Term 4 Goals

This term is the last for the year, so I want to make the most of it. My goals for term four are...

Maths: To keep up to date with all my work and if I do fall behind stay in at lunch to catch up.
I am going to achieve this by not letting other people distract me while I am working.

English: To use my time wisely so that I can hand my work in on time, or before the deadline. Also making it to the best of my ability.
I am going to achieve this by working on tasks at home and not time wasting in class.

Other activities: To be polite and thank the teachers who take the time and effort to teach me some of the other activities that T.A.I offers.
I am going to achieve this by being polite and thoughtful.

This term is going to be busy with lots happening in just this first week. Tomorrow is agricultural day a Te Awamutu Primary and I will be attending that with my goat Peach. Friday we also have grandparents day. and this week we have our first session of Life Ed with Nicky. An eventful term lined up with lots of fun activities!

Week 4

On Monday we had the S.P.C.A cupcake day that takes place all around New Zealand. I made 12 cupcakes for this event as I love the S.P.C.A for all their work. I made four chickens, four cows, and four pigs which took me all weekend of week three. The three winners of the decorating competition had their cupcakes auctioned on Facebook for the S.P.C.A. The winners for the decorating competition were given their prizes on Thursday and I got second. The prize was chocolate.
Also in Monday assembly we found out who the top sellers for our chocolate fundraiser were. First place sold 26 boxes of chocolate, he raised $1560.00 for our school. Second place sold 14 chocolate bars, she raised $840.00 for our school. And Third place sold 11 boxes of chocolate and she got $660.00 for our school. First place choose the XBox, second place choose the GoPro, and third choose the bike and the helmet.
The rest of the week was normal except for Thursday when we had Band Festival, but I wasn't involved with that. Overall my week went pretty well.

Week 3

This week on Monday we had to return all the chocolates and chocolate money because the chocolate selling had ended. This meant that there was on long line to Mrs Shaw's office to drop off money and sign for it. Lots of students ended up being late for assembly, but luckily I made it in time for SHINE awards. I earned my silver badge in week two which meant I would get it this week in assembly. 

In tech this week we had to start writing our blues songs for music on Tuesday. Bobby, Sophie J and I came up with the clumsy blues. Sophie J sings, Bobby does keyboard, and I do guitar. It sounds okay at the moment, but it isn't as bad as it may seam. Friday for tech we had to start creating a soundtrack for an advertisement where we have to have music and our voice just like on a normal add. 

On the weekend I spent basically the entire weekend making cupcakes for the S.P.C.A cupcake day on Monday week four. I made chickens, cows, and pigs out of fondant and put them on green fondant with the S.P.C.A logo on them. Hopefully they help raise money to help the animals that are in need of a good home. Anyone that reads my blog I encourage you to donate some money to the S.P.C.A as they do an amazing job caring and finding new homes for unloved pets. $1 can go a long way to help one animal find a new home.

Week 2

This week has still been pretty chill with finishing SLC and starting on maths and reading. Monday Mrs Crowe came back after a whole week out of class with an ear problem. Apart from school work in tech arts we are doing music and on Tuesday we were playing Bob Marley Three little birds. The teacher said we were all being really good so we all got an including others signature. So on Tuesday I earned my silver badge and I'm pretty sure I have just under 20 signatures to go till gold which I hope to earn by the end of the year.

Maths this term is area, perimeter, and volume. As it turns out I forgot just about everything from last year except how to find the circumference of a circle. To find the circumference of a circle you multiply the diameter by Pi (3.14). For Reading we have started on a short story task where we choose a short story from a given selection, read it, then write something like a book review on that particular story. Our writing task currently is to write our speeches for week four. My speech this year is about how life begins at the end of your comfort zone. This is a quote by Neale Donald Walsch and I found it off the internet in abstract quotes.

Thursday we went to the collage expo and also had the collage guitar group come into guitar to play and teach us a few things. When we went round the hall to look at the options I decided on three out of the four things that I want to do a collage which are: Music (guitar), Graphics, and also Agriculture. Also on Thursday I got to start on my next painting which is currently free choice.

Week 5

This week was a good week. It was all pretty normal except in Monday assembly we were informed about an accident that happened the week before. Mr Graham, the hard materials teacher, was teaching gym last Friday and tried to do a back-flip like some of the other kids. Mr Graham ended up in hospital for about a week and is currently at home in a neck-brace. So I hope you get well Mr Graham so you can come back to school. 

On a happier note I started to finally get my canvas painted in extension art. This term in extension art it is all about animals in their natural habitat. I choose to do a dragonfly on a leave for this painting. This means I have to learn how to do extremely intricate lines for the wings and how to effectively use glitter without using to much.

