Science fair

This term for our homework we had to do a science project. This is A Self Assessment on how well I think that I did.

Take Action For Air Mindmap

This Term our inquiry topic was Take Action For Air. This is a mindmap of all the things that I learned in this topic.

cross-country

This is my evaluation on the cross-country.

Buddies

Every Friday we go to our buddy class which is Room 5. Every time we go there we test our buddies on their spelling words and then read to them or do another fun task with them.

My buddy is Rose. I really enjoy going to our buddy class because I enjoy playing with little kids and I have a lot of fun with them. My favourite time so far was when our buddies came over to our class and we did an artwork together. I also enjoyed helping them get their portfolio's sorted.

Clay

I was lucky enough to be able to work with clay with Mrs Leniston and some other students and do some more clay work with them. Mrs Leniston showed us how to make pinch pots and then stick two of them together with very muddy and soft clay to make a sort of body. We then showed us how to make different things to stick onto the pinch pots to make a funny and crazy creature. we then stuck everything onto the pinch pots and made a hole into them to let the air out incase we are going to fire them so that they don't explode. This is my creation.

Mask making

At the beginning of the year, we made some comedy and tragedy masks. First, we had to chose what kind of mask we want to make,(comedy or tragedy) and then we made the shape of the face using clay. We then molded the clay to make the the facial expretions, eyes and mouth. After we finished moulding it we put gladwrap over the clay and then used papier mache to cover it. At the end we painted it to make wonderful looking masks. This is my mask.

Handwriting Sample

Every year we do a handwriting sample to see how neat our handwriting is and and if we have improved. Tis is my handwriting sample.

Basic facts

At maths, every now and then, we do a 4 minutes basic facts test. Because we are focussing on division at the moment, all of the questions in the test are division. This is a graph of my results so far.

self report

Every year we do a self report. In the self report we write how we think we did through out the year. This is mine.

Technicraft evaluation

Every Wednesday afternoon we go to technicraft. There are 5 rotations sewing, cooking, woodwork, French and Ukelele. We have six sessions on each activity before we go to the next session. Above is my technicraft evaluation.

Young Leadership Day

Young Leadership day

On Monday 28th of May some of the year 7 and 8 students whent on the bus to go to the young leadership day 2012 in Wellington. The young leadership day was held in the Michael Fowler Centre in Wellington. we had five main people talk to us about how to spark our portential.

The five main speakers were:

Name                       Main Topic

Nick Tuitasi                     - Good leaders know how to spark potential.

Jamie Fitzgerald            - Never let performance get in the way of safty. how much effort   

                                            have you put in?

Cassandra Treadwell   - Believe in yourself and others will too.

Cam Catkoen                 - Dream big and achieve more.

Dave Atkinson                - Stick up for what is right. Choose good friends. Live for others.

Cam Catkoen believed in himself, set himself a goal and never gave up. Cam was born with cerebal palsey and the docters told his perents that he will never be completly indapendent. He enjoyed doing sport and when he was little he did the spoon and egg race. His dad took out his chewing gum put it on the spoon with the egg ontop and told him that he could achive whatever he wanted. His friend later told him to do the 100 meter race which gave Cam motivation to become a professional runner. Cam Catkoen has represented new Zealand in Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Cam has also overcome his biggest fear: public speaking and has made speeches in front of thousands of people.

I think a good leader is somebody who does the right thing and is really kind to other people. A leader also puts others first and may sometimes be the one who is in the background and may not seam like a leader from the outside. A leader doesn't have to be the loud one who gives commands either but can be the one who gives supportive feedback and comments to the people around them. Do the right thing and be kind and you can be a leader to others.

If I knew that I couldn't fail I would go to the poor places all over the world, build houses, schools, orphanages, clinics and a lot more. I would also do many more things to help the people who are more unfortunate than I am. 

The Carbon Cycle

What is the Carbon Cycle?

Did you know that you are part of a cycle that is important to every living thing on earth? Carbon is a natural element that is always on the move. It can be found anywhere on earth and also in all living things like: plants, animals and humans. The carbon cycle is the movement of carbon between different places.

every living thing on earth breathes. Humans, animals and plants, they all breath in their own way, and this is called respiration.  Animals and us humans, all breath in oxygen, use it in our body, and then breath out carbon dioxide which is a different form of carbon. We can not see carbon dioxide because it is a gas, just like oxygen, but it is around us all the time.

Now, wouldn’t you think that because we all breath out carbon dioxide, that at sometime soon, there wouldn’t be any oxygen left? Well that probably would happen if it wasn’t for plants. Instead of breathing in oxygen like we do, plants breath in the carbon dioxide that animals and humans have breathed out. The plants then use the sunlight to turn the carbon dioxide into energy and then release oxygen for us to breath once again. This is called Photosynthesis. The plants clean our atmosphere and provide us with oxygen, so that we never run out.

When plants or any other living thing dies on land and in the water, they start to rot and decompose. When something decomposes, it breaks down and becomes part of the soil. When something decomposes, all of the carbon dioxide that got stored by the body gets released back into the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide.

When the dead plants and animals don’t decompose and break down fast enough, they compact and merge into each other. these can then turn into fossil fuels like oil, gas and coal over a very long period of time.

Carbon travels from one place to the next. It is always on the move, from the soil to the air, into plants and to the sea which is called transportation. The Carbon cycle does not have a beginning or end, and it never stops. This is why it is a cycle, and it is a very important part of our life, and without it we wouldn’t be alive today.

By Carlotta

The Water Cycle

WHAT IS THE WATER CYCLE?

Have you ever wondered, why does it rain? How does water get into the clouds? Well, it all has to do with the water cycle. The water cycle is the journey that water takes nearly every day to turn into clouds and come back down as rain.

Because the water cycle never stops it has no real beginning or end. We’ll start with the sea as it makes it easier to understand. Evaporation is when the sun heats up the water from either a puddle, lake or sea and turns it into a gas which rises as small water molecules. We can not see the water molecules because they are so small. Water off plants also turns into gas like the water from lakes, but it is called transpiration.

As the water rises up, cools and meets with other water molecules they start to turn into clouds. There are lots of different types of clouds which form depending on the wether conditions. As the water molecules meet more and more water molecules, the clouds get bigger and heavier. When clouds meet other clouds they sometimes turn into one big cloud.

When the clouds get too heavy because they carry too much water they have to let go of their load. The water molecules will turn into either water droplets, snow or hail depending on the air temperature where the cloud is at the time. This is called precipitation.

Accumulation is when the rain forms or joins a stream, river or goes down a drain and then travels down into lakes or into the sea. Some of the water will form puddles and sink into the ground and then travels through the earth until it either gets to a stream, sea or lake or goes through the process of transpiration and turns into a cloud again.

Water is an amazing substance because it can be in liquid, gas or solid form. It can also help us get electricity, helps us survive and it is reusable. The water is important to every living being and the water cycle gives us water over, and over again so that we never completely run out, and the water cycle will never stop.

by Carlotta and Flynn