SLJ Week 1 Activity 4

3 Facts I found about dragon flies are that..

they have been around for over 300 million years.

dragon flies don't usually sting or bite.

it is considered good luck when one lands on your head.

L.I: To create a piece of insect art. 

Inspired by art creations Raku Inoue we went outside and collected leaves twigs and other plant debris to create our own insect images. I found it quite hard to let my imagination flow once I had all the items because my options were limited by the items. But I did enjoy using the plants because it was something different for me. Have you interacted with a dragon fly before? 

SLJ Week 1 Activity 2

 

L.I: To create your own comic strip of an imaginary conversation.

This comic strip shows a conversation I created between these two people after one of the men had sneezed and had his teeth fall out during a fishing trip.Because it was a short silent movie, I had to infer what was being said by the expressions and what was going on. I found this activity fun and I enjoyed using my imagination to make them have their own conversation. I think most other people might have the similar idea of what is being said. 

SLJ Week 1 Activity 1

 LI: To collect materials needed to successfully complete our weekly superpower building missions with Nano Girl. Today in LS2, we worked together with our Year 4's to help them complete their first Summer Learning Journey activity and blog post. PBS are still at school this week so finding some of the materials we needed for our treasure hunt was easy. Our challenge is going to be able to find all the materials we need at home now. I found this activity exciting because and now I'm really looking forward to the rest of the activities and what is to come. Were you able to scavenger all of the supplies on the treasure hunt list?

Our Christmas Decorations

A few weeks ago the class first started planning holiday sewing designs for our client, Mr. Johnston, to festively decorate our school Christmas tree displayed in the office. Using different equipment and materials, we were able to make our designs happen. The main requirements were: the size to be 10cm x 10cm, and be able to hang on the tree. And to make the design look aesthetically pleasing: patterns, colour scheme, shapes, essential features. I chose Christmas, and my first idea was mini Christmas tree and the end results were even better than what I had in mind. The first sample (original) turned great due to the days of practicing and experimenting before hand, and so I made a couple more copies. My design required colored felt, gold sequins, colored cotton thread, a needle, and the traced cardboard pieces for the shapes. 

The strengths of my product is that everything is I've used a logically color pattern between the sewing and felt making it look good, and that it's very easy to tell what it is. My product also meets my original criteria in the way it met the circumstances and came out better than expected. I did have to change some material and they way it was attached but nonetheless, it worked out in the end. So it wasn't really hard to make it all although I was almost completely new to doing anything like this, we did a lot of planning and practicing like mentioned d before. I definitely am please with the finished product because it looks like the Christmas tree I intended. Something I might do differently next time is to be prepared for not having all the essential accessories and be opened to try something new with my design.

Overall, this whole experience was an amazing learning opportunity and turned out to be so fun.

Pourquoi Story Animation (Why Flamingo's rest standing on one leg)

 L.I To create pourquoi story using our creativity. This week for writing we have been creating pourquoi stories. A pourquoi story is a narrative explaining why something is the way it is. We chose our own topic to write about and used the writing framework, when we finished writing in our framework we got started on our animation. For our animation we had to tell the story using drawings. Our story was about why flamingos rest standing on one leg, it was about how flamingo's used their popularity as a way to show off. I worked with Florence to get this pourquoi story completed. We enjoyed making thi sas it was fun to use our imagination

Probability Tree

 LI: To use probability trees to find the chances of an event. This week in Math, Sakina, Haylee and I worked together to solve probability questions. We were given three different math word story problems to justify the answer of the probability with our working out. We then created a DLO of one question and explained our thinking with the probability tree method. We enjoyed working these equations out as we tried used a different strategy and learnt a new strategy. 

International Current Events

L.I: To identify author's purpose.
Last week, we explored national current events meaning news about what is happening in New Zealand, right now. This week for Reading, we are now looking at the current events happening in the world around us. We created a map and pin pointed the events we found on kid friendly websites (Kiwikids News, NZ Herald, Radio NZ, Kea Kids News) and thought about what the authors intention writing them was, and how these articles make the viewers react. Something interesting I was able to see from observation is that a chunk of the plots on the map are in the United States region, meaning the country spikes an interest from people all around the world.

Exploring our national current events

 L.I: To identify authors purpose.
Authors write for a purpose and it could either be to persuade, inform, or entertain. This applies to the newspapers and articles we read everyday, to keep up with what is going on around us. Today for reading we explore the different types of current events that are happening nationally to understand why the story was made. Using 'google my maps' we found out about the news on kid friendly websites and plotted where each of these places were happening with a short explanation that also tells what it might be. I worked collaborative on this DLO with Florence, Vayan, and Ellenora.

Provocation: Should masks be compulsory on NZ public transport?

L.I: To identify and consider the two perspectives of this provocation to help me form an opinion.

A provocation is an action or speech that triggers strong feelings about a topic. Today in groups for reading, Name, Name, Name and I thought about both sides of the provocation, ‘Should masks be compulsory on NZ public transport?’. We used our smart searching skill and information to help us form an opinion that we could justify with evidence and provide strong evidence for each opinion. On November 19th, masks are going to be required to use on public transport (buses, trains) My opinion is undecided, but my stance on this is that I agree with the objective of the masks in the way that it is to provide safety and assure that the diseases cannot be transmitted, but also that we should consider the certain requirements for this new rule.

Charge of the Light Brigade (The Crimean War)

 L.I: To learn about the Charge of the Light Brigade.
This week for Reading we learnt about a narrative poem called ‘Charge of The Light Brigade’ written by Alfred Lord Tennyson of the Crimean war which takes place in the 1753 - 1856. We tried unpacking each stanza and thinking about the literary in them and then creating a collaborative DLO summarizing what we've learnt about the Crimean War and the poem itself. I worked with Florence.

