Our Makey-Makey Project

WALT: Use the Makey Makey kit.

Makey-makey kit is a toy that allows users to connect everyday objects to computer programs. In class we got into groups and made different projects. Our task in our extension class were to get into groups of 4 or lower. Every group had to pick a project that includeed using the makey-makey kit. One choice was a game show. Their goal was to make a noise when a buzzer is pressed. Another choice was a band. Create instruments and play a song. The last choice was to make a game controller. This controller had to be suitable for one sort of disability.

 I was in a group with Moroni and Seini. We made controllers for a game that would be suitable for one disability. Our controllers were made to be suitable for people with amputated arms. This is our game looked like this.

 I was surprised to find out that I actually know quite a bit with the makey-makey kit. This game is a two player version of beat the goalie. It's supposed to be a rugby match between Australia and New Zealand. Even though all three of us worked on this, I think I really helped with the game. Moroni was good with the makey-makey and Seini with making the control. We all learnt something different from each other.

Everyone in our class really enjoyed our game. I enjoyed it to. From a scale of 1 to 10(1 being bad 10 being great) I rate this game a 8. The controls are easy to use but the game could use some more bling.

GEGNZ Student Summit

Last Friday the year 7 & 8 Pt England extension group went to the Google Educator Group New Zealand student summit. We entered early with plenty of time to spare. Ormiston Junior College hosted this event. There were three sessions of lots of many workshops. Two of them were presented from us. Every workshop were about something different. For example: one workshop was based around coding with robots. Ormiston Junior College MLE's were our space to learn in. There were about 400 hundred other students there. It was absolutely incredible! Before the workshop sessions started we had a big welcome in Auditorium. The people from young oceans explorer also talked to us. (visit their site it's really cool).

It was then time for the workshops! The extension group was split in half. One half was presenting their workshop during session 1. I was in the second half. We first went a workshop for a whole lot of robot coding. It was presented by Sunnyhill school. The next session we presented. It was about coding in scratch. You may know that the year 7&8 extension group have been making scratch games. We nearly taught them how to make beat the goalie. Our workshop didn't have enough time to finish. The last session we learnt about telegrami. It's a great app that allows you to record well a cartoon character's mouth moves to the words of the recording. Anyway, it's really cool. The goodbye in the auditorium was awesome! Prizes were given. Four students form Pt England won a prize. Once all the prizes were gone everyone took a really big selfie. It's that photo right there. Suan (the man in the right bottom corner) works for google. He talked about how we are inventors. Everyone looked at him confused. In our minds we were like, 'what? me an inventor!'.  He then told us, "you can change the world by changing ourselves". That's exactly what I'm gonna do.The GEGNZ student summit is very cool. I'm leaving Point England for high school so I won't be going next year. It's very sad but I'm glad I can look back on this experience with a smile.

20 Hour Famine Sleepover

 Two months ago, Pt England's two extension groups had the chance to participate the 20 hour famine. Every year the students come to have a sleep over. There are a few teachers there. All the teams performs an item. This year I decided to go and be in the yellow team. I had just moved houses so I got there a bit late.

It was a while before we actually started something. We all sat down in our teams. Our teacher told us to look around and make sure we get along with these people. That was because we were going to be making and performing an item with them. Chatter started to fill the room. A big “shhhhhhhhh”, came from the teacher. “Yellow team you can practise in the creative space”, she told us. (the creative space is one of the classrooms). Just to remind you I had a broken leg during this. I decided for myself that I would go without my crutches for today. It was a very bad idea. Five minutes into practising, my leg felt like I had just broken it again. I told the teacher and she took me home. Once I got  home my mum was telling me to eat. Even though I wasn’t at the sleepover I still wanted to do the famine. She forced me to eat it. So I did not do the 40 hour famine or the 20 hour famine. I only did 14 hours. I really hope to do it next year.

Space Tech

WALA(we are learning about): Space technology.

I read from this website and here's a short explanation about it.

Link to website

For a long time people have dreamed about going to space. The earliest work on rockets engines were  designed for spaceflight occurred during the early 20th century in three countries by three scientists. In Russia, by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky; in the United States, by Robert Goddard; and in Germany, by Hermann Oberth. On October 4, 1957 the soviets launched the first artificial satellite called Sputnik 1. Four years later, Yuri Gagarin became the first human to orbit the earth in Vostok 1. His last flight took 108 minutes with an altitude of 327 kilometers(that’s about 202 miles).

To be continued...

Scratch Game Term 2

Today we had extension class. This term our focus is based around technology. Some people are in the middle of making a game. My group just started making the game so we have to catch up a bit. We have started our first level. It's supposed to be a maze in mars. Here's what it looks like.

Thats only our first level. There is two more levels to come. I can't wait to finish it off and start playing it. My partner is Moroni. We are trying to make our game better and better. 

Scratch Game Reflection

WALT: Create a game on Scratch.

Last term in extension we created a game on scratch to help us with our knowledge with code. I really did learn a lot and you can see that in this reflection. Ata, Ana and I made this game together. Some parts were fun and other challenging. Here's the link to our game. 

https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/150263855/

Extension trip to Hidden Figures

WALT: Write a review or reflection about school trips right after they have happened.

On the 8th of March the year 7 & 8 Extension group went to see Hidden Figures. We went because one of our teacher's sister, paid for our trip (Mr Vogt is the teacher). That week I learnt that back then in the 60's mathematician were called computers. I also learnt when the first computer had help from Dorothy Vaughan. It was called IBM. The extension group is very thankful for that great day so thank you to Mr Vogt's sister. Here's a brief explanation of the movie. It's about three incredible women who work for NASA. They all helped astronauts go to space. 

The Woods

WALT: Write a narrative that has detail explaining the the basics things needed in a good narrative.

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For the first time in the twins life, they were late and this was dreadful. “What a bummer” said Mrs Thompson staring at Riley and Scarlett who were never late. Riley was quite tall for her age. Riley flicked her brown hair to one side and sighed. She turned her head to Theo who was sitting next to the twins who was also late. She shook her head and gave him an invitation to detention. Late comers always go to lunchtime detention in Room 3. Since the twins didn’t like Theo, they all had to sit next to each other during detention.

“We should probably get on with the show” their teacher told the class. Already on the chalkboard was written neatly what's happening that day and everyone’s name for individual class points. Their teacher wrote on the board the word ‘assignment’. Underneath she wrote that this assignment included a field trip. Nobody said anything but everyone was celebrating silently to themselves. Mrs Thompson turned from the chalkboard and the class stopped celebrating. “This assignment will be about biodiversity, it’s problems and how we can improve it” spoke Mrs Thompson. “We will be going with other classes”, she added.  

The classes were very loud and noisy but Scarlett sat in the long black back seat of the bus. She focused her attention on a piece of paper that was filled with her teachers handwriting. Scarlett took a step out of the bus and had a good stare at the bus. Riley was standing right next to her. “What are you looking at?”, Riley asked. Scarlett faced her sister and moved her eyebrows towards the bus. “Ok, but I mean why?” Riley stopped talking. In the corner of her eye there was a beam of light coming down from the sun towards one of the buses.

Theo was calling out for help because everything that was surrounding him was frozen. He heard an astonishing powerful voice which sounded like the smartie pants, Riley.  The boy walked slowly to where Riley and Scarlett stood. “What is this and why is it happening?”, Theo spoke with a demanding tone. “I don’t know” Riley spoke to his face, “but we have to save the city and whoever else that is having this weird issue”. The three kids walked home to grab their bikes and met at the park at ten o’clock sharp.   

As they headed into the woods again, they noticed track marks on the ground and broken twigs beside the marks. Then a high pitched scraping noise came from afar. Suddenly, right in front of their eyes, they saw what appeared to be a roof jutting about a foot out of the ground. They moved around the trees, down a handmade ladder and around to the front of a old wooden shack like hut. The three looked at each other and Scarlett stepped forward and knocked on the door. They could hear footsteps approaching and the door creaked open. To their surprise a grey haired old man stepped out of the hut. He invited them inside for a hot coco.

“I froze time to find my sweet, lovely granddaughter” he explain to them. “Who is she?” they all screamed. “Mrs Thompson”, he said with an uncertain tone. The three were very surprised. They told this old man that Mrs Thompson was their teacher. “I needed to see her!” he cried. Everyone put hands on him and Scarlett said, “you didn’t need to freeze time you just needed to get out of this hut and go to her”. The old man turned to the three and spoke, “you can call me Mr Johnson”. Everybody else told him their names. They brought him outside up the handmade ladder passed a few trees and out of the woods trail.

Everyone was frozen and Mr Johnson was having second thoughts of meeting his granddaughter again. He walked up to her and unfroze time. Then he hugged her, but she didn’t seem to like it. “Who are you?” she asked disgustedly. She stared into his eyes and she regretted asking that question. Mrs Thompson regretted asking because she knew exactly who it was. Mr Johnson nearly took a step back to his hut but before he could the biggest hug ever was made. “I’m sorry”, Mrs Thompson said. The grandfather and granddaughter are still in touch to this day and they couldn’t be more happier.

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MTV - The C.A.S.T.Z

  The CASTZ from Team 5 PES on Vimeo

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In extension this term, we had been given the task of getting into groups and making a MTV. Our MTV had to include the act kindness, how kindness in showed in school. When extension time came there was at lease two people who were away. We didn't come at lunch times so you might see some replays and confusion because the movie does not match the words to the song. I hope you get the message through the mis matching things. Apart from that I think the video was good.

Time in extension

WALT: Write a story about your time in extension this year. 

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It has been the second year of extension for me and I have learnt lots. There was also a lot of places we visited or they visited us. I have had a great time in extension and I hope that next year I can a great time to.

My highlight from this year was probably the forty hour famine sleepover. It was really fun and it was cool to spend time with my friends at night and sort of the evening. One of the things that was sad about the sleepover is that my sister could not come because she did something to her foot and she did the famine at home instead.

Some things in the year I did to get to attend because I was at sports. I hope to get to see something similar to that in the future. One thing that I missed recently is the Bee presentation and it looked really cool. It could've been my highlight but it wasn’t.

This was the bee hive that came in to our class

Next year I hope to be in extension and opportunities like this next year. I will take them and enjoy them. At prize-giving on Thursday I was awarded third place for academic in year six so I think I might just might get to extension next year. My rating for this year is a eight out of ten. I really enjoyed it!  

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I have had a great time thinking about all the things this year in extension. I also had a great time writing and having those experience. I would loved to be in extension next year.  

Why Bees?

WALT: Create a movie with information and detail about bees.

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Why Bees by Talita from Team 4 Pes on Vimeo.

I did not get the recording done but I still think it is good. I hope you you think that to. If you can fir figure out what I was going to say, please comment if you can.

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Biodiversity Animation

WALT: Create an animation with detail about biodiversity.

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Last term in extension, I learnt about a bit about biodiversity. Our task was to create an animation that has detail about biodiversity. I have learnt what biodiversity is and what it means to our planet. I have made this animation to show what it is, what it is about, how we can help, how it is important to our planet and compare and contrast.

The Three P's

WALT: Understand the meaning of the three P's that were used in the treaty of Waitangi.

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The 3 P's from Team 4 Pes on Vimeo.
Task: We were given a task to get into groups of three and make a DLO about the three P's. In our DLO we had to include what the three P's look like at Pt England School. Also we had to involve how the three P's were involve in the treaty of Waitangi.
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Tatau-Extension

