Tuesday 22 November 2016

Between Two Ends Narrative - Odysseus



My Reflection:

I have been learning to write a narrative based on the book 'Between Two Ends.' I had to choose a character (Odysseus) and brainstorm his character traits and what he could have been thinking or doing that wasn't said in the real book. Then I did made a draft and edited it a few times. Then I had to design my own cover and put my story onto a google slide. I found this writing a bit boring but I had to use my imagination which made it fun at the same time. This activity would be better if it was about a different book that I knew a little better.

Term 4 Week 6

The last 4 weeks of Term 4 the seniors have been going swimming. Our class and Room 19 decided to combine the swimming times. Normally each class gets 3 days a week to go swimming but now our classes have 5 days a week. On Mondays and Wednesdays the group that is still learning how to swim and float (Squirtles) has their lessons. On Tuesdays and Thursdays the group that is a little better at swimming (Blastoise) has their lessons. On Fridays everyone has lots of fun while both groups play games! :)

On Fridays we play netball in the pool. It's really fun and it's all about teamwork, - and being able to through and catch. :) I'm in the Squirtles group because I don't know how to swim properly. I have learnt how to float on my front, on my back and how to kick. I have already started learning freestyle swimming and I think I am very close to being able to do it properly.

Out of all the Squirtles in my class, my friend and I are the only ones that went swimming every single swimming day for Squirtles. I have lots of fun swimming aswell as learning. When we get changed before and after we are in the pool the girls and boys have a competition between eachother to see who can get changed the fastest. Normally girls win but it's pretty close to even scores.

Ballad - Bob the Dinosaur


My Reflection:

I have been learning to write a ballad. A ballad is a poem that had 4 lines per stanza. I had to use the ABCB poem pattern. The ABCB poem pattern is a poem style. Each letter represents a line. If the letters are the same it means that those lines are the same. Example of the last words in a stanza:
A - hungry
B - home
C - line
B - dome

You might have also seen some AABB poem patterns.

I had to plan what will be the main topic in each stanza and what words rhyme and what words I could use. Then I put them together to make the poem. I had lots of fun writing this poem and I can't wait to do another.

Tuesday 8 November 2016

Geometry Nets - Square Pyramid

My class has been learning about nets in maths. A net is an unfolded 3D shape. This is a square pyramid.

I made this out of paper I drew a square, 6cm x 6cm, and then the same sized triangles on each side. I also made little flaps on the triangles to stick them together.  I cut it out and stuck the flaps to the other triangle, making a square pyramid.


Tuesday 20 September 2016

A Perfect Spring Day

A Perfect Spring Day

Walking outside and seeing lime green grass covering the Earth’s floor. Feeling the slightest breeze passing through my door. Looking in the sky seeing nothing at all. Seeing huge trees, straight and tall. Looking over in the garden, there’s blue flowers, red. What a great place to put a flower bed. Suddenly company comes out the door. They have a ball, they drop it to the floor. Kicking the ball around and around. You kick the ball up and it hits the ground. Looking at the trees, they start to sway. This really is A Perfect Spring Day.


My Reflection:

I have been learning to write a story about A Perfect Spring Day in my opinion. I had to think about the weather, what I would do and about my senses. It also had to be in the present tense. I decided to make t rhyme because I realized the first 2 sentences could rhyme so I did it for the the rest of the text.

Thursday 15 September 2016

Camp MERC Recount - Stack 'em High

Camp MERC Recount
Stack ‘em High

Filled with energy, I was quickly bobbing up and down in my seat, waiting for my turn for Stack ‘em High (The best activity at camp). While watching the others I was grinning widely. I had to put on my harness because it was almost my turn, which I could hardly wait for. Then it finally came.

Connecting me to the ropes was our instructor, Gus. I had seen so many pictures of other people doing Stack ‘em. It was the activity I so longed to do. I was jiggling a bit and smiling to myself.

After putting my helmet on, I finally stood on the first crate. That was easy. I stood on another and another and another. Eventually I reached.. 5? That’s when my legs started to wobble, and the crates did the same. I was passed the next crate by my parent helper and I stood on it. That was 6.

