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!!