Netbook Reflection for 2013

Having my netbook with throughout this whole year has benefited me in lots of ways. Having the opportunity to learn using different sites is a huge advantage. The internet provides heaps of informational sites that are very heapful in every subject of learning. My netbook has helped me improve in  reading, writing and maths.

 I have had my netbook for about 3 years now and there is a lot I have learnt about my device. My proofreading and editing skills have improved in the last year and each day I'm happier with how my writing turns out. Using the spell checks and the online thesaurus and dictionary has expanded my vocabulary.

We use sites such as maths whizz and xtra math. Maths whizz sets you up with different exercises that improve your strategic skills. Xtra math is a website that focuses on helping you with your basic equations. Those sites prove helpful to our whole school and they are highly enjoyable. I've learnt new problem solving strategies that have helped me in maths.

Using Googles applications is a huge part of our learning. Google docs provides us with a range of ways to create presentations, slide shows and spreadsheets. Some of us even use our google calendar to mark important dates and events.

 Our school is just so awesome and the fact that lots of sponsors are helping us with the Manaiakalani project. Mr and Mrs Burts vision is coming in well and its been a real pleasure seeing the Tamaki cluster grow and adapt to our new learning style.

Netbook Reflection for 2013

Having my netbook with throughout this whole year has benifited me in lots of ways. Having the opportunity to learn using different sites is a huge advantage. The internet provides heaps of informational sites that are very heapful in every subject of learning. My netbook has helped me improve in  reading, writing and maths.

 I have had my netbook for about 3 years now and there is a lot I have learnt about my device. My proof reading and editing skills have improved in the last year and each day I'm happier with how my writing turns out. Using the spell checks and the online thesaurus and dictionary has expanded my vocabulary.

We use sites such as maths whizz and xtra math. Maths whizz sets you up with different excersises that improve your stragtegic skills. Xtra math is a website that focuses on helping you with your basic equations. Those sites prove helpful to our whole school and they are highly enjoyable. I've learnt new problem solving startegies that have helped me in maths.

Using Googles applications is a huge part of our learning. Google docs provides us with a range of ways to create presentations, slide shows and spreadsheets. Some of us even use our google calender to mark important dates and events.

 Our school is just so awesome and the fact that lots of sponsors are helping us with the Manaiakalani project. Mr and Mrs Burts vision is coming in well and its been a real pleasure seeing the Tamaki cluster grow and adapt to our new learning style.

PES Senior Prize Giving Reflection

The hall was as packed as a can of sardines! Parents and children lined were lined in and around the hall, just waiting to see their kids perform and get awards. The atmosphere was buzzing and I was ready to enjoy the night.

One of my highlights of the night was when my sister KHAIA MAKATA was called for Best effort in her class. She also got 2nd equal academic along with Stevenson. She made me and our parents very proud.

Me? Well I received a School Services cup and 3rd academic. I was soooo happy that when my name was called for both of those awards I wanted jump for joy and scream. I’m so proud of what I have achieved this year and so are my parents.

I really enjoyed my night at the Pt England Senior Prize Giving. I like to thank every single teachers that have taught me throughout the 5 years I’ve been at school. Honestly I couldn’t have got to where I am now without all of you and with that I humbly wish you all good luck for next year. I would also congratulate Vivienne for getting Dux for 2013 and Rita for getting 2nd academic.

My PES Yearbook

This is myYr 8 movie explaining my time at PES.

Our Nations Children's Trip to Waitangi Launch

The Waitangi National Trust and Westpac launched the Our Nations Children movie competition last Friday and I was apart of the group that go to go the event. I had never been in that part of town before and was astonished at the sight. As soon as I peered into the Westpac building, I could see a lot of cameras. We were led upstairs to the main room and waited for the governor general Jerry Mataparae. Once he arrived, the representatives said some speeches and even our own Vivienne and Gabriel got the chance to say thanks on behalf of all of our waitangi group. After that, there was delicious food put out for us on the veranda of the huge building where the view was beautiful!

EXT Balloon Thrust Investigation

The extension group held an investigation about balloon thrust in term 2. The materials we need was a straw, balloon, tape and string. We first predicted what would happen when we let the balloon deflate. The things we had to look out for was how fast and far the ballon launched. The pictures display our predictions, findings and the changes we had made.

Outlook for Someday Workshop Reflection

The year 7 and 8 extension class, as well as a few others, got the opportunity to spend the whole day learning about movie making with the Outlook for Someday workshop runners Iliayh and Chris. They taught us about what sustainability was and that sustainability doesn’t just cover the environment.

The first activity was to tell us about the different areas of sustainability, environment, economy, and society. It was puzzle that we had to put together. The puzzle was a collage showing us what each of them could look like. It's purpose was to inspire us and to see if we could come up with a movie concept using some of those areas of sustainability.

