Our Future Focus Poster

During reading time, we were given a challenge by our teacher Mrs Nua to create a digital learning object (DLO) about Future Focus Learning. My friends and I got together and had a planning session to decide what we could make for this task. After a while, we came to an agreement on doing a poster. We thought it would be different to what everyone else was doing since the majority of DLOs that were being created were movies. This movie shows the process of our poster and what meanings are behind the things in it.

Laita drew, painted and came up with what objects should be in this awesome painting. She was involved a lot in this and did an amazing job. Although, all of us contributed really well and worked pretty hard. Enjoy!

Tattoo Mini Project

This is a task that we were given by Mrs Tele'a. We had to create two tattoos. One that was cultural and one that had elements that represented you. Here is a presentation that includes my tattoos. They each have an explanation so you can understand the meaning behind them.

If the presentation isn't working for you, I have put the explanations here too. By the way, there is a LOT of writing.

My first tattoo is called the Fata ‘o Tu’i Tonga. It is a portrayal of the central beam in the King’s house. More specifically, of the sennit bindings that hold the central beam, which supports the thatched roof. So why did I choose this particular Tongan pattern as one of my two tattoos?

The Fata ‘o Tu’i Tonga symbolizes unity, strength and coming together. This was exactly the reason why I chose it. I thought it reminded me of family - distinctly, my family -. When I saw the Fata ‘o Tu’i Tonga and it’s the meaning behind it, it reminded me of all the times my extended family has given my parents and I a helping hand. It’s a pretty significant design since one of the many things I value is family.

In this slide, I have included my own tattoo design that I created. It is based off of the things I value the most; Friendship, Trust and Animals. These are more of symbols than they are patterns and drawings.

As you can see, one of the symbols are in a different language. When translated, it means trust. You may be wondering what this language is. It is Kanji. Kanji is used in the modern Japanese writing system. So why would I include Kanji in my tattoo? Another thing that I value is culture and language. I thought instead of using the Tongan language, I would use a language that was foreign to me and that I was fascinated with. And that was Japanese.

Behind the friendship symbol is a pawprint. The main reason why I used a dog pawprint to represent animals was because I absolutely love dogs. Another reason why was because I recently lost a close family member. Sisa. He was my dog that I grew up with in Tonga. I had received him when I was aged one and at the time Sisa was just a pup. So we were really close since we LITERALLY grew up together. This symbol really did mean a lot to me. I actually hope one day I will get this tattoo.

I would say this tattoo is also apart of my own design. It shows my religion, family and culture.

The flower is supposed to be a franjapaini. It represents where I was born: Tonga. Popping up behind it is a koru. This represents New Zealand. Overall, this shows where I was born and where I am currently living.

The stick figures may look a little out of place but they symbolize my parents. I used the cliche gender colours blue and pink to identify them.

They are big part of my life and although they may have problems in their relationship, they’re still making an effort for me.

I think doing this task and all the research about tattoos and symbolism we did has really helped me understand symbolism and my culture. Everything has a meaning behind it. Whether, it’s the symbol on your school uniform, the tattoo your uncle has or that tick on your Nike shoes.

My friends and I have talked a lot about tattoos and what we were going to get etched on our bodies when we were older. The past seven weeks have really broadened my mind on tattoos. They are a form of art on people’s bodies, especially when they have meaning behind them. That’s when they become symbolic and can be a constant reminder for you.

What's Been Up at Extension?

Extension has been taking closer looks at tattoos and symbolism. Specifically polynesian tattoos. We researched about it and even created our own designs but we had never really seen the real thing. Although a bunch of us had already seen a pe'a before due to someone in their family having one. Anyway, Mr Tele'a was invited to come to one of our extension sessions to show us his traditional samoan tattoo. Whether we had already seen one or not, it was still a really good way to expand our knowledge.

He came to give us a personal view on what's it like to get a pe'a (samoan tattoo). Not only that but to give us a closer look at the intricate designs.

Mr Tele'a was a really good model and teacher. We all prepared questions to ask him and he answered them with great detail.  The questions varied from: 'What did your parents think when you wanted to get a tatau?' to 'What did you do to get your mind off the pain?' and many others. He explained and showed us what parts were meaningful to him and the reasons behind them.

