I can't imagine life without . . .

Today, we created a web. In the middle, it says, "I can't imagine life without . . ." and around it, we put what we couldn't imagine living without. I had fun creating this web.

Kaikoura

Enlargement

Today, the students in Room 8 we doing enlargement. I don’t know all the details because I was absent the previous week. I watched everyone draw their grids with a piece of chalk and then enlarge their pictures on their netbooks/chromebooks. I helped them make “straight” lines for their grids. The outcomes for some of them were not accurate but it was good enough.

Haiku

We were learning about Haiku's. Haiku's are Japanese Traditional Poems. There are three lines in a Haiku Poem. They also have rules. 1. They must have 17 syllables (5,7,5)
                                           2.  It has to be a seasonal reference
                                           3. It has to have a cutting point in the first or second line. (-,.!?)
I was in a group and we created our own Haiku.

Harry Potter - Book Review

Measuring Angles

This game helped me to understand how to use a protractor. I had to rotate the protractor to be in line with the red line and see what angle it was. I measured it accurately. I reckon this game would be useful to those people who still struggle using a protractor. It really does help you understand using a protractor properly.

Brooke Neal

Brooke Neal came to our class. She gave a highly inspirational speech. I'm sure we all learned something from her. What I learned from her, she is brave and powerful. She's experienced many tough things, but she fought through them. I admire her. I don't wish to be a fit and healthy person like she is, I just wish that I have the same attributes as her. To be brave and powerful.

Brooke Neal

Today, an athlete came to our class. Her name is Brooke Neal. She plays hockey for the New Zealand's womens team. First, she spoke about the olympic values and how they connected to her. She also added one of her own values. Purposeful. She said that we should find our purpose. Why are we doing what we're doing. The last thing she spoke about was finding our 'superpower.' She said her team had to show a level of confidence and thought of themselves as Superman. When she finished, we asked questions and took photos.

What I took from her speech was to never give up on my dreams. Even if they fail, you could always create another dream and work your way to reach that dream.

Basketball

Every Wednesday, we have basketball lessons with Yeron and his brother Malik. We learned how to dribble the ball, how to shoot the ball, how to stand and what we should do to be a good basketball player. We had to dribble the ball with our fingertips, we used B.E.E.F to guide us for shooting (Balance, Eyes on the target, Elbow and Follow through), we stood with knees bent and hands up, like a dinosaur stance. We had to dribble the ball and look forward because we would miss many opportunities if we kept our eyes down/on the ball. We played a mini-game and practised shooting. It was really fun.

Acrostic Poem: Upset

Walt: write an acrostic poem using alliteration

Uncle united with his family underground

People panicked progressively protruding their way inside

Storms scooped cars and created scars

Eager elders eez dropped

Tremendous tornadoes tackled fields

Personification Paragraph

Prototec Stage 8

This is my prototec Stage 8 results. I still need practise on this. I think what I find difficult is HCF and LCM. I know how to do it but I can't, like, find it out by just being given to numbers and know it straight off the bat. I hope to work hard and get closer to 100%

Personification Poem - The Beach

Reading - Harry Potter Series

This is the last book of the Harry Potter Series. It also took me 3 days to finish this book. Various amounts of emotions struck me hard. I cried when Fred Weasley (Ron's brother) died. All the books to the series were very, deeply described and I had lots of fun reading them. J.K.Rowling is now, officially my favorite author. I hope to, one day, be able to write stories like hers that will entertain every reader.

Reading - Harry Potter Series

I finished this book a lot faster than the previous (3 days). Again, I cried, laughed and got angry. I cried when Dumbledore (Headmaster of Hogwarts: School of witchcraft and wizardry) had died. Laughed multiple times every time Harry used Levicorpus (a spell that lifts you up in the air from the ankle) on Ron. I think what I found most interesting though was the book that belonged to the Half-Blood Prince. Harry had gotten so attached to that book as it helped him with his Potions lessons with Professor Slughorn and it had spells that the 'Prince' invented. Apparently, that book belonged to Professor Snape. He and Harry both loathed one another so Harry took it with quite a bit of shock. Anyway, I have started on the next and last book of the series; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Already, it has interested me that Dudley (Harry's cousin) had thought of Harry as somewhat of a brother. Dudley and his gang had bullied Harry for the first 10 YEARS of his life and to make matters worse, neither his aunt or uncle approved of him since they knew Harry was a Wizard. Harry will be off on an adventure to locate and dispose of all the Horcruxes, accompanied by his closest friends, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley.

