Have you ever wondered how rainbows are formed? Rainbows are a lovely arch found in the sky when it is both rainy and sunny. The colours red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet all contribute to the rainbow. Water and light are crucial when it comes to forming a rainbow, and it is one of nature’s most simple and extraordinary tricks! Therefore, this explanation will outline how rainbows are formed through science, exploring how they refract from light to droplet.

How rainbows are formed:
The sun appears white to the naked eye, but it is actually made up of many different colours. A rainbow occurs when the sun’s light reflects through droplets of water, creating a formation of colours spreading throughout our sky. Light entering a droplet is refracted, then it is reflected back at the droplet, repeating that same sequence but at different precise angles; therefore, a rainbow is created. In addition, a refracted wave always appears bent and a rainbow appears like a colourful curve among the clouds. However, a double rainbow is formed when the light hits droplets two times in a row. This means that the second rainbow would be on top of the 1st rainbow but would be more faded, and the colours would be opposite.

The appearance of rainbows:

If you took the time to look at a rainbow, you would notice how the sun would always be behind you and the clouds in front. The lower the sun is, the higher the arch will be. You would also notice that it may seem like the rainbow has an end; however, that is not true. A rainbow is like an optical illusion; even though it may seem like there is an end, it is actually a full circle! That could only be viewed from higher ground.

Myths & History:
There is a story in the Bible which says that after Noah stayed in his Ark waiting for the flood to stop, God granted a rainbow. Which stood as a reminder that he promises to never destroy the earth and evil people with a flood ever again. You may or may not have heard about the myth of the leprechaun. It is a myth that at the end of a rainbow, a leprechaun is waiting for you with a pot of gold. Unlike the last story, this is not true since there is no end of a rainbow.

In summary, a rainbow is an optical phenomenon created when sunlight is refracted and reflected through water droplets, revealing the full spectrum of colours in the sky. Rainbows are lovely colours in the sky, and if you have the chance, keep an eye out for one!

As you may know, me and my group for environmental engineering, had to make a small community that can withstand sea level change, and it had to include at least 3 houses. For the past 3 weeks I really felt proud of my group because we worked really hard to put together what we have now. And we would finally get the chance to present these end of term projects.

To start things off, we set off to put the tables in certain places so the people could roam around properly. We later on put our projects on the table! And as soon as the year 6’s walked in, I was very surpised because all of us never knew that this was going to happen! With the view of all of our hard work, I think that we did a fantastic job!

Later on, the engineers came. Poching, Te Aroha and Vj were the ones to present to our fellow engineers for this engineering assembly.And I could tell that Whaea Ruth and Matua Sam was very proud of us considering that we are the youngest, and the biggest group to create a whole project based on what we learned off of them. With everyone here, we set off to stand next to our projects and one by one, answering all the questions that we were asked. Which was making me nervous and excited at the same time! But I kind of had to repeat it for an amount of times because there was a very loud commotion in the backround. And some of them even scanned my QR code containing our videos talking about what we created. However the next day, we got to present them again, but on front of different classes at a time. First room 5 came, then room six, and when they left, room 3, room 4 and room 1 came. All of this was basically the whole junior school.

Although I answered most of the questions 😄, I like that we worked really hard to come to the conclusion of our final product. And if you were to ask me one thing I could improve, I think that we would work on communicating better so that we could figure out things better. But overall I think that this was really fun and an exciting experience!

If you made a project similar to this, how did you do?

This week, we got another chance to work on our engineering projects. And for my group, we are working on environmental engineering, where we have to make a community, that is sustainable enough to withstand sea level climate change. And since my group Maiya and Ruth, were in the same class, they put together 2 houses, according to my planning that I drew. When they brought it to our class so that we can work on it, I felt very surprised considering that this was the first time of me seeing this progress, and it was very nice!

So we began working on it, and it was much easier to put them together because my group had brought some hot glue guns. On our slideshow, we at least had to make 3 houses, so I decided to make another house while they were working on a house that they haven’t completed yet. In the end, I think that we showed lots of teamwork on creating our engineering projects. And we will make sure to work hard so that we could present our projects nicely!

