Today for our summer learning journey we had to make our own Kowhaiwhai. I decided to do 3 different ones. I also decided to only colour 2 out of 3 because I couldn't be bothered to colour the big one in because if our whole class posted these we could go to the beach, so wish us luck! Maybe next time I could make this BTB (Better Than Before) by colouring the big one, but overall I think I did a pretty good job.
Today we had to do our Summer learning journey teaser. First we watched a video on what to do and then there was a link we pressed on which was a site that you could colour in famous pictures and art pieces. I chose the statue of liberty. I chose to do different colours because the original picture is boring and the pink goes well with all the other pictures.
For the past 2 days, we have been researching one of the hottest and coldest countries in the world, then making a DLO about them. I chose to do Burkina Faso and Jan Mayen. We had to try to find the average temperatures in those two countries, then we had to research them. I tried finding as much information as I could which was pretty hard because most of the things that it was telling me didn't make sense. I found this also fun because I like making DLO's and decorating them
For the past few weeks, we have been starting to learn how to make comics. Our teacher made us choose a story that we already knew and we had to turn that into a comic. The app that we use is storyboard that. I chose to do cinderella because I figured that would be easy. I really enjoyed this because it was fun to see how many backgrounds and characters there are. On Christmas Eve they came…
She had first seen them through the sitting room window, as she peeked out cautiously through a gap in the curtains.
Opening the front door, the little girl took a sharp intake of breath as thousands upon thousands of snowmen stared at her. Many of the small, white figures carried signs, written in different languages.
They must have travelled from all over the world to be here, on this special night of the year. But…Why had they come? What did they want? Why had they chosen her?
She slowly shut the door as they watched every movement she made. She peeked through the peephole in the door, but where were they? They aren’t there anymore. Her brain started spinning in circles, maybe she was just daydreaming. She sighed and turned back around heading to her bedroom. “Ahhh!” The snowmen were staring right back at her. Her heart was beating as fast as the broken clock in.
She sprints to the door and slams it behind her hoping the snowmen couldn’t catch her. She turns around looking at the door… The door stays shut. She sighs a sign of relief. She turns back around and once again the snowmen are staring right back with their beading eyes.
She screams “ What do you want from me?!!??” One of teh snowmen standing at the front turns it’s head and says “You don’t remember us?” Then all of a sudden memories flashback and she starts seeing pictures of her as a child building thousands of snowmans. “ We came back to visit you,” says the snowman. She answers “ I don’t want to see you again!!”. She doesn’t even hesitate to run into them whilst knockingall of them over. They’re all gone. But not for long.
Today our teacher chose a pobble for us to do. She chose a snowman one. The pobble already had a few paragraphs to start the story. Then everyone had to add their own story to finish it off. After we had finished writing the story we had to create our own snowman on our computers. I chose to make my story more of a horror story to make it more interesting. Maybe next time I could've made it BTB (Better Than Before) by adding a bit more detail to my snowman.
Today we were made to research about the celebration of Diwali and the history behind it. Diwali is a thing people celebrate every year. We had to also make a rangoli that is also traditional that they do on Diwali. I found this fun to research about because we got to make our own rangoli and I got to learn about the history behind Diwali.
Every week our class does a quiz with our house groups. After we have done the quiz we get to choose a topic to research about, that was on the quiz. Today I chose to do one about a space potty that NASA has made more suitable for women while in space. I tried to make this really good because whoever out of everyone in my class does the best research gets 500 house points. I found this really fun because this is quite an interesting topic to research about.
Here is our activity 3. We had to create a profile for Banksy. For the past few weeks, we have been looking at street art. This activity was based on Banksy and his experience with Street art and graffiti. I found this really fun because I learnt a lot more about Banksy and art back in the day. I think graffiti has many good and bad sides. I agree that street art and graffiti are very different things. Graffiti shouldn't be a crime all by itself but I think it should be a crime in many other ways. Lots of people use the term graffiti sometimes for vandalism such as someone writing stuff on a private piece of object. The difference between street art and graffiti is that street art looks more professional even tho both of them take a lot of time and effort. Usually, street art looks more realistic and mostly has more meaning. The man in the article should have been put in jail for the graffiti because what he did was illegal, just because they become famous artists after that it doesn't mean that they should have been put in jail.
Capture the flag
Capture the flag is a game filled with teamwork, invented in 1992. It originated on the battlefield at war.
To be able to play you will need 6-60 people. This game will take as long as it takes to find the flags. So around 10-30 minutes.
