Forensics Session

On Monday the 16th a police women and man came and shared their knowledge about crimes to all of T.K. The police women Kate explained her knowledge of detective work and Gavin the senior police constable told us what he does in burglaries and shop lifting. My favourite part of the talk was when we got to watch a short clip of a man running down the street with a computer in his hand and we had to find all the asspects of him. I really enjoyed the talk and all of the information they shared with us. 

We did some of our own detective work in room 15 where we got to put our fingers prints on paper so we could find out what our prints were called. 

School Athletics

On Friday the 6th we had school athletics. There was activities like high jump, long jump, sprints and a few more. My two favourite activities would've been sprints because I like running and shot put. The only activity I wasn't looking forward to was high jump, but luckily we didn't have to do that. 

The Lost Thing

One day after school I was waiting for my Mum to pick me up when out of the corner of my eye I saw something small moving. I turned my body to face the small creature, who appeared to be crying. It looked up at me with a sad face so I bent down and picked it up. It was light, with a dark green body with pale red hair, and wearing red shoes. The thing felt metallic like a robot.  I asked what was wrong but there was no answer. It just looked at me helplessly.

A car pulled up and I turned around to see my Mum motioning me to hop in. I put my bag on the back seat and was about to hop in when I thought about the creature.  I couldn’t bring myself to just leave it there so I picked it up and put it in my pocket.

When we got home I raced up to my room and took the creature out. My mind was wondering many things. Where had it come from?, Where did it belong? Once again I tried to ask it something but without luck. The computer had no information on what the thing was, but it came up with a website called ‘Your Lost Thing’, about a place where you can take unusual things that don’t fit in. I clicked on and looked for information on where I could find it. Luckily it wasn’t far from where I lived.  I put my hands out and the thing slowly walked onto them.

We arrived just over 20 minutes later outside two big steel doors. I pushed them open and walked up to a big desk sitting in the middle of the room. I asked where I should take my lost thing. She was about to tell me where to go, but it seemed like something stopped her. Her expression changed to a caring, loving face. She bent down to my ear and whispered some directions. I thanked her and walked down a long dark hall just like her directions said. After walking about 10 metres I arrived at small painting on the wall. I lifted the painting off the wall and discovered a small door with a hole in the centre. I pressed my eye against the hole and was amazed at what I saw on the other side. There were hundreds maybe even thousands of ‘lost things’ just like mine walking around in a light, bright big space. I looked down at the creature. It had a great big smile on it’s face. I lifted my hand up to the door and it walked inside. The lost thing turned around and waved goodbye.

Even to this day I still think about the small lost thing and wonder if it’s happy?

Speech Writing Competition

Deodorant. Most people use them because they think that sweat is bad and that you should cover it up with deodorants and fragrances.  What we end up doing is poisoning ourselves with chemicals.

We use deodorants and fragrances to smell nice and to have a nice appearance, but is it really all that good for you? The 30 second ads on t.v show people spraying lots of deodorant all over themselves to show how we should apply it. But what happens if you are spraying it with other people around and they are allergic to it? You have just poisoned your friend.

Recent studies have shown that there are also ingredients in deodorant and fragrances that can cause breast cancer. One of the main ingredients in deodorant is aluminium. Aluminium based-compounds are what blocks the sweat from getting to the skin’s surface. Some research has shown that aluminium compounds may be absorbed into the skin and blood and change the estrogen receptors in breast cells which may cause breast cancer. Estrogen Receptors are a group of very important proteins found inside cells and are essential for good health.

An example of a deodorant that has bad chemicals is Dove. It has two chemicals, aluminium and tet-ra klooroh ethaleen.   Tet-ra klooroh ethaleen is known to cause damage to the liver and increase the risk of getting cancer. It is most commonly used in industrial cleaning products.

Also the cost of deodorant and smelling fragrances is ridiculous for something that lasts 5-6 weeks and then you throw it out into our landfills which just causes damage to our environment. Everyone in the world who uses something to smell good combined spends on average 18 billion dollars in a year.

Can you put a price on your life?

Final Presentation

  

This is my Final Presentation for Wooden Materials technology. I really enjoyed this tech becuase I liked how my design ended up.

Hiroshima News Item

Thousands die in bombing of Hiroshima

6th Augus 1945:- Tens of thousands of people have died due to a new type of bomb, dropped by the U.S on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The bomb has left devastation through the city with people killed instantly and most of the survivors severely burnt or injured.

The President of the United States (Harry Truman) produced a speech later that day stating very clearly that there was only one bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Harry truman also stated that they were willing to destroy any productive enterprise that Japanese have in any city. He confirmed that the atomic bomb cost over two million dollars and had more power than 20,000 tons of T.N.T.

The day after the explosion happened there was a horrible smell through the city of dead bodies and burnt skin. There were people walking around with their skin hanging off their fingers because of the heat the bomb produced. Talking to some of the survivors they said that not long after the bomb, black rain started to fall.

The bomb put their whole city in flames. Leaving only a few buildings standing.

Term 2 Inquiry 'Movers and Shakers'- this is our Abacus presentation.

Last term’s inquiry topic was “Movers and shakers.” For our projects we were put into four  groups. Two of the groups were all girls and the other two were all boys. In our group was Eva, Rebecca, Destiny, Chloe, Lily, Cassia and Sophie. We were told to recreate an invention that had a significant impact on society.

We decided to create a giant abacus because the abacus was one of the first forms of calculators ever invented. To make this we used ten thin wooden poles, four blocks of wood and one hundred foam balls. Once we had the resources we had to paint the foam balls in four different colours. We chose red, black, green and yellow. We then had to make the frame for the abacus by drilling ten holes in one of the wooden blocks for the side of the frame. After that we then put the thin wooden poles which have the the foam balls on them into the holes. Then we finished putting the rest of the frame together by nailing the rest of the wooden blocks  around it.

Along with our invention we had to make a video. This is our video that we made for our giant abacus.

Persuasive Writing

Good Friends

What makes a good friend? I believe that a good friend is respectful, supportive and honest. These are important because it means that you and your friend care about each other.

One of the most important qualities in a good friend is honesty. Honesty is very important in a friendship because if you are honest with your friend then they will trust you and they will know when to believe you. Also being honest means that you are being a very supportive friend.

Supporting a friend is very important because it means that you can both help each other through a tough time or just be there for each other when you or your friend doesn’t understand something you are trying to work out. If you are being supportive it means that you help them to try and figure out something that they really don’t understand. Also say something that will encourage them not put them down.

Be honest with each other when you need to tell them something.  Not judging your friend is good because it means that you aren’t be hurtful to their feelings and they won’t be hurtful to you.

A friend liking you for you is important too.  If your friend likes you for you then it means that you don’t have to act like someone you’re not someone you’re not.

A good friend is someone who tells you the truth, supports you through tough times and respects you.

Tessellation

Almost finished

For maths we are making tessellations. This is my tessellation so far. However, I messed up that one so I started another one.(coloured in one)

The second one I started shows rotation and reflection. --> 

 

Matahiwi Marae Visit

Today we went to Matahiwi Marae for Kotahitanga week. When we got there a lady was signing to welcome us onto the marae with the karanga. We sat down and listened to Mr Mulligan speak. Afterwards we sung two songs and then went to have some kai (food). 

We got split up into three groups that rotated around. My first rotation was learning about the paintings on the walls of the Whare Kai. Whaea Edwards told us about her family and how she grew up near the marae. She also told us sbout the history of the paintings and what they meant. 

Our next rotation was the Wharenui where there was a huge whale's jaw and carvings of people on the walls. Matua Unahi talked about the whale's jaw and how there were 50 teeth, the whale weighed 50 tons and it was 50 feet long. The statues were of Kahungunu amd his relations and the ceiling panels represent the local rivers. 

The final rotation was in the marae atea with Mr Mulligan. He told us about Maui's family. He also told us about how the females aren't allowed to perform a speech unless they are on the verandah outside the Wharenui. After all of our rotations Mr Mulligan said a karakia before we left. My favourite part of our visit to the Marae was learning about the whale jaw.

Treemendous

Where I'm From Poem

Where I’m From

I’m from gum trees, scorching summers, lizards and slithering snakes.

I’m from riding boots, jodhpurs.

I’m from Jocelyn, Anthony and hugh.

I’m from beaches and holidays.

I’m from Keep calm and carry on.

I’m from seafood, chocolate and eclairs.

I’m from going to the beach and seeing family.

I’m from blazing sunlight and bush fires.

I’m from swimming, playgrounds and eating ice blocks.

I’m from Horse riding and being with friends.

I’m from fabric and beads.

Orienteering

  2 weeks ago Room 13 went to Keirunga Gardens for orienteering. It was exciting and we had lots of fun. The hardest part was probably when you were looking for a flag and you didn't see that you had already passed it. I really enjoyed orienteering and would definitely do it again.

Camp Letter

23/03/2015

Room 13

H.N.I

Dear Richard,

Thank you for giving up your time to come on camp, without you we would not have been able to go. Without you coming on camp it would not have been as fun or exciting. My favourite part of camp was when we came first in orienteering at Pandora Pond even though we didn’t know what we were doing. I also enjoyed going on the kayaks, but it was hard when we had to stand up in them and we all didn’t want to fall out because the water was freezing and we would get really cold.

Yours sincerely,

Lily Waites

The 'Bugman's' talk at Assembly

Today we had an assembly with Ruud Kleinpaste the 'Bug Man'. He talked about how if we didnt have bugs we wouldn't have what we have now. Here are some examples that Chloe B and I have remembered from the 'Bugman's talk.

• ⅓ of our food is produced by bees/bugs.
• The Blue butterfly only comes down to the jungle floor if it sees something that is the same colour
• When sloths go to the toilet they slowly crawl down the tree and make a little hole, then hug the tree and go toilet.
• Large pray mantis ate a hummingbird.
• Scorpions glow in ultraviolet rays
• A sloths brain ist he size of a walnut.
• Orchid bees can talk to each other
• Sloths take ¾ of an hour to go toilet.
• If there were no bugs in the world we wouldn’t have any beef or protein.

Camp 2015

At camp we did lots of fun activities. They included raft buiding, archery, mud slide, flying fox, bivouac building and much more.

My favourite activity was probably the raft building because we all got to work together and it was really fun. On the flying fox it was a little bit scary because when you get over the hill you are really high from the ground.

I really enjoyed camp and I liked all of the activities.