Future Focused

The year 8 girls in Whanau Panuba created a poster to show our understanding of being a future focused leaner. This is a movie of us talking about the meaning of our poster. 

Tatau Research

 Recently in extension, we have been learning and researching about tattoo symbols and what they mean. We also got to look at the traditional Samoan tattoo - “Tatau or Pe’a”.

 Just last week we were lucky enough to have Mr Tele’a come in to talk to us about his own tatau/pe’a. He gave us a very specific understanding about it. He also explained what his tatau meant. I remember him telling us that if you were to put a tatau onto a big piece of paper and unravel it, it would end up looking like a flying fox/ bat hence the name “Pe’a”.   

 Before Mr Tele’a came in, we were learning about the different parts of a pe’a. We learnt about the following -

* Faavaetuli - (the tuli's footprint) - the tuli was the bird of the supreme Atua, Tagaloalagi.

* Faaatualoa - (centipede) - believed to be one of a god of the past.

* Faalaupaogo - (panadus leaf) - one of the important plant to the Samoans.

* Faapepe - (butterfly) - one of a useful insect to the Samoans.

* Faagogo - (tern) - another important bird to the Samoans

* Faaupega - (net) - very useful for fishing - for Samoans everyday need.

* Faaanufe - (caterpillar) - a symbol of a new life to a Samoan man.

* Faasigano (male pandanus flower) worn by the Samoan young men for their pride to be real Samoans

* Faamulialiao (shellfish) - one of the most important shellfish to the Samoans

 



Every part of the tatau is significant and has meaning, but two parts that Mr Tele’a explained as very important to him were his belly button and the va’a (also known as the canoe).The canoe is a 20-30 cm wide black strip that goes across the back with arrow points at both ends, going towards the front under arms. This represents the family of the tatau wearer must protect. And the belly button is significant to him because it was the last part that was done.

 Now, we have to design our very own tattoo’s that are made out of two design. One has to represent our family and culture and the other has to represent ourselves. Right now, I am still working on deciding on my final design. I am looking forward to learning more about the Samoan Tatau.

Year 8 Camp

 

A few weeks ago, the year 8’s went on a two hour drive up north to Marsden Bay camp. On our way there we stopped off at Langs beach to take a break and to stretch our legs.

      After a short break and some morning tea, Ms Squires told us that we were going for a long refreshing bush walk. “Yes,” I thought then realized that she said its going to be long.

      Our bush walk had all the features of an “Adventure.” There was mud, rain, and even more MUD. The mud and rain caused a lot of slips and slides that made most us to fall. Just about everybody came out of the bush walk with battle scars.  Most of the other kids thought it was just down-right dangerous, but without the danger factor, it wouldn't have been one of my favorite about camp.

      My favourite thing about camp was the last night we spent there. Our groups had to prepare a short song to share with the rest of the groups at the camp fire. Our team - Marsden - did a remix of a couple of different songs and a marching in song that helped us score more points for our team. It was a very fun night!

      Another highlight of camp was getting to spend a whole week with my friends and also the year 8’s I don’t normally hang out with. From this camp I am going to take away a lot, from learning how to keep safe in the sun to a lot more friends.

My Avatar

This term our class had to re-create our avatar's and incorporate something that represents you, your house colour, and your name or your initials. This is mine. My initials are LTNM and my house colour is 'Te Arawa' (the red house). Last but not least are the music notes, they obviously represent music, and a Lion because my star sign is Leo.

Our New Whanau

       It was the first day back at school and the classes as we knew it turned up-side down. "What do you mean?" I hear you asking, well this is what happened...

       First, it seemed like another ordinary first day of school, (arrive at school, then go to assembly) and then after assembly, Mr Barks and Mrs Nua announced that our class was going to collaborate with Class 5 to make a new big class for the term. At first it was weird, but then as the day passed, we all got used to the idea of a 'New Whanau'. 

       As the term goes by, I would like to see both our classes bond like a family. I think it'll be interesting to merge with another class this term. It is a good way to start of the term and end the year.

Unique Sport - ANO

      

       As part of our school topic - "Game On" - we had to research a unique game that we could teach to the rest of the senior block. The game I found was a game named 'Ano'. Hopefully this will help you understand what it is and how you play it.

They Don't Care About Us

They Don't Really Care About US! from Team 5 PES on Vimeo.

Last week Mrs Nua set a task for our class to see if we can manage ourselves and our time. We had to create an MTV to one of Michael Jackson’s  song. We chose to make an MTV to "They Don't Care About Us". Here is the finished product.

Self Management Refection

Last week Mrs Nua set a task for our class to see if we can manage ourselves and our time. We had to create an MTV to one of Michael Jackson’s  song. Personally, I think my group (the year 8 girls) did really well, considering that most of our group was out of class half the time.

      My contribution to the group was acting and helping Gloria with the filming when she was editing. Next time, I think when we aren't needed than we could go on with other class work. Besides from this we did very well because we stuck to the criteria.

      This is the finished product of our movie. Watch it and please leave a comment on how you think we did in 1 week.

They Don't Really Care About US! from Team 5 PES on Vimeo.

Storylines Tours

This Thursday, the year 5, 6, 7, 8 extension groups will be going to the Vodafone Events Centre in Manukau for the Storyline Tour. We will be watching 4 New Zealand authors such as Jill MacGregor, Paula Green, Juliette Maciver and  Cath Mayo.

For those who don't know much about Paula Green, she is a New Zealand author who writes poems and children's books. Most of her books include animals, the weather and season. At the moment, she is based west Auckland.

Catherine Mayo, also known as Cath Mayo is a children's and young adult author. Her latest book is The Bow Win or lose?. If I were to describe Catherine in 2 words I would say 'Musical' and 'Outdoorsy'. Mayo is in a band called Gentle Annie.

Jill MacGregor is a Pacific Children book writer that many New Zealand School teacher should have heard of. Most of the pictures in her books capture children using environmental resources to maintain the tradition's of that particular country.

Last but not least is Juliette Maciver, another very talented New Zealand writer. Juliette is a children's book writer and has been writing stories ever since she was young. She has written books such as 'Toucan Can', 'Queen Alice's Palaces' and 'Little Witch'.

I am looking forward to listening to all of these writers. Hopefully I will learn something to use for my future stories.

Life Education

Because we are growing up, we spent the first 4 weeks of term 3 at Life Education.

Drugs are one of the worlds most committed crimes and at the Life Education Caravan, Lynn and Harold taught us about the effects it has on people that take drugs at a young age. The first thing we learnt was that taking drugs doesn’t help you reach your full potential. One drug in particular is Marijuana, also known as the gateway drug. ‘Gateway Drug’ means when you take this drug you would want to have more and it is easy to get and very, VERY addictive. Remember that drugs do not choose people, people choose drugs and always be careful.

My Made up Mascot

Recently in Class 1, we have been learning about what a mascot is and what its purpose is. I found out that a mascot is a person or thing that is meant to bring good luck, especially one that is linked to a particular organisation or event.

We studied past mascots such as Shera, from the 2010 Commonwealth games and Clyde from this years Commonwealth games. After the we all had to create our own mascot that represented New Zealand, if we held the next Commonwealth games.

It took me a long time to choose what I wanted to draw because New Zealand has a lot of very beautiful things that is significant to New Zealand. In the end I drew a kiwi and named him ‘Wairua’, in translation, ‘Spirit’. I chose this name because I think New Zealand has a lot of team spirit.

Astria Countdown to Impact - Take 2

This afternoon, Jorja and I played again this afternoon and we were able to complete our mission and save the Earth. 

I thought because we've already played it that it will be easier but I was wrong. This time I found figuring out what the clues meant was very, very hard. From this game I have learnt a lot of very big words that I didn't know. I really enjoyed it and I am hoping to play it more in the future.

Astria Countdown to Impact

Today at Extension, we played a game called Astria Countdown to Impact that was made by a man named Steven. We first had to take 2 tests, a vocabulary test and a test the involves us pretending to be detectives looking for clues. It wasn't until we started playing the game that I realized that the test really helped.

The most difficult part of the game for me was trying to understanding the information that was given to us by the game. I also thought that finding the clues was hard. Even though Jorja and I found three of them. I found completing the Solar Sail (the first room we completed) easy because it wasn't as complex as the Nuke Lab.

Before the next time we play I want to try and remember all the words we learnt and and the clues that we were given. Stay tuned because there are more posts to come about the amazing game - 'Astria Countdown to Impact'

GJKLT - Smart Footprint

Class 1 - Smart Foot-Print from Team 5 PES on Vimeo.

This is a movie that Kaycee, Jorja, Tyla, Gloria and I created to help others with leaving a smart footprint. 

The Present: Chapter 13 Screen play

Short land Street Material : The Present Screenplay from Team 5 PES on Vimeo.

This is a Screen play that Kaycee, Tyla and myself created not long ago as part of our reading activity. It is from a chapter in a book we have recently read called "The Present". This particular chapter is about a girl named Julie and her mother having an argument about Julies dog. The night before this argument happened, Julies dog, (Rudy), bit Julies mother because he thought she was going to hurt Julie. Just watch and see what happened next.

Tech @ T.C

Tamaki College and Pt England School are very close friends. Because of this, our year 7 & 8’s take Technology Down at Tamaki College. Along side some of the other schools in our community who attend on different days than we do.   
    For all of you reading that don’t know what that is, it is when we walk down to Tamaki to take 3 different classes. Food Tech, Graphics and Hard Materials (personally I enjoy Food Tech the most). Half of our syndicate goes on Tuesdays and the others (like myself) go on Thursdays.

We recently changed classes and along with my friends we are in Hard materials with Mr Grundy. For this,we are working on making a stained glass image that is made out of straight lines and straight lines only.  

The design I am working on is a house. The tools we are using to create our stained glass of artwork is a glass cutter, a match and a ruler that is about the same size as the piece of clear glass we are given to practice on.

I am starting to actually cut straight lines. Very soon I am hoping to move on to the next step, which is being able to grind the glass so that it is not sharp for when we put this special copper foil on the edges of it. This will help up reassemble the pieces at the end.
I think Hard Materials is the hardest subject out of the three. Because of all the hard thinking you’ll have to do before doing anything else. Plus, for this particular experiment, your cuts have to be precise, or else you’ll have to everything AGAIN. But in the meantime, I will be looking forward to having a pretty stained glass house at the end of the term.

Smart Footprint

Here are some tips on always being cyber smart. Hopefully this will help you!

1. Always be ORIGINAL and never not be AWESOME
2. Be careful what you search
3. Remember that you are NEVER invisible on-line
4. Always say nice things when you are posting something

THE LOST CHILDREN

This morning here in class 1, we had 5 minutes to think about what we were going to write and 5 minutes to plan, and then 40 minutes to write our story. I chose write a fictional narrative. This is what I could complete in 40 minutes.

Walking down the dark and foggy alley ways of London, quadruplets Tyla, Paula, Gloria and Howard were making their way home from a night at the movies. When suddenly their gigantic husky Brownie, growled at them. Only then did they realise that they were going to be late getting home.

“Hurry!” Tyla exclaimed, “If we get home after 8, we’ll get in trouble.” Gloria, Paula and Howard didn’t really care so Tyla just stormed off into the fog with Brownie. Being the loving and compassionate brother he is, Paula ran after Tyla and Brownie, to see if they get home alright.

After a while, Gloria checked the time on her iPhone 5 and it said - 7.45pm. So she demanded, “We should get home now, before dad gets mental again.” “OKAY” Howard said with a frown on his face, so they made their way home.

After some debate about who will knock on the door, Howard knocks, and Mr Brown opens the door with a worried face. “Where is Paula, Tyla and Brownie?” he asked. “Uhmm... they left before we did, we thought they would already be at home by now?” Howard pronounced very confused.

Meanwhile, Tyla, Paula, and Brownie were somewhere no child would ever want to be.
TO BE CONTINUED >> :)

Swimming

Drowning is a big problem, not only in New Zealand, but in many other countries as well. Around 150 - 180 people in  N.Z die every year because of drowning. This is caused by not knowing how to swim, and let alone  float.

To ensure that none of the class 1 students will end up being part of the N.Z statistics, Class 1 went swimming at the Glen Innes Aquatic Centre. I was looking forward for swimming but unfortunately, I couldn't swim till the next day.

As soon as the sliding doors opened to the pools, my nose got attacked by a powerful smell. “It smells like the pools, like chlorine,” accidentally saying out loud. I quickly protected my nose from the weird smelling scent. But at the same time I was happy that I had a chance of ending my possibilities of drowning.

I hope that these past two weeks of swimming has helped, not only myself but the rest of class 1 when they are in bad situations in and around water. Now I can be sure that no class 1 students will be part of the N.Z drowning statistics.   

Level Up

Level Up from Team 5 PES on Vimeo.

Fab Facts about ... SOUND!

Fun facts from Team 5 PES on Vimeo.

For writing, Mrs Nua gave us a task, in writing 1 or 2 fabulous facts about sound. Instead of just writing it in a blog post, Me, Jorja, Tyla, Kayce and Gloria got creative and made a movie. Hope you enjoy !! 

Inference

I made this presentation, to show you that I understand the meaning of Inference.

Fiafia Night

Last week on Wednesday night, Pt England School had a Fiafia night. Most of the people I know were either in 1 or 2 performances, but I was in 3. (Senior Kapa Haka, Tongan Girls and Red Remix - the first PES band).

Standing on the grass, getting ready for Kapa Haka, I was trying to convince myself that it was just another practice. But the kind of practises with the costumes on, a crowd watching us and at night time. But as soon as I stepped on the stage, the only thing that was in my head was a note saying “FIAFIA HAS BEGUN.”    

Anxiously standing on the step, I was patiently waiting for Tyla to finish announcing the Tongan Girls. As soon as she finished her last line I walked up onto the stage with a humongous smile on my face. The music started and I forgot all about everybody.  

Because I was in three different performances, I found it difficult to watch all the performances. But I was still able to watch most of them. My favourite Item was the Senior Samoan Group. This was because I enjoyed the songs they danced to.

All in all, 2014 Fiafia was probably the most fun fiafia that Pt England School will ever have. And its not because the band had STKS (the singer) performing with us, but because it was filled with Awesomeness.

Fiafia Rehersal

Yesterday I had the task of writing a detailed paragraph of our fiafia rehearsals. This the paragraph I wrote to show how I was feeling prior our performance practice.

Anxiously standing on the step, I was patiently waiting for Tyla to finish announcing the Tongan Girls. As soon as she finished her last line I walked up onto the stage with a humongous smile on my face. The music started and I forgot all about everybody.  

Bio Poem

Lisia

Child of Viliami and Ana, Oldest sister to 3 younger sisters

Who is Funny, Tall, Annoying, and Talented

Who loves to love, Music, Family and Friends and Laughing for 3 minutes straight

Who enjoys Thunderstorms, Listening to music and playing sports

Who dislikes crying and wearing make up  

Who would one day like to live in Japan

Who feels happy with friends and is always in the mood for a smile and a laugh

Who wants to explore the world one day

Who wishes she could've met Nelson Mandela and her Namesake

Who is scared of serial killers and her friends and family dieing    

Who dreams of being a musician

Who is determined to explore the world and learn to play the guitar   

Who values her family, friends and Music

Who is proud of Being Tongan, who she is

Who graduated from year 7 and is now a year 8

Who lives in Japan, but truly lives in Auckland.

Lisia

6 Sentence Writing

This morning for writing we had to write a 6 sentence story. This is mine. 

Once upon a time there was a convivial dragon named Jupiter. He lived in a humongous ice palace with his friend, Elsa in the deserts of Awesomeness. He was able to breathe cold ice and make stupendous mango and coconut otai. But unfortunately his friend, Elsa did not like Mango’s. He thought for a very long time about how he could change her opinion about this particular fruit. Instead of trying to make Elsa eat Mango’s, he changed it from Mango to Watermelon and Elsa and Jupiter lived happily ever after eating otai day after day.

Speed Writing

This morning we completed a Speed Writing Challenge. In just 10 minutes we were expected to write a short story about Tiaki Taonga, or something to do with Caring. Then were given 5 minutes pair share and 5 minutes to proof read and edit. This is what I was able to complete in that time.

Every year we have a theme to help us remember how to treat others, not just for that year but for where ever we may be. Tiaki Taonga at Pt England School is about caring for our people, our success, our school, our efforts and our most treasured. My understanding of Tiaki Taonga is that it’s about caring for others. Like just last week, the prefects decided the school should have a R.A.K week (random act of kindness week). 3 ways you could show someone that you care for them is by saying hello, sharing something with someone or saying something nice to someone.
  

Maths D.L.O

Lately in the Icosahedron's, we have been learning to solve addition problems with hundredths by changing one number into a whole number. I have made a presentation to show that I understand how to do this. 

Statistics D.L.O

In class 1, we have been learning about Statistics. I have made a Digital Learning Object (D.LO) to show you how much I have learnt and that I understand this. I hope you learn something.

Empathy Post

When you are being empathetic you show you can feel the persons pain by knowing how they feel. In other words you are relating and putting yourself in their shoes or seeing the problem through through their eyes.

Dictionary definition: the ability to understand and share the feelings of another and Empathy starts off a feeling and leads into an action. Empathy can be shown in many different ways. People can show Empathy, by telling the other person you know how they feel and let them that they are loved and cared for.

Sympathy definition: feelings of pity and sorrow for someone else's misfortune. Many People get muddled up with Sympathy and Empathy. Say if my dog just died, a person being empathetic would say, “Are you alright? I hope you’ll be alright, You can come and join us” and someone sympathetic would say, “Oh, sucks to be you right now, aye?”

I thinks its important to be empathetic, because if you're not then people won’t feel loved or cared for. Empathising is a good thing. Then our community and school will be a much better place to be in.

A quote: “If I could give you one thing, I would give you the ability to see the world through my eyes. Only then will you realize how special you really are to me.” There's Empathy for you.

Personal Goals for this Year

My Personal Goals - 2014  

My achievement I was most proud of  last year  in the classroom was bonding with all my classmates because that's what made the class and the year the best.  

The thing I was most proud of last year outside of the classroom was having the courage to stand up in front of the whole school and sing.

In reading my learning goal is to improve in my reading level.

To achieve this goal I need to read more books and make sure that I can understand it and that its not too hard or too easy.

In writing  my goal is to be able to write a decent paragraph with detail and a variety of different sentence starters.

To achieve this goal I need to plan my writing and make sure I proof read it.

In Maths my goal is to be able to answer basic fact questions in under 3 seconds.

The learning area I think I need to improve in most is maths because it is not exactly my strongest subject in school.

In my learning my goal this term is to  show ‘Caring’, by not leaving anyone behind and helping people and not to be mean.

My goal for this year around the classroom is to manage my time better and be nice to my classmates. ( even if they are really, really annoying.) (behaviour/self management)

My goal for this year around the school is to be more involved in things like sports and stuff like that.

My parents goal for me this Term is to get the highest report marks I've ever had. Which means all 5’s.

W.A.L.T

W.A.L.T add detail to a sentence and use more interesting vocab.

* Sluggishly walking around the house, I felt anxious and excited all at the same time, knowing that school was starting soon.

* I was feeling very gleeful as I bolted to school trying to remind myself of my 8 X tables.

* Feeling anxious, I walked into street crossing my fingers hoping to have awesome teachers in an awesome class. (and lucky enough I did)

Family Fun Time

Does your family get together to celebrate stuff? Well my family do, and on Waitangi day we gathered at my Uncles house to celebrate two recent birthdays and to have a BBQ.

As we arrived, one by one, the ones who were there early, got bored of waiting, so they decided to make up a game for us to play. My cousin’s  tied a couple of ropes together to make it long. Then they folded the rope in half to find the middle to tie a ribbon to it. Irene then introduced to everyone “ If you want to play tug of war? Gather round ”

Getting right in it, we had teams first but everyone got bored and so we had 1 on 1’s. When it came to my turn took two deep breaths, unsure if i was going to win or not. Looking up to the other side of the rope my cousin Piecca was standing there pumped up knowing that she is the undefeated and always will be.

“ 1, 2 ,3 PULL ! “ my cousin shouted, completely lost and in my own world, I quickly snapped out of hearing people chant “ PI-E-CCA, PI-E-CCA, “. I tugged and pulled and put all my weight on it, the next thing I knew people were chanting my name.

5 games later, people got sick of me winning so I gave up to play on the trampoline. Later on when I finished playing I stop to watch the rest of the tug of war challenges. Only then did I realise that all of the people I versed were not only older than me but was bigger and ( is meant to be ) stronger than I am.

All in all, it was a fun day and hopefully will happen again in the future.