hitlers anti-semitism and explaining how these statements represent anti-semitism.

“The Jews were responsible for bringing negroes into the Rhineland with the ultimate idea of bastardising (lowering the quality of) the white race which they hate''.

“The Jewish youth lies in wait for hours on end...spying on the unsuspicious German girl he plans to seduce.....he wants to contaminate her blood and remove her from the bosom of her people. Jews might dominate".

These two quotes describe Hitlers anti-semantic thoughts. He is prejudice towards Jewish people. He thinks Jews hates the white race and wanted to dominate them and lower their cultural/political level in their own country. Before the wars even started, we can tell that Adolf Hitler already has a conflict of prejudice towards Jewish people.

Social Studies: The Great Depression

In Social Studies, we began looking at the topic of The Great Depression. We were set a research task about it and answering the 3 questions in our blog using the Lawyer paragraph.

Research Task:
Why was Germany hit the hardest during the depression?

Germany was seriously affected during the great depression because the American stock market in 1929 took an economic downturn. Wall Street crashed. It led them to take action to call in all the foreign loans at short notice. Those are signed and agreed upon under the Dawes Plan. Dawes Plan was an international agreement signed in 1924 (after WW1 ended) for Germany to pay the reparations (that resolved WW1) loans from the USA banks. Therefore, without the loans provided by the US for Germany to pay the reparations, the German industry would (did) collapse. After the US calls in the loan, the German production loses its finance, lowers production, and lays off workers. Many people were unemployed due to the industrial revolution and further low production. There were about 2 million people unemployed because of this. Prices soon dropped, the demand fell and made the industry lose more money. As a result, the country was seriously affected by the great depression.

Resources: Link

Explain what Germany had to agree to by signing the Treaty of Versailles?
The Treaty of Versailles is a national peace agreement signed by the victorious Allied powers (Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Romania, Japan and the United States) and Germany. Germany had to agree to the terms and conditions written in the Treaty of Versaille. The Treaty of Versailles held Germany responsible for starting the war and forced (by law) harsh penalties in terms of loss and destruction of land areas and territories. Furthermore, the massive reparation payments cost 132 billion gold marks ($33 billion US dollars) which took 92 years to pay off (1919-2010) because of the Great Depression. Lastly, they also took action to reduce the number of Germany’s military forces. The purpose is to take ‘power’ off Germany. These terms and conditions seemed unfair to Germany as they believed that they didn’t start the war and shouldn’t be the only one to hold accountable for all of it. Therefore, this only caused more conflict and soon was the reason for the start of WW2.

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How was NZ affected by the depression?
When the great depression occurred, New Zealand wasn’t really affected at first by the depression. The effects of the crash were not immediately seen or obvious. However, from 1930, export prices began to quickly drop, falling 45% by 1933. To a country almost completely dependent on farming-based exports, this was terrible and destructive. By the end of 1930 city-based businesses and manufacturers were feeling the flow-on effects. Moreover, the national income dropped by 40%. Thankfully, George William Forbes as prime minister (1930-1935) has led NZ out of the harsh economy of the 1930s Great Depression.

Resources: Link

Social Studies: Anti-Rubbish Poster

 Hi, Today in Social Studies we are creating posters about rubbish in general and what we could to help reduce it. I am working with Anneleise on this poster and I think we've done a pretty great job in a short amount of time. I hope you like it and have a great day =)