YEAR 8

This week we had to reflect on one of our favourite parts of this year so
here it is.

My favourite highlight or memory of this year would definitely have to
be Year 8 camp.  I liked it because all the year 8's got to know each other
better and we told lots of stories.  I also liked the things that we did, like the
overnight camp, the high ropes and much much more.

This year I'm not quite sure where we're going for the Big Day Out but I hope
it'll be fun.  I don't really remember the big day out's from previous
years, but I liked the one last year when we did bowling and played sports.


BYE!☺☻

COLLEGE

HELLO

So next year I'm going to be a Year 9 at St Mary's and I'm nervous but

excited. I don't hate our school, it's just I want to something different. 

 One of the things I want to do next year is to get on to Netball 

team. That's like one of my main priorities.  

Some of the things I'm looking forward to are making more friends

 ( I'll still be with the friends I have now). Also just being in a waaaayyyy

bigger school with lots of opportunities.

The things that I'll find challenging probably goes for everyone.  Getting to 

class on time and actually knowing where my class is, because I don't

want to be late to class and everyone in there will stare at me.  Also

the amount of homework for different classes and getting it in on time

cause I'm already busy enough as it is.

BYE!☺☻

BOOK WEEK!

Last week at school we had book week.  Throughout the week we did a
whole bunch of things to do with book and reading.

On one of the days, Kate De Goldi who is a New Zealand author, came to
our school and talked to the Intermediate classes.  She talked about her
new book that she was writing.  She also talked about the books she had
already written and how she got inspiration for them.  In the middle of the
talk she read us some stories that she wrote from when she was around 6
or 7 years old.

One of the other things we did was the Golden Ticket hunt.  All the teachers
from the intermediate classes put different clues up on the class blog as to where
the ticket was.  They then hid the Golden Tickets around the school.  Whoever
found their class Golden Ticket was a chocolate.  I think Room 12 did waaayyyy
more then we did  because we only did about 2 or 3 and one of the tickets blew
away.

The best thing that we did last week was Book Character day.  Everyone had to
come to school as a character from a book.  Abby and I went as Thing 1 and Thing 2.
At the start of the day we had the book character parade.  All the classes sat on the courts
while me and the other House Captains stood at the front and watched each class
come down the "catwalk".  We had to judges all the different costumes.  The categories
were, Most Creative, Most Realistic and Best Group costume.  We had to chose one
person(s) for each of these categories from year 1 & 2, year 3&4, year 5&6 and year 7&8.
Overall the day was really fun because I got to see all the cool costumes.

So that's Book Week done.  My favourite part was the book character day because we
all got to dress up in fun costumes.

BYE!☺☻

FAVOURITE BOOK from when I was younger

This week we had to write about our favourite book from when we were younger.  So here goes......

When I was little, the only books that I basically read were the Rainbow Magic books.  Out of the many many books in the series, I read every one of them.  Each book in the series is always based on one fairy.  I started reading these books when I was about 7 I think.  I guess I read these books because my friends all read them.  My favourite book in the series was probably Evie the Mist Fairy because her name was the closest to mine.

Rainbow magic is pretty about two girls called Rachel and Kirsty.  Something bad always happens in each book that is caused by the goblins, then a different fairy comes and SAVES THE DAY each time.


BYE!☺☻

AFL

Last week the school got taught how to play AFL.  About 2 classes went
 down at a time to get  taught.  Our class went down with Room 10.


I actually wasn't there for half the session cause Abby, James and I were at
 a House Captain meeting.  When we got down there though, they were
 kicking the ball to their partner.  One of the catchphrases that I remember
was "Laces away from the faces".  We basically just learnt how to kick a ball.
At the end, some of the adults lined up across the court and we had to try kick
the ball at them.


BYE!☺☻

BOOKS!

This week we had to choose our favourite book, movie, TV show etc.  Right now the books I've been reading are all written by David Walliams. I couldn't really choose one that I like.  So far I have read five of his books.

In mainly all of his books it all links in some way.  I guess I like them because I don't get bored when I'm reading them.

BYE!☺☻

MY FUTURE JOB!

In the future I would really like to be a Physiotherapist!

If you don't know what that is, it's someone who helps people with muscle injuries or sport injuries.

I guess I want to be a Physiotherapist because I like to do a lot of sports and there are some cool equipment at a Physio.  

The subjects I will have to take at college are Biology, P.E and probably chemistry.  Later on in College if there is first aid training I will take it.

To help pay my way through university studies I will probably become a swimming coach for people around my age now.  I also do swimming and I probably will continue for a few more years, so I guess that counts for outside of school.

