2021 Jump-start - LVL 1 Physical Education - Renegade Hockey Reflection

Every year right at the end (the last two weeks of academic schooling), when the seniors go for exam leave, our year 9's and 10's will jump up a year (therefore Jump-start). So we have gotten our timetable for next year, so we can get a bit of a taste of what it will be like next year. And for the past couple of weeks we have started in our next years classes.

For my LVL 1 Physical Education class we have been playing and learning about Renegade Hockey, and here is one of my reflections .

For this morning's lesson I think that I gave a 5/5 for effort and participation, because I feel that I gave it my all and tried my best. For most of the lesson’s game time this morning,  I was one of the keepers (there were two keepers just letting you know) and having it being the first time that we’ve played with two goals, what’s even more confusing was having two balls. So being the keeper of one of the goals you had to keep track of where both of the two balls were at all times. Which honestly doesn’t sound that hard, but it's a lot more difficult when you're actually playing. 

Right at the end of the lesson, I swapped out for one of my teammates, so I could have a go on offence and just as we were about to pack up I dribbled the ball up the court and had a shot at one of the two goals, and to my surprise it actually went into the goal. I'm still quite amazed at that.

A factor that I think influenced my participation, I think probably the biggest factor was that I have never really played Renegade Hockey before, and me being me, I really like trying new things, especially if those new things are new sports. When I play some sports, I like to semi-perfect them. So if anyone was to ever ask, “have you ever heard of, or played Renegade Hockey.” I can say to them, that. Yes, I have played Renegade Hockey, and I'm quite good at the game. 

It’s those kinds of things that really motivate me, knowing that I have accomplished certain skills (even if they are quite basic skills, like knowing how to dribble the ball and how to control it etc.), it makes me feel more, knowledgeable. 

What do I do to contribute to my team? I realise that sometimes a team can take a while to learn how to properly play together as a whole. So what I try to do is, I try to give little pointers, (whether they are in my team or not), like if I was to see that someone was holding their hands on the Hockey Stick to high, I’d point it out so they know to put their hands a bit lower on the Hockey Stick, and just small things like that. 

Another thing is when we have team talks I also try to suggest that people should communicate and spread out and pass a bit more. If they ever listen to me, I have no clue. But I mean at least I try, right? 

Something I really enjoyed about this lesson was the fact that we pretty much got straight into a game. First we had a little talk about homework and then we did a drill or two. Then after we had finished the drill we got straight into the game.

Another thing that I have enjoyed over the past lessons that we have had with Whaea Ruth, is the way that she teaches. She would get us into pairs with one of our classmates, and one by one we would go up and she would teach us a drill, one drill at a time. Then the pair that was just taught the drill by Whaea Ruth, would go back to their peer and teach them what they just learnt. 

I reckon that this is an absolutely amazing way to be teaching us, because we have to know how to explain it to our pair, so therefore we have to pay heaps of attention to all the details and watch how she does it.

Prince Rupert's Drop

 How is a Prince Rupert's Drop Made?

A Prince Rupert's Drop is made when you get molten glass and drip a bit of that molten glass into cold water, where it hardens to form the tadpole-like shape.

The Prince Rupert's Drop is very strong and tough in a way, but is also very very delicate at the same time. 

What do I mean by its tough and delicate at the same time?

Well the reason why it is both tough and delicate is the way that its formed. When the molten glass drips into the cold water, the outside of the droplet suddenly goes hard. As the inside of the droplet starts to cool down it tries to pull in against the outside layer, but the outside layer has already gone hard and is set in that place. And because it can't pull in the outside layer it just puts more strain on itself.  Because there is so much strain on the inside of the droplet that strain actually makes it harder and stronger.

You could try all you wanted to break the head of the droplet, but it wont break. you could hit it with a hammer, you could even try to break it from shooting it with a gun. But you will find that you won't be able to make it do so. 

The way that these droplets actually break is if anything were to happen to the tail of the droplet, if you were to cut or snap the tail, it would send a reaction like a chemical explosion, except the difference is its not releasing chemical potential energy, it releases something called mechanical strain energy.

