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.