Is Social Media addicting?

After reading "Is Social Media Addicting?" from Wonderopolis the Avengers collaborated on a generalisation map.

Where Am I?

Can you guess where we are based on our descriptions using the writing technique of "Show not Tell"? Leave your guesses in comments. Good Luck

What Does It Mean To Go Viral?

After reading "What does it mean to go viral?' on Wonderopolis the Avengers compared two videos from Mr Bainbridge's class to see why one had lots of views and one didn't.

When a video posted on YouTube is very popular and has been viewed thousands of times it is known as a viral video. Viral videos can turn formerly unknown YouTube users into internet celebrities overnight. Mr Bainbridge has shared many videos of his students work on YouTube, one very successful video was ‘Room 5 Safe Crossing’ which attracted over 2000 views and another video that wasn’t very successful was ‘Ice Caps’ that had less than 10 views. So what made one video popular compared to the other?

Title

Both videos shared titles to let the audience know what to expect from the video. ‘Room 5 safety crossing’ told the audience that the video was by a classroom and included a message about crossing safely. On the other hand ‘Ice Caps’ did not reveal much information about the video. It certainly did not let the audience know what was contained in the video and who had made it. To capture people’s interests and gather views it is important to have a good title that will make people want to click.

Shared Online - Aadi and Jack

Another similarity between both videos are that they were both shared online by being uploaded to YouTube. ‘Ice Caps’ was also shared via the class blog. ‘Room 5 safety crossing’ was however also shared on Twitter and was then re- shared by Z energy, who used it in an advertising campaign. When sharing a video online it is your aim to get lots of views, to do this it is best to share your video on lots of platforms like YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Tumblr in order to reach the biggest audience possible. It is also beneficial to get re-shares from other people to boost the number of views.

Message/Moral - Moksha, Brianna S, Brianna L

‘Room 5 Safe Crossing’ and ‘Ice Caps’ both share a message or moral. ‘Room 5’s safe crossing’ message was to look before you cross the road. On the other hand the ice caps message was not to burn fossil fuels. The ‘Safe Crossing’s’ message related better to the target audience (children) whereas the ice cap was more related to adults, who would probably not watch a video made by children on YouTube.   

Animation - Harrison and Nikhil

Animation featured in both videos. The animation for ‘Room 5 Safety Crossing’ was stop motion using block head comic characters. In contrast the animation used for ‘Ice Caps’ was puppet pals. The Room 5 Safety Crossing had more views because the animation had a lot of humour and action and was a bit more exciting than the puppet pals animation.

Overall to have a video go viral we need to think about an interesting title, a message that relates to the audience, needs to be shared on social media platforms and should be interesting for people so they re-watch the video over and over again.

Journey to School

The Watchmen collaborated on a descriptive piece of writing.

Describe the children’s journey to school.

WALT - Use Compound and Complex Sentences.

Kyza

“CRACK” the icy path opened ahead of me then I screamed “ahhhh”. The ice was cracking like an earthquake had struck and began to drift down stream. I stepped through the thin slippery ice and my shoe became soaking wet. My heart was pumping as the cold crept up my legs. I was taking the unstable icy path to school with my family.  I felt freezing cold even though I rubbed my arms quickly.

Boston

I was leading the crew although I was taking a risk, I knew it was my responsibility to keep my family safe. “Whoah that was close” I thought as the ice came apart. I was worried about how we would get through the ic it hurt like I was getting a full body tattoo. This was a terrifying journey I would take often to school.y path. The snow was like ice cream melting before me. As I kept on walking I was getting frost bitten,   

Sam

“Slow down please I'm getting tired” I said. My heart was slowing down every second as I crept along the unstable ice. The ice was like the sheets on the top of my bed. I got up and continued walking along the solid floating popsicles. Everybody was loudly telling me to “hurry up”. “Ok Ok I’m moving” My voice echoed around the icy mountains like I was a cartoon character in a cave saying “ECHO echo echo echo”. I looked in front of me to see if I could see the frozen billboard that said school but the billboard I saw said ‘1k to school’. We kept going on the icy path to our destination.

Mizuki

“CRACK” the icy path opened ahead of me as I followed my family’s footsteps carefully. My heartbeat went faster. “Whoa that was close”, it was hard to walk I felt like an old grandad with a walking stick. I was getting tired and my feet were turning to ice. The crunchy sound echoed as I stood in the footsteps before me. The sound was like someone eating a crunchy ice block. The person in front of me had a stick and a thick, purple jacket which made him look like a witch huddled against the wintry winds. This was a frightening trip I would have to take often to school.