What's your dream job?

BYE!☺☻

AUSTRALIA! and Auckland

On the first Saturday we flew to Auckland and stayed there until Tuesday.  We basically just stayed at home the whole time and played games.

On Tuesday we flew out to Brisbane which is where my mums twin lives.  Once we got to their house we stayed at home again because it coming to the end of the day.  For the whole week till Saturday we either went to the mall, stayed home or to Southbank.  We also had a few pictures with the rest of our family.  My aunty who came has the cutest son in the world!!!!

On Saturday my uncle, aunty, my two cousins( who are like the same age as us), my cousins friends, my brother, my mum and I drove up to the Gold Coast and stayed in some apartments that were managed by people they knew.  We stayed there until Monday and the whole time we were either at the beach, at the pool or getting ice-cream.

From Monday till Thursday we just did the same the same things as the previous week, go to the mall or stayed home. We then flew back to Auckland and stayed there until Saturday.

It was sad to leave Australia because we probably won't go back for quite a while ):

BYE!☺☻

ART!

HI!
This week we had to choose two pieces of art that we liked from art week.  One of our own and one from another class.
This is the first one:

I did this with other people from Room 11 and 12.  It took us 5 hours straight! We first started off with Tyler drawing it, then we started painting the reddish colour, then we did the black outlines and the sky.  After that, nearly everyone from the three intermediate classes drew a whole bunch of aliens to stick on it.

The second art that I liked was this art from Room 9:

They did lots of deer and bears.  I think they made them out of cardboard and coloured tissue paper.  I thought the idea was really creative.

I thought the art week was really fun but we were quite pushed for time.  I really enjoyed the painting but near the end I started to get sick of it.

BYE!☺☻

Poems!

This week we had to chose one of our poems that we have written over the past week, that we liked.
I chose two.

This is the first one:

There once was a boy named Joel,
His best friend was a troll,
The troll rolled around,
All over the ground,
The fell into a hole.

This is the second one:

The anger builds up inside me,
Then I burst,
Like a bomb exploding into the air,
It's making me burn with rage,
I feel like a ball of fire,
I can't take it anymore.

I don't really know why I chose them, I guess they just stood out more.


BYE☺☻

Famous artist

This week we had to choose a famous artist and write about them.  I chose Leonardo da Vinci.


Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci, but commonly known as Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452 in Vinci, Republic of Florence.  He died on May 2, 1519 (aged 67) in Amboise, Kingdom of France.  His strengths were painting, sculpting, architecture, science, music, mathematics, engineering, invention, anatomy, geology, astronomy, botany, writing, history and cartography. 


This is the first artwork I like from Leonardo da Vinci is the Mona Lisa.  I chose it because it was one of his most famous paintings.  This artwork was made, "the best known, the most visited, the most written about, the most sung about, the most parodied work of art in the world". It is believed to been painted between 1503 and 1506. 












My second piece of art that I liked is called The Last Supper.  It was panted between the years of 1494-1499.  This is one of the worlds most famous paintings, and one of the most studied, scrutinized and satirized.








BYE☺☻

SPORTSFEST!!!

BEFORE
For Sportsfest I am doing Netball with my normal netball team, but instead
of Siena, we're having Charlotte.  So far we have been doing practices, but
when we try to, other people want to join in and its hard to practice.  I think
we need to stay positive if we are versing hard teams, and just enjoy the day
and play well.


AFTER
It turned out that Charlotte and Catherine were sick and we were left with 7
players.  We needed another person on our team so we could sub and we got
Grace T.  I don't think we connected as well as we usually do because we did
have a few of our players missing.  We lost 4 of our games and won our last one
27-5.  It was also really really hot at one point then it got really windy.  If I was
to do it next year I think I would've brought more food and water.


BYE☺☻

The new flag

I think it's a good thing that we're changing the flag, but I also think its bad.
It's good because we won't have a flag that looks nearly the same as Australia's,
and it will make us more individual.  The bad thing about it is that we went to war
with that flag and everyone is used to it.
These are four of the new flag options I liked:



I liked these because they all still show a part of our old flag, but they also have a bit of Maori culture in them.
My favourite flag option would have to be this one:


Because it has the blue part and the stars from the current flag and it also has a fern on it which kind o symbolizes our country.


BYE☺☻

Art activities!

The art we have done recently was the Ancient Aztec masks that we had to collage.
Although many people don't like collaging, I actually like it.  Even though it can
take a lot of time, but I like ripping up magazines. 

