Creek Tranquility

 For a whole week now everybody in Miss Morrow - Rankin's writing group have been focusing on learning personification. Including this piece unless you were away we should have written four stories with personification in each paragraph. We also needed to add four other language features, eg: similes, metaphors, nouns, dialogue and onomatopoeia.

For me the most difficult or challenging part on this activity was choosing what I was going to write about. We had to write about our favorite place to be. I ended up choosing the creek we have on our property because I remembered how peaceful and tranquil I felt when I was there. The creek on the title page doesn't look like the creek in my story but we saw something like that on the way to the creek / lake. 

I found it rather easy to describe how I felt and what the area looked like. The lake I was writing about is actually the end of a long creek that wound through the bush on our property. Other then that there is practically nothing in particular that I found easy, but nothing was extremely hard either. 

To improve I feel like I could have described the bush part quite a lot more. I feel like other then that I did pretty good. But if you have picked up on something I missed on how I could make my writing better please leave a comment below telling me how I could improve.

Brazilian Ju Jitsu Recount

The learning intention of this writing session was to write a recount about the best or worst day of our holiday. It has to be about one moment in time, using rich descriptive language to paints a picture in the reader's mind. I think I achieved that, don't you? I chose to write about my first Brazilian Ju Jitsu session in quite a while, and since we went to the library afterwards it was definitely the best day of my holidays. 

It was hard to figure out what I found challenging but here it is: I found it challenging to put in as many language features as I possibly could. I ended up only being able to put in one simile some dialogue. I also put in one example of hyperbole.

I found writing three paragraphs on my BJJ class to be the easiest part of this writing session. I also found it easy to use past tense. Our BJJ gym is near where the farmers market happens. Just go to said farmers market then head towards the back wall. That is where Te Kura Awhio is.

To improve my writing next time I will add more language features, for an example I could add in a metaphor, some onomatopoeia or maybe a piece of personification. How else do you think I could improve my writing skills?

Kayak Adventure

 Today in our writing lesson we were learning about creating a very descriptive recount about a moment in time. I finished my draft at home because my first session on this piece of writing was cut short because me and the rest of the house leaders had to go to the salvation army to give them our cans.

I found putting lots of description into very little words rather difficult but I think I did pretty well. I only wrote four paragraphs using 238 words. That might sound like a lot to you but some of the recounts I've written without restraining myself have used around 586 words.

Choosing a worthy moment in time to write about was the easiest part of this activity for me because the saturday before we started this writing piece Me and my family had gone to the river by the marine reserve to do some kayaking. So naturally I chose to write about that because I love kayaking.

I quite enjoyed remembering the moment in time I chose so I could spill my feelings onto the google doc, publish it then post it to my blog where it will be red by people like you!

Something I could improve on for the next time I do this would be to take a closer look at the example then follow its lead. For an example I could use more descriptive words to make the reader feel like they are really there watching me. What else do you think I could improve on?

Reading Webquest

For week six the task for Mrs Gomms reading group was to do a webquest about the olympics and the paralympics. A few of the tasks I did in the slide below include: The olympic and paralympic logos, the history of the flame the torch and the relay and the history of the olympic rings.

I found it rather difficult to get an even balance of facts and images. But in the end I remembered that the words are the most important part of any presentation, so I narrowed the amount of images down to two on slide two and one on slide four. The other hard thing was finding a Athlete from Canada that competed in diving.

The easy part of this webquest was following the instructions even though it was a bit confusing because Mrs Gomm called it a Paralympic webquest but the actual activity had nothing to do with the paralympics except the side about the paralympic and olympic logos.

If I ever do something like this again I reckon a good way to improve would be if I found something difficult and it was making me frustrated or confused I should either give it a break and come back later. Or another way would be to take a step back and look at it from a different angle.

Brain Box

 This science lesson my group did an activity using the brain box. The brain box contains lots of little electronic pieces. I was absent the day they did this activity but Naiya had written about it in her science book so I know basically what they had done. 

The first activity they chose to do was the smiley face light. According to Naiya they put it together using seven pieces, including a switch, four batteries and some smaller pieces. When they flicked the switch to the "on" position the smiley face would light up in blue and red.

With the blue and green light came a annoying beeping noise that wouldn't turn off until the batteries were unattached or the switch was flipped to the "off" area.      

Next time I would like to make something with the brain box that was a bit more creative and unusual eg something that used a lot of pieces and a lot of different variables.

100 Meter race

 Today we were publishing a piece of creative/imaginative recount writing. The writings topic was about the hundred meter olympic race. Mr Barclay was the teacher conducting this lesson, he created an example of the piece of writing we were meant to be making during the first lesson before lockdown. I had already published my writing to a slide so all I had to do was add some images and post it to my blog.

I found it rather challenging to do my mote because when I attempted to use the mote app it kept on making me do the sign in process again and again. Mr Barclay helped me solve this problem by letting me use his computer so I could do my recording properly.

The easy thing about this lesson was probably adding lots of emotion to my writing because to know what it would have really felt like I just had to imagine I was there so that is what I did. I think in reality it would be really hard to be an olympic competitor.

I enjoyed doing the whole thing because it was something different to what we normally do and what I'm used to. I also enjoyed trying to get my writing standards as high as possible, especially since Mr Barclay was writing a story too.

In future I think a way I could improve would be to end on a more excited note and to put more of the emotion from the story into my voice when I am reading it in the mote.

Spring Limerick

 For this learning at home activity we had to either write a recount about our bubble life, or you could do what I did, create a poem, an acrostic poem, a haiku poem or a limerick. I chose to do a limerick. No matter what poem you chose it had to be about spring. It took me a while to make my limerick but it turned out pretty good if I do say so myself.

The thing that was slightly easier than the rest was deciding the first line, I knew I was going to use it because that is what I wake up to every day. Because I have my own room and it is close to the top of my family's house. The other easy thing was understanding the rules behind the limerick. If you want to learn them click here.

The thing that challenged me most in this activity was making my limerick sound cool. In the video explaining limericks it doesn't say anything about the syllable structure. So I ended up adding too many syllables into my limerick. The syllable structure goes like this: The first, second and fifth line have eight or nine syllables and the third and fourth line have five or six.

To improve my limericks next time I will follow the syllable structure that I mentioned just now. It might be a little bit difficult but I would manage. 

Magnetic Car

 This science lesson we got to choose what type of experiment we had to do out of trying out some electronics, creating a lemon battery, making a battery powered car and the one my group did, the magnetic powered car. My group had me, Naiya, Liam and Lucas S. We had to do the hardest part out of the groups that had to do the magnetic car because we had to screw in all of the tiny, 3/4mm screws onto the bottom.

I observed that it was rather difficult once we got the car moving to make it go that far because the magnet we were using to push the car along kept on slipping to the side of the magnet that was attached to the car. The back wheels were also quite tight and reluctant to move.

Some advice for the next people to do this experiment is to make sure that the magnets are lined up perfectly behind each other so that they don't slip to the side of each other. I also think that it would have a better outcome if you made sure that the wheels weren't as tight as how we had them.

(It was a magnetic car not a battery one)

Cotton Ball Launcher

 During this science lesson we were learning about how different variables can change the thing you started out with originally. To test this we created a cotton ball launcher. To find out how to create one watch the video bellow. We put some tape down on the carpet then marked a line on the tape every thirty cm, we then lined up at the beginning of the tape and shot our launchers and saw how far we got along the tape. The highest I got was one hundred and twenty cm. The highest scored in the class was one hundred and fifty cm, which Carter and Ruby got.

I observed that a good way to make your cotton ball go further was to make the inside roll longer that the outside one. Another good thing to do was to put tape or a piece of paper across the part that you would put the cotton ball, that way the cotton didn't get stuck on the rough edges of the paper.

In future I think a good way to improve the result that I got would be to point the cotton ball launcher a bit higher instead of pointing it horizontally across the room. I think this would improve the experiment because the higher it gets the further it will have to fall and when something falls it doesn't fall straight down it sort of falls across. What other way do you think I could improve? 

Olympic Values Medals

This Blog post is about sharing my Olympic values medals that I designed. The three Olympic values are, excellence, respect and friendship. The medals were a create option for after we had finished our must do's. The other options for the creates were an animation that showed one of the values through sport or to make a poster about the three Olympic values. Once we had done one of these we could do a rap if we wished.

The main thing we were learning about in week one and two for inquiry was the Olympic values that I mentioned earlier in these stems. This Blog post is one of the two creates that I did. The gold medal represents excellence because if you are excellent you are the best you can be. The silver one shows respect because a good way to show that you respect someone is to shake hands with them after the match. Last but not least, my bronze medal is about friendship because you can show friendship by looking after and taking care of your friends.

During this activity I found easy to decide what I was going to put on each of my medals. For example, for excellence I chose an angle heart because if someone is referred to as an angle it means they are the best. That put together with a heart which often means kindness equals to the basic definition of excellence. 

Something that I found rather difficult to do during this time frame was to figure out how I was going to make the medal straps look like medal straps. First I did the coloured bit then went over it to make the gray triangle. If I didn't make the gray triangle the strap wouldn't have looked like an actual strap. 

In future I would like to improve my create by choosing a background that looks slightly more exciting. It would make it harder to improve the medal straps but I could work with it. What do you think I could have improved on with my medals? 

Egg Drop Experiment

We were learning about Inertia, part of Newton's first law of motion. This law basically means when an object is at rest it doesn't want to move and when the object is moving it does not want to stop. The equipment we used was: 1 cup, Water, A flat tray or plate, 1 egg and 1 cardboard toilet roll. 

What we did was fill the cup with water then place the plate on top, then balance the toilet roll on it's end on the plate. We then put the egg on the toilet roll length ways and tried to hit the plate out from under it so that the egg fell into the cup of water.   

The science behind this experiment was about, Newton's First Law, once the egg was moving, it didn't want to stop. The container of water interrupted the egg's fall, providing a safe place for the egg to stop moving so you could recover it unbroken. The gravity-pushed egg caused the water to splash out. 

I found it easy to hit the plate and toilet roll out from underneath the egg because all you had to do was give the the plate a short sharp tap and it shot out from under the egg. My partner Olivia gave both our eggs little cracks then later on I enlarged them, causing the yolk and egg whites to spill out. Nothing was really hard to do.

Next time I will not hesitate before I hit the plate because the times I did that the egg broke and created a rather large mess evolving a lot of water and some egg whites and yolks.  

M&M Stacking

We were learning about M&M stacking. The world record for M&M stacking is five, a British engineer got five and one of the Maori all blacks got five. The record for M&M stacking in the science elective is three. Vinny got three and Tyran got three. Before we did M&M stacking we stacked pebbles, the most I got there was five.

I found it easy to get two stacks of two but that was the most I got apart from one stack of three that lasted about two seconds. I figured out that the red and the orange M&Ms stuck well together with the Ms facing each other. 

It sounds like it would be easy to stack M&Ms but it is actually really hard. It is kind of like trying to stack sticky soccer balls. I could get two stacks of two but as soon as I tried to add one more to the stack it toppled over. 

Next time I will try to find the center of the M&Ms gravity so that it will balance better.

Flood Inquiry

We were learning about the three main floods that happened in New Zealand (The Tolaga bay, Kopuawhara and Southland floods). My personal favorite was the Tolaga bay one because it was the most recent one, I liked the the Kopuawhara one too though. This blog post is about the must do activity.

I found it hard to finish to my usual standard because like my create I was absent for the first day we did this. I soon caught up though by doing some of my work at home after school.  

I found it easy to answer the questions because of all the information that was put on this slide. The questions were the same as all the ones I've done before so I got them completed quickly. 

Next time I will try to put more detail into my answers so the reader is more highly entertained. This will be a goal that will be easy to complete. 

Create Emergency Kit

We were learning about the three main floods that happened in New Zealand (The Tolaga bay, Kopuawhara and Southland floods). My personal favorite was the Tolaga bay one because it was the most recent one. This blog post was the create activity, we had to make a emergency kit in case of a flood.

I found it hard to finish to my usual standard because I was absent for the first day we did this. I soon caught up though by doing some of my work at home after school. 

I found it easy to create my emergency kit because I had done something similar for reading. I used the same bag and radio but the others I used I polylined myself especially for this activity. 

Next time I will try and add more things to my emergency kit that you only need for floods. The thing I did this time had objects that could be used for all different types of natural disasters.

Coin Drop Experiment

 We were learning about Newton's first law of motion. Which is has to do with Inertia (laziness). If something is at rest it will stay at rest until some force causes it to move. The other part of The first law of motion is that if something is moving it will stay moving at the same speed in the same direction until something causes it to stop.

I observed that it was easier to make the coins fall into the glass gar if there were more coins on the piece of paper. I think this was because there was more weight so the coins were less likely to move when you flicked the paper. The angle of the way you flicked the paper was important too, if you flicked from the bottom the coins were more likely to fall off than if you flicked the side, lots of little flicks was a better tactic then one powerful flick.

Next time I wonder what would happen if we used two dollar coins instead of ten and twenty cent coins. I predict that we will have to use a thicker paper so that the coins don't slip through and fall into the glass without you flicking it.

Cold Air Balloon Observation Part Two

 We were learning about what would happen if we used more vinegar and more baking soda in the experiment. We used eight tbsp of baking soda and four cups of vinegar, the bottle we used was a milk one. The neck of bottle was to wide though so when the balloon filled up it split at the neck and liquid spewed everywhere.

What happened was the balloon was too small to fit over the larger bottle and kept ripping. On the second attempt it help with a small spilt. The reaction was so powerful it began to fill the balloon with liquid. This made the balloon tip, the reaction continued spewing out of the top of the bottle with quite considerable force. The liquid that spilled onto the concrete felt cold to the touch. This was the endothermic reaction. 

I observed that if we had a taller, skinnier bottle and a bigger, tougher balloon then the experiment might work a bit better and we could find out what would actually happen if we used all the ingredients that we did.  

Next time I wonder what would happen if we used a long, skinny balloon as well as a long skinny bottle. I predict that if we use a long skinny balloon it might fill up quicker and burst sooner.

Cold Air Balloon Observation Part One

We were learning about what an endothermic reaction is. We created one by making a cold air balloon, you can make this by using a balloon, a bottle, vinegar, a measuring cup and a tablespoon. This is how you create it: Use the funnel and add a tablespoon or two of baking soda into the balloon. Wipe any baking soda from the funnel and place it into the bottle. Pour about a half a cup of vinegar into the bottle. Fit the balloon over the opening of the bottle making sure no baking soda falls inside. Now lift the balloon and let the baking soda fall and mix with the vinegar. Observe as you Cold Air Balloon inflates then feel the bottom of the bottle, it will be cold.

What happened? When vinegar and baking soda mix, an endothermic reaction occurs. This produces carbon dioxide which inflates the balloon. The endothermic chemical reaction will also lower the temperature in the area surrounding the vinegar and baking soda so significantly that you will be able to easily notice the change in temperature.

I observed that when the baking soda and the vinegar mixed together it created carbon dioxide bubbles that raised the air pressure causing the balloon to inflate. Lowering the temperature.

Next time I will try and make the balloon explode, because this time the balloon only inflated and didn't actually blow up. I think I could make this happen by adding more baking soda and more vinegar.  

Balloon Madness Observations

We were learning about Newton's Laws of Motion, we focussing on the third law - 'for every action there is an equal or opposite reaction.' We tested this law by creating a balloon rocket. To create the rocket we taped a balloon to a straw then treading a long bit of string though the straw.  

What happened? When we release the balloon, the pressurized air in the balloon pushes against the air around the balloon sending it in the opposite direction down the string.

I found it easy to to understand what was happening and to find lots of different ways to change the experiment up a bit. One time I got the members of my science group to hold it high at one end and low at the other, I also got them to shake the string while the balloon was traveling along.   

I found it challenging to do nothing as this project was quite easy, the only thing that was tricky was getting this blog post done before the deadline, because I had lots of other things to do so it just slipped out of my mind. But that's not really related to the actual observation. 

Next time I will try tapping into some aerodynamics, to make the balloon move faster or on more of an angle. We did part one of another observation before this one, but as we did only the first part I will not talk about it on this blog post. 

Reading Survival Kit Poster

We were learning about Tsunamis in our reading this week, using our multi-model reading slides me and my reading group, Waikanae have over three online books and one National Geographic video. This week our main text was called the Hungry Wave.    

 

I found it easy to choose what would go in my survival kit, such as water, canned food, a radio and a first aid kit. Basically all the essentials, The other thing I found easy was to polyline all the things in my poster because all the things were pretty basic, or I just had to duplicate it until there was enough.

I found it challenging to use just the right amount of words so it was not a whole descriptive story, but not so little that it was only a few words and didn't tell you anything at all. I ended up with quite a few thought bubbles but in each one there was around about the right amount of words.

Next time I will try to add more detail to my bag so it looks like it could hold more and is even more impressive compared to how it is now. Another thing I could work on is having more pockets showing on the bag so all of the necessities that I polylined aren't all sticking out the top.   

Persuasive Writing Publishing

We were learning about creating pieces of persuasive writing. Our topic was is it important to be prepared for a natural disaster. I believe that there is absolutely no point in being prepared for a natural disaster because one could happen at any time, no matter what plan you had.  

I found it easy to add emotive language and create a conclusion that left the reader's mind whirling and confused, strung between their original opinion and mine. If you don't believe me take a peek at my writing. The other thing I found easy was to create a title that hooked the reader in (see my second slide).    

I found it challenging to find evidence to support my opinion because most of the websites that I found were all about how to be prepared for a natural disaster, not why there is no point in being prepared! I ended up searching the web, and found some pretty good results, including one from Wikipedia. 

Next time I will treat my writing like it is a piece of writing, not like it is an inquiry. A lot of my writing sounded like it was part of the inquiry we were doing in the afternoon, so I ended up deleting quite a bit. I now have a paragraph that is barely three lines long!  

Milk Explosion Observation

We were learning about molecules - fatty acids, soap & minerals. The experiment that went along with this subject was to pour milk into a bowl then a few drops of different colored food coloring. We then dipped a cotton bud into some soap, completely saturating it. Once we had done that we dipped the cotton but into the pool of milk to see the reaction, which was that the food coloring retreated from the soap.   

I found it hard to do nothing really but I found it slightly difficult to get all the ingredients in the right place so the reaction was as impressive as it could be. I ended up getting the food coloring almost anywhere but the middle which was where I was aiming for! 

I found it easy to understand the reaction because I had done this last year for my surface tension experiment. The soapy cotton bud  broke the surface tension, causing the food coloring to recede rapidly.   

I really enjoyed watching the reaction between the soapy chemicals and the fatty acids and minerals. The color was mesmerizing, it melded at the end creating a sort of bluey green. 

Next time I will include my buddy group a bit more, ask them some questions and request their opinion. After all three minds are better than one! I can't do everything myself can I?

Earthquake Animation

I was learning about the three main earthquakes in New Zealand. (Napier Earthquake - 1931, Christchurch Earthquake - 2011 and the Kaikoura Earthquake - 2016.) we had to file some facts on these earthquakes then create a timeline in our inquiry books about NZ's shallow earthquakes. After we had finished a that we got to do a create, I chose to do a animation over two types of posters, a comic strip and a rap.

I found it easy to choose what the moral of my animation would be, it just popped into my head as I was finishing my last slide. To see what the moral was view my animation below. The other thing I found easy was to finish my animation before the deadline. I finished it so quickly that I still had enough time to create a rap afterwards. 

I really enjoyed using all sorts of different media to create my animation, eg shapes, polyline and backgrounds. I also enjoyed putting something funny in at the beginning, to see what it is take a peek at my said animation. 

Next time I will maybe hint my moral sooner on. Or I will put a bit more effort into making the characters in my animation have appropriate facial expressions for that moment. The only other thing I could improve on is having more people in my animation. 

Lava Lamp Observations

In our second science lesson we were learning about density and polarity. We created an example lava lamp using the ingredients noted below, the main ones was water and oil. We had to discover which one was denser. 

We figured out that the water was denser because it stayed at the bottom of the lava lamp. Adding the aspirin caused the said pill to fizz and dissolve creating carbon dioxide (Co2) bubbles. The bubbles floated between the oil and the water letting off carbon dioxide whenever it got to the surface.

The ingredients we used to create the lava lamp was Oil, Water, Food coloring and aspirin tablets. At the end it look really interesting and almost hypnotic.

I enjoyed doing the experiment in my buddy group after the example by Mrs Bava and the other groups. In my group was Lucas S, Liam J and Me. I am the only girl in my group, not that it really matters.

         

Bath Bomb Observations

Our first science elective lesson was based on acids and acalines, we had to observe the chemical reactions between the citric acid and baking soda. We each created a bath bomb for mothers day, using the ingredients listed below we mixed them together then left them to set overnight.  

This is what we observed: When a bath bomb comes in contact with water, the baking soda and citric acid react to make carbon dioxide bubbles. This is an acid–base reaction, where baking soda (also called sodium bicarbonate) is a weak base and citric acid is a weak acid.    

This is the bath bomb recipe you will need: (dry) - 1 cup of baking soda 1/2 cup of citric acid 1/2 cup of epsom salt (wet) - 1 tsp of water 1 tsp of essential oil 3 tsp of olive oil / coconut oil / Almond oil 2-3 drops of food coloring Measure out and whisk together your dry ingredients in a large bowl. Next, in a small cup, mix together the wet ingredients. This is also where you’ll add the essential oils. The next step is very important. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. You’ll want to do this very slowly, adding little drops at a time while mixing. The citric acid is what causes the bath bombs to fizz when it comes into contact with water. Adding the wet ingredients slowly minimizes this affect. Then, firmly press the mixture into the mould. Let the bath bombs dry for at least 24 hours.

I enjoyed observing the chemical reaction between the different ingredients, (the acid and the alcaline) I also enjoyed mixing the ingredients together, it felt not quite sticky and not quite dry. It was a bit like kinetic sand if you've ever felt it. 

PB4L Logo All About Me

I was learning about creating a logo all about me. The other main thing we were learning about was practicing using mote. Mote is a way to record yourself then insert it to whatever you are using. In this case it was a slide.

I found it hard make the images go by fast enough. I started off on 1 second but that was too slow so I made it 0.5 seconds but it was still too slow. Making it 0.1 seconds made it much faster, so fast that I changed it again to 0.2 seconds. Once again it was too slow so I settled with 0.1 seconds after all.  

I found it easy to decide what I would put into my logo because I love hockey so that had to go in there, reading is my passion so obviously I had to have more than one book in there. I chose the star shape because I am always striving to be a star.    

Next time I will try not to make any mistakes when I am recording my mote, and if I do make any then I try again until I do a good one. Another thing I could improve on is using interesting words like I do everyday to connect with the listener. For example I could crack a joke or spout a language feature all to make my post that little bit more impressive.  

Camp Kaitawa Reflection Slide

We were learning about reflecting on Camp Kaitawa. We had to create one rich, informative paragraph on every slide. I finished doing this within about twenty minutes max. After we had to create an animation about our favorite part of camp. I chose kayaking and tipping people out of their kayaks. The people that I flipped was Olivia and Tiana H.

I found it hard to make my animation quality because the paddle I made kept on slipping around until I  ended up just deleting it  then starting again and dealing with whatever problems came my way. The other thing I found challenging was to not go off the page writing about my camp highlights, in the end I stuck with my two favorite things.

I found it easy to choose a part of camp to use as my animation because riding on the kayaks was by far my favorite part. If I had not done one about kayaking my animation would have been about swimming across the lake with Lucas N or about playing tanks with everyone else.

I really enjoyed recapping all the fun stuff that happened at camp because it made me remember all the hilarious things that happened. Like when we were playing tanks Rhodes and Tuturi kept on throwing the mini bean bags (bombs) at Mr Barclay, Olivia (my partner for tanks) and me.  

Next time I will make my animation more detailed and exiting, because at the moment all my animation is is a silhouette on a kayak that is meant to be me, paddling around until I bump into two more silhouetted girls that I knock off their kayak. So at the end of the day I really could have made it a lot more detailed.  

Coming Back From Camp

 We were learning about writing about a moment in time. I chose to write about coming back from camp Kaitawa because it happened recently and it was also quite emotional. The learning intention for this lesson was to include powerful adjectives, verbs, adverbs and emotive words about a moment in time.  

I found it easy to make my writing really emotive. I also found it easy to publish my draft onto a slide because all I had to do was copy and paste my draft onto a slide, give it fancy font and change the background.   

I found it challenging to not overwrite because there were so many cool things that happened at camp, I was surprised that I only had 294 words! Although that is quite a bit. The only other thing that I found difficult was choosing what part of camp to write about. I chose what I did because it was the most recent memory I had.

Next time I plan to write about a time that has a bit more of a positive vibe, such as kayaking, like I said in the writing below I found out that I love kayaking! So that would be a very positive piece of writing, especially if I chose to write about jumping off! That was a fun time.

Horouta Animation

 We were learning about the voyager Paoa and his journey to Aotearoa on the waka Horata. The kumara was their prized cargo that they were transporting to a person on the North Island. Many other people came with him, they included, Kiwa, the navigator, who came with his son Kahutuanui. Paoas sister Hinehakirirangi also came along as protector and carer of the kumara.        

I found it easy to decide on part of the story that I wanted to create an animation about. The part that I chose was when they were traveling across the sea to New Zealand from Hawiki. That part and the one with Kanawa and how she brought fern roots with her even though it was strictly forbidden.

I found it challenging to find a character from google search that could be used as Hinehakirirangi. In the end I settled with a silhouette of a lady. I was going to create a piupiu for her but it just took too much time. But I think it looks alright all the same.   

Next time I will add more detail into my waka and try to use a larger variety of tools, not just polyline and google search. I also think that my background could have a lot more detail, so it is not just a gradient one. There is only one more thing that I could change and that is using less images from google.

PB4L Logo

I was learning about how to use and insert mote to explain my PB4L logo. We had to Independently create a logo that represents PB4L at Awapuni School, using tools such as; polyline, shapes, colours, explore and Word Art. The other aims for this session was to add audio to your mahi using the 'mote' extension, to explain what your logo represents. Afterwards we had to post onto our blogs using quality stems.

I found it hard to decide on a logo that represented me showing positive behavior for learning at school, I started off with a heart that had someone high fiving another person, but I hadn't even got to inserting the high five when I decided that I wanted something else. That happened over three times before I was satisfied with the end product.  

I found it easy to set up Mote and pin it to my computer. All I had to do was click some buttons that said, Next, Allow and one that said No. There was a part where it asked me whether I was eighteen, that was where I clicked the No option.

I really enjoyed creating and talking about my logo. Although my voice came out much more high pitched than it really is. My logo is all about being positive and thoughtful, like I said in the Mote added in the slide below. I also enjoyed the thrill of posting it to my blog and acknowledging that it was finally done. 

Next time I will think more about what I want my logo to be about and look like before I actually set up my chromebook and opened a slide. If I did this than it would save a lot of time and I would be able to finish and put the end product on my blog.

Sunflower Poem

We were learning about writing a environmental poem about sunflowers. Our poem should personalise the sunflower, talk about it like it has human traits and powers. In my poem the sunflower I'm writing about ages with each line. At the beginning it is happy and young, then at the end it sad and old.

I found it easy to make my published writing look spectacular by adding pictures and word art. Filling in the text box black against the gold, gradient background also made the slide look very grand if I do say so myself.

I found it challenging to find a decent start and then continue decently. This was so hard that I ended up spending a whole lesson devoted to changing and fixing up my draft copy. At the beginning I wanted all of the words at the end of each sentence to rhyme so that made things even trickier! Near the end I dumped the idea of rhymes and just went with whatever I came up with in the last ten minutes of the lesson.

Next time if I notice that it is getting really hard and I have tried persevering I should try a different method or style so I can make that change faster.

Awapuni School Triathlon

 We were learning about writing a informative recount about our school triathlon. We had to use descriptive, rich words to paint a picture in the reader's mind. Mrs Bavas exact words that she had written on the Team Toroa were: I want you to  include powerful adjectives, verbs, adverbs and emotive words about the School Triathlon at Churchill Park. The success criteria for this lesson was to include a range of descriptive words, adverbs, verbs and use the correct tense.  

I found it easy to use heaps of emotive words in my writing as there was a lot of emotion included in the school triathlon for me. Another thing that was easy for me was publishing, all I had to do was copy and paste my draft writing into a google slide, make it look interesting then post it to my blog. 

I found it challenging to to finish my writing in the time we were given, so I only ended up publishing and blogging about my writing in this finishing up session. The other challenging thing was to find some amazing rich words to replace the boring ones. I did it eventually but it was still hard.    

Next time I will do some of the writing at home since I have my own chromebook. If I do that then I might be able to finish the writing and post it to my blog sooner.

Follow Up Activities

 I was learning about solar energy, the sun and how it is kinder to the environment and to your electricity bill if you use solar panels as a source of energy. The other thing we learnt about was the world solar challenge, it takes place every three years in Australia. 

I found it hard to answer all of the follow up questions to a standard that I approve of and am willing to post to my blog. I kept on changing the answers to something that I thought was better. Then changing it back to what it was originally only to change it yet again. 

I found it easy to read all of the books in just one reading session! It was helpful to have read them all so I could answer all of the questions with ease. All the same I read them five times each. But the video I only watched once or twice.

I really enjoyed learning all about solar energy and the sun. The other thing I really enjoyed was experimenting with the solar car, seeing how far it went, finding out which surface it worked best on and just having fun fiddling with the car in general.   

Next time I will make sure that we have our whole group before we started experimenting. Mrs Bava (my reading teacher) is going to buy some chalk so we could chart how far the car goes exactly. I love reading, it is my favorite subject. 

Optical Illusions Google Drawing

 Today I finished my google drawing about Optical Illusions, the one I chose was a pattern made of rectangles/squares that looked like it had been badly folded in half. To make it look even more vivid I polylined over the pattern.

  I found it difficult to get in time to do my SLJ work because my brothers kept on asking me to put on Disney plus for them so they could have a wider selection of movies to watch rather than watching the same DVDS over and over again.

Once I had got the hang of the first few shapes and colors I created a strategy by doing just the white ones then doing just the black ones. This strategy made it much easier to do the polylining and I was done much quicker because of it.

If I was to do this activity again the thing I'd do differently would be to choose either a more exciting pattern or design my own one.