Netball Interschool

On Wednesday the netball teams went to the Auckland Netball Center to compete against other teams. I was in the year 7 and 8 purple team. Each team had about 6 or 7 games. Unfortunately for some games we played in the rain. The teams we competed with were Ruapotaka, Glen Brae, Pt England, Stone Fields and Panmure Bridge Green (our other team). In my opinion our team could work on passing and communication.

Spaghetti bridge

For inquiry we have been learning about structures. Recently, we have been working on making a bridge out of dried spaghetti. My partner Mataio and I worked with Julian and Lyric to create this bridge. We used rubber bands, tape and string to make it more stable. First we planned how much materials we will need and how long it needed to be. When we built the bridge we added more supports throughout the structure. We used bricks to test how strong our final product was. Our groups bridge was the strongest. It was able to hold 8 bricks.

Duffy Assembly - T3 W9

Michael Mulipola Presentation

Today we had a Duffy assembly. Micheal Mulipola a famous illustrator came to talk to us about why reading is important. He told us a story about when he was a child. Michael loved to draw all throughout his life. When he was younger he always wanted to make comic strips. He also liked collecting superheros, but  his favorite character was Green Lantern. Green Lantern stood out more than the other characters to Michael. He said that green lanterns powers where like his pencil. He made whatever he could think of come to life. Now he has become what he has always dreamed of. He is now a wrestler, a semi-professional gamer and a illustrator for comic strips.

Why Do People Build Bridges?

Why Do People Build Bridges?

Sturdy, strong and useful. Bridges are a vital part of society. Their contribution to
the world has been unparalleled as it connects different places together to create a
more functional community.

Let’s think back to the 17th century before the first bridge was built. People
struggled to get across rivers, they risked their lives, and were unable to transport
necessities. Before we had bridges it made transportation more difficult.  Bridges
improved our transport and helped to move essentials to different places.

These structures have the ability to span across far distances which makes getting
from point A to point B easier. This is because: there is nothing that can postpone
your trip, weather can not influence the outcome of your travels, so erosion and high
tides are less problematic.

Bridges are made to get over natural occurrences in a more convenient.
For example, If there was a river or another time consuming obstacle in between
two places, it will be quicker to go over it than through it. If bridges weren’t built,
it would make crossing a river more dangerous.

Bridges have become a vital part of society, as they have connected people
from other places; to gain the ability to cooperate with others from different parts
of the country. These structures have helped shape our community in many ways it
changed our modern world forever.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For centuries around the world, bridges have improved the operation of society and have also benefited the transportation of necessities. To answer the question 'Why do people build bridges?' I have written an explanation which will hopefully tell people about the importance of bridges and how it has contributed to the shaping of modern society.

The Last Session Of HIIT

Today was our last session of HIIT. This is a research program held by AUT Research. This program is about getting puffed (Pau te hau). We have been doing exercises twice a week for 15 weeks. This session we did tap steps, push ups, star jumps and sit ups. Unfortunately I wasn't able to do the push ups because of my shoulder. Throughout the weeks of doing HIIT I have been leading the group with some of my classmates. HIIT has not only helped me to get puffed but I have also seen some physical changes in my fitness.

Exponents

Today for maths we were learning about exponents. Exponents stand for how many times the value is being multiplied. For example, 5 x 5 x 5 x 5 = 625. I found this activity easy because it was not difficult to understand the meaning. I completed a question sheet that had exponent problems. Afterwards I made a DLO using three questions from the work sheet. I explained what exponents meant and how to solve one of the problems.

Kiwi Certificate

A couple of weeks ago students from LS2 and LS1 partook in a Kiwi competition. This competition revolved around our capability of literacy and mathematics. Everyone who partook in the mathematics test would agree that it was difficult. I found this personally difficult because there were algebra questions which I haven't learnt about nor did I understand. Everyone who took part in the maths test received a participation certificate. For literacy I received excellence which was great. I found doing the literacy test quite simple but when it came down to the last couple of tests, I did not try my hardest and I gave up. I am still proud of my achievement and it was fun to take part in something that is something I enjoy doing.

Orchestra Trip - Auckland Phillharmonia

Students from Learning Space Two all enjoyed three pieces of classical music. I enjoyed all of the sounds of the musical instruments as the sounds were melodic. We all traveled by bus to the town hall in Auckland City. Mid way through the performance they introduced an opera singer who sang a Spanish song from the musical, Carmen. He was not very loud as the opera singer's back faced us as he sang to the people on the ground floor. Their were many instruments, including the harp, the tuba, the viola, and the triangle. All the people were color coded by a certain color. The percussion instruments were played by a person in green, while the strings were red. the woodwinds were blue, and the brass were yellow. To top of an amazing trip, a group of students from Saint Kentigern's and Ngatapawae performed a dance with the backing of a song from the ballet Romeo and Juliet. I felt that the dance did not have any relations to the love story of Romeo and Juliet. I believe the dance could have been a bit softer to work well with the song.

VR Reasearch

Today my inquiry group was having a fun learning experience with Virtual Reality (VR). People from the Augmented human lab at the Auckland University came to our school to do some research, because of this we got to have a try with Virtual Reality. For inquiry we have been learning about structures so the Virtual Reality was based around the first Panmure Bridge. After we did some test and interaction with the cardboard goggles and iPad interaction we had pizza. A huge thank you to Yvonne and her research team for making this happen.

Colon Illustration

For writing we have been learning about sensory verbs and colons. First I was given a sheet with missing colons. My challenge was to fix each sentence by putting the colon in the right place. Once I finished I chose one of the sentences to make an illustration of. I also gave an explanation of why I put it there and what it is used for. Did you know that colons can be used as a hook in a piece of writing?

Sensory Verbs

For writing one of our activities was a test sheet about sensory verbs. I answered 11 questions. I had to click on one of the options that I thought was the right vocabulary for the sentence. I found this activity easy because I have done this before. Once I checked my answers the results came back all correct. 

Reading - Percy Jackson And The Last Olympian

For reading we have chosen a book to do a review on. Me and my partner Zane chose to do something from the Percy Jackson series. My book was called Percy Jack And The Last Olympian. Throughout the sessions I have been reading the book for the first 30 minutes. So far I'm on page 40 in chapter 3. From what I have read the book is about Percy making a decision that would save or destroy the world from Kronos. My favorite part is when they have a fight on the boat that's headed to the Harbour of New York. My prediction is that Percy is going to have to fulfill the prophecy and make a decision.