Samoan Language Week

 

As it is Vaiaso o le Gagana Samoa (Samoan Language week) LS1 and LS2 embraced the Samoan culture by learning certain phrases and cultural beliefs. Today we created a DLO explaining what the coat of arms of Samoa is and what it symbolises and what the Samoan flag is and what it symbolises. The most interesting I found out about Samoa was that they gained independence on June 1st 1962. I also enjoyed reading the motto on the crest. It is Fa'avae i le atua Samoa. It translates into 'God be the foundation of Samoa.' The theme this year is Alofa atu nei. Alofa mai taeao. It means Kindness given. Kindness gained. 

Art Tech - Last Session

Today was our last session of art tech and to end a great orientation we learnt about jewellery boxes from the maori culture. The jewellery box from the maori culture is known as a waka huia. A traditional waka huia consists of feathers from the huia bird and has cultural maori patterns. Contemporary on the other hand does not have feathers from a huia bird and nor does it have carvings. Prices also differ because of the authenticity and the age. We were asked to create sections of the waka huia. The photo above is a Kiwi who is sticking his beak in ferns. That is the lid of my waka huia. A waka huia usually holds green stone pendants and special jewellery. The waka huia is similar to the Japanese himitsu bako. I really enjoyed learning something about a culture and it was fun being taught by Mrs Telefoni. Mrs Telefoni is without a doubt one of the best tech teachers I had. Thank you Mrs Telefoni for a great orientation.    

Animal Charts - Bar Graph

This last three weeks students have been missing quite a bit of work because we were usually out of school. During catch up time Alex, Ofa, and I worked together to create the task above. The task was based on two graphs, They were based on animal lifespan and the speed of the animals. While doing this activity we learnt a lot of new things because most statements were true and only a few were false.

Fraidoon and Alex - 5 year Salary

For this task I worked with Jeremiah and together we attempted to figure the problem out, at first we were confused by the bonuses that we needed to add on every year and after that we were confused by the adding of the money, the person who made the most money in five years was Fraidoon. The margin was closing because Alex had a higher bonus than Fraidoon.

Fence Post - Word Problem

Today during math time the task was to finish off any work that needed to be done (And blog it), I worked with Alex to finish the problem. The equation was quite easy to figure out because all we needed to do was count the number of fences (7), the number of fence posts (8) and for every fence times 8 by 1 (Meaning, 8 x 1, 8 x 2 etc for every fence- which made us end up going to 8 x 7). After that we continued writing about how we solved the problem. 

Popular Travel in Secondary and Primary School.

Our set rich task was based on how students from primary and secondary students get to school in England. The options were either: walking, taking the bus, driving, biking, taking the train, or other. The main transport for pupils from primary school is the car. Their are many answers that could be right but we think that parents are being protective and they do not trust the world or their kids. On the other hand secondary students most popular travel is the bus and the reason might be because parents trust their children because they are older and more trustworthy. Overall the most popular travel method is walking because it is more environmentally friendly, is good for physical and mental health, and kids can interact with their friends. After this, everyone was asked to do a survey about how Ms Kirkpatrick's math group gets to school. The most popular travel is car and then followed by walking. Car is probably more dominant because some students come from long distances and it is faster to get to school in a car. For this activity we showed our findings using a pie chart that is sorted by percentages. We then outlined the differences and similarities between the two charts. A percentage is an easy way to see the proportion of a whole.

Speech Differences

 

 Today for writing, we created a conversation between two people that contrasted between formal writing and informal writing. My conversation was between two friends and one did not attend school when an important presentation was due. The difference between the two pieces was that on the right their are speech marks meaning it is the more formal piece of writing. 

What Is A Metaphor

This term we have been looking at a range of different poems from many acclaimed writers such as David Hill. This week we read a poem called seasons. It talked about how the looks of a tree changed due to the seasons and the end sentence was a representation of a time loop. This poem consisted of a lot of metaphor so it was only suitable we learnt about this particular literary device. A metaphor is a literary device where you use a phrase or word to compare a thing or an action without using the words like and as. People often confuse it with a similar one called a simile. e.g. the girl was a cheetah.

Integrity - Kiwi Can

Today we revised the theme of integrity and the topic making good choices. To get us more energetic we played an energiser called protect the Jedi. In this game a person was selected to be our Jedi and the only safe place for them was in a hula hoop. It was a variation of dodge ball but instead we used football balls and that the Jedi could save you and you can continue playing. After that we created a hypothetical situation that could be solved by making a good decision. Kiwi Can is a great opportunity to get out of doing daily school work and it is a very fun and innovative way of learning.

Rippa Rugby - Kiwi Sport

Today we had our first session of Rippa Rugby. Today we really enjoyed the session because we played games that taught us the simple rules of the game. Today we played games because it gave Hamish (The instructor) the time to evaluate our skills and what we need to work on. Overall, everyone worked as a team, showed excellent sportsmanship and just enjoyed ourselves. Everyone also respected each other and the instructor. The one thing I really did not personally enjoy was passing the ball up and down the line.

Walk To School Poem - Juxtaposition

This week we have been looking at a poem called Two Day Wonder by David Hill. For the first activity we listed words that had similar meanings to the words: sick, sad, depressed or bored. Secondly, that we did the same thing with the words: well, happy, bright and active. After that we listed five opposite situations such as The world yawned and grumbled - the world shines and dances. This is called juxtaposition. Juxtaposition is when you have two different situations then put them side by side to create a contrasting effect. Lastly we wrote our own version of a poem similar to David Hill's but for this one it was based on our way to school. The DLO on the top is the poem. Reading a poem with low level words such as sad and happy can be very boring. To help us discover more vocabulary and to help us make our poem more powerful we used a cline. This is a resource that helps develop better words.

Jacinda Ardern - Gold Attitude

Jacinda Ardern is the New Zealand Prime minister and is an inspiring women. When she was introduced to politics by her aunt she has been blatantly expressing her political views in places like Israel. This aspiring women had to overcome huge obstacles such as criticism from the opposition and the judgement of the public. People have also opposed to the fact she will be giving birth in the near future. Jacinda has had a seat in parliament since 2008 and was also able to advise Tony Blair (Prime minister of England 1997 - 2007). In 2017 Jacinda Ardern led Labour into victory by Winston Peters (N.Z. First) and James Shaw (Green party) to side with her in a coalition to form the next government. She is the second elected female prime minister of New Zealand and is well respected by people of all ages but received most of her support from the young people of New Zealand. She is also the youngest prime minister in the world.

Skeletal System - Anatomy

Today we played a game that will help us get a better understanding of the human body and the skeletal system. In the game we had to place the bones in all the right places. This taught us the places and the jobs of the bone. I have learnt a lot from this part of inquiry. For example the spine is the support we need to stand up and another example is the cranium protects our brains from more severe damage. 

Harry's war

 Harry's war is a story about a reluctant soldier who was known as a Conscientious Objector. A conscientious objector is someone who refuses to join the armed forces because of belief or because they do not support war. It is also about how they were forced into fighting. When they arrived at Salisbury, England the war was over and there were no boats to take them home. After that they rioted for two days so the generals made them make a kiwi known by the name the Bulford kiwi. For the activity we created two DLO's that helped us understand the text better.

KiwiCan Reflection

Yesterday we went to KiwiCan to revisit the topic of integrity. Integrity is when you make good decisions even when no one is looking. To make learning about integrity we played a game called captain ball. Unfortunately my team was the first to be eliminated. After that we went on to talking about some good decisions and not so good decision. This week we only received 20 points.

Tech Reflection

At tech Mr Pineda was teaching us about light, shade and shadow. For the activity we drew shapes then we added a light shade when the sun is facing the side of the shape and a dark shade when the side of the shape that faced away from the sun. After that we added a shadow to make a more realistic look. To make the shadowing and lighting more prominent we blended colours such as green and blue.

Maths Age

This week for maths the task was to create a DLO on an age problem that needed multiplication to solve it. For this activity I worked with Fraidoon and Alex. At one point we were confused because we thought that it  Peter was 4 years younger than Jack and we all debated on the answer. After a while of searching to find the fault we finally found the answers to the question.

Kiwi Sport - Miss Morris

Today Auckland sports did not come so Miss Morris volunteered to coach us. For a warm up we passed the ball down a line but nothing is fun without a bit of competition so we were separated into two teams then it was a race. After that we went on the court and played ball tag. Thank you Miss Morris for the great session.

Mrs Gren

          

For inquiry we have been learning about Mrs Gren. Mrs Gren is a mnemonic that helps people remember the attributions of a living thing. Mrs Gren stands for movement, respire, senses, growth, reproduce, excrete, and nutrition. We also learnt fire is also not a living thing because it does not possess any senses. We will be learning about this because this term we are learning about body systems and this week we learnt about the lungs. 

Homonyms

Homonyms are words that have a different meaning but still is pronounced and spelt the same way. For example lying can be used in other ways besides someone telling a fib. Another way lying is used is a dog is lying down. Homonyms are sometimes confusing to people like the words minute and minute. Minute means small but also can be a measurement of time. To complete the DLO I worked collaboratively with Alex and Ofa.

Lung Capacity Comparison Chart

To compare the lung capacity of pupils in LS2, we used one breath to blow up a balloon. After that we then measured the circumference of the balloon in cm's. After that we could graph the results so we can compare them. I learnt a lot from this activity including the range was between 44 and 68 and that the majority was in the 50 cm. I also found out that balloons are also a huge problem to our environment. 

Sailing

On Wednesday me and 22 other students got the opportunity to learn how to sail. The instructor was an Argentinian women named Maria. Firstly we had to assemble the boat. It is definitely easier to be said than done. Next we learnt how the parts work. Before we went in the water we paired up and I chose Tiava. I was usually in charge of the sail and she was in charge of the rudder. I enjoyed playing the games and jumping from one boat to another but my favourite part was sailing solo. I was going faster by myself and I was more organised. The hardest part was actually putting on the wet suit. It was actually really difficult but we had fun. We had a lot of fun but the most important thing about going sailing is wearing a life jacket because It could save your life. Thank you to Mr Ogilvie who organised it, the instructors that helped out and Mr Johnston and Ms Kirkpatrick that supervised us while we were down at Okahu bay. Also thank you to Mrs Colenbrander for being our nurse.

Unfinished Drink

For poetry we looked at a poem written for a fallen soldier who never returned for his beer. Pvte. La Tour Mollet d'Augvergne AKA Ted bought a drink from the Waihao Fork bar. At 7:20am a whistle was blown to let the soldiers know the train is departing. Ted told the bartender to keep his drink and he will return to drink it. Sadly, on Monday 2nd of June 1941 which means he did not return to finish his drink. The bottle is kept at the bar he purchased it in and is now surrounded of poppies. This poem is an emotional poem that made me feel happy. I feel happy because the memory of this great man lives on. Another reason I feel happy is that this man has his own memorial which means he is remembered for his deeds not anyone else.

Hineahuone

For inquiry we will be learning about the body system and to incorporate traditional Maori stories Mrs Anderson has prepared an inquiry about the Maori belief of Hineahuone. In Maori myth Hineahuone was the first lady created. She was created because the gods created an immaculate earth but their was no one to enjoy it. So Tane Mahuta molded Hineahuone out of the red earth. The impressed Tāwhirimātea whispered "Take my breath, and give her life." Tane then bent over the women he made and breathed deeply. The woman's chest moved and she sneezed. "Tihei" the god's were ecstatic. Today the hongi is a traditional welcome that came to be because of the story of Hineahuone.

Skating

Today students in LS2 were given an amazing opportunity to have a go at roller skating which was taken by Puna from Skate land. She has taught us how to stop and how to get up safely. It is very important to get up as quick as you can because you can scare people out or hurt you or others. After all the collisions and falling over the instructor held races. The winner of all races then faced off. Zane was the top skater followed closely by Chavda. Thank you to Mr Ogilvie for organising this.

Three Places Where you Can find an Unknown Soldier

For this book study we looked at a sophisticated picture book written by Gary Crew and illustrated by Shaun Tan. The book is called 'Memorial' The story is about a young boy who learns about the long line of war service by his old pa, grandpa, and father. One thing I really enjoyed learning from this story is about the unknown soldier. To held develop an understanding about the importance of the unknown soldier we were asked to create a google slide about three different places where you can find the unknown soldier. My partners and I chose, Budapest, Washington D.C., and Auckland. The unknown soldier was created to honour the fallen soldiers that were not identified. Click here for the whole presentation.