Camp Persausive

This is a letter to the school board of trustees to let us fundraise for camp because we don't have enough for activities.

To the Board of Trustees

How would you like it if you went on a camp in Wellington with enough money for accommodation and food, and not having enough for activities? That just throws all the purposes of going to camp out the window. The whole point in camp is to develop social skills; leadership; teamwork; etc. And of course to have fun! If I went on camp that didn’t include activities I would be disgusted and never go on camp again! That’s why I strongly believe that us Year 7 and 8’s should be able to fundraise for our camp this year. Did you know that one of purposes for camp is to assist children to develop an attitude of responsibility for their own safety and that of others. At the moment we have only about 3000 dollars to spend on activities but since we have 30 kids in our class we only have about 90 to spend on each child. That's a very little amount of money for each child isn't it?

Our idea is minivans and trailers, since a bus will cost a lot because we also have to pay for the bus driver's accommodation and food, where in minivans the parents who where coming can drive them. Since we have a lot of kids in our class then we have to take 3 minivans and about two trailers.

Over the years costs have gone up quite a bit, a few years ago the Year 7 and 8’s have done lots of activities, but now even if we go to the same place (SilverStream) that the Year 7 and 8’s have been going to every time they go to Wellington it would cost a lot more.

Fundraising. Just a little bit could make us go far, even if it’s just a raffle; a bake sale; etc; we could save enough for us to do more activities to meet the Ministry of Education’s purposes for camp. There are several reasons why we need to fundraise; number one is the diesel for the minivans otherwise they won’t go very far; number two food, if we want a barbecue we would have to buy the sausages and bread; number three, any other expenses we come across.

In conclusion I think we should be able to fundraise for our camp to meet the purposes of going to camp, otherwise what is the point of even going. We are not pulling a thousand dollars out of your pocket, we will do all the hard work. All you have to do is say a yes to fundraising so we can have fun and learn at the same time while on camp.

Sincerely Isabel

Tech Evaluation

Tech Evaluation

Over the past two weeks we have participated in tech. There were two options, they were Robotics, this group programs and prepares Edison Robots for a competition. The other one was hard materials, this group uses metal and other hard materials to create things like pendants, brooches, etc. I was in the hard materials group with Miss Laing* our tech teacher.

Most of the time we were creating things on our own, and planning everything before we actually did it. The first thing we designed was a bag or a shoe using some details Mrs Laing gave us, such as a cow, giraffe, a boat and a castle. This design work was just to free our minds there was another game to free our minds, all we had to do was go around the school looking for anything such as leaves, sticks, flowers, pieces of plastic, etc. Then we had to make 3 pieces of jewelery out of it without using tape or glue. Also before making the pendant we had to make a design that’s not to hard so we could use the saw to cut out the design.

There was a lot of problem solving involved especially because Miss Laing did not have the proper tools she uses when she makes her jewelry, so we had to make do with what we had. When we used the saw we also had to problem solve (for the pendant) because if you made a mistake then you would have to change your design a little. The problem I had with the saw that I had to solve was when I was cutting out the design (the design was a Mickey Mouse) I accidentally made the ears quite pointy so it ended up being a cat/bear looking thing.

The last three days (out of six) were my favourite because on the second and third to last day we did enameling. Enameling is when glass is a powdered form and you paint/dab it onto the copper and you put it a kiln** at 1000 degrees. The piece of copper comes out red hot and after that it has to cool down to be able to handle it. The last day was when we finished enameling and made key ring sort of thing out of fimo, fimo is a modelling clay which you have to soften with your hands and then you can shape it into anything, then you have to cook it in the oven to harden it.

Every day I tried to get as much stuff done as I could so I could move on to the next thing. Time management was a big thing in the hard materials because Miss Laing wanted us to finish the first thing such as the key ring so we could get the pendant started with some time left over to do something else.

The first thing we made (the key ring) is the one I’m most proud of, we had to sand; file and make a texture, (using a hammer with two sides, one round and one flat. I used the round end of the hammer to get a scaly look.) I learned the if you hammer the aluminium key ring using the round end of the hammer on an anvil you would get a different texture to when you hammer on a wooden board. Then what we had to use a punch to make your design on the key ring. Then we had to polish them will a type of car polish.

Overall all I had a awesome time learning and having fun by making jewellery out of metal and enamel. If I ever did it again what I would do is choose simpler designs for the jewelery. Next term we have to try something different so I will end up doing Robotics which sounds quite exciting.

*Miss Laing is a well known jeweler

**a kiln is a jeweler's oven