Respect is something that you should always show no matter what. Especially to elders such as your parents, teachers, and older friends. But you may ask, what does respect mean? This word specifically means to show reverance to someone even when you do not really like them, or even a positive feeling shown towards others. It is for having higher regard for someone when they are superior, or even when they are just a buddy. This also means respecting their values and what they care about. Like their religion, their opinions and way more!  How amazing is that! Without having respect especially to your parents, people would look down on you really negatively. Because people who don’t show respect means that they don’t care for others and people’s worth. However, respect is crucial to live with, considering that respect is what most people do every single day, and how people want to be treated with.

Ways you can show respect is by accepting and acknowledging other people’s dignity, valuing differences and uniqueness. Like other people’s opinion, and their habits. It could even be really simple things, such as their opinion whether they like ice cream or not. Or even when they have a strong opinion on not liking how someone acts. Respect is overall how people acknowledge you.

To add things all up, Respecting is a very nice thing to show, especially to your parents, and when you are at school. Because this is an act of kindness towards others. And if you want others to respect you, you should respect others as well!

Today, my teacher Zoe read us a book about James and The Giant Peach. This is all about how James encountered a Giant peach, but the problem is, it was growing bigger and bigger! James had 2 guardians, Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker who acted very cruel to many beings. Later on, James found the large peach very unsettling and decided to explore the inside of the peach. And when he did, he found very strange things such as a grasshopper, centipede, and more. Which also have been mistreated by the old hags. And since this was the only way they could escape from them, they went together on a truly exciting adventure. In chapter 17 which we read, eventually the Peach was so strong that it rolled around, and it unforunately crushed those and cruel human beings (Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker). In this chapter, after destroying the old hags, the peach rolled over in many more different places. Such as what it seems to be Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, crashing into a large brick wall, and way more.

All of this is based off of what we read so far, and if you were to ask me what would happen next, I think that James would try making a bigger hole inside the peach so that he and his and his amazing besties can escape peacefully. And later on he could finally get a career!!
This was a very exciting story to listen to and I am excited on reading more of it.

Today Room 9, Room 10 and Room 2, got the chance to collaborate and make a engineering project. So that at the end of the term we would get the chance to present our projects! In the morning, Whaea Lorraine brought us together at split us into many groups of 3 or 4, which was according to the groups we picked last time we did engineering.

Then we got sent off to do our projects! I was with Maiya and Ruth, but sadly on the first day of working on it they were both absent. But I managed to create a planning of an idea (which you can see on the left), and I was quite happy with it. What I decided to make, was the topic of environmental engineering. It was a brief example of a community that can withstand sea level changes. These logs holding the bottom of my house is what keeps our house stable so that water can pass through it, incase the walls that I put on the sides won’t work.

Our project needed to include was a small, isolated community, buildings and facilities, how people are going to get food, where they will live and what they will do for fun.
Our community will also need to have at least three buildings, and a place to grow food and services like a power source, water, and waste solutions. I thought that this project would be really difficult considering that we would be making it out of scratch.

Overall our project needed to be stable and safe enough for the community not to be affected much, and I am really excited to make our project this term.

What are your ideas?

For the past 2 weeks, we have been working on a persuasive writing piece, talking about what we should improve on papakura. As for me, I decided that I should write about why Papakura should have more volunteers for the environment considering that it would help us in a lot of ways benificially. I thought this idea was extremely exciting to talk about because so many ideas came to mind!

On the first day of writing this persuasive writing, my teacher Zoe led us to write the introduction step by step, so later on we could go continue to write the 3 body paragraphs of our own! At first I had a rough time thinking of what I was going to write about, but I thought of it later on. At last, when we were done, we published it on canva and I got the chance to be really creative!

I am really happy with my writing piece and I am looking forward onto more persuasive writing activities.

Persuasive Writing

Today in engineering, Whaea Ruth was absent, so she got replaced with Whaea Ellen. At first Whaea Ellen showed us a video all about circuits. It was a brief example of how circuits flow around our home to provide electricity, such as giving electricity to light bulbs, our fridges, and way more!