For example, there was a 20-30 cm wide black strip that started underneath his armpit and wrapped itself around his back to the other side of his body under the opposite armpit. To an uninformed person, it would look like a patch of green on his backside but it actually held a big amount of meaning. This part of the full pe'a is supposed to be a canoe or va'a. The va'a represents the family who the wearer of the tattoo has to always protect. (Click image underneath for an actual look)

Because the extension group have been looking at tattoos and symbolism, we were given mini project that we had to complete. This task was to create our very OWN tattoo. There were two crucial things we had to include in our tattoos. One was to use or make a symbol of any part of our culture or heritage and the other was to create a symbol to represent yourself. Currently, I have nearly finished my work. I have already completed the cultural side of this project and am still working on my own symbol.

Year 8 Camp

Camp was full of so many fun activities! I had so much fun, I wish it lasted longer than it did. Going on the Year 8 Camp gave me the opportunity to get to know my peers outside my usual group of friends which was really awesome.

Out of the four days, I least enjoyed day 1 of the camp. After, taking a 1-2 hour bus ride, we arrived at Langs Beach where we began a tramp towards Waipu Cove. Ms Squires had planned for it to be a nice elegant walk but thanks to the weather, the track had become slippery and muddy. This lead to a number of falls.

Not only was it a very long walk but it was also a pretty dangerous one. We traveled up hills and jagged rocks that were rather narrow and some of us were very close to plunging to our deaths. Thankfully, we all survived. I, myself got a few battle scars but overall, I was fine.

When Day 3 came along, I was extremely excited. It was - for me - the most anticipated day. We were scheduled to do a bunch of activities varying from archery to toasting marshmallows to kayaking. Plus, that night was when had a campfire where we sang some songs.

Toasting marshmallows was my highlight of that day. I had never eaten roasted marshmallows prior to that experience so it was pretty special. My teammates and I gathered around the fire as we stuck our marshmallows on the tips of our sticks. One by one, we set them above the fire. Mine caught a blaze a few times but I didn’t really mind. In fact, I ended up really liking the burnt taste.

Colour Wheel

This is the colour wheel. It has the primary colours, secondary and tertiary colours. I created this because it was a task that was given to us by our teacher, Ms Pagdet. I tried to interpret all the colours that are in the actual colour wheel and this is the final outcome.

Tangled Artwork Explanation

A tangle art piece is exactly how it sounds. They are pieces that intertwine together to create a celtic knot. Producing this tangled artwork makes a great team project as each person is able to incorporate themselves in their designs. Being that now Class 1 and Class 5 are conjoined (Panuba), this is the activity that was attempted.

Initially, it’s important to plan. Look up patterns, symbols and different designs. However, do include elements that represent you. A less busy pattern look the finest, due to how they are not full of details. They tend to look broader and stick out more to the eye than a more intricate design. I constructed myself a template to follow so that could be an ideal thing you could use when drawing.

Limiting yourself to just one colour will produce the best result. Too many can ruin the repetition of the pattern. When the final product came out, I noticed that the pieces with warm colours looked the best. So preferably, use a distinct hue that will make your designs pop.

When putting everything together, label your pieces so you will know where each is placed. Labels such as Yellow for the corners, Green for the middle pieces etc etc. When the final product comes out, it looks awesome. Especially with all the different designs intertwining together.

My Avatar

In my class, we have Self Management Level Board. There are three levels on it. Level 1: I need help managing myself. Level 2: I'm able to manage myself but can get off task and Level 3: I am able to manage myself inside and outside the classroom. 

This is my avatar that I created to represent myself on that board. I'm currently thinking of placing myself on Level 3 since I am a trust worthy person who can manage really well without a teacher. 

In this picture, I have my favourite animal; the wolf. Taki, which is my House Team and a bunch of symbols at the bottom which represents my favourite book characters.

Term 4 Day 1

For the last term of 2014, Class 1 and Class 5 were put together to create Mafia Ono (although, the class hasn't decided that name yet). Now that the two have been merged, Class 1 has now got 3 teachers instead of two. It was quite a surprise to hear this from Mrs Nua but yesterday proved that being with Class 5 wouldn't be so bad.

My friends and I have been in and out of classes since last year so it was very different to hear that our class would no longer be on it's own. Not to mention that we just received our new class last term after two terms of living outside of the senior block. 

Party Vote 2014

As the reveal of the new government drew nearer, New Zealand waited in front of their TV screens and computers, awaiting for the final word. After seeing many signs and advertisements, I can say that the support from the people is incredible. Seeing kids and adults alike, coming together and holding signs at the side of the road, showcasing who and what they believed in was pretty awesome. 

Just by looking at the vote count, National is the team bypassing everyone else. 48% of the votes were National while Labour lagged behind with only 24%. It seems that National's Mr John Key will be receiving his third term in the office as the Prime Minister.

Now that the elections are over, one of National's things on their to do list is bringing a simple economical plan to the table for the next three years. Their main goal is to Live within our Means, Start Paying off Dept and Keep Generating New Jobs. Since 12 months ago, they've grown eighty three thousand new jobs and by the time its 2018, there should be 150,000 new jobs. More on the subject about new jobs, National plans to lift the quality of teaching to provide a better education. Not only that but now they are providing free doctors visits for children under 13. 

New Zealand has voted and hopefully this is the best choice for our country. Although I am not a very big politics person, I actually can't wait to see what happens next time Elections come along. Maybe they'll get more creative with their advertisements, who knows. But for now, congratulations to National.

Sources: 

National Campaign

BBC National Party Wins Elections 

Self Management Reflection

After a week of filming and ubiquity, we finally completed our movie. We worked really well together, only arguing about a few things once or twice. But now we have to ask ourselves; How well did we manage?

Personally, I think my group did exceptionally well on managing our time and working independently. We stuck criteria and made a great MTV in the time frame we were given. I helped out more specifically with the filming, editing and planning. Lots of the scenarios and ideas in our movie was created by me. I appeared the least amount of times in the movie since I worked particularly behind the scenes.

When it comes down to managing myself, I think I did a pretty good job, especially as apart of the group. I was there to kick my friends when we went off task so we were able to finish on time and move onto the next thing on our list. Editing was probably the task that I managed myself the most with, I focused solely on finishing the movie so we worked more quickly than we thought we would and got a lot done.

If my group had to do something better, I think it would be all doing something at once. Some of our group members started to mess around when they were not needed. It would had been better if we got each other to work on something else while we worked on the movie. Other than that, I think we did pretty good on our movie and managing ourselves. We got a 17 out of 20 on our rubric which is pretty impressive.

Click the photo to see the specific details.

They Don't Really Care About Us!

Self Management was a topic that our class was examining, so to practice this key competence, we were given the task to create a Music Video using one of Michael Jackson's songs. We had to work in our year groups so the Year 8 Girls had to work together and same with the rest of the class. Our teacher will be judging our movie and marking it based on how we managed ourselves and the quality of our movie. We worked pretty hard to complete this movie and put quite a lot of effort into it. Hope you enjoy!

Self Management

Key Competencies are a part of the New Zealand curriculum to help young people, like ourselves become supportive, confident and actively involved lifelong learners. Self Management, being one of the Key Competencies, is the aspect that we are currently exploring. People who are effective self managers are reliable and are able to set high standards.

Being able to manage yourself during class is actually pretty difficult to do. It is really easy to get distracted by friends and surroundings when trying to complete work and tasks. Plus it’s as simple as that to go onto another site and play games. During class, self management looks like working independently and working away from interruptions. Also knowing when to tell someone to do their work and when to take a break and talk.

The Street is an area in our intermediate block that is another working space for us. Its reasonably large so there is lots of room for all our classes to use. When in the street, we have to fight the temptation of speaking to our other friends in different classes. It’s not a very quiet area so distractions are inevitable.

Outside of class, like at the playground, kids find it much harder to manage themselves. Although lunch and morning tea is a time for us to play and take a break, it is a great idea to always think ahead and reflect. Obeying the rules and thinking about others around you is how the kids should manage themselves when playing and messing around.

In conclusion, self managers are innovative and cable learners. With can-do attitudes, they can make plans and strategies for meeting challenges. They can also set goals for themselves to strive and achieve. Whether they are leading or following, they are resourceful learners.

Storylines Festival Reflection

The Storylines Festival turned out to be pretty successful. I definitely enjoyed the show and the authors who presented. However I liked last year better, the audience was more involved and the authors were connecting with us. Not that this year was terrible, it was really educational.

Juliette McIver and Jill McGregor were probably my favourite authors during the festival. Juliette was incredibly funny with her bubbly personality and her books and stories were really out there. She liked to rhyme a lot and she even created her own words to match her story, much like Margaret Mahi who she looked up to. She read aloud one of her many books, Queen Alice’s Palaces. The graphics stood out to me a lot. The illustrator had used iconic buildings to incorporate Queen Alice’s many Palaces and that made the book even more interesting.

If I were to present at the festival, I would really interact with the audience. Paula Green had gathered some students to create a poem on the spot. They each had a line they would say directly after the person before them. I thought that was a great way to get involved with the kids and teachers. Another way I would do to get the kids intrigued is get some kids up to act out the story as I read it. That would be pretty funny since they are just improvising.

I would’ve loved to have seen the authors collaborate to create a wonderful masterpiece. That would’ve been amazing. I would like to give a great big thank you to the authors and to the Storylines Festival holders because it’s such a great experience for kids everywhere. Their stories and backgrounds gave us a look at what an author really endures to make their stories the best it can be. Cath Mayo traveled to Greece where she got lots of information for her books. That’s just plain awesome.

Mortar Bucket Advertisement

Last term in Extension, we did the 40 hour famine. Because of this, we explored all kinds of things that people who lived in poor parts of the world use for work, cooking and all kinds of stuff. I combined two of the tools that I saw some people used. A water bucket and a mortar and pestle. Here's what it would look like and how it would be presented.

Three-Sided Football

Our class task was to find a very unique sport that we and our class mates haven't heard of. We had to research all about that certain sport and create a presentation or movie to show what we know about our game and possibly show teach people how to play it. Jorja and I decided to make a movie. Along with a few of our class friends, we filmed and animated our own clips for this short movie. It's nothing special but we managed to explain our sport quite well. Enjoy!

Storylines Authors 2014

This Thursday, the extension team are attending the Storylines Festival. Similar to last year, we are going to be hearing from some authors. Many of the authors this year are New Zealanders which is really cool.

Juliette MacIver is a children's book author who grew up in Wellington. She went to Victoria University where she received a degree in Linguistics. Juliette had various jobs; teaching English, working as a tour guide, travel agent and a few more. She has written a total of twelve books and is quite well-known for one of them, Toucan Can.

Born in Auckland, Catherine Mayo is a Young Adult writer. Not only that but she is currently in a band named Gentle Annie. She has written only two books, Murder in Mykenai and The Bow.

Out of all the authors, I'm looking forward to listening to Jill MacGregor. Although she was born in Dunedin, she spent a reasonable amount of traveling through the Pacific Islands. For two years, she worked as a VSA teacher in Tonga. Because of this, she writes Pacifica Books, four of them being about Tonga.

Paula Green seems to be the only poet who is attending the festival. Only a few of her stuff are children books but most of the things she has written are poetry collections. She is also a reviewer, anthologist and book-award judge teacher. Ms Green also has a PHD in Italian from the University of Auckland.

So as you can probably tell, there are a lot of things to look forward to at the Storylines Festival. I definitely have some questions for these authors and I can't wait to ask them personally. 

Life Ed - Marijuana

As preadolescences, we are very vulnerable to drugs and alcohol so as a way to prevent us from choosing the wrong path, Team 5 took Life Education sessions to learn the effects of drugs and what damages it can do to your body and most importantly: your brain. We listened to real people's experiences with drugs and most of the victims first started out with glue and Marijuana.

Marijuana is a hazardous substance that is well known for being the gateway drug. Easily attainable, cheap and addictive, Marijuana, also known as pot, weed or tinnie, leads people into a web of addiction. Under the influence of marijuana, people can have bad memories and have trouble with decision making; separating what’s right from wrong. This totally changes the way the brain works and stops it from reaching it’s full potential.

Kupua the Pukeko - My Mascot

During class, we were given a task of creating our own mascot after we examined Glasgow's commonwealth mascot, Clyde. We had looked at the other mascots like Shera the Tiger, the Olympics mascots and of course, like I said, Clyde the Thistle. This inspired us to come up with our very own mascots. We imagined what mascot would represent New Zealand if we held the next commonwealth games. 

I had a hard time trying to name my mascot. I tried to think about what things made New Zealand significant and what represented it well. So I decided to name my pukeko, Kapua. Kapua means cloud and New Zealand is known as the Land of the Long White Cloud. With my pukeko, I drew gumboots and a greenstone. Those two things are both apart of kiwiana (New Zealand icons). 

Kapua is a great hiker and he also love running. He helps the sheep dogs gather the flock and kine at farms. The commonwealth will find itself with amazing luck when Kapua is representing New Zealand. 

Astria Countdown to Impact #2

Kaycee and I tried our best to play the game everyday but found ourselves having difficulties with the game especially when we were nearly finished. We played it on Wednesday and Thursday, trying to figure out what was wrong. That was until our teacher told us, everyone else was having the same problem and it was a bug.

Luckily, today they fixed the bug and now we are going to finish it. But we did some interesting things on Wednesday. We hoped on and realized we had completed all the parts on the game except the Courtroom. So we presented our idea to the council and out of 4 ways to stop the asteroid, we picked the Solar Sail. We believed it was safer than the other options because it resulted in less deaths, the idea of it sounded more effective and we trusted the information we were given about this subject.