Connor  

I carefully chose every step from the worn path in front of  me. I was fearful of falling in the freezing cold water when I took a step and sunk slightly, my heart stopped. I felt the icy water slowly fill my glove and stream up through my fingers, my blood was freezing cold. Every step I took it felt like ice grains compressing together. I carefully tiptoed across the ice chunks. This was something I had to do every single day.

Rayan

As I took steps following my parents the crunchy snow cracked in little shards like glass. The white path looked like some white powdery clothes detergent and the brown mountain looked like burned rock candy. Suddenly the frost bit me like a bee sting and my hands were so numb that I couldn't even feel my fingers.

Nikhil

The icy, freezing path opened ahead of me as I followed my family carefully and slowly on my journey to school. I saw the mountains staring at us while we crept through the cracks ahead of us. The frost bite hurt like a load of mosquitoes piercing my skin. The next step I took “CRUNCH, CRACK’ the ice broke and became unstable but luckily I put my hands on the other side of the crevice to prevent myself from falling. I was fearful that I might fall in the freezing water. I made it to the other side and was relieved. My hands were so painful that I couldn’t even bend them. We had five more kilometres to go until school. This was a journey I would take regularly.

Suyash

The ice split as I walked towards the unstable snow in front of me. The white path cracked as I stepped on it and the ice made a “CRUNCH”. The thin ice cracked like a mirror falling from a wall . The chilled air froze my skin as I walked towards the enormous mountains. The thick snow covered my shoes completely. I was worried that the huge rocks would fall on me like a thousand bricks falling on my head. The leafless trees swung in the air. This was the hardest journey I had ever experienced.

Tariq

The icy path opened ahead of me as I followed my family.  The ice was like shards and my hands were feeling numb. The ice cracked as I trudged past. I was concerned the mountain rocks would fall down like an aircraft crashing into the sea. The snow was as white as a polar bear and the path looked like some white powdery clothes detergent. The frost bit me even though my scarf was like a snake strangling me. My hands were so numb that I couldn't even feel them yet we still had two miles ahead of us. This was a journey I would take often.

Jacky

The icy path opened ahead of me as I followed my family. The ice was as white as rock candy. I stepped on the powdery snow it felt like crushed sugar. The snow crunched underfoot like the sound of crisp, dead leaves. Wind blew into my face and stung like a nettle. My hands were numb and I couldn't even bend my fingers. My clothes were tight as a snake strangling me. I could see my school in the distance. A crack in the ice broke and a small amount of snow rushed down like an avalanche into the frozen stream.

Population Explosion

After reading an article on Wonderopolis called "How many people are on Earth?" the Justice league collaborated on a Cause and Effect map and summary about the population explosion on Earth.

Globalization is a way of connecting with the world. In New Zealand we connect with the globe through trade, migration, science and technology, to name a few. New Zealanders have the potential to connect with over seven billion people globally. Scientists believe that the number of people on earth will continue to increase. This is because more babies are born each year than there are people who die. Experts expect this trend to continue for the next couple of decades causing a population explosion.  Scientists identify the advancements in science, technology, and medicine as the reasons why people today live a lot longer than they used to.

Science

The scientific developments in agriculture has helped the population explosion. People are now able to produce food on a greater scale e.g. farm more animals and grow more crops. However these advancements can have some negative impacts on the earth. Rivers are polluted from runoff from farms and intensive farming methods mean animals are treated poorly. Another negative effect of farming at such a great scale is that people are cutting down forests and jungles to make space for farmland thus eradicating the animals habitats.

Technology

Technology advancements such as airbags, seatbelts and fire extinguishers now means people are kept safer than ever before. Fire alarms are helping people to avoid deaths caused by fires and car safety features mean people can survive even serious crashes. Without these advancements people would be at a higher risk of losing their life.

Medicine

Scientists have created cures/vaccinations causing the eradication of diseases such as polio and smallpox. Preventative vaccinations means thousands of people are now immune to the deadly diseases that wiped out large numbers of people in the twentieth century.

While we are living longer than ever before we need to be aware that as Earth's population continues to expand, strains on resources will continue to grow. The problem for future generations will be to expand, conserve, and better distribute Earth's resources (food, water, shelter and energy) to meet the needs of its growing population.

Rube Goldberg Machine

After lots of hard work we completed our Rube Goldberg Machine to conclude our inquiry into Functions.

Are we reading enough on an evening?

We used the statistical investigation PPDAC to see whether we are reading enough on an evening.

Are we streaming too much?

We used the statistical investigation PPDAC to investigate whether we are watching/streaming too much TV?

Are we going to bed too late?

We used the statistical investigation PPDAC to investigate whether we are going to bed too late.