Then soon later on, she showed us a video of how circuits flow around our house but using our bodies. In that video, a classroom passed down an object, being creative of how they did it. Then came our turn for the activity, which made me feel really excited. First, Whaea Ellen makes us form a group of around 10. Then as we formed our group, we were told that we had to pass down a ball around, but since we were older than the students in the video, we had to pass the ball down without using our hands. We also couldn’t pass it across from you, because if that had occurred in real life, the wires wouldn’t have been proper. Our strategy was for us to form our arms almost like how you receive in volleyball, and that way, we could pass it down properly. Although we had some struggles and we had to start again multiple times, it was overall really entertaining to experience learning about how circuits work.

Later on, we had another activity to do. Whaea Ellen and Whaea Lorraine both explained to us how we should do the activity, and the instructions were on the paper that would be given to us. I was kind of confused and excited at the same time when it was given to us, considering that there were all these copper, coin-shaped batteries and LEDs. But in the end we managed using teamwork

Firstly, we had to fold the paper in half, and then we had to line up the LEDs to a path that we had to follow. After, we had to stick copper tape following the line leading to the coin-shaped batteries. But the problem was… that we kept ripping it accidentally, and that was the thing that we were not supposed to do. At last, the result was supposed to make the LEDs light up colourfully, but I and my group didn’t succeed, sadly. But I was very surprised to see the other groups’ work!

I thought this was a very fun experience, and I am looking forward to next week’s engineering activity!

Room 10 and I also brought together a slideshow individually, and here is mine!⬇

Today is Wednesday, another day of engineering. Last week, Whaea Ruth informed us about bringing plastic bottles for today because we would be learning how to filter water. I was super excited because that is something that I’ve never done before. To begin with, Whaea Ruth explained the way of making a filter. I was in a group of 3 and one of us didn’t have a bottle.

First we had to cut your plastic bottle in half, then put the top of your bottle facing down inside your other half of the bottle, after that, we had to go to Whaea Zoe to get filters to stick in our bottle. After some time waiting in the long line, we had the opportunity to get the ingredients, which were activated filter carbon, stones, cotton, black granite, a type of sheet filter, and water (specifically duck pond water). I was very surprised to see the conclusion of water seeping through, and it looked very clean!

At last, we completed the process, and our photographer captured some images of us with our water filter. Although it was not safe to drink due to the potential presence of bacteria, the experience of learning how to filter water was truly enjoyable. In fact, it is very heartbreaking to note that over 1.8 billion people lack access to clean water.

Overall, I was very thrilled to experience and find out how to filter dirty water!

Have you ever tried to filter water?

On Wednesday this week, it was the 3rd day of engineering! At first, Whaea Ruth showed us a video all about some information about how engineering works, specifically civil engineering. Later on Whaea Ruth gave us the instructions to take off our shoes and socks and get into groups of  3 or 4. It was very exciting considering that she was holding a bucket of water, and said that we would get wet in the process.

How to play: All we needed was a normal bucket, and a bucket with a hole at the bottom. The process of the game was to tip the water in the bucket (with the hole at the bottom) and reach your destination and go back, trying your hardest to not make the water spill. Then when you are finished, the next person goes to do the same. All of us would have to take turns holding the bucket and running to the destination and back using with lots of teamwork. The objective was for your team to have the most water in the bucket. And you can check by pouring the water into the normal bucket and see what number it is based on the measuring.

I was in a group with Maiya, Ruth and Myself. I thought this was very difficult considering that we took a long time before figuring out that we had to work together to cover the hole at the bottom. And we spilled LOTS of water in the process while getting wet at the same time!

The second activity was to build a small sustainable stucture using cardboard, paper, scissors, clay, sticks and straws. That can endure climate changes, almost like the climate changes in Venice.

Our group decided to make a sustainable building that has straws representing pillars or wood the can hold up our structure which was placed like the corners of a square. This was made so that when water rises, it can just go beneath our area. Then we decided to stick on a peice of square paper onto the top of the sticks it for the base, and more sticks on the sides for decorations.

I thought these activity was very fun especially when we had the opportunity to work together.

↘This is what ours looked like in the process of making a sustainable building, and our bucket activity as well.↙