After we put in our option, we had to provide some evidence on why we wanted to use the Solar Sail. Not only that but we also had to put in reasons why we didn't pick the other options. Kaycee and I soon finished the game after we were given a hyperlink to where the game wasn't buggy. The solar sail proved to be very very effective and didn't kill anyone at all.

The game wasn't that difficult, we were pretty happy with our outcome. I do wish it was longer and had more tasks to complete before going to the council. Other than that, I really liked the game.

Astria Countdown to Impact #1

Extension got the privilege of being the first class in New Zealand to try out a new game that was developed by a group of people from Auckland University. We had to take a quick test first before getting into pairs and starting the game together.

Kaycee and I played the game together and we found many interesting things about the game. Basically, you are a Alpha Leader in the future who is trying to find a way to prevent an astroid from hitting your planet (Astria). You go through a series of challenges and puzzles that you have to figure out.

I found that the hardest part of the game was talking to the right people to find the right information. Not only that but also we had to rate whether a piece of information was trustworthy or not.

Today, my partner and I managed to complete 4 zones in the game. I think we could be close to completing all of the tasks and presenting the final presentation. We got a lot of information already and are on the right track to finishing the game.

I'm excited to see where the game will go, especially the story.

Commonwealth Games: Zoe Ballantyne

As you may know the Commonwealth games has began and and this year the event is being held in Glasgow. Being that New Zealand is part of the Commonwealth, I have chosen one of the athletes; Zoe Ballantyne to follow during the Commonwealth.

This year, Zoe Ballantyne is currently participating in the 4x400m Women’s relay with her first Commonwealth relay on the first of August at Hampden Park Stadium. Although this is her first Commonwealth Games, Zoe has been an Oceania Championship medalist in 2010, 2011 and in 2012. Not only that but she is New Zealand’s top 400m hurdler winning three years in a row in the New Zealand National Championship.

Hopefully, Zoe will win some medals for New Zealand and beat her current personal best (53.92) during the games. She is definitely already a great athlete and won’t disappoint.

Level UP!

This short movie is me talking about where I rated myself on our Class Level Up chart. Basically, the chart has 3 levels. Level 1 is you can not manage yourself, Level 2 is you can manage yourself but you tend to go off task sometimes and Level 3 is you can manage yourself and you can be trusted by the teacher to sit anywhere and do your work. Take a look at my movie to see where I put myself.


Level Up from Team 5 PES on Vimeo.

Smart Footprint Product

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

During Class time, my friends and I created a movie all about leaving a smart footprint and being cyber smart. We created our own lyrics to one of our favourite songs, recorded it ourselves and filmed a few days after. Kaycee, Lisia and Tyla-Marie were the ones who sang in this movie. Hope you enjoy! And don't forget to take a look at my friends blogs too!

BAR Keys

Today is extension, we took a look at BAR keys. This was apart of a game/activity called the 20 Thinkers Key which includes 20 different puzzles to get us thinking. BAR keys is practicaly when you make something Bigger, Add something and Replace something. B A R. 

First thing we did was draw a house which we completed in 5-10 minutes. Then we rotated around the room so different people could make something Bigger, Add something and Replace something. Here are the three images I ended up with after we did this little activity. Hopefully, you can notice and read what the changes are.

4 Things You Need to Remember about a Smart Footprint

1. Be careful with what you search, even if you're in Incognito, people can still track your IP address.
2. Always do your own thing. Be original!
3. You can NEVER know when someone is watching.
4. If it's not kind, keep it in your mind!

The Little Old Lady - Writing Sample Term 2

This is a writing sample I wrote in 40 minutes. It was kinda like a test. It's very long but hopefully you enjoy it! :)

Alice stood still, keeping her eyes fixated on the house across the road. She watched as the stubby old lady sat comfortably in her rocking chair, calmly staring off into the distance. “Why do you always watch her?” Alice’s trance broke as she looked over at Sydney. Sydney smiled as her brown hair fell in front of her eyes. “There’s.....something up with that lady.” Alice said, wonder laced her words.

“You always say that about people.” Sydney joked.

“I do not! I am just.....strongly suspicious of people.”

Sydney let out a long laugh as she shook her head. “Do you really think there’s something wrong with that lady?”

“I don’t know. Only one way to find out I guess.” Alice started walking briskly across the road.

“Wait! What?! NO! Alice, don’t do that!” Sydney yelled desperately. But her shouts weren’t enough to stop Alice from reaching the old lady.

