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.

Kids Safety Day

It was hot and stuffy outside but that didn’t stop my family and I from going to the Kids Safety Day in Gi. The event was happening at the car park in between the library and the police station. It was to tell kids how to be safe on the road.

As soon as I got there, all I saw a sea of kids and adults. They were either lining up to get a sausage, going to see whats wrong with their bikes or watching the performances on stage. It was so cool! “ Go wait in line over there so you can get your tires pumped up”  Mum instructed.

While I was waiting I looked around and I saw lots of activities that looked like fun. There was a pimp my bike competition where you had to decorate your bike. Who ever had the coolest bike won a prize. A bike riding circle was also put up. Kids road around in their bikes and went over bumps that was set up along the way.

I was almost at the front of the line when Rita came and stood next to me. She was with her mum and brother, James. We started talking and that was when Constable Scott announced that there was going to be a dance competition. Rita shot off to go and dance. The next thing I knew she was up on stage with other kids doing the Dougie. Three different songs played and in all of them you had to do a different dance move. The contestants were judged on crowd reacted.  Rita was missed out and no one could vote for her. “ Better luck next time” I said to my mum.


After I pumped up my tires, I took it for a ride. I saw James ride up and I think he was looking for Rita. Dad came and got me. “Do you want breakfast or what?” Down to the bakery we went and I got a mince and cheese pie. YUMMY!  Everyone gulped down their last piece of pie and it time was time to go home.

Exhausted from all the bike riding, I slouched on the couch and nearly fell asleep. The Kids Safety Day was fun and I now know more about how to be safe when it comes to riding my bike.