Reading - Harry Potter Series

I finally managed to finish the book; Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I really enjoyed reading this book. It made me shed a few tears and I even laughed at a few of Ron's (one of Harry's best friends) stupidity. I got angry at some points too. The part that made me cry most was when Sirius Black died (Harry's Godfather) and when Harry thought it was his fault. My favorite part of it was when Hermione Granger (Harry's best friend) took it upon herself to organise an interview with Rita Skeeter to share Harry's side of the story of Voldemort's (Villain in the story) resurrection so that people stop thinking he's gone nuts. I laughed loads when Fred and George Weasley (Ron's twin brothers) made Professor Umbridge (a disliked teacher by students and staff) go around fixing hexes that Fred and George placed all around the school just to see her struggle. I reckon the book had more of an impact on me than the movie did. I think it took me about 1 and a half weeks to finish the book. I've read the previous books as well and I can say that they are as equally as good. I have started on the next book - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I hope to finish this book faster than the last one.

Rangitoto

Olympic Value - Friendship

Maths Strategies

Throughout this week, we have been learning different types of strategies to solve multiplication and division problems;

1. Place value
2. Standard Algorithm
3. Rounding off/Rounding down
4. Rounding and Compensating
5. Guess and Check
6. Long division

and there’re still probably some that I left out. In the photo, on the right, I used rounding and compensating to solve the multiplication problems. On the left, I used guess and check to solve my division problems. I found these strategies very easy to use but I reckon I could’ve solve it faster using standard algorithm and long division. I would very much like to teach my learnings to the other students in my class.

Guinea Pig Tennis

Cook Island Week

This week is Cook Island Language Week. Some people came from the Auckland Museum visited the school to talk about Cook Island history and culture. They talked to us about the Vaka and how back in the days, when Mitre 10 wasn't built, they had to use string and other things people nowadays would probably find difficult. I  learnt plenty things about the Cook Island culture like the coconut tree is referred to as 'The tree of Life.' They used very odd looking drills that were used back in the day. It worked sort like a yoyo - how you had to push and pull it up and down. To me, this was a rather fun session. I enjoyed watching the students struggle as they tried to work out how the tools and how to construct a Vaka.

Jim Thorpe - Profile

We have been learning how to summarize and we created a profile of the athlete we learnt.

Metaphors

WALT: match metaphors with their meaning in sport and non-sport activities.

We were each split into groups of three. I was with Lana and Stephanie. All of us were doing a writing activity with metaphors. The priority writing group had already done this activity so the had to keep their mouths locked. In my group, Lana was in the priority writing group so Stephanie and I had to do it without any help from Lana. She watched while Stephanie put the meanings together. I had fun matching the meanings. My favourite metaphor is ‘A big hit’. In sports it means a record of athlete’s achievements and in non-sports, it means a record of someone’s achievements. I didn’t use any of the  metaphors in my writing because I couldn’t find a place to put it in.

Bonnie Blair

Measuring Angles

This game helped me to understand how to use a protractor. I had to rotate the protractor to be in line with the red line and see what angle it was. I measured it accurately. I reckon this game would be useful to those people who still struggle using a protractor. It really does help you understand using a protractor properly.

Muffin Patterns

 We were given a challenge by our teacher to create a pattern on a banana muffin. The one with the best pattern would be given some nuts and raisins as a prize. Mrs. Donaldson chose her 5 best muffins and mine was nominated. Nick was the one who determined the winner and it was Ketura. We did this because for the past three weeks, we have been studying patterns. I found this activity fun because we created our muffin patterns using fruits and other healthy things.

What I found difficult and easy in my speech

Netball with Anne

Today was our last session of netball with Anne. We were separated into three teams and competed against each other. We all had plenty of fun. I usually don't play netball but I had lots of fun.