Sydney’s voice seemed to be muffled out by Alice’s curiosity. As she drew nearer to the house, she stopped right in front of the shabby looking porch steps. Very clearly, she could see the white paint peeling and the wood splinters poking out on the sides. “Uh, excuse me.” Alice spoke quietly. The old woman rocked slowly in her chair, not even looking at Alice. “Excuse me.” Alice said once more, this time more strongly. Immediately, the rocking chair stopped. Her body unmoving, the old lady’s head just turned towards Alice.

“May I help you dear?” the old lady spoke, hoarsely.

“My name’s Alice, I wanted to introduce myself.” The old lady’s face broke out into a wide smile, her wrinkles stretching out tightly. “Well, aren’t you polite. My name is Wanda. Would you like to come in?”

“Yes, that would be nice. Thank you.”

Wanda lazily got up from her wooden chair, still watching Alice. She held out her hand beside her and looked intently at the door. All of a sudden, it flung open.

Alice’s eyes widened. This didn’t seem like a very good idea anymore. She wanted to turn around and run but that wouldn’t have been a very nice thing to do. Her feet moved carefully towards the ajar door. Wanda was still smiling at her.

Casually strolling inside, Alice studied her surroundings. Dusty little trinkets sat next to little china dolls on the shelves and pink bows were strewn across the floor. The only source of light seemed to be the fluorescent candles that shone in different colours. There was a red flame, a green flame and a bright yellow flame.

“Sorry for the mess deary. I don’t have a lot of company.” Wanda apoligised.

“Oh, I don’t mind.”

“Have a seat.”

Alice sat down on a plush arm chair, quite awkwardly. “You should have brought your pretty friend.” Wanda said, sitting down next to her.

“Sydney’s not quite a people person.”

“Well, she would have been tasty. She has such a pretty face....” Alice’s head snapped over at Wanda. Wanda’s eyes turned gleaming white and her wrinkles looked as if they were melting off her face. “But I guess, you will have to suffice.”  Wanda’s smile turned into a wicked smirk.

“My dolls have been wanting some more company.” Alice shuffled away from Wanda. “P-ple-please don’t....” Alice stuttered, trembling in fear. Wanda opened her mouth widely, sharp claw-like fangs sprung out. “Nighty night deary....”

Sound Presentation

 Yet another presentation and yet another sound DLO. Hope you learn something from it! :)

Echolocation

Echolocation are sound waves used by many living beings to locate objects, communicate and navigate. Most sea mammals (such as the whale) use echolocation as a way to see. Like in murky waters.

Bats are one of the many beings that use echolocation. They send the sound waves mostly through their mouths although some use their noses. Using echolocation, bats can use it to find food and know what’s around them. How this works is, the sound reflects off the objects and is picked up by the bat’s sensitive ears. The frequencies sent out are so high that humans are unable to pick up the sound waves.

Like I said, most marine mammals use echolocation to see. They use it by detecting echoes of sounds and use them to produce 3-Dimensional information. Take dolphins for example, they make sounds by squeezing air through their nasal passages that’s under the blowhole. There is a fat filled area on the dolphin’s forehead that is like a lens which focuses on the sound waves ahead of the dolphin. The sound waves that are given then bounces off the objects and is received through the dolphin's lower jaw.

With bats and marine life, humans also use echolocation. Blind people have learned to use echolocation as well so they can interact with the environment and have used it to see. Humans use it by creating sounds. They may tap their canes, gently stomp their foot, snap their fingers or even make clicking noises. People who have learnt how to use echolocation can make out the sound waves that have been reflected off from nearby objects. This gives them a good idea of where they are.

The Present Podcast

Jorja And Gloria - The Present Podcast from Team 5 PES on Vimeo.
Here is a podcast that Jorja and I have made about a book I have been reading. Hope you enjoy and get the book for yourself. Thanks! :)

20 Hour Famine!

World Vision PES 20 hour famine team from SchoolTV on Vimeo.

Last week, on Friday, a group of kids volunteered to be involved in the 20 hour famine. During extension, we took the time to study about Malawi. This is where the money was going to be going to. We had already learnt a lot of about the famine before we participated. It was incredibly fun!

Some kids brought barley sugar and Just Juice but I had decided to try to go without it and just bring water. It was VERY difficult to not be tempted not to eat. Although, we did have many activities to distract us from the hunger.

Tyla and I were chosen to be team captains of Yellow. We were pretty competitive with Team Green. This movie shows you the awesome sleep over we had at school! Hope you like it!

The Scientific Method

This presentation shows the steps of the Scientific method. Hopefully, it is already explanatory enough. I used Sumo Paint to draw my pictures and edited my photos on PicMonkey. Special thanks to the kids of Class 14.

#BringBackOurGirls

The following is my opinion on the whole Bring Back Our Girls matter that's happening around the world. :)

The popular hashtag Bring Back Our Girls has attracted so much media attention with the whole travesty involving the missing 300 girls. Many people around the world have used the hashtag and have great Sympathy for the families in Nigeria. But is this hashtag really helping make a difference?

I think that the hashtag hasn't been very useful when trying to find the girls. Although it has brought the kidnapping to people’s awareness, it hasn’t done anything but set a new trend on social medias. Bring back our girls to me appears just to be another thing on the internet that everyone is interested in but will soon forget about later.

It is clear many people care about the 300 missing girls but this hashtag is doing absolutely nothing!

Water Safety

3 weeks ago, Class 1 have been going to the Glen Innes Aquatic Centre for swimming lessons. Here is a piece of writing that's kinda an advertisement about Water Safety. It explains how to stay water safe and what water safety is. Hope you enjoy! And a side note, DO NOT call the number that is provided in my writing. Thank you!

Should you wait til you’re drowning in water to finally learn how to swim? NO! Of course not! Well, NOW is YOUR chance to learn about water safety right in the comfort of your own home. So grab those swim trunks and goggles and let’s learn together!

Water Safety is more about smarts than fitness. Before going out swimming in the ocean, you should know of the conditions. This includes the weather, tide and surroundings. So make sure you have those things sussed.

If you’re in a situation in the ocean, a thing you need to remember is not to try to stand up. Once that is attempted, you’re sinking. Another thing to keep in mind is that you have to keep calm and not panic. Whatever your circumstances may be, one of the best ways to survive is keeping calm. This way, you will be able to preserve energy and you’ll have a lower chance of drowning.

If you have no idea how to swim, then when at beaches or at the pools you should keep to the shallow areas. Trying to swim in the deep ends without experience will result with death. You should probably wear a life-jacket or floaties.

Now, the best thing to ever do to better your understanding of water safety is LEARN how to swim. What you need to do is call 0800 WATER SAFE4LIFE now! Or visit the Aquatic Centre in Glen Innes for lessons. Don’t be a rock and sink! Be a tree log and FLOAT!

Malawi Compared to New Zealand

Here is a presentation showing what the differences are between New Zealand and Malawi, food wise. Hope you enjoy!

Term 1 Overview - Extension

Term 1 Overview - Extension from Team 5 PES on Vimeo.
Here is a movie ALL about what we did last term in Extension. It includes what we learnt and more. The past tense is a bit off since I made it in the end of last term and just finished now. Hopefully you enjoy! :)

Sound Facts

Fun facts from Team 5 PES on Vimeo.

Here are some facts about Sound that my friends and I found out and produced a movie for. Hopefully you can understand. :) Enjoy!

What does Inference mean?

In Reading, we looked at what Inference means. Here is a presentation about what it means. :)

Congruence and Corresponding Parts

During Maths time, I have been learning about congruence and corresponding parts. I don't know what this mean so I've been trying to figure it out.

Empathy DLO

empG101 7 from Team 5 PES on Vimeo.
Here is my Empathy DLO I created to show what I think Empathy is. I completed in just a short period of time so that's why its not so long :) Enjoy none the less!

Coyote the Werewolf

Here is yet another Writing Challenge. This time, we had to write a Six Sentence Story. We had to use the infamous Once upon a time line to start off the story. Jorja and I worked together to produce this piece of awesomeness. The ending is random buuuuut Enjoy none the less :)

Once upon a time, there lived a vicious werewolf named Coyote. He lived by himself in a dank cave on an isolated island that was in the middle of nowhere. Coyote’s razor sharp claws helped him run impossibly fast, faster than any living thing on earth. Weirdly enough, Coyote was the only werewolf ever that was vegetarian. No matter how hard he tried, he wasn’t able to digest any form of meat and he was dying. During the last minutes of his life, a unicorn appeared in his cave, it leaned down next to him, Coyote and the unicorn both exploded into bright golden statues.

Tiaki Taonga

During writing, Mrs Nua gave us a challenge called the Speed Writing Challenge. In just 10 minutes, we had to write something about Tiaki Taonga. Which is our school motto for the year. We were given 5 minutes to pair share then proof read it. Here's my peice of writing that I was able to complete in 10 minutes. Hope you like :)

Tiaki Taonga is most likely the most important korero I can think of. It’s all about caring. I think it’s one of the most noteworthy things to remember, not only at school but in and around different places. This helps as it reminds our kids on how to treat others and how to act the Pt England Way.

