My Final Day Ever At Enrich!!! :'(

Today is my final day ever at Enrich!!!  :'(

A few years ago when I first stepped into Enrich@iLT I felt nervous about meeting new people but soon found out that I had a few old friends that had got into Enrich as well. After I had got over the nervousness I was completely over whelmed with the amount of Apple™ products in one room, since all the computers at Enrich are either MacBook Pros or iMac desktops. Once I got over that we came down to the Main Whiteboard Area and talked about respect for the computers and people and we signed the Enrich 'Code Of Conduct' which stated that we all would follow the rules. Then we talked about blogs and how to use them. That was when I started this blog. Then the year flew by with me completing my first Passion Project, which was a comparison between the FA-18 Hornet Jet Fighter and the Airbus A380, to see which was the best with flight/fuel range. The winner was the A380. Next year we did more Passion Projects and this time I made a Lego animation for the Fair Go Ad Awards as half and then I made a Lego documentary style animation that talked about combat flying through the ages. Next year was the year of the shocking February earthquake in Christchurch which killed many people and so, to do our part, we dedicated our Passion Projects to helping Christchurch. Finally we come to 2012 were I have made brochures to hand out around Thomson's Bush talking about Predators, Pollution and How to Help Around Thomson's Bush.

And now, as I am leaving Enrich, I would like to thank the Teachers who have taught, supported and helped me during my time at Enrich.

Goodbye, once and for all,

Declan.

Animal Rights

Today at Enrich we did a P4C workshop about Animal Rights. We talked about if animals should be tested on and we also talked about the movie 'Babe' in which a pig is taken away from it's parents to a farm where it will get killed. Firstly, when we talked about animals being tested on, everyone said it was horrible and shouldn't be done.  We also watched a couple of clips from the movie 'Babe' and that was when we talked about how Babe shouldn't have been taken from their parents. After all that we discussed about how animals are mistreated by lots of owners.

Thinker's Keys

Today at Enrich we learnt about three of the Thinker's Keys. The two that I had time for were the Variation Key and the Ridiculous Key. The Variation Key is about listing different uses for something or ways to do something, such as how to keep dry in the rain. The Ridiculous Key is when you list the good or bad things about random topics that would never work, hence the name ridiculous. Looking forward to dissecting an eyeball next week.

Sea Shepherd Guest Talk

Today at Enrich we had a guest in to speak with us about Japenese Whaling. This guest was Grant from Sea Shepherd. He told us about the different types of Japanese Whaling ships, the different Sea Shepherd ships and the way they stop the Japanese from Whaling in protected zones. First of all, the Japanese are Whaling in a protected area called the Southern Whale Sanctuary. This zone means you cannot go Whaling in that area, but since it is in International Waters, no one can arrest them for illegal Whaling. and that's where Sea Shepherd come in. They are an Anti Whaling group that stop the Japanese from making Whales extinct. The Sea Shepherd fleet contains the Steve Irwin, which is the mothership, the Bob Barker, which is the main ship and the Brigitte Bardot, which is the fastest of their boats, because it is fiberglass and designed for racing. This year, Sea Shepherd is starting a new mission called 'Operation Zero Tolerance' which is their mission where they hope to stop the Japanese from Whaling completely in the Southern Whale Sanctuary. The operation started on the 5th of November.

Waihopai Planting!!!

Today at Enrich, we headed down to the Waihopai Dam to plant some Flax and Toitoi at the side of the river to stop the sediment and too many nutrients from getting into the river which will damage the river  and surronding land, which would ruin the amazing nature here in New Zealand. We had help from my Dad, some other parents, the teachers and Darryn's dog, Bruce. When planting the plants we had to first dig a hole with a spade, so no having to dig with our hands. Then we placed the plant in the hole and kicked the dirt back in around the base of the plant. We then placed a wool mat around the plant and stuck four bamboo stakes into the ground surrounding the plant that hold a plastic cover that keeps the animals away and also makes sure that they don't accidentally spray the plant with chemicals. After planting 250 plants, we finally headed back to the bus back to Enrich, knowing that we had made a difference to the world. I am hoping to be able to come back and look at the plants and see that I have made a difference.

Presentation Day

Today at Enrich a lady named Chloe Scarla came in from the airport to watch the presentation of ideas for how we could enhance the airport. That was very successful as she said that the ideas could be possible. We also assessed our Term 3 goals to see if we had completed them. We did another Key Competency sheet as well. Next week we are making new goals for this term.

Bye,

Declan

Iran has the world's most polluted air.

Today we watched a video at Enrich that showed the top 10 world's most polluted cities and Iran had the most polluted with 372 micrograms (0.000001 of a gram) of filth per cubic metre. Then we had a discussion with Darryn about what we learnt and what we wondered about pollution. Katie also read out the list of the cleanest cities in the world and we found out that our very own Wellington was the world's cleanest city!!! We are also doing Passion Time and I am researching about video editing so I am hoping I will get some props edited in.

Declan