Happy Birthday Shivam!!

Yesterday my class had the privilege to experience a lunch at a restaurant called Greens. Greens is an Indian and Thai restaurant. We got to go to Greens to help celebrate a boy in our classes birthday his name is Shivam. His parents own Greens and they were generous enough to let us dine for free. 

We sat in booths that were decorated beautifully and we got to try butter chicken, steamed rice and naan bread. Even before we received our food they smelt mouth-watering. When we were given our food it tasted delicious and the chicken just melted in my mouth.

If that wasn’t enough we got an awesome surprise when we finished. We we're all extremely shocked to see a full trolley of easter eggs rolling in and they gave every single student an easter egg box. 

To say an awesome thank you we sang two Waiata because we thought that would be a little bit better than individual cards.

Also to say Happy Birthday to Shivam because without him we would not be able to experience this Angela and Jade presented a card while we sang Happy Birthday. 

Have you got the privilege to celebrate someone’s birthday in a restaurant?

My New Understandings In Te Reo

In Te Ngahere we got to try out an online site called Education Perfect. We use this site to help improve our Te Reo Maōri pronunciation. For this site there are different levels that you can choose from. First we tried Te Arāpu (The Maōri Alphabet) and to practice it we were given letters than we listened to the example on our chromebooks and repeated it back.     

I think this site is extremely helpful because it gives you a clear example of what each work or sound should sound like. Also personally I think it has helped a lot with my pronunciation of Maōri Kupu.

Have you ever tried Education Perfect?

Converting Improper Fractions To Mixed Numbers

The past few weeks my class have been learning to evidence our maths work. To evidence our work we create DLOs that clearly shows every step of a maths strategy that you have been learning. The strategy I’ve been learning this week is how to convert improper fractions into mixed numbers. I think that this strategy is the best for me because it helps me get the right answer, it’s quick and efficient. I thought that this strategy would be a lot more challenging to learn because at first the instructions were a little unclear to me. They were unclear to me because the formula that I was given didn’t have the right instructions. Do you know how to convert improper fractions into a mixed number? 

Tidying Our Drives

Yesterday in Te Ngahere for cybersmart we learnt to tidy our drives and sort every loose doc,presentation and drawing into the appropriate drive.  To have a tidy drive you must have all your docs named and filed. 

First we were given a John’s messy drive and we had to sort each of his unfiled doc into the right files. To do this we got a makeshift drive that had files and we had to sort every doc with a name. The untitled projects we had to put a red circle around them and the ones with no name had a blue circle around them. Next we proceeded to clean our drives, to do this we trashed any unnecessary projects and filed the rest. By the time you’ve finished your drive should look tidy and you should have no unfiled projects. 

I actually found this activity very easy because the instructions we were given we're really straightforward and clear.

What does your school do for cybersmart?

Team Building Challenge

On Monday 22th of March our class were doing a team building challenge. A team building challenge is an activity that helps to improve your classes ability to work together in a group. 

For this challenge we had 3 people in a group and we had to try replicate a picture that the teacher drew. In your group you have two runners and one drawer. The drawer isn’t allowed to see the picture but the runners are. Only one runner is allowed to look at the picture at a time and they have to describe the picture the best they can to the drawer. But the runners aren't allowed to touch the paper. Who ever had the most accurate picture wins. We got two attempts for this. 

The first try I was a runner, what I found hardest was probably trying to fight the temptation and not touch the paper but to help I just kept both of my hands behind my back. The really challenging part was definitely trying to get the instructions through to my drawer but instead the instructions got louder instead of clearer.

 The second attempt something we found easier was that we used the lines to give a specific instruction on where to draw a certain part of the image. The challenging part this time was to try to stay inside while the other runner was outside so I could see the image again.

Have you ever participated in a team building challenge?

Attempt#1

Attempt #2

Converting Fractions To Decimals

In Te Ngahere we have been learning to evidence our maths work. First we had to pick a maths goal which is a maths strategy we would like to learn. To pick a strategy you had to browse through a site called maths hub than pick something you would like to learn. I chose to learn how to convert fractions into decimals. Next we had to create a DLO that explains every step of that strategy clearly. When I started making this DLO I thought that explaining how to convert fractions to decimal would be difficult because I couldn't find the words to explain each step clearly. After I finished I found that making this DLO was a lot of fun because I made it about a strategy I knew I was confident with. Have you ever learnt to convert fractions todecimals?

How I Learnt to Measure Accurately

This term in Te Ngahere we have been learning how to use a measuring tool accurately. For this task we were given objects around our school that we had to estimate the measurements of then actually measure them properly to see who had the most accurate estimate.

 To measure accurately you must hold the tool straight and against a flat surface, you must also measure from the “0” line, from one side of your object to the other. 

The part I found easy about this was the measuring part because I had a good idea of how to measure accurately already. The difficult part was definitely trying to figure out how to explain How I measure accurately clearly.

What around your school do you think involves measurement?

Comparing Food Webs

The last few weeks in Te Ngahere we have been learning about the food webs in our forest.  For this we had to compare our food web to the teachers food web. The way the arrows point are important because it represents where the energy will be transferred to. 

The first difference I noticed was that the teachers arrows were color coded based on what every producer eats. The next thing I noticed was that the teachers have that the stoat eats 8 of the species on the food web while mine only says they eat 2. The last thing I noticed is that the teacher’s food web includes four more things for what the possum consumes.

 I thought that the easy part of this was figuring out where the arrows point. The difficult part was trying to figure out what each consumer eats.

What do you think is one of the main producers in these food webs?

A Quick Guide To Mutualism

The past few weeks in Te Ngahere we have been learning about the mutualistic relationship between Birds and Trees. A mutualistic relationship is a relationship where two organisms benefit from each other. For this activity we had to read two texts and write down how both birds and trees benefit from each other in an ecosystem. 

Birds benefit from this relationship because trees produce berries which is what birds eat. Trees benefit from birds because they help trees with pollination and dispersal.

 I thought that this activity was interesting because I got to learn about something I never knew before. The part I found interesting was realising how much trees rely on birds.

Do you know any other organisms that have a mutualistic relationship?

My Anxious Experience In A Tsunami

Last Friday our whole school’s day was suddenly changed because we were one of the schools affected by the tsunami warning. At 9:51 our schools morning bell rang and we all evacuated up Totara Heights. A lot of people were anxious  because they were worried about their families but then we were told that Paihia and Waitangi have been evacuated that put their minds at ease. Since we left school quickly we weren’t able to grab our bags so we had no  food or entertainment but still I felt grateful that we had somewhere safe to be.

 Unfortunately that day the sun decided to be scorching hot but we had huge trees there

which covered our whole class. 

Since we stayed up there for hours to keep our minds off what was happening around us

we played quizzes but we had to produce a weird noise as a buzzer to be picked. Also

there were generous people that  offered to grab all of our school bags and we were even 

given delicious sausage sizzles. Once we had our bags and we were settled it finally felt

like it was gonna be okay. Everyone was overcome with relief when we finally got the

alert that we could finally go back to school. 

Honestly I felt extremely calm through the whole day knowing that a lot of my family lives in land. I also tried my best to stay calm because I knew there were people freaking out and over reacting wasn’t going to help them 

Was your school affected by the tsunami?

Sharing My Experience At Technology

In Te Ngahere the year 7’s and 8’s have the privilege of going to Moerewa school for Technology. In Tech there are two classes, cooking with Whaea Dot and wood work with Mr. E.  I’m a year 8 so we got to start term 1 with cooking and that class is with Whaea Dot. 

This week we got to make Pinwheels which are really similar to pizza but that are all rolled up like a spinwheel hence the name Pinwheels. Something we had to first do which was crucial to making any thing in the kitchen was to read the instructions. We also hardly had any instruction so we had to listen carefully to what Whaea Dot said.

My group thought that making Pinwheels would be difficult because the picture we we're shown as an example looked really complex. We ended up finding it really easy and when we  finished my group ended up really proud of the final result.

Do you think you would be able to make Pinwheels?