Week 4 Term 2

This week has been another crazy one. I finally earned my silver badge and I recieve it on Monday. In class for maths, I have learnt how to add and subtract fractions, and how to multiply and divide fractions. For writing, I handed in my report about meerkats and I had no sentence fragments, but I couldn't get rid of my run-on sentences. For reading, I have finished my summary, and I just need to finish my characterization, write a paragraph about the setting, and write a paragraph about the message.

In tech arts we learnt about the famous band called the blues and learnt about all of the different styles they play. Their lyrics are mostly about feeling down and they write about what it was that made them feel blue. We also made up our own song that made us feel blue, and played some songs on the keyboard. At french we had a mathematics test and everything was in french. For example, vingt - douze = huit (20 - 12 = 8), and I got 8 out of ten. We also learnt how to ask and say our birthday. c'est le votre anniversaire (when is your birthday),  Mon anniversaire est le cinq novembre (my birthday is the 5th of november).

This Friday we wre supposed to have winter games from the choice of netball, volleyball, corner ball, footbal, rugby, indoor bowls, karatu ball tag, basketball, and hockey. We ended up not having it because of the weather, so it's postponed to next thursday because we have teacher only day next Friday. We had japanese and we learnt how to say some greetings and how to write them as well. Hello/konnichiwa (こんにちは), good bye/sayonara (さようなら), good morning/ohayo (おはよう), and good evening/konbanwa (こんばんは).

Week 3 Term 2

This week has been pretty busy. I have started writing my report about my chosen animal. We had the choice of bumblebees, giraffes, meerkats, the giant panda, bottlenose dolphin, or hectors dolphin. I had already done the hectors dolphin at primary and so many people were doing the giant panda, so I decided to do meerkats. I have also started my reading and I have finished finding the meanings of words and I now just have to do the summary and the paragraphs about the characters and the message. We had a maths test on decimals and I got all of them right except a couple, so I need to work on those as well.

In tech arts we have started music. We learnt about some different styles of dance and music and then we played the A-train on the keyboard. We also learnt a bit of a song and played it on the piano. We also watched some Irish jigs and learnt about those then made our own piece of music and played it on the keyboard. In extension food we made Mrs Shaw's fail proof carrot and pineapple muffins with cream cheese icing. The muffins contained flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, mixed spices, mashed bananas, crushed pineapple, grated carrot, eggs, and oil. The icing contained butter, cream cheese, icing sugar and you could make it as a cake as well.

On Wednesday and Thursday most of the class was out at music camp. Music camp is held at our school and other intermediates come to us. Their are teachers for each musical instrument and they learn their parts and then all of the instruments together form a song. While they were doing that I was helping Mrs Shaw prepare the burgers for their dinner as it goes from 9.00-7.30 for two days and the students from other schools stay over at the school. I also tidied the library and looked for the old books with the old stamps that are a bit outdated. We didn't have french this week, but hopefully wee will have it next week.

Week 2 Term 2

This week has been great. We have started a new reading task and my story is called, 'A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings,' by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. We also had a maths test for the end of geometry and I got a couple wrong, but I still think I did really well. I handed in my writing and there is now no to-be words, weak and hidden verbs, vague words, sentence fragments, or run-on sentences. For science fair, I think I am going to do something like what is the effect of different fertilisers on plant growth, and I still need to research what different type of fertilisers there are. We also had lacrosse and we learnt some tricks, how to properly hold the lacrosse stick, how to catch the ball, how to throw the ball, how to scoop up the ball when it falls on the ground, and how to score a goal. We also had a game in the end. It was hard and a bit confusing at times, but it was fun learning how to play.

In tech arts, we tasted,felt,and smelt the mystery substances to predict whether it was an acid or a base. We then used red and blue litmus to fully determine what it was. If the red litmus turned blue and the blue litmus stayed blue it was a base, but if the red litmus stayed red and the blue litmus turned red it was an acid. We also used universal indicators to see what number on the PH scale it was. We then made bath bombs with baking soda (base), citric acid (acid), fragrance and then colour. We used both a base and an acid because when you add them together they neutralise, but when you mix them together you don't want the reaction to happen just yet otherwise it won't react in the water. We also had a test before we move onto our next cycle for tech arts. We had some questions about solids, liquids, gases, bases, neutrals, acids, blue litmus, red litmus and basically all the things she taught us this year. After we had done that we also made sherbet with baking soda, icing sugar, citric acid, and food colouring.

In french we learnt days of the week, numbers from 20-31, and what the months where called. The days of the week are Lundi (Monday), Mardi (Tuesday), Mercredi (Wednesday), Jeudi (Thursday), Vendredi (Friday), Samedi (Saturday), and Dimanche (Sunday). Numbers from 20-31 are vingt (20), vingt et un (21), vingt-deux (22), vingt-trois (23), vingt-quatre (24), vingt-cinq (25), vingt-six (26), vingt-sept (27), vingt-huit (28), vingt-neuf (29), trente (30), trente et un (31). The months are janvier (January), Fevrier (February), Mars (March), Avril (April), Mai (May), Juin (June), Juillet (July), Aout (August), Septembre (September), Octobre (October), Novembre (November), Decembre (December). It seems really confusing, but one you've been learning it for a while and you practice it gets easier.

Week 1 Term 2

I am so glad to be back at school. On Monday we had a powhiri, a formal welcoming ceremony, to welcome and introduce our new Japanese teacher, Etsko, and a new teacher for room six. We have started to edit our writing and we are learning how to get rid of run-on sentences, sentence fragments, vague words, to-be verbs, and weak and hidden verbs. I have been able to get rid of everything, but I still need to get rid of three run-on sentences before I hand it in. For maths, I have learnt a bit on geometry, but still have a lot to learn. I have learnt to understand the geometry of points and lines, to understand angle properties, to revise angles and transversal, to find unknown angles with parallel lines, and at the moment, I am learning to revise finding unknown angles in triangles.

In science for tech arts, we had to purify salt water with green food colouring so it was clear drinkable water. There was three particles, salt particles, water particles, and colour particles, but all we wanted was the water particles. In the end, we only ended up with water particles because salt or colour particles couldn't be evaporated, so the salt water was now clear and drinkable. This week Mrs Crowe had to choose two people from our class to participate in extension food, and luckily I was one of them. We made focaccia bread and topped it off with bacon, cheese, and salt. In french, we had a test to see what stage we were at with our french and there was 20 questions. For ten of the questions we have to translate the English to French, and for the other ten we have to translate the French to English. Overall my score was 12 and a half out of 20, but I also got some wrong because of incorrect spelling.

We had Mike King visit our school and talk to us about depression and what he went through as a child. He was always being teased because he had a big head and when he was older became a drug addict and an alcoholic because when he used them it took away pain, sadness, and anger. Eventually, those stopped working and when he was in a angry mood and he was drinking it would just make him even angrier. His friend suggested a councilor and he wasn't sure at first, but when he found out he went and saw one he thought it would be a good idea. His councilor, Stella, discovered that he had depression and he eventually learnt to deal with it. He said it has now been 9 years he has now gone off drugs and alcohol and has learnt to deal with his depression and let people know around him what he is feeling.