Inquiry: P.B.S & Winter Olympics Venn Diagram

This week for inquiry, we were asked to make a Venn Diagram, comparing the differences and similarities of Panmure Bridge School, and the 2018 Winter Olympics. For this activity, I worked with Sanujan, Nickaela, and Brooklyn. I learnt a lot from this activity, the biggest thing being that Panmure Bridge School, and the Olympics share some of the same values! This was surprising, but a great new fact that I had just learnt. A Venn Diagram for anyone who doesn't know, are 2 circles put together, to form 3 sections. The 2 outer sections are the differences between 2 subjects, while the centre is the similarities.

Writing: Chinese New Year | Explanation

This week for writing, our activity was to write an explanation about Chinese New Year. Specifically, how Chinese New Year is celebrated. Although, we were also allowed to write an explanation about a Chinese New Year topic of our own. This was a paired challenge, where you had to work with someone in a different group. So I chose to work with Jonathan. We wrote an explanation on 'How Chinese New Year Began'. An easy topic to settle on, while still including a lot of information to add in. Although, before we could start writing, we needed to plan. We watched a YouTube clip and made notes. We would then with our partner, find more information on our own, just so that we have engough information before we started. Jonathan wrote the explanation and I helped him by asking questions and adding detail to his ideas. After we finished we paired up with another group and gave each other feedback and feed forward.

How Did Chinese New Year Begin?

Chinese New Year is a global celebration, celebrated by millions of people. How did this
greatly celebrated tradition start?

It all began a long time ago, when Nian, a Chinese monster first started attacking villages.
Nian started his or her attack on a small village, scaring the people away, and eating the
animals. This disturbance continued for the next few years, until a wise old man let out the
monsters secret. He began to tell the people about the monsters fears. “Nian can only be
scared by fire, loud noises, and the colour red.”

The people of the village were in awe. They ended up believing the old man, and began to
plan their strategy. The next time the monster arrived, they began to stand up, and light
their flames, and bang on the drums. They wore the colour red, waving red flags at Nian.
Nian was shocked, Nian began to run away, never to return again. The old man was right,
and ever since, Nian had never been seen.

The people began to celebrate their victory. With food, parades, and a lantern festival.
Every year, Chinese New Year will be represented by a new animal. The 12 animals are a
rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, ram, monkey, hen, dog, and pig. Legend has it,
that there was a race between the 12 animals. The winning animals become a
representative of the  Chinese New Year. The following places becoming representatives
for the following Chinese New Years.

Chinese New Year animals are a way to show personality. Depending on the year you
were born, the animal chosen that same year would be the animal you represent.

Jack and Jonathan

Maths: Elective Maths

This week for maths, our activity was about solving problems. This weeks problem was about elecives. It was about finding the amount of people in each elective group. There were 6 to find, but we also needed to figure out how many people had left the school to go to an inter school sports competition. So we needed to change the amount of kids who are left at school to get the correct answers. We then needed to make a DLO showing how we got our answers, and showing our answers. This activity could either be done individually, or with a partner or group. This time, I worked with Carl, and it was a really challenging activity, but on the other hand, really fun to work out. It took Carl and I roughly half an hour to get our answer, and once checked, we found that we got all of our answers and working out correct. All of our working out can be found in the DLO, including the problem as well.

Care Awards: Silver Respect | Getting My Badge

Today at assembly, I got my silver respect badge. To get this badge, I needed to do 5 different activities, and have them checked by a student leader, a teacher, and finally Mr Johnston. Once checked off by a teacher and leader, I needed to book an appointment with Mr Johnston, and explain all of what I did to him. I then needed to wait until assembly, to get my badge, and have my photo taken.

Tech: Pewter Casting | First Session

Today, we had our first session of tech. For tech this term as year 7's, our focus was on Pewter Casting. Pewter, is a type of metal, that can bend easily when thin. It can be melted into a liquid form in about only 1 minute, and dries in about 5. What we did for this tech session, was to think of designs to make a cast out of, and give to someone we respected. We were also given a demonstration by our tech teacher, Mr Grunden. Mr Grunden is a cool teacher, he informs us about what to do, and adds in quite a few jokes when doing so. I really liked this first session, although we didn't do much, it was still fun and exciting to see the pewter casting method in action.

Summer Learning Journey: Prize Annunciation

Today in assembly, Rachel and a friend from the NEXT Foundation, presented the Summer Learning Journey awards, and certificates. This Summer Learning Journey had a lot of participants, and award
recipients, and it also had a lot of challenges and comments. Because of the amount people entering the competition, there were a lot of winners. This time, there were 4 winners! The winners this time were Alex and Mele, both in first, Ofa in second, and Marieta in third. As well as that, there were also spot prizes to top it. So there were over 50 participants, 4 winners, and 3 spot prizes! We all want to thank Rachel, and the rest of the Summer Learning Journey team, and also the NEXT Foundation, for providing us with cool NEXT Foundation T-shirts, for the winners to wear.

Maths: 2014 Auckland Marathon Math

This week for maths, we had to complete 2 hard and easy math problems. These 2 problems were about the 2014 Auckland Marathon, and our goal, was to find the time differences between the winner, and the average runner. The first problem, wasn't too challenging. Although the second problem had some problems. Firstly, the seconds were different from each other, so our math concluded of borrowing, and negative numbers. The way we solved the math is in a DLO, so it isn't necessary to explain what we did to figure it out. For this activity, I worked with Alex, and Julian, and got our worked checked by Ms Kirkpatrick.

Reading: Making A Summary On The Pathway

This week for reading, our must do was to read, and make a summary of the book, The Pathway. This book was about the inequality of Maori people, compared to the British. It talks about how no law was set in place, and the unfairness of currency trade of the Maori's land. We needed to read this story with a group, and write down a list of vocabulary words that we found crucially important. We then needed to choose 6 of those words, which could sum up the story with a couple of sentences. We then needed to as a group, write a summary of the story, with those 6 words, and make a DLO out of it. For the DLO, I worked on it with Sanujan. We both loved the concept of this activity, and enjoyed creating our own Maori Cheif, and a can of nails.

Kiwi Can: Our First Session

Today, we had our first Kiwi Can session. This term, our focus on Kiwi Can is encouragement. Specifically, encouraging our peers. Our teachers this term, are Lilly, and Matt, two great Kiwi Can leaders. Because this was the first Kiwi Can of the year, of course we needed to introduce ourselves. So individually, one by one, we announced our name, and a hobby that we enjoy out of school. Once that was out of the way, we got into our energiser. What we had done for this, was a game called, "Change Places If..." The rules are simple, everyone stands in a circle, with one person in the middle, and that person will then say the name of the game, followed by an action. For example, "Change places if you brushed your teeth today!" Once said, everyone who had done that, would move to a new position. If you are the last one to move, you go to the middle of the circle. Then it's your turn to say the name of the game. We then talked a little bit about encouragement, and explained how to play the next game. This game was called 10 Second Tag. For this, get into 2 teams, and put bibs on to show what team you're in. One team has a ball, and then other team has to run. If you have a ball in your hand, you can move your feet. The only thing you can do, is pass the ball, and tag the other team with the ball. If you are tagged, you are out. The game goes on for ten slow seconds, and by the end, you count how many people were tagged. Then switch over, and play again. Whatever team has the most eliminations, wins. I really liked this weeks Kiwi Can session, we learnt a lot about encouragement, but had a lot of fun at the same time. Hopefully next week is even better.

Writing: Making An Explanation About Our Morning Routines

This week for writing, we needed to write an explanation. This explanation needed to be either of our morning routine, or our experience of walking to school. For this activity, I chose to do it on my morning routine instead, because my 30 minute long walk to school wouldn't make an interesting text. This explanation needed to consist of 5 different parts. An introduction, 3 paragraphs, and a conclusion.

My Morning Routine

Key Points:

• Wake Up

• Make Breakfast

• Prepare Everything

Each morning, I have to prepare myself for school. When doing so, I have quite a few things to do before I leave.

Firstly, I wake up, and get dressed. I then make my bed, put deodorant on, and make sure my computer is charged for the day. After checking, I refill the kettle, and start boiling some water. While it is boiling, I brush my hair, and wash my face. Although I don’t shower in the morning, I’ve just grown up showering at night before I go to sleep.

Once I’ve finished washing my face and brushing my hair, I then head into the kitchen, and make breakfast. After breakfast, I go to the toilet, and brush my teeth. After that, I put on my shoes. Before I leave, I first do the dishes, and hang the wet tea towels up on the line. I would then wait until 8:00 to leave.

If it isn’t 8:00 already, I check to see if I have everything I need to bring, or to do, and then lay down and wait until I have to leave.

Finally, once it is 8:00, I leave to walk to school. Then my morning routine is done, and my day begins.

Inquiry: Winter Olympic Mascot Venn Diagram

This week for inquiry, we had to make another Venn Diagram. Although this one, needed to be comparing two Winter Olympic mascots. One mascot that we had to compare, was Soohorang, the 2018 Winter Olympic mascot. Luckily, we could choose any other Winter Olympic mascot to compare it to. So the mascot that my group chose was Neve and Gliz, the 2006 Snow and Ice mascots. You may see that on the right have side of the Venn Diagram, at the bottom, it says "Cut Our By Jack And Sanujan". The reason as to why that's there, is because the original Soohorang picture also had the 2018 Winter Paralympic mascot as well. So what Sanujan and I did was cut the background out, to make the picture, a png.

Inquiry: Winter Olympics Venn Diagram

This week for inquiry, we needed to make a Venn Diagram. The Venn Diagram needed to compare the first ever Winter Olympics in 1924, to the modern Winter Olympics. A Venn Diagram is 2 circles put together, with an oval in the middle. On the left and right side, there would be differences between two different things, and in the middle, there would be the similarities of the two.

Silver C.A.R.E Award: Respect | Demonstrating Respect With Pictures

Today, I did my final Silver Respect C.A.R.E Award challenge. For this challenge, we needed to take photos of us being respectful. We then needed to put the pictures onto a google drawing, or presentation, and add a description of both, what we're doing in the picture, and how you can do the same. The amount of pictures that I took was 5, and I took them with a Canon Ixus 185 Powershot Camera.

Silver C.A.R.E Awards: Respect | Picture Collage Of PBS

Today, I did a C.A.R.E Award activity for respect. For this activity, we needed to make a collage of PBS. A collage is a series of pictures of the same category, put together. Although, now that the week has just finished, I decided to instead draw pictures of my experience when going to school. You can see in the first picture that I'm walking to school with my bag on, the next picture is of me working on my computer, and the final picture is of me playing handball at lunch and morning tea. I really liked this activity. I got to show my art, my perspective of an average day, and made an actual collage for the first time so far. This activity took roughly half an hour to complete, and I think I did relatively well in the end.

Silver C.A.R.E Awards: Respect | Making Dinner For Your Family

Wednesday night, I did a respect C.A.R.E activity. For this activity, we needed to make, and serve dinner to our family. So what I made, was a bacon and egg pie. To make this dish, you need bacon, egg, 4 squares of pastry, milk, tomato, mixed herbs, olives, capsicums, and salt and pepper. First, spray cooking spray onto tray, and apply pastry to the bottom off a tray. Next, place extra pastry half way up the sides of the tray. Thirdly chop up all ingredients, and sprinkle on pastry. After this, crack 6 eggs, and spread it's contents around the pastry. Next, place salt and pepper over ingredients, and add a top layer of pastry. Squash top layer of pastry with bottom, to join it all together. If there is any leftover pastry, you can cut it into small pieces, and decorate the top of your dish. After that, brush some milk over the top of your pastry, and put it in the oven for 35 - 45 minutes at 190 - 200 degrees. Make sure to check it every once and a while, and once done, serve it, and eat up. Also, try adding a side of carrot and cucumber. Now you're all done.

Silver C.A.R.E Awards: Respect | A Thank You Letter

Yesterday, I wrote a thank you letter to Mrs Anderson. I had done this because she really did help me a lot, and I wanted to thank her. Although a small bit of it was because it was a Care Award activity, I still did it to thank her. How she had helped me, was by explaining where to put my Care activities once I had finished, and how to inform her that I'd completed a challenge.

Silver C.A.R.E Award: Respect | Making A Brochure About PBS

Yesterday, I finished a C.A.R.E award activity. The activity that I did was to make a brochure about working at PBS, and this activity was for my Respect badge. For this brochure, I had 3 segments. 1 having the question, what's the perks of PBS, with my answer. The second having the question, how well does everyone get along, with my answer. Ending with the question how the students treated. I really liked this activity, it gets children showing their opinion of school, and really sparks their creativity.

Writing: Remembering Our Summer Holiday In 7 Sentences

Today for writing, we needed to reflect a moment in our summer holidays. We were then given a template, with different human senses, and had to morph the senses into sentences about the event we chose to reflect. Once completed, we needed to show our work to a teacher, and illustrate the situation. The moment that I chose to reflect was when I went to a music store to get an amp with my guitar. I really liked this writing activity, and it really did get my imagination going wild once we had started illustrating.

Remembering our summer holiday

L.I. - Writing to recount

Writing using language features to engage readers

Complete these sentences about an event over the summer holiday. Don’t tell us what the event was just give us
enough information that we can know for ourselves.

I heard the ring as I walked through the door “RING”

I heard the instruments strumming, followed by a charming sound of an angel singing.

I saw many different shaped objects surrounding the room, like bees defending their hive.

I felt the vibrations from the differently pitched tones.

I felt each string get thinner and thinner the further I ran my fingers down the instrument, like a blunt knife getting
sharper and sharper.

I wondered if one day I could perform with my new hobby, and make a living out of it in the future.

Although I wondered how long this hobby would continue, I just continued to experiment with what I had.

Illustration: