Podcast #17

Breaking Down

Breaking Down By Sara

WALT: Write a satisfying ending to a narrative

It was winter.

The thunder rumbling overhead seemed to taunt the young girl as she watched in horror while half of her home drifted away across the merciless, half-frozen sea.

She had awoken minutes earlier, disturbed from her sleep by the most appalling noise. It sounded as if a tree were being torn apart by giants, as if the Gods above were screaming at each other in a wild rage. She thought it was the end of the world. Perhaps it was. For her anyway.

In only her pyjamas, she stood on the edge of her ruined home, her toes dangling over the edge of the splintered floor, shivering in the harsh wind as it seemed to touch her skin like the kiss of some icy demon. She screamed at the top of her voice in despair and frustration, almost pleading with her frost-drenched surroundings to bring them back to her. She could see them. They were waving and shouting to her in return.

In front of her she could see the giant, drifting shards of ice, their edges sharp like Samurai swords. They knocked into each other as they were swept by the tide, reminding her of some cruel jigsaw that couldn’t be solved. She knew she could not reach them.

Her grief-stricken heart felt like a shattered window, she stared longingly at her family which the heartless sea had stolen. The thought pierced her heart like a shard of ice, she felt like her soul was shredded, all her happiness was gone, drifting far away with her family. The jigsaw of her life would always have a missing piece.

She looked at the jagged pieces of ice, wishing they would form a bridge and she sobbed, her tears crystallised, each one dropping on the frozen ground with a sad little “clink”. She felt numb and her hands were blue but it mattered very little to her, the family that she had was now gone she hated the future for it contained so much sorrow and questions. She felt like there was not a ray of hope left in her, all the optimism she ever had was now replaced by shadows of her past.

Thoughts of the past swirled in her mind like a tornado, the bittersweet memory of her mother's blissful smile and her brother’s playful grin when he played with her father made tears roll gently down her frost coated cheeks, she let one drop on her tongue, it tasted bitter like the her memories and her despair. The useless feeling in her made everything worse a mist of the future darkened her mind and filled her with regret. If only she had someone to comfort her, but she was alone and they would not come back.

The girl trudged in the knee deep snow with a sack slung over her shoulder.  The raw wind gnawed and whipped at her frozen cheeks, the joy in her life had left and the memories haunted her. The wind howled and snowflakes around her fell gently like a comforting hand on her shoulder. She knew there would be no help for her but she wanted to flee as far away from the house with the memories of her past. The journey was treacherous and she ran blindly in the blizzard, snow and wind beat down at her, the heavens had split open and all the terror was unleashed.

A cave loomed over her and the shadows flickered and danced, she rolled up in a ball and sobbed all her sorrow out, there was no hope in finding them and life would be empty. Days, weeks, months, YEARS past but the girl who was no longer a girl remained in the cave with no hope of reuniting with her family. Winter became the only season in her heart, the pain deepened until she could bare it no more.

Athletics Day 2016

On Tuesday we had our Annual Athletics Day. Congratulations to all Room 3 athletes who competed.

Atmosphere Description

As part of our class wide inquiry we began by collaborating on a description of the Atmosphere.

WALT - Describe the Atmosphere

The layer of gases that surround the earth that protects life is called the atmosphere. The atmosphere makes up one of the Earth’s natural systems alongside the biosphere, hydrosphere and the geosphere.

Layers of Atmosphere - Avengers

The different layers of the atmosphere are very important to Earth as they protect the earth from the harmful effects of the sun. The different layers of the atmosphere are the Troposphere, Stratosphere, Mesosphere, Thermosphere, and Exosphere.

Gases - Justice League

The atmosphere is mainly composed of hydrogen, 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen and 0.04% carbon dioxide. Gases such as oxygen and carbon dioxide are essential for the survival of plants and animals on earth.

Clouds - Guardians

Clouds are important to Earth because they bring it water in the form of precipitation. Clouds are formed of water vapour. There are different forms of clouds such as stratus, cumulus, nimbus, cumulonimbus and cirrus. Each cloud brings with it a different form of weather.

Precipitation - X-Men

Precipitation is the different forms of water that falls to earth. Water vapour that falls takes the form of rain, snow, sleet, or hail. Precipitation can help earth by cooling earth down and giving plants, animals and humans fresh water to survive.

The atmosphere is essential to all spheres. For instance the hydrosphere needs the precipitation from the atmosphere to provide the fresh water on earth. Furthermore the biosphere would collapse because all living things need to be able to breath, have food and the correct temperature to survive.

Cause and Effect Melting Glaciers

After reading 'Creeping Along' by David Hill the Avengers described the causes and effects of melting glaciers.

Glaciers form an important part of the hydrosphere. They provide habitat for animals, regulate the temperature on earth and helps maintain sea levels. However in recent times glaciers in the polar regions have been melting due to global warming.

Joshua L and Ethan

One cause of melting glaciers is carbon dioxide heating up the atmosphere, making a hole allowing the sun’s rays to pass through and melt the ice. The sun’s heat melts the glaciers allowing the water to drip into the sea, raising the sea levels. The increased carbon dioxide comes from the burning of fossil fuels for transportation like cars and trains. The effect of melting glaciers is that sea levels rise and swamp coastal cities. A city that has been flooded by rising seas is Venice, Italy (2008)

Ella

Melting glaciers is also caused by the burning of fossil fuels such as coal for electricity. increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere leaves holes in the Ozone layer, which is needed to prevent harmful UV rays melting the ice caps. The effect of melting glaciers is the destruction of animals habitats that live in the polar regions, such as the endangered Polar bear.

Sam and Kirsty

A further cause of melting glaciers is methane emissions from animals e.g. cows. When cows let gas go during digestion the methane travels into the atmosphere to the ozone layer eventually leaving holes. The holes allow harmful UV rays from the sun to pass through to Earth. This causes global warming, which melts polar ice caps and melts glaciers. The effects of the melting glaciers are lack of fresh water with glaciers melting at a faster rate than what the rivers can normally hold, the fresh drinking water overflows into the sea and is wasted because it then turns into salt water.

To prevent further melting of glaciers in the polar regions we need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Firstly we could change our habits, for example eating less meat by having a plant based diet would mean that less animals would need to be farmed causing fewer methane emissions.  A further change we could make is how we use transportation. We could use electric vehicles, carpool or use public transport to lessen how much we rely on fossil fuels. Lastly we could be using renewable energy such as solar, hydro and wind power to power our homes and businesses. Overall it is everyone's responsibility to do what they can to prevent the devastating impact melting glaciers would have on earth.

Mount Taranaki Vs Mount Eyafjallajokull

After reading 'Living on a Volcano' by Bronwen Wall the X-Men compared two volcanoes Mount Taranaki and the impossible to pronounce Mount Eyafjallajokul.

Volcanoes form an important part of the geosphere. There are many different types of volcano in the world such as lava dome, strato cone, shield, calderas and fields. In our home of Auckland there is an incredible 49 volcanoes. Another famous volcano in New Zealand’s North Island is Mount Taranaki which erupted 250 years ago. A more recent volcanic eruption happened in 2010 in Iceland when Mount Eyjafjallajokull erupted. These two volcanoes share some similarities and differences.

State - Dev and Hemish

Both Mount Taranaki and Mount Eyafjallajokull are considered not to be extinct. New Zealand’s Mount Taranaki is a dormant volcano. Dormant volcanoes appear to be asleep most of the time. Whereas Mount Eyafjalljokull is thought to be active. Active means that the volcano has erupted in the last few years or very recently like a few months or weeks. Active volcanoes are considered very dangerous because it is very hard to predict when they will erupt again.

Tourist - Shreyas

Mount Taranaki and Mount Eyafjallajokull are tourist destinations. Tourists come to Mount Taranaki to see the volcano, ski, climb and see the amazing scenery.  Tourists even watch the dairy farming in Mount Taranaki.  Where as in in Mount Eyafjallajokull they don’t have many options.  They look at the mountain and also learn how to pronounce it’s name.  Tourists do not climb up the mountain because it is still active!

Impacted Land - Charlotte

Both volcanoes have had an impact on the land and surrounding areas when they erupted. When Mount Taranaki erupted it left behind a cloud of black smoke, over time the ash that was created by Mount Taranaki released minerals and nutrients into the soil which helped plants to grow. When Mount Eyafjallajokull erupted, it created a huge dark smoke cloud which caused planes to stop flying and flooded the surrounding area.

Overall we feel fortunate to live in New Zealand with Mount Taranaki compared to living in Iceland with Mount Eyafjallajokull. This is because Mount Taranaki is dormant and has a smaller chance of erupting any time soon. When volcanoes erupt smoke rises, ash clouds form, lava flows and even flooding can happen. These can cause devastation to crops, homes, travel and even cause a loss of life.

Diwali Celebrations

To celebrate Diwali we wore traditional clothing, created henna designs and made Diwali lanterns.