I think the type of art I need to improve on is drawing because I sometimes

find that quite difficult. 

Our class also has a lot of great ideas for the art exhibition that I think

will look really cool.

BYE☺☻

Famous Dinner guests!

This week, we were asked that for our blog post, if we could invite a fictional character and non fictional character, who would they be.  We also have to ask each character a few questions.

MIRANDA SINGS!
My first dinner guest is Miranda Sings because she would be really fun to interview.

Questions:
1) Is it true that you are the most beautiful and famous person in the world?
2) Who is your favourite bae?
3) Do you love your uncle?






DORA THE EXPLORER

 My next guest is Dora the Explorer.

Questions:
1) How come you never grew up until about 2 years ago?
2) Can you teach me more complexed Spanish?
3) Do you ever get tired of being an explorer?





BYE☺☻

My Cousin!

I basically only have my Nana as my only grandparent left.  Although I have lots of memories with her, I have way more with my cousin.

When my cousin, Tamera and I were little we liked a lot of the same things such as Princesses.  My Mum told me that we used to have shared birthdays when we were little.  When we ere really young she used to live in Fiji (where she was born) so it was really hard to spend time together.  But when she moved to Auckland (where I was living at the time) we would spend almost every day together.

When we used to go up to Auckland when I was younger, we would sleep over at either her house or our Nana's house. We thought that since we went to bed late, that we were "cool".  We also used to play the teacher game where we would pretend to be teachers, and my other cousin, Leilani (her little sister) would be the student.

A slightly more new memory with Tamera would have to be our dad's cousin's wedding, and also Christmas.  For the wedding we stayed at a cool hotel in Paihia with an awesome pool.  In The mornings I would run down to her hotel room and us and our brothers would go get breakfast and then go straight to the pool before anyone else.
For Christmas, my family, Tamera's family and our Nana went to go stay at a family friends Motel.  WE were the only ones there so it was really cool. It didn't really look like a motel.  It just had one main house thing with a kitchen, dining room and lounge room.  Then outside were all the rooms connected to each other.  There also was a gigantic grass area and Pizza oven.  The grass area connected to the owners house so my brother, my cousins and the owners kids played spotlight every night.

So those are just a few of my favourite memories I've had with my cousin.

BYE☺☻

HOLIDAYS!!

In the holidays I basically just stayed home the whole time.  But the only productive thing I did was go and see Inside Out with Abby and Charlotte. 

When we got to the mall in Porirua, we first went to New World to stock up on food. We got a whole bunch of lollies.  Our movie was meant to start at 10:15 but when I went to check the time it was 10:20.  We had to quickly pay for everything and sprint to the movies.

When we got there we realised that we were't allowed to bring food from anywhere else, into the movies.  We ended up having to stuff our jackets with the food and run in.

After the movie we just looked in shops around the mall.

That was pretty much the only exciting thing about my holidays

BYE☺☻

I'm just testing something.☺☻

Nairnville Sessions

This term on every Thursday we've been going to Nairnville and doing sports.
We've done Gymnastics, Rippa Rugby and Football.  I don't think I've
learnt any skills from these sports because we did them all last year.  The
sports I've enjoyed the most were probably Gymnastics and Football. I don't
think I need to get more out of the sessions.  I'm not really sure what sport I
want to do next.

BYE☺☻

German

Once a week, we have been learning German and I've quite liked them.  We've learnt about the numbers up to 100, asking people how they are, how old they are and asking their name.  We also learnt how to respond.

I'm actually not taking German in college next year, but I am taking French.  I hope that the languages will be slightly similar, so it will be easier because I will know most of the words.  I think knowing German would be useful in the future, because I might go to Europe and visit Germany.

BYE☺☻

Perseverance

So this isn't exactly this week, it's more like last week.  Anyway, On last Saturday (I think) I was swimming a Backstroke race at a swim meet.  The pool we went to is the worst pool to do Backstroke in because it has a weird cross over roof thing.  It makes you bang into the lane rope.  So as I started my race, I pushed off the wall into streamline.  Half of my goggles were coming off, I thought I would be ok and I kept going.  When I tumble turned at the other end, my goggles came off and were lying on top of me, so I just pushed them off and kept on going.

Another time last week was on Saturday at Netball.  We were versing the top team from Raroa, the Eagles.  They were a really hard team but we managed to get some goals in and we kept on playing.  We did lose in the end, but at least we played our hardest. I think we showed a lot of Perseverance.

If I had to chose one value that I find the most challenging, it might have to be Creativity. Because I sometimes find it hard to come up with different cool ideas.