Why is this the most important korero to me? It has components that match many situations. Like Mr Burt says: our people, our success, our efforts, our school and our most treasured. A very good example of what Tiaki Taonga means.

Korero - Motto

The Aftermath of Cyclone Lusi

In class, we tried to write in different styles of writing. We were given a task to write a news report. So here it is.

John Campbell: In other news, Cyclone Lusi that started out in the South Pacific has finally passed from New Zealand. Kathy Stevens has more.

Kathy Stevens: What started out as a tropical storm, Cyclone Lusi produced many disasters around New Zealand. As you may know, many warnings were broadcasted around the country to prepare New Zealand for the worst. The weather caused several events like Polyfest to be canceled or postponed.

More than 2000 power outages were caused around New Zealand, Remuera being one of the unlucky places. There were many disasters due to the storm; fallen trees, flooded areas, rock falls and land slips. The worst of the storm was when it lashed out on Northern Auckland by the strong rain. But most of Auckland was less affected by the storm with less severe conditions.

John Campbell: Now, I understand that there was a report on a missing child out at sea during the cyclone. What happened there?

Kathy Stevens: Yes, well, the police were fairly pleased that no one was lost at sea after the report of the missing 11 year old boy. Out on Takapuna Beach, someone notified the police that the boy was taken by the sea. The police instantly launched a search with their helicopter but nothing was found. It turned out there was a misunderstanding so everything was fine. Kathy Stevens, Campbell Live.

Visual Mihi 2014

Here's my Visual Mihi for 2014, it holds the 4 symbols that represent me.

The very first symbol is my prefects badge, the reason why I put this as a symbol is because it represents my school and my role as a prefect.

The second symbol is of my hobbies. Now you may not see all of the things that I drew in the column, but in my spare time, I like to go on Youtube or read and write.

Thirdly is one of my favourites. This one, as you can probably tell is of my culture. I interputed it by drawing the flag, some patterns and the quote from the four of arms. "Ko e ʻOtua mo Tonga ko hoku Tofiʻa" which means in English: "God and Tonga are my inheritance"

The last symbol is my religion. I am Christian and it plays a big part in my life style and family. I drew the cross, the bible and the communion bread.

Also feel free to explore the other Extension students work by clicking the next button on my image. :)

ANZAC Brainstorm

There following is a brainstorm of things that Kaycee and I thought of when we were asked about Anzac.

Boer War Diary

In Extension, we learnt about a war that New Zealand participated in. The Boer (pronounced BORE) War. We were given a task to write a diary of what a NZ solider in the Boer War would be experiencing. Here is mine :) By the way, the following is completely fiction. Sorry if you can't understand the lettering.

My Bio Poem 2014

Gloria

Child of Amelia and Soni

Who loves laughing, running and reading.

Who hates annoying kids, over dramatic people and pointless movies.

Who wants to go to London, France, Rome and Greece.

Who wishes she could’ve met her grandpa, Paula Vivili

Who is scared of falling, parents dying and friends dying.

Who dreams of traveling around the world.

Who is determined to become a soldier when older.

Who values kindness, family and pure awesomeness.

Who is proud of her achievements.

Who graduated from Hogwarts.

Who lives in London but really.......Mt Wellington

Gloria

Add and Subtract Fractions with like Denominators

Here is yet another DLO for my Maths work. This presentation explains Adding and Subtracting fractions with like denominators.

Statistics DLO

For Maths, we learnt Statistics and what were the many things that were involved. Here is a short presentation about what Statistics mean. Hope you understand! :)

Empathy

Empathy is really important and to be honest, it’s a fairly complex topic. Although the simplest definition of Empathy is putting yourself in other people’s shoes and seeing their problems through their eyes. A LOT of people easily confuse Sympathy and Empathy.

What is the difference between Sympathy and Empathy? I believe Empathy starts off as a feeling, this then leads to an action. A really good way to show Empathy is by discussing complications and connecting. Showing Empathy is as easy as caring for someone. Just by asking someone: “How are you REALLY feeling?” can make their day a whole lot better.

Instead of confronting the person and their situation, Sympathy is feeling sad for the person and what they are going through. It doesn’t exactly build a connection between people but rather makes the whole point of pity.

Empathy plays a big part in Tiaki Taonga, if everyone was empathetic, we would be living in a much better society and environment. Don’t you think?