Aswell as all the other kids and our parent helper, my teacher was watching me. After making it to 7 my legs were moving so much. I had no idea how I made it to 7 crates. Other kids only got 5 or 6, and they weren’t as scared as I was.

With my legs still like jelly, the crates kept shaking. I didn’t know how long I could have kept this up. My teacher was still watching me. She said that I should just concentrate on the crates and trick my mind to stop thinking about how scared I was.

Trying to do what she said, I put my 8th crate on. I was so proud, but my heart was racing. Knowing that my parent helper, who was passing me the crates, couldn’t reach me anymore made me more scared. I don’t know why.

After standing on the 8th crate I was freaking out. Like, really freaking out. I was then passed the 9th crate. That was when my legs were really becoming uncontrollable. I stood on the 9th crate, swayed quickly and the crates were tumbling over like dominos.

After being lowered to the ground I was unclipped. I became alot calmer, and I was taking really deep breaths. I took my harness of and admired that I got to 9 crates! 1 crate away from the 2016 Camp record! It really was the best activity at camp.

My Reflection:

I have been learning to write a 'Show don't Tell' recount. Our class talked about everything your body does when your excited, relieved, angry, scary, nervous, brave and sad. We brainstormed how your body reacts to feelings. For this recount, we chose 1 activity from Camp MERC and wrote down what we did, how we felt, and how our body reacts to it. For example: Scared- Legs shacking. We then started drafting. After finishing we had to highlight all the parts of our recounts that make the reader work out how we are feeling - how we 'Show don't Tell'.

Thursday 1 September 2016

Mathletics First in the Country Certificate


This is my Mathletics certificate for first class in the country for Mathletics. Everyone is Room 20 got a certificate for it.

Wednesday 31 August 2016

What Makes me Odd


My class has been reading 'A Wrinkle in Time'. We were looking at the author's messages. We worked out that one of them was that 'being odd is a good thing'. So we did a follow up activity about what makes us odd. I have alot of things that are very odd about me so I found this easy. :) 




Information Report


I have been learning about the marine life issues and making a report. I was sick the days room 20 talked about it but I helped at the end. After finishing the reports all the groups shared their report. Then the other groups gave feedback and then they improved.

Mathletics Gold Certificate


This is my gold Mathletics Certificate for getting 20 bronze certificates :D

Tuesday 30 August 2016

Auckland Landscape Painting


My Reflection:
Room 20 has been learning to make an artwork of Auckland city. First we had to paint yellow, orange and red onto a blank piece of paper. We had to blend the colors to make it look like a sunset. Then we hang them all up to dry. Next we made the buildings and the sky tower. When everyone was making theirs I was sick, so I had to make it on a spare afternoon but I was very fast. After that I got a sponge and did the water with blue paint. Then I glued the buildings on and left it to dry. I chose not to do the grass at the bottom because I liked the artworks without it. I found it fun and easy and I would like to do something like this again.

Monday 22 August 2016

My Haiku Poem - Flowers


This is my Haiku Poem. I wrote it because we have Japanese students coming to our school on Thursday and this is a Japanese type of writing. :)

