I am a student at in Uru Mānuka. In 2020 I was a year 9 and in 2021 I will be a year 10. This is a place where I will be able to share my learning with you. Please note....some work won't be edited - just my first drafts, so there may be some surface errors. I would love your feedback, comments, thoughts and ideas.
Friday, August 6, 2021
Tuesday, August 3, 2021
Hitler's opinion on the Jewish
Quotes, from his book, Mein Kampf (My Fight/Struggle):
"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, and thus lowering its cultural and political level so that the Jew might dominate."
This single quote, and the events in history that followed, Hitler believed that the Jewish brought problems into Germany, and that they brought in what he considered undesirables (blacks, and other Jews), thinking that they did this so that they'd bring Germany down and become the dominating race.
"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 own people."
He thought that the Jewish were also planning on completely wiping out the German race by breeding with other Germans. Hitler became terrified of the thought that the Jewish were doing all of these on purpose, to wipe out the Germans by procreation, and remove all traces of pure German DNA.
Hitler then went on to become Chancellor of, and later, the Fuhrer of the now-infamous Nazi Germany. Many Jews were prosecuted and killed because of his racist and anti-Semitic beliefs and laws, causing the Holocaust.
Monday, August 2, 2021
DNA Extraction
Aim: To extract DNA from Kiwi fruit.
Equipment: water, beakers, sand, spatula, ethanol, Kiwi fruit, sandwich bag, bunsen burner, mat, tripod, test tube, glass rod, dishwash liquid, cloth
Method:
1. Squish Kiwi fruit with sand and water and pour through cloth to collect juice in beaker.
2. Place beaker on bunsen burner kit to warm water, pour juice into test tube with 2 drops of dishwash, rest in warm water.
3. Add ethanol, watch the DNA separate and collect with spatula.
Pictures (not actually tho):
Wednesday, July 28, 2021
Germany's struggle in the Great Depression
The Great Depression
1. Why was Germany hit the hardest during the depression?
Germany was solely to blame as the aggressor who had instigated World War One, and thus the Treaty of Versailles was tuned to the Allies' favour in punishing the Germans. They had to pay billions of dollars in reparations (for both wars, which was fully repaid in 2010, mind you), and their military reduced to a hundred thousand soldiers and less than 10 ships, while also completely removing all their military aircraft and artillery. Hyperinflation then came into the picture with the Great Depression, causing the country to print out amounts of money which became more worthless than a single piece of bread (i.e. a piece of bread could be worth almost a trillion deutschmarks (German money)).
2. Explain what Germany had to agree to by signing the Treaty of Versailles?
Germany was blamed as the sole aggressor of WWI, despite Austria-Hungary having been the one to spark the conflict in the first place. They had to surrender all of their aircraft and artillery and their navy was reduced to 6 ships. Their military was reduced from a 6 million to 100 thousand soldiers, were not allowed to produce any artillery, aircraft, navy or weapons and they had to pay over billions of dollars for reparations. Even their commercial trading was crippled, their merchant fleet reduced to a tenths.
3. How was NZ affected by the depression?
New Zealand was affected as hard as every other country did. Their exports fell by 45 percent in two years, national income crashed by 40 percent by three years. As summarised as it can be, New Zealand suffered as much of a bad time as every country.
Sources:
https://www.britannica.com/place/Germany/The-Treaty-of-Versailles
https://www.history.com/news/treaty-of-versailles-world-war-ii-german-guilt-effects
https://teara.govt.nz/en/1966/history-economic/page-7
Tuesday, July 6, 2021
Land Yacht experiment
In Science this week, we finally put our "yachts" to the test.
Our goal was to see how far they could go, using a massive leaf blower.
Equipment:
- Land yacht
- aforementioned leaf blower
Equation: We took the distance our yacht covered and the time it took to do so, and divided them with each other.
Result: Our yacht was going 0.65625 m/s or 0.7 m/s to make 4.2 m.
Conclusion: It was going that fast because of the aerodynamics, its area, and how it was propelled. The mass itself wasn't very much, its area was also very small, but the aerodynamics weren't very good. There was a lot of air resistance, and there was no helping attachments to assist with reducing the air resistance.
Friday, July 2, 2021
Critical Literacy for my week
My Horror Story
It’s gotten a bit late for me to be up. But, 7 PM isn’t exactly late in any way. I was tidying out my clothes drawers, I couldn’t stand to even look at how messy it was. Out of my room and past the hallway, I could hear the other family talk, as they ate dinner and as their kid watched videos on their phone, even when their parents said no.
It was still a cold night, just like every other night. I absolutely hated how the cold couldn’t be kicked off. My room was cold, but at least I have a room, because the outside is much more unforgiving.
But, in an abrupt moment, the lights suddenly blacked out, and it got a little colder. I am a smart one, I knew what to do in times like this. I just sat down on my desk, and waited until the power would be back on. The voices outside from a while ago had stopped. I wonder what happened?
I wanted to watch some videos on my phone, so I grabbed it. But… it won’t turn on. I pressed the ‘on’ button a lot of times, but it wouldn’t open. Weird, I had this charged just a few minutes ago. I opened my chromebook to do the same, but nothing. This still had a charge a while back. It probably must’ve just been a fast drain.
It got too dark for tolerance, so I flung the curtains open, but the houses and fence adjacent to where I was were gone. It was just a blank, empty void, staring back at me when I’d hoped to find something more physical. I panicked a bit. What’s going on?!
I planned on leaving, but leaving my safe space without a flashlight would be dumb. I would just run into things and stub a toe, if I wasn’t careful.
I entered the hallway just outside my room. There wasn’t much to behold, except for the two doors on the left and right, leading to the bathroom and toilet, and the other rooms, respectively. I began to walk through the carpeted floors of the hallway on bare feet, because I never usually bother with slippers on a floor as comfy as this. It started out normal at first, I’d just needed to find my way to the living room. But, I still couldn’t hear their voices. If this was an elaborate prank, this is too elaborate for me to be comfortable with. No one but my parents would be willing to waste their time on me.
My right foot collided with a flashlight. I fell to my knees, and patted my hands around the tight floor to find it. Eventually, I got the flashlight. I got up and shined the light. It was too dim to see anything, but bright enough to light my path. The door was right in front of me, shut tightly.
I opened the door with my usually kooky mannerism, but instead of the room I was expecting, it was the same hallway I’d just walked through. I entered through the door, and it shut behind me without reason. I shined the light at the door in shock. This was a bad thing. I ran towards the other door, and it just sent me back to the same corridor. My heart began to beat faster, and louder. It got so quiet that I started to hear my own breathing.
I went through the door, and the other doors from earlier had disappeared, leaving nothing but a blank wall of white. This was getting crazy. I went through another door, but this time, it was a tight squeeze. The hallway was crushed into a point where I could only partially squeeze through. If I wanted to go any further, I would have to force myself through.
I sucked my gut in, and started to fit through. It was ultimately hard to breathe, and the flashlight did at least provide good light. After a vicious tight-fit, I pushed through. I put my hands on my knees to support my extremely tired upper half.
For a moment, I stopped breathing. But I heard breathing. And then a footstep. I panicked and turned around and shone my torch into the darkness behind me. There was nothing there, but an empty corridor. It was completely empty, pushing aside the fact that I just pushed through a tight squeeze.
So… I did the most sensible thing I could. I turned around and ran to the door… and the hallway got longer. The footsteps got a little louder and faster. That thing was after me. I ran to the door again, and it got farther, again.
The door got as far away as it could from me, and then stopped. I ran. The thing behind me ran after me. I ran as fast as my stamina could get me. But as I ran, it always kept up. I could hear its footsteps, I could hear it breathe. I heard it say my name. I cursed, and I cursed.
But I didn’t listen. Sweat trailed down my face, my feet and legs ached. Trying to catch my breath isn’t an option. I kept running, and it kept a steady pace behind me. I was almost to the door. My eyes shot wide open as the door was within my reach. Suddenly, as I kept running, I could feel a warm gust of air rubbing the back of my head.
I got to the door. I grabbed the doorknob and flung it open. When I got through the door, I slammed it shut. That thing banged against the wooden door, unable to get it open. I leaned into the door, and put all of my weight into keeping it shut. But after a while…
It left. I dropped to the floor in a puddle of sweat. I gave myself some time to calm down, before anything else could jump me. When I got my composure back, I stood up, and went through this hallway. As I walked through the place, I felt it suddenly get colder. I clamped my arms around my body, hoping to stay warm.
I started to hear various voices. These were voices that I didn’t recognize. At first, I couldn’t make out what they were saying, but the farther I went into the hallway, the clearer and more painful the voices got. My head started to split with how constant the noise was. I asked them as loud as I could, stressed and scared. And then, every voice collectively said, into the most horrifyingly tranquil manner, “Run.”
A loud shriek sounded behind me, and I dashed over to the next door. It wasn’t as far, but it felt like forever with the adrenaline rushing through my body. These weren’t even footsteps anymore, they were loud booming steps. It sounded like it came from something big, and I didn’t want to stick around to see where it came from. I ran even faster than last time, running even when it felt like my legs were about to break.
I came close to the door, and I grinned. But, just as I got close, I tripped and hit my head on the door. The panic and the adrenaline rush dulled the pain. Good thing too, it was getting close. I stood up fast, and shut the door behind me.
This time, it wasn’t a hallway, but a dark room, a void. There was nothing anywhere around me, but a glowing door frame just a bit away from me. I walked through the door, shielding my eyes from the severe brightness.
Beyond the door, was a glass wall, showing… me. I was back in my room, calmly organizing the same cabinet I was just organizing all the way before. I was confused. I pushed on the glass wall, grunting and hoping that I’d get through. I even kicked it. Not a single crack…
I just watched as Mom came into my room, and said goodnight to me. As she left and closed the door, I turned around and looked at myself, like I knew where I was. Then, it was there when I realised…
That wasn’t me anymore.

