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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

Collaborative Explanation - Plastic Pollution

         Why is plastic pollution a problem for our coastlines?

Did you know that over 1,000,000 sea animals lose their lives each year due to the huge amounts of plastic waste in our oceans and coastlines?! Mistaking it for food, the animals will eat the plastic...but as it takes years to break down, it stays trapped in their body and they will eventually die. From our actions, they are forced to suffer and we create a bigger problem for ourselves in the future...How would you feel to be swimming in plastic?

Plastic makes up 90% of the pollution on the ocean’s surface; a large majority of that ends up inside our sea animals or wrapped around their neck, and intoxicating the waters. The plastic we leave lying on pathways and throwing on the street ends up in drains and leads to the sea. About 97 percent of New Zealanders have admission to plastic facilities, but why aren’t we doing anything about it?

Plastic is biodegradable but it takes around 1,000 years to break down based on the type of plastic it is. Plastic NZ says that every New Zealander takes in about 31kgs of plastic packaging a year, but only around 5.8kgs get recycled. “Love Your Coast” is one of the many projects that is taking action by bringing together groups of people to help clean the shores of New Zealand. This project decides to clean the shores of New Zealand as they want the next generation to be cleaner.

We should take action now for a better and healthier future!

For one of our writing sessions, we were practicing planning and writing an explanation for one of our future tests the following week. We were worked collaborative to get a better understanding of the purpose of an explanation and how to write one. Our topic was about plastic pollution, and one of the ways we looked at this was by watching a few videos. Love Your Coast is one of the many projects in New Zealand that is making a change on this huge environmental issue. For this activity I worked with Florence, Haylee and Sakina to create our collaborative explanation.

Romeo & Juliet Scene | Pop-sickle Stick Act

This week for Writing we have been looking at one of Shakespeare's many popular plays, Romeo & Juliet. After watching a video on YouTube of a summary of the play, we chose a scene and got into groups. Working with Florence, and Nidhi, we decided to create a different DLO from every one else. We needed printing and a few Pop-sickle sticks to put together our Pop-sickle stick act. We used an ipad to record and then voice recorded the script. 

Personification - Perspective of Shoes

Today for writing we looked at one of the figures of speech; personification. This is giving a non-living thing a human ability/quality. And we explored different ways of using it. Like "the clock watched over us".  Then we went away in partners using the idea of the perspective of shoes as our writing subject. My partner Florence and I, used the 5 senses to express the detail in our perspective. After everyone finishing in less then 10 minutes we shared them. It was challenging because we couldn't communicate to our partner either, and we had to sit facing back to back. Our strategy was to write on separate lines to get our ideas out and put them together so it made sense.

4 Qualities - Explanation

THE 4 QUALITIES - WEALTH

Respect, empathy, tolerance and kindness; What do these mean to you? These 4 qualities are more important than they really seem to be. They show how we are able to connect with each other and make relationships/friendships. When talking to friends, family or even strangers. But we forget them sometimes, and let the worst get the best of us. Especially when it comes to serious problems, like wealth and money.

Some may have more or less currency than others, but that doesn’t and shouldn’t make us different. People deserve to be treated the same for their rights as a human. Respecting someone else’s privacy and business isn’t difficult, but it ends up being a major problem in schools and such. Trying our best to be tolerant and understanding of their problems whether they have less to no money at all is vital.


Having more money than someone should not be a topic of conversation, or to be made fun of. We should be showing empathy and see things in their eyes. We're all no less than each other, almost all exactly the same. We definitely must not make fun of how they look, or the money in their pocket/wallet. Kindness is the most important thing we can show to another person no matter how big or small, how tall or short, or how much money.

When hearing about someone else's money, these 4 qualities are the most important things to have. Not only in yourself, but others too. To build relationships and connect with others on another level. Showing respect, empathy, tolerance and kindness could change a life...even the world.

At the start of the year LS2 were introduced to 4 qualities being - respect, empathy, tolerance, and kindness. And this term we wrote explanations about them through a topic that is important for us to show them in. I chose wealth, since it has and still is a problem in society. These qualities strengthen and support good relationships. And I was really trying to express how important they really are.

Hover-bike Advertisement

This week I worked collaboratively with Victoria, Chavda, Nyjah and Fui to make a advertisement. For the challenge this week we had the choice of either making a advertisement of one of the RWC merchandise, or make an advertisement of a hover bike. We chose to make a hover bike advertisement. We added some things that the hover bike can do and why you should get it.