Thursday 18 August 2016

Making a Prediction

My Speech 2016 - Stopping Animal Cruelty

Speech 2016 - Stopping Animal Cruelty
Introduction
Would you rather be an 8 month old puppy, stolen from your owner then being burned, kicked, punched, forced to eat drugs and left to die, or be used as bull bait, have half your face torn off, get a broken jaw and then be left on the streets to die? Well, animals don’t get to choose. Infact, 7.6 million animals are taken into an animal shelters each year, so just imagine how many animals don’t make it, and imagine how many people get away with it! Because of cruel and heartless people, animals are abused through circus´, animal testing and people that think it’s okay. I don’t think it’s okay, and you will find that millions agree with me. Animal cruelty needs to stop right now!
Reason 1:
Animal testing
A very big part of animal cruelty is animal testing. We don’t need another soap, food ingredient or eyeliner at the expense of an animal’s life. Animals have to suffer through bleeding, poisoning, burning, and more. 92% of drugs that are tested on animals and succeed, are then tested on humans and fail. It’s pointless. People test on animals instead of humans because less people would miss an animal, which may be true, but if we didn’t test at all, then no one would die in the first place. Animals don’t forget how badly they are treated. They do have feelings. Why do you think animals protect their young? We need to stop animal testing as soon as possible.
Reason 2:
Pointless cruelty
Heaps of people, all over the world, think animal cruelty is funny. They don’t think about how they would feel if it happened to them. They don’t think about how tired, sad, hurt or scared the animals must be. Some people like to take their anger out on pets. Others just do it for fun, when it is pointless. Animals die because of cruel and unreasonable people. The 2 stories from my introduction were true! And there are many more other cruelty stories all over the web. Things like this happen way more then it should, actually, it should never happen at all!
Reason 3:
Circus’ and Rodeos
Another very big part of animal cruelty are because of circus’. Circus’ are a popular form of entertainment. But no one thinks about the animals that spend 97% of their life behind bars, the lions that have to jump through fire, monkeys on bikes and elephants standing on their hind legs.

The average circus travels about 48 out of 52 weeks every year. All the animals inside are shoved into tiny cages with only enough room to stand and turn around in.

And to top that off, they get physically punished if they do not do what humans want them to do. Fortunately, investigators have been secretly recording how humans get animals to do their tricks. Tight collars, bull hooks, whips, electric prods and other painful tools are used to punish animals until they can do the job right. Investigators have witnessed bruising, bleeding and even broken bones as part of the torture.
Conclusion
Imagine having any of these things happen to you. All those animals who will go the extra mile for you when you wouldn’t even cross the street for them. So instead of treating our animals like a worthless chew toy, why not treat them with respect. :)



My Reflection:

I have been learning to write a speech. First I had to do a brainstorm and put all my ideas on the paper. Then I chose what I would put in my speech and starting to draft. After that I took it to the teacher to proof-read. I then did some editing and finished it. I starting writing it last term and it turned out great. I am very proud and I have also been helping to edit/write speeches. Next week is the speech finals and I hope I made it :D

Friday 29 July 2016

Term 3 Week 1

Term 3 Week 1

This week is the first week back at school after the 2 week holidays. This is going to be the busiest term this year. Even though it's only the first week, we have already started art, cross country, netball, reading, a new novel, new SDL (check other Term _ Week _ to see what SDL is), bike skills and we are also preparing for Japanese buddies who are coming to our school in week 4. My highlight this week is art.

On Tuesday this week, we started a brand new art project called 'Dice Art' where you have a piece of paper and designs on it. When you roll the dice, whatever number you get, you will have to do a design on a blank piece of your paper.

On the first roll, you do the middle. On the second roll, you do petal kind of shapes. On the third roll, you do some sort of lines. Then on your last roll, you do some kind of different lines and weird shapes. After putting all the shapes together you get a flower. Luckily, you don't have to do only one of each, so you can use more than 1 petal on your flower and stuff like that. It would look really weird if you couldn't.

Some look way more realistic then others. Some look very strange, not like flowers at all. I kept getting the same patterns so sometimes I had to roll again. Some of mine looks like a normal picture of a flower. After doing all the rolling and drawing, I finished mine. I was one of the first to finish, or maybe I was the first. Not completely sure.

When I finished mine, I went over the drawings with a vivid. Now we are going to use pastel or dye to color it in. Most likely dye. Or both. We are still debating. :)

After I finish my art, it will most likely be posted on my blog. I am very exited and I think they are going to look really cool! :)

Friday 1 July 2016

Term 2 Week 8

The last few weeks we have been looking at and planning speeches. We have been choosing topics and brain storming ideas. My speech is going to be about stopping animal cruelty. It's a very popular topic but I am going to make mine stand out.

With ideas already down and many more in my mind, it will be very interesting filled with lots of facts. I am planning to have 3 medium-sized ideas and then my overall idea, stopping animal cruelty. I have thought about lots of things to put in my speech. One thing is stopping rodeos.