The Gunpowder Plot

Today I worked with Densyn and Lisea from Room 5 to learn about the Gunpowder plot and summarise the event in order to think about the Safetys of Guy Fawkes day coming up tomorrow and the story behind the reason this day is celebrated. After listening to the story first, we thought about some words with our buddies and created a short summary using the 'Summarise' activity we do in our reading and writing that helps us think about the story more.

Te Reo Maori Challenge

 

For the past weeks we have been completing our colloborative and interactive Te Reo challenge. This te reo challenge is where you create an animation that explains the different body parts. I chose to use Powtoon as my platform to create my animations. I worked with Florence to get this animation completed. I enjoyed creating this animation as it gave me a chance to try a new site out and learn new words in a different language.

Finding the Highest Common Factor & Lowest Common Multiple

LI: To be able to find the LCM and HCF

This week for Maths our focus has been to find the lowest common multiple and highest common factor. Our challenge was to practice with different numbers and create a DLO explaining our learning. Haylee, Florence and I collaboratively worked on defining the highest common factor and lowest common multiple. In our DLO’s we’ve included what the highest common factor is, how to find the HCF, what the word factor means and an example of finding the HCF. We all enjoyed working together to create this DLO and liked how we could revise on this math area. We all feel a lot more comfortable working and finding the lowest common multiples and highest common factors.

Why is it important to make wise choices?

Why is it important to make wise choices?

How do we make wise choices? We are given opportunities and situations where it is most important for us to make a wise choice, but how could a simple ‘yes’ affect our future and what are the consequences? As an appropriate example, the illegal use of drugs has been a negatively impactful and controversial issue on society, especially towards vulnerable minors in this type of scenery. Therefore it is difficult to listen to our conscious and gut feeling, and give into the peer pressure.

Over half of college students' health are influenced by drug and alcohol consumptions, or have been associated with illicit drug abuse. Many young students are exposed and tolerant to drug use as well. But putting our life and future into someone/something else's hands is dangerous, and unfair. They destroy our body systems, and going down this pathway takes away from our lifelong opportunity and experience. What would you do if a relative offered you a drug? What would you say? How would you say it? Think again. Ask yourself why. Situations like this, is when we need to make a wise choice.

Making a wise choice is paying attention to the circumstances, the options you’re given, and thinking about facts/affects. It’s important we listen and put ourselves first in situations where we are the ones taking the bullet. By not letting stress or our emotions decide for us and giving ourselves time if possible.
This also means it’s so important of who we surround ourselves with. Being skilled at making good decisions for ourselves increases our chance and value in our future.



L.I: To write an explanation.
This week for Writing, we created an explanation in 40 minutes, about making wise choices and using an issue/topic where this applies and which I used, drug/alcohol consumption. This also helped us practice and remind ourselves about what an explanation is and stretch our brain and fingers to be able to write one again. This is almost a preparation for our real writing test sample for next term. We began with 5 minutes of planning, and not only 'DRAFT'ed afterwards but also talked with a buddy to help us expand our vocabulary and our text, to think about our writing more.

If I were Prime Minister..

1. 'Multicultural education resources/opportunities to create a culturally diverse setting in our learning, and will allow us to expand our bases with social structure and cultural concepts to be more connected, comfortable, and in touch with our environment.'

L.I: To think deeply about a change I would make.
On the topic of politics and the election coming up, this activity made us think out of the box. We were to say one thing we would change if we were prime minister, to better New Zealand and why. Something that I was able to come up with seeing as this is a very difficult question, is an adjustment that would improve New Zealand education. I'm very passionate about school, and since this would be an appropriate topic, I've used it in my activity.

Who will get my vote?

L.I: To decide which political party will get your vote by making an informed choice.
Coming up in October, we have New Zealand's general election and for this week our inquiry activity was to make an informed choice on which party/candidate we are voting for with our reasoning as to said party/candidate. To make a decision we did our own research and got help to think about the policies of each party that also resembles our values by looking at each parties policies and beliefs. Being stuck between two political parties, I've chosen to vote and create my DLO on the Green party. Though, the two main/major parties are Labour and National. The gripping factors that have helped me make this decision, are those resembling policies that support and back my outlooks to only better our country. In my DLO, I've written two important topics to me, and chose examples of those policies that Green party underlines with to showcase how their views resemble mine. Also three Green party achievements that are simple yet compelling and explain what they're party is all about. And I then speak about why I support their party in general. 

DARE: To make a choice

L.i: To create a poster reflecting our learning of drug awareness.
Today we started off this week with the D.A.R.E (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) programme, and strived to become educated on drug consumption. What we were told at the beginning of the lesson and reminded is that we are the most important people in our lives. So we got into small groups and my role as the leader of my group was to encourage them to participate and share ideas so we can learn collaboratively in a comfortable setting to make stronger connections. Ong, Lukah, Sakshi, and I discussed all types of drugs among each other and thought about which ones were illegal - legal and how harmful they were. We also looked at different situations where bad drugs can really affect/change our lives and we are the ones to make sure we stay safe and make the right decisions. We re-capped and got into pairs to create a poster that answers four questions all to do with what we've learnt.

