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Monday 31 August 2020

Biodiversity by Lily U

 Kia orana readers around the world and welcome back to my blog ! Today I'll be explaining more about my Genomics topic and what I've learnt throughout this "Journey" I could say! Well today I'll be telling you more about drum roll please........................ "BIODIVERSITY"!!! So What is biodiversity? Here is a google drawing that explains everything that our group created a few weeks ago before Auckland's Mysterious Lockdown !

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Question of my blog : What do you think about Biodiversity? And tell me your engaging or learning about Biodiversity in the comments down below !!
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Always stay tune for more blogs :) 

Thursday 27 August 2020

Word for the Day

WALT: Extend our vocabulary

The word for the day is
testimonial. It is a noun and is pronounced as tess-tuh-MOH-nee-ul. A testimonial is a character reference or can be used as a tribute.

Did you know:
  • Another word for testimony is called deposition?
  • 2% of customers read online reviews before buying.
  • 70% of people trust reviews and recommendations from strangers.
  • 40 or more reviews are needed before consumers will consider a star-rating accurate.
  • Websites using testimonials saw a 45% increase in traffic compared to those who didn’t.

How to deal with fear

As we heading back to school next week it is quite understandable that some students may be somewhat fearful and perhaps nervous.

Fear is a normal and healthy emotion – although it’s not very pleasant. It often has physical signs like feeling sick, tense, shaking, sweating, or getting butterflies in the stomach. If we’re scared or frightened because we’re in real danger, we need to respect that fear and act on it (i.e. run away from the angry tiger that is chasing us and shout for help). I'm sure that some of you may have experienced this, I know that I have.

Anxiety is another issue that some whanau may be going through at this testing time. Anxiety is generally fear in the wrong place. We can feel anxious about something that hasn’t happened, might not happen … or something that isn’t happening at the moment (like messing up a test or a date; or people being mean to us).
Think of it like a see-saw: With fear, our response to a threat is balanced and in proportion to a real threat; with anxiety, we are weighed down and more fearful than is necessary.

TIPS TO OVERCOME FEAR AND ANXIETY

Say it: 
Talk to someone you trust about how you feel - it usually helps to get things out. They may be able to help you work out a good plan for dealing with your anxiety or its root cause.
Services like Kidsline, What’s Up, or Youthline also offer to listen and support you.

Breathe: Breathe in for 3-5 sec, out for 3-5 sec. Keep on until you feel calmer. Some people like to draw the sides of an imaginary square or a star while they are doing this. It’s a great thing to do while you’re waiting to make that speech in class, or sing solo at assembly.

5,4,3,2,1 Grounding: Think of five things you can see, four you can touch or feel, three you can hear, two you can smell and one you can taste. This lets your upstairs brain get back in control. It’s a really good thing to try after you’ve had a fright when you need to calm down.

Relax: Your anxious body is like a stack of stiff raw spaghetti. Lie down, and working your way up from your toes let it relax and become floppy like cooked spaghetti. Maybe try this if you can’t sleep at night because you’re all worked up over something.

Distractions: We can use activities to take our mind off things (“distract ourselves”). Try telling yourself jokes, drawing stars, reciting times tables, or listing all the characters in your favourite story as you wait at the dentist. There are also lots of apps available to help with anxiety that work by either distracting or calming us.

Exercise: Works as a distraction and also to release emotions and tense muscles. Walk, swim, dance … do yoga or stretches. It will all help.

Calming jars, and bottles: Put glitter, sequins, beads, food colouring, water and maybe hair gel or clear glue or in a bottle or jar and screw the lid tight. Shake it and imagine that’s how your jumbled thoughts look when you’re anxious. Watch how everything settles after a few minutes if it stays still. Try shaking your jar when you’re upset, and calm down as it does.

Happy place: Find one in your head – or in real life – and go there when you need to.

The Origin of Man's Best Friend

The dog, (Canis lupus familiaris), domestic mammal of the family Canidae (order Carnivora). It is classified as a subspecies of the grey wolf (Canis lupus) and is surprisingly related to foxes and jackals. Did you know this?

The dog as we now know it, is one of the two most ubiquitous and most popular domestic animals in the world (the cat is the other). For more than 12,000 years it has lived with humans as a hunting companion, protector, object of scorn or adoration, and friend.

It has been widely known and subsequently proven that the dog evolved from the grey wolf into more than 400 distinct breeds. Human beings have played a major role in creating dogs that fulfill distinct societal needs. Through the most rudimentary form of genetic engineering, dogs were bred to accentuate instincts that were evident from their earliest encounters with humans. Although details about the evolution of dogs are uncertain, the first dogs were hunters with keen senses of sight and smell. Humans developed these instincts and created new breeds as need or desire arose.

Paleontologists and archaeologists have determined that about 60 million years ago a small mammal, rather like a weasel, lived in parts of Asia. It is called Miacis, the genus that became the ancestor of the animals known today as canids: dogs, jackals, wolves, and foxes. 

Miacis did not leave direct descendants, but doglike canids evolved from it. By about 30 to 40 million years ago, Miacis had evolved into the first true dog—namely, Cynodictis. This was a medium-size animal, longer than it was tall, with a long tail and a fairly brushy coat. Over the millennia Cynodictis gave rise to two branches, one in Africa and the other in Eurasia. The Eurasian branch was called Tomarctus and is the progenitor of wolves, dogs, and foxes.

Below is a brief timeline about the evolution of the domestic dog which we will use as the basis of our Group Inquiry which will focus on the origins of the German Shepherd Dog. We have also included a video that we found most insightful. At 9 minutes, it is a bit lengthy but if you love dogs, most certainly a "must see". 


As mentioned above, this video helped to clarify our thinking and was a good segue from which to launch our research. We look forward to your thoughts and feedback relating to our inquiry. Thanks for reading and hope that you enjoy the video!!

Wednesday 26 August 2020

Interesting NZ facts by Falakika

KIWI-A-THON
WALT: Interesting facts about New Zealand
Kia Ora, welcome to my blog! This is a presentation that I have created with 15 questions that I have answered relating to Maori culture. I hope that this can help you learn new things about the Maori culture, bye!

New Law: Germans to walk their dogs twice per day!

Germany will introduce a law next year to help their dogs stay fit. The new law will require dog owners to walk their dogs twice a day. I think this is a very good idea because owners sometimes tend to neglect their duty to exercise their dogs and as a result, dogs tend to become "problem dogs". 

There are about 9.4 million dogs in Germany living in 19% of homes. The country’s agriculture minister has said she is introducing the new law because dogs are not getting the exercise or they need. 

Under the new regulations in the Hundeverordnung, or Dogs Act, each walk must be at least one hour long. Other rules in the new law include the following:

  • The tethering of dogs on a chain or a lead for long periods also faces an all-out ban.
  • Dogs may not be left alone at home all day, and a person will be required to take care of their dog “several times a day”.