After that was the planning and filming of our movies. My group consisted of myself, Brooklyn Vivienne and Jasmine. We decided to focus on sustaining the environment and trying to help our native birds alive. Our movie was creative and funny. Brooklyn was our bird and Jasmine, along with Vivienne, were the presenters. I took the job as being the bird feeder.

A HUGE thanks goes out to Iliayh and Chris and the outlook for someday for giving us the opportunity to make these movies with you and learn more about sustainability. We all really appreciated the experience.

In The Jungle

“ Don’t you love the wonderful smells of the forest?” Kalie inhaled, as Wayne pulled out the water bottles and extra food for the long and tiring journey. The dense forest seemed to be calling out Wayne. He got the chills but just kept moving forward. The couple had been adventuring for a year now, going up and down Australia looking for more treacherous destinations.

The overhanging trees and the beautiful flowers made Wayne feel a bit better but still suspicious. Wind was blowing and the sun was brightly shining but he just couldn’t shake the feeling that something was with them. “ I think we should go back to the car. Do we really need to be on this course right now?” Wayne wailed “ No! Its a beautiful day. Is there something wrong?” Something was wrong. Wayne just didn’t know what it was. He couldn’t comprehend what came next.

A shadowing figure came over him and Kalie. “ WHATS GOING ON!!!” Kalie was scared now and regretting her choice of forest. The dark figure started speaking, “ Why are you in my forest?” Wayne trembled in terror. “ We-we’re going on a walk. We are sorry for trespassing.” In a blink, the shadowy figure swept across the forest. BANG!!!!! Kalie fell to the ground, shaking. Wayne sprinted, puffing and panting back to the car only to realise that Kalie had the keys. He panicked and tried running out the gate but the shadow was back.

Wayne spun around and Kalie was there too. She looked like a zombie. The shadow began to speak again, “ That is what happens when someone tries to come into my forest”  Kalie instantly started to move. She was approaching Wayne as if she was trying to eat his brain. “ Im STUCK!!” Wayne yelled, terrified of what he was about to become.

ONE DIRECTION!!!

One Direction is one of music’s biggest icons and the worlds biggest boy band. They started out on X Factor in the UK on 2010.  Each of them auditioned individually but were put into a group after they didnt make it separately. They cruised through the competition but were eliminated and came in third place. Simon Cowell signed the band onto his record label Syco Records. Harry, Niall, Zayn, Louis and Liam are the wonderfully awesome boys in the band. They have swept over the nation, winning over most teenage hearts. It is said that they have formed the new ‘British Invasion’  in America.  They have sold 19 million singles and 10 million albums. ‘What Makes You Beautiful’ was their first single and got over a million hits. SInce then, their career has skyrocketed up and they continue to be the best boy band ever!

Mihi

Kia Ora Koutou
Greetings to you all

Kua Haere mai nei
Who have come here

Ki tenei wahi
To this place

Ki te mau mai
To bring

I nga whakaaro pai
The good thoughts

Ka nui te koa
Great is the happiness

Mo to koutou kaha
For your support

Ki te aro mai
In attending

Ki te hapai
To uplift

I nga take
The matters/subjects

E pa ana ki tenei hui
Concerning this gathering

No reira tena koutou, tena koutou, tena ra tatou katoa

Therefore greetings once, greetings twice, greetings again to us all.

EXT Halloween Research

The things that I thought halloween was about:
Dressing up
The day of the dead
Celebrating the dead
Going around the neighbourhood
Getting lollies
Eating lollies
Different Costumes
Spooky
Scaring things
Graves

I don't really think much of halloween. Our family never really celebrates it but if I think back I reckon that halloween is about celebrating the dead and dressing up weird and wonderful costumes. I also think that its about gathering lollies to eat.
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We have found out more about the origins of halloween. The celtic calendar had both a dark side and a light side. Samhain or the Harvesting festival, was at the beginning of the dark times where the nights were longer than the days. Celtic tribes would light bonfire to welcome the new year. When the calendar changed from light to dark, it was said to be permeable for both worlds to collide.

All saints day was called Lemuria but the christians tried to make the day sound more christian-friendly. On Lemuria ghostly figures called larvae, would rise from the dead and haunt people. To keep this from happening, Romans would pour milk would onto each grave to keep them larvae in.

So All saints or all hallows day was moved from the 13th of May to the 1st of November to drain the life out of pagan Samhain. November the 31st was later changed as peopled started to call it All hallows evening which later formed into all hallows even and then halloween. All souls day held on the 2nd of November was to celebrate basically all souls.

People would go around to houses begging for soul cakes on all souls day. While eating the cakes they would pray for the souls stuck in the purgatory.  Purgatory is in the middle of hell and heaven and hold the souls of non-mortals. By having faith in heaven and god, it is said you could be taken up to heaven. This was how the our modern ‘Trick or Treating’ had originated.

