Parihaka Feather

 For the past week for reading, my class was learning how to identify the main points. We have been learning about Parihaka. We had to read 2-3 texts, and watch 2 videos about Parihaka.

We had to create a feather with words that are related/similar to the word 'peace'. I enjoyed creating and adding in the words.

I didn't really find anything tricky.

Here is my feather!

Come Down Golden Pick a Path

 Today I was making a pick-a-path in Google slides. It was some questions about Come Down Golden. Come Down Golden is a story me and my group is reading.

I enjoyed making the pick-a-path on google slides. I liked decorating the slides, picking the font and looking for the pictures.

I found coming up with questions a little tricky because I didn't really think of many. 

Come Down Golden Questions

 Today I was learning how to ask and answer questions. Today's take in reading for Come Down Golden was to make a google form containing 5 questions about chapter 2 and 3.

I enjoyed creating the google form and asking the questions. I also liked experimenting with the different options.

I didn't really find anything tricky.

Come Down Golden Problem

 Today I was learning how to infer, or also known as 'reading in between the lines' in reading. The book I was looking at was called 'Come Down Golden'. Our assigned task today was to create a google drawing showing the character(s), scene and problem.

Down below you will see the google drawing I made showing the character(s), scene and problem.

Come Down Golden Hypothesis

 Today I was learning how to hypothesis in reading. The story I was looking at was called 'Come Down Golden'.
I found looking and reading the cover and blurb very interesting, since the cover was quite colourful.
I found not talking to my friends and mucking around tricky. Next time I would try and focus on my school work and to stay on task.

Here is the slide that will explain my hypothesis

Aliens

This week for reading, we were learning how to identify the character's and/or author's point of view. This week we were reading about aliens. There were two stories to read, and no video to watch. For our create task, we had to design our own alien, or create a wanted alien poster or design an alien spaceship and label the important features.

I enjoyed designing my own alien. I really liked drawing their face and their spider legs. I also enjoyed drawing the eyes.

I found drawing the hair a little tricky because I don't really draw complicated hair all the time. 

Here is the drawing! 

Social Justice and Beatitudes

 This week for reading, we were learning to identify the characters and/or the author's point of view. Because this week was social justice week and we were also learning about the beatitudes, my reading group was doing lots of things!

We had to read 3 texts, a bible reading and watch 1 video. Our create tasks was to fill in the social justice week and no girls allowed log. Then after that we had to make a slide with beatitudes and animals.

I enjoyed creating the beatitudes slides with my partner. I really enjoyed learning about the beatitudes and finding a picture of a animal to match the beatitude.

Here are the links to the social justice week work!

Social justice week
No girls allowed

And here is the beatitudes slides!

Cicada Animation

 Today for lockdown learning, we were doing reading. In reading we were learning how to apply knowledge. 

Today my class was reading about cicadas. Cicada’s are insects and they are like aphids. They suck out fluids from young twigs of trees and some woody bushes.

Our task was to create a scratch game about cicada’s talking to each other, put facts on a slide deck or make an animation. I chose the animation, but it’s not really like an animation, so I would label this as my way of applying knowledge.

I found drawing the cicadas enjoyable. I also enjoyed reading and learning about cicadas. I also really enjoyed making them talk to each other in facts.

I found drawing the head of the cicadas a little tricky. They have (in my opinion) a quite complex head because they have 5 eyes. They have 2 of them being really bold and noticeable, while the others are quite small, so I didn’t draw them on.

Do you enjoy my drawings? Please tell me in the comments!

Here is the video of cicadas talking to each other in facts!

Maui Magic Jawbone

Today for reading, my class was learning how to present. We were watching a video about Maui and his magic jawbone given to him by his grandfather.

The video tells us that Maui obtained this jawbone by hiding his grandfathers kai/food from him. Maui wanted his grandfather’s magical jawbone and did this everyday until his grandfather gave into hunger and gave Maui his magic jawbone. 

One of the tasks were to draw Maui’s magic jawbone. I enjoyed drawing Maui’s magic jawbone. I really enjoyed drawing the rope and the small details. I enjoyed the shading and adding shadows.

I found drawing the shape of the jawbone a little tricky because there were many different ways to draw Maui’s magic jawbone. 

Here is the drawing!

Koromiko

 For the past few weeks, my class in reading was learning to summarise. Summarising is when you tell the main point in your own words, but in a shorter version. 

Because of our Rongoa garden (Healing Garden) in our school, my class was learning about healing plants. We had to read 4 articles and watch 1 video. Doing this, we found out a lot of facts about rongoa. Then, after that the whole class had to choose 1 native healing plant such as kowhai, kawakawa, etc.

For our task, we had to design a sign with some of the medicinal properties of the plant we chose. The plant I chose was a Koromiko. My sign will tell you more about the Koromiko.

I enjoyed creating the sign and designing it. It was really enjoyable. I also enjoyed finding and learning lots of facts about the Koromiko. This further strengthened my knowledge. Like they say, 'knowledge is power!'

The bit I found tricky the most was learning how a Koromiko poultice is made. I had to go on various sites to try to find out how to make the poultice! In the end, a book my teacher had helped me. It is called 'The Meaning of Trees' by Robert Vennell.

Here is my sign!

Japan

 This week for reading, my class was learning how to skim and scan. To skim and scan you have to skim to a specific piece of information, and scan the text.

Because of the Olympics, we were reading about Japan. Japan is a part of Asia, and it's neighbour's with North and South Korea. Japan is surrounded with lots, and lots of ocean. Japan is a series of islands called an archipelago. 

My class had to make slides about Japan. We read some articles, and watched some videos, and searched the web for information about Japan.

I found finding facts and creating the slides enjoyable. The slide I enjoyed creating the most was the food slide. I knew some facts about the food in Japan, so I shared this knowledge with my friends.

I found finishing the slides in time tricky. I could not finish these slides because as a House Captain, I had other duties to attend to, and I did not have a device at home to work on.

Here are my slides!

Kiwi Kids News Read Off!

 This week for reading, we had free reading on Kiwi Kids News! We had a deck of slides to work on, and had to make 3 copies of the slide deck. We had to make 3 copies because we had to read 3 articles from Kiwi kids news. This was the order: a. An article from national news, b. A article from world news, and finally c. A article from odd stuff.


We had this read off so that we could earn points for our group. When a group reaches 100 points, we get something called invisibility time. Invisibility time means that you become invisible and you can go on a learning site (epic, prodigy crazy games, etc.) for 15 minutes. 

My digital learning object shows that I can emebed a Google slide deck into this blog post.
This is the blog post about National news.

Matariki and Puanga Diagram

For the past few weeks, my class was learning about Matariki. We read 2 articles and 1 video about Matariki.We learnt that Matariki is when a cluster of 7 stars (7 sisters) come to our sky to show us the begining of the Maori New Year. Matariki is a important time for the Maori iwi (tribes) to come together and celebrate. It is also important  because it's a time where there is an abundant harvest.

For our reading task, we were learning to compare and contrast. This week, for comparing and contrasting, we listed the differences and similarities on a Venn Diagram on google slides, or on a piece of paper. We could also work with the people in our reading groups, and peers.

I found creating the space tricky. The slide was quite small, and the writing kept overflowing. Also remembering all the facts was also quite challenging.

I enjoyed creating the Venn Diagram, even though it was tricky to sort out the spacing and size of the circles and words. I enjoyed choosing a starry background for this period of Matariki the most. One background had more stars, the other background had less. I also enjoyed changing the font so it looked minimalistic.

What do you do with your Whanau to celebrate Matariki? Do you all come together and have a hangi, or do you do something else? Tell me in the comments!

June Reflection

 Today I was reflecting on what we did in June this year. We wrote our reflection on a Student Reflection Newsletter on a google drawing. 

A thing I enjoyed doing this month was going to the GRIP leadership conference. It was a great experience, and it gave me some great advice for being a good leader in the future. Another thing I also enjoyed was going to the Aurora Writing program. We went to Eastwood Hills arboretum for ideas for our poems.

Something I found tricky this month was making my Tom Fedro art. It was tricky to do the blending because the paint was getting all gunky on the last few days and it was hard to work with, but in the end I managed to push through!

Here is my June reflection!

Thesesus and Minotaur

For the past few weeks, I have been learning to infer. Infering is when you read between the lines. It can also mean answering a question with clues from a text. This week my group and I were reading about Theseus and the Minotaur. We had to read a story about how Theseus became king of the Athens. After we read the story, we had to evaluate. After we all evaluated and stated our own opinions, we had a discussion on what we all thought. We all thought that Theseus was a half and half hero (half good and half bad hero) because he killed the minotaur, but also we also thought he was a bad person because he betrayed Princess Adriane.

After we did the evaluate task, we could also create our own labyrinth or we could make a wanted poster of the minotaur. I decided that I would create a wanted poster. I worked with my friend, and we decided that we would make the minotaur using shapes provided by the google drawing program. It was really tricky to get the skirt right, because we had to go back and forth making tweaks as we went. It was also hard to find a skin colour for the minotaur's upper body. 

I enjoyed creating the poster although it was a bit tricky here and there. It was quite enjoyable in my opinion. 

What are your opinions on Theseus? Do you think he is a hero or is he a villian? Tell me your opinions in the comments!

Here is my evaluate task and wanted minotaur poster!

Maui brick wall

For the past few weeks for reading, I've been learning to infer. Infering is when you read between the lines. It can also mean answering a question with clues from a text.  This week my reading group and I were  reading about Maori gods and Greek gods. We read about how Prometheus gave fire to men. After we read those, we watched a video.

After we read and watched the video, we read how Maui brought fire to the world with our teacher. We  had to infer on what characteristics we thought Maui had with clues from the text. We thought that he was mean, mischieveous, brave, intelligent, curious, greedy, etc. After we read with our teacher, we had to make a character description of Maui on a brick wall.

I enjoyed making the brick wall description of Maui. It took some time because I wanted to jazz and funk it up lots! I got some ideas from my friends. I found remembering all the characteristics tricky because I hadn't written them down on a piece of paper.

My digital learning object shows that I can embed google slides in this blog post.

Prototypes

For the past few days, my group was learning how to analyse and synthesise. We read 3 articles, and watched 1 video. For our task, we had to choose an invention, make a timeline and make a prototype for the future.
I enjoyed making my prototype. I also enjoyed designing it, and adding lots of perks to my prototype in hopes this could help change people's lives.

I found thinking about the prototype a bit tricky because I didn't think about one thing, so I went back to add the idea, then I thought about another idea, and I went back to write it down and this kept repeating until I was satisfied with my prototype.

What do you think of my prototype? Please give me some suggestions in the comments!

 

Sign Language Week!

For the past few days, my group was learning how to analyse and synthesise. Analyse and synthesise means putting ideas and info together, and talk about the connections you made. We were also learning to sign our names in Sign Language, and record it on screencastify. We first read 3 articles, then watched 3 videos. There was also a link to a fingerspelling poster to guide us on how to sign the letters for our names.
I enjoyed making the screencastify. I really liked signing my name and showing other people how to sign my name.

I found it a bit tricky to record my screencastify, because there was a motorcycle in the background which made a really loud noise!
My digital learning object shows that I can embed a video into this blogpost.
Do you know how to sign your name in Sign Language? If not, here is a fingerspelling poster to help you! I used this fingerspelling poster to help me sign my name in the video you'll see below! It helped me lots, so I hope this poster will help you as much as it helped me!

Here is me signing my name!

ANZAC

 For the past few days, my class was learning about ANZAC day for our reading. My group had to read 4 stories and watch two videos, to gather information for our activity. Our activity was to write a post card and a diary entry from the perspective of the soldiers. Some of us used google tools, (Google slides, Google docs etc.) and some of us wrote our postcards and diary entries on paper. I choose to do it on paper because it would be more realistic.
I enjoyed learning about the ANZAC's, and reading and watching about them. I learnt a lot from the stories and videos.

I found finishing my postcard hard, because I wanted to make the postcard look like a real one, which took a few days but the final product looks nice.
My digital object shows that I can embed photo's into my blog posts.
Do you think my postcard looks realistic? If not, please leave some tips in the comments!
Here is my post card and diary entry!

The Easter Story

 For the past few days, my class was learning to summarise and make links between our paragraphs. Our task for our reading and writing was to summarise/retell the story of Easter. First we had to choose a partner to work with. After we had to write down our script. We had to write the events in order, from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday.
After we wrote our script, we made little puppets. We first colored them in, then we cut them out and taped them on little popsicle sticks. After we made our puppets, we recorded a screencastify with our puppets. 
I enjoyed making the puppets and recording my version of the Easter story, although it took 2 days or so.
It was a bit hard to read, record and move the puppets at the same time. The most challenging bit was that we had to re-do it so many times! There were also instances where we forgot to un-pause it and ended up making mistakes, which resulted in us re-doing our recording multiple times.
Do you know the story of easter? How do you celebrate easter with your Whanau? Tell me in the comments!
Here is me and my partner's version of the story of Easter!