Science madness

Today for science with Mrs. Tofa I learnt that to prevent the apple skin from turning brown you could dip the apple into vinegar and you could also put lemon juice on the apple. We also created scones with different types of liquid to create carbon dioxide so the scones could rise. We had to choose out of Sprite, L&P, water and vinegar to make the scones rise. 14 other students and I picked L&P and when we finished cooking and baking the scones it tasted delicious.

Bread Making for Science

In science with Mrs. Parker I learnt that the if you leave bread dough to rise, it is going to go bigger and when it is cooked there are a lot of air holes. If you don't leave the bread dough to rise then their are going to be less air holes and it is going to be less dense. I enjoyed baking bread with the rest of my classmates and I learnt a lot of information I did not know. Click to enlarge.

Scientific Terminology

Today Mrs. Raj did a few scientific experiments. After the experiments, I learned about Condensation, Evaporation, the three states of matter, the water cycle and the three forms of water. These are some of the definitions of the words we learnt about.(definitions from the web)

 Condensation-water that collects as droplets on a cold surface when humid air is in contact with it.

Evaporation-Evaporation is defined as the process of a liquid changing into a gas. An example of evaporation is water turning into steam.

Water Cycle- the cycle of processes by which water circulates between the earth's oceans, atmosphere, and land, involving precipitation as rain and snow, drainage in streams and rivers, and return to the atmosphere by evaporation and transpiration.

The three forms of water
Water- a colorless, transparent, odorless, tasteless liquid that forms the seas, lakes, rivers, and rain and is the basis of the fluids of living organisms.

Ice-frozen water, a brittle, transparent crystalline solid.

Steam-the vapor into which water is converted when heated, forming a white mist of minute water droplets in the air.

The three states of matter

Solid-firm and stable in shape; not liquid or fluid.

Liquid- a substance that flows freely but is of constant volume, having a consistency like that of water or oil.

Gaseous- relating to or having the characteristics of a gas.

My Family Bonding time

Last year for Christmas, my parents bought us a lot of presents. At first it was a secret until we found our parents sneaking the presents underneath the Christmas tree. On a cold, Christmas morning one by one my brothers and sisters woke up and gathered around the Christmas tree that was near the door in my house. Everyone thought for a moment that we could just take the presents, but NO my mum and dad thought of a terrific idea. To get your present you need sing or dance to a Christmas song, I thought maybe it was a great idea so we could bring the Christmas spirit,  later in the day we had a water battle and a great delicious feast.

After a while everyone chose a partner to sing with, Mateaki(my older brother) paired up with his twin Sione(other older brother). They sang Santa Claus is comin to town, everyone bursted into laughter and fell silence when they finished singing. My parents awarded them with their gifts, they received 2 presents each, in one of the boxes was a nerf gun and in the other was a star wars light saber, my older brothers are pretty immature so that why they received those presents.(just to let you know it’s a fake light saber)

Later on  was My sister Sia and I, we sang Jingle Bell Rocks. “Jingle Bell Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell Rock” We stopped for a second til we remembered the rest of the lyrics. The only silly people who were laughing was my smaller siblings. They stared at me for 10 seconds before pointing at my face and laughing. As we finished, I felt relieved that it was going to be over and that we will receive our presents. Before we were given our presents, my parents pulled a HMM Let Me Think Face  and finally gave us our presents. I received a smiggle pack which had a long rubber, a pencil which had different colours in the inside and Sia also received a smiggle pack too. Our other present was was in a medium sized box, as I ripped the wrapping, I saw a purple glowing book. I ripped the rest of the wrapping off and screamed “AHHHHH, Thank you mum and dad I love it”. Yes I did scream because what I received was a science book that tells you how to make glow in the dark goo.

Moments later, everyone received their presents , even my little baby brother who got a teddy bear with bells on the collar it was wearing. As soon as our parents left to go Christmas shopping, Mateaki and Sione got out their nerf water guns and sprayed us with water. All the children ran to get the water balloons that our parents bought for us. I grabbed the hose and a bucket to fill up the water balloons. Everyone was ready for battle, once we hit the enemy with the water balloons  we retrieved their water guns. Everyone was having loads of fun. Our parents came home but they weren't mad, my dad even joined in. He threw water balloons at me and I called out “Revenge”. My dad and my older brothers were jumping on the trampoline, while my siblings and I came up with a plan to get my dad back. All of a sudden a bunch water balloons hit us like guns shooting at us. As soon as the water balloons stopped firing at us we stood up in terror, as I stood up I saw the cheeky faces of my dad and brothers. I pretended to cry, I ran into the house and so did my younger siblings. They laughed outside for about a minute before feeling sorry for us and then PLOP SPLASH AND Bloop, the sound of the water balloons hitting them was a sound of victory for us. My mum called out to us that we have to shower and help make dinner.

As I waited for everyone to hurry up and get out of the shower I jumped on my older sister soaking her. Lucinda(My older sister) laughed and told me that “You're so wet Luisa, go dry off and then shower, I replied quickly “sure”. After I had a shower everyone had wet hair and was helping my mum to cook the food. For dinner we had roast turkey and Pork. We also had traditional tongan food, we had Ota Ika, lu and raw fish. The food was delicious, I got full eating all the food, I even tried to stick all of the food into my mouth at once. The day was over, the sun slowly set and my family was relaxing in the living room watching the Christmas t.v shows that were coming on.

I knew that I would always remember the day that I really bonded with my family and the day I had fun spending time with my family. I loved playing the water battle and eating the delicious food my mum made. I would have to say, that that was the best Christmas ever.

Maths Reflection

In Maths Today with Mrs. Parker I learnt how to use a new strategy using multiplication. For example we were given the equation 40 times 8, to brake it down Tamati and I, took the 10 out of 40 and worked out what 4 times 8 was and the answer was 32. Then we added the 10 back to the answer 32 which made 320. Instead of using repeating addition we used multiplication to  the equation a simple and easy way which is a stage 6 stragety that we used

Foot and Height measurement

I enjoyed doing maths with Mrs. Raj, we learnt how to measure our feet in cm and measure our height in meters with a  measuring tape. We used a standard measurement to measure our height and feet which was using the measuring tape and ruler. We also used a non standard measurement to estimate how many times our height is to our foot length.  To enlarge this foot please click on it to make it bigger, Thank you very much.

Fascinating Digital Art Work

Today I enjoyed doing art with Mrs. Raj, we used Sumo Paint to create digital art work. I drew my own unique flower with red and black lily pads surrounding the flower. I also created another flower which represents my heart and my favourite colours all combined. I used contrasting colours and made my picture beautiful.

Our 4 day weekend

Last week we a had a 4 day weekend for all the Glen brae Students. After Friday our 4 day weekend began and we came back to school on Wednesday. You must be thinking why we had a four day weekend, well here it goes. We had a 4 day weekend because, on Monday it was the Queen's Birthday and on Tuesday it was teachers only day, where all the teachers learned something new. During our 4 day weekend, we had a family reunion, read a spooky mystery book, barbecue and talked to my friends at my old school which I hadn't seen in a year and a half.

Firstly, on the first day of the weekend, we went to a family reunion from my dad's side of the family. We went to our uncle’s house which was in a place in Pakuranga. When we arrived at our uncles house we knew straight away that their house was going to be packed. As soon as we entered the house, we saw all our cousins, aunties and uncles. My dad was the second oldest of his brothers so he always acted like he was in charge. My uncle, Ilaisa played for the Tongan rugby union team and used to play for Counties Manukau and Bay of plenty but he retired and is now living happily, he was sitting with my other uncle Maasi. While my dad was bossing his brothers around, my dad’s mum was saying a prayer for the food and prayed that we may all have a bright future. My favourite part of the visit was getting to know some of my family members better and eating the food that was flooding  the tables that were set. I had a fun at the family reunion, there were parts when I got emotional, when Sia (my dad’s mum) talked about her journey to China and that she was going to miss us. Maasi, dropped Sia to the airport as everyone else followed closely and wished her good luck on her new job. Going to this family reunion was important for my family and my dad’s because since my dad’s mum lives in Tonga, my family is not able to travel to Tonga because some of us don’t have passports.

The next day, we had a barbecue at my cousins house. Inside their house, it was chilly until they turned on their heater. My dad and the others were getting the barbecue set ready while my mum and the other mums were seasoning the meat. All the children were playing in the driveway until, I responsibly told them to move into the yard where it is very safe. But as soon as the kids heard the word “FOOD”, they froze for a second and ran into the house. I entered the house as the smell of chicken hit my nose, all the parents yelled “come on kids, the food is ready”. My sister was setting the plates, forks and spoons on a table separated from the others.The first thing I put on my plate was Potato Salad, then a whole lot of sushi and other kind of foods. I loved eating the food(especially the sushi) and playing around with my little cousins. We left the my cousins in a hurry, because my dad didn't want to miss any rugby matches that were coming on the t.v. Spending time with my relatives is important to my family and I because sometimes we need to bond with them because we hardly see them.

While my family was watching a rugby match, I didn't want to waste my time lying in my bed, doing nothing so I closed my eyes and picked a book from my book collection. The book I had in my hand was called, Mystery of the haunted town. I read the blurb before I continued reading the book, it looked like their were three types of stories in the book. I wondered what kind of mysteries happened in the town  but i'd have read all three stories. The first story was called unfinished business, the second story was called Beauty tricks beast and the lost story House alive. I don’t want to ruin the story by telling you because you’ll have to read it yourself. My favourite story was Beauty tricks beast, it was a funny but scary story and it only took me an hour or so reading the book before going off for a sleep. I felt very tired reading the 1st chapter of the third story but I wanted to finish the story.

The following day, I decided I wanted to catch up with some of my former school mates back at Bailey Road. I got to know that one of the tech teachers moved to another school, which was a teacher that taught my older siblings and next year, they are going to get i pads and get to keep them. The cool thing was that you only had to pay $60.00 for a iPad. We asked some weird questions and sent each other funny emojis. That day I also versed them online on 8 ball pool and Tankionline, on our family computer. I got tired of chatting with my friends so I had a small nap, woke up and read Princess Diaries until I fell asleep again. It was important to catch up with my friends because I hadn't seen them in a long time which made me sad until I heard from them all of a sudden.

My family and I, had a busy weekend, going to a family reunion, a barbecue and chatting away with my friends. I very enjoyed my long weekend and I am looking forward for another big, exciting weekend. My favourite event was catching up with my former school mates, getting to know what was happening back at my former school and just playing with them made me thrilled and happy.

Our Basketball Session

Tuesday 9th of June, was a bright, sunny but cold morning and at 10:20 the room 7 students walked down to the hall to go basketball. As we walked into the hall, room 9 was still playing a game and then they sat in front of their waiting for instructions. We sat in front of coach Maia as she announced our first game.

The first game we played was “In and Out”, coach Maia explained the rules to the game. The point of the game was to, jump in and out from the line when coach Maia says so and if you move off your spot then you are eliminated. First of all the girls went first because coach Maia knew that the boys were going to be silly. The winner of the first game was Amelia, after the first game we had our second game with both girls and boys. The second match was close between Maselino and Tamati but unfortunately there was only one winner and that was Maselino.

Afterwards, coach Maia chose a volunteer which was Trent and also explained the next game we were going to play. The game we play was called Traffic Lights, when Trent turns around then you have to run towards him and when he turns towards the people  they have to freeze. If you move  you have to go back to where you first started. We only had 2 games which was OK with me but not with the rest of the class. There was a lot of cheating in the game which disappointing. Moments later, we moved to our next game.

After, our second game we played octopus but with a twist, the twist was that the taggers had to dribble a ball while tagging the people who they call out. As coach Maia called out “people with no shoes run” and “ Those wearing blue run!!!”. The game was hard for the taggers so coach Maia told the taggers to put the balls away and play the real game of octopus. One by one people were tagged, all the people who were tagged had to stand still acting like seaweeds and most who were

tagged followed the rules. As we played, the time passed on, and it was almost time for morning tea.

At the end of our session, coach Maia explained to us if we can’t listen actively then we won’t play games next week which was a downer for our class. Moments later, our teacher Mrs. Jacob told us to line up quietly and we then headed back to class. I felt very frustrated that some of the students let our class down but also happy that I learnt new skills in basketball.

Annyong mean "HI"

I learnt what both countries have in common and what they have differently. I found it difficult to find out the information both countries have in common.

Photography team challenge

In this challenge I learnt the rule of third strategy on how to take a interesting photo. I found it difficult to set my team mates in the right position.  I am looking forward for another challenge my teacher is going to set for us.

The balloon catastrophe

On a bright, sunny but cold morning, students from Rom 7 planned to play a balloon game so that they could write a recount about it. Mrs.Raj, who is the teacher on Mondays explained the rules of the game we were going to play. She said that she would separate the boys and girls otherwise they all would go silly because part of the game was holding hands. The rules for the game was that Mrs.Raj would throw the balloon in the air while the group holding hands would have to hit the balloon into the air and keep it up in the air but with their hands still linked.

When we lined up and walked to the courts, there were chills that ran up and down my spine because the air around me was cold. The boys went first to do the game, they all got into a circle holding hands. As Mrs.Raj threw the balloon into the air, she quickly told us girls to run a whole two laps around the netball court and watch the boys play afterwards. As soon as we finished running two laps around the court, we watched the boys play their final game as we came. Vainikolo fell down trying to hit the ball, the other boys screamed “Come on, head butt the balloon” and “Hey we need to beat the girls, WOOHOO”. Mrs.Raj stopped the boys after their game and called the girls.

At last it was the girls' turn to play the balloon game, the girls got into a tidy circle holding hands once again. 1, 2, 3 Mrs.Raj counted down as she threw the balloon into the air, as soon as the balloon came whooshing down the girls screamed loudly trying to keep the balloon up high in the air with hands still linked. The balloon, kept going up, backwards but not forward towards the other girls. They tried head butting and kicking the ball but the balloon didn't seem to go high into the air.  I tried to head butt the balloon next to Amelia, but as I came down Amelia jumped which caused her head to hit my jaw. I was OK but my jaw hurt, I still wanted to carry on with the game though. The balloon finally hit the ground, we all sadly said AW!

Mrs. Raj said that we will play one more game. The room 7 girls yelled “Come on girls we could do this”. Once again Mrs.Raj threw the blue balloon into the slightly windy air, instead of head butting and kicking the balloon, all the girls used their linked hands. The balloon kept on going backwards and so so did the girls, they ran backwards heading up towards the field. Down came the balloon,  slowly rushing down as the girls tried to hit but missed. POP!! went the balloon, all the girls got frustrated that the balloon popped because they were doing so well. We knew that the balloon popped because some of the grass had pointy ends. The boys moaned, but happy because they knew that they beat the girls. We go into two even lines heading back to class.

At the end, I felt bummed but happy that we learned a new game. I was also very tired jumping up down trying to hit the balloon and my jaw felt like there was a huge bruise on it, but luckily there wasn't. I had lots of fun, and I think the point of the game was teamwork which the girls did quite well.

Dutch Immigration

I learnt that after world war 2, heaps of people moved to NZ from Holland because after the war in Holland, it wasn't a happy environment. Some of the dutch people are famous like, all black player, Kees Meeuws, retired silver fern player Yvonne Willering and many more.

Actions speaks louder than words

Five POLES of Respect examples for how actions speak louder than words

Property-Respecting property speaks louder than words do because, If I was told a job to do which was to tidy up the tables, I would do the job straight away. By doing it straight away your actions shows that you are reliable, trustworthy and that your actions took control.

Others-  Treating others with respect is louder that your words because ,If I were to tell my mum that I was going to bring my jumper back from school the next day  than I would bring it as soon as I leave school. By keeping my word, it shows that I am to be trusted even though I forget what am supposed to bring.

Learning- Mrs Parker was explaining important instructions to the class, everyone followed the instructions and was on task for most of the time. When we are respecting learning our actions shows that we are are able to get into our work easily and are motivated to learn.

Environment- I volunteered to organise the different kind of rubbish bins, to put the rubbish in the right bin and I kept my word. When we respect the environment, our actions shows that we care for the earth, and all the property around us.

Self- On the mat, we were told to  listen actively by crossing our legs, looking at the speaker and most of us were listening actively.  As we respect ourselves, our actions shows that we know the expectations on the mat and are ready to listen actively.