At rodeos, animals get hurt and tortured for entertainment. That's all. Entertainment isn't a need. But it's a huge want. People go to rodeos even when there are 1000 other ways to be or feel entertained.

After I have fully written my speech, it will be on my blog just like the other years. I am very excited and it's easy because I love writing.  :D

The Green Book - Problems and Solutions

 
Over the past few weeks we have been reading a book called The Green Book. As part of a follow-up activity we had to name the problems in a type of map and the solutions.

Wednesday 22 June 2016

My Reading Challenge 2016


This is my reading challenge for 2016. There are lots of different categories. Each category, I have to read a book. For example, one is 'A book with a one word title', so I had to read the book 'Thirst', well, I didn't have to. But you get the idea. At the end of the year I have to read a book from each category. I like reading and I am ahead of most people in the class at the moment. It's a really fun challenge but a bit hard.

Multiplication - Rounding and Compensating

 

Reflection:

I am learning to use rounding and compensating to solve multiplication problems. It was easy because I had already mastered addiction rounding and compensating. It took me a short time to finish it. My next step is to try harder questions.

Friday 17 June 2016

Term 2 Week 7

For the last 7 weeks, the year 4s, 5s, and 6s have been going to a class every Tuesday afternoon for Terrific Tuesday.  Each class that does Terrific Tuesday has their own category. The class I go to for Terrific Tuesday is Room 19, co-operative games. Each Tuesday we play board games with different people. We play different games every week. It's a really fun experience and we get to learn new games.

Some of the other categories are art, science and Japanese. This week or next week each category presents their work and what they did. Last year we did this as well, but it was called Fantastic Friday, which was on a Friday instead.

We all had to choose our Terrific Tuesday classes at the beginning of the term. We had to write down which one we wanted most, which one we would want if we couldn't do the 1st one, and then again with the 3rd one. I wrote down co-operative games which I got. :D

It's really fun to be able to take part in Terrific Tuesday and I really like my class. I would like it if we could do this again maybe in Term 4. But I think it's just once a year.

Thursday 16 June 2016

Grid Value Portrait

Last term our class started to make Grid Value Portrait, inspired by Chuck Close. We had to learn about value colours and how light or dark patterns can be depending on how close or far apart they are. We learnt about taking our line for a walk, making spaces on our paper to practise the different patterns we could use. We had to get our pictures taken while standing in a pose to copy off.

After the pictures were printed we got a piece of paper and we had to rule grid lines on it. After we ruled the lines then we did light patterns that were far apart for the white background. The pictures were black and white so it was easy to choose whether to do a light or dark pattern. After doing the background I traced my head and hair. That for me was about the hardest part of the drawing. I did the outlining of the whole picture first then I did the patterns. (the easy part)

Each square had a different pattern. We spent lots of afternoons and spare time finishing the art. It was hard to think of new patterns for every single square but I used the same patterns 2 or 3 times but not close together. After it was finished it looked really cool. But it did take a really long time. It was hard but I finished. (Eventually)

Wednesday 15 June 2016

Equivalent Fractions - My Learning



I have been learning about Equivalent Fractions. Over the weeks I have been given tasks to do and to learn about. I already understood some of it and needed help with other parts. Some of it was hard but most was easy. It was fun to make a google slide to show my work. I do not know what my next step would be because I do not know what else I have to learn.

Thursday 5 May 2016

Term 2 Week 1

This week we have been learning about making advertisements. We were in groups of 2-4, I was in a pair.

Our advertisements were about letting your children stay up and sleep in. We made stick figures with lines from Google Slides and shapes for the faces and objects. It was very fun to make them and to put little speech bubbles in with them.

We learnt about 6 techniques to making a good add. First was slogan, something catchy that stays in your head. The second one was Repetition, saying the same thing over and over to stick it into your brain. The third one was Emotional Appeal, making someone feel happy or sad for someone. The forth one was bandwagon, making someone will left out so they will want to do it. The fifth one was Testimonial, a preview from a happy customer. The last one was Expert Opinion, getting an expert to say a fact so people will believe it.