Food Tech

This week Friday the year 8's continued food technology at Tamaki College with Mrs. Heka. Today we made Corn fritters with salad and sweet chili sauce in small groups/pairs. The recipe for this dish consisted of flour, baking soda, canola oil, eggs, corn, milk, spinach mix salad, and sweet chili sauce. We started getting out our equipment for the day and putting on our apron. While I stirred our dry ingredients in a medium bowl with a 1/3 cup of flour, and 1/2 tablespoon of baking soda, my partner Haylee whisked well 2 eggs, and 1/4 of a cup of milk in the large bowl. After a good mix, we added them into the large bowl and created a quite liquid paste. We made sure all those clumps were broken down and well combined. We added a whole can of sweet corn and put 1 tablespoon of oil onto the cooking pan. Using a ladle spoon, we created mini pancake like shapes and let them fry until a nice brown. Before topping them, we added a spinach mix salad and drizzled sweet chili sauce over the top. We all really enjoyed today's simple recipe.

Maori Language Week (History & Whakatauki)

This week for Maori Language week name, name, name and I created a DLO about the history of New Zealand, some interesting facts, and we chose an example of a Whakatauki to share through a screencastify. In this DLO we have included all about the history of Maori Language Week and where it began. A Whakatauki is the Māori proverb or poetic and metaphorical expressions that reflects on thoughts, advice or values from past generations. We’ve enjoyed working collaboratively on this activity as we were all able to gain a better understanding of the Maori language and the history of their culture. 

Te Reo Maori - APP

 This week is Maori Language week, and Florence and I have created an interactive presentation in the format of an app to help others practice and learn Te Reo Maori. We've made it easy for others to use, with quick links and English translation. Our app is exciting and interactive with an a quiz at the end to test your knowledge. The subjects we've chosen to include in our 'app' is colours, numbers, days of the week, and more information about New Zealand. This collaborative group challenged encouraged us to take a look at the language and useful words we could also learn about.  

Tuakana Teina

This week Rm 2 joined our class upstairs to buddy up with an LS2 student for Tuakana Teina. We created beautiful string art panels appreciating Maori culture but including traditional designs, patterns, and drawings. Tuakana Tiena is our school ways of having the senior classes show an act of leadership and being a role model by also build connections with our younger friends through learning and using our knowledge from experience to help them. This was a creative, and fun way for us to contribute to Maori Language Week for today while having this time with the juniors. My partner, Sophie, and I worked very well together to complete our collaborative artwork which turned out amazing.

Natural Disasters: What to do in a Volcano Eruption

For this online learning reading activity we created instructive and informative DLO's on a chosen natural disaster and what to do incase of one. I made a google presentation on Volcano eruptions, because I'd also learn about what to do in that situation. The first slide covers what a volcanic eruption looks like, why it happens, the signs and an example of when it happened in New Zealand. The second slide is a poster that tells you exactly what to do incase of a volcanic eruption. The point was to make it simple to understand, so I used a bright alerting color and bold letters. And the last slide talks about who to call and how we can make sure we stay safe and prepared for a volcanic eruption.

Scientist Research: Galileo Galilei | Physics

LI: To use smart searching skills to find out about a scientist from the past who made an important contribution to their field of science.

This week as an activity for distance learning in reading, name and I worked together to create a DLO on researching a famous physicist. We chose to learn about Galileo Galilei because his name sounded most interesting and we’ve never heard of him before. We’ve included some things that he is recognised for, some of his biography, and his life/childhood growing up. Something we found new was that he had the intentions of becoming a priest and studied camaldolese. Camaldolese is the Congregation of Monk Hermits of Camaldoli. Something we found interesting was he that he discovered the four moons on Jupiter. We enjoyed this activity as we never knew who Galileo Galilei was and what his professions were.

Helping Rm2: Manaiakalani Survey

This week LS2 helped the juniors with their servers. On Thursday we buddied up with the people from Rm2 and helped them fill out the Manaiakalani survey in the library. My partner was Noel and she was mixed with cook island. She was able to understand each question on the survey when I tried asking more questions to explain what they meant and did my best to make sure she felt comfortable. Afterwards we looked into Cook island culture for cook island language week. We learnt about everything she found interesting like the dances and colours and alphabet. It was really fun being buddies with Noel for this and I most enjoyed looking at the traditional cook island foods.

Dance Lesson #1

This week Thursday was our first P.E lesson: Dancing with Miss Rebecca. Today our goal was to try our best to let go and feel free when we are dancing. She tells us there is no wrong way to dance. Our topic is 'Me and my body'. But the first thing we did was warming up, to get our heart rate up and stretch. Miss Rebecca played music while we were all in a circle and got us to copy her and move around. I've learnt that dance is really expressive and creative. The music she played really helped me dance in different ways and with my friends. Next we did a freeze activity, where she played some music and whenever she paused it she would call out a thing/shape to make with our body; i.e stick or a star. Then she would start making it harder, by getting us to make these shapes with the people around us. We tried coming up with some unique ways to create shape/s with eachother. Our last activity was mixing into 4 groups and working together to quickly create a letter in the alphabet in 15 secs.

Science: Summarizing the text

What is Science?

Science is the knowledge we get from asking questions that help us understand the world around us. Science is divided into four main branches known as, Chemistry, Biology, Physics and Geology & Astronomy.


Chemistry is the combination of two or more types of matter to create a new type of matter, for example the combination of hydrogen and oxygen creating H2O or water. Biology is the study of life and living organisms like how your body extracts the benefits of nutrients to reduce risk of diseases and bacteria. Physics is the force and motion of energy surrounding us dealing with the matter of the universe, for example the electricity we use to power a light bulb and the gravitational pull of the earth. Lastly, Geology & Astronomy focuses on the structure of the earth and can also include the study of the solid features of any terrestrial planet or natural satellite such as Mars or the Moon. This also includes a study of celestial objects and phenomena.


There are two sorts of science: Basic and Applied science. Basic science is the discovery of new information. This science follows a cycle: asking questions, making a hypothesis, followed up by your experiments, and making a final conclusion (If your hypothesis were right) The other main category of science is called applied science. Applied science is more dependent on Basic science as it is the science of the utilities of what has been experimented on by using basic science.



L.I: To summarize the information.

This week for reading our focus is science. For this second activity my group and I skimmed and scanned our notes and shared ideas to create a collaborative summary explaining ‘what is science?’. We divided our lengthy summary into 3 following paragraphs: an introduction on science, the 4 main categories of science and the two types of science. We used a question dice that helped us with our learning and made us ask questions to help us think about our subject and provide ideas for our summary.

Life Education Trust

This week we had the life education caravan come to our school. The class was split into two groups to have separate sessions but we learned almost the exact same thing. Over all we had 2 lessons on Tuesday and Wednesday but I was only there for 1 of the lesson. In the caravan we met our Life Education teacher Nicole. In these sessions we learn about the human body, like the different systems that support our body which is what we did the last year that she came. In that lesson we went of the 4 walls of Hauora which we have been learning about in class. And in small groups we collaboratively wrote about the definitions of Taha Tinana, Taha Wairua, Taha Hingenaro, and Taha Whanau and some positive examples of what they mean. We watched an interesting video that showed us an example of how our the walls of our Hauora are affected by everything that happens to us. What I took from this lesson is that it's really important to look after our well-being to live a fuller life.

Science: Identifying the Main Ideas

LI: to find our 3 most vital ideas from the information answering the question 'What is Science'.

 This week for reading our focus is science. In groups we watched a YouTube video explaining physics, chemistry, and biology (the things that are connected to it) and why science is important to us. After watching it twice, my group and I wrote down notes about some of the information that we took and remember from the video. We negotiated on the most important 7 of the notes to separate from the rest. We left 4 of those notes as ‘very important ideas’ and picked out our 3 vital ideas. In our opinion we thought that the 3 most vital ideas were: Science is divided into 3 branches, Physics, Biology, and Chemistry. Basic science is knowing something and applied science is using what we know. Science is the knowledge behind every question.

The 4 Walls of Hauora Poster

L.I: To create an information poster that explains the 4 walls of Hauora.
This week we have been looking the 4 walls of Hauora (Taha Tinana, Taha Hingernaro, Taha Whanau, Taha Wairua) and what each one truly means. We have being doing different activities to in hance our understandings of Hauora and learn how to make sure we are looking after our well being. For this poster we used a website called canva.com, specifically used to create quality designs for work, etc. We use one of the templates and explain what each of the 4 walls mean. Above is what I have created, using different images, labels, and text.

Maths using negative numbers

L.I: To use the most efficient strategy to solve problems.

This week for Maths we have been working with negative numbers; learning how to add and subtract them. Today we answered a few maths word problems using negative numbers to test how comfortable we are and our understanding. We worked collaboratively in a small group with Sakina, Haylee, and Florence.

10-5-7-10-10 Writing

The Perfect Weather

“It’s a beautiful morning,” I say to myself aloud, standing by my kitchen window with a warm cup of tea. I over hear the weather predictions playing on the TV in the other room. Today sounds almost too perfect for a climb over a nice rocky cliff as I watch the bright morning sky fade away. I’ve heard a lot about a place, about 30 minutes away, that’s the home of high mountains and breathtaking views. My friends always talk about it whenever we go out, and I feel left out because I’m the only one who has never been. My mind drifts off as I imagine myself just one more push before I’m at the top. I’m out of the house by 12am and make a few pit stops before finally arriving at my destination around 1pm. I get the climbing gear out of my loaded travelling bag and take a long sip of my 3 litre ice cold water. I stop and stand, taking a heavy gaze grinning at the breathtaking view of mountains and the lovely backdrop of cloudy blues. I’m half way dripping sweat and gasping for air.



L.I: To use 5-7-10 to write creatively.

This week for writing we did another 5-7-10 challenge. But this time we talked about what was difficult and what we could change to help us write better. Everyone thought we needed more time to plan our writing first, and DRAFT at the end so we gave these 10 minutes. 5-7-10 is a form of quick writing. 5 minutes to write down your ideas, 7 minutes to talk about it with a buddy, and 10 minutes to detail and write more. But after doing some changes the order was 10-5-7-10-10. The story starters was about climbing a cliff, and we had to think about the emotions and other ideas that could be included or thought about when writing.

UV Light test with Zally

L.I: To design an inquiry to test predictions on effective UV filters.

This week LS2 has been trialing the electronic sensors for the Kiwrious experiment. Yesterday a few visitors, Suranga, Sonia, Evan, Dawn, and Yvonne from AHL at Auckland university came to our class room to conduct this for our reading/inquiry. This used censors, light, and our devices. The most effective filter the data shows from the green cellphone and paper tissue I tested today was the paper tissue that showed lower UV light index numbers as low as 0.1.

5-7-10 Writing

Story starter: Lightning never strikes twice, does it? That was the question that occupied their frightened minds as they crouched, huddling together, next the pile of dusty sacks in the base of the windmill… 

Now we’re stranded in the middle of nowhere, with our car that’s just broken down through half the way of our 8 hour road trip in Kansas. None of us know anything about how cars work or how to fix a tire, but neither did we want to call help. We weren’t prepared at all for the weather and probably would’ve never imagined ourselves in this situation. My friends and I try to find shelter just for the night or before the storms start moving closer and getting stronger. We scout an empty field around us and lose our hope until Tommy points out a windmill which at the time looked like our only option. We should’ve thought about it before grabbing something to keep us warm and heading over quickly. I guess we're too ignorant to realise windmills run on electricity.. All I remember is waking up startled from a large thud and spark that sounded way too close to the windmill.. Our hearts race as we hide in between the stacks, rethinking our choices.

L.I: To use 5 - 7 - 10 to write creatively.
Today in writing we did a small activity that warmed us in writing creative stories using the 5 - 7 - 10 strategy. We used a story starter which also gave us a few questions that helped us continue and carry on the story with our own story-line. I wrote the story in my point of view as if I was one of the characters. I really enjoyed doing this activity and working with my partner Florence to communicate and help improve each of our own stories. Mine is above.

Tech at Tamaki College (Coding)

This week Friday we went back to Tamaki college for coding with Mrs. Ferguson. It was my first day being back at tech, but the year 8's have done coding last year so I still have a lot of experience since then. So today we tried coding our robots to create a star shape. I got close to making one of the star points but I was struggling to get the angles and timing right. I had a lot of fun though watching Mrs. Ferguson tape markers onto our bots to see how accurate our bots were when they made the stars.

Solving with long division

L.I: To be able to explain the steps of long division.
This week in Math, we learned a new strategy called long division. This is used to solve all sorts of division questions using a certain process that breaks down the strategy in an easy way to understand. After we tested our understanding by solving a few questions and playing a game to try calculating the answers by ourselves. Florence and I worked together to create our DLO about how to do long division by using one of the questions in our maths book as an example. I feel very confident using long division and is one of the strategies I want to try including in my learning since it's actually simpler than it looks. Click the links below to watch the video in our DLO or play the game!

Math Antics - Long Division (Video)
Mathopolis Questions (Quiz)

Facts about light

L.I: To understand how light works.
For Inquiry Mr. Johnston has been coming to our class to teach us about light. Together me and Ellenora collected some of the information on Light and created a DLO with 5 facts. We've also done a few activities to experiment with the white light, such as creating a quick toy that shows us the 7 colors on a circular paper wheel with string through the middle that merges into white when it is spun really fast. And also putting transparent 3D square pyramids and triangular prisms where the sun beams, which is a form of light, and creating a rainbow. This activity was really fun and I enjoyed talking about it with Ellenora.

My Blog post Analysis 2020

This week in Maths we created graphs and analyses on our blog post data. We've been learning online throughout the COVID-19 lock down so it would be realistic to try and set a blogging goal for ourselves. I used the information of how much work I did in the years I've been blogging (2016 - 2020). We also found an average meaning the standard number out of all of did. To find this I divided the total amount of blogpost I did that year by the months I was blogging.

Evaluating - The Wahine

L.I: To read the information the text, think about what you have read and form an opinion.
This week in reading we looked at a book called The Wahine, a true story that records what happened during one of New Zealand's biggest maritime disasters. And later we got together to form an opinion on the text, and share our thoughts on what happened while having a learning conversation. We evaluate the different factors and who we thought was to blame. One of my questions after reading the text is..What happened to the captain?

My Kowhaiwhai Pattern

L.I: To design a kowhaiwhai pattern for our PBS blog.
This week we were challenged to create a Kowhaiwhai design the Te Reo PBS class blog. The first thing we notice about my design is the two dolphins. I thought about the environment around us, and most known about New Zealand. Dolphins resemble protection and good luck. And the swirls in a kowhaiwhai pattern symbolize new life, strength, and growth. I think this is a beautiful message for our school. I really enjoyed creating this design!

Summarising - The Wahine

L.I: To explain in fewer words what the text is about.
This week in reading Kakapo read about The Wahine disaster, and created a collaborative DLO to summarize what we learnt from the text in a few sentences. The story was based off true events, about one of the biggest recorded New Zealand shipwreck.

Maths Challenge Exponents

In maths we've been learning about exponents and trying to solve questions with these numbers in it. We practiced using exponents as a way to simplify an answer like 5 x 5 x 5 x 5 x 5 = 3125. The word problem about the Lernaean Hydra, is trying to get us to solve how many heads would grow in three to ten days of trying to kill it. 

Ta'ovala Maths Challenge

L.I: To find the most efficient strategy to solve the problem.

In this Maths Challenge we got into partners again to find out how metres of material would it take to make 26 ta'ovala if you need 1.5 metres for one? A ta'ovala is a traditional Tongan dress worn by men and women. The important information from the text is that 8 ta'ovala takes 12 metres. Our answer was 39, and me and Florence solved this by using algorithm. The rule we came up with was to multiply 1.5 by the amount of ta'ovala. Florence and I really enjoyed trying to solve this question.

Fishing Maths Challenge

L.I: To find the most efficient strategy to solve the problem.

his week for Math we worked in pairs to solve a maths story problem, and find the rule. A rule in maths, is a strategy that can be used again to solve a question with a similar pattern. The important information we used from the story was they threw back the first fish of the day and they caught 3 fish per hour. Something we noticed was that each time we answered the question it would create a pattern. So the rule Sakshi and I came up with was x3 - 1, meaning the hour multiplied by 3 (fish) and minus 1.

Starburst Ula loles | Daily Maths Challenge 3

L.I: To find the most efficient strategy to help you solve the maths problem.

For this last daily maths challenge for the week, Florence and I worked together to answer the three questions. This one was about Miss Niuula trying to make enough Ula loles using only red and green fruit bursts. But for every 5 red fruit bursts she used, she then uses 8 green. Our strategy for question 1 and 2 we used addition but for the third we used multiplication. I really enjoyed this one, because once we understood how we worked them out it was really easy!

