SLJ | Week 1 | Day 3 | Activity 1

LI: To create a kowhaiwhai pattern. 

 

We created a kowhaiwhai representing something. Tanenore is the personification of shimmering air, because he performs a haka to Hine-raumati, his mother. A wiriwiri is a part of the haka, which represents shimmering heat. The yellow swirl on my art, represents Tanerore, the other red swirl represents Hine-raumati and the swirls on the outside represent the shimmering air/and or heat. I enjoyed this activity as I was able to use my drawing skills to create these kowhaiwhai patterns.

SLJ | Week 1 | Day 2 | Activity 2

 LI: To create a piece of insect art.

Inspired by art creations by Raku Inoue we went outside and collected leaves, twigs, and other plant debris to create our own insect images. I found it quite hard to make the insect I wanted, as I didn't have the right material and colours. I enjoyed doing this activity, because I was able to use my creativity to create this insect. The insect I tried making was a beetle.

Three interesting facts about beetles: 

• Beetles use sounds and vibrations, to communicate as they can't see well.
• Most of the beetles live for a year.
• Some beetles are able to glow in the dark.

SLJ Week 1 | Day 2 | Activity 1

 LI: To create your own comic strip of an imaginary conversation.

My comic strip shows the conversation I imagine these two people had after one of the men had sneezed his teeth into the sea during a fishing trip. I found this activity fun and enjoyable, because I was able to use my imagination to create a conversation between the fishermen.

SLJ Week 1 Activity 2

 LI: To write a quality blog comment on someone else’s blog that starts a rich learning.

Leaving a quality blog comment on another  student’s blog helps us make connections to new learning by asking open ended questions that encourage a reply and motivate the blogger to ask their own question in return. This is how a comment thread starts and when that happens we make connections with a wider audience who we can learn with and from.

My blog comment is a quality comment because I have used positiveness (began with a greeting and have complimented the author). I have been thoughtful (made a connection). Lastly I have also given feedback. 

SLJ Week 1 Activity 1

LI: To collect materials needed to successfully complete our weekly superpower building missions with Nano Girl.

This morning LS2 worked in groups with our Year 4 students to help them create their first Summer Learning Journey. PBS are still at school this week so finding some of the materials we needed for our treasure hunt was easy. Our challenge is going to be able to find all the materials we need at home now. I found this activity interesting and fun, because I am looking forward to completing more of the Nano Girl Summer Learning Journey activities. Are you looking forward to completing these Summer Learning Journey activities?

Operation Christmas Drop

 LI: To write a summary of the story behind the Operation Christmas Drop in your own words.

For the last 68 years the men and women of the US airforce who are based at Andersen Airforce Base in Guam have been using a pilot training drill to drop much needed supplies to the people who live on the 60 remote islands that surround Guam. This week as a research challenge, Taheesha and I worked together to give information about the Operation Christmas Drop organization. This organization has had a big impact towards the villagers, as it helps them sustain their way of life and brings joy and positivity. I think that Operation Christmas Drop is a great idea, as they give humanitarian aids and supplies to those in need, or in remote islands.

Pourquoi : Why Can't Kiwi's Fly?

LI: To write a pourquoi (tell me why or how) story that paints a picture in the mind of the reader.

   

 This week our challenge was to write and illustrate a pourquoi story. A pourqoui is a narrative explaining why something is the way it is (for example, why pigs have curly tails). Pourquoi sotries are can often be legends and folk tales. Over the past few weeks we have been writing our pourquoi stories, and have created illustrations, to entertain younger students. I worked with Haylee and Taheesha. Our pourqoui story tells "why kiwi's can't fly".  This morning we presented our stories to Room 2 and 4, and they loved listening to them. I enjoyed these writing lessons, as we were able to use creative ideas for our story. I really enjoyed creating the illustrations too, as it was fun drawing to show the juniors instead of telling the story without any entertaining drawings. 

Design Technology Challenge

LI: To design and make a holiday decoration that fits the client brief.

This term, LS2 has been designing and creating Christmas felt decorations for the foyer in the school office. At the start of this term, we planned our decorations as well as the materials we needed. At some of our sessions, Mr Johnston, our client would visit and give us a brief of what he wanted for these decorations. Ms Ferguson also visited to give us information about the design technology process to help up plan our designs. Once we planned our design, we moved onto creating our decoration. 

At the end of finishing our products, we wrote an evaluation. With my products, the positives, was that I made sturdy stitches, chose colors that worked well and stitches didn't come out. The things that I need to improve on, is cleaner stitches, making the stitches the same size and using the same color cotton as my felt. My designs meet my original criteria as it was close to 10cm and it was a celebration decoration, like our client(Mr. Johnston) wanted. At first my first design was hard to make, as it was my first time, but on my next two designs it was easier as I knew what to do. Next time I would try to make smaller stitches, so its more sturdy, I would make the stitches neater and would add more stuffing into my design to have a 3D effect. 

My opinion of this challenge is that it was really fun and I enjoyed it, as I learnt how to sew two different ways and used my creativity to create these designs. I found, that it's an easy process of making these decoration, and would definitely do this again. I am proud of my designs, as I worked hard to create it. 

Probability Tree

 LI: To use probability trees to find the chances of an event.

This week in Math, Haylee, Victoria and I worked together to solve probability questions. We were given three different math word story problems to justify the answer of the probability with our working out. We then created a DLO of one question and explained our thinking with the probability tree method. 

Above is the question we answered. To solve this question, we created a probability tree. On our first branck, we added the fractions 4/10 and 6/10 as Maria had 6 frangipani and 4 tiare taina (6 + 4 = 10), making it 6/10 and 4/10. On each end, we wrote a T and F representing each flower. We then carried on our tree. And wrote the same things. After that we wrote all the possible possibilities of Maria picking out the same type of flowers. We multiplied the fractions together, for example (6/10 x 4/10, 6/10 x 6/10, 4/10 x 6/10 and 4/10 x 4/10). After multiplying the fractions, we added them together, so 36/100 + 24/100 and 24/100 + 16/100. Lastly we added 36/100 + 16/100 as they are the changes of picking out the same flower.

We enjoyed working these equations out as we used a different strategy and learnt a new strategy. 

Food Tech | Sushi

 LI: To follow a recipe to make sushi.

This week was our last session of food tech, with Mrs Heka. Today we followed Mrs Heka's instructions towards making sushi. My partner was Sakshi. We first got our cleaning supplies ready for the end of our lesson. 

To make the sushi we got out all our equiptment (3 sized bowls, small, medium and large, two small knives, measuring spoons, spatula, green and white chopping board and a bamboo mat) Our ingredients for the sushi was tuna, 3 table spoons of mayo, capsicum, rice, a pinch of salt and nori sheets. In the medium bowl, we broke up our rice with a spatula, in the small bowl we added our tuna or chicken with the mayo and mixed that together and filled up water in our large bowl. Then we went into the process of making the sushi rolls. We dipped our fingers in water, so that the rice wouldn't stick and spread the rice on our nori sheets. We added our filling and topping (tuna and capsicum) in the middle of our rice. We then used the bamboo mat to roll our sushi. If the end of the bamboo mat didn't stick, we would add water to the end. Lastly, we cut out our sushi rolls into 8 pieces. We ate our sushi at the cafe. The sushi I made was delicious. 

Thank you to Mrs Heka for providing us with the ingredients and showing us the set of instructions for the foods we have made. I really had a fun time at food tech.

Art Colouring Book

 LI: To experiment with colours.

           Original

      Mine

"Under The Waves Of Kanagawa"

This morning we tried one of this year’s Kick Start Summer Learning Journey activities. The purpose of this task was to experiment with colours by mixing colours from the original palette with pop colours. This allowed us to recolours famous painting or images of landmarks around the world. Something I found interesting about this art colouring book, was how it was easy to use the different colors and how the original colors of the painting were on the palette, as well as pop colors, as we could combine different colors. 

Exploring international current events

 LI: To identify author's purpose.

Authors write for a purpose. These reasons are to persuade, inform or entertain (PIE). Each day, newspaper editors around the world must make decisions about which stories they will run. We explored the different types of current events that are happening internationally (globally), thought about why the story made the news and plotted the location on a google map. Haylee and I worked collaboratively and shared the stories we found under each category. Something I found interesting, was that a group called Belgium-registered charity Apopo raises rats to land mine. A seven year old rat earns a gold medal for land mining. This was really interesting as I didn't know rats earn medal, and mine.

Te Whanau Raukura Performance

 

This week a special performance was held by Te Whanau Raukura who performs at Auckland Museum, who had peformed Maori cultural dances and elements of the Maori culture. To know that the visitors have arrived they blew into a shell, which is what Maori people used to do. As they came in the hall they had spoken a whaikorero. As they made their way onto the stage they performed their dances. As they performed they introduced traditional Maori items. Firstly they showed us the poi, which was used to increase their hand and arm strength and flexibility. A woman had swung four poi, which had amazed me. Nextly they showed us the te rakau, which was used to increase their skill in performing tasks. This item also amazed me too. Lastly they showed us the taiaha, which was used to attack or stab their enemies when, in war, to protect themselves. Something I found interesting about this performance, was how they showed the meaning behind each of these elements. After the performance, they did a pukana. When the performance ended, Bekah, from Te Whanau Raukura came into our class and taught us how to play Pukana. This was a really fun game, as we all enjoyed it. Overall this was a really fun time, watching the performance and learning a new game.

Exploring Our National Current Events

 LI: To identify author’s purpose.

                 

Authors write for a reason/purpose. These reasons are to persuade, inform or entertain (PIE). Each day, newspaper editors around the world make decisions about which stories they will run, to catch the readers attention, about whats going on. Haylee, Lukah, Azatullah, Tanisha, Leroy and I explored the different types of current events that are happening in New Zealand (nationally), thought about why the story made the news and plotted the location on a google map. We worked collaboratively and shared the stories we found and which category we think the story goes into. An article I found out interesting was about a women and her two children, who had died on state highway 35, Gisborne due to crashing into a tree.This was really interesting, as the women's partner and children's father had died on the same highway a month ago. 

Provocation: Should masks be compulsory on NZ public transport?

LI: To identify and consider the two perspectives of this provocation to help me form an opinion.

             

A provocation is an action or speech that triggers strong feelings about a topic. Today in groups for reading, Name, Name, Name and I thought about both sides of the provocation, ‘Should masks be compulsory on NZ public transport?’. We used our smart searching skill and information to help us form an opinion that we could justify with evidence and provide strong evidence for each opinion. On November 19th, masks are going to be required to use on public transport (buses, trains) My opinion is undecided as masks are help reduce the amount of cases of corona virus, like  Professor Michael Baker has said "I'm not in any way saying we don't need to wash our hands - I think that's vital - but actually mask use is almost certainly more effective at containing COVID-19” At the same time I disagree, as peoples rights will be taken away, like Jamie-Lee-Ross said, and people won't be able to use public transportation, due to not having a mask or not wearing it. 

Why Is it Important to Use Our PBS C.A.R.E Values?

 LI: To write an explanation using TEEL Paragraphs.

This week for writing Haylee, Taheesha, Matthew and I worked together to create an explanation about why it's important to use our PBS C.A.R.E values. TEEL stands for topic sentence, example or evidence, explain and link ideas.We put together our idea’s and  added some transitional words in the making. This task was to help us revise on writing explanations as next week is assessment week so we did this collaborative challenge to remind ourselves what is needed when we write explanations. Something I found interesting was how we used the TEEL paragraphs for the first time. I found this interesting as it was a different way of writing paragraphs.

Why We Should Make Wise Choices?

LI: To structure and write an explanation.

Why Is It Important To Make Wise Choices?

Have you ever made wise choices? Wise choices are important, as it helps lead towards the right path. Wise choices are an important thing that not many people think about, especially when it comes to plastic pollution. In beaches and environments, people have been throwing plastic, constantly every day!

As a result of plastic increasing around the areas, sea animals have been harmed and suffocated, due to the bad choices we have made. Have you ever cared about how sea animals feel and react when they swallow plastic? Imagine if you were in a sea animal’s position, dying and feeling their pain. Because of us, we have been using plastic constantly, leading to the death of sea animals.

The majority of plastic has ended up in drains, leading to the oceans, rivers and lakes, the habitat of sea animals. Many people have access to the facilities of plastic, but why aren’t they doing anything to stop this situation. In a few years, we could’ve decreased the amount of plastic polluting our oceans. Because of our choices, this leads to consequences, and consequences lead to affecting our environments, oceans and sea animals.

What if your favorite beach was filled with plastic, and couldn’t swim anymore, due to your actions? This is what could happen in a few generations, if we don’t do anything about it. Imagine if all sea animals had died and you couldn’t eat fish and chips or any cultural and special dishes, consisting of seafood! It's time to put a stop to using plastic, for a safer environment.

We need to act now and make wise choices throughout our life, to have a cleaner and healthier future generation! 

This week in writing, we practiced writing explanations for our assessments next term. This is an explanation that tells others why we should make wise choices when it comes to plastic pollution. For this explanation we did 5 minutes of planning and 40 minutes of writing as this is how much time it takes for our assessments. After writing our explanations, we proof read our explanation and used DRAFT (delete,rearrange, add, fix and talk), so there aren't any mistakes.

Elections

LI: To think deeply about a change I would make.

‘If I was Prime Minister I would decrease the prices of houses and rents, as some people can't afford it. I would also create more houses, for homeless people, so they have shelter, food and clothing. This is, because a lot of people don’t have the main things they need in life to survive. This week, we went through a google doc to help us figure out which political party, we would vote for. 

Elections

LI: To decide which political party will get your vote by making an informed choice.

To decide which political party I would vote for, I read a summary of the policies each party wants to introduce should they win the election and the right to form a government to run NZ. Doing this allowed me to make an informed decision.

If I was 18 I would vote for Labour because, they have handled covid 19 well, as it was their first time experiencing it, and have kept us protected and healthy. This means if Labour won the election in my electorate Jenny Salesa would be our member of parliament and Jacinda Ardern would become the Prime Minister.

Food Tech | Corn Fritters

LI: To follow a recipe to make corn fritters.

At Tamaki College, we did food tech with Mrs Heka. This week we made corn fritters with salad on the side. We listened to a set of instructions to create our dish. I worked with Sakshi. We collected all our equipment and ingredients.

To make the batter of our corn fritters, I measured out the wet ingredients (2 eggs and 1/4 of milk) and mixed it, while Sakshi measured out the dry ingredients (1/3 of flour and 1 tablespoon of baking powder). After they were mixed separately, we put the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, and mixed thoroughly until the batter was creamy and had no lumps. After that, we mixed a can of corn into the batter, and greased our pan with (1 tablespoon of oil). We added small batches of our batter into our pan and flipped it once it was brown. In our lunch boxes, we added our salad and corn fritters, with dressing and sweet and chilli sauce.

Once we finished cooking, we washed the dishes and wiped our work spaces, ready for next week. I really enjoyed making the corn fritters, which were very delicious. Next week, we are making mac and cheese.