This term for social studies we have been looking at identity. We have done many activities based around who we are and where we come from. One of the things we had to do was an online treasure hunt about Greymouth. We had to research information about Greymouth and find pictures of shops around Greymouth. Some questions were when was the name of Mawhera changed to Greymouth. When did the first english people arrive in Greymouth. Put in three pictures of places that sell jewellery in Greymouth. Before this we were studying the census. The census is a quiz that happens every 5 years in New Zealand. It is made as a snapshot to record where New Zealand is at the moment with its population and their needs. Throughout the term we have studied subjects surrounding Ethnicity, Gender, Place of Birth and many other things. There are questions about your house and the things that your house has. Does your house have asbestos or is it clean? Do you have six people in your house or 3? Do you have 7 pets or do you have 0? A Lot of questions have to be answered and it takes about 20 minutes to answer all of them. This year the census was online. The previous years the census has been in letter form and if you couldn't complete it in letter form someone would come round to your house and help you answer the questions.
Thank you for reading.
Wednesday 11 April 2018
Tuesday 10 April 2018
NZL - Kumara Trip
Yesterday (Monday April 9th) all of year nine went to Kumara. Kumara is a small little town that you pass through on the way to Christchurch. It is situated approximately 24 km away from Greymouth. We went there to do a few activities that are about the history of Kumara. Kumara was originally a gold mining town that people from all over the world came to get gold from. Especially the Irish, about half to population of Ireland came over to New Zealand because they wanted to get some gold. Another thing is that at that time in Ireland there was a famine. All the potatoes were going black so that they could not be eaten.
Activities
We arrived at the Kumara hall at about 9:30 and got straight into the activities. There are four activities we had to complete throughout the day. The first one we had to do was a walk to Londonderry rock which is a few minutes outside of Kumara. We had to do a ten minute bushwalk to get there. Londonderry rock is a massive rock that fell down a cliffside in the 1800s. It was named Londonderry rock because one of the miners that was working on the cliffside came from Londonderry which is a place in Ireland.
The second activity we had to do was a dramatization in the old historic swimming baths just outside of Kumara. We had a look around and made groups to do a small play that was based off of a poem. We chose a poem called "Blackjack Joe" It was about a man called Mike Mccool who had to beat up this mean old guy that was terrorising and harming irish folk in the town. We did a pretty good interpretation of it and I'm pretty sure we one. Others did a poem about the grey river and a story about the Banshee. The Banshee is an Irish tale that is about a woman that would wail really loud to warn others that death was coming. After that activity we had lunch.
The third activity was behind the Hall on a small, damp, paddock. This activity consisted of three smaller activities we had to complete. The first activity we did was called river crossing. We split into three teams and had to make it from one set of cones to another set of cones which was about 20 metres away. We had 6 little rubber/plastic pads and a plank of wood. There were 8 people in our team and we came last. We still got a lolly though so it was okay.
The fourth and final activity was a history activity. A man dressed as Richard seddon came into the hall and talked to us for a while. Then we had to split into teams of about 3 or 4 and got handed a piece of paper with some questions on them. We then had to go to the place in Kumara where the info panels are and read them to answer the questions. that we had been given on the piece of paper. It was quite fun and we got to hold Mr Seddons gold piece that was on his waistcoat. Apparently gold is 17 times heavier than water! After that activity we went back to school and then we all went home.
I had a relatively good time and it wasn't as terrible and as i thought it was going to be.
Activities
We arrived at the Kumara hall at about 9:30 and got straight into the activities. There are four activities we had to complete throughout the day. The first one we had to do was a walk to Londonderry rock which is a few minutes outside of Kumara. We had to do a ten minute bushwalk to get there. Londonderry rock is a massive rock that fell down a cliffside in the 1800s. It was named Londonderry rock because one of the miners that was working on the cliffside came from Londonderry which is a place in Ireland.
The second activity we had to do was a dramatization in the old historic swimming baths just outside of Kumara. We had a look around and made groups to do a small play that was based off of a poem. We chose a poem called "Blackjack Joe" It was about a man called Mike Mccool who had to beat up this mean old guy that was terrorising and harming irish folk in the town. We did a pretty good interpretation of it and I'm pretty sure we one. Others did a poem about the grey river and a story about the Banshee. The Banshee is an Irish tale that is about a woman that would wail really loud to warn others that death was coming. After that activity we had lunch.