(Let's say that you cut the tail) From the point of the tail that you cut on the droplet it sends a reaction down the rest of the droplet, and the Prince Rupert’s Droplet explodes at a speed that isn’t visible for the human naked eye.

On average the Prince Rupert’s Drop will explode at a speed of about 1,900 meters per second (up to 480 km/h).

And that is how a Prince Rupert's Drop is formed and how to make it explode.

If you were to test this here is a few safety requirements:

 Safety Glasses

Covered In Shoes 

Safety Gloves 

Some Sort Of Long Sleeve

Thanks for reading,

Ethan.

Leadership and Government

Hi, this term in Social Studies we have been learning about Leadership And Government. In this process we have learned about Local Government, Democracy, and just government in general. 

Government

Government is something that was created so there would be several people that can control the country instead of one person making all of the big decisions, for example, the United States Of America. Instead of having a prime minister, like we do, the United States has a president, which he or she has full control over the US. 

Our government gets to make the laws, so if they were thinking about bringing in a new law they need majority votes in the party for it to be brought in.

Local Government

Local Government is a small kind of government that helps and improves little towns or cities. So instead of running the whole country the Local Government takes control over smaller communities. How it works is, every two years us as individuals get to vote for someone that we think would be good in the position of mayor. Then for the next two years that lucky person gets to lead everyone in local government and he/she gets to make decisions that benefit you, me, and our land. 

 

SNA

 

Recently in class we have been learning about the possible effects that SNA would impact on our land. 

SNA FNDC (Significant Natural Area  Far North District Council) is planning to take 40% of northland. Although there are pros and cons of this situation. Most, if not all people that are affected by SNA are not liking this. If you have property in the SNA zone that means that there are certain restrictions that apply to you and your land. 

If you wanted to either sell, subdivide or clear vegetation on your land you would have to get consent from the government. 

There are pros and cons about the SNA. The pros are that if they were to go ahead with the SNA vegetation thing, that means that all of the native animals and plants would be partially protected, by partially I mean that, sure, they can stop you from cutting down the vegetation, but they can’t stop all of the possums, and all of the pests from from killing all of the native vegetation and native animals. The cons for us are, we won’t be able to cut down vegetation to improve our property value without consent from the government. If we were to subdivide or sell we would have to build a big fence that we would have to pay for supplies and put the fence up ourselves. And it would definitely not benefit us. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to waste my time putting up a fence that doesn’t benefit me or my property. 

So over all of this, all i’m saying is that, the government think that this will benefit us and the land. But there are many ways that they could do it. This is just the wrong way.

Comparing Two Cultures

In Social Studies we have been working on comparing two cultures we had to do a European country and NZ, I did Greece and New Zealand.

About Me

Hi, my name is Ethan. I am a year 9 (2020), I go to Bay Of Islands College. I used to go to Karetu school, I was there since I was little.

I live on a farm out karetu and we have a couple of dogs, a pig, cows, sheep, and chickens. I also have a sister (one sister). 

Most people in my family have dirt bikes, (I do as well). I have a 140cc Kawasaki and when we go to my grandparents place we all go for a ride. We also do a lot of sea biscuiting, because at my grandparents place there is a beach. As well as going swimming A LOT! They also have HEAPS of land so we go hunting there as well. 

This year I am hoping to learn more and get better at all my subjects. Also for the future I am hoping that I go to the army

Descriptive Writing

lately in English my class has been doing show don't tell. witch basically means explain what your talking about instead of saying what it is straight up. We had a task of describing one of our friends or a make up friend.

 His hair is like a mop, creamy coloured and floppy. He has a lot of things that elephants have actually, like big ears, VERY smart and loads more. He is 14 but he is very bulky, it makes him look like he is 17 years of age. He always tries to act cool around his mates. But he is very calm and kind around basically anyone or anything, like his classmates, teachers, and just random people. He has a KTM 450 but he can't really ride very well, one time we were riding on our dirt bikes, we were in an open paddock and there was one tree just in the middle of the paddock. Somehow he hit the tree. I have a Kawasaki 140 and I can still beat him in a race. The things that he likes are his family, his pets are like the things he cares most about, just any animals and his dirt bike, we always go riding with him around our farms on the bikes.