Plastic Straws | Perspectives & Opinions

Our opinions are statements of what we believe, and the way we look at things. And can't be factually proven or checked like "dogs are better than cats." But a fact is something that is true and literal, like there are 12 months in a year. A perspective is similar to an opinion but it's how we see things in our own way. Sometimes they can be provocations, something to make someone else feel a type of way. For writing, we explored more into plastic straws and both of the sides on it. Weather we should keep them or ban them. Florence and I worked together on this activity, and think a little bit of both sides but more of on the side that we should keep them.

Fishing for the Future

Fishing for the Future

Each year, the amount of fish in the marine waters are rapidly decreasing in
New Zealand and you wouldn’t have expected you could be the reason why. 

The cycle begins with the hands of a stranger like you and me, and the careless
actions of letting go of your plastic waste. World wide, over half the percentage of marine
pollution is plastic, affecting hundreds of our sea-animals.

This can simply kill a sea-animal in mistake of food. Plastic takes a long time to break
down, which will be bound to affect at least a single marine-animal. Plastic pollution takes
a big hand of this, but as well as a fisher. 

There are rules that should be followed when catching fish, like it being strictly 30cm
big to take home. Too big of a fish, means it won’t be able to breed more, and too small
of a fish means it won’t grow to size and won’t be able to breed. 

Next time you go fishing, remember to…

Hold the fish with a wet towel, as their protective coating can come off using just
your bare-hands, and put the salt-water fish in salt-ice too keep it fresh for cooking
and storing when it is the right size to catch. 

So let’s fish for the future and change our ways, with open-minds for out-come.
Taking action now, will be a huge benefit in future for our fish generation.

Last week Panmure Bridge had a special visit from the Hiwi the Kiwi, and are now taking part in the fun writing competition for an exciting prize. I chose to write an Explanation, to provide facts about the important situation. Using my book as planning, I wrote ideas for my final writing. Everyone finally DRAFTed our work with a partner, deleting mistakes and unnecessary words, rearranging ideas, adding left out words/punctuation needed, fixing the sentences/structure & languages and talking about all of these with a friend which was Angela. This is my final Explanation, for everyone to read.

x

Information Report - Emperor Penguins

Emperor Penguins

Emperor Penguins or Aptenodytes, are the largest and one of the most common penguins out their. But these loving and social animals, live a different life than regular birds.

All Penguins are known for their white bellies, and black black, but the Emperor is easily recognizable from the orange patches around the black cap face, and a yellow chest. Female Emperors can weigh up to 23kgs average, and Males as well.

Emperor Penguins eat amounts of food per day, being as much as 6 kilograms. Being carnivores, emperors usually pull all of it’s food resources from the ocean. These are usually krill, crustaceans (crabs, shrimp, prawn, crayfish, etc), squid and other small fish. They can eat as much as 6 kgs a day.

Did you know that Antarctica can get as cold as -60oC?. Emperors are one of the most common Penguins, and are the only types to endemic in the Antarctic area, from the ice and snow, to the coldest waters. Penguins adapted to this icy environment as it helps them navigate. Emperors much like other penguins, have a thick layer of skin that protect them from the cold.

Emperor Penguins are the largest types, the heaviest being 45kgs and that’s weighing 7 times more than an average baby. Their scientific name of Emperors, are spheniscidae, the family of birds.  

These interesting animals are scattered all around the world, and you can even find some in New Zealand in the southern hemisphere.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This week in writing, we have been learning to write an information report and the structure/language. We were to create an information report about penguins, either penguins in general or a specific species of penguin. First making an note sheet for our information about the appearance, diet, habitat, predators and interesting facts. Then putting everything together into a correctly structured and written Informational Report. My critical partner, Nyjah and I checked helped DRAFT others writing to finalise it.

50 Words Challenge (Screen Castify)

This week for writing we worked in small groups to create our own answers in 50 words exact to why Kokako Lodge is a great place to take yr 7/8 students on camp. I worked with Nyjah and Chavda and to do this listed ideas by look at our diaries, camp photos, LS2 writing rubric, and outside the box. We were also challenged to use these language features - simple sentence, compound sentence, complex sentence, a comma, correct beginning and end sentence punctuation, an exclamation mark, a simple, and brackets. Using any of them would earn us 5 points for one. After completing our 50 words, we had a total of 90 points. We also made a screen castify about this, and you can watch it above.

Stretching Sentences

This week in Writing we are learning to stretch our sentences, a new strategy we can use to write better and more detailed sentences. To do this, we can add the 5 w's into short simple sentences to stretch them out. Then we created posters about our learning, to help remind us and others about Stretching Sentences. My example used in my poster began as a basic sentence of "Cinderella was cleaning".