Go Hard with College

Today Mr Andrew Patterson came into our school with a student and an inspirational talk. Two students talked about their experiences with college and also shared some inspirational quotes. A student from Manurewa high school spoke about his experiences (it was a video of his speech given a week). He gave a quote. Which was 'change won't happen if you don't do something yourself'. That was probably my favourite quote from all the quotes that were given. From that I am now going to be the best college student I can be.

Mr Patterson brought with him an ex Pt England student who has moved onto Tamaki College. His name is Raenan. Raenan was asked questions from Mr Patterson. One of the questions were "how did you feel when you walked into Tamaki College for the first time as a year nine student on the first day?". He answered, "I felt nervous but once I saw my mates I felt like I belonged". He went on about how different college is to Pt England and how you need to manage time much better. That scared me a bit because I'm terrible with time. But then he said just go hard. Then I thought I can do it. Now I'm gonna go to college with the thought of 'GO HARD!'.

Time Word Problems

WALT: Use our known strategies to work out time lapse problems.

This week we learnt about showing our solving for word problems. There were only five problems but with the help of my friend Seini we were able to figure out how to solve the word problems.

Multiplication Pyramid

WALT: Complete the pyramid using no calculator.

This week for an exercise for our brain, we completed a multiplication pyramid. Usually our teacher allows us to use the calculator for the top three numbers. Instead of that, she made us work it out on our own. That's exactly what I did. I did use the calculator to check the answers but not multiply. My working out is on the side of the pyramid in the google drawing.

Letter to the Rugby League World Cup 2017 Tongan Team

Dear Tonga Rugby League World Cup 2017 Team,

Well done on getting to the semi-finals this year. Your team did incredibly well throughout the whole tournament. Next year I bet you'll make it to the finals (with no biased ref in the way). Even though you didn't win, you won in my eyes. Some people may be sad but you should be proud. You did really really great! God was with you through the games. You prayed before and after and you got so far with God. You did so well the king came! That must of been really cool.

Can't wait till the next Rugby League World Cup!
Your sincerely,

Talita

Perspectives and Opinions

WALT: I am able to identify the  ideas opinions of author and share my own in comparison.

Tonga and England had a match on Saturday last week. The match was for semi finals for the 2017 rugby league world cup. At Mt Smart a crowd of 30,000 people cheered on the two teams. The last try was a bit of an upset. One of the refs were a bit biased

Word Problems Week 6 & 7

WALT: Understand which 2 operations (+, -, x, /) can be used to solve each problem.

This week in maths we were learning about word problems and how to solve them with two different operations. I tried to use two operations but I wrote it down in a book. 

Tooth Decay

WALT: I am able to distinguish between fact and opinion by identifying relevant language features the author has subtly used.

The end slide tells us to create a movie. We are in process of editing that movie so it will come in a separate post. I'd never heard of tooth decay until this week. It's a very serious matter that really needs to be deal with properly. 

The Manaiakalani 10th Annual Film Festival

Manaiakalani is the trust which allows 13 schools to learn using chrome books. Every year the Manaiakalani trust has a film festival. All 13 schools go to the movie theater throughout the day of the film festival. All the film festival movies are made from classrooms over 13 schools.

All the movies come from the 13 schools. Throughout the day there are many movie sessions. Some schools are in a session with other schools. The year 6,7 and 8's of Pt England school are going at 11:00. I am lucky enough to be a presenter for our English extension class. That was my first time presenting.

The Maniakalani trust has booked out three movie theaters. I was really nervous at first; after the first session, I was used to it. My friend who presented with me was Noah. We presented three times that day. Just last week we had a special film festival with our school. All the movies from Pt England School were shown to the whole school. Every presenter presented and every movie from Pt England was played. Noah and I were the twelve people to present. Everyone said they loved our movie.

Unfortunately, after lunch, I was called out of the film festival for a test. I missed out on my sister's presentation and movie. But that's alright because I can watch it on the Manaiakalani 2017 film festival site... and so can you! Back to the story, I passed my test by the way and missed out on all the other movies. Next year I won't be able to watch these videos in cinema. Because I'll be at college. I think this was the best Maniakalani festival. How about you? You can go to the site and way back to 2008 and that Manaiakalani.

2017 Manaiakalani Film Festival videos

Maths Problem

WALT: Solve maths problems.

This week we focused our learning on B.E.D.M.A.S. B.E.D.M.A.S is the order of solving a algebra question. First you should solve brackets, exponents, division, multiplication, addition and lastly subtraction.

B=Brackets

E=exponents

D=division

M=multiplication

A=addition

S=subtraction

On the tenth and eleventh slides, I solved those questions using B.E.D.M.A.S. I really hopenext week we learn about more about algebra.

Guy Fawkes

WALT: connecting and comparing. I relate information and ideas from texts to my own experience to form an opinion.



I didn't find out until last week that Guy Fawkes was actually a person. Personally I don't like the idea of mostly everyone celebrating a terrible event.  Guy Fawkes was not a very good person so I don't understand why the holiday is named after him.

Koko The Ape

WALT: Find evidence in a text. Use the process of elimination to find the 'best fit' answer.




The last few weeks in reading we have been learning about a ape called Koko. Koko has mastered sign language or at least that's what some people think. I really want to go to Koko one day to see ape sign language.

Word Problems

WALT: Find an appropriate strategy to solve each word problem.

This week we solved some word problems.

Niue Language Week

Fakaalofa lahi atu Did you know that his week is Niue language week? To celebrate, our Niuean group created a beautiful dance and a Niuean haka!  'Ko e Vagahau Niue ko e Atefau he Tangata Niue' is the message for the Niue language week. It means, 'The Niue Language is the Heart of Niue people'. Some students from the group said a little speech. That's the only time I've ever heard Niuean language and it's beautiful. Fun Fact; there are more Niueans living in New Zealand than Niue!!

It's only been roughly a week for the group to practice. Still they were fantastic! The girls did a cultural dance. A Niuean haka was performed by the boys. They sounded like bold warriors! While I was watching, I realized that the Niuean culture is very special to all these students. I just cannot wait for the 2018 Niuean language week.

Perspectives and Opinions

WALT: Justifying - I can discuss and justify my responses across a small range of texts (thoughts, feelings, ideas and understandings).

This week is Niue Language Week. Did you know that New Zealand have more Niueans living here than in Niue? I didn't until this week. Our teacher gave us this task to learn more about Niue. I have succeeded. Now I really want to go to Niue! 

My Last Immersion Assembly

WALT: Write a recount of the immersion assembly.

Every term brings a new topic. This term brought Musical Madness as a topic. It’s all about Music and affects us.  Each team performed a little act to show their focus which are all based on Music.

The assembly started off with our senior management team band. Their song is called 'musical madness saves the day'. A band of five ruled the stage. It was a performance like no other a teacher rock school band. One played the drums, another played the guitar, one other playing the trumpet, one on the base and on the tambourine. We couldn't hear the words but heard lots of the instruments.

Team five’s (year 7 & 8’s) focus is, how do composers use music to evoke an emotional response in an audience? Their act was about a family watching the lion king. One scene was replayed four or five times. Each time the music changed… and so did their emotions. When the music sounded creepy, they all showed they were scared. When the music sounded happy they all looked happy. The act informed us the exact focus we’re gonna be learning about.

I found team three to be the most entertaining. Their focus is how music can impact our daily lives. Their act was a movie. Instead of talking different lyrics from songs were played. For example; one teacher lip synced, “I'm gonna swing from the chandelier”. Then another teacher said “well that’s pretty dangerous”. The first teacher then lip synced “Somethin' 'bout you makes me feel like a dangerous woman”. Everyone was laughing.

I can’t wait what this term has in store for us. This is sadly my last term… and I have a feeling it’s gonna be great! All such fun things to do in only nine weeks. I have high hopes that we’ll be able to fit the musical madness into nine weeks. I wonder if I could be a composer who could create an emotional response? I guess I’ll have to wait and see.

This is some of team five's act

Prizegiving 2016

WALT: Write a reflection on current events in our school. 

On Thursday the eighth of December, we had our 2016 Prize Givings. The senior Prize Giving was held in the evening. While the junior’s was in the afternoon the seniors (year five-eight’s) stayed in class waiting for their Prize Giving to come. Our annual school Prize Giving would announce the year eight leadership roles. Next I will be a year eight so I was so excited.   

Three days before Prize Giving, I got an envelope that said I was getting a prize. Butterflies flew around in my stomach. My brain was trying to figure out what it was for. The day of Prize Giving I was bouncing around like a loose spring. It came to my shower and I was singing like Beyonce. That evening when I arrived, I saw my friend and went to stand with her. We waited for a while before going inside the hall to sit. Kapa haka performed first, followed by the team four’s class awards. After that the year five’s academics and their performance. Next was the sport awards for the middle part of the school (year four to six). Then the year six’s academics and their performance.  Prizes for year sevens were coming up.

Team fives class prizes were awarded. Just before our year seven performance, the year seven academics were called. “In third place”, said our principal ”Seini!”. I cheered because Seini is a close friend. Cameo came in second place and I came in first. I have a trophy and one certificate. We then performed our dance. Every other award was given out and then it came to the top of the school. It was a first equal with my friend coming third place.

Prize Giving this year was my best Prize Giving. I was awarded first in academic with no equal. The last prizes went out and the leadership roles for 2017 were announced. All the house captains and Maori leaders were called before prefects. The first three female prefects and then my name was called. I stood up and gave a big hug to Heather(one of my good friends).

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I tried to use as many new vocabulary as I could. I am very exited for next year and hope to do well. Next year, I will try to post something about being a prefect.

If I were Prime Minister...

WALT: Update our self's in current events.

On Monday, John Key resigned from New Zealand Prime Minister. He felt it was time to go. He spent 10 years in parliament and 8 years as the leader of the National Party. He said, “a good leader knows when to step down”. The responsibilities of a Prime minister, is to… go to all the parliament meetings, run the country, making laws for the country, taking care of our big problems and loads more. We thank him for his efforts, but the TPPA I just don’t like. TPPA stands for Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement.

Even though I twelve, I still have a thought about money and what it means to the world. To me, money is nothing; to other people, money is everything. I would say education is much more important than money. There are probably people in New Zealand who are smart enough to have a career but don’t because of money. Yes there are scholarships, but some still require money. Money that people can’t pay because their jobs don’t pay. If I ever become Prime Minister.

If I were Prime Minister, I would care more about the rivers, homeless and work on what people are getting compared to what other people are getting. I don’t think I would do the right math to figure out comparing of job payments. Since I’m only twelve, I don’t think I’ll do well on getting all the knowledge in my head.

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The task for this week was to write about being prime minster. We wrote about problems we would change, laws we don't like and things like that. My main problem is in the second paragraph. I thought about because I wrote this at school. Some problems New Zealand face are hard but the views and landscape are amazing.

Thinkboard - Week 4

WALT: Use B.E.D.M.A.S more often.

 In Week 4, we learnt about B.E.D.M.A.S in maths. For my think-board, I used B.E.D.M.A.S to solve the question. I learnt what B.E.D.M.A.S is and what the letters stand for.

B- Brackets, solve whats in the brackets first.

E- Exponents, solve any exponents.

D- Division, if there is any division in the question, answer it.

M- Multiplication, solve any multiplication problems.

A- Addition, add any numbers that need to be added. 

S- Subtraction, Subtract any numbers that need to be subtracted. 

That is what I learnt in week 4.

Word Problem 2

WALT: Applying my number knowledge to word problems.

This week we learnt about word problems. The presentation that you see above is the second presentation of this week. In this, I show how I solved it and the answer. The strategy I used to solve most of these questions was...

1. Read

2. Underline important information

3. Select a strategy 

4. Solve

5. Check

I found these five steps really helpful during solving the questions. 

Edwards Tree

WALT: Use the following image to write a narrative.

Remember to use TOPS: 

Title, Orientation, Problem and Solution.

 

“Papa!” Anna searched, “Papa where are you”. Anna’s grandfather (Edward) poked his head around the corner. “Over here with your father” he answered. They had been figuring out costs for Anna’s education. Anna walked over to the kitchen and sat down next to her dad. “How was school?” asked Anna’s dad. She shrugged her shoulders as if she didn’t know. Edward changed the subject, “We haven’t had afternoon tea yet”. “I think we should have it under the tree” he suggested. Anna and James (her dad) agreed.

They all brought snacks out to the backdoor. All three of them sat down under the tree. That was usually where they sat for their talks. James, Edward and Anna talked for hours. Edward slowly stood up and clicked his back. “Wow Dad, you can still click your back” said James. Seconds later Edward fell to the ground. Anna and James tried to get him up but he was gone. James called the ambulance but it was to late. Edward had no pulse.

His funeral was over. Anna and James needed to think about where to bury him. They had a good idea where to bury him. During the burying, Anna looked up at the special tree. She fell to her knees and start pouring her eyes out. Anna turned to her dad, “can we call the tree Edward?”. He looked down to Anna and nodded his head. From then on out, that was known as the Edward tree.

A few weeks later, Anna went to the mail-box to collect the mail. James grabbed one of the letters and opened it. James told Anna to sit down; “sweetie, we’re broke”. She immediately ran outside to the Edward tree. He followed her to the tree. “What do you mean we’re broke?” she asked. “We have no money” he said. They both knew that meant no food, no house and no Edward tree. “Can we shape the tree into papa’s head so we can remember him?”. Of course, his answer was yes.

For the next three weeks they spent cutting the edges of the tree. At the end of the third week, they had finished. The house was still on sale. A few days Anna went to get the mail. She handed the letter with her father’s name on it. He slid his nail through the letter and opened it. It had a million dollars in it. The house was saved from selling!

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Our task was to write a narrative with the picture at the top.We had 5 min to brainstorm/plan and 35 min to write. In that time, I got to finish this. This piece of writing was a practise test. Since it was a practise test, we had to remember everything we had learnt through the year. Here is my planning:

T: Edward’s Tree

O 1st Paragraph : Anna and her dad James love this tree on their property. When they are together, they sit under the tree and talk.

P 2nd Paragraph: James is broke and can’t afford the house anymore. Both James and Anna cut the edges off the tree. The tree is then shaped into the head of James’ dad and Anna’s Grampa.

S 3rd Paragraph :  A stranger gave James a million dollars as an act of kindness.

I hope you enjoyed my writing.