Extra research: Haiku

This week for our distance online learning, we are exploring poetry. Specifically a form of poetry called Haiku, that originates from Japan. And to understand more about our learning topic, we have been completing some challenges. For this one I worked with Sakina, Haylee, Florence and Taheesha to come up with an interesting DLO full of extra research. Our presentation includes a map of Japan and some basic information, the structure of a haiku, what a syllable is + examples, the history of Haiku, and some interesting facts.

Harvesting Mussels | Daily Maths Challenge 2

L.I: To find the most efficient strategy to help you solve the maths problem.

 This is my second daily maths challenge I've completed for the week, and it's about Zion and his Koro harvesting mussels. Before answering the questions, it gives us a bit of context about the story. But the key information to remember is that for every 4 mussels Zion harvested, his Koro harvested 7. Under each of the three questions, you can see the process of my working out and my final answer at the very bottom of the box. The method to my strategies either involved multiplication, division, or addition.

Retell the Story | Haiku Challenge 3

L.I: To identify and understand literary devices used in poetry.

I worked with Florence again for this third challenge, and together we retold the story of how Maui slowed the sun in a Haiku (5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables) using 3-5 verses. The first thing we did was watch a clip from YouTube explaining one of the versions of the myth & legend. We figured out the main ideas in the story and retold those parts only. And we took turns writing a verse and uploaded an image and the video onto on the DLO.

Write your own Haiku | Challenge 2

L.I: To define and understand literary devices used in poetry.

This is another DLO I've completed for the haiku challenges, and again we just practice writing a haiku choosing a different idea this time. I've underlined rain and added an image with the proper the attributes for visual effect. Coincidentally, it was raining when I wrote the poem so I took inspiration from what I felt and seen when I looked outside. 

Write your own Haiku | Challenge 1

L.I: To define and understand literary devices used in poetry.

This week we look at poetry, and a style of poetry called Haiku. A regular Haiku is written in three lines. The top line with a maximum of 5 syllables, middle line is 7 syllables, and the bottom line is 5 syllables again. To understand more about this form of poetry, we completed 4 different challenges. As you can see, this is the first challenge I've completed. In this one, we can choose to practice writing our own haiku based off one of the listed ideas. I've chosen summer, and added a labelled for reuse image fit for the theme.

Te Reo Maori Poster (Words & Phrases)

For Te Reo Maori, we were asked to create a poster that helps people with the words and phrases in Maori to describe the weather and how we are feeling. I worked together with Florence to create this DLO, and we also tried saying some of these ourselves. This is a great way for students to practice basic language and learn more about Te Reo Maori. If I were to choose just a couple of these sentences in Maori to describe my day it would be...Kua Whiti te rā. He mahana. Kei te pai rawa au. Can you figure out what I said?

Kahoa Lole | Daily Maths Challenge 1

This week for the first maths daily challenge, we look at a story about Nana making Kahoa Loles for prize giving. I needed to figure out how many she would be able to make depending on the amount of lollies she had. You can see the way I solved each of the questions, using multiplication to find the amount of Kahoa Loles and addition to find the left over amount of lollies. I really enjoyed doing this activity because I can look at how I solve problems like these and see if there are other strategies I could've used.

McDonalds Daily Maths Challenge

For last weeks daily math challenge we looked at the McDonald's statistics for Day 1 level 3 of lock down. Using the information and story we were given, we answered the two main questions about how long it took to serve all the cars in total, and what time it was by the time they finished. Florence, Sakina, Haylee, and I worked together to create this DLO and made up three of our own questions as well. Can you find the answers? I really enjoyed collaborating with a few of my friends and solving this creative maths activity.

Composers: Researching Joseph Haydn

L.I: To use your smart researching skills to find information.

This is the interactive presentation I created on Composers. My last blog posts talks about who these people are and why they are important to the music we listen to today. Joseph Haydn is an example of one of these people. He was born in the classical period, and wrote 107 symphonies! In the DLO I talked about one of these symphonies, called "Surprise Symphony". I also went online and found 5 interesting facts about him for you to read!

Who is SZA? | Favorite Singer/Group...

L.I: To use your smart researching skills to find information.

This is a DLO I created on one of my favorite music artists, SZA. In learning, we have been looking at composers and some examples of them. These are the people who shaped and influenced the music today. In the poster I explain her music style and who she is. I also talked about why she is one of my favorites. I used my researching skills to find out three interesting facts about her. Fact 1 is most interesting to me, I myself and know many people who pronounce her name as S-Z-A.

Hospital Ships | ANZAC Activities

This is the last activity I was able complete before Friday, although I started working on two others about Poetry, and The Mothers of Empire Badge. I really enjoyed finding out more about Hospital Ships, like how they were used in the world wars and the Battle of Gallipoli. The hospital ship I chose to specifically research about was The Maheno, of New Zealand. As a visual image I drew a silhouette/outline of one of the hospital ships, and also answered some questions. Writing the 25 Word Summary was almost the most challenging part about this activity for me, because I was at a limit of word use.

Poppy Facts | ANZAC Activities

This is another one of the ANZAC activities I chose to do, with Haylee. For this activity we looked at some useful resources about poppies and did a bit of researching. And after finding out more information, we answered 6 questions that questioned our understanding and learning. Something really interesting Haylee and I found out is that poppies are used to symbolize remembrance, and people like to wear them at other events, not only on ANZAC Day. The fun part for us was designing our very own symbol to remember ANZAC Soldiers. We think what we created is simple but powerful.

