The Dark Side of Chocolate - Child Labour

Today in Social Studies we learnt about the ongoing issue of Child Labour in Ghana. There are lots and lots of children who are trafficked from their homes to Cocoa farms where they will work tireless hours and earn little money for their families. Some parents are so desperate for money that they will go into the city and sell their own children to traffickers for on average 200,000 cedi which converted to US currency is around $20.00.

What you and I could do in our own way to help these communities in Ghana, Africa suffering from child labor is by purchasing "Fair Trade Chocolate" such as Whittaker's Dark Ghana Chocolate as shown in the image to the right. By doing this it assures that the making of the chocolate does not include Child Labor so these children in Ghana, Africa have a chance for an education and their family members who work in Cocoa Farms can earn money to support their families.

Human Rights - Myanmar

In Social studies me and my partner Isabella have decided to do an assessment on Human Rights in Myanmar formerly known as Burma. We are interested in conducting our inquiry on this particular country because we don't know that much about it and so during our research we will find out what Human rights are being violated and what are the causes and consequences of those violations.

Tobacco Affects on Hauora

In Health we learnt about the long term and short term affects that Tobacco has on the four dimensions of Hauora.

Science - Reproduction {continued}

Asexual Reproduction

What is asexual reproduction?

}Asexual reproduction is a form of multiplying in plants and animals. 

How does it occur or happen?

}It happens when one parent cell develops another cell which is called its "offspring", this type of reproduction means that it does not need two parents like sexual reproduction where a male & female is required to create offspring.

What are the different types of asexual reproduction in plants & in animals?

}Examples of asexual reproduction in plants are...

• Fragmentation ~ which is when a piece of a plant such as the branch of a tree or the stem of another plant is replanted in the ground and the plant begins to grow.
• Binary fission ~ happens when a parent cell splits itself into two daughter cells which are identical and the same shape and size.
• Budding ~ when a parent cell produces offspring which grows attached to the parent cell until it is mature enough the offspring cell detaches it's cell from the parent cell.

}Examples of asexual reproduction in animals are...

• Parthenogenesis ~ growth of offspring without the fertilization of sperm from male.

What are the benefits of asexual reproduction for plants & animals?

• Easier way for farmers to grow their crops when supply and demand is high.
• Great way to preserve plant and some animal species so they don't become extinct.

Functions of cell parts (organelles) - Cell

Science - Cell
*Organelles are cell structures that work together to carry out life processes. Fill in the sheet below to summarise the important organelles

Cell part (organelle)	Structure	Function
Cell membrane	very thin transparent sheet.	holds everything inside & controls what comes in & out.
Cell wall	made of cellulose & only found in plants. strong.	provides strength for the plant.
Nucleus	small dark circular spot.	The control centre for the cell & contains your genes.
Cytoplasm	Watery jelly like substance which fills most of the cell.	Holds cell organelles & contains nutrients & chemicals.
Vacuole	Water filled bubble.	Helps to keep the cell firm.
Chloroplasts	Small green structures found only in the green part of plants.	They make sugar for the plant.
Mitochondria	Bean shaped organelle.	Carries out respiration to give cell energy.

Cell Structure - Cell

Science - Cell
*Another part of 'Cell' that we learnt about in science was.. Cell Structure.

The difference between the animal cell (left hand side) and the plant cell (right hand side) is that the animal cell has only one layer of cell membrane compared to the plant cell which has two layers of cell membrane, the outer layer of the cell membrane on the plant cell is called a “cell wall”. Also the animal cell is smaller than the plant cell hence being another difference between the two cells.

Living & Non-living Things - Cell

Science - Cell
*As part of our unit in Science we are learning about the different areas of 'Cell' such as... Living & Non-living things.

Living

• They grow
• They can move on their own
• Living things have sensory organs
• They can produce offspring (reproduce)
• They can connect emotionally with other living things

Non - Living

• They don’t grow
• They can’t breathe
• They can’t reproduce
• They don’t interact socially with others
• They can’t think like living things