Samoan off to Rio

Abner Waterhouse is a samoan man who was surprisingly chosen to be part of the Olympics in the 73kg Judo class.

Keeping it S.M.A.R.T

 Dreydon and Kate visited our school to talk to us about the 80km walk they did to raise funds for schools. They also came to tell us how to set our goals. Dreydon took part in the 80km walk and Kate was the author. These incredible people have raised over $4000.00 to give to our school.

Dreydon showed us a presentation about his walk through the Hillary trail. He and the group of people he was with had planned to walk 80 km in under 24 hours. They were expecting not the greatest days for their journey as there was heavy rain, thunder and flashes of lightning. Dreydon said that the his journey was difficult but he kept going. There were photos of the trail and the people being tired. In the presentation, Dreydon mentioned goals. He said it has to be S.M.A.R.T. Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Relevant and Time bound.

Dreydon also let us take a look at some of the equipment he brought along with him. He had a camel pack to keep their water and other things, a head torch to see in the dark, a beacon just in case someone had gone lost, some cramp pills and trail walking shoes. The thing that motivated them to get past the ‘finish line’ was that they were raising funds for schools and Kate would update them with how much money they have raised.

What I learned out of it was how to make my goal(s) S.M.A.R.T and that I needed motivation and support from friends and/or family.

Addictions

For the past few days, we have been learning about addictions because our topic study was about the human anatomy. Photo one is a poster about trying to stop addiction to drugs, alcohol or cigarettes. Photo two is a poem also about trying to stop addictions to the wrong things. We did these activities to help people live a better life.

Scatter Graphs

WALT: write a blog post about scatter graphs.

To begin with, we created three different sized paper planes with one sheet of paper. A big one, medium one and a small one. We worked in groups of 3. Shanelle, Harrison and I helped each other. After creating our planes, we threw them and measured the distance with a measuring tape, in centimetres. We recorded it on a table (Photo 1) and then we plotted the distance using a scatter graph. We drew a straight line to join as many points as possible (Photo 2, 3 and 4).

Addiction Poem

WALT: write a poem/rap.

Addiction, addiction, addiction, addiction.

It plays with your mind and makes it look fiction (yaaaaaaaa)

Inhaling glue, gas or petrol

Makes you go grumpy to the point you go mental (yaaaaaaa)

Put it down, it’s way too risky,

Don’t take your problems out on drinking some whiskey (yaaaaaaa)

How to be a good Egg

This weekend, I was a meaningful child to my dad. I bought him a box of chocolates and made his breakfast for his birthday on Saturday. I also went to OMG! Tech Rangers to represents our school on Sunday.

Cup in cement

WALT: make 3D art.

This is my 3D art. It took us 3-4 weeks to complete. The thing I found difficult was creating the frame and cutting the wood with a saw. I enjoyed creating this art because it was a first time experience for me. Especially with handling cement. We made the cup a plant holder. I would like to hang my art at home for the memories.

A First Time Experience

Walht:  write an interesting and enjoyable narrative.

After school, Kaneki would often go to the library reading books until sunset. He enjoyed reading fantasy books about dragon-slaying, princes and princesses and his favourite, giants. Everytime he read those books, he’d often wondered what it was like to be a dragon, or a prince, or most of all, a giant.

There was a sales going on at the library one day. It was a gold and purple book, similar to a witch's dark spell book. He questioned himself whether it was a fantasy book or not. He didn’t take any chances so Kaneki went ahead and purchased it. At first touch, he felt a sudden thrill flow through his body. The cover was solid and had a picture of a giant sitting in a chair and giving an evil smirk at the townspeople. Kaneki took immediate interest.

Kaneki went home and sat on the sofa. He grabbed the book and on the cover, in big bold words it had, “PLEASE STOP.”  With a flip of the front cover, everything just went black.

Kaneki opened his eyes, he thought he’d fallen asleep. Blinking his eyes every five and a half seconds, he turned his head slowly. He felt bigger than usual. He looked at his hands, then his feet and then he stood up. Everything looked 2D. When he finally realized what happened to his body, he fell silent, like when someone pushes the mute button on a tv screen. Shock, fear, happiness and confusion were all the emotions that covered Kaneki’s face. He’s the giant inside the book!

