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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.