In Extension, we watched a short movie from the programme Tagata Pasifika  about Tufuga Suluape.  The short clip describes  a man who goes through the pain of a Tatau - or Samoan tattoo.  The man had to first ask his parent's permission and for their blessing to be able to get the Tatau.  A traditional Samoan Tatau artist will only do a Tatau on someone young who has their parent's blessing.  It is very painful to get one, but the man in the clip had decided that was what he really wanted to do.  His supported person - or a Sua, another close person to get their own Tatau at the same time, was his brother. One of the cool things is that he was his brothers Sua.  He got their tattoos done in front of a whole lot of people at Auckland University in the Centre for Pasifika studies. Because Tufuga Suluape was there for reason which I don't know, any body was allowed to watch. We were asked by Mrs Telea to think about if we would get a Tatau or not.  I thought about it and I thought that I wouldn't get one because, one: I'm too young and two: it looks really sore - and besides, I dislike needles intensely!  (It's a long story).  Maybe I might change my mind when I get older but my answer for now the answers no.

That's all I have to say to you for now but wait, you never know if I might post some thing.

Symbolism

In extension, we have been given a task to find a partner and tell each other what are the most important things in our life's. We had five minutes to do this and five minutes to draw a symbol from the important thing in our life's. My partner was Yvonne who drew this picture from what I told her. If you guess my important things in my life is God and family then you are right.

Authors Cath Mayo & Paula Green-Extension

Catherine Mayo

1.She’s a musician with a band named Gentle Annie

2.She plays the Violin and has one

3.She loves the bushes

4.Cath likes to climb mountains and cliffs,until she feels like she is going to fall off and die.   

5.Her and her mum found a picture of St Catherine

Paula Green

1.She lives on Auckland west coast

2.Her husband is an artist

3.She runs New Zealand poetry box

4.When she is not writing she loves to go outside and do things like biking,swimming,boogie boarding and things like that.

5.She writes poetry

Storyline Tours-Extension

Next week we are going to go to see Storyline when lots of different and unique authors tells their story ,sings a song or something similar. Though their story or song, they tell you about why they write like this or what the songs about. In Extension we are learning about Paula Green and Catherine Mayo. I really looking forward to seeing them. I would loved to learn about new author's.                                                           

                                     

Birthday Party Plan-Extension

     You might not see the words properly but we tried our bested and it looks great.

Commonwealth Games Movie

Talita's NZ Hosts from Team 4 Pes on Vimeo.
Did you know that the Commonwealth games have been hosted by New Zealand three times? The years we have hosted are 1950 /Auckland  1974 /Christchurch  1990 /Auckland.

I have found out about 1990 and details relating to hosting the commonwealth games. The movie will show about where the host village, uniforms, mascot and logo.

Commonwealth Games

What is the Commonwealth?

Commonwealth is lots of events and lots of countries. The reason why is because the countries got together to play this games and to support each other. Some of them are boxing,netball,judo, road cycling and much more.

What countries competed in the Commonwealth?

These are the countries that have competed but do not any more and that still does.

Anguilla                                                       

Antigua and Barbuda

Australia

Bahamas

Bangladesh

Barbados

Belize

Bermuda

Botswana

Brunei

British Virgin Islands

Cameroon

Cyprus

Cook Islands

Cayman Islands

Canada

Dominica

England

Falkland Islands

Isle of Man

India

Guyana

Guernsey

Grenada

Gibraltar

Ghana

Fiji

Maldives

Malaysia

Malawi

Lesotho

Kiribati

Kenya

Jersey

Jamaica

Montserrat

Mauritius

Malta

Mozambique

Namibia

New Zealand

Nauru

Nigeria

Niue

Norfolk Island

Saint Lucia

Kitts and Nevis

Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha

Rwanda

Papua New Guinea

Pakistan

Northern Ireland

Solomon Islands

Singapore

Sierra Leone

Seychelles

Scotland

Samoa

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Tanzania

Swaziland

Sri Lanka

South Africa

Trinidad and Tobago

Turks and Caicos Islands

Tuvalu

Uganda

Vanuatu

Wales

Zambia

Tonga

Theses are countries that have hosted,entered,entered but do not long compete.

What do the Countries have in common?

They once owned by the Queen and King. But if they weren't then they wouldn't be in the commonwealth games. For the countries to be in the commonwealth games you’re countries have to be owned by the Queen.