Antarctica - 'Dogs of the Vaness'

 We have been studying Antarctica. We listened to a story about Nanook, a husky who was sent to Antarctica on an expedition in 1901. We then wrote the next chapter of the story from Nanook’s ‘Point of View’.

Nanook has been told that in two days, he and his team will leave Lyttelton on the boat ‘Discovery’ to travel to antarctica.

If I were Nanook I would feel happy and a bit sad at the same time. The sad part is that I have to leave the home I grew up in, and the happy part is that I get to experience new things in somewhere new.

I would be proud of myself that I get to go to Antarctica, all of my hard work will finally be paid off. And I would also be so happy because I get to be with my seven friends, Hector, Hercules, Granny, Nell, and Fluff...

What I learned about GST

Today, I learned what GST is and how to calculate GST.  Good Service and Tax aka GST for short, GST is when you buy an item and give a little bit of money to the government, GST is different depends on what country you buy an item. In New Zealand, GST is 15%, so whenever you go to a shop and buy an item, and funded by the government, you give 15% of the price to the government. For example, a bottle of water can cost like 4 dollar, 15% of that are given to the government, to find out how much the GST is, you 15% divided by 100 is 0.15 next you times 0.15 to the price of the item, 0.15 times 4 is is 0.60 cent, 60 cent is the 15% price of the original price.

Tomorrow When The War Began

How do you think this story will be written?
Probably most are written in a violent way.
Why do you think the story is entitled as it is?
To tell what happened before the war began...
Where do you think the story will take place?
Danger zone where war is happening..
What time period do you think the story is set in?  Like in the morning?

Chapter 1
What is first person narration?  The one telling the story.
What kind of story do you think Ellie is going to tell? What happened before the war began, that’s what I think.
What skills do these characters have that convince their parents that they can ‘go bush’ independently. Find 3 examples e.g Ellie tells Robyns parents they have ‘independence and initiative’ p.11  
Chapter 3
What kind of person is Kevin in chapter 3? He is the kind of guy who would break branches off trees instead of walking a few extra metres to pick up dead wood.
Ellie says Fi is like an exoticbutterfly-P.33 Do you agree with Ellie, why/why not? Yes, because Fi never had a two-minute noodle which makes her a foreign girl… I dunno..
Chapter 4
Ellie claims that ‘Hell’ is only a label and that people label things all the time, often ignoring or overlooking certain labelled places or things-pg 43. She then comes to the conclusion that ‘Hell was people’ pg43. Is she right? What’s your opinion, on labelling and Hell? I believe that whoever put the signs is the ones who are the ‘hell’ people...
What was especially peculiar about the planes that flew over Hell? ‘Their noise, their speed, their darkness frightened me.’ Pg 38 Why do you think these frightened Ellie? It scared Ellie because she’s talking about the planes that are going to war…

Chapter 5: 
What does Corrie want to do when she grows up? Pg 46 Work in the country that needed nurses most.
Chapter 6: 
What is the first sign that something is wrong at Ellie’s house? Pg. 55 Ellie’s dogs weren’t jumping around and barking as they used to then Ellie found out that they were dead, only one dog’s alive.
Do you think the way the teenagers reacted to the realisation that Australia may have been invaded or at war was realistic? Why/why not. Yes, because they all were scared, cried, and frightened...
Which people in the group are starting to  stand out as leaders? Why? I think Ellie, because when they realise that Australia may have been invaded, Ellie explained that it might be true… 
Why does the idea of a female soldier surprise Ellie? Pg 83 Because most soldiers are men and not women.
Ellie and Kevin’s quick-thinking allowed them to turn a ride-on lawnmower into a bomb. Was this the right thing to do, why? Yes, it doesn't matter because they're now in war with soldiers...
Homer says, “This is war now, normal rules don’t apply.. They’re the ones who tore up the rule book, not us” Pg 97 Do you think Homer is right? Yes.
What pieces of evidence from the book inform the reader that this invasion wasn’t entirely peaceful? Find at least 3 examples from pages 97-99. When Fi said ‘But blood, a lot of blood, a lot of dark stains’. A big sign in Tozers’ window, saying “Shoplifters will be prosecuted. And a ‘truck just down the road that had crashed into a tree.