BYE☺☻

BOOOOOKS!!!!!!

This isn't really a book that I've read recently, but I still quite like it. It's called Candyfloss by Jacqueline Wilson.


It's about a girl called Floss that lives with her Mum, her stepdad and her little stepbrother Tiger.  Floss' stepdad gets a job in Australia but she wants to stay in England. Floss' mum and stepdad go and Floss stays with her dad in his slightly, run down café.  Her dad isn't the best at many things but they seem to work just fine.  They always go to the fair and eat candyfloss and her dad's famous Chip Butties.


I really liked that the book hooked me in. I would recommend this book for people aged 10 and above.




BYE☺☻

Galapagos Islands

This term we have been learning about the Galapagos Islands.  We learnt about the evolution of it and how the animals adapted.  So far we've had to write 2 essays, one on Evolution and one on Adaptation.


I really liked watching the videos and learning about Evolution.  I was happy that the videos gave me so many notes, so that it helped me with the essays.

I also liked doing the reading follow-up when we had to chose animals and plants and write about their adaptations.

I really want to learn more about the animals on the Galapagos.  Also, a bit more about Charles Darwin.

Next term I would like to learn about other countries like the Galapagos Islands.

BYE☻☺

Roles and Responsibilities

This year it was quite hard to get into school roles, because there were so many
 Year 7's coming in this year.  We could only apply for two or three roles so I applied
 for P.E Monitor, Librarian and House Captain.  I got into P.E Monitor and
House Captain. 


I was the only girl going for House Captain in Murphy, so I really hoped I would get
in.  I really enjoy this role because I get to be a leader, sort of.  We've only had one House
meeting and we've only had one House event, so I don't think I've had to experience anything challenging.  I've learned that it takes some hard work to sort out all the events.


So, there were quite a lot of us that become P.E monitor this year. I like helping younger
kids with games, but the thing I find challenging is that most people leave their sports
equipment all over the courts and don't bring it back.


So yea.  I'm really happy that I got these roles and I will continue to persevere with them.


BYE!☻☺

ASB

Yesterday, a guy from ASB came to school to talk to us about managing money,
how we can earn money and how we can save it.

Firstly, he gave us some examples about how to earn money, like doing chores around
the house and for neighbours.  Another example was hosting a lemonade stand, doing bake
sales, garage sales and yard sales.  He then talked about eftpos cards and credit cards and
how to keep your money safe.

Later on, we split into small groups and came up with a business idea.  Abby, Olivia,
Mercedes and I came up with an idea called Design a bottle.  It's when you get an empty
plastic bottle and decorate it with whatever you want.

The last thing we talked about was a CAT goal.  We had to write on apiece of paper,
something that we want.  Then we had to estimate the price and see how long it would
take for us to but it.

I think the lesson was worthwhile.  I think I am quite good at saving money but I need to
do more jobs around the house, so I can save up for things that I really want like phone
or a laptop.

BYE!!!

MISSION FAIR!

Last Friday was Mission Fair! I was in a group called The Carnival Express, in my group was Catherine R, Abby, Siena, Kelsey, Olivia, Tyler, Charlotte, Ethan, Grace T, Amelia and Me!
We sold lots of food and did lots of games.


What went well?
I think that we had lot of great teamwork and we sol almost all of our food. Our stalls were
 really busy so we managed to collect a lot of money.


What were some things you would do differently?
We probably should have bought more bags of fruit bursts because at mine and Catherine's
game we started to run out so we had to improvise with something else.  I don't think I would change anything else really.


This years Mission fair was really fun but I'm sad that It's my last :( 


BYE!!!!!☺☻

ANZAC Day

What I have learned about WW1 and Gallipoli:

I know that the war started in 1914 and finished in 1918 and that many many people died.

The ANZAC's landed on a beach on April 25, they had to travel up a very steep hill to get to where
they wanted to make trenches.

The trenches were filled with giant rats with diseases.

I liked looking at all the medals and I learnt that the highest medal is the Victorian Cross.

Our enemies were the Germans and the Turkish.

We fought alongside the British.

If you earn medals you wear them on your heart, if they were passed down to you from a family member you wear them on the opposite side, but only on special occasions.

We also watched some videos and learnt about weapons.

On ANZAC Day I went to the Pulse (NZ) vs Swifts (Australia) Netball game.  Before the Game started a man came came out and played the trumpet then a woman said a speech about those who have died in war.  After the game I went to the Light show and it was so amazing. There was a slideshow showing videos and photos from the war, I took lots of pictures

I think it is a good idea to commemorate this event so everyone can remember all the soldiers who had fought and died in Gallipoli as it wasn't a nice place to be in.

Camp☺

As all of you know, the year 8's went to camp last week.
 OMG it was amazing! It was nothing like I expected.

The things I found the most challenging were probably the canoeing, because Catherine and I were the Power so our arms ached quite alot.  Also, doing the 'Surfboard' obstacle on the high ropes, because they were really wobbly and it was a bit hard to swing from one surfboard to another.

Some of the things I found easy were the Flying Fox because you just take a few steps and then woooosh, you're gone.  The other thing I found a bit easy was the Bridge Jumping.  I'm not that afraid of heights but it was just the coldness of the water I was worried about.  Abby just said 1, 2, 3 and we jumped.  It was sooooo COLD!

It was nothing like what I expected because I've heard stories about previous camps, but this was different.  In a good way.

My proudest moment was probably finishing the 'Surffboard' obstacle on the High Ropes with Abby.
My favourite moment was definitely the Flying Fox because it had such an amazing view of a giant rocky river with lots of trees and plants and it felt like I was flying!

BYE!!!☺☻

Gruop working skills

Cricket Project
 A few weeks ago, Mr Cunningham put us into groups of 2 or 3 and we also got given
 a country to research. I got paired up with Liam and our country was Sri Lanka.
We had to make a poster and a power point full of research about the country. 
I think we worked really well and we both did our fair share of work, but we were looking
at the board a bit too much.  Next time I think that we should maybe go through it once or
twice before presenting it so we can memorise it better.


Maori Art Project
For our art, we had to get into groups of 3 or 4, find a Maori legend and make an artwork
based on the legend.  I went with Olivia and Grace T and we chose Maui and the giant fish.
We drew Maui and his brothers on a canoe fishing up the North island.  Then we drew a Taniwha and lots of colourful fish.  We're working really well together and nothing has gone wrong.


BYE!!!!

What I've Learnt!

Country:

I think on Wednesday, my Dad told me that until 1972 (when he was a kid) 

Sri Lanka was known as Ceylon.  Wait, so Sri Lanka wasn't actually called

Sri Lanka back then. Cooool!☻

Person:

Earlier in the week, Lottie told us that she was reeeaaallly allergic to eggs and 

nuts.  She said that if she eats eggs or nuts that her throat would swell up

and I think her tongue will swell up to.  Lottie showed us how to use an Epipen

 (I think that's how you spell it).  You have to stick the pen into your thigh, but

 she was using was using it on an orange. You have to hold it there hard for 10 

seconds there wil also be a clicking noise which is the needle going into your skin 

letting out some fluid.  After 10 seconds you take the pen out and give her this medicine 

thing.

I thought it was really brave of Lottie to tell the class.

BYE!!!☻☺

What I'm interested in

I've been interested into quite a lot of things lately, but I don't think I can do all of them.  So here are just 2:

Swimming
I swim for Karori Pirates and I love it!  I started swimming when I was about 6 months old (I think?) with my mum.  I then kept on swimming until I was 8.  I think I was about to move up a group but we had to move to Tonga.  I was guttered.  Obviously in Tonga I couldn't do swimming except for going in the ocean sometimes, or going to my friends' houses because they lived in a compound and they had a pool.  We would often do some races though.  At about 10, I moved back from Tonga then at 11 I started at Karori Pirates.  I like it because I have friends outside of school and it's good to have people to hang out with after school.  I also like swimming in some competitions like Wellington champs and just ones at our pool.

YouTube
I absolutely adore YouTube♥  Some of the people I watch are Zoella ( she has a book called Girl Online and it's amazing!), ThatherJoe, PointlessBlog, Marcus Butler, Tyler Oakley and the SHAYTARDS.  All of the youtubers are sooooo amazing, but when they upload videos and I never get to watch them, I get annoyed.
But I recommend you check out these channels.


Those were just 2 things that I have been interested in lately!

BYE☺

2015!!!

I can't believe it's 2015! Last year went by so fast.  This week, one of our tasks was to write a blog post on the first few weeks we have been at school and maybe if there were any challenges.

I was looking forward to starting school this year because I knew that we were gonna be the oldest, also because we could go on camp.  The good things are that the year 8's are way better at dodgeball this year, we also know how the task system works also that we have to be responsible and manage our time well.  I wouldn't wanna change anything about the class or school, really.

WELCOME BACK EVERYONE!!!
BYE! :)