My Year 2013

Taylor 2013

This is some of the awesome times I've had this year! Hope you enjoy it!
Comment what was your highlight of the year was!!! :P

How to get a complete stranger to smile - Creative writing.

In class, we had to write instructions on how to get a complete stranger to smile. I decided to write a story about it.

Gilbert was a very nice boy. He always said please and thank you and was also very smart. He was very polite and loved to see people smile so when he grew older he wanted to be a magician because they made everyone happy and smile with their amazing tricks.

"Mum, can I please go for a walk in town? I promise I'll be back by 12:00" gilbert asked.
"Sure" replied Mum.
So Gilbert went to town. His aim was to make someone smile.
Lots of people were busy so he could'nt interupt them and everyone else was already having fun and smiling but Gilbert found some homeless people sitting lonely on the street. Gilbert walked up to a man who looked very sleepy and limp. He wore a shredded jacket and dirty ripped pants.

"Hello" said Gilbert sitting down next to him. "How are you today?" He asked looking at the man. The man looked at him and said sadly, "Very hungry, lonely and poor but thank you for asking." Gilbert then looked into his eyes and saw the sorrow and pain in them.
"I will be right back," He said and he jumped and ran to the nearest bakery.

He ordered 2 Mince and Cheese pies and a bottle of fresh water. Excitedly, he sprinted back to the man (also being careful of the pies and drinks) When he found the man, it turned out he was asleep and Gilbert didn't want to wake him incase he was having a good dream. So Gilbert found a piece of paper and kindly asked a lady for a pen and on the paper he wrote,

My Dear Friend, I am very sorry that you ahve to lie here but I have bought you a little present. I hope you enjoy it and like it. Thank You for letting me help you.

Yours Sincerely,
Gilbert Sprout.

Then he added a smiley face and after he returned the pen and thanked the lady , he put the 2 pies and the bottle of water next to the homeless man and also put the note down too.

With that he hid around the corner and watched as the man woke and read the letter, then saw the pies. A huge smile crept across his face as he bit down into one and when he was finished, Gilbert also smiled . He walked back home and arrived at exactly 12:00.

The Mystery Dino - Creative Writing (Using Personification)

With our creative writing we had to use Personification which is giving an object a human quality.

Hahaha This week we had creative writing and we had to write about approaching a house (Mr Marquand showed us a picture of the house we had to approach) Then we had to join stories with the person we sit next so Kayla and I joined ours together but Mr Marquand said we had to add more to it so this is what we came up with.... Hahaha (It's not actually that funny but it's funny to us and when we shared it)

I stumble through the long grass that is pulling and strangling my legs. It's like I'm hunting through the woods again but I'm not, I'm far from it. I come to a dark and eerie clearing. I can't breath. All I can smell is something rotting beneath me. A water fall rushes and roars into a river. Above it is a building with tall towers in every shape and size. It looms over me with great power. I race towards the castle-like building like I'm running a marathon, stopping 1 metre before the door. I stare at the windows and a ghostly shadow passes through one. In fear, I turn around to run back but the mist blocks my view. I can smell a sweet smell of chocolate cake and I run across a deathly bridge, but I'm to blubbery and I plummet through the wood. Soaked, I attempt to climb the mountain that stares at me in pain. A rock breaks off and I face plant into a rock as sharp as a knife. In hell I knock the door and hear the echo go on and on. The door carefully creaks open and I step inside. Suddenly I get murded by Barney the dinosaur! >:( I didn't want to be murded by a dinosaur, I wanted to be murded by a zombie. Well there goes that dream :(.

MINI INQUIRY DAY

This week we had a mini inquiry day which is where we had to choose a topic about energy which is this terms overall topic. Amy and I decided to do our presentation on Animals using Ecolocation and Ultrasound. We decided to present it on prezi which is an online website that is awesome to use for presentations. This is what we came up with...



   
Hope you found it  interesting!

Melted Crayon Art

My Melted Crayon Art

For our flower show this term, our class did melted crayon art. This is where we take a canvas and hot glue crayons on the top. Then we get a heat gun or a hair dryer and melt the crayons. We had to make sure the canvas was up right or on a lean to make the crayon flow down. For my canvas I decided to do a silhouette. My silhouette is a picture that Bansky did. My original idea was a girl holding a balloon but then Mr Marquand showed me this one. I think it's really cool. I also decided to go with pastel colours. I didn't come anything at the flower show but I really like what I have created and I cant wait to hang it up in my room.

Creative Writing

We had to write about either being shot at war or helping someone who had been shot. This is what I came up with.

I walk to the front line. Crawling further into the action. Bullets fly past me. The guy next to me falls to the ground in agony. It's like slow motion, I hear screams of pain and the bang of bullets. As I put my head down and trudge forward, the only sound I hear it a loud bang. It's the only sound I hear and it isn't a good one. I drop to the ground in a mix of blood, sweat and pure agony. i grab my stomach, gasping for breath. I feel like giving up. Death surrounds me like a dark blanket but I won't let it bring me down. I try shouting but I can't even hear my own voice. I start  rolling. Down down down i roll until I feel bloody cold water surrounding me. Someone comes down beside me and half carry, half drags me back to the tents. Immediately someone tends to my wound. I feel the bandage wrap tightly around my body. Just when I can't breath any longer, air is filled into my lungs. Mumbling is all around me and I can see dark figures, but my body weakens and I can't move. Medics try to keep me going but I have to give in. Again darkness sweeps over me like a dark blanket. But this time, it doesn't go away. My last thoughts are of my family, and the people who were once my friends. Hopefully I can go and see them now. As I feel my soul rising, I am proud of what I have attempted to try and save my country.

Energy

This term our topic is energy. There are different forms of energy. Light, electricity, chemical and many more. But the one type of energy we have mainly been working on is sound. Sound is vibrations moving through the air. It moves like a ripple effect. It vibrates the air around it, then that air around that and so on. We did heaps of cool experiments with Mr Marquands awesome speaker, like freqency/pitch. One of the things we have learnt is how fast sound travels. Did you know that sound travels 332 metres per second? Light can travel 7 times around the world in 1 second! That explains why lightning always comes before thunder, because light (obviously) travels faster than sound. I wonder why light travels faster than sound? Then there is conservation of energy. Which is when energy can't be created or destroyed, but just changed into different forms. For example, in a hydro dam, the still water is potential energy, then when it goes down its called kinetic energy and then it changes into magnetic energy and then changes into electricity which changes into light, heat, or sound etc. It's pretty interesting learning about sound. I can't wait to do another experiment around it!

Athletics Day

Me (left), Breanna (middle), Amy (right).

On the 30th October 2013, children aged 8-13 at Te Pahu School, had athletics day. Paterangi also joined us. Athletics was held at Te Pahu School, and the reason we hold this event is so we can keep fit, learn about competion and get a feel of what its like at the Olmpics.
We had activities like discuss, shotput, sprints (100 metres), hurdles, high jump and long jump.

My favorite is long jump. I usually jump off my right foot but on the day, for some reason, I kept jumping off my left foot. When I finally did jump off my right foot, I didn't do a very good jump. I guess I found out that I'm better on my left foot. I came second in long jump. I was really happy and proud. :D

High jump isn't my favorite. In fact, before I even started this year, I hated it. Last year I couldn't even jump 1 metre. Then this year, in practise, I jumped 1.12 metres. But on the day, I went to jump 1.10 metres and failed. I also failed the next 2 go's, which meant I was out. I was so gutted because I knew that I could've made it if I had had a couple more go's. I ended up coming second. Again. For the rest of the activities I came 4th.

My legs were killing me the next day. Next time, I want to train harder and do better in all activities. Can't wait till next year!

Pirongia Lodge Report

After an exhausting day on Friday, the first week of term 4, Te Pahu School, Pirongia School and parent helpers can now step back and watch all of the plants we planted grow around the outdoor classroom at Pirongia Forest Park Lodge.
We spent a couple of weeks writing to businesses around Hamilton for donations to buy native plants or most prefferably native plants. After we had gathered the plants (Pirongia also was involved) we all went to the Pirongia Lodge to plant them around the outdoor classroom, which is a place where kids can go to learn about the outdoors. So we had to plant plants. Sounds easy right?

