45 minute inquiry

Curling

History:
Curling was invented in medieval Scotland by Solomon Harper in the fifteenth century. He was in Maddie Shepherd in North Olmsted Ohio. This sport involves players which slide stones down the ice towards a target area segmented into four rings.

Equipment:
The equipment used is a brush and there can be two different types the push broom and the canadian broom. It also involves an ice rink wich has to be 42.07 meters long and 4.28 meters wide with a target at either end. Also shoes that grip to the ice to make it easier. Also a rock also known as a stone made of rare dense granite which can weigh 19.1kg.

The main rule:
The object of the game is to place the stone closest to the 12 foot circular target also known as the house. A team is made up of four players there is a thrower and his teammates use brooms and brush's to direct the stones path. The scoreboard has three rows. The middle row is the main one and the top and bottom are the amount of points at each end.

Two facts:
Did you know that the first world championship was held in 1958. Did you also know that in Canada curling is as popular as ice hockey.

45 minute inquiry logs

The Port

The logs at the port come from Rotorua and Asia. The type of tree is Pine. The life cycle of the logs at The Port start at Rotorua. In Rotorua the government plant Pine trees which then get cut down and taken to The Port. Then they get transported to a factory which makes them into paper or they get transported to Asia. The trees are transported by ships, trucks and trains.

Girls College Orientation Day

When we first got there the Kapa Haka group greeted us with a maori song. Mrs Ferguson one of the four deputy principles then stood up and talk to us about the opportunities. Adriana Bird the head girl then talked to us about how she was scared when she first started TGC (Tauranga Girls College) then she found that it was better than what she thought. We got introduced to the Sports Captain, Arts Captain, Deputy Head Girl. We were taken around the school and learn't that every classroom is in alphabetical order such as A6. We were given some information about stationary and other payment stuff.  Mrs Glaser-Brown and Mrs Keightley were the year nine deans. TGC's moto was Pergo et Perago which means I go on and finish.

45 minute inquiry

Totem Pole's have different meanings depending on where they are made. They can be made by pictures or faces as a result  of a local story or major cultural event. They are carved and painted to tell a story. Every Totem Pole tells a different story. Totem pole's are indigenous to Indian/Americans.

In the past boomerang's were made for hunting as well as a sport and entertainment.They are commonly thought of as an Australian icon. When thrown they circle in a perpendicular motion back to where they came from. Boomerang's are indigenous to Australian aboriginal

A toi is Maori creative arts like weaving and carving to celebrate the past and they continue to evolve through fresh inspiration and new materials. Maori arts are indigenous to Maori people.

Whale boots are made of animal skin such as seal skin, whale skin and reindeer skin and their purpose is to help catch whales. Whale boots are indigenous to inuit.

What all these things have in common is they were all traditional to indigenous people.

Koi Carp Bow Hunting

Last Saturday Mrs Mills went to Huntley to bow hunt for koi carp.She was hunting them because they are a pest. They eat native fish and their eggs. They pollute the water by stirring up the mud and it kills native trees. Koi Carp can grow up to 80cm and can weight up to 10kg.

Mrs Mills went bow hunting last weekend because the Koi Carp were spawning (breeding) and they come into the shallows to do this.

Bow hunting is a sport that requires a bow and arrow. You also need a line attached to the arrow so you can retrieve the fish and arrow. You do not need a license in NZ to bow hunt. It has been around since the Victorian era.

Mrs Mills caught 6 Koi Carp. She didn't throw them back into the water because you can receive a fine.   She left them on the side of the lake and they were taken by some fisherman.

Facts:
- Male fish sperm is called "milt"
- This species is thought to have been accidentally imported into New Zealand in the 1960s as a part of a goldfish consignment.

Waimarino

On the 7th November room 41 and 42 went to Waimarino. First we went kayaking and it was so cold. Some people fell out even my best friend Kate! We formed a raft up and got taught about how to turn back up your kayak after it is tipped over. We then played sharks and seals which is just like cat and mouse. We all had a few laughs about that. Next was lunch time and then was the part of the day where we got to go on any activities we wanted. We had so much fun on the blob, UFO, diving boards and hydro slide. My absolute favorite was the hydro slide!

Here are some pictures of the time at Waimarino:

Norm Hewitt: SPCA Assembly

Today we went to a SPCA Assembly that was hosted by Norm Hewitt. He told us stories about his life in Pironghia (where he grew up) and how you should respect animals. When he was younger he had a horse named Tommy, a cat named Fluffy, and two dogs named Trixie and Storm. We learnt about the five freedoms: shelter, food, water, affection and exercise

What button would you press and why?