Life in Syria vs Auckland Narrative

Heavy footsteps stomped around the house. My siblings were getting ready for another day of school. Mum was downstairs making our lunch. I staggered out of my room, into the dimly lit bathroom to have a shower.  “ Argh... just another normal day.”  

A huge booming sound woke me from my slumber. It was hard doing this alone. This had to be the 3rd anniversary of the day my parents were killed in the treacherous war. I was taken in by this family who found me under all of the rubble and wreckage of our once standing house. Food was scarce. We shared a piece of bread and a little water each. Staring out of the window, an unfortunate girl was gunned down. “ These people are terrible!” I whispered.

“ I HATE SCHOOL!” My class was buzzing, working on the math problems that were on the board. The only thing that I actually like about school is the fact that my friends were there. Playing in the hot summer sun was easily the focal point of my school days. I just wish that hanging with my mates was the only thing I could do at school.

I couldn't go outside and I don't know when I can back out. I remember the sun on my skin. I remember the laughter of my other friends while we played soccer. Then I remember the gunshots and the screaming.  My school was abandoned ever since the war started. No one went back, and the last I can recall, we were solving math problems. I really wish I could go back to school.

Once again, night fell and felt like collapsing onto my very cozy bed. Dinner was really really nice. Roast beef with gravy and broccoli was slowly digesting in my stomach. I burrowed myself into my snuggly blankets, ready to have a really sweet dream about the weekend ahead. “ Ahhhhh... this is the life” I said as my eyes drew to a close.

I slept in the coldest corner, next to the window. Our house didn’t have a really great insulation which caused every night to be a cold one. Is it bad that I want all of this to end? All the gunshots and the sound of terror is horrifying. There is nothing I can do to stop this either! Or is there...  

Top 3 Willow Park Highlights

For the first week of the holidays, a bunch of riversiders got the chance to go on camp for a week. The campsite was at Willow Park. There, we participated in many exciting activities and in this story, I am going to tell you about 3 things that I enjoyed the most about the camp.

Number 1: Duck Duck Goose 

It was not any ordinary game of duck duck goose but it was quite the opposite. If you were the person tagging another person, you had to crack an egg on the persons head when you say goose. The first time I got hit felt weird. I didn't manage to catch anyone who egged me so I didn't get the pleasure of pouring tomato sauce on their heads. Not many other girls did either. Duck Duck Goose had to be my most favourite game of the whole camp!

Number 2: The Disco 

Wednesday night had to be my most favourite. Mr and Mrs Samuels put on the most funky disco for us and I humbly say thanks to both of them and their helpers. But in that disco there was also a fun game where there were 3 teams involved. Mrs Hamilton had either put a black, green or red mark on your hand which later lead to which team you were going to be in. The Smugglers (Green), Dealers (Red) and The Cops(Black). The instructions were that the greens had to sell the diamonds or the bottle caps to the reds. If a cop caught you though, you would have to go to jail for a minute. The whole night was really fun and I sold a lot of diamonds.

Number 3: The Food :) 

The willow park chefs cooked a lot of killer dishes. We also had heaps of really nice food for lunch and breakfast as well. My favourite lunchtime meal would have to be the time we had pork and a few side dishes. It was delicious! Its hard to pick just one favourite dinner dish but the roast lamb we had on the last night we stayed at the camp was the best!

The week I had was amazing and my team was awesome as well. We ended up in 4th place overall but that was okay. At least I got to enjoy the camp and I had a ton of fun as well.

DLO Reflection

The purpose of our Digital Learning Object was simple. Rita, Vivienne and I wanted to show people what the tower is because not many people have heard of the Burj Khalifa. Also, I wanted to learn more about the tower and creating this movie was perfect.  Its the tallest building in the world and we thought that the best way to present it was to build a mini version of the tower.

In our plans, we had tried to make it using paper mache but with the given time we had, (1 week) it was impossible. So with a little advice from our lovely office monitors and Mr Burt, we settled on making it with thick paper rolls. The concept was to take still images of us putting the skyscraper together and then a timelapse of us painting it. Rita was responsible for the awesome introduction. It was an original and creative idea

Overall I think we could have done a lot better. We didn't really manage our time properly and that impacted on the time we had to paint. Our footage was accidentally lost amongst everyone elses movies and photos so we had to improvise and just animate the tower being built. I think that next time we can improve if we focus on the right points.

The positive side to our project was that we all got to work together and that we got to experience a new way of thinking. We had to plan the building out almost like a real architecture and measure everything so everything matched. We also had a very interesting way of showing our movie using a time lapse.

So I conclude that this project was very enjoyable. I really think we have achieved our goal that was set. Rita had written a very informative voice over and I'm proud of our finished product. But now that we are finished we all don’t know what to do with our awesome Burj

Khalifa.
S,R,V Burj Khalifa Tower from Team 5 PES on Vimeo.

Term 3 Highlights

This term has flown past pretty fast. I’ve had heaps of highlights throughout this term.

Our netball shared lunch was celebrated with every other netball team. We all gathered in the hall at lunchtime and shared a few songs. Miss Va'afusuaga put on a lovely event and mostly everyone brought something to share. Thanks Miss Va'afusuaga for the wonderful shared lunch.

The production is just a blurry sight on the horizon that is rapidly rising. Our dance group Insanity, is the last act of the night as our dance is based in the late 2010s. Mr Jacobsen is helping put our dances together, setting us up onstage in our positions. Kiss Kiss by T Pain, Turn up the Music by Chris Brown and Freeze also sung by T Pain. Weird isn’t it? Vivienne and Huelo-Ata changed some of the moves that Selena had made. It made our dance a bit easier but it was effective.

Another highlight for me has been working Mr Burt and writing most of the assembly koreros and planning the school wide events like the year 8 social last term. Its been a good opportunity to learn more about how to use keynote and it challenged my leadership skills.

So I can conclude that this term has been a good one. I am really happy that this term has gone so smoothly but I’m also sad because its nearly over.

A Crusade of Ants

Our house was a mess! My eyelids felt heavy, as I looked around the room.  All of the blankets were scattered around the sitting room floor. My parents were up and a trail of ants were marching in the kitchen cupboard. Dad quickly took all of the food out and threw it on the table. The ants were picking at the crumbs on the shelves.

The ant trail started at the window and it led to the cupboard of food as well as our bowls and plates cupboard. Dad wiped the ants up and put down a special liquid to kill the ants.

A few weeks later there were no ants about and our house is now clean again.

Cross Country

“ OK everyone lining up in your ages levels please!” Mr Jacobsen was standing on the side of the field. The house captains were lined up next to him, holding the coloured flags in the air. One by one they said their team chants. The houses were Takitimu (yellow) TE Arawa (red) Matatua (green) and Tainui (blue.) My stomach was turning as I thought about the 3.5 km cross country we were just about to run.

Each age group were lead off, one after the other. Every time the hooter went, we cheered for our house colours. I was in Takitimu, cheering for each of my other house mates. TIme seemed to fly past really fast and before I knew it, I was on the starting line ready to go.

Jasmine and I stuck together the whole way, encouraging each other to keep on going. The mud reached all the way up my legs and in between my toes. I looked ahead and went up the playground, through the gold posts and started on our second lap.

I went down onto the reserve, puffing and panting. My throat was dry but it didn't matter. I was determined to finish the race. I kept my pace and then the bell rang. “ Come on Shoal we’re nearly finished!” Jasmine ran ahead until I caught up. We then crossed the finish line together and we were done. Rita grabbed a cup of water and threw it onto me. The race was done and dusted.

SER (Self Explaining Roads)

Our extension class held an investigation about Self Explaining Roads last term. Self Explaining roads are streets like Anderson Ave, Holland Ave and Maybury Rd with islands put on them. We had to choose out of 4 questions to base our research on. My partner, Vivienne, and I then did a bit more research about the SER and what they were. Then we came up with a few questions that we thought we could put into our forms that we later used to interview kids with.

Short Investigation-John Farrell

Courtesy of http://www.hoperivermusic.com/about

Our extension class have been asked to do a short project about 4 people in pairs. Gavin Bishop, Darryn Joseph, Apirana Taylor and John Farrell. For our separate independent task, we had to choose 1 out of the 4 to research more on.  My choice is John Farrell.

John Farrell is an American singer, songwriter, author and peace educator. He has written and recorded lots of kids songs and books like “All Around Us,” which is a CD about science and nature for kids. Farrell also wrote songs for “The great Earth Singalong,” which he also starred in and received Parents Choice Silver Honour Award and a Dove Foundation Award.

John lives in Hillsdale, New York with his wife and 5 kids. John is very enthusiastic about cycling, reading and writing. He stopped watching t.v long ago and is encouraging families to spend more quality time together and doing things that doesn't involve any sort of technology. He would like families to read and sing more together as a family bond.

John is the founder of an international network called “Bridges of Peace and Hope.” It is an organisation that helps teachers, students and other collaborate on the arts in education projects that promotes respect and communication. I’m very excited to meet these wonderful people at the Vodafone events centre on Thursday for the Storyline's Festivals.

Creative Strand Reflection

YELLOW HAT- I really enjoyed carving out my pattern on my piece of wood. It was a great experience to have went through.

BLACK HAT- I found it difficult to carve the curved lines and that some people were mucking around when it was time to clean.

GREEN HAT- The thing I found most interesting was the name of the designs. They were Samoan name that I had never heard.

WHITE HAT- I learnt how to carve out lines and patterns. Also that it is important to make your lines deep so they show on your paper.

How to Make Banoffee Pie

Khaia and I made a delicious Banoffee Pie for last night's dessert. It was super yummy and scrumptious!

Here is the recipe if you would like to make it.

For the Base:
100g of Butter
 250g of crushed digestive biscuits.
 For the Caramel:
100g of butter
100g of soft brown sugar
A 397g can of condensed milk
For the topping:
4-6 bananas
300ml of whipped cream
Grated chocolate
You will also need a greased a 20cm loose bottomed cake tin.

Step 1: The Pie Shell
Crush your digestive biscuits and mix it in with the 100g of butter. Then take the mix and spoon it into the tin. To make a pie shell, push a bit of the mix half way up the sides of the tin. Chill for 10 minutes.

Step 2: The Caramel
Melt another 100g of butter and 100g of soft brown sugar in a non-stick saucepan over a low heat. Make sure you stir continuously until the sugar had dissolved. Then add the condensed milk at bring up to a rapid boil for a minute, stirring all the time to make a thick caramel. Then spread it over the chilled shell let it cool on the bench and freeze it for 1 hour or until it's firm.

Step 3: The Toppings.
When the pie is done freezing, carefully lift it out of the tin and onto a serving plate. Then whip the cream and cut the bananas. Put a layer of banana on the pie then a lay on the cream and then another layer of bananas. Grate the chocolate over the pie and serve.

My Saturday Adventure.

I buried my head deeper into my pillow as my mum nagged me saying it was time to wake up. My eyes took a bit to adjust to the light but as read the clock, I saw it was eight in the morning! That was too early! But there was a purpose for waking up that early. Dad had an appointment at the bank in Sylvia Park.

We parked near The Warehouse. The bank wasn't open yet so we went into The Warehouse to have a look. In the end mum bought me two jumpers. They were purple and black jumpers. We parted ways with Dad as the bank opened up. Mum, Khaia, Cree, Kensi and I strolled to the food court to have breakfast.

A NYC Benedict bagel, hot chocolate and hash brown is what I ordered from McDonald's. It was scrumptious! After that, we cruised back to The Warehouse. That's where mum bought me 3 more really cool jumpers and a black football jacket. I was soooo happy! " THANK YOU MUM" I exclaimed as the car boot opened.

Khaia was dropped off at the Atiu Hall in Otahuhu and we had some time to kill. So we went car hunting because our family is just getting too big. We saw a few but didn't decide on which one to get. Instead we just went home and had a long rest after our long day.

Ashleigh's 13th Birthday!

Brooklyn knocked on the door and I sprinted to my bags. Ashleigh's mum Tanya, had just picked her up from her house and was waiting for me to get in the car. Our last stop was Vivenne's house. She walked out of the front door and we all loaded into the car. It was Ashleigh's birthday and we were going to have an awesome time.

Ashleigh was sitting in the lounge as we walked through the door. She suddenly got up and we followed her upstairs. I set my bags on the floor of her bedroom and jumped onto her bean bag. Minutes later, Huelo-ata knocked on the front door. We all hid and surprised her as she was taking her shoes off. Everyone was at the house. Ashleigh, Brooklyn, Vivienne, Huelo-ata and I were ready to go to the movies.

" See you soon!" We all said to Tanya  as we got out of the car. The bright lights of Sylvia Park shone as we all walked through the main entrance. Vivienne and Brooklyn raced up the stairs and Huelo-ata, Ashleigh and I took the escalator. We then payed for the tickets to Despicable Me 2 and went to Pak ' n ' Save to buy the snacks.

Our movie started at 6:30 pm and it was really funny! I don't want to spoil it for people that haven't watched it yet so I will just say that I really enjoyed the hilarious movie. Anyway, after the movie, we took a lot of pics at the photo-booth near the cinema before making our way back to the car. " Did you enjoy the movie?" Once Tanya had asked that question, the car sounded like a jungle! Each and everyone of us were trying to explain our favourite parts of the movie. " We were the loudest in the movie!" Ashleigh was raving on and on about how everyone was probably looking at us and saying " can they be quiet!" It was super funny.

The whole way to Dominoes was noisy, though it grew quiet when Roland brought the pizza into the car. It smelt so scrumptious! Too bad I couldn't have a piece of pizza until we got home. When we finally did get home, I had 3 slices of pizza. YUMM!

I threw on my Pj's and slid onto the couch, ready for bed. We watched a scary movie that finished at 12:30 am and didn't sleep until another half hour passed. In the morning, I couldn't work out how to turn the shower on so I got Ashleigh to do it. Then I washed up and got into my uniform ready for the school day ahead.

  A big thank you to Ashleigh and her family for having me in your home. It was wonderful to spend Ashleigh's special day with her and I think that the time we had was awesome! So once again Thank You!!

Nelson Mandela

Rock Climbing

This is the presentation that Brooklyn and I did in our writing class with Ms Squires. Our task was to write about rock climbing, the quote and the first picture and what the man in the picture is doing.

Should Pt England School be a Single Gender school?

Should Pt England School be a single gender school?

