Eating Edible Insects

I am learning to persuade my audience using persuasive writing and emotive words.

Let me set the scene. It’s a regular Tuesday night, the whole family is sitting around the table. You look at your plate, AND FOR THE 22ND TIME THIS MONTH YOUR FAMILY IS EATING MEATBALLS! It seems that you have lost ideas for your cooking, am I right? Well, I think I have a solution for You! Yes you! With the red striped shirt yes! Have you ever thought of eating bugs? I believe that everyone should try that every now and then! Wait, don’t click off just yet! Did you know that 98% of people that TRIED bugs actually liked them? Surprised? From tasty treats, to nutrition, to efficiency and SAVING THE PLANET! I will be telling you reasons why you should start eating bugs.




Lesson one, Do NOT judge a bug by its cover, just because for your whole entire life you’ve despised them as some sort of “mischievous” creature that only serves as an annoyance, doesn’t mean that all of a sudden they’re not edible! Did you know that there are many delicious recipes around the world on cooking bugs? Yes, eating bugs is 100% a thing. It’s called Entomophagy. From Mealworm fries, to chocolate covered crickets and they are all delicious, other HUMAN BEINGS are eating them on a daily basis, so why not join in? I still don’t think you are brave enough to convince your family to be eating worms every night, I still think you would stick to meatballs, BUT. What if I tell you that bugs are delicious…

And healthy?!




That’s right! Bugs actually have the same amount of protein as an egg, or a chicken! Cockroaches and crickets are one of the healthiest bugs you can eat and beetles are the most frequent. The good thing is that bugs create a lot less greenhouse gases as a cow, and needs a lot less land to raise. Healthy and full of protein, and SAVING THE ENVIRONMENT? Have I convinced you yet? I mean, it would still make sense if the thought of eating a bug is still stirring your stomach. But remember, that there are many recipes around the world, that make bugs taste like your takeaway french fries you have every Sunday!




There are truckloads of delicious insect recipes from all around the world so you won’t get tired with the same old recipe every night! From ginger cricket cookies, carrot buffalo worm soup, to mealworm fries and caramel cricket cheesecake! Lets pause real quick, Have you realised something? They are all regular foods, but their names have an insect in them? Yes, that is what you would expect when eating bugs. they sound nice, right? And according to 80% of the people who tried it, they TASTE amazing as well. Is your stomach still stirring? Or is it grumbling for less meatballs!


As you can see, there are many reasons why you should eat bugs! From tasty treats and recipes, to protein and healthiness, to saving the environment! Now you can see why I STRONGLY recommend, cooking with insects.

Success Criteria

In writing, we have been learning to write a persuasive piece of writing. We have co-constructed our success criteria together. Here is our introduction criteria check list.

🌳The Kiwi🌲

Did you know that there is a flightless bird that lives on the isolated country of New Zealand? If you answered the kiwi, you are correct! The kiwi is one of the rarest birds that are native to New Zealand. With its unusual sized beak to its tiny little wings, the kiwi is a pretty unique bird compared to others In the world. People think there are only 1 kiwi bird, but there are actually 5 different types of the kiwi! From the great spotted kiwi, the north island brown kiwi, the southern brown kiwi, the little spotted kiwi and the okarito kiwi. The kiwi’s speed can be matched with a regular human, and they are a relative to other birds like the ostrich, moa and emu. Those little kiwi birds need many things to survive, and a healthy diet is one of them.

Diet
Kiwis live in diverse habitats, so they’re diet stretches from mountains to rainforests.
Most of their diet includes invertebrates. One of the kiwis favourites is the native worm, which can grow up to 50 centimetres. Fortunately, New Zealand, the country they live in, is FULL of worms. The fluffy brown birds diet also includes berries, seeds and leaves.
Kiwis get water mostly out of their food, for example, 85% of the earthworm is water. This means kiwis can live in drier places. When a kiwi does need to drink water, it dips they’re whole beak into the water, puts its head back up and glugs down the water through its throat. They have their diet sorted, but they need a home that has enough of these foods to keep them healthy.

Habitat
A habitat is a natural environment for an animal to live in. Many creatures have one home, one habitat which is suitable for the animal. But the kiwi is a bit different. The kiwi is adaptable, so they can live in a huge range of habitats, from the forests to the rough farmland. Although, the kiwi usually prefers a dark, damp area because they are nocturnal. Kiwis are very shy and very territorial in nature. They attack others to protect their territory, or “patch” with their razor sharp claws. Before people came to New Zealand, the country was only 5% grassland. Now, more that 38% is full of grassland and pastures, and that is not a suitable habitat for the kiwi. Due to the fact that the kiwi can’t fly, the habitat is really important if they want to survive because the little bird is very vulnerable to the many predators out there in the wild, hunting for the small, chicken sized creature.

Predators
The kiwis population used to be in the millions. Now when the English came, they brought Cats, Dogs, Ferrets, Stoats, and more. Now, every week an average of 27 kiwis are killed by the other animals, hunting for food. The main culprits for the death of the kiwis are the Stoats and the Cats. They take a heavy toll on little birds during the first 3 months of their life.

Dogs, ferrets, and pigs hunt for the adult kiwis and eggs. This is bad because these are the breeding birds, and without them there will be no eggs or chicks to keep the population stable. Other animals like the hedgehog and the weasel, don’t kill the kiwi, but compete for the same food as them, and are also prey for the same predators as the kiwi, keeping them filled and keeping their numbers high. Although, when the predators are heavily controlled by humans, the kiwi’s egg rate rises by 50-60%.