The third activity was behind the Hall on a small, damp, paddock. This activity consisted of three smaller activities we had to complete. The first activity we did was called river crossing. We split into three teams and had to make it from one set of cones to another set of cones which was about 20 metres away. We had 6 little rubber/plastic pads and a plank of wood. There were 8 people in our team and we came last. We still got a lolly though so it was okay.
The fourth and final activity was a history activity. A man dressed as Richard seddon came into the hall and talked to us for a while. Then we had to split into teams of about 3 or 4 and got handed a piece of paper with some questions on them. We then had to go to the place in Kumara where the info panels are and read them to answer the questions. that we had been given on the piece of paper. It was quite fun and we got to hold Mr Seddons gold piece that was on his waistcoat. Apparently gold is 17 times heavier than water! After that activity we went back to school and then we all went home.
I had a relatively good time and it wasn't as terrible and as i thought it was going to be.
Thursday 5 April 2018
English - My Hero
For English we have had to write a S.E.X.Y paragraph about someone we admire. I did mine, You should read about him below.
My hero is someone called Desmond Doss. He was a medic in WW2 and saved over 70 people on the battlefield. Desmond Doss was a conscientious objector, this meant that he would not touch a gun. Doss was a medic in WW2 and whenever he heard a call on the battlefield he would risk his own life to help others.
When he joined the Army, Desmond assumed that his classification as a conscientious objector would not require him to carry a weapon. He wanted to be an Army combat medic. As luck would have it, he was assigned to an infantry rifle company. His abnegation to carry a gun caused some amounts of trouble amongst his fellow soldiers. They viewed him with hatred and thought of him as a liability. One man said to him “Doss, as soon as we get into combat, I’ll make sure you don't come back alive”. His commanding officers wanted to get rid of him. The didn’t see the need for a soldier who doesn’t handle a gun. Doss was intimidated, scolded, got assigned extra tough duties and declared mentally unfit for the army. They even tried to court martial him for refusing a direct order, to carry a gun. Until one day on Hacksaw Ridge where Doss saved 75 people from death, there whole perspective on Doss changed.
Doss did this all without killing anybody or touching a gun. Before being discharged from the army in 1946 Doss developed Tuberculosis. He would spend most of his time in the hospital. As the illness progressed his left lung had to be removed as well as five ribs. For the rest of his life he survived on one lung, until that too failed. At the age of 87 he passed away. He is buried in the National Cemetery, Chattanooga, Tennessee.
I find Desmond a hero because he risked his life to save multiple other people when he was under fire. He is also a hero because he stood by his principles and did not do anything to condone violence. His beliefs in god made up for any physical attributes that the other soldiers had over him. He believe that god would not let him die so he did what was necessary to save as many people as possible. He believed that saving another person's life was more important that saving his own. He risked everything to save those 75 men from their deaths, he saved a man when he was 25 ft away from enemy lines. He thought that violence was not an ok thing to do. So he didn’t partake in it. He was a very very religious man and he followed the ten commandments to the T.
When he joined the Army, Desmond assumed that his classification as a conscientious objector would not require him to carry a weapon. He wanted to be an Army combat medic. As luck would have it, he was assigned to an infantry rifle company. His abnegation to carry a gun caused some amounts of trouble amongst his fellow soldiers. They viewed him with hatred and thought of him as a liability. One man said to him “Doss, as soon as we get into combat, I’ll make sure you don't come back alive”. His commanding officers wanted to get rid of him. The didn’t see the need for a soldier who doesn’t handle a gun. Doss was intimidated, scolded, got assigned extra tough duties and declared mentally unfit for the army. They even tried to court martial him for refusing a direct order, to carry a gun. Until one day on Hacksaw Ridge where Doss saved 75 people from death, there whole perspective on Doss changed.
Doss did this all without killing anybody or touching a gun. Before being discharged from the army in 1946 Doss developed Tuberculosis. He would spend most of his time in the hospital. As the illness progressed his left lung had to be removed as well as five ribs. For the rest of his life he survived on one lung, until that too failed. At the age of 87 he passed away. He is buried in the National Cemetery, Chattanooga, Tennessee.
I find Desmond a hero because he risked his life to save multiple other people when he was under fire. He is also a hero because he stood by his principles and did not do anything to condone violence. His beliefs in god made up for any physical attributes that the other soldiers had over him. He believe that god would not let him die so he did what was necessary to save as many people as possible. He believed that saving another person's life was more important that saving his own. He risked everything to save those 75 men from their deaths, he saved a man when he was 25 ft away from enemy lines. He thought that violence was not an ok thing to do. So he didn’t partake in it. He was a very very religious man and he followed the ten commandments to the T.
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