Pt England should not be an only gender school because we are our school is awesome just the way we are. I reckon that if our school contained only girls, then there would be more gossip and more problems between the girls. And if we were an all boy school, I think there would be more fights between boys over the littlest things.

Girls are more likely to have more drama than boys. Girls gossip and cause havoc  between each other, hurting one another's feelings. But if our school was an all girls school,  teachers would be breaking up more fights.

Having just boys in our school could also cause drama, but not a lot of it. Some boys can be show off's and that could lead to other boys to be very jealous of each other and lead to very big fights.

Hansel and Gretel Retold.

Living in a dilapidated house with my step dad, step brother as well as my mum was not the fairytale I was wanting in my life. My dad died because he was eaten by a wolf in the forest when I was the age of four. My mum then married a man named Bob and Bob had a son named Hansel. He was twelve years of age which meant he was two years older than me . So now I’m stuck with my step dad Bob, my mum and my annoying brother.

Five years had passed and already I wanted to leave. Hansel was always spoilt while I had to clean the house and cook the food. It was another Cinderella story. Anyway, mum and Bob never payed attention to me unless there was a mess to clean. How unfair! They accused me of being spoilt as well, even though I wasn’t. This all lead to Hansel and I being kicked out of our own house! “You can not come back until you have learnt how to be sweet little grateful children!” Yelled both my mother and step dad. It was weird how my own mother had agreed with that stupid guy.

We travelled through the woods that surrounded our house. The cool breeze tugged on my long, curly black hair. Hansel led us through the woods. I looked up and the trees were tangled upon Hansels head. He was my older brother so I had to listen to him. “ Everything is alright Gretel! Were not lost.”  His voice didn't fool me at all. I knew we were lost the minute he took the lead. We had been walking for so long, I just wanted to stop.  However, as I was about to give up, we stumbled across something awesome.

The biggest mansion on earth was in our way. I wanted to avoid it by going around it but NO.... “Come on Gretel, we can live here.” Hansel said cheerfully.

“NO! I am not going in there. What if something scary or even someone is in there.” I said. But Hansel didn’t care what I thought. So he walked inside. I had to follow him because as I said before.... He was my older brother. I was soooo angry at him. I always didn’t get to have a say. It was like living at home again only not with mum and Bob there. I walked through the door and my spine tingles. That was a warning sign. I told Hansel but he was too busy playing with all the technology that was in the house.

“Come Gretel. Remember this ga-”

“HEY!” Someone interrupted....

We looked around and saw an old man standing there. “HANSEL YOU STUPID!!!! I told you there was something scary about this house.” I yelled furiously. We argued and argued until finally the old man stopped us. “ OH RIGHT SHUT UP!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY HOUSE?” I was struck by how ugly he was. His eyes glowed bright yellow and scars were scattered across his face.

“We are just passing by and we will be on our way now.” I was speaking calmly to the man. “ No you’re not. You came into my house and I consider that trespassing.” His voice was firm and sound like he intended to speak once more. “ Since you are intruders I will have you be my servants. You can stay and tend my every need.” My brother tried bargaining with the man saying that he will stay if he lets me go. “ No way! You are both staying here with me. There is a room for you and your sister to stay in when I don’t need you.” The man was planning something. It is a gut feeling. I washed his clothes and dishes as well as clean his pet hamsters cage. Its funny how such an evil man can care for such a little creature. “ You are dismissed. Go to bed now.” I dragged my feet up the stairs, tired from all the hard work I had done today, and jumped onto my new bed.

Hansel was fast asleep while I had to lay there and listen to him snore! Anyway, just as I was about to sleep an old raspy voice starts to say something. It was the old man talking to himself. I quietly get one of his gadgets that hung from the wall and recorded him. “When its time to sleep tomorrow, and they are just about to doze off, I will kill them.”

“Hansels gotta believe me now.... We can make a plan to kill him first. Why am I so SMART!!!” Gretel whispered to herself. The next morning came and Gretel showed Hansel. After Hansel just finished listening to it he finally took her advice and they planned to kill the evil old man.

TO BE CONTINUED....

SER Survey.

Here is the link.
This a little survey about the new Self Explaining Roads here in Glen Innes. The extension group are gathering information for a Tamaki University student about the roads and Vivienne and I put together this form for her. Please fill it out if you live on any roads like Maybury Rd, Holland, Anderson Ave or any in this area with newly put road islands on them. Your help would be much appreciated.

What is Protein and Why do We Need It?

Our literacy task for Mrs Lagitupu was to choose a subject around our school wide inquiry, PSI and our       team 5 My Healthy kitchens rules to investigate on. My group consisted of Ashleigh, Vivienne and I and we did the topic 'Protein.

Creative Literacy Reflection

What I really enjoyed about our creative literacy task was the fact that I could make a movie all about a Michael Jackson Song. Also because I got to work with my friends.

The thing I found really interesting was trying to find a song. We couldn’t decide on just one song at first because people would be doing the same thing.

What I didn’t enjoy was that when it came to filming there a lot of disputes on who was going to act out what. So instead we resolved it with getting a little kid to do it.

I enjoyed the actual filming of our movie. I had fun with the junior kids and our ideas had turned out as planned.

I learnt that when you film, you need different angles to make the movie more effective. The Long shot was my favourite to use.

The thing we need to work on next time is our time management. while we were animating, we wasted time talking instead of actually drawing.

Prospective Student Writing

Prospective Student-( Video my Writing is Based off)

He gripped the edge of the cliff, he puffed and panted realizing he had only needed to walk up the last hill to get to his destination. He was wondering “Can I actually make it?” Pulling himself up off of the ledge, he was dragging his feet up the hill and wiped sweat off his face. Determination was left on it as he knocked on the towering door of the dojo. The door slowly opened and the sensei strolled to meet him.

The boy bowed down to his sensei. His penetrating stare scared the boy a bit. Disappointment and rejection had made his head fall and shoulders drop. The sensei pointed to his right and slammed the door behind him. He breathed in and clasped his hands. A day and night he meditated, waiting until the sensei would come to his senses and realize what a strong warrior he was.

He heard the clanking of the chains on the door. Slowly, the sensei emerged from the dark. He was turned down once again and cringed when the sensei pointed to the right. He stomped away but something clicked inside him. His eyes went from sad to angry. He strode furiously back to the huge, hefty door. Clenching his fists, he threw a powerful kick to the door. The boy felt as if he was ready to fight and prove his worth.

Sensei lifted his arm, pointing right. The boy followed his arm and stood staring. “ PLEASE USE SIDE ENTRANCE” A sign was set on the right of the door. He stood humiliated and embarrassed.

20 Hour Famine

A whole team of eager kids are teaming up up tonight to go hard out for the hungry! The 20 hour Famine team here at Pt England School are having a get together to raise money for all the poor kids in Bougainville, Papa New Guinea.

 We are only allowed to eat barley sugar and drink water as part of the challenge and we are playing a heap of games as well to celebrate to 20 hour famine. It is going to be awesome!

World Vision started the fund to help kids all around the world without food and nourishment since 1953! They have cared for a lot of starving children and I think that its a great thing to for founder Dr Rob Pierce to have done.

Interface XPO

We arrived at the Ellerslie convention centre seeing the Interface XPO signs at the door. Vivienne, Makayla, Darius, Mrs Lagitupu and I walked into the elevator and we went up. The editor of a magazine called Interface had invited us to the XPO to film the experience through our eyes His name was Greg Adams.

The main conference area was lined with black chairs. I filmed a heap of teachers filing into the room. Makayla set up the camera and the music stopped. A animation of a little boy dancing on the screen. It was the intro to the XPO. Greg Adams introduced himself and the event had started.

The technology stands were scattered everywhere. I was surprised that we could get interviews with most of the stands. My favourite stand was the 3D printer. A 3D printer uses plastic to create model objects. You can make anything with the printer. The more intricate the detail, the longer it takes to make the object.

The guy who was running it had a toy printing on the side. I scanned the table. There were heaps of creations made by the printer on the table. My favourite was a black skull as well as a little ball toy stuck inside a box. It looked really cool.

Thanks to Greg Adams, Mrs Lagitupu and Mrs Burt for letting us have the opportunity to go to the wonderful Interface XPO. It was a great experience to have and I am really grateful.

Should Junk Food be Banned in School?

I think that junk food should be banned in schools.

It is really unhealthy to take junk food to school because it can drain your energy and lead you to obesity. Also, not  having junk food at school can improve your health and concentration.

Obesity is a growing disease that affects young people as well as old. I think letting kids have junk food in school is actually supporting the cause of obesity. If there is no junk food in schools now, the kids won’t be overweight or obese when they are older.

Kids need energy when learning at school. Junk food drains energy and can make kids lazy and not excited about school and learning. I think that schools need to enforce more rules on banning junk food in schools to prevent the loss of energy.

Poverty levels are high and some parents are just giving money to kids and they buy their own lunch. The dairies offer cheap chips and drinks to kids which is what they buy most of the time. They should start to at least sell fruit or something so that the kids can have something healthy to eat.

In conclusion, junk food is bad to have in school and we should consider banning it in all schools. That's why I agree with that statement.

Obesity Report

By 2020, one third of us will be obese. However, many Americans are already there. Many people have bad diets and there are too many fatty food places and restaurants like the Heart Attack Grill. Compulsive over-eating and food addiction are what effects lots of people in America, particularly a place called Evansville, Indiana.                             

Obesity is a disease that affects many people who are very fat or overweight.  

Obesity causes major health problems like being short of breath, knee pains, pneumonia, heart disease and heart attacks. Just some of the many things being obese can do. The lack of mobility and quality of health can both be hard and embarrassing when out in public. Proper diets and exercise can help prevent obesity.