Morse Code | ANZAC Activities

Until further notice, we continue learning from online. Our work for this week was based around ANZAC and learning more about it, since the 25th of April is ANZAC Day where New Zealanders remember and commemorate the fallen soldiers during the Battle of Gallipoli in WW1. This is one of the activities I've completed. It looks at Morse Code, a way to send messages to other soldiers. We created a DLO to explain Morse Code and some interesting facts we found. One of them had to be written in Morse Code.

Kelly Tarltons | Home Blogging Challenges

Before the school holidays ended, I decided to complete one last of the blogging challenges about Kelly Tarltons. This one was quite fun, especially researching about one of the sea life at their aquarium. One fun fact about the big-bellied seahorse is that they are one of the biggest species in the world. Did you also know that male seahorses can get pregnant too? In this challenge, I didn't end up doing the bonus activity just so that I’d be able to get this up as soon as possible. In activity one we looked at the prices to go to their aquarium and figure out how much it would cost us, and our family to go. And activity 2 was choosing one of the sea-animals to write a biography about. We had to include things like their diet, appearance, habitat and pictures.

Harbour Bridge | Home Blogging Challenges

Today I completed another one of the home blogging challenges about the Auckland Harbour Bridge. In the first activity I provided several fun and interesting facts about the Auckland Harbour Bridge like what type of bridge it is and when it was made. In the 2nd one I thought about the cost and requirements for me and a friend to go bungee jumping of the Auckland Harbour Bridge. I found out it would be 260$ which may be seen as quite a reasonable price. And for the bonus activity I had to compare the Auckland Harbour Bridge to the Sydney Harbour Bridge. This was really interesting, as I took a look at both their similarities and differences. I was able to list a couple things in each section of the Venn Diagram.

Taitua Arboretum | Home Blogging Challenges

This week Florence, and I enjoyed working together to complete another home blogging challenge. The place for this challenge of “Getting to know Auckland” was Taitua Arboretum, which is a garden/park dedicated to trees, and etc. In this presentation we put together, we have included 3 interesting facts about Taitua Arboretum, the time it would take to travel by car/bike, and a few of the trees we might see if we went to Taitua Arboretum. It was quite difficult to find particular information like the specific trees, but we were able to find out that they are well taken care of by the Park Rangers. This has been known as a great place to take your family or pets, and go on some of the walks!

MOTAT | Home Blogging Challenges

Today Taheesha, Sakina, Haylee, Florence and I worked together to complete another one of the home learning challenges. This one was about MOTAT, a Museum in Auckland which we’ve been on in a school trip before! It was really interesting getting to know about more about this place and why it was really built. In the first activity we were to locate where MOTAT was on google maps and its address. We really enjoyed the second activity, where we found out several fun facts about them. And the bonus was to find out some information on William Motions, the founder of MOTAT. Something we learnt is that MOTAT stands for Museum Of Transport & Technology. 

Leaf Art Challenge

Today Mrs. Anderson gave the class another exciting challenge to do while at home! This time, we needed to go outside and collect a few leaves of any sort and create a shape of an animal with it. Whilst trying to come up with something with my few leaves, I saw something that struck an idea. I split a leaf in half, and took two small bits off one of the taller leaves. And I was able to make a turtle! What else do you think it could be? Here are some interesting facts about turtles...

1. Some turtles can hide inside their shells in case of predators.

2. Turtles can live up to about 80 years, the oldest turtle aged to 187!

3 Antarctica is the only place turtles do not live other than that, they can survive in pretty much any conditions.

Auckland War Museum | Home Blogging Challenges

Today I completed another one of the home blogging challenges, this time independently. This one was about the Auckland War Museum, with 2 activities as usual and a bonus. I really enjoyed researching, and learning more about what happened in the battle of Gallipoli and also WW1. I enjoyed activity 1 the most, because I got to use my drawing skills and imagination to create a picture of what I thought living in a trench might’ve been like. Activity 2 was talking about one of the weapons used in the battle of Gallipoli and one interesting thing/fact we found out, and the bonus was talking about what the soldiers ate during the Battle of Gallipoli as well.. So far I am really enjoying “getting to know Aotearoa” and these challenges.

Name Exercise Challenge

This week Mrs. Anderson gave the class a fun fitness challenge we could do at home to keep physically active. Every letter in the alphabet was given a exercise, for example - A = 50 Star Jumps. We had to spell out our names and do the following workout for every letter in our name, like a routine. We had to blog this as well, for others to look at and read about. I took multiple photos of me doing the fitness routine and made a collage of photos giving you a visual example of what I had to do. You can also look at what I had to do for my name, Victoria. This challenge was really fun and it was great to everyone else doing this challenge as well. I think the hardest exercises were the 3 Min wall sit because I had to hold that position and keep my form and it seemed like 3 minutes was forever! And also the push ups which is understandable. I'd love to hear your feedback or advice on what I could work on!

Rainbows End | Home Blogging Challenges

This week for another home learning challenge, Taheesha, Hayle, Sakina and I decided to work on the Rainbow’s End activities, collaboratively. For the first activity, we wrote the location of Rainbow’s End, with a picture of the map, the costs of a family pass and how much it would cost for our family to go to Rainbow’s End. For our second activity, we wrote the minimum height restriction of the stratosphere and why it’s important to have a height restriction. For our bonus activity, we chose a ride with an explanation of why we would recommend it to a friend, a description of how we might feel on that ride and 25 words that describe how we felt on the ride.