Kaneki always dreamed about being a fantasy character but never once did he think he’d become one. In his dreams, when he was a giant, he would play joyfully with the townspeople and have heaps of feasts. Everyone was happy and thought of Kaneki to be unique because he was different to everyone else.

Kaneki went to the nearest town to meet the townspeople, like in his dreams. He got there and the town was empty and dried out. Like it was abandoned. He tried looking for any moving tiny figure but nothing. Then he spotted a crying little girl at the far end of the town. The child looked back at him and her eyes widened with tears running down her face. She ran as fast as she could and Kaneki probably already knew the reason why.

Obviously, the towns were ‘abandoned’ because of his kind, because he’s a giant. Maybe there were other giants around the area causing big trouble.

Kaneki was upset and sad to see that the townspeople were living in fear of the giants. He tightly clenched his fists.

The child was still in sight. She was dirty, her shirt and pants were tatty and her hair was knotty and dry. Kaneki took a few big but gentle steps towards her and picked her up from her shirt with his thumb and index finger. He asked her where the giants lived and she pointed past the far hills.

Kaneki journeyed through bushes and trees. Towns, villages and open spaces. He finally made to a tall, green figure. It looked something like the bean stalk that Jack accidentally grew. Kaneki climbed the stalk and as he’d expected, the giants castle was there.

He nervously entered the giant's castle. It was humungus! Kaneki was expecting giants eating huge drumsticks and thrown bones on the grounds but no, he saw fancy chandeliers and paintings. The cobbled floor and walls made the air feel extremely tight. Kaneki made it to their so called ‘loyal and humble’ leader. He was about ten inches taller than Kaneki.

Kaneki began to speak, “Uhhh, sir? Can you please stop causing the townspeople trouble? I mean, they’re really starving and they are fearful of us. I want to be able to enjoy being with them instead of being feared by them.”

There was silence, then the leader spoke in a deep voice, “Who are you? I’ve never seen you around here before. Where are you from?”

“Actually, that’s a long story, sir. But I can tell you that at the bottom of that stalk out there, the people need food, water and clothes. I came here to ask if you could please change that.”

“Why should I? They’re the ones who invited us down there by planting the bean.”

“That doesn’t mean you have to make them perish. That stalk isn’t a threat to you. It’s not doing any damage to you, is it!?. Please, please, please! provide the people with what they need to survive. Put yourself in their shoes. How would you feel?”

The leader looked like he was going into deep thinking. “Fine, we’ll give them what they need. So long as they do not ever!, bother us again. I’ll send the other giants with clothes and food and they’ll leave them at the edge of each town. Does that sound good enough for you..uhh”

“Kaneki sir. My name is Kaneki.”

“Kaneki, is that okay with you?

“Yessir.”

Kaneki helped the other giants give the people food. At first, they were still afraid but as soon as they realized the giants were giving them food and clothes, they rushed out to get it. By the time the stars were in the sky, the townspeople were very happy. They danced around, laughed and had a good time. It was definitely a first time experience for Kaneki. He fell tired so he asked one of his new giant friends for a bed. He said, “What’s a bed?”

Kaneki remembered that giants aren’t as intelligent as humans so he said “Never mind.” Kaneki lay down on the grass. It wasn’t comfortable but it was good enough. He slowly shut his eyes and slept.

“ERR ERR ERR!” Kaneki’s alarm went off. He woke up in shock turned it off. The book! It had fallen off his when he woke woke up. He picked up the opened book and a picture was there. Everyone, including himself, was seen celebrating. Even the little girl. He gave a bright smile. Almost as wide and as beautiful as the horizon.

Kaneki felt sensation run down his body. He was happy, and the townspeople were happy. Now, instead of Kaneki going to the library after school, he’d go home and read his favourite book.

Multiplying fractions

WALHT: Multiply Fractions

I played this online game to help me have a better understanding of multiplying fractions. If the answer was correct, you get 2 points, if you forgot to simplify you get 1 point, and if you get it completely wrong, then it doesn’t give you any points. I think I did alright in this game. I got one wrong and forgot to simplify once. This game was easier than I thought it would be. Next, I would like to try an online division of fractions game.