Why I want to be School Ambassador Letter

I was selected to compete for the role of Manaikalani Glen brae school ambassador, I and 2 other students(Cherise, Aaliyahna). We were instructed to come up with ideas on how to present information on Pollution, and we were also told to create a letter to Miss. Elia and Mrs .Raj giving reasons why we want to be school ambassador. Here is the letter I had written.

From Luisa(Got to be cyber smart)

28 February.2017

The Principal