Equipment
2 cones/flags/balls/bean bags.
Something to represent each team's side of the playing area such as spray paint, tyres, cones, and more.
A big enough space to run around and to hide the cones/flags
Obstacles (optional)
Rules
An equal number of players in each team
When hiding the flags you have to make sure you can see a bit of them.
When guarding your team's flag you have to be 2 meters away from it.
When you get tagged you have to choose from 10 push-ups or 50 star jumps.
You can only tag the opposing team when they are on your side.
How to play
There are two equal(ish) teams that have to go off and hide their flag. Once they have been hidden you will run off to try to find the opposing team's flag. If you find the other team’s flag you have to try to run with it to your side of the playing area. But if you get tagged with the cone you have to drop it and choose from 10 push-ups or 50 star jumps, then run to your side of the playing area. If you get the opposing team's flag onto your side you win!
Tricks
When going off to hide the flag, try to go off in separate groups so that the opposing team doesn’t suspect where you are hiding your flag.
Guard somewhere where the cone isn’t so that the opposing team gets tricked.
Diagram of playing area
Valarie Adams is a four-time world champion shot putter. She is a New Zealand Olympic athlete. She was born in Rotorua, New Zealand. She has a personal best throw of 21.24 metres outdoors, and 20.54m indoors. Valarie Adams has been a shotputter since 2006 when she was 22.
Her height is 1.93m and she is 36 years old. She has 1 kid, who is 3 years old. She gave birth to Kimoana when she was 33. Valarie Adams has 3 siblings, Steven Adams, who is a famous basketball player, Lisa Adams who is also a shot putter, and Warren Adams. At the national level, she has won 15 shot put titles at New Zealand Athletics championships between 2001 and 2018, as well as having a hammer throw national title in 2003. From 2006 to 2012 she was chosen as the New Zealand Sportswomen of the year seven times.
For the past 7 weeks, we have been working on novel studies for the first time. My novel is called The Wind Singer. It is a book about how Kestrel dares to rebel, and the Chief Examiner humiliates her father and sentences the whole family to a harsh punishment. Kestrel tries to save her family and learns the secret of the wind singer, and she and her twin brother set out on a journey to the true source of evil that grips Aramanth.
This week we were challenged to make a News Report about the Ohau lake fire. We had to explain everything about how it happened, like when, how, who, and what. This took quite a while for us to complete but it was really the editing that was letting us down and maybe a bit of the script and bad acting. I think we did quite a good job with the costumes and creating the people that we interviewed. I also like how we stole Miss Farr's coffee cups because that honestly added a little spice to our News Report. Overall this was really fun to film and create. I would definitely not hesitate to say no to this if we had another opportunity. Maybe next to make this BTB (Better Than Before) We could've added some effects to the video when editing and make it look a little more like a news report.
Good sportsmanship includes being able to win a game without gloating, respecting others, and being able to lose without having a fit or being unfair. It's good to have good sportsmanship because it builds good teamwork, discipline and it also teaches respect.
Poor sportsmanship is where you have a fit when losing, arguing, being selfish, and more. That could lead to getting kicked off of the field or court, or getting banned. It's not good when you have poor sportsmanship, it also makes people look at you and think of you as a bad example. But anyways Bad sportsmanship is just a NO-NO.
I think good sportsmanship is very important because it makes you grow up to a good person and people will also look at you and see a very kind and respectful person. I hope from this you have leanrt a few reasons why you should be a good sportmanship. :)
On the Sunny, cold Tuesday morning at school, the years 6 and 7's arrived at school as well as the adults. We loaded our bags into the trailer and got into our vehicles. In my van on the way there, there was Bella, Emily, Aaron, Gus, Harlem, Caiden, Luke, Zakaia, Keil, and the driver was Kriston Keil's dad.
The Drive there
The ride there was pretty quiet and fun because we got to listen and sing to songs. We all stopped in Murchison to have a lunch break. Once we finished our lunch break we headed off to Wakefield/camp.
Arriving
We arrived at camp and there were only a few people that had arrived before us. The second we got there we ran out of our vehicles and unloaded our bags from the trailer. There was a guy named Quew and was basically the camp person that was going to help us with everything and explain our activities. The parents got to have a tour around the camp while the kids got to explore.
Activities Day 1
We went to our activity groups and started to do our first activities. My group (group 4) did Low ropes first, low ropes are where you try walking on ropes low to the ground with your team. Once we finished we moved onto our 2nd activity which was team initiatives, where you work as a team to get through different types of obstacles.
