Why Are Bridges Built? - Explanation

Why Are Bridges Built?

This isn’t about tunnels, nor is it about towers, but instead bridges. We cross many of them everyday. But have you ever thought about why we have bridges? It's a question we don’t really think about, and don’t necessarily know the answer too.

First of all, why are bridges built? These wonderful structures help us connect in many ways with different people and places. Bridges are built to carry traffic from obstructed places where you can’t build a road, (for example over rivers and lakes). They provide a pathway from two separate locations, and allow you to pass by the things that obstruct your routine.

Secondly bridges are constructed out of many different materials such as: iron, stone, wood, concrete and plastic. So there are many different types of bridges at different strength levels. Bridges made out of wood is the least strongest among the rest of the materials and steel would be the strongest. So more people would use steel as opposed to wood.

Lastly, what would we do without bridges? If we had no bridges we would have not be able to go over lakes, rivers and large ponds. We would need to use helicopters, boats, airplanes and subways. For example; back in 1857 before the Panmure Bridge was built, people used a small floating platform called a punt. This was not very stable, it would usually leak and it needed a lot of repairs. The people were really frustrated and it influenced them to write a petition to build the a bridge over the Tamaki River.

Bridges, bulky brilliant structures all around us. We cross many of them everyday, when we are going to school, work or shopping. This why we need bridges, without them it would not be same, and we would not we able to go to places as easy as we can today.

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This week for writing we have been looking at explanation. Since our topic for inquiry is structures we were to write our explanation about why are bridges built? In our explanation we were not aloud to use a rhetorical question as our hook because we have used it a lot in the past. So I chose to do my hook as what its not. We also needed to have a colon and a semi colon in our piece of writing. I learnt that back in 1857 before the Panmure Bridge was built, people used a small floating platform called a punt.

My Morning Routine

Morning Routine

• Alarm goes off / Wake up
• Have a Shower
• Have breakfast
• Leave For School

In the morning it’s quiet hard waking up, but I still have to do it. At night time I have to make sure I brush my teeth and be in bed before 9:15 so I can have a good night sleep and so I’m not a zombie in the morning. To make sure I wake up early in the morning, I set an alarm for 7:00.

When my alarm goes off my Mum comes in my room and opens the blinds, that’s when I feel like a vampire. Then I have to walk  from my bedroom through the snow storm to the shower. When I'm in the shower I make sure wash myself nice and clean. Then I have the most important meal of the day, breakfast.

For breakfast I usually eat scrambled eggs, with toast and black tea while I Netflix and chill. When I finish my breakfast I brush my teeth and get changed into my school uniform. I also have to make sure my sister has had her breakfast and has got everything she needs for school. Then it’s time to leave for school.

Leaving for school is my number one priority for my morning routine. If I wake up early I have to leave early. I am always concerned about the time if I’m late or not. If I’m late for school I run to school not matter if it’s raining or not.

Like I said before it’s hard waking up, but we still have to do it. Having an alarm will help you wake up. Everyone has a morning routine, but not each person has the same routine. I have been doing this routine for two years and mostly during my senior years. This routine that I have been doing has helped me be at school at the right time and have a good education.

For writing this week we have been learning and creating explanations. First before writing anything we went over the structure and the language features of an explanation. I learnt that in an explanation there has to be title (e.g how does a biathlon work?) Introduction, Paragraphs, and the conclusion. I also learnt the language features of an explanation includes similes ( a sentences that has the word like or as) , onomatopoeia (words that include sounds that are alike to the noises the word refers) ,verbs (action word), past tense (walk) etc. For our explanation text we either had to writer about our morning routine or how we walk to school. I decided to write about my morning routine.

Explanation - How Children Learn At School

This week for writing we have been practicing, how to writing an explanation to First we wrote on a piece of paper. Before writing it we planned our explanation so we know what to write in our text. Josh S and I were partners. We learnt that in a explanation there has to be a title telling why or how something works, the introduction which has a hook like a rhetorical questions, 3 Paragraphs of interesting points in order and the conclusion. The writing below shows you our explanation we wrote about How Children Learn At School. 

 

How Children Learn At School

Have you ever wanted to know how your child is learning at school. There are so many ways children learn, like talking to others to give them more confidence. They like to learn from each other by asking questions and giving comments.

Children love trying new things and learning from them. They have the ability to think and reflect about their learning.

They are capable of asking open ended questions, which helps them learn even more. 

Most kids have role models that they look up to. By watching their role model, it encourages them to be more like that person. Some kids like sport players and are eager to learn and train like them.

Kids can also communicate by giving feedback and feed forward to one another. They like to follow good examples in ways which interests them. One way is that they practice their new skills to get even better at it.

Children learn through numerous ways. They agree or disagree on other people's opinions in a positive way. Kids learn best with and from each other.

Explanation - Why my blog is unique

A blog is an incredible place where people around the world see and comment on your learning. My blog is unique because it has my thinking and ideas, and it is non-identical to other blogs. Did you know that not all blogs have the same features?

My blog is special because it displays all my learning from 2014 when it came alive. During those years I shared my work 310 times with a global audience. That means I have shared my work 310 times with the world! Around 9,500 people have seen my blog since the day it was born.

Each blog post has 3 main parts to it. A title,  a blurb and labels. My title tells people what my post is about. This is important because when the social media sees it they’ll understand what you did. The blurb is a short summary that tells what I have been learning. This is important because it helps my audience understand what I was learning. I label each post so that my work is easy to find. For example if I post a poem I label the poem in my writing folder.

There is a comments section under each post. The comments help you to connect with other people and their blogs. You use the comments sections to give feedback and feedforward. That means you find out what people liked about your work and sometimes they give you ideas to work on. If I reply we can have a learning conversation. That’s better than writing in a book that only your teacher can see.

My blog is original because it has a timeline of my learning since I was in year four. The best part is that you can't throw your blog away but you can throw your books away.

For the past 2 and half weeks we have been learning how to write an explanation. Our topic was to write why a blog is unique. Blogs hold our learning over time and keep a record. I had fun writing because I learnt how to write an explanation.

How do Planes Fly - Explanation

How Do Aeroplanes Fly

Planes are really helpful they help humans get from one side of the earth to the other side. It comes in different shapes and sizes. There are four different forces, lift, thrust, drag and weight. American aviation pioneers Orville and Wilbur Wright (The Wright Brothers) created the first successful airplane.

When the plane's propellers spin it gives the aeroplane a forward force called thrust. Thrust is generated from an engine attached to the wings. Thrust is used to overcome the drag of a plane it.

Drag is is generated from every part of a plane, even the engine. It is the force that goes to the opposite direction of the motion. Drag is caused by friction and differences in air pressure. When an airplane is flying straight and at an even speed, the thrust it produces balances its drag.

Lift is the force that holds an airplane in the air. The wings create most of the lift used by airplanes. As a plane moves forward, its lift force increases until it equals its weight. When lift equals weight, the plane can fly.

Weight is the force caused by gravity. Weight and lift are equal when a plane flies. Because weight requires more lift, and therefore more thrust, heavy planes are more difficult to get off the ground as compared to lighter planes. Planes with less weight requires less thrust.

Planes are designed to be as light as possible.  Each force has an opposite force that works against it. Lift works opposite of weight. Thrust works opposite of drag. When the forces are balanced, a plane flies in a level direction. We are lucky that we have seat belts for safety and if we did not have safety we fall off our seat and hurt ourselves when where landing or taking off.

Explanation: Language Feature and Structure

L.I: To learn the structure and language feature's of an explanation text
This is my second writing must do for this week. For our task we had to make a poster showing the language features and structure for an explanation text. I learnt the structure and language features of an explanation. Next time I will try and learn more things about an explanation text.