The Prizes!!

These are all of the awesome prizes we won from the outlook for someday competition.

Prize Giving!

It was 6:30pm and the hall was already packed full of parents. It was hard to find a seat for my parents. I left them and went to my friends waiting at the street entrance. 

Everyone was lined up and set to go into the hall. I sat down and patiently waited for the ceremony  to start. The year 5s and 6s were sitting in front of us. Osana and Tui walked on stage and said the starting prayer. Mr Burt then started to say the year 5 awards.

It took a long time for our principle to get to the year 7 awards but it finally started. the first few awards went up for citizenship and 100% attendance. " Shoal Makata for best effort in room 21!" I went up on stage. The lights shone in my eyes as I received my certificate from Miss Teleso and went to stand next to Vivienne who got 100% attendance. 

Our item was coming up but first Mr Burt announced the prefects for 2013. Congratulation to Vivenne, Darius, Crusader, Rita, Brooklyn, Gabriel and Raenan for winning the prefect spots. I missed someone. A girl. Oh I know MEEEE!!! I got prefect as well. Its so awesome being prefect!

12.12.12

Its the 12th of December 2012. Some people think its the end of the world. Some other people think that its a load of rubbish. What do I think? I also think that people are just saying that because they are superstitious and its just a rumour.

Outlook For Someday Winners!

I walked into the venue and there were children everywhere. “ What movie are you guys here for?” A man was standing at the door. “ Lost Paradise.” Rita, Mrs Lagitupu, Miss Muliaumaseali'i, Kingston and I were at the outlook for someday award ceremony. Our movie, Lost Paradise was one of the 20 winners and we went to the aotea center to receive our prizes.

The chairs were set up Mrs Lagitupu and Ms M had to go and sit on the other side of the room. Rita, Kingston and I sat at the front looking at the stage. At first there was a karakia and the presenters introduced the first winners.

It took a long time for our movie to be called. I was getting restless because I really wanted to see what we were going to get. The 15th group of winners went up. John Pulu from Tagata Pasifika went up to present his award. This is the award that we were hoping to win.


“ Can I have a drumroll please?” Every slapped their knees and I was waiting to hear who the winners were. “ Room 21 at Pt England School for Lost Paradise!” I was happy and cheerful. All three of us went up on stage and watched the first 20 seconds of the movie after we got our prizes. Then Rita went up first to say her speech. I was standing next to her looking out to the crowd for my dad.

Her speech was finished and it was my turn. The crowd was all staring at me. I was getting nervous but the speech just came out. It was over and we went to sit back in our seats. My adrenalin was pumping and I was proud to represent our school. Mrs Lagitupu dropped me home after the ceremony and the food. We had quiche, sausage and lemonade. YUUM! The night was a big success and I loved every moment of it.

Visiting Aunty Nana

 The Day was grey and I was worried because we might not have been able to light up the lanterns. It was Sunday and my family were getting ready to go to the cemetery to visit my Aunty.

Katrina Tuaine Mataio was her full name. She passed on 2006 because she had cancer. We all were going to light the lanterns in memory of her and to celebrate her birthday. She would have been 27 years of age.

The wind was blowing and it was terribly cold. Our aunties grave was in the mongst of a lot of other unfortunate people to pass away. I stood in front of her headstone and gazed at her beautiful picture. She was really young and pretty when she died. I bent down and gave her a hug and said Happy Birthday.

We all gathered around and took a few pictures with her headstone. Aunty Leonie went to light one of the lanterns but when she brought it out of the car and lighted it, it ripped and only the metal ring was left in her hands. The lantern blew away and my uncle Kalo was forced to chase it around the cemetery.

So we weren't able to light the lanterns but instead we went got get some ice cream from the strawberry farms after we took the time to visit other relatives, that were buried around aunty Nana. I enjoyed the ice cream and the visit to Nana. I really miss her and wish she could be here with me.

Net book Reflection 2012

Our net books provide knowledge that we cant get when working on books. Its been over a year since I got my net book and it has been wonderful having them.

There have been some changes since last year. Like the how the internet connection has improved and is faster than last year. And the way our net books operate has also improved because there are more sites kids and teachers are discovering that helps with our learning.

Strawberry Farms

The ride to Mangere was long and hot. Even with the wind blowing through the windows into my hair, it was still blazing hot. It was all worth it though as we were going to Mangere to get the BEST strawberry ice cream ever!

Our car drove into the entrance of the farm. It looked like everyone wanted a taste of the ice cream because the lines were huge! We got out of the car and stood in line and waited. The ice cream  looked so delicious as it made my mouth water.

Mum paid at the cashier and we waited for our ice creams. We ordered 1 kiddie cone and 3 waffle cones. I waited in line for our ice creams. The person in front of us ordered a ton of ice cream and it took a long time for the man to dish them out to her.

“ Finally! That lady was taking forever!” I walked up to the counter and told him how many ice creams I wanted. The processor made the frozen delight come out really fast and soon all 4 of them were done.

It tasted nice and it truly was the best strawberry ice cream I had ever tasted! My ice cream was gone in a heartbeat, and I tried to eat some pancakes that Khaia had bought. They were yum!

Caleb Chung

Furby, Foam Launchers and robotic animals. These are just some of the toys that Caleb Chung has helped or actually invented himself. Caleb is an amazing toy inventor that I have been given the opportunity to research on. 

He didn't start off as a toy maker though. He was a street mine and out of school when he was 15 and a half. Chung was also a silversmith.  He was also an actor before he worked for Mattel. 

After his experience at Mattel he went on to creating a toy company called Giving Toys. A popular toy that he has invented with the company, is the PLEO. Its a small, animatronic dinosaur designed to copy a week old baby Camarasaurus.

Manaiakalani Film Festival

PLAN-------
Awesome Celebration 5th annual Manaiakalani Great Movies Creative Cluster of schools Speeches Presenters Jaw dropping movies relaxing boring tired poor quality footage  Comfortable chairs

Children piled into the cinema. Multi-coloured uniforms sat onto the chairs and stared at the biggest movie screen in the Southern hemisphere. It was the 5th annual Manaiakalani film festival where all of the schools around the Tamaki cluster make movies to show at Sylvia Parks extreme screen.

The whole day different movies were shown. Schools came and went, making a lot of noise as well. The final session had the year 7 and 8 students. The Tamaki College kids came too.

The crowd was settled down and the movies began. The presenters for Tamaki College went up and presented their movie. It was hilarious!! They had taken kids from Pt England School and made them into One Direction.  Then three years passed and they changed into older gentlemen. It was my favorite movie! The Pt England movies were good but it wasn't as funny.

How To Make a Stuffed Butterfly

How To Make A Butterfly Toy...

The Materials you will need are:

• Material or fabric
• Scissors
• Pillow Stuffing
• Paper
• Pen, Felt or Vivid

Step 1: Draw a template for the butterflies wing and body .

Step 2: Trace the wing template out on 2 pieces of fabric.

Step 3: Sew 2 pieces of the butterfly wings together until there is a little bit left to go.

Step 4: Then put the stuffing into the butterfly wings and sew the rest up.

Step 5:  Now move on to the body. Trace the template onto 2 contrasting pieces of fabric and then cut them out.

Step 6: Do the same as you did with the wings but leave a bigger space to put the stuffing in if your butterfly body is small. If not skip this step.

Step 7: Now glue the body onto the wings and add the face and then you're done!

Narrative Writing.

Cafe 20 21 was packed and Mea, Annie and Julian Just managed to get a seat in the busy cafe. They settled down on the last clear table. Meanwhile in the zoo that was across the road, Crocodile Sam got out of his poorly built cage and made his way to the cafe.

Crocodile Sam strolls into the cafe and no one seems to notice. His green scales were clearly visible but still  nobody saw him. Mea and Annie how ever see him as he gets closer to them.

Sam was tempted to eat Mea and Annie as he draws closer and closer to them.  Julian doesn't notice though because he too interested about the book he is reading. Sam notices he is being ignored by him so he wanted to eat Julian instead.

Sam pounces went to pounce onto Julian but gets tackled down by animal control. Crocodile Sam was sent back to the zoo and Julian’s life was saved by animal control.

Mea, Annie and Julian went home after getting a free pass to the zoo from the crocs keeper and went home. “ WOW! What a day!!!” Julian says on the car ride home. “ I know!!” Mea and Julian were laughing at each other for no particular reason,

Share a Coke

Technology

I was so happy at the beginning of the year when I heard we were going to technology at  Tamaki College. This is what I think about our time down at  Tamaki  College.

Electronics was the first  thing I went to with my group. It was boring!  I only think this because Mr Malhotra talked a lot.  Sorry Mr Malhotra but its true.  I only  really liked  it when we got  to burn the soldering wire with  the iron and put our LED lights in. It had to be my least favourite tech group. I'm speaking honestly.

The best  tech group I have been in though is Hard Materials. It was a lot of fun. I was excited when we first  walked in and Mr Grundy is awesome! He taught us about the housing joint and I made an amazing vintage car. I really enjoyed Hard Materials! It was and still is my favourite teach group.

Now that electronics and hard materials have finished, my group and I have moved onto food tech. So far it has been really cool! We have made brownies and a dutch apple cake as well as chunky chocolate cookies. YUM!!  Mrs Heka is our wonderful teacher and she is pretty cool. Next  term we continue going to food tech and I am looking forward to seeing Mrs Heka  and  cooking again.

Year 7&8 Rugby Girls Semi Finals

The sun was shining in our eyes as we cheered for the year 7&8 Rugby girls. It was a hot day, perfect for a rugby game. Koru girls Rugby Team came all the way from South Auckland to play against our girls for the semi final.

“ Go Pt England!” The spectators on the side lines were cheering our girls on. A scrum was set up and the girls pushed as hard as they could. The ball went to our team and Mino passed it to her nearest teammate. Jaylee ran up the guts of the opposition getting hit. The Koru girls tried to get her to the ground but it was no use. Jaylee was a mad machine, eventually scoring a try!

You could feel the electricity in the air. The crowd was surprised at how amazing the girls were. Their defence was magnificent! One of the Koru girls had the ball, and ran it up to the try line. But before she got there she was hit by Athena. Amazing!

You could see and hear Koru puffing and panting as they went back to the goal post. Oshania was going to kick the conversion after we had just scored another try. The opposition were watching the ball. Sadly, Oshania had missed. “ Thats OK Oshania! Get the next one!”

The score was all tied up and the end bell rang. There was only one kick to determine the winners. They set up again and Pt England had the kick. Koru caught the ball and kicked it over the post making the score 15-16. Koru had won the tournament!

What If I was a Billionaire?

What If I was a billionaire? I would be as happy as a little kid getting handed a lolly. I’m a generous type so I would like to give some to charity and to my family. Also, I would like to travel the world, buy  my family and I a nicer house (but still in G.I) and get my dad a way better car like a Nissan Navara.

Although money and fame is the life to live, it can tear your family apart. That is the worst thing that could ever happen. I can't ever think of us fighting. That would just be stupid. I love my family and would do anything for them and fighting isn't the answer.

Honestly, I actually wouldn't want to be a billionaire. Its to much to take in and I don't need that life because life at home is perfect. I don't want to become selfish or snobby like most rich people I watch on movies though. No. It would be so isolating and lonely.

Nadzeya Ostapchuk Controversy.

There were rumors around the Olympics that Nadzeya Ostapchuk had taken drugs when she won a gold medal for shot put. After her drug test, she tested positive for steroids. Everyone was right!  She was cheating and now she has been stripped of her gold medal. It is rightfully Valerie Adams' medal.

She was tested twice, first on the 5th of August and then the day after she had won. They both showed up as being positive but Nadzeya is refusing to give the medal back. She claims she didn’t take any kind of drug or steroids. Ostapchuk is accusing Valerie of taking the drugs and saying that she was the victim.

I think that the reason Nadzeya Ostapchuk took the steroids was because she was sick of coming second to Valerie. Ostapchuk was jealous and just wanted one time to be the winner. She didn’t need to take drugs to be the best, all she needed to do was to train hard and push herself.

Valerie Adams is in Switzerland right now, but when she comes home do you think she should have a medal ceremony? I do because Valerie didn't get to stand on the podium and hear the NZ national anthem like she would have wanted to.

Animation Apprentice Workshop

It was Thursday the 16th and I was so excited for what was going to take place in the Tusitala meeting room at 12 o’clock. The creators of bro town came to our school to show us some techniques and tips on how to animate. The creators Maka and Ali were here to teach us how animation is done. Nils is a guy that came with and he works at the museum.

Our lesson was about the history of cartoons and how they first made cartoons. Ali showed us a number of some cartoon characters silhouettes. We had to guess what cartoon they were from by looking at the features. The first one was a dinosaur, but it wasn't just any old dino. It was a the first moving picture and dated back to the 1900s. A few years later people took it to the next level creating the first mickey mouse steamboat cartoon. It was the first cartoon that included sound.

After all of the yelling and laughing that the silhouettes brought, Ali showed us a very interesting toy. It was a zoetrope! What is a zoetrope? Well its a toy that shows an animation that you draw on paper. Ali showed us an animation where there was a hand was dribbling a ball. It was so cool! 

After taking turns and seeing the amazing animation, it was time to learn how to do 'tweening.' If you dont know what tweening is, it's when there are two lines and they are split in between to show the moving object. We had some exercises to learn how to tween, then we were handed a piece of paper with lines that kind of looked like a jellyfish. We drew loose lines on a separate piece of paper and colored it in. Then we put it in the zoetrope and it was soo awesome! It was moving around and flopping its tentacles.

Tomorrow is our last session with the Animation Apprentice workshop. I really want to keep going to the workshop because it is so cool. I have learnt so much through the first session and I cant wait until tomorrow.

Olympic Message

“The most important thing about the Olympic Games is not to win, but to take part...just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph, but the struggle”. This very inspiring message was said by the founder of the modern Olympics, Baron Pierre de Coubertin to encourage  the participants  of the Olympics. He also is the creator of the olympic flag in 1914.

The Olympic message can mean many different things to different people. To me it means not to just go to the olympics to win, but to also have fun and enjoy the games. I also think the message means not to give up when something gets hard, but to learn from it and to be even stronger.

I agree with the message because the olympics isn’t about who is going to win the most medals. It is about trying your best and having fun. I really think that people are too competitive and they don't remember that it is just a game and you don’t have to win. They are the best no matter if you win or lose.

Participating in the olympics games can take a big toll on the athlete's social life. They have to make huge sacrifices. For example, they have to give up most activities to do with their families and friends because they have to train most of the time so they can be at the best of their game. It’s probably really hard for them to give up this time but it can help in the games. The olympic message can motivate and help them succeed if they just listen.


The olympic message is so inspiring and can help athletes get through tough times. I hope the olympic message is carried out for many more years.

Victory!

1) As the crowd cheered, she was handed a gold medal and a big bouquet of flowers.
2) With a huge smile on her face, she held up her gold medal with pride, so happy that she had won it for Team China.
3) With the gold medal dangling from her neck, she celebrated with her fellow team mates.
4) This astonishing athlete was very satisfied with her victory.

Champions

1. The score was 12 all and one goal would end it all.
2. The crowd were on the edge of their seats, watching the girls get closer and closer to the goal..
3. One of the girls saw an opportunity to help her team win.
4.GOAL!
5. Ecstatic at their winning shot, the girls start jumping up and down screaming with excitement.

Tapout

He took him down and flipped him into a headlock. The man in the blues was struggling to get out of this position. The man in the red could feel his opponent slipping out of his grip, so he took his strength to a whole other level. The blue man was screaming, holding himself up. He was in pain because of his partner forcing him to tapout.

Target Sighted.

He lifted his arrow up and aimed straight at the target. It was the Olympic games and the archers were getting ready to start. Charlie focused on getting it in the middle of the bullseye. He pulled back and let go. He was victorious! The arrow went flying through the air, penetrating the target.

London Olympics

This year the Olympics are being held in London. They have hosted the Olympics 3 times. The first in 1908 then in 1948, where a Dutch woman named Fanny Blankers-Koen won 4 gold medals in a single games. Many athletes have competed in the Olympics since the first modern games in Athens, Greece.

Many athletes compete in many activities in the Olympics. For example there is archery, weightlifting, wrestling, taekwondo, track and field, football and so much more. Shot put is one of my favourite sports and I think that Valerie Adams is going to win it for New Zealand because she holds the world record for the throwing the shot put further than her fellow competitors.

London has built a fabulous venue to hold the games at as well as increasing the amount of guards so nothing goes out of hand. The country will use the newly built tracks to hold the games but they are also using some historic buildings in the games.

One of the stars to watch out for in the London Olympics is Usain Bolt. He is a sprinter from Jamaica that started running when he was twelve. He has now gone on to be the fastest man in the world! He won a gold medal in the 100 metre sprints, 200 metres and 4x100 metre relay in the Beijing Olympics, 2008. He has beaten all of the world records for sprints in the Olympic record book. He is an inspiring athlete and I am very happy that he has recovered from his back injury and competing in the sprints.

I can't wait until the Olympics start and I send all of my support out to the New Zealand Olympic team. Go For Gold!

Maths Whizz

I spent an hour and 9 minutes on maths whizz.

Goal setting and fitness goal

Joshua Iosefa's Brown Brother.

An amazing prefect from Mount Roskill Grammar gave an inspiring speech to the world.  I was very inspired by Joshua Iosefa  speech Brown Brother. He was so true in explaining the stereotypes in people. One thing he said that is really motivated me was ' be the first to change.' I am very moved by the words that he has said and I hope I would be able to hear more speeches from him.

Mascot

Term 2 Highlights.

The topic for the term is art alive. I love art! I have drawn and re-created a famous picture by Van Gogh, Picasso, Daniella Hulme, Claude Monet and Henri Matisse. At the beginning of the term we had an Art Alive immersion week learning about all 5 of these wonderful artists.


Another big thing that has been going on this term is P.E.P.A. It was the biggest event this term! People were going in and out of rehearsals and taking lunchtime off to learn new steps. This performance was run by Ms Muliaumaseali’i. It was spectacular event! There was smoke running along the stage, the rappers were very talented and the hip hop and ballet dancers were excellent!


There have been some very fun times like the time where we had a sleepover in the school library. We were raising money for the 20 hour famine by not eating for a whole 20 hours. It was really fun! We played games and watched a movie. We also had a quiz and I won this bracelet for answering one of the questions right.


This term has been a lot of fun and I can’t wait until next term.

Art Alive Project.

Everyone has a special place. It can be in the park, at the beach or even overseas. My special place is in Tahiti, at a wharf in one of the Australs islands, Tubuai. We went to Tahiti in 2011 for a family reunion. We were staying at a hall in Tahiti and not so far away was the wharf. We went there all the time to swim and jump off the side of it. The wharf is very special to me. It was a very happy time for my family and I. Tahiti was also the best trip I had ever been on in my life so far.

Henri Matisse is a very colourful artist. That is why I have decided to use his style of art, Fauvism. Fauvism is a technique that he created using bright and bold colours. Blue, red and green are the colours he liked to use the most.  When I look at his painting, I can see he also uses patterns and motifs. In my painting, I have used bright colours to paint my setting. I included some Tahitian patterns to represent my time in Tahiti.

A Noble Relic of a Noble Race by Charles Goldie.

For the Art exhibition, the extension group have decided to recreate one of Charles Goldie's many wonderful paintings. This painting I have chosen to reproduce is called ‘A noble relic of a noble race’ and was painted over 100 years ago.  This is a wonderful painting of Te Wharekauri Tahuna, a maori tohunga or priest. Goldie painted maori people and was inspired by their mokos because he thought they were dying out.

I had a bit of trouble drawing the painting.  I learnt in the process that if you want to make your picture look 3D you need shading.  This was the hard part for me. To shade, you need to move up the colour wheel in hyperstudio, starting with a darker colour and fading it out. If I could draw it again, I would make the shading around his face a bit better than what I have done. 


This experience has made me wonder about the moko. Like why do they get a moko in the first place? Why is it so important to maori people and what is a moko supposed to represent? 


When people walk away from all of our paintings, I want them to be blown away. Our paintings are all very intelligent and awesome. 

Features of a Narrative

He triples in size if you anger him. His pale skin turns green in almost an instant. he turns into the mighty hulk! At first the government thought of him as a threat to society, but now use him as a weapon to fight crime all over the nation. His black hair almost covers his bright green eyes.

Static Image

                                                               

What is a static image? It is a photo or painting that is stil and has no movement. Staic images could be posters, paintings, drawings as well as photos and newspapers. This is a static image of a tree in a field. It is a wide shot so the looking at the picture can see the whole thing. The lighting is from the sun focusing on the scene. I find a bit odd that the grass is yellow on one side and on the other side it was green. It is a calm and happy scene in my opinion.

Robyn Kahukiwa Project

Upoko Whero is the name of the painting that Robyn Kahukiwa created. I have recreated it for my Taonga time project with Mrs Tele'a. To create this movie we had to use time lapse which in this case is drawing a line one by one and copy them onto different cards. You keep doing this until you have drawn the whole picture. Then you put it all into a movie. In the end it shows the process of your picture and how you have used the texture.

Taonga Time With Mrs Tele'a

“ This is going to be fun” I was talking to Brooklyn on the way to Taonga time with Mrs Tele’a. Every Friday afternoon we go to Taonga Time to learn about different things for 5 weeks. In some of the classes people were taking, they were going to paint the picnic tables in the street, movie making, sports and some other things. I'm with Mrs Tele’a making movies. Last week we were learning how to use time lapse for our projects.


When using time lapse, one by one you draw the lines and copy them onto different cards. You keep doing this until you have drawn the whole picture. Then you put it all into a movie. In the end it shows the process of your picture and how you have used the texture.

For our project we had to trace a famous painting by Robyn Kahukiwa. She was born in Australia but moved to New Zealand when she was 19 years old. She was a self taught painter and started painting in 1967 living with her family in Greymouth.

I chose to draw the wonderful painting Upoko Whero by Robyn Kahukiwa.  I thought it was going to be very easy to draw it but I was wrong. The object of the painting was the simple part until I got up to the shading. It was hard to find the right texture on the computer to fit the painting. So I just used the oil paint tool to show the texture.

This week when we go to Taonga Time I want to get straight into my drawing and finishing it off properly.

Tamaki Tech

The first thing I noticed when I walked through the doors was the smell. It was a metallic smell as well a scent of wood. We were at Tamaki College for tech. There was Food tech, Hard materials and Electronics. We take these classes to get us ready for college.

In hard materials, six tables were set up for us. Mr Grundy greeted us at the door and told us to sit down. He handed us little books and asked if we all had a pencil. In the book there were faint lines of what Mr Grundy called a housing joint. A plank of wood. You cut the end off and chisel out cut in the rest of the wood. It was drawn in different ways to show how we could use the joint.

Mr Grundy showed us some of the things the students last term made. There were space ships, trucks, a helicopter and much more. He said that we need to decide what we are going to start making next week. I was drawing some things that I could make, but it didn’t look too good. So I decided to choose between the two best drawings, a hover car, or a box. I hover car is what I want to do in the next couple of weeks.

It was nearly time to leave when a group of students from food tech came and knocked on the door. Names were being called out, one by one. Everyone had their own. They all looked so cool. That made me think a lot about how my car is.

I am looking forward to making my hover car and learning new skills in hard materials.

Comparing and Contrast Part 2.

Yet again we have been asked to compare and contrast two different paintings. ‘The Weeping Woman’ by Pablo Picasso and ‘ A lazy day in paradise’ by Daniella Hulme. Picasso used Cubism as his style of technique and Daniella has a modern style of art.

‘ The Weeping Woman’ is one of the many paintings that Picasso had created. He has an odd sense of style. He uses Cubism and looks at different perspectives. The painting is made up of different colours and shapes. He used a dull yellow through most of his painting. He also uses other colours like green and oranges.

If I look at ‘ A lazy day in paradise’ I notice that it is of a lady in a tropical place. Daniella paints island pictures because she was inspired by her husbands culture, Samoa. She uses oil paints as a style of art. Bright vibrant colours are used to set the scene. A lady is lying on the couch fanning herself. When I looked at other paintings she has also painted wome. All of them had the same face.

The too paintings don’t have very much in common. ‘ A lazy day in paradise’ has very bright, bold colours and is very relaxed. ‘ The weeping woman’ uses dull colours and has a sad vibe .

‘The weeping woman’  and ‘ A lazy day in paradise’ are two very different paintings and although there are many differences between them, they are still unique and beautiful in their own ways.

Compare and Contrast.

‘Sunflowers’ by Van Gogh and ‘La musique’ by Henri Matisse. These two paintings are what we have been asked to compare and contrast for our writing in class. Van Gogh's style of art is Expressionism and Henri Matisses style of art is Fauvism.

Vincent Van Gogh uses the technique of little vertical strokes throughout his entire painting of ‘Sunflowers’. The shading in the flowers made it look realistic but it wasn't a very joyful painting. The flowers were drooping and painted in dark colours. Yellow and brown were the colours that were mainly used.  The petals have fallen off some the flowers as well.  It showed that he was probably sad at the time when he painted it.

‘La Musique’ is one painting that you can enjoy. It’s bright right through most of the painting. Fauvism is the technique that he used. Fauve means ‘wild beast’ in French. The painting looks very happy and joyful. It looks like the two women are having a great time playing the guitar.  The colours are bright and bold. He used red, green, yellow and blue.


If I compare and contrast the two paintings, I can see there is not much resemblance between them. The only things the paintings had in common was that the colour yellow was used and both had plants in them. La Musique is a happy painting with women and bright colours in it. Sunflowers has dull colours and it looks more realistic than La Musique.


In conclusion, I think that Van Gogh and Henri Matisse are different in their own way and that they both enjoyed painting when they were alive.

Art Alive Immersion Week.

Since Art Alive is our topic for this term, we had an immersion week. We switched classes and learnt about different artists. Every artist had a different style of ways to paint. We had to go to the art lessons straight after morning tea.

Our first class was with Mrs Nua in room 22 on Tuesday. Vincent Van Gogh was the fabulous artist we were studying. His life was dreary especially towards the end. One of the reasons why he was so miserable was he sent his ear lobe to his girlfriend but she didn’t like it. Also, when he was painting he only sold one piece of art in his whole life. His sister in law was the one that made his paintings worthwhile because she really put his artwork out there, and eventually his artwork became famous and valuable. You could see some of his emotions in his paintings. He used vertical strokes throughout the whole painting. Mrs Nua showed us a painting of sunflowers that he did. Then she zoomed in on one particular flower. We had to show her that we could do this technique by copying the flower and creating something similar.  

  In room 18  Mr Barks talked about Picasso.  Picasso never just drew a face from the front perspective but he drew from the side, the middle and sometimes he would stand over his subject and sketch from the top. The background of his painting looked like shattered glass painted in dark colours. For our Picasso picture, we had to draw a face but half was from the side view and the other half was from the front view. My picture looked a bit weird because  the ears were in a different place. I’m not used to drawing like this. In the end my picture looked a bit weird but I think that Picasso would like it.

  On Friday Mr Slade was talking about Claude Monet. He was one of the founders of French impressionist painting. Mr Slade showed us some pictures and the technique that he used. Throughout his painting he used little vertical strokes to display his art. We could paint anything as long as we used his technique. I drew a mountain that had a little stream running down it. It had a little pond in the corner as well. I think that his paintings and technique are very original.

This week on Monday we went to our last class. We were learning about Daniella Hulmes with Ms Squires. She was born in Elsloo, in the province of Limburg, Holland. She came to New Zealand and married a Samoan man. Thats why she painted pacific paintings and used bright and vibrant colours. One thing I noticed was that all of the girls had the same face and hair. Ms Squires did a close up on a fruit bowl. The grapes had a 3D effect because she shaded the grapes in as well as the seeds of the paw paw fruit. It was truly exquisite. However, mine didn’t look that great.

  I had a great time with all of the teachers during the Art Alive Immersion Week and I hope we get some time to finish off our paintings.

Beautiful Manly Beach

It was a beautiful day. The whole family were going to Manly beach for a family day. Since the family were coming we had to pack a lot of food.

I was squashed in the car, food on my lap with beach stuff next to me. We passed the Albany shopping mall, BP gas station and other places. Dad suddenly screamed “ WE ARE GOING THE WRONG WAY!!” Dad turned off the road on the motorway. After a few calls we went back onto the right path.

The sand was nice and soft and the water was nice and cold. I jumped in. SPLASH! The water was nice and cold running through my hair. Enjoying the water, feeling great, I saw my mum and aunty setting up an umbrella and chairs on the sand.

While I was walking up to join them, my cousin ran past me. He was only two years old so I had to grab him before he went into the water. I chased him around the beach trying to stop him from getting into the water. It was like I was on a wild goose chase!

At the end of the day I had a very fun time and I can’t wait until we go back there again.

My Mihimihi.

Room 21 had to make a movie all about ourselves.  The voice-over had to be presented in maori so, basically we did a visual mihimihi. Enjoy!

SWIMARAMA!!!

The water was freezing. I wanted to dry off and have a shower but we had just gotten to swimarama. Our last day of camp was filed with swimming fun. I was on my way to go to the deep end when I saw some familiar people. It was the WARRIORS!! It was funny because everyone was following their every move chanting Warrior,Warriors!

Camp Concert

The stage was set and the teams were buzzing. The 2012 year 7 and 8 camp concert was about to begin. Everyone was so excited! (everyone but me).

I was standing in front of all the other teams shaking because we had no chance against the other teams. The music played, and my heart was pounding even more. I really did want to jump off the stage and run away but I had no choice but to stand there and dance. I hated it.

The judges were tough and it took a bit of time for them to deliberate. “ In 5th place is... THE RESPECTABLES!” Mr Barks was so enthusiastic about our placing but I wasn't so happy. In 4th place was Team Respect and Respectorz came 3rd. The Respectronics came in second place. The judges thought that Respect Crew had the best item of the night because they came first.


I had a fun time watching what the other teams came up with in a day. It was funny  seeing people making a fool out of them self.

Yummy Cupcakes

Mr Barks was picking a few people to do a special activity with Mrs Barks, Mrs George and Miss Walters.  The tables in room twelve had lots of yummy sprinkles and icing on them. My guess was that we were going to make cupcakes and then decorate them.

 It turned out that we were just decorating the cupcakes and they were already pre-made.  Brooklyn, Ashleigh, Rita and I were working with fondant (icing). Mrs George was mixing colours into the fondant so we could have different coloured decorations. The colours were yellow, blue and green.

We had leaf cutters and flower cutters as well as the silver eatable balls. The cutters pierced into the fondant and went onto my cupcake. When I finished up the last cupcake, I showed it to Mrs George and asked her if we got to eat them.

I took my first bite into my delicious cupcake and YUM! I gave my other cupcake to Mrs Lagitupu and some other people. I had an awesome time decorating cupcakes with Mrs George, Miss Walters and Mrs Barks.