Comprehension Box

Denim 4 - Stinkiest Jobs in History
1. The word stool in paragraph 3 means:
C - bowel movements

2. What part of the contents of human urine was useful in cleaning wool?
C - ammonia

3. The process of removing fur from a hide is the main idea of:
C - paragraph 4

4. What did the tanner have to do to the hide before removing the fur?
A - remove fat and meat

5. What do both a tanner and fuller use in creating their product?
C - urine

6. Which of the jobs did not involve faeces (bowel movements)?
A - fuller

7. If a man was walking the streets with a shovel and container, he would most likely be collecting:
B - dog faeces

8. You can conclude that the king ____ the groom of the stool.
B - trusted

9. Which of the following is a fact, not an opinion?
C - urine was used in medieval times by tanners and fullers

10. Why would the groom of the stool use his bare hands to wipe the king's bottom?
B - toilet paper was not used in those times

11. What cause the tanneries to be located far from the town centre?
B - the smells created during the tanning process were unpleasant

12. Which sentence summarises the supply and use of dog droppings by tanners?
C - Tanners soaked hides in a mix of dog droppings collected by pure collectors.

13. This text was written to:
A - inform

14. The pronoun them in paragraph 1 refers to:
C - jobs

Fuchsia 1 - The Elusive Scarlet Pimpernel
1. The word aristocrats in Paragraph 3 and 5 refer to:
C - wealthy land owners

2. The French revolution occurred because the common people:
B - were starving while the aristocrats lived in luxury

3. Madame Guillotine was:
A - used to chop off people's heads

4. The 'Reign of Terror' lasted for about a:
B - year

5. The novel about the Scarlet Pimpernel was written ____ during the French Revolution.
C - more than 100 years after

6. If an aristocrat begged for his life at the guillotine, the crowd would probably have shouted:
A - off with his head

7. We can conclude that the common people revolted against the ruling classes because they were:
C - desperate

8. The League of the Scarlet Pimpernel rescued French noblemen and women because they:
A - felt a loyalty towards them

9. The Scarlet Pimpernel was written as a work of:
B - fiction

10. It is a fact, not an opinion, that thousands of French nobility were:
A - executed by guillotine

11. An adjective which might be used in a summary of the French Revolution is:
C - brutal

12. In paragraph 3, the pronoun they refers to:
B - thousands of arsitocrats

13. Sir Percy and his wife's brother are similar because they both:
C - are in danger

14. The Scarlet Pimpernel was named after:
A - a small red flower

Rust 2 - Nelson Mandela
1. The word reconciliation in paragraph 2 means:
B - harmony

2. What was different about the law firm of Mandela and Tambo?
A - it helped black South Africans who couldn't afford to pay for legal help

3. Which words provide the best summary of Nelson Mandela's character?
C - wise and determined

4. You could predict any project Mandela supported would be likely to:
C - be highly successful

5. The main idea of paragraph 1 is that Mandela was:
B - an interesting person

6. Which statement would Mandela have been most likely to agree with?
C - violence should only be used when nothing else has worked

7. People around the world asked Mandela for advice because:
B - they admired his achievements and his character

8. Mandela was given the name Nelson by his:
C - teacher

9. You could conclude from the text that FW de Klerk:
A - also worked hard for peace

10. It is a fact, not an opinion, that Mandela:
B - was president of South Africa

11. The text was written to:
B - give information

12. The first thing Mandela did was to:
B - go to Johannesburg

13. Mandela was different from Tambo because he:
A - won a Nobel prize

14. The pronoun them in paragraph 4 refers to:
C - Mandela and Tambo

Creative Writing Matrix - Can you hear it?

Can you hear it?

Write a descriptive paragraph or poem about a setting.

The sounds and scenery can tell where a story is, how the characters are feeling.

Background sounds can be used to show where the character is.  eg. If they are at home in the summertime: the sound of a lawnmower

Every breath hung in the air as it escaped my lungs, the cloud it took shape in only visible due to the faint light illuminating from a nearby lamppost. Oak trees lined each side of the road, their branches reaching far enough to touch the sky, the bark encasing each one a dark shade of brown. Above, the sound of leaves rustling in the canopy of the surrounding trees was a sound far more welcoming than a nerve-wrecking silence. This sound was accompanied by the rhythmic click of my shoes meeting the pavement as I walked, and occasionally the disruptive rumbling engine of an oncoming vehicle, though it lasted no longer than half a minute. The faint sound of music and casual conversation could be heard from inside homes every so often as I made my way down the dark road.

Papatuanuku and Gaea

Every mythology has it's own stories and deities. A god or goddess of the earth can be found in most of these mythologies, and more often than not they have some role to play in each culture's creation story. The Maori goddess Papatuanuku and the Greek goddess Gaea are only two of many supreme beings of the earth spoken of in mythology.

Creative Writing Matrix - Crazy Lyrical Dialogue

Crazy Lyrical Dialogue

1. Go to a lyrics website like http://www.lyrics.com and select a song randomly, preferably one you've never heard or one to which you don't know the lyrics. For instance, I went to the website and selected, Fergie's "A Little Party Never Killed Nobody (All We Got)." I've never heard the song and haven't heard the lyrics.
2. Then, scroll through the song and select the craziest lyric you can find that would be appropriate for school. In Fergie's song, I selected, "What do you think, GoonRock?" because it was the nuttiest phrase on there.
3. Repeat this process twice more, selecting two more songs and two more crazy lyrics.
4. Then, start a conversation with the first lyric you selected between two people very unlikely to use the phrase. For instance, I might write something like, "What do you think, GoonRock?" Aunt Ida asked Bernie, sitting two wheelchairs away in Serenity Meadows Assisted Living Center.
5. Once you get the conversation going, insert the other two lyrics elsewhere, shifting the dialogue to make sure the conversation between the two characters makes sense. Continue until you can end the conversation definitively, with a resolution that meets the needs of one of the characters

"Danny says we're living in a simulation" The boy said, looking across the water and moving a stone between his two small hands. He examined it for a few seconds, before lobbing it upwards into the air, only for it to land with an ungraceful 'plop' no more than three metres in front of him. His sister rolled her eyes from her position further up on the river bank. "You shouldn't listen to that kid, Carlos. He's weird, he'll fill your head with all sorts of nonsense." The boy shrugged, a smile forming across his face. "He's funny" "He's weird." She corrected him, shuddering as the blanket around her shoulders fell to the sandy ground of the river side, the cold air hitting her like a truck. Carlos shook his head, "He's my friend." Another eye roll from his sister. Moving his attention from the body of water in front of him, Carlos looked up at the sky. "The sky looks so much prettier at night. Don't you wish that the sun never came up?" His sister smirked, "If the sun never came up we'd all die." Carlos furrowed his eyebrows "How?" She sighed, "We'd freeze to death, moron." A few moments went by before Carlos broke the silence once more. "I start middle school next year. How weird is that?" She smiled - this was one of the first things he had said that actually made sense all day. "Yeah. Seven years has gone so fast. You'll be graduating high school before you know it." The boy shuddered "I'm not that old."

Essay Brainstorming

Climate change is a lie (Against)

• Arguing against - Climate change is NOT a lie
• There is clear scientific evidence to prove that climate change is a real thing
• The temperature is rising, ice caps are melting
• The level of CO2 in the air is increasing drastically
• Coral reefs and ocean life are dying partially due to the acidity of the ocean rising because of the amount of carbon dioxide we are emitting
• The sea is warming up and the sea level is rising

1. There is clear scientific evidence to prove that climate change is real - explain times in the past where climate change has occurred.

2. The level of CO2 in the air is increasing - explain that this is due to an increase in greenhouse gas emissions, caused by us.

3. Coral reefs and other ocean life (explain other consequences of climate change, e.g rising sea levels, ice caps and glaciers melting etc).

Fruit and vegetables should be tax free (Agree)

• It might encourage people to buy more fruits and vegetables, or choose them as a substitute good for less healthier options
• Companies that sell fruit and vegetables would earn larger profits
• People would eat more fruit and vegetables meaning they would be healthier
• They would be affordable for people who don't earn enough money buy fruit and vegetables
• Farmers would earn more money, as they would be supplying companies with more to meet the consumers wants - lowering the price of fruit and vegetables would increase demand
• Fruits and vegetables have a high nutritional value

1. It will encourage people to buy more fruit and vegetables or at least choose them as a substitute for healthier options.

2. Companies that sell fruit and vegetables would earn larger profits, farmers would also earn more money (refer to the law of supply and law of demand).

3. People would be purchasing and consuming more, therefore they would be healthier as fruit and vegetables have a high nutritional value.

Critical Literacy - Adverts

Critical Literacy - Drink-Driving Adverts

Today for critical literacy we have been looking at the stereotypes and groups of people presented in drink driving adverts in New Zealand. Upon looking at these three advertisements, I found that almost all of them focused on intoxicated young Maori or Pacific Islander men, none of them predominantly showed women or white people as the main people getting drunk and making stupid decisions. They all perceived young men, and two of the three focused on specifically Maori and Pacific Islanders as reckless and irresponsible drinkers.