I would press the blue button because I have always wanted to be able to fly. I would use my power for good such as saving animals and people, also I would use my power to get to school on time without any traffic.

P.E. - Tennis

Tennis Skills:

I learn't some tennis skills such as backhand and forehand.

What was hard? I think that trying to hit it low and keep it in the court was pretty hard because I had never played tennis before.

What were you doing wrong? I was hitting the tennis ball to hard and getting it out of the court.

What did you improve on? On the second day I improved on hitting it to hard and started to hit it straight, low and not to hard.

We changed the game a bit to make it easier for beginners. We added three points only to win, serve underarm, faults and double faults also we all got to have partners.

Here is a picture of me and my partner Kate:

Enviro Team

Enviro Team

On Sunday Mrs Campbell, Jessica C, Jessica M, Paris, Jarlin and I went to Waipuna Park. First we set up our bins. We had three stations and they all had a yellow bin for recycling, a red bin for waste, a green bin for coffee chick coffee cups and a white bin for food scraps. There were signs on each bin telling you what to put in them and some suggestions. We helped people to put there rubbish in the right bins and also picked up a little ourselves. It was a really fun day and the people mostly put the rubbish in the right bins.

Gap Spelling Test

For my Gap Spelling Test I got 98/100 and the last time I did this test I got 71/100. I think I did very well. The part of the test I am most proud of is the spelling, because I 40/40 100%. The part I am not proud of is the proofreading because I got 19/20.

NZ Cities

We had to go for a tour around NZ and pin point every main city in it.

Guess the Setting

WALT: describe the setting of a story using ‘show’ not ‘tell’

SC:

- to use descriptive language to help the reader visualise the setting

- to use language that activates the readers’ senses e.g smell and sound

- to use similes and metaphors to describe the setting

- to use interesting vocab to describe the setting

The aroma of dog treats and slobber filled the air. A frisbee whizzed past as I stepped out onto the damp grass. Vigorous barking rang in my ear and I sat down on the nearest wooden bench. Furry creatures pranced around on the grass. One brown shaggy one caught my eye as it stood up on hind legs and swung around in circles.

Homework: FloorPlanner

For homework we had to design a school on a site called FloorPlanner. We had 2 weeks to do this. Below is a picture of my design:

Here is a picture of the spreadsheet I used to work out all of the costs of the surfaces of my school.

Girls' Self Defense

During my day and a half at Girls' Self Defense I learned to kick, punch and keep myself safe. The teacher Ali was really nice and taught us many things we can use in an unsafe situation. My favourite move I learned was the shin scrape then stomp. I really enjoyed hanging out with Ali and listening to stories and learning heaps of moves.

Thanks Ali for teaching us those moves and how to keep ourselves safe.  

Monster University Animation

This is my animation I made using a character I made on Monsters University Make Your Own Monster.

Dangerous Decibels

Today my class went to a Dangerous Decibels session and learn't about the safe decibel level, how we can keep our hearing safe and what decibel levels are dangerous or not. One fact I learn't during the session is that frogs, birds and fish can repair their hearing but humans can't. Now that I know about decibels and how you can hurt your hearing I am going to turn down the radio and television when I am listening to them. 

Homework Times Tables

Homework PowToon

This is my PowToon and it is about a part in my novel "Anne of Green Gables."

Jade and Sharnae Angle Work

For maths Sharnae and I went around the school finding different angles and came up with this video.

Cross Country

Today we did cross country! I was one of the cheerleaders because I am not aloud to run because of an accident that keeps recurring. The first race was the year seven girls and Mela in rimu house came first. Next was the year seven boys but sadly no one from the rimu house year seven boys came first, second or third. Next was the year eight girls but sadly again no one came in the top three. Finally it was the year eight boys and Lachlan came first for rimu house. In our house there was red paint passed around and everyone had at least some on them from either being thrown at them or painted. It was a really fun first block and we all enjoyed ourselves. Well at least I did!! Here is a picture of our year eight girls: 

Homework

Design your own challenge

Task: Help plant 1 million Wiwi (native to NZ) at the mount beachside.