Whoa! Studios | Home Blogging Challenges

This week for a home learning activity challenge Taheesha, Sakina, Florence, Haylee and I created a collaborative DLO about Whoa! Studios. The first activity consisted of where Whoa! Studios is on a map with the address and how much it would cost to see the super villain show. The second activity was a 10 word description of what it would be like at the park and a suggested part of the park we would recommend to a friend. For the bonus activity we made a biography of Toshiko Horiuchi Macadam. It was really exciting learning about Whoa! Studios because it may be a place some consider going!

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Hobbiton Movie Set | Home Blogging Challenges

Today, a few friends and I including Florence, Taheesha, Haylee, and Sakina, worked collaboratively to complete another one of the home blogging challenges. We were able to do each one of the activities as well as the bonus and stuck everything on one presentation. It was really fun learning and researching about this topic and then using what we learnt into a DLO. For the first one we were to create a menu using help from their official website. In the next one we created a brochure and needed to make sure we had information like location, cost for going there, and some fun facts! The bonus was to make a little biography about Sir Peter Jackson, the film director of The Hobbit and Lord of the rings.

Sky Tower DLO | Home Blogging Challenges

This week for another home learning challenge, Florence, Haylee, Sakina, Taheesha and I decided to do the Sky Tower activities. For the first activity, we wrote a list of 5 facts about the Sky Tower, using our smart searching skills. For our second activity, we created a new mascot for the Sky Tower and gave an explanation about why we chose them. For our last activity, we chose an activity we could do at the Sky Tower and wrote down why we chose it, what it is and how much it would cost to do that activity. 

Auckland Zoo Interactive DLO | Home Blogging Challenges

In LS2, we created different activities to complete at home. These activities were based on places in New Zealand. Sakina, Haylee, Florence, Taheesha and I worked collaboratively and started off with the Auckland Zoo activities. For the first activity, we wrote about what the benefits a person gets when they buy  a friend of a zoo pass, how much a friend of a zoo pass costs and the costs of your family to each have a friend of a zoo annual pass. For our second activity, we chose an animal from the zoo and created an infographic about them. For our bonus activity, we created a DLO about zoo keeping. 

Kiwi Can

This week Friday at Kiwi Can we talked about Role Models and some examples of who these people might be. I think a Role model is someone who we can look up to and support them and their values. Some of my role models are my family because they set realistic goals, examples, and standards for me. Our energizer was called "Hammer it", and it was a fun game we played in pairs. We continued playing until there was only one person left who would be the winner, this person was Giovanni. Our activity was all about teamwork and collaboration, it was called "picture it". My group, Fau, Matthew, Karlos, Liletina, Tanisha, and I earned one point. We had to create a picture using our bodies and including everyone in it. We ended off the session with a game of GKQ!

Maths Team Challenge

 
This week for Maths we created two DLOs showing how we solved two team challenges that involved adding decimals. Using the most effective strategy we found the answer. The most effective strategies were written algorithms and place value. In this session we were learning rounding and compensating. The two questions we tried to solve were:
5.75 + 2.0 = 7.75 x 12 = ?
218.99 + 109.85 = ?

LS2 Art Portraits Display

Today Haylee and I created a mural to welcome and introduce new visitors to our class, using a collection of student portraits. We collaborated on this display to come up with a good layout for the wall. After stapling on the portraits, we started to think about the type of title design that would best fit the wall. We went with a firework theme to accent the rest of the art. Haylee and I were really proud of the final product and so was Mrs. Anderson.

Longest Place Name in the world!

This week Mr. Johnston made a visit to our classroom to recap a little bit about explorers & adventures, and introduced us to the longest place name in the world (picture above). He informed us about why places have their names, for example it could be named after somebody important who then got something in return. After the recap Mr. Johnston surprised with a huge sign with the longest place name in the world written on it! He set us a challenge to try and memories the name and try pronouncing it. The name is a hill called "taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu" and means "The summit where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, the slider, climber of mountains, the land-swallower who travelled about, played his kōauau (flute) to his loved one".

Kiwi Can

This week at Kiwi Can we talked about what Leadership is and our personal Role models. Someone that I might look up to is Jacinda Ardern, because she has really good values as the prime minister and she has really built a successful life for herself. Our energizer was bop it, and it was really exciting to see who was going to win.

Charting Our Island | (Past & Present)

This week in Reading, we got into our reading groups to collaboratively complete the activities relating to Captain Cook and Kupe's’ voyage. For one of these tasks, we created a past and present DLO which explained the problems and differences between, the transportation from decades ago to now. We also did reciprocal reading and made a summary. Each person had a job to do, like Vocab Clarifyer, Questioners, Summarize, Predictor and the leader.

Maths Challenge Question

This week in Maths we made a collaborative DLO with some questions that were based on the Auckland Marathon statistics. The information in these statistics described the number of Marathon Participants, an amount of objects, or when the event would be taking place. We tried exploring different strategies and using a variety of math language in our questions. Our group was able to come up with no less than 5 challenge questions.

Kupe & Captain James Cook (Venn Diagram)

LI: to compare the similarities and differences between Kupe and Captain James Cook
In Reading we made a Venn Diagram comparing Captain James Cook and Kupe. We made this Venn Diagram together in our own Reading Groups to show our understand of both explorers. They are two of the explorers who have founded New Zealand or Aotearoa. We were able to write three in each boxes for their differences and three similarities.

About Me

Ciao, my name is Victoria! I’m a year 8 student at Panmure Bridge school, and also the Manaiakalani Leader for 2020. I really love music! One of my current artists I’m listening to is Doja Cat, and J. Cole. My favorite subject in school is writing and reading, because it’s really fun to write my own stories and read fictional books...Roald Dahl is one of the best authors! My goal for this year is to get my gold badges. I hope you enjoy exploring my page!