Last week my school had an experience week. About 28 of us went to Beijing and 112 of us went to Thailand. I went to Beijing and I learnt a lot there.

The two learner profiles that I think I demonstrated the most are balanced and risk taker. I demonstrated balanced because during this trip, we did a lot of out door activities that involved, we ate delicious food, we shopped, we volunteered, and we helped out. I thought that would be a great way to show being balanced because of the different activities that involved different ways of showing how we were having fun. I also think that I was a risk taker because I volunteered to help out a lot. For example I volunteered to help out teach the kids an english song. I also hiked the great wall! My friends and I hiked the most out of every body because we were not only fast but we would take on the challenge. 

The challenges were how steep some of the places were in the great wall. There was one part where we had to walk down the stairs into a cave and it was not only very steep and dark but there were tones of bees inside. I was super scared but I knew that I couldn’t go back so I just went for it. When I was climbing out of the cave there were 4 bees buzzing next to me! It was the scariest part of the whole trip.

Something that surprised myself this trip was how amazing and fun hiking was. I found out that I wasn’t actually horrible at hiking. I learnt to overcome this challenge by knowing and telling myself that when hiking you should pace yourself and just keep trying even if something scares you. I also had my friends by my side to encourage me. I also got to know some people during this trip. They were really fun to hang out with and they were super funny. We got to know each other well and we talked and played games together, it was really fun. The most fun part of the trip was probably the bike rides because we could see the amazing view and feel the breeze.

Through out this trip, we also went to a community center with people that have mental deseases. This part of the trip really helped me understand what they go through and how different they think compared to us. There was one guy named mike, he would always be in a good mood no matter what and he was very energetic. Mike thinks of the world as a happy place and that people should live happily and peacefully and his energetic personality makes people smile. I now understand that they have a whole different way of seeing the world as we do and it makes me feel bad because my life is very different from theirs, they are less privileged than us but they cherish their lives and sometimes we take it for granted. I think that that was the most important thing I learnt throughout this trip.

1)What did you like/dislike about the novel?

I found The Other Side of Truth an interesting book to read. It not only had an interesting plot twist but it also gives you a lesson to think about. For example, the illegal refugees. I also like how it is a first person’s point of view so you can see how the refugee herself feels and what life and death decisions she makes throughout the journey. I don’t think there is anything I dislike about this book.

2) How did you apply what you learned from the novel to your project?

My project question was: Why do people illegally immigrate to Hong Kong and how are they treated by the law? So I researched more into employments because the character’s father in the book risked his life and illegally immigrated to another country because of his job and to protect his family. I also used how the character in the book felt and used how people treated her as examples to how they are treated by the law.

3) For the project, what skills did you learn or apply in a different way than you had before?

I learnt how to use more new effects in imovie. For example I learnt that showing your face while talking then having pictures when needed is better because of the entertainment. If it is just a voice over with pictures or if it is just you there talking the whole time, it can become boring to the audience and they might not listen.

4) What did you like/dislike about the project?

I liked that we got to work in groups and that we got to use imovie. This is because we don’t usually use imovie for projects like this we usually present it live or use a different software.

Hi, last week my class had a math assessment about fractions and decimals. The assessment was on criteria A (knowledge and understanding) and criteria D (reflection).

I think that I would have been a 3 on the stress and learning graph because I was quite stressed about this assessment because I did not do very well on the last test. However, I was also quite confident because I studied very hard this time. I think the most challenging part of this unit was the reflection part. I  don’t do very well in reflection because I don’t think of the process most of the time and just do the problems. I thought the easiest part was solving simple equations because I have learnt it before and it just felt like a review. I thought I worked very hard both in class and at home for this unit because I really wanted to show and prove that I can work hard and that I understand how to solve problems. I think that my effort reflected on my test because my marks improved a lot and there were some hard questions that I could figure out.

In this unit we did some activities to help us understand this unit more. I liked the activity when ms st Amand made some word problems about the students in our class and had us solve and discuss about it because my weak point is word problems and I thought that activity helped me a lot.

Hi, watch this space for my Hong Kong Heritage documentary about the Star Ferry Clock Tower. You can watch the movie below: 

Click here to view the embedded video.

Hi! The past few weeks, my science class has been working on an assessment. We had to create our own bird and name the structural and behavioral adaptations.

My bird’s scientific name is Venenosa Nix. I drew the bird and labeled all the adaptations. My habitat was made out of paper, clay and this snow spray. I think that I made a good decision drawing my bird, because it isn’t easy to break compared to other people who made the bird out of clay or paper maché. However, my habitat is fragile, because the trees can easily break and the snow can easily fall out, but that is why I figured out a way to protect it. I put a plastic cup on top so it wouldn’t be that easy to break.

I think that my process was good. I didn’t work outside in class because I knew that would distract me, but I had to work outside when I was spraying the snow so I wouldn’t get the class dirty. I think that I worked a bit too much at home because there wasn’t really much I could do on the last day because I finished everything, it was just the polishing and final touches. If I were to start over I would leave some things I could do in class so I wouldn’t be wasting my time. I wouldn’t change the way I made my product because it was not only strong but it was also a good way to show the adaptations in a visual way. Overall, I think I managed my time quite well.

In criteria C, I would give myself a 5 because, I tried my best to very specific and detailed, but i could have done more.

hi! Our unit question In math class is: How do patterns help us make sense of our world? The topic  we are focusing on is about patterns and algebra. This subject is related to “Human Ingenuity” as the Area of Interaction because when figuring out patterns, you are finding out new patterns and new ways to figure them out. You are also inventing new patterns and new algebraic rules inorder to solve the problems. Therefore Human Ingenuity is about making predictions and finding relationships in patterns.

Hi! Today, we had a science task:

After watching The Lorax and reading the article about a man made beach in Hong Kong:

- Write a reflection in your iPholio, under the science tab. ALSO, post it to the forum here.

- Describe how the AOI’s “Environment” and “Human Ingenuity” can come into conflict using examples from the movie and article. Choose which one is more relevant for the man made beach and explain why.

So I wrote:

For the Man-Made Beach, I think that the environment is more important because people are destroying the animal’s homes, which can impact our lives, if they start to die or get extinct. Some people say that the 200 meter beach might wipe out more than 200 marine bird species, but the people decided to build an eco-centre, so that species would be moved to a nearby coast. (This is called “Ting Kok Plus”) However, the manager said it should be called “Ting Kok Minus” since it is killing the natural coast.

For the Lorax movie, I think that environment is still more important because if all the trees are being cut down, then the animals will have no where to live, and the polution will be even worse. Also, the people who are selling the thneeds, won’t have anything else to sell either.

In conclusion, I believe than environment must come first.

     Hi! On Friday, the whole grade 7 went to a hiking trip from Aberdeen to the Peak. We took photos about the hike and tried to connect those photos with the 5 AOIs.

     As you can see, in the photos, there is one that shows buildings and a view. I think that, this picture is related to human ingenuity because humans created this view which makes it so beautiful. Environments, and Community and service kind of ties together, because part of that hike was to be aware of the nature that surounds us and to understand and appreciate the environment. Health and Social education relates because of the exercise we did during the hike. Approaches to learning also relates because taking these photos means that we are eager to learn or find out more and to take responsibility of our learning. 

Here is the photos, credits to Anika and Sincere  

I think Approaches to Learning means to be responsible for our own learning, and to learn from our mistakes. I also think that Approaches to Learning can help out in the earthquake, for example the organization for the refugees could be better and the construction materials could also be better.