Conclusion
As you can see, the kiwi is an endangered icon to New Zealand, and is vital to the culture. If we want to save it, we must know the diet is maintained and balanced, and a habitat where the kiwi is safe from predators. The kiwi is a great icon to New Zealand, and we must do what we can so we won’t let that go.

Robot Construction

I am learning to write about what happens before, during and after an event.

It was another usual day in the science laboratory. Zachary looked up on his wall and saw the best invention award he won in 3016. He turned on his holographic computer. “Welcome, Zachary,” the computer said with a calming, robotic voice. “Date - 8/02/3018. Current Project - Robot Construction.”
“Wow, my 55th birthday is next week,” he thought. Zachary then started to drift off, thinking of other things, he was still tired, he wakes up at 5:30AM in the morning just to get to work on time.

Then someone kicks the door open, snapping Zachary back to reality, “WHERE IS IT? WHERE IS IT?” panicked the man, Zachary turned around and realised it was Cory. Cory was Zachary’s best friend and co owner of the laboratory. He bombarded into the building like a bull. “Where is what?” Zachary asked with confusion. Cory didn’t have to say anything, he just took a deep breath, and slowly put up his hand while holding up 3 fingers. “The Motherboard? Where is it?!” Zachary asked. “EXACTLY!” Cory replied. “We got to call EVERYONE.”

Eventually, everyone working at the laboratory arrived. Even the people off duty came. An indoor search party of about 80 people went looking for the motherboard. It was made to be as small as possible to fit in with all the other cords and mechanics inside the robot. Hours and hours passed and they still haven’t found the motherboard. “You think we should cancel this search? I mean we can’t even put in the motherboard until the very end.” One of the workers said. Cory went outside and saw their billboard, it said, “Robot Construction! Best Robot in the world! Helping us make construction easier! Coming in 3019.” Cory thought about it.

“No, we need to find this motherboard, the motherboard is the most important piece of this robot, this motherboard will give the robot human like personality, it will also give the robot great intelligence and if we can’t find it now, then we probably can’t find it again.”
“So, how do you think were going to find it?” asked the worker.
“I think I have an idea.” Cory ambitiously replied.

Cory walked around the robot looking for the switch, when he found it he turned the switch towards ON. Immediately, the robot started running around, going crazy, chasing away everyone in the building. It then ran through the wall and started running outside, chasing Zachary at the same time, destroying everything, everywhere they could see looked like a dumping site.
Eventually Zachary ran into an empty warehouse around 100 metres away from the laboratory. There was a tripwire at the entrance and luckily he jumped over it, but the robot didn’t see it. It tripped over the tripwire and crashed on the floor. He was relieved that he wasn’t running for his life anymore, but they still didn’t find the motherboard, Zachary was disappointed. He thought that Cory’s plan would work. But then, he saw something attached to a cord, slightly dangling out of the robots back (it was more obvious because the robot was lying down in its front), it looked familiar, it looked really important, it looked like, something they’ve been looking for.

“The motherboard!!” Zachary yelled. He looked around, saw a ladder laying on the wall and climbed up the robot. Zachary pulled it out of the robots back and ran back to the laboratory.
“The motherboard was there too early!” Zachary said, “We were supposed to put it in last, that’s why the robot went crazy.”
“Well, now the question is…” Cory said, “Who put it in there?”
Everyone was silent. “Oh well, doesn’t matter,” Zachary replied.

A year passed on, they repaired the laboratory and also continued to work on Robot Construction. When they finished in 3019, the same thing didn’t happen, the robot did what it was supposed to do. It was a successful invention and Zachary lived on to be the most famous inventor in history.

The Unusual Shrimp.

I am learning to: inform my audience by sharing an entertaining moment.

It was about 2 years ago when my mom called me,“Elijah! Dinner is ready!” I walk out of my room and downstairs I went trying to grab the scent of tonight's dinner. I didn’t feel like having dinner. I wasn’t that hungry and I didn’t have an appetite. I touched the floor of the downstairs carpet and I could finally smell it, Shrimp! I loved shrimp! I sat down at the dinner table and Dad plopped some on my plate.

I grabbed the spoon and scooped some in my mouth. It took a few seconds to realize that what I just put in my mouth tastes different than before. My eyes starting watering, I started to gag, this was my body saying to spit whatever is in my mouth out right now before my TASTE BUDS DIE! So I put my hand over my mouth and run over to the bathroom where I spat it out the toilet.

I still wonder why shrimp tastes different now. But one thing for sure is that I have been trying my best to never make eye contact with that seafood again.

First Time On A Flying Fox.

I sat on the Flying Fox’s red, uncomfortable seat. I held onto the spring. I was nervous, I couldn’t really remember why though, I gave the spring an extra hard squeeze. Then, 3, 2, 1, The Flying Fox started moving, it first went slow, then it started getting faster, and faster, and FASTER! It felt like travelling at the speed of light. The end gets closer and closer, but it wasn’t showing any sign of stopping. The end was so close it looked like I was going to crash, but then…
BOING!! It bounces up! I bounced right with it. It then travelled backwards and got back to the start, It was time for me to get off, relieved that I was on the ground again.