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!