We used slogan, ours was 'Get 'em Happy!' and we used Emotional Appeal by making the children happy, sad and angry at different times. We kind of did bandwagon too, to make people sad that they can't have quiet and happiness unless they try it.

We were the first to finish all 3 steps, make advertisement, put on blog and write a reflection. We had lots of fun with this activity and our next step would be making more advertisements but with animation.

Wednesday 4 May 2016

Persuasive Techniques in Commercials



My Reflection

I was learning how to use persuasive techniques. We learnt about the different ways to hook our audience in and different techniques. We tried to make it interesting to watch and a little funny. We watched some advertisements to get some ideas.

We learnt about 6 techniques to making a good add. First was slogan, something catchy that stays in your head. The second one was Repetition, saying the same thing over and over to stick it into your brain. The third one was Emotional Appeal, making someone feel happy or sad for someone. The forth one was bandwagon, making someone will left out so they will want to do it. The fifth one was Testimonial, a preview from a happy customer. The last one was Expert Opinion, getting an expert to say a fact so people will believe it.

We used slogan, ours was 'Get 'em Happy!' and we used Emotional Appeal by making the children happy, sad and angry at different times. We kind of did bandwagon, to make people sad that they can't have quiet and happiness unless they try it.

We could improve by adding animations and making it funny. We could also use more of the techniques.

Wednesday 6 April 2016

Term 1 Week 10

Easter Egg Hunt!!!

Last week all the Year 6s had an Easter egg hunt! We were in teams of 4 and we had to get clues and we had to figure out where the clue was meaning. Some were clues and some were pictures, some were hard and some were easy. In our team I was kind of like the brains, I worked out what it meant and I unscrambled all the words.

Each clue or picture lead to a place in the school with a gold Easter egg hiding around the area, most of them were pretty easy to find, but some were very hard to find, one of them took us ages to find.

Once we found the letter we would go back to get it ticked of, then we would get another clue. We had a sheet to put our letters on so we knew which ones we had.

After we found all the letters we were very happy, I worked out what it said in no time, it said "Don't put all your eggs".

Then we were given more letters and we worked out what it said, Charlotte made it like this "Don't put all your eggs in basket". It didn't really make sence but we checked it anyway, it was very close but not right, then I had a closer look at the letters, I checked what letters we didn't use yet, I found n, o and e, then I said "I know what it is!"

I quickly wrote it down and got it checked, I couldn't believe it, we were FIRST! We were so happy! We said we would come at least 3rd but we got higher then that! Our prize was a whole chocolate bar and 2 medium-sized Easter eggs filled with about 5 or 6 skittles but they were actually just mini-m and ms.

"Don't put all your Easter Eggs in one basket"

Tuesday 22 March 2016

My Explanation



My Reflection:

I have been learning to write an explanation. The topic we were writing about was gender rolls in Maori culture. There were different steps, first I had to plan, next I had to draft, then I shared my work and saw a teacher to type it up, and then I edited and put it on my blog. I found it easy because I planned lots before I started drafting. My next step is to choose my own topic to use to write an explanation.

Friday 18 March 2016

Term 1 Week 7

Last week and this week on Thursdays we have been learning to speak Maori. We learned to say how we feel, we also learnt how to tell people who other people are.

We learnt different feelings we might feel. We used Maori dictionary to find out how to say Maori words in English. Some of them were Happy Harikoa, Sleepy Hiamoe, Excited Hiamo, Scared hopi, Hot Wera and Cold Makariri.

We learnt how to ask people who they are in week 6. Here is an example of a conversation:

Maori Translation:
"Ko wai ahau?" said Bob
"Ko John ahau," said John
"Ko wai ahau?" said John
"Ko Bob ahau," said Bob

English Translation:
"Who are you?" said Bob
"I am John," said John
"Who are you?" said John
"I am Bob," said Bob

We learnt how to ask people how they felt in week 6. Here is an example of a conversation:

Maori Translation:
"Kei te pehea koe?" said Bob
"Kei te pouri ahau," said John
"Kei te pehea koe?" said John
"Kei te riri ahau," said Bob

English Translation:
"How are you?" said Bob
"I am sad," said John
"How are you?" said John
"I am angry," said Bob

The other word we learnt was ingoa, which means name.

We will be learning more Maori through out the year, but this is all we have learnt so far in Room 20.

Wednesday 16 March 2016

Identifying Bias




I chose these parts because Koro Apirina was mad at Kahu when she couldn't help it. They seemed unfair and 'bias'.

My Reflection:

I am learning about Bias. In this activity I had to find the parts where Koro Apirana was angry at Kahu for no reason. This activity was easy and fact even though I wasn't at school on the main day that we learnt about it. My next step is to find the non-bias and make the activity more challenging.

Friday 4 March 2016

My Peer Mediator Process



My Reflection:
I have been learning how to be a Peer Mediator and use those skills to solve problems outside of school. We had a script and we performed a little skit with 2 people fighting and a Peer Mediator coming and helping solve the problem. In this video I was the Peer Mediator. First I introduced myself, then I asked if they wanted help to solve the problem, then I told them the 4 rules; no interrupting, no name calling or put downs, be as honest as you can and try to solve the problem. After they agreed, I ask the first person what happened and how they felt, then I did the same with the other person. Then I asked how the problem could be solved and then they solved it! Finally, they shook hands and were friends again! 

Thursday 3 March 2016

Term 1 Week 5

This term we have been doing something called Youthtown. Youthtown is a type of sports community that goes around to schools and plays games and sports with us. We have played a game called Capture the Flag with them.

Capture the Flag is a game when you are in teams and you have a territory, if someone from a different team comes into your territory, you have to tag them before they reach the ball (flag) or they might be saving someone that has already has been tagged, because if you get tagged you can't move unless someone from your team comes in and links arms/hands then you go back to your territory.

Sometimes the territories look like this, which is 2 territories:

Sometimes the territories look like this, which is 4 territories:



Youthtown is alot fun, and the staff have funny names like Megatron and B-rad. They have lots more fun games and they have cool orange shirts. They also have a cool van.







We have also been doing some cool art, by making portraits of ourselvs with different designs in squares, close together patterns made it dark and far apart made it light. We used the different shades to make our pictures. None of us have finished yet, but it's going to look very cool!


So that's what we have done so far in term 1, and we've got lots more that we have done and we will be working on.
       
   
 

Wednesday 2 March 2016

Favourite Sports of Students in Room 20



  • Some of the most favourite sports in Room 20 was Swimming, archery and soccer.
  • There were heaps of sports with 0, some of then were Netball, Basketball, sailing and hockey.


My Reflection:

I am learning how to make graphs in Room 20. The first step was talking about Asking a question, then collecting data, then organizing, then displaying, then analyzing. This means choosing a question, then asking everyone and collecting their answers (data) and  then setting it up so you can read it properly (organizing) then displaying, then getting the answers and sharing (analyzing). We made some graphs using our bodies, with questions like What is you Favourite Color? and stuff like that. Then we learnt how to make a graph on the computers. I found this quite easy because I've had experience. My next step is to make another graph that is more complex and awesome!

Tuesday 23 February 2016

The Whale Rider - Venn Diagram


This is my Venn Diagram for The Whale Rider.

It was a little tricky to think of ideas because we didn't read that much of the story, but at the same time it was easy aswell because I have done heaps of Venn Diagrams over the past year or so. My next step is to get more ideas down and to be more focused on the activity.

Wednesday 17 February 2016

First Day of School Description

Hello and welcome to my blog for 2016. I am in Year 6 and my teacher is Mrs Graham. One thing I want to do this year is become head girl. I hope you enjoy my posts and please leave comments.

My Reflection:
I have been learning to write a recount. First I made a plan and put all my ideas down. Then I wrote my ideas into a story in my draft writing book. I had to write my story into paragraphs. Then I typed it up onto a laptop and put it on my blog. It was easy but it took a while. My next step is to make it more interesting and work faster and harder. 

Monday 1 February 2016