But there was still some clearing to do. We left the boys to clear the brambles and we found some spots to plant the native plants such as flax, teatree, rimu and other plants. We all enjoyed getting our hands a bit dirty and having lots of fun.
At the end of the day, some people rolled down the big hill. We even managed to get Mr Marquand to roll down tto. It was a big laugh and an awesome way to finish the day.

I can't wait to go back in about 20 years and say "I planted those plant's." :)

Ag Day Report

On Wednesday 16th October, Lambs were baaing, calfs were mooing and goats were, well goats were making their noises too. All this was because of Te Pahu School's Ag Day. Kids had the choice of bringing a calf, lamb or goat to ag day. Before the day, they had to train it to lead, come when its called and for goats, go around an obstacle corse. They also had to learn what their animal was allergic to and keep it clean. There were kids that didn't bring an animal though. And on the day they had the choice of doing clay modelling, T-Shirt making, photography, or cupcake decorating. But leading up to ag day, they had to do a home challenge and create at least one of these things: A multi-media canvas, design a model of the tree stump, design a working sandpit toy, create a portable garden or biuld a birhouse. However, on the day a few room 7 students were chosen to help run the event. I talked to Kayla Moulder who built a birdhouse. I asked her if the outcome was what she wanted. She replied with 'No. I thought I would come last but I came second." Then she added, "It looked better in my imagination." She was chosen as a runner for the intermediate lambs. She said that she kind of enjoyed it because she got to watch the lambs but the bad thing was that she had to run back and forward and back and forward and so on. Overall, I think it was a good day and even though it rained a little, everyone still had a great time. Now some people will take their animals to group day, where they will compete against other schools. Good Luck for those that do!

Statistic Project

Last term we have been working on a statistic project. We had to imagine that the world was shrunk down to 100 people. We each got a topic to work on and somehow in an effective way, show the results. For example, How many people would have food, What ages they would be, What languages would there be. Kayla and I got geography. We had to see what countries people came from. We got a sheet of paper saying what countries they did come from, and then we had to figure out a way to present it. Mr Marquand showed us some examples. Then we had to go away and figure out one of our own. We decided to do it on a map and put pictures on how many people in that country in it. This is what we came up with.

HOLIDAYS!!! - Rainbow Springs

It is now the first week of term 4! We just got back from holidays! In the holidays, my family and I, went to Rainbow Springs. We were all excited, mainly because we couldn't wait to go on the Big Splash! Walking around Rainbow Springs was pretty cool. We got to see heaps of animals. We went to the bird show which was pretty cool because we got to have birds fly over our head. It was funny when we got to the bit where there were 2 swans. They tried to bite you. Dad almost got bitten when he put his foot out for them to bite and then it went to bite his leg. When we finally got to the big splash, we didn't have to wait long in line. It was pretty cool because it kind of tells you about how we came to be. It started with the dinosaurs, then the Maori part, then the European part, then it was time to go down the fall. It was sooo much fun! After 2 family runs, my sister Deegan and I went down a couple more times. We always posed for the camera. My favourite photo is one of our family ones because my sister Andie has very funny facials. Rainbow Springs was a highlight of my holidays. I hope we can go there again sometime!

Speeches

Last week, we had the class speech competition. It was really fun going up in front of everyone to say my speech. I really enjoyed it. I got through out of the year 7's to go and say my speech in front of the whole school! That was awesome! I came first out of the year 7's and tonight I will be saying my speech at the Lower Waipa speech competition which is where I will say my speech in front of year 7 girls from different schools and we will all be versing each other. If I come first out of the girls then I will go up on stage and go up against the year 7 boy. I know one girl who is also going to be up against me at Lower Waipa. My speech was on colour affecting taste. I also did my science fair on that as well. That is because our speech topic had to be about something we have learnt this year. You can see my science fair post on my blog too. I can't wait until tonight!

Market Day

On Friday 13th of September, our school had our market day. there was so many awesome things to buy! I was amazed at alot of the products. They were so cool! I had lots of money to spend and here are some of the things I got: 3 rice balloons, A stick man model, lots of food items (I ate them on the day) A photo album (for mum) and a secret book thing with a hole in the middle to hide stuff in. Overall it was a fun experience doing a society. I really enjoyed being newspaper editor.

On Friday, our class went to the snow! It was soooo fun! Dad and I took Graham, Amy and Mr Marquand in our car. When we got there, we got our skis and snowboards and had a practise in Happy Valley. At 12:00 Amy and I went up the mountain to the rock garden to have our lesson. Going down the rock garden was so fun. In our lesson we learn't how to stop and turn paralell. It wasn't easy! Our instuctor was very nice and she really helped us improve! We had a great time! One of the funny things was that when me and Amy were going down the rock garden dad came up behind us on his snoboard and sprayed us with snow. Then Mr Marquand tried to do the same but no snow sprayed and he almost took Amy out! Next time I think I will go up the mountain more. At 3:00 some of us bought sleds and we had heaps of races. It was so funny because Amy and Pixie tipped their sleds and Graham and Daniel went up the side of the track and did a jump. We went really fast and it was so funny. At one point Amy and Pixie went right over the other side at the end! Overall it was a AWESOME day and everyone had a great time. I also conquered my fear of getting off chair lifts! What was your favorite part? Comment what you think! -Taylor :)

Enterprise

We are under way with enterprise. I am in the board of governors and I'm the cheif editor of the newspaper. Our society is called Te Maunga Shire. The wharehouse and bank have been opened and has had alot of customers coming in on the Mondays and Thursdays it is open. The reporters, Mr West and I have completed our first newsletter. It is very exciting and fun. There are some really cool businesses being created. I can't wait to start writing the next newspaper! :)

Collage Art

This term we did some collage art. We made a design (or chose one that has been done already) then chose some scrapbook paper that was patterned and cut out the different areas of the design then glue it on a background paper. I decided to do a converse shoe. I drew the design by looking at my own shoe. Then I chose some cool paper and cut it and glued!

Enterprise term 3.

For our inquiry this term, the school is doing enterprise. This is where we learn about business, finance and being a consumer. Our aim is to create a business in groups of 2 or 3, or by our self if we want to, and make products to sell at our market day in week 7. First, we have to come up with a society name, our 1, 5, 10 and 20 notes. Our money is called Gongs.
     The year 7 and 8s are allowed to apply for a bank manager, a warehouse manager, to be in the Board of governers (Prime minister etc), or Newspaper editor. These jobs will help to run our society. Kayla and I are going to do a business. We have had the ideas of pencil holders or bath bombs but would still like some help on ideas. It would be a real help if you could leave some ideas in the comments. Thanks!

Kaleidoscope Pictures

Koru Kaleidoscope.

Today, we cut out and reflected and normal photos. We rotated some of them and glued them onto a white piece of paper. This created a kaleidoscope picture.

Science Fair 2013

This term, I have been researching, experimenting, and printing. This is because of the science fair. The topic for my science fair I chose was Does colour affect taste? I did an experiment using room 1 students. I got three lemonade bottles and coloured 1 red and 1 green. I then took 20 students (4 at a time) and poured them each a shot glass of the clear, red and green drink. I then got them to write down what they thought the drink tasted like. My hypothesis was that the colour of the drink would make them believe it was a different flavour drink. My hypothesis was right because only 3 students got all of the drinks right. Last Friday, we presented our science fair boards to the parents at our Science Curriculum Update. It was good fun and I got a lot of awesome comments. Thanks to all the parents who came along.

Maths

In maths this term I have been learning how to reduce a fraction to its lowest form. For example- 20/40. I would then reduce it to its lowest form, which would be 1 half or1/2. I have also been learning how to add fractions, and use fractions to help work out division problems. I am still struggling with reducing fractions to their lowest form, and using fractions to work out division. Each Friday we do speed tests where we have 5 minutes to do our 1-10 times tables. If we finish our 1-10 times tables in 4 minutes 30, we then move onto 3-12 times tables and again if we finish in 4 minutes 30, we move onto division facts. Last week I completed my 3-12's in 3 minutes 47 and now I am onto my division. To be honest, I am quite scared, but I can only learn from my mistakes! :)

Technology

Every Thursday for term 1 and 2, room 7 go to Te Awamutu Intermediate to do technology. In term 1, the year 7's do sewing and wood work, and in term 2, we do food and science. At food tech last week, we made ham and cheese pin wheels or scones. I made ham and cheese pinwheels. They tasted delicious  and smelt yummy. It was my first time making these, and they turned out pretty good! This week, we are making chocolate brownie! Yum Yum!

Camp-Disguised Dinner

In term 1, our class went on camp at Lake Karapiro. On the thursday night everyone had to dress up in the costumes they brought for our Disguised Dinner. Everone had to dress up in diguise and come to dinner. My costume was a clown! My Auntie Sarah made a clown dress for me and got me a red nose, bow tie, wig and pom-poms.She then put the pom-poms on my white t-shirt and I wore stripy tights. I created a clown hat and dad let me where his fluro painted shoes. I had an awesome night (although my face paint got a bit itchy at the end) and when Mr marquand awarded the prizes, I got runner up! Winning a cocolate easter egg. Even the adults dressed up!

Paper Strip Portraits

Last term, when we did our pencil portraits, we also cut all of our normal portraits, black and white and colour, into strips. Then, we had to put them together to create another face. We had to make sure that the head, eyes and mouth were as lined up as they could be. That way, it would look more normal. The girls put their faces together, and the boys put theirs together. Once we had created our person, we had to use the names of the faces we made ours with, and join them together to make a new name. In mine the people I used were, Paige, Kayla, Breanna and I. The name I came up with was Brekay Taige.

Cross Country

On Friday 24th May, our school had our cross country. My race was last and I came 7th out of all the girls, but 2nd out of the 11 year old girls. I beat my time by 48 seconds from our last timed practice and 2 minutes on my first one. The track I ran was two kilometers and I ran the whole way! By the time I had finished, I was really exhausted and puffed. I'm real proud of my self for achieving my time goals and pushing myself to the limit. It was real hard work. Those who came first, second or third in their age group, also went through to Lower Waipa cross country.

Silage Stacking

                                                                              





Last term, our class went to the Kelly's farm to do some silage stacking. We put our hard work into a couple of days and used every single tyre we had. We managed to complete the 3 and a half stacks. We used a technique by going in a line, and passing the tyres through the line, to the top. We did this silage stacking to raise money for our class trips. It was such hard work that at the end of the day, the only thing everyone wanted to do was jump in a nice cold pool.

Prezi - Aung San Suu Kyi

 In term 1 room 7 had been learning about famous leaders who changed the world. I chose Aung San Suu Kyi (pronounced ung sun sue chi) because of her bravery when she was helping her country. We had to present our information on prezi, a cool website that is great for presentations. Here is my prezi presentation.

First Aid-Safety course.





 In term 1 Marie, from St John's came to teach our class about first aid and safety. We learn't how to put someone in the recovery position. In the above photos it shows Amy and I putting each other in the recovery position. We learn't what to do if you had a blood nose, and it turned out that you are supposed to put you head forward. Marie told us what to do if an emergeny happened. We had a practice on what to say when we called 111. One of the things was called 'head tilt chin lift' this is when we tilted the head back a bit and lifted the chin. This made an open airway for someone who was un-conscious.
     At the end of the day, we had 2 scenario's. In the first one, a group of us (including me) pretended to be in a bus crash. The other group, were the rescuers. They had to take away the dangers, the see what injurys we had, and tend to them. The second senario was an earthquake, and this time the groups swapped over.
It was a awesome day and everyone had a great time.

My Pencil Portrait.

We have been learning to use dark to light shading to make our faces stand out.

Early last term, room 7 created their own pencil portraits. Mr Marquand took a photo of us, then we had to cut it in half. After this, we glued on a piece of white paper, and using a ruler to make our face symmetrical, we sketched the other side of our face. We added shading, to make it look more relastic. I found it hard doing the nose, getting the right shape, in the right places was difficult. I would like to get better at eyebrows, getting the right thickness, lenth and shape. I am proud of the over-all look. I liked how I did the shading in my cheeks, but maybe next time not make them as defined. I enjoyed doing my eyes, they were fun to do.