I heard on the radio about some people trying to get help to plant 1 million Wiwi plants at the mount beach so me and my father went down to the mount beach and planted a total of 21 Wiwi plants which are native to NZ. Here are some pictures of me and my father planting them:

Homework

I walked around the estuary once and biked around it three times. Here are some photos of my Mum, Dad, dogs and I walking around the estuary:

Homework

Ways to save energy

1. Flush the toilet less

2. Have Shorter showers

3. Turn out the lights when we are not using them

4. Turn the tap off when brushing your teeth or washing your hands

5. Use the clothes horse not dryer

6. Turn off the television don’t keep it on standby

Over the last couple of weeks I have told my mum to use the clothes horse not the dryer and I have gone around the house a few times a day and turned off the lights that were on. I have had 3 minute showers instead of 4 - 5 minute ones. I turned off the tap when me or my friends were washing our hands or brushing our teeth instead of letting it run. My Mum, Dad and I have only flushed the toilet in the day and left it at night.

Homework

Design your own challenge:

I have designed a challenge that states to walk/bike around the Waikareao Estuary 4 times. I have taken some pics of me walking with my mum and dad and dogs around it but sadly not for when I biked 3 times.

Homework

At my gym I do some exercises to improve my unstable knee, this includes biking! I go to the gym 3 times a week and do around 4kms or 8kms each day. I have definitely done 120km or more. Here are some pictures of me doing this:

Homework

I went around my street and collected half a bag of rubbish. I found most of it around my own house!!! but I also found some stuff stuck in the drain. Below are some pictures off me doing this:

Homework

This is a picture of my sculpture called "The Panda". I made this out of a cardboard box, bottle tops, black/grey foam and cellotape.

How to make an origami giraffe

Positive:
- My video came out great
- My videos on Youtube!
Minus
- I forgot to take a picture of my finishing project so I had to put it on Sumo paint and blur them together
Interesting
- My interesting fact for my giraffe was awesome!!!

I achieved all the success criteria set for my task.

If I had a chance to do this again I would do something different like a blow up origami thing.

New York Tsunami

“Stop slurping your coke” I demanded to my friend Kayleigh. “Oh shut up Sandy” she hissed back. She then continued to slurp her beverage. “There’s nothing that goes into that thick head of yours is there?” I said. I then started to slurp my lemonade as hard as I could up my straw just to annoy her, but it didn’t work because she slurp just as loud, probably louder! “What’s that sound” she exclaimed. “Don’t be silly” I exclaimed back. “Yeah there is listen” she warned, I listened really hard and could faintly hear a swishing sound. “What is that?” I questioned her. “Beats me” she said continuing to slurp her coke.

*

I gazed down the street of traffic and could just see a wave in the horizon. “Kayleigh... what.... is that?” I squeaked pointing to the waves that were coming closer by the second. “Ummmm I think we better run” she said and with that out in the clear we fled the cafe. We ran down the street in a panic waving our hands in the air and screaming. Everyone was starting to get out of there cars or taxi’s and doing what we were. I jumped on top of the cars thinking it would be a faster way. I jumped in a line over a row of cars and just before I was at the end I tripped on a yellow taxi and hit my knee on the ground. Blood poured out of the cut where it had split open. I screamed for help but everyone was busy running. I had sweat running down my back and making my new white t-shirt wet there was blood all over my new bluejeans and my neck hurt. I couldn’t see Kayleigh anywhere (she probably just wanted to save herself, well that’s Kayleigh for ya).

Cemetery Investigation

We went to the Anglican Cemetery and tried to find what sorts of topics we could use in a graph, a chart or a table for an investigation...

We found a boy who was accidentally drowned when he was 18 years old, he was next to his nana who passed away.

We found a girl called Sarah who died in 1891 and her tombstone was made out of wood and the letters on it were carved in.

We also found a man thats grave was surrounded by thick steel wire and this boy in my class said the grave looked like Harry Potter when he hadn't even seen the name and the mans name was Harry.

The lastest death we could find was in 2012 and her name Charlotte and she was 99 years old (4 months and 4 days from getting a letter from the queen).

Camp Graphs

WALT: Create data displays using appropriate tools on the computer.

Success Criteria:
• Title
• Space between bars
• Labels of x and y axis
• Whole numbers on the y axis
• Key

Do you think I achieved the success criteria??

Camp Happenings

Camp Happenings

The funniest happening on camp was when we were sleeping out in the bush and in the middle of the night _____ needed to go toilet but she had never peed in the bush before. She thought she could pee like a boy so she stood up and peed. The pee hit her pants so she had to sleep half naked all night.

The biggest challenge on camp was when my group had to do the beam and I thought I could easily do it. But when I was harnessed in I got heaps of butterflies because when it was my turn I had to climb up a pegged pole and when you're up there 10 metres off the ground its a bit scary. Miss Shepherd made me walk to the other side of the beam and then backwards to the middle then she asked me if I wanted to stay there and I said no!!

The scariest happening on camp was when Felila was on the tramp and me and my friends were sitting waiting for our turns and she attempted to do a handspring, she fell and landed on her neck. At first we thought she was laughing and then she started hitting the tramp and crying. The teachers looked after her and we had to play games in the common room. An ambulance came and picked her up.

The most exhausting moment was when my group had to do the vertical playpen and the centipede. I decided to have a go at the vertical playpen first. This is what you had to do:

1. Climb a wood plank with pegs

2. Stand on top of a wooden beam and make it to the top of three tyres in the shape of a face

3. Stand on another wooden beam, then stand on a wobbly rope and wrap your legs around another wooden beam. Pull yourself up on your rope.

4. (By this point you are tired) Grab onto a big tyre and try to pull  yourself up and stand on top.

5. Make it through one more tyre that is facing sideways.

6. Get lowered down by rope.

The most embarrassing moment was when I was on stage for the clash of the camps and I had to sing in front of everybody because my team was coming last and when I started singing my mind went blank and I almost forgot all the words.

The most dangerous moment was when there was a hornet in the lunch area and it hovered behind my head and I didn’t notice. I trapped in the food scraps bin and then for some odd reason I let it out and it stayed at camp the whole time we were there.

3 things I learnt

1. I learn’t how to tell if the water is clear or muggy

2. I learn’t how to tell the nitrate and nitrite in a river

3.  I learn’t that it is really cold sleeping in the bush

2 things I was surprised about

1. I was surprised that Matthew Fairweather said I love you to Miss Shepherd.

2. I was surprised that _____ peed her pants on the bivouac sleepout

1 question I still have

1. 1 question I still have is why does paintball balls hurt so much when their only small.

Tally Charts and Frequency Tables

1. For breakfast girls liked Ricies more than boys
2. The most liked item in breakfast was the Toast + Spaghetti
3. For lunch boys liked Pies more than girls
4. For lunch girls liked Mini Pizzas more than boys
5. The most liked item in dinner was the Hamburgers

Term 1 Maths

This term in maths I learn't how to multiply and divid decimals and how to multiply a 2 digit number by a 2 digit number in two ways.

Conference Reflection

What happened?
I talked to my mum about my e-astle results and my writing, maths and reading goals also what I can and can't  

What did you like/dislike about it?
I disliked that my mum bet me in mathopolis and I liked that I beat my dad at mathopolis

What feedback did your family give you?
My mum said that it was great and she didn't know my results and she said I had really improved in my maths

What would you change if you could?
Be more organised

Homework

Rimu

Scientific Name: Dacrydium Cupressinum

Where do u find it?

The Rimu tree grows only throughout New Zealand from the South Island to the North Island making it one of New Zealand’s native trees

Why is it important to Maori?

Because it had many, many uses such as:

• The leaves were used to heal sores

• The gum of the young tree was used to stop bleeding

• The pulped bark was combined with water and hot stones and was dabbed on running sores

• The inner bark was beaten to a pulp and but on burns

• The heartwood was split into slivers and tied in bundles for torches

• The juicy red cup that holds the seed was eaten by maori

Other uses:

• Used to build houses

• Used for pottery

Why is Rimu the best tree in the school?
Because it has many uses and and we have many strengths, it is a strong wood and we are a strong house

Diamond and Lulu's dancing

Lulu is a girl in Diamond's dance class! Here are some pics of them in their costumes :)

Diamond's dancing

Diamond decided to join a tango dance class so I had to buy her an outfit, she was so excited about her outfit so she said to put a pic of her in it on my blog!!! Here it is:

10 ways to help reduce plastic waste

1. Carry reusable bags
2. Say no to plastic produce bags
3. Give up chewing gum
4. Get ice cream in a cone instead of in a container
5. Make popsicles in stainless steel molds instead of buying plastic packaged ones
6. Make your own snacks instead of buying plastic packaged ones
7. Compost food waste
8. Use natural rubber gloves
9. Use a bar of soap instead of liquid hand wash
10. Choose toilet paper that is not wrapped in plastic

Diamond and 1D!!!!!

Me and Diamond were sitting at home when the english band One Direction came in to greet us. Here is a picture of One Direction and Diamond: