My Christmas Narrative!

 Hello! For last week's writing we were writing about a Christmas Narrative.

We all based our stories off a short video we watched about a banana named Aldi. He was portrayed as a character who hated Christmas, and one night the spirit of Christmas came to visit him, trying to get Aldi to see Christmas in his eyes. 

So for our task we wrote our plan in our books as usual, then wrote down our stories, used our plan and made sure to include describing the setting for the introduction and describing the character. After that we published our stories into a Christmas-themed slide, heres mine!

Have You Made A Rangoli Design Before?

Hello! For reading, we have been learning about Diwali. Diwali is a festival of lights and is celebrated by Hindus, Jains, Sikhs, and some Buddhists. This event lasts for about 5 days.

For our learning task we read some books on Epic and watched a short video explaining what Diwali is. For our create task, using paper, chalk or drawing online, we created our own Rangoli pattern.

To give you more context on what Rangoli patterns are, a rangoli pattern is an art form from India, there are different kinds of patterns, this type of art is usually made on the floor or on a table. To make the design you use materials like powdered limestone, red ochre, dry rice flower, coloured sand, quartz powder, flower petals, and coloured rocks. But instead of those, we used chalk, although some drew on paper/online.

I thought this activity was lovely! Learning about other cultures was a great experience for me. Have you done a Rangoli pattern before?

My 2021 Achievements!

For Cybersmart, we were learning how to create a video on Canva about 3 things we achieved this year using the video tool!

To make the video. Firstly, I recorded a video of myself for the introduction, then added it to my video. Next I decorated the video with images, and different backgrounds and fonts, but I made sure I only had a minimum amount of fonts I used in the video so everything wouldn't seem complicated or hard to read.

This activity was very fun! It was very easy to make the video with Canva and I didn't struggle with anything at all!

What do you think about my video? Have you used canva before? Let me know in the comments!

Have you made a Self Portrait before?

For art, we have been learning how to blend colours to make skin tones or hair colours, we applied this skill on our portrait art! This art was created in laminating paper. 

So, first off to make the portrait, each of us were taken a photo to use for the tracing of the face and clothing, next I traced the picture using a Sharpie or a vivid. After that, using the colours red, yellow, black, and white I mixed the colours altogether and made a colour altleast similar to my skin colour. 

I really love this activity, mixing colours and learning new ways to create different shades of colours was really fun! 

My Service Poster!

For our R.E Term Value, our focus is on Service and how we can serve others. Our class watched a video about service and its meanings, after we wrote down our ideas together in groups of three in a shared class Google Jamboard about what service sounds like, feels like, and looks like. 

After we made our own posters on Canva about what Service is. I am very proud of my poster, surprisingly this is my first time using Canva! If you don't know what Canva is, it is a design platform to make presentations, documents, other contents, and posters like this one. Here's my poster!

Have you made a Rongoa sign before?

Hello! For reading we have created our own design of our Rongoa signs, the term "Rongoa" refers to the traditional Maori medicinal practices here in New Zealand, using herbal ingredients for massage or healing. These methods were passed down from generation to generation orally. 

We had our choice of which Maori medicinal plant that was planted in our school that we were going to make a sign for. First off we created our design on our chromebooks on Google Slides or on paper which will be under this paragraph, after we have shown the teacher out design and it has been approved, each of the students that have finished their plan get a blank label where they will paint it with the colour they have chosen for the design, then write/sketch the design they made on the sign. To create a successful sign you must have the name of the rongoa plant, and its properties/explanation on how to use it. For my plan I decided I would have a simple sketch with some manuka flowers, I did try my best to recreate the appearance of the flower on Google Slides which I struggled a bit with. Here's my design! 

I enjoyed designing my label, experimenting with which colours or drawings would look best for my sign and how I would layout the titles and words on the actual label. Overall in my opinion this activity was very fun! I can't wait to see the finished product! 

My Royal Spoonbill Art!

A few weeks ago we started our calendar art. For our class' calendar art we did NZ native birds! If you don't know what calendar art is, it is when students make artwork that can be ordered into products such as a postcard, calendar, mouse pads, diaries, or sketchbooks! I chose a Royal Spoonbill for my art! 

To make the art, each of the students in our class printed a picture of the bird that we were going to use for our art, using a pencil, I lightly sketched the bird with the picture taped behind the paper I was going to use for our drawing. After that, I drew small geometric shapes inside the bird. Next I dyed the background, using two colours making a gradient with it. I drew a circle around the bird's head for the highlights. Next up, I added crepe paper around the outside of the circle! Here's my art: 

I enjoyed sketching and shading in the bird and colouring the background for my art! I used some colours in the original picture I used for the sketch in my bird, as you can see, I added blue, light blue, and yellow. 

What do you think about my art? Have you done something similar to this art before? Comment your answers!

Is Mr. Wolf Guilty?

Hello! 2 weeks ago for Reading we have been learning about how to talk about perspectives! We have been learning about this for our speeches which we did last week and our writing piece that we made from the other week!

So for our writing/reading activity we read a couple of Little Red Riding Hood books on Epic! We then wrote three reasons as to why Mr. Wolf, who is one of the characters in the story, guilty or not. Here's my slides! 

This activity was very fun! I loved designing my background and customizing my slides to make it nice!

How To Draw 3D Shapes!

Hello! For Maths we have been learning about the names of the geometry shapes and what they look like!

For our task we drew different shapes on paper, I learnt how to draw most of the shapes from a youtube tutorial provided in our class learning hub. To make it 3D I made sure to properly shade the colours to make it look 3-Dimensional! Here's a photo of my art.

This activity was very fun! I did have trouble shading my shapes since I pressed too hard, though I finally figured out how to make my shading look even better!

Have you heard of The Beatitudes?

Hello, this week is Social Justice Week! So for R.E, we are learning about Social Justice Week and to explain the beatitudes and what each of it means.

So, for our task we watched a couple of videos to learn more about what beatitudes are, we had different choices of beatitudes to explore and learn about, then after creating a simple poster explaining what that beatitude means using photos and shapes. Here's my poster! 

What do you know about the beatitudes? Let me know in the comments! 

Why Games Aren't Bad For You!

Every year, in term 3 we have speeches where we write our topic we have to discuss, for today my topic was about 'Why games aren't bad for you at all!'

We presented our speeches in class last week, and yesterday students from the senior syndicate were selected to compete in the semi-finals. Unfortunately I wasn't one of them, although I was very impressed by the other students! Here's my speech. 

Why games aren't bad for you

I know that most of you have most definitely played video games before! Have you ever heard from other people of how video games or other types of games promote violence, and how it can increase aggression in thoughts, behavior, and feelings? If you are me, then you would agree with the questions above. Today, in my speech, I will explain why I strongly believe that games aren't bad for you. Firstly, video games can actually help you! Some games can actually improve hand-eye coordination, problem-solving skills, and the ability to process information. Another example of the kinds of games that can help you are arcade games, it improves reflexes and muscle memory, playing arcade games reduces stress and depression. How is this possible? Studies have found that people who play games that suffer from mental health issues actually have shown improvement in their condition after venting their frustrations through gaming! Some games actually improve people's moods and promote relaxation! Secondly, some games can actually benefit educational learning! An example is Scratch, it is a platform that can help with programming your own interactive stories, coding games, and more. You can also share your creations online for others to see! Some types of online games that are also helpful with learning are Prodigy. Prodigy is a game which teaches you mathematics, and helps you solve or answer different maths questions. This combines maths from grades 1-8 into a fantasy style game! This game is a gamification type, which adds game mechanics to something which is non-game!

Lastly, games don't affect a child's performance in school or a child's intelligence! The pure fact that people say how games rot your brain is outrageous! A study by McDermott et al proved that people who play video games are excellent at maintaining many memories and higher accuracy in visual spatial working memory, this is a kind of a visual representation. This allows people to visualize something and keep it in their "mind's eye". Another study says children who play games tend to do better at science, maths, and reading tests. 

For these reasons, parents need to reconsider thinking that games aren't bad at all. Thank you for listening to my speech.

Saint Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church

Hello! For R.E, we were finding facts and information about our House saint. In our school, students are put in a house, the houses are St. Joseph Red House, St. Francis Green House, St. Mary Mackillop Blue House, and St. Vincent Yellow House, my house color is Red house.

For our task we drew our house saint using Google Drawings, added facts and information from our research about the saint. Here's my Google Drawing!

I found this activity very fun! I did find using shapes and lines very difficult though. What do you know about Saint Joseph? Let me know in the comments!

Cats VS Dogs!

Hello! For yesterday's Reading we were learning how to apply prior knowledge and opinions! Our topic was about debating which pet is better, cats or dogs!

We researched and read a few videos and a text, next adding our knowledge to a chart, with our opinions and thoughts on which pet is better, some chose dogs and some chose cats. I decided to choose cats! I put a lot of research on my chart to hopefully convince people that cats are a better pet!

It was a very tough decision on which side to pick! Which pet would you pick? Comment your answers! I would love to see them!

Saint Lorenzo of Manila

Hello! On Monday for R.E we were researching the life of a saint. The saint I decided to research was Saint Lorenzo Ruiz.

For what I had to do for this task I created a set of slides and wrote my answers to different questions asking about the life of the saint I picked to research about. Here's my slides:

This activity was amazing! It taught me a lot about things I didn't know! Do you know how people like these saints become one? Let me know in the comments!

Facts You Probably Didn't Know About the Paralympics!

Hello! Today for Inquiry, we were learning about the Paralympics! Since the Paralympic Games are currently held! We were given a video to watch, then we had to write 5 facts about the Paralympics, rather in the template we were given or any other way we came up with to present our facts. Here's mine!

I learnt tons from this activity! I love researching and learning more about this special event!

What do you know about cicadas?

Hello! Yesterday for Reading we were learning how to apply knowledge! We learnt about this so we can apply the knowledge we learnt to other challenges outside of school.

For what we are doing for this task, we were given different choices of which animal/insect to research about. There were different reading levels for this task. Level 2B, Level 2, and Level 3. For level 2B, the topic was about birds, for level 2, the topic was orcas, and for level 3, which is the very last one, the topic was cicadas. I challenged myself to do the highest level which was level 3. Here's my slides!

I loved researching information about cicadas! I learnt tons about these insects throughout researching facts I could add into my slides. I'm looking forward to activities similar to this task in the future! What other information do you know about cicadas? Let me know in the comments!

What is Compost?

What is it?

Have you used compost for anything before? Compost is used as fertilizer for plants, like fruit trees, flowers, trees, shrubs, and other plants. It replaces used/removed nutrients used during the growing season, and improves soil structure.

How is compost made?
The fertilizer is made out of decomposing plants and food waste, cow dung, and other animal waste, grass clippings, twigs, branches, and dead leaves. All of these are collected and put into a pile in your compost bin. Accumulate and add kitchen waste and yard waste. It will take a few months for the compost to decompose and be ready to use, it can take from 3 months to 2 years to fully rot.

The benefits of composting
The benefits of using compost is that it reduces the need for chemical fertilizers which may damage the plants it is used on. It prevents plant diseases and pests that can harm your plants. It recycles yard and kitchen waste, and reduces landfill waste. It provides other key nutrients for your plants like calcium and magnesium, and it improves the ability of soils to hold key nutrients.

Conclusion
In conclusion, compost is a better choice of fertilizer for plants instead of using chemical fertilizers, and it helps the environment. In my opinion more gardeners/people should start using more compost instead of chemical fertilizers to keep your plants/vegetation even more healthier and to help the environment!

Have you tried blowing up a balloon with yeast?

Hello! For yesterday's first lesson/task which was science, we were learning how to make a fizz inflator with vinegar and baking soda! Though we had different choices of what science experiments we wanted to do, there was a yeast experiment, making your own volcano, or exploding a lunch bag! I will put these experiments below the slides.

For the experiment I chose/did, I chose the yeast experiment. This yeast experiment consisted of different ingredients and adding it in with the yeast to blow up a balloon! If you would like to do this experiment, the rest of the instructions will be in the link as I mentioned earlier!

I took some pictures of my experiment, I was going to add a time-lapse video though it wouldn't upload so instead I got some photos, and created a slide!


This experiment was very fun! I was so excited when my experiment worked! Would you want to try this experiment? How did it go for you? Let me know in the comments! Links: Build a Fizz Inflator Blow Up a Balloon With Yeast The Exploding Lunch Bag Make Your Own Volcano

My R.E Word Art!

For our second lesson we are learning about R.E, which is about faith! Which is our value for this term! The meaning of "faith" is to believe in someone or have hope in them, for our lesson we learnt about a gospel about Jesus and how his 12 disciples had faith in him.
So for our task we made our own WordArt listing synonyms about faith and trust. This task is similar to the task we were given the other week with the Assumption of Mary WordArt, I loved making my WordArt! Here's mine!

I found it really fun to customise and design how I would like my WordArt to look like!

What Do You Know About Great White Sharks?

Hello! Yesterday for Reading we were learning how to apply knowledge, we are learning this so we can apply the knowledge we learnt to other challenges outside of school.

For our task we had an option of which animal to gather information and to write facts about, these had different reading levels, Level 2B, 2, 3, and 4 which is the highest level! I chose Level 4 that had the topic about "Great White Sharks". The slides had texts to read, and a video! There were 3 choices for creating part of our task! Write 5 or more facts about our topic, create a food chain animation that includes the animal in the topic we chose, or a poster on Google Drawings showing the different parts of a great white's body. I chose to do the facts on Google Slides! Here's my creation! 

Have you made a WordArt Before?

Hello! Last week for online class we had a few tasks and one of those was learning about Mary, the mother of Jesus ascending to heaven.

For our task we created a WordArt made up of words about Mary, in this site you could make the word art into any kinds of shape with the several choices, change the font, change the layout by turning the shape sideways, upside down, diagonally, and the style, changing the word colours, changing the transparency! Here's my WordArt!

I loved making my WordArt! I'm very proud of what I've created! Do you know how to use WordArt? What kinds of things have you made with it? Comment your answers! 

My Robot Design!

Hello! For Reading we have been learning how to infer what we read! We are learning this to make connections and draw conclusions about the text's meaning and purpose.

For our topic we have been learning about robots, A.I's and drones. So for our activity we are designing our own robot! We based our own designs on. Firstly, ask, what problem is in the world we would love to solve? Second, imagine, brainstorm ideas of what this robot can do to solve the problem. Lastly, design, which is planning and designing what this robot will look like and its features.

You could choose whether you want to do your design on paper or digital, which is on the slides I'm going to show you in this post!

I really enjoyed this activity, I loved designing my own bot and brainstorming some ideas to express my creativity! What do you know about robots? Do you own any robots at home? Let me know in the comments!

My Japanese Art!

Hello! For Art we created a unique kind of artwork! This was made by using pastels and blending the colours all together. Our artwork was inspired by the Japanese flag, pagodas, and cherry blossoms. This activity was based in Japan, where the Olympics 2020 was hosted!

To make this artwork we watched a video guiding us step by step on how to make this artwork. The colours of pastels you will need are red, yellow, orange, and brown for the sunset, black for the cherry blossoms and the pagoda, and a large sheet of paper (thick enough for the pastel). You have to leave a blank circle in the center which represents the sun, colour outside of the circle, first yellow, second orange, third red, and lastly brown. The rest of the tutorial will be in the youtube link at the end.

I  enjoyed doing this activity! It was really fun and I hope to be able to do something similar to this in the future! Have you done any Japanese-related art before? What was it? Let me know in the comments!
Link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqfo8gvKk_8

Information about Japan!

For reading we were learning how to find facts and information. Our topic was about Japan, relating to where the Olympics was hosted, Tokyo, Japan. We learnt about this to apply our knowledge into context.

For our task we chose 4-6 slides we wanted to write about. The topics I chose were where Japan is located in the world, celebrations and national holidays, food and delicacies, and sports. As always I decorated my slides to make them look wonderful! I applied my knowledge I read from the text we read into my slides as it said on our task. Here's my slides!

This activity was very fun! I loved reading and learning more about Japan! What do you know about Japan? Have you been there? Let me know in the comments!

What Do You Know About Bees?

 Hello! For reading, we have been learning how to summarise across multiple texts! We have been learning this to learn how to find out the main idea!

For our group's activity, we summarised the text we read on a template as I mentioned earlier. As you can see, instead of leaving my background and colours bland and dull, I made it bee-themed matching the topic of the book we read! I added a mix of different colours and hues and used a different font for my text, I made sure the font was easy to see and read.

The activity was great! I loved decorating my slides! What did you learn about bees in these slides? What other interesting facts do you know about bees? Let me know in the comments!

Do you know any facts about the Olympics?

Hello! For last week's reading we were learning about the Olympics, we read a couple of books on Epic about the Olympics and its history. I've learnt a lot from reading the books!

I added information I've read in my slides, added changes to my slides to make the words easier to read, I also researched facts using Kiddle! Here's my slides:

My learning went great! I've learnt much more information about the Olympics than I've known before!

Has your country hosted the Olympics? If you were in the Olympics, what sport would you be doing? Let me know in the comments!

How I created my Faith Value Poster!

For this term, our R.E value is Faith! So for R.E, we made our own Faith title page in our R.E books. I decided to go with a more simpler design.

My title was a typewriter font, I included 2 quotes relating to faith. A simple drawing of a cross, and different synonyms of the word "faith". 

Though this looks very easy and quick to make, I had struggles with writing in my title in a different style, it was unfortunate I didn't express much creativity to my title page, and my handwriting was a bit messy. Here's my poster!

 

 

The Mini Hydro-Rocket

My hypothesis will be that the rocket will create high water pressure and it'll launch up the sky, powered by the water in the rocket. As I estimated it'll fly up to 40-50 feet high.

Have you done this science experiment before?

Today our class launched a water rocket up in the sky! For our materials we have an aquapod which was the main tool, the appearance of the aquapod we had was a three-legged orange and black pod with a valve and a rubber seal. It also had a string which launches the bottle up. The rubber seal is designed to stop the water in the bottle from leaking out. We also had a single barrel foot pump for pumping in air pressure into the bottle to make the rocket fly higher. 

First you have to fill 1/3rds of the bottle with water, putting the aquapod upside down and placing the valve inside the bottle. Next you have to pump using the single barrel pump connected to the aquapod, to create air pressure inside the bottle. 

Now for the exciting part, make sure you stay about 3-5 metres away from the pod, pull the string, and the bottle will launch up in the sky! You'll see the water pressure makes the rocket launch up. 

Here's some photos for our experiment:

My Explanation on how Kimonos are made!

For Week 8-9 of Writing, we got to choose our own topic to write about for explanation! I chose to write about How to Make Kimonos! Though I was worried at first I would write misinformation and incorrect spelling, I still gave it a try. Here's my explanation about how to make kimonos!

How Kimonos Are Made?

Do you know how Kimonos are made? Do you know what it is? Kimonos are a traditional Japanese clothing, and in this writing I will explain how it is made. 

For starters, to explain what it is, the term "Kimono" (きもの) means "thing to wear", which has two parts, "Ki" (to wear on the shoulders) and "mono" (thing). The clothing is T-shaped, wrapped-front garment that has square sleeves and a rectangular body. It is worn with a sash called an obi and worn with accessories called zori sandals and tabi socks.

To make the kimono, you will need single rolls of fabric, it has to be 36cm wide and 11 metres long. This type of cloth is called a tanmono, the cloth is cut into 7 straight pieces which extends up front, over the shoulder, and down the back, you use two panels. 

To dye the kimono, the maker uses a technique dating back from the 8th century. There are a variety of "resist-dyeing" methods in Japan, like the Shibori. The process involves binding, stitching, folding the cloth and soaking it in the dye. It is bound with a thread before submerging it.

Lastly, for the embroidery, the embroiderer uses a number of different stitches. They also use a flat stitch called a hira-nui to make designs such as flowers and leaves. They use floss silk to give the embroidery a gorgeous shine.

Now I have explained how kimonos are finely stitched, dryed, and finally worn. My learning went well, I found it very educational to do this topic since I learnt a lot along the way of making this piece of writing! Have you worn a kimono yet? If you can, let me know in the comments!

My Poetry about My Eyes!

Hello! Last week our focus was on writing poetry about a part of our body. I decided to write about my eyes. I did have trouble making a concept for my poetry, though I did research words that rhyme with a specific word in my piece of writing so the task would be less difficult. As you can see, I made the background colour a gray tone so that the background would match with the picture on the right side.

My learning went well, I loved writing a poem and I learnt a lot from writing one. I'm very proud of myself since I've acquired a new skill which is writing poetry! Have you written a poem before? What was it about? If you can, let me know in the comments!

My Author's Purpose on Matariki!

Good Morning/Afternoon! For Week 8 of Reading, we were learning how to analyse the author's purpose, we were given 2 texts to read and each of those we were to summarise and analyse which type of text it was.

I made my author's purpose on Google slides and made my chart enlisting the type of text and my summarisation as I mentioned earlier. Here's my author's purpose!

My learning went well, I found the topics on the texts very interesting to read and as I read further into the text the more I learnt about the main topic of the book. Have you done an author's purpose yet? If yes, what was it about? Let me know in the comments! Sources:
Maori musical instruments: https://teara.govt.nz/en/maori-musical-instruments-taonga-puoro
Puawai Cairns - Te Papa detective: Puawai Cairns-SJ L3 Nov2016.pdf

My Maths Mini Golf Course!

Hello! For Maths today we created our own mini golf course on Google Drawings, we were learning how to measure the perimeter and area of a shape such as squares and rectangles. So for our task, we practiced by designing a golf course. 

To make it, we had a grid to fit the base in which is the field for the golf course. We added our obstacles and a line to guide you through the track. After we measured the perimeter of the course, and after is the area. In my opinion this was task was fun! I loved designing my own course, I got to express my creativity with this task. Here's my course! 

Video Source: https://youtu.be/rSVMrPu0__U

My Matariki Coding Animation!!

Today for Cybersmart, we created an animation based on Matariki, we were learning how to code using Scratch! Although I haven't finished the project, I am very proud of what I've done so far. 

To make the animation we chose which backdrops (backgrounds) and which sprites (characters) to use, luckily I know ways around Scratch so only most of the steps were complicating or difficult for me. There was also slides guiding us on how to code or move the characters around so that also helped me a lot for my project. 

I found the backdrops and characters hard with the project since the characters have seperate code blocks. Though Scratch was fun to use and I enjoyed this experience!

How I created my Author's Purpose!

Hello! This week our reading group was given 3 texts to read, after we were to analyse the author's purpose by identifying the stereotype of text and summarising what it was discussing. The text's main topic was about Matariki. If you didn't know, Matariki is the Māori term for the star cluster Pleiades. The rising of the cluster is a marking of the arrival of the new year. 

Moving on to our task, we wrote down our summarisation on Google Slides/Drawing, I chose to create mine on Google Slides, I designed and changed the theme colour. Here's mine!

My 2021 Home Learning Book Cover!

 Hello! This year students from Saint Marys have joined a competition. This competition consists of creating an art that resembles our school for our home learning book cover next year, one student will be nominated by the teachers and given a prize, though they haven't announced yet but I'm so excited to find out soon!

Last week we planned what we were going to create with Koka Kalo for Art, after sketching we started our art on paper, we could draw anything but it should only represent our school. Unfortunately my design was irrelevant though I joined and handed out my entry anyway. I was also learning how to shade at that time so the small lesson with the shading helped me be successful with my art! Heres my art! 

Steps To Create a Perfect Synthesis!

Hello! Last week was Samoan Language week, so for Reading our group read two online books with our teacher and watched two videos for our learning part, applied our learning in a synthesis we created a copy of on Google Drawings.

These synthesis blocks were divided into 3, our prior knowledge (knowledge we already know about the Samoan Culture), new information (information we learnt from the sources and texts), and lastly, synthesis which was our new understanding.

My learning went very well! I learnt new things about the culture and its traditions. I would love to learn more new things and apply this new knowledge in the future. How much knowledge do you know about the Samoan culture? Do you know any simple phrases or words? Let me know!

8 Resources to Help You be Successful in Making a 'Simple but Mesmerizing' Science Experiment!

Hello! Last week for Science we had Koka Kalo teaching us about immiscible and non-immiscible chemicals by conducting an experiment, we were sorted to go into groups created by Koka Kalo. The people I were paired up with were Irelyn and Charlotte J, each group was given a sheet of paper with a set of questions to fill in. The materials we were given will be listed in Slide 4 of the presentation.

In my opinion the reason why we were learning this was because we were learning more about science and how chemicals function and the chemical reactions it shows.

I think the science experiment was a great experience. I found the experiment exciting and fun! Though I found it hard to answer some of the questions on the slides, and we didn't explain the experiment by making a video.

What do you think of this experiment? Have you tried it with your class yet? If you have, was the experience fun for you? Let me know in the comments!

Do You Think What Covenant Means?

Hello! This week for R.E we have been learning about the meaning of 'Covenant'. This may seem very uninteresting but I assure you, I learnt so much from this lesson. This lesson relates a lot from learning about the story of Abraham and Sarah, since God made a covenant with them.

To express our understanding of what we learnt we sorted ourselves into groups of 3 or 2 students, we had an option of doing a rap, or a slideshow which we picked, a poster, a song or an action song, or do a roleplay like our Abraham and Sarah one. In my group I was with my friends Sreelakshmi and Zoe.  

The learning went very well, I found it fun to design and make the slideshow look colourful with my group, though I found it very challenging to find a source of information from the video to explain most of our learning. Next time I would add more information to make the slideshow more informative and detailed.

What else do you think I should work on? How would you express your learning from this lesson? If you can, comment on this post your answers! Here's a link to a source of the lesson! Click Here

My Tropical Paradise Writing

 Hello! For Week 2 of Term 2 our writing topic was "Descriptive writing" and our class had to describe a photo of an island and create a vivid visual image for the reader. We were learning how to describe using our senses. For the sense tasting, instead of describing what you are tasting physically you had to describe it mentally and what you think it would taste like if it had a flavor, which I found tricky at first but got the hang of it soon after. Here's my writing piece: 

Tropical Dream

The wind blew my hazel locks as I steadily watch the horizon. I could smell the warm, humid wind. The crystalline, tropical water crashing along the white sand. Quickly moving clouds are blown by the strong air. The disheveled mountains are covered by the fluffy clouds. The sounds of splashing waves and rustling palm leaves enter my ears. 

I can feel my feet sinking into the dusty white sand. The breeze lap against my bare arms, giving me goosebumps, ripples of refreshing clear saltwater splash on my legs. The strong blow tastes like sweet cotton candy sold in the carnival. 

Signing Your Name in NZSL!

Good Morning! Last week was Sign Language Week, so for Reading we memorized the sign language alphabet to learn how to spell our names in NZSL, our task was to record us spelling our name in NZSL and creating another video of signing the alphabet of the sign language so people will know how to also spell their names aswell by watching the video. Sadly I didn't make signing the alphabet though I did record myself signing my name which is 'Hannah' here's my video!

Our Roleplay about Abraham and Sarah

 Hello! For Religious Education we learnt about the story of Abraham and Sarah, we got into groups and wrote our script, we also sorted who will play which character in the roleplay. Since all of the roles were taken I went as the narrator for our group. 

To film the play we used one of the iPads the junior classes allowed our class to use temporarily, in my group were my friends Zoe, Emma D, and Sreelakshmi. We did have trouble finding a perfect spot in the school to film the play, but in the end we decided to film on the school stage outside. Each group was allowed to take some old clothing/cloth to use as the clothing for the students playing characters in the roleplay. 

Keeping the camera still and not making camera movements was difficult, even when we used the idea of putting the device somewhere stable and stopping it from falling over with a few heavy books, luckily we solved the problem by asking Koka Kalo, one of the student teachers joining our class to help us film the play! I'm really glad the play went well! This is our play!

My Mother's Day Card Creation!

Hello! Last week before Mother's Day, we created a mother's day card for our mums or for our aunties or grandmothers. Our cards are made from string and thick black paper to make it. 

We started off by ruling a beautiful heart shape sketch to the black paper using a pencil and a cutout piece of paper. Next we punctured holes following the sketch of the heart, we got a wooden skewer and some string to weave it in the paper, though you have to be extremely careful not to rip the paper or puncture too much holes! It doesn't take a long period of time, by putting effort and time to it im sure you'll be able to finish it in under a day. 

For finishing touches we of course created a letter using paper trimmed to be atleast smaller than a normal A4 paper. We wrote our draft in our writing books,  next wrote our note making sure the handwriting was neat, decorated the paper with little drawings/sketches or maybe colouring in the paper to make it look brilliant! 

Here's a photo of me holding my card!:

Our Past, Our Present, Our Future

Hello! This term we started our Cybersmart lessons, our class focus is exactly what my blog title is, "Our Past, Our Present, Our Future". In my opinion this topic is about how much people impacted the world to how it is today. The machines, food, clothing people invented way back then I think changed the world.

So for Cybersmart this week we created a slide about that, there were a few images of objects that were from the 1900's that are the older versions of the things we use in the modernized world today.

Our challenge was to find out what that object was. There aswell were 2 extra slides where we could put our objects of choice, the purpose of these 2 items of our choices were to compare the it to how it was invented to look like in the past and to what those objects look like today. Here's my slides: