Future Aspirations

5 guest speakers came to our school and told the year seven and eights their story and how they achieved their personal goals and aspirations. Future Aspirations, that’s what it’s called. Our five guests were Mosa Mafileo, Tristan Pang, Emma Brown, Aysha Hohaia and Caine Warren. They all told us different things but all their points met at the end because all of them told us about chasing our dreams which is true

Tristan Pang is 12 years old and believe it or not, he’s going to university next year! I know right, a 12 year old! He studies and learns constantly at home, he says it’s more fun than computer games. But we’d begged to differ. I think he really taught me something. He said that ‘Quest is fun so be nosy’. Science and maths are his strongest subjects but he’s really good at everything.  

Mosa Mafileo was an amazing speaker too. He is a politician and works for the mayor of Auckland. He was really funny and I could actually relate to him. Just like the other speakers, he told about his dreams and aspirations. ‘Chase your dream, Catch your dream’ he said. What was also really cool was that he was Tongan and statistics say that polynesians have a low chance of success but look at him now!

I really don’t know what I want to be when I’m older, I’ve always jumped from one thing to another. Although, writing is what I’m good at and I need to work on that more. Do more of what you’re awesome at and I’m pretty awesome at writing. Another thing I’d like to do when I’m older is be a veterinarian or doctor.

How many Triangles can you see?

Triangle

Miss King gave the whole class a challenge and this was apart of the challenge, we had to turn this triangle around 180 degrees by only moving 3 of the golf balls (in this case, it was circles). This is how I did it. It is just a short movie showing what I moved. Sorry if the movie isn't very explanatory. But I can say that I moved all the corners.

Writing Sample 2013 (Whisper)

Daniel held his torch up to his chest as he walked through the misty, gloomy forest. All he could hear was the rustling of bushes and the whistling of the wind. "Vicky!" Daniel cried nervously. Weirdly, he thought he saw his sister walk into the woods so he followed her. Although, he really wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. "Help mee". Suddenly, Dan heard a whisper, he could feel someone or something breathing down his shoulder. A shiver down his spine. Afraid to find out what was standing behind him, he slowly turned around to see nothing there. 

"Strange" Dan breathed. Continuing with his search, Dan watched the trees waving, creating shadows on his torch light. Who was whispering? Where did it come from? Questions were flooding into Daniel's mind. Stuck in his thoughts, Dan accidentally trips. Staggering onto his knees, his torch skids across the gravel path way. 

"Arghh" he whines, dusting himself off. Grabbing his torch, Dan tried to turn it on again but it wasn't working. The torch flickered as Dan switched it off and on. Finally, it turned on and Dan faced the light to in front of him. "What are you doing here?" Dan jumped, surprised to see someone here in the night. The man's voice was incredibly deep and his glare was petrifying as if he was staring right into your soul. 

"Uh, I'm looking for my sister, Vicky" Dan stuttered. "You shouldn't be here" the man replied. Confused Dan watched as the man revealed he was holding an blood smeared axe. Immediately, Dan ran for his life. He dodged bushes and trees, running into the wilderness. "Keep running, don't look back". Dan heard another whisper in his ear. The voice sounded a lot like the one who whispered before and a lot like....Vicky.

"Vicky?!" Dan yelped, running through some thorns. "Keep running" the voice said back. Obeying the voice, he kept sprinting. He could hear the man behind him, cutting through branches. 

Out of the forest, Dan ran out, breaking free from thickets. "What's happening? Why is this happening?" Dan said trying to catch his breath. Then Dan looked up to see a road. "Dan, you can no longer save me but you can save yourself. This is your chance" Dan was certain it was Vicky now.

 He burst into tears and looked back at the forest. "You followed me into that forest and searched for me but you were in trouble" Vicky told him. "Go! Someone will find my body, but for now.......RUN" Vicky's last words echoed in Dan's ears. He dropped his torch and made a run for it down the road. Tears rushing down his face, he closed his eyes and missed his sister already. "Bye Sis" he whispered back. 

Four Shot Storyboard - Thirsty?

A girl is thirsty (dehydrated) and is crawling on the ground. Finds someone sitting next to a hose, runs after the hose and finds that the hose stops. 

KG 4 Shot Thristy from Team 5 PES on Vimeo.

Halloween Extension

Halloween is one of the only times where you can eat as many junk food as you want and dress up and go ALL OUT!! Many people dress up and go Trick or Treating and see if they can get some free candy from complete strangers! What a great time! . All of this around me made me think that Halloween is about having fun, being something else and dressing up like maniacs!! That was what I thought Halloween was about before I discovered more about Halloween.

The Celtic Calendar had a light half and dark half. Celtic people would celebrate something called the Samhain (Sel-win). Samhain was the beginning of the dark half and also was the time where they had to harvest their food/crops. It was a matter of life or death because they might not have enough food. 

On May the 13th, ancient Romans believed that the dead would rise on that day so to prevent this from happening, they poured milk on their graves. This was called Lemuria until Christians christianised it and called it All Saints Day. All Saints Day was where people would acknowledge the most holy of dead christians and this day was actually so popular that they moved it to November the 1st which was the day after the Samhain (Sel-win) Harvest Festival to drain the life out of Pagan Samhain.

Samhain Harvest Festival then changed to All Hallows Evening as it was the night before All Saints Day then into All Hallows Even and now Halloween. November 2nd then was the date for All Souls Day to honour the departed.

Trick or Treating came from people who asked for soul cakes. It started on All Souls Day when priests told christians to pray for souls who were stuck in between heaven and hell, a netherworld called purgatory. Bakers would give their soul cakes, in return for prayers for souls who were trapped in purgatory. And if enough prayers were prayed for that certain soul then they would fly up into heaven.

Now Jack o Lanterns originated from a man named Jack who was so bad that he got kicked out of hell. So Jack would wonder around and when people would see a flicker of light in the night, some believed it was Jack. Another version of story, Jack one day tricked the devil by nailing him into a wall. The devil begged to be freed so Jack agreed to do so but with some conditions. Jack told the devil that he will free him if he doesn't harm him, just let him roam around. The devil took this deal and was freed. This is just two versions of the story. There are many more beliefs. 

Halloween

Halloween is well known for crazy costumes and trick or treating. As one of the worlds oldest holidays, many countries celebrate this event, although North America and Canada maintains the highest level of popularity for this holiday.

Halloween started in the eighth century, Pope Georgry III decided on November the 1st that this would be the day for All Saints Day (this was to acknowledged all the saints and martyrs who passed) and on October 31st would be for All Hallows Eve.

It is said that Halloween originated in the Ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. For this holiday, people use to light a bonfire and wear costumes to ward off bad spirits and wicked souls.

Some believe that on the night before Halloween (October 31st), Samhain summoned wicked spirits and bad souls. Since the people were afraid, they sacrificed to their Gods, hoping they would be spared and be protected. This is where all the scary characters came from or at least this is what some people believe it came from.