Lunch
We then had a lunch break where we ate baking that people brought for everyone to snack on. Basically, for the rest of the day, we got to have free time until top teams.
Top Teams
For top teams, we had to do 5 different challenges that included working with your team. My teams first activity was Water pipes where 2 people run to the pond to fill up the containers with water while the rest of the team cover the holes in the pipe so that the water doesn't leak. My team was vs team 3. We tied that one. Our second activity was the obstacle course, we lost that one. Our third activity was a barrel role, we also lost that one. Our fourth activity was the plank walking where half your team has to work together to get to the other side while walking one the planks. But guess what! We finally won one for once. Our fitch activity was Frisbee throw where your team lines up and you have to throw the Frisbee and if it hits a black pole you get extra points, but we lost that one.
After that, we got ready for dinner and we ate meatballs, spaghetti, salad, and rice. That was personally a really fancy dinner for camp. For dessert we had donuts, they were the best!
After dinner, we played a game of spotlight and then went to bed.
The next morning we woke up and had breakfast. I had a bowl of cereal. After breakfast, we started to carry on with our activities.
Day 2 activities
For day 2, group 4's activities were Team rescue and laser tag. Team Rescue is where you have to carry a mannequin on a stretcher through a whole obstacle course. Then we did Orienteering. Orienteering was pretty boring and it was hard to find all the symbols. After that, we did the burmer trail. Pretty fun cause you didn't know where you were going. I would be disappointed if you didn't know what laser tag but for the people that don't I'll explain, Laser tag is where you have guns that are connected to all the other guns. You have to shoot the other team, but if you get shot you have to go to the base and revive yourself with a box.
Lunch day 2
For lunch we had had burgers and wedges, they were amazing but almost impossible to finish eating.
After lunch, we got free time and then we were allowed to play on the slides and go swim in the pond.
For dinner, we had Butter chicken drumsticks and rice they were really good! For dessert we had Pavalova and moose, that was also really good!
For our night game, we did the burmer trail. A burmer trail is where you go in the forest at night when it's pitch black, and you follow a rope all through the forest. We did two rounds, the first round was just a normal one. The second one was called the ghost trail. It was the exact same track except there were parents hiding behind trees that would jump out and scare us or they would put spiky bushes in our face. That one was really fun although I got a bit muddy and my pj's dirty.
Then we went to bed.
The next morning we had breakfast and then we got ready for our day three activities.
Day 3 activities
For day three we had 4 activities. This was our last day doing activities. My group's (group 4) first activity was kayaking. Kayaking was really fun! Although it made your arms quite tired it was probably one of my favorites. I rate it a 9.5/10. Our second activity was archery. Archery was pretty boring and I wasn't that good at it. I rate it a 7/10. Our third activity was fire and damper. Fire and damper are where you make a fire and you have the dough. You have to find a stick to put the dough on. After you cook the dough on the stick there is cinnamon sugar and butter that you put on/in it. The damper was surprisingly good. But some of the dampers were a bit raw. I rate it an 8/10. Finally, our last activity was abseiling. Abseiling is basically the opposite of rock climbing, its where you go down instead of going up. When we put the harnesses on we went inside of the abseiling wall. There were tunnels and ladders all through it and we had to find our way up. That was really hard and funny because I got lost. When we reached the top we had to clip on a carabineer onto our harnesses. Then we made our way down. That was also one of my favorites. I rate it an 10/10.
For lunch, we had hotdogs and fries. They were really good and fancy. Although Lisa kinda put a lot on.
After lunch, we got to have our last swim in the camp. Luckily they opened the big blue hydroxide just for us! It was soooooo cold but it was also really fun.
After that, we got to take showers and get ready for dinner.
For dinner we had Nachos! The nachos tasted AMAZING, so far that was my favorite meal of the camp. After we had finished, for dessert we had Lamington. The lamington was alright because I don't really like a lamington.
Then we got into our groups and someone from our group pulled out a piece of paper, whatever it said in the paper was going to be the subject of our concert. My group was doing a play. We were doing our own version of red riding hood. It was really fun to make up although we probably got the worst subject. The other groups were really funny and good.
Then we went to bed.
The next morning we packed all our stuff and cleaned our cabins. Then we ate our breakfast. We loaded all our bags back in the trailer. We were supposed to be doing Iron man, but that involved Kayaking, and our teacher didn't want us to get wet because we were leaving soon. So instead we played a new game called get fresh. It was a game where you have to try tag people from the other team and get them to your jail. It was pretty fun even though I had no idea what Quew was talking about.