Why, in Ellie’s opinion, is Cobbler’s Bay and Wirrawee so important to the invaders? Cobbler's Bay and Wirrawee is important to the invaders because it's their plan to capture or control it making it their base and move on to another one.
Corrie and Ellie reminisce about how innocent they were in high school and even a few days ago. Why were they still innocent then? Why are they no longer innocent? The days when they were still innocent were the normal days, suddenly when the war began, they weren't innocent anymore because of what's happening to them.
By blowing up Corrie’s house, what does the invading force demonstrate to the teenagers? They show no mercy...
Describe the strategy Home and Ellie use to ensure their safety when riding their bikes into town. What does this show about how they are starting to think? They show that they are cautious of what's happening around them....
How does Ellie feel as she is waiting in the truck at the Council Depot? Where do her emotions come from? Ellie was shivering, it probably came from the soldiers that were trying to chase them.
Why is it so terrible that Chris falls asleep while on sentry duty? How does Ellie react? Why do you think she reacts this way? How does she feel about her reaction later? Ellie reacted so furious at Chris because Chris suppose to be on watching-soldier duty instead he fell asleep, Ellie said that he almost risk our lives for getting asleep...Ellie went a little overboard to Chris because of how she cares of everyone's lives. Later on she felt bad at Chris..

Q1.All the teenagers have a specific role to play in their group. Describe the roles each teenager plays? Ellie is the leader and takes responsibilities for her friends, Fi is scared of the war she still fight for her friends, Homer is a leader like Ellie, sometimes immature, Kevin is a coward person sometimes but he's loyal to his friends and would never leave them behind, Corrie is Ellie's best and supportive to Ellie, Lee is independent, warrior-like, sweet, convincing and genuine according to Ellie, Robyn is a religious girl, refuse to hurt anybody, lastly, Chris, he's intelligent and a creative poet....
Q2. According to what the teenagers hear on Corries radio, why would America be best not to get involved in Australia’s struggle? So there will be no war between them, I think..
Q3. Why is Australia being invaded? Maybe the enemies plan to capture or conquer Australia because of their resources...
Q4. What do Kevin and Robyn argue about? Do you think Robyn’s points are fair? They argued about that is it fine the soldiers can take what they want, then Kevin said that 'You sound like you don't mind them taking everything they want' but Robyn did mind, because she's religious and doesn't like what the soldiers are doing to their hometown...
Q5. “Paradise of Hell” is an oxymoron. What does it mean. Paradies is another word for heaven, and hell is the eternal punishment after death, so it kinda means the beautiful kind of hell. I dunno..
Q6. Kevin’s hatred of the invaders is quite extreme. Why do you think he is so angry? Because the soldiers did a really wrong thing and triggers something inside Kevin, maybe because of the memories of his hometown or something else...
Q7. Despite the fact that the teenagers are in the midst of a war zone, evading enemy soldiers and planning guerrilla operations, they still find time to harbour romances. Do you think this is realistic? Yes, kinda, because in the real war, some people fight and still do romances stuff like when after they're done with the war, they visits their love ones or something, I think...
Briefly summarise the story of the Hermit from Hell. Do you believe he killed his family? Well, basically yes, it said that the Hermit killed his wife and family in cold blooded and retreated, but maybe he did it on good reasons or maybe bad reasons...


Storyboard

Tomorrow When The War Began - Vocabulary #1 ( own words )

Chronological - The establishment of dates of past events...

Authority - Something that you have control on...

Alternatives - Courses of action that can be chosen...

Gratification  - Wanting to grant something...

Obstinate - Stubbornly on changing someone's idea...

Hoist - Lifting something heavily...

Unsympathetic - Something unkind or unfeeling...

Scrutinising - Observing something you really want to observe..

Commemoration Day - Celebration something important like war or people.

Hysterically - Uncontrolled emotion like laughing...

Concealed - Something that's hidden secret...

Are Students Addicted To Their Cellphones? If So, Is That A Problem?

Some students may be addicted to their cellphones, probably because it makes them feel sociable to others which is fun to them, it makes them distracted in their school work, meaning it's a bad thing to do. If this continues, they might get in trouble in some way, for example, getting no pass in a test, getting no school lesson learned, and missing school homework etc. Banning use of cellphone in school will surely stop students getting addicted to their cell phones.

How Has Technology Changed People's Lives

Technology has made us live easily than before. Having technology improving will make our life easier. For example, humans created cars so we can easily travel far away possible and not travel with foot. Another example are electricity lights, they are made for letting us see clearly in the dark and can last longer than candles. Another example are factories, most of the things we're using right now are probably made by factories, they can make products easily rather than having many people making a product at the same time. Without factories, we probably don't have the things we have right now. These examples will keep improving in the future, maybe, so our lives will be more better, some will make us worse only if you don't used it in the right way.