Robotics has been going really well and we are also getting in some Lego/Mechano for us to use and then program. Currently though we have been continuing doing the mazes with the Spheros. 

Term 2 Week 3

This week has been fun. We started food tech this week on Tuesday and we have made cheesy rolls and dip sticks and also bread. The bread turned out to be really nice and doughy and was quite filling. We learnt how to correctly use yeast and how to fold it into the dread. We also learnt how long to cook the bread so that it is golden brown on the top. On Wednesday and Thursday there was music camp. This affected my Thursday activities a little bit, but it also meant I had time in the afternoon to do some of my work. I managed to complete my artwork of flowers which is now hanging up in the library for the public. I also had to do robotics in the middle block which was pretty fun. Bobby and I made a maze and managed to get around it without crashing. Then we were allowed to add in ramps. Sadly Sphero did not go over all the ramps. The week before that in robotics Alice and I did a different track and managed to get all the way through twice without crashing. Even though this has been a mucky week, with everything going, on most people made the best out of it.

Term 1

This term has gone by so quickly, and I have remembered so much learning from last year that I'm kind of glad the term has ended. This term has been really busy with camp, Japanese students, and school activities that school has been really fun. We are in the last week of term and last week was back to work after camp which was super fun. This week is only a four day week which means no school on Friday :). This term I have learnt a lot in maths from integers (negative and positive numbers) to standard form and scientific notation. This term we have also had our first three inter-house sports which were: minor games, swimming, and the most recent summer games. My house Puniu is currently coming in 4th place which is not where we usually are on the leader board. Waipa is coming third, Mangapiko second and Waikato 1st. 

On Thursdays we have all the school activities like extension art, band, guitar, rock band, etc. I am involved in three activities which is extension art in the morning, guitar in the middle block, and robotic in the afternoon. Extension art this year has been going really well as I also did it last year so I already have a little bit more practice than most of the people in there. Everyone in extension art is already a good artist, but sometimes Mrs. Dixon gives them a little bit of a hand which is fine as everyone needs help sometimes. Guitar has been really well and we have been given some of the harder music to work on this year. I have been progressing well, and have been practicing heaps at home to make sure that I improve and get it right. Robotics was a little step out of my comfort Zone as I had wanted to do it, liked maths, and I like playing with robots so I thought I would give it a go. Robotics has been really fun with Mr. Graham as our teacher. I have learn heaps on how to control and program the spheros that we have.

Term one has been really fun so far and I can't wait for term 2.

Wellington Camp

Our class camp this year was for an entire week from Sunday to Friday. Sunday and Friday was traveling and Monday to Thursday was activities.
Monday was fun as we learnt about rare and common birds to New Zealand and how that the only mammal non-predator in NZ is the Short-Tailed bat. This was at Zealandia which is a native reserve a lot like Magatautari which is another native reserve. We learnt that some species are native to NZ, but are also endemic to our country which means they are found no where else in the world like the Kiwi. We also went to the Holocaust center where we heard a real child survivor recap her experience in WW2 as a four year old child put in a holding camp. Her name is Vera and she is part Jewish and she is about 65 years old now. We also went to Weta Workshop where we saw some of the stuff they used to make movies and even touch some of it.
Tuesday we went to Carter Observatory where we did a quiz and also watched a movie about all the satellites and the stars and the Sun and Moon. To get to Parliament we went down the cable cars and then walked the rest of the way. There we saw where the MP's do all their debates and saw photos of the mace. After that it we went to the Wahine disaster museum where a lady named Kathrine came and talked to us about what happened that day that the Wahine crashed into Barrett Reef and then capsized in the Port of Wellington.
Wednesday was really fun as first we went to Capital E ONTV where we did a show called once upon a crime and filmed it twice and the first one went onto YouTube and both are on the Capital E website which anyone can view. In the Media lab next door to ONTV was where we made a virtual reality world. First we made the landscape of the world where we had smooth, up and down, and also paint to height. Next we found textures (paints) that we liked and painted our world the way we wanted it with as many colors and textures as we wanted. After that we had to place our camera in our world so that our viewer could have the best experience possible. Then we got to do the fun part which is putting props in to the world around the camera to make it look more lively and positioning the sun. After that we all walked over to Te Papa Bug Lab also done by Weta Workshop and had a bug debate and a look around the exhibition which was really cool. In the bug debate we thought and talked about if we should wipe-out Mosquitoes. At fist I voted yes we should wipe-out all Mosquitoes, but when we got to the final vote I changed to no because Mosquitoes are pollinators like bees. In the exhibit there were four domes in which each dome had a different animal. In the first dome was a Orchid Mantis which is a lot like Praying Mantis, but instead it looks like a flower. The second dome was Dragonfly's, the third was a Jewel wasp and in the last was a type of bee. We were lucky after that as we got to go to the H2O Extreme water park where there were hydro-slides, lazy river, and wave pools.
Thursday we went to the Zoo and had a awesome time looking around and seeing all the amazing animals that where there. We also meet Jess one of the Zoo keepers there at Wellington zoo. We had a learning session with her and learnt about the things that help keep animal alive in the wild. After that we also got to see her give the monkeys some walnuts and watch them crack them open. Nearly everyone went and got something from the shop there and I got a stuffed cheetah. After that we went and did snorkeling with a lady named Sarah. Although the water was cold it was really fun to see all the amazing fish and aneamies that where there in Island bay. We saw lots of aneamies and little fish and we even saw a big Blue Moki.
Camp was really fun and exciting for me and everyone that went on it. I would like to say a big thank you to Gale who drove our bus for us and also acted as one of the parent helpers, all the parents that went on camp as all of you did a really good job with cooking and looking after all us kids. Finally I want to thank our teacher Mrs. Crowe for organizing the entire camp and also putting up with all of us.

Week 6 and 7

In week six we have been learning about the Holocaust/World War Two. I learnt the the first place that Hitler and his Nazis attacked was Austria in Germany then a place very near Germany (I can't remember the name) then Poland. The war started because a treaty was broken that Germany was not allowed to invade other countries like Poland, but they where still part of the country who's name I can't remember. Two days after the Poland invasion Great Britain declared war on Germany. After that, other countries joined the fight. The war went on for six years then finally Germany surrendered. Week seven we finished sewing tech and now we are on to science on Tuesday. In Robotics we finally managed to get the Speros going and we learnt how to program them to go in a square.  

Week 5

This week has been lots of fun as there was swimming sports on Friday that took place for the entire day.
There was both champion and non-champion events. The champion events where when we did swimming heats a couple of weeks ago they where the six fastest swimmers in the entire school. The non-champion events is for the people who did not get into the champion events. these events where: 25m freestyle, 25m breath-stroke, half a length doggy paddle, half a length flutter board and half a length walking race in which I came second. Most of the day I came 4th or 5th. That day we also had our first ever swimming sports bomb comp in which there where two people for year seven girls, year seven boys, year eight girls, and year eight boys. My house Puniu won the bomb comp and came third that day in points.
In tec this week i also finished my sweatshirt on Tuesday and cut out my slippers, but sadly there was no tec on Friday so I didn't start sewing them.

Week 4 Term1

This week we was tests week, so we had to do basically all the required tests and we still have a few more to do. This week we also started maths and we learnt, or revised on place value, rounding, significant figers (s.f.), total value, simplify/expand, and estimation. In tech we have nearly finished our sweatshirts and in the process we have learnt and applied the skills we have learnt like sewing a 1.5cm sem, hemming, and using applique if a design is being put on.

Week 3

This is the third week into term one and there is lots of things going on both in and out of class.
In class we have done only one test so far and that's asttle writing. We have also done a maths test that we do for each subject in maths. Other than that there has been no other tests.

In tech arts we have been doing sewing. On Tuesday we learnt how to do a 1.5cm sem with a zigzag outside, an applique (putting a design onto fabric) with zigzag stitch, and how to do a hem. Then on Friday we cut out our material for the sweatshirts we are making. In doing this we were taught how to effectively mark and cut out with using the lest materials possible. We also learnt to line the straight of grain arrow with the edge of the fabric.

Wednesday was swimming heats and I participated in freestyle 50 meters and 25 meters, breath-stroke 50 meters and 25 meters, and backstroke 25 meters.

On Thursday we had head student announcements and as I had applied unfortunately I was disappointed as I did not get the role.

Week 1 and 2 Term 1 2017

Hello and welcome back to my blog for 2017. This year is my last year at intermediate as this year I am a year eight. These past two weeks that I have spent here at T.A.I. have been manly setting up things and learning how the school works again. Somethings have changed from last year including... canteen prices and times, going into year eight, and also applying for important leadership roles within the school. Going into year eight has been a big shock and at the same time not at all. I have had to lead by example more than ever now as we have new year sevens. This year I decided that I would apply for house captain and last year I applied to be head student for 2017. next week (week three) at school singing we will finally find out who the head students will be and then shortly soon after the house captains will be announced. I can't wait to see what the year holds.