After that, we left back home!
My Class has started to do something new. Every Friday we get a topic that we have to research. This week's topic is Refugee camps. At first, I had no clue what my teacher was talking about because honestly, I didn't know a thing about refugee camps. I found this activity pretty fun because I love researching topics, but it was pretty challenging because researching it and trying to find all the facts is pretty hard. Next time I could maybe improve by adding a bit more information and adding a bit more color.
Japan is a small country with a huge population in Eastern Asia. It is a large group of islands that stretch from the sea of Japan to the Pacific Ocean.
Tokyo
Tokyo was originally known as Edo. The name of the city was changed to Tokyo when it became the new imperial capital. Edo was originally known as a fishing village. During the Edo period, Edo grew into one of the largest cities in the world. It is located at the head of Tokyo Bay on the Pacific coast of central Honshu, which is the largest main island and referred to as Japanese mainland.
Sports
Sports play a great role in Japanese culture. Sumo, Judo, and Karate are traditional Japanese sports. Baseball, soccer, and Rugby have been adopted from other cultures. The city of Tokyo has hosted multiple international events, including the 1964 Summer Olympics.
Holidays
In Japan the largest holiday is New Years because originally the Japanese celebrate Shogastu (New Years) during the New Year based on the Chinese Lunar calendar.
Coming of age day is a national Japanese holiday. It is celebrated on the 11th of January. Coming of age day is where Japan celebrates the day where they honor young Japanese who will reach the age of 20 at any point during the year.
The Emperor’s Birthday in Japan is celebrated because it is a national holiday in the Japanese calendar. Everyone that gathers in the palace greets with Japanese flags and cheers of banzai. The Emperor’s birthday is on the 23 of February 1960, he is 60 years old.
Geography
75% of Japan is made up of mountains. The mountains were barriers to transportation, stopping communities from mixing and limiting the economic development of isolated areas. 69% of Japan is forest.
Two Portuguese traders Antonia da Mota and Francisco Zeimoto ( possibly a third named Antonio Peixoto) landed on the island of Tanegashima in 1543. They are first documented Europeans to set foot in Japan. This is important because they were the first Europeans to set foot in Japan.
Japan is an archipelago which is an extensive group of islands, but only four islands out of all of them make up the majority of Japan’s land area.
Culture
In Japan, people eat KFC on Christmas day. Every Christmas season, an estimated 3.6 million Japnese families treat themselves to KFC, and it became a nationwide tradition. Japan’s Christmas KFC tradition began in 1974. People think it was like another way of having a Christmas turkey dinner.
This week for the word of the week, our word was Ascending. This was not challenging at all in my opinion because I already knew what ascending meant. Maybe next time to be BTB (Better than before) I could maybe put a bit more color and effort.
Today we have been exploring current and voltage.
Current is the way that electrons move through the circuit, the current is measured using amps.
volts or voltage- The volts or voltage is the force that makes the electrical current. The higher the voltage the brighter the light or louder the buzzer.
This week for literacy my group and I had to create a timeline of the NZ wars from back in the day. We got most of the information from our literacy book called Nga Pakanga o Aotearoa/the New Zealand Wars. From making this timeline I have learnt a lot of this from all the wars back in the day. I found this activity very challenging because it was really hard to go through the book and try finding information for 14 different slides. Next time I think I could improve by maybe putting a bit more information and color.
For the past few weeks we have been working on ecosystems. Today we had to design our own ecosystem and build it how ever you want I chose to make my ecosystem:Amazon rainforest and I tried to add as many things as I could. I found this challenging because I had to use lots of different things to make my ecosystem. I found this really fun because I really like making things and creating things. Maybe next time I could improve by adding a lot more things and adding more colours.
This week we have been working on ecosystems. Today’s ecosystem activity is a possum habitat, we had to draw or make an example of what a possums habitat looks like. Also we had to answer and explain how they got here in New Zealand and the back story. I found this pretty easy because I know a lot about possums kinda and reading the book first made it a whole lot easier!
This week’s subject for literacy is Ecosystems. For today’s ecosystem activity we had to draw and label our own ecosystem. This was pretty challenging for me because drawing all of the things in my ecosystem took a while and a lot of effort to draw. I found this a bit easier because I did a brain storm with my dad before we made the poster. Maybe next time I could improve by adding a bit more colours to every thing.