In America, there are coffins that can fit up to 3 normal sized people in them! They are special caskets designed for extremely overweight, obese people. The sad thing is that people as young as 11 years old have had to use the coffins.

1 in 5 children in New Zealand are overweight. 1 in 12 are obese in the whole of New Zealand. We can reduce this statistic if we are committed to encouraging children to exercise and eat less junk food.

What's really in Our Eggs?

New Zealanders eat two and a half million eggs per day which adds up to 920 million each year.

Most eggs (89%) are laid in caged farms. Chickens are kept in tight,  cramped cages that can hold up to 6 hens. The hens don’t exercise and aren't able to do what everyday hens do. In the cages they are held in, there is a little electric wire at the front of the cage that prevents the hens from getting to the eggs when they are laid. The cages are on an angle, so that the eggs can roll onto the conveyer belt. Hens have to grip the cage so they don’t slide to the front and get shocked.

9% of eggs are free range or organic. The hens are able to live in big open spaces allowing them to have their daily exercise to keep them healthy. They have access to grass as well as chicken feed. The hens are kept on fields surrounded by gates to keep them from running away. When they lay their eggs, it is picked and packed by human hand.

Barn raised hens have the space to perch, dust bath and nest. The hens aren't able to run around though as they are all packed into the barn. They are the least common bought eggs at 2%.

Colour agents are put in the chicken feed to brighten the eggs yolk. New Zealand yolk is naturally darker in colour. However, it doesn't have an impact on its nutritional value.

Free range eggs are better to eat but it is very expensive. Caged eggs are cheaper but how they are raised are horrible. The environment that free range farms have is a more better living space.

Fia Fia 2013

Fiafia went down on the 18th of March, the last day of school. The event started of with food stalls at 4:30pm and then all of the performers going to their changing rooms at 6:00pm. And to make it even more exciting, the stage was outside on the field!

The Niuean group were held in room 13. I got changed into my costume and anxiously waited. Huelo-Ata, Ashleigh and I wanted to go on stage so badly and get it over and done with.

My group was sandwiched in between two other fiafia groups on the soft carpet that was laid on the concrete for us. It was chilly because we sat outside, on the hard-courts. There were eight groups before us and I just couldn't sit still.

First up was the Kapa Haka group and they were awesome! There were more groups after them including the Tongan boys and Girls. They were pretty cool as well.

The Uni-cyclists were up and it was time for us to line up. I was bouncing around, trying to get rid of the nerves. Their performance was done and they cleared the stage. The MC’s, Gabriel and Vivienne walked on-stage. 

“Introducing the fierce Niuean group!”

I walked on stage and was greeted by the lights. I got ready and the senior boys came through the crowd. The crowd was cheering as they walked threw, spears in their hands. Then the rest of the performance went went by really fast. They stood at the front of the stage and yelled “ the people are coming, the people are coming!” in Niuean. The girls responded with “ “Tell them to come tell them to come!” we repeated it twice and Miss Lavakula hit the drum. The intermediate boys came onstage and Kingston did his Niuean speech. Then came the Niuean dance the Hopo and we sang a song called ‘Ka Fisi Niue’ When we did the Niuean haka called the Takalo, our mission was to break the stage. Sadly, our goal was not achieved but we still had a great time.

My BORING Holiday

The Holidays. Something that I had been waiting for when I started term 1. Now, I actually want to go back to school! I haven't really been anywhere during our school break so it has been really boring sitting around at home.

During the first week of the holidays, I had gone to school to take my sister to her netball training, played on our PS3 and my family and I have used our new Vulcan EBF- 25 nerf gun to shoot down plastic cups.  It was AWESOME! But that was about the only fun things that we did. Other than that I just sat at home doing nothing.

I am really looking forward to school next week because I can't wait to see all of my friends and teachers. Also i really want to know what this terms theme is.

Term 1 Reflection

This term has been packed full of wonderful events and being a prefect, I got the opportunity to join in way more activities. We have had a wacky hair day and karaoke session at lunchtime which was really fun.

We have also had culture group practices to prepare for our end of term Fiafia night. Every single person in the school was given a group to participate in. I have been given the to be in the Niuean group and it has been a great experience. I can’t wait until the night arrives.

Joshua Iosefo came to our school to teach a few people from each class about poem writing. I was one of fortunate people to work with the amazing poet. He taught us how to be confident and more about spoken word poetry. Joshua is a really inspiring person and I was really lucky to be able to work with him.

I play for the Netball team and the softball who went to the Auckland champs a few weeks ago. It was really awesome to be apart of the softball team and I think that the teams were supportive and had great sportsmanship.

The highlights of my term were all very fun and exciting experiences. My overall favourite was poem writing with Joshua. I learnt more and I really enjoyed working with him. I can’t wait to see what is installed for me next term.