Diana Isaac Visit

On the 23rd of March me and 4 other students went on a trip to Diana Isaac. When we arrived we talked to the residents about their history and learnt what it was like in their time. I talked to two people and one of them said that at school they had drills, their drills were a lot different to the drills we have now. Their drills were for the bombs, so they had to run home from school when the sirens went off. When they ran home they would hope that they wouldn't get bombed by the Japanese. The people that lived far away had to run to their friends house or they would stay at school. Back in the day they would live fairly close to the house so they would walk to school. When they told me this I was quite surprised that they could've been bombed on the way home because it isn't very safe. After we shared our stories we went onto blogs, I told them how to set it up and I showed them a few of the blogs that I had already done and they were really impressed. I loved hanging out with the residents at Diana Isaac. I really enjoyed their company and would like to do something like this again with them. For example, the resident's coming over to my school so we can have more fun again.

Have you done something fun with your grandparents or some elderly people that you know?

Ferrymead trip

On Friday the 16th of March, the Kaupeka hub travelled to the bridal path. When we arrived at the bottom of the bridal path, we started walking,  honestly it was very challenging, so with determination we got to the top.When we got up to the top of the bridal path we looked around and found two ways that we could go to the top. So we asked a lovely lady to show us the directions to the gondola, so looked behind a building at the top and found a small path that took us to the gondola. On the way up the path we rang the other parents and teachers that were following us that they should look behind the building to find the path. Of course they had already gone down the road, so they had to jump the fence to go onto the track. It was really funny to watch the other groups go the other way. 

Q1: The differences I found out when we went to Ferrymead to now was that they are very polite and when there rules were set, they had to actually be done. It was very interesting when I found that they didn't have any fridges surprised me because I had no idea where they would put there cold food items because they would go off. After the lady had told us that they put there cold food in a safe in the coldest place in the house, it made more sense. It is now a lot different to back then, there are so many more differences and some of them hasn't actually helped us. 
Q2: When we went over to Ferrymead, from what we learnt, I think it would've been pretty difficult to live because there wasn't any appliances like a fridge. So you would've had to eat your milk quickly but not too quickly because then you would have to buy more. Of course you don't have the money for that. I don't think many people had washing machines so they would have to clean there washing by hand. Then they would need to hang it out on the clothes line to dry. From my experience at Ferrymead, life was pretty difficult back then because you had heaps of jobs to do. 

Q3: When we climbed up to bridal path, I think that it would've been very tricky because they were holding all there belongings. I heard that they brought a piano so they had to lift it over the bridal path too. For when I walked up the bridal path, I found it tiring and it was hard just to carry my school bag. Since the early settlers had all there belongings and they were wearing long dresses to top that off. I would have hated walking up and down that then. 

Q4: Anna: In the 1860's era, the school was pretty strict and we had to use ink pens. There were a big variety of wooden toys like stilts, wooden horses, bubbles, long rope, and a whole lot more. The toys were mostly made out of wood. In the bakery, we made biscuits that were burnt but other than that, it was pretty nice.

Q5: I really enjoyed this trip because we learnt heaps and I got to spend some time with other people in my hub, it was really different talking to other people. When we went over to Ferrymead, we tried on our dresses and they were really tight around the neck and I had to wear that for the rest of the day. Learning about what it was like back then actually reminded me that we take so much things for granted now and I don't think we really should be. 

Q6: This trip has changed my understanding for what school was like back then because they were not allowed to speak until you were told to speak. It was girls before boys because it was polite. It was really funny when the girls went first because the boys would complain because they are just not polite. I found out that NZ are slacking on politeness. 

Have you ever been on a trip with class that involves exercise?

Think, Make, Solve

Through the term the teachers have been challenging the students to work out different challenges within a group. This week our challenge was to build a structure that would hold a maths book, the equipment that we were able to use were toothpicks and a set amount of blue tack. Me and my group created a plan and searched up some ideas that would hold the book. At first it was pretty tricky but as we went on it got easier. After a while we realised that we needed a few more toothpicks, by the time we had finished the base of our structure, we realised that we didn't have much blue tack left. We thought for a bit, until we started sticking the toothpicks to the blue tack that was already put down. We were done, honestly it didn't look very pretty but they weren't judging it on the look. It was on the strength. So we got a few books and started piling them on top of the structure, it was holding!. It was actually holding! Then we added more and more, it was really surprising to see what this little thing could do. We were up to our 15th one until it started falling. So we just pushed the books down and squished it. This was an interesting experience for me and my group. I had no idea that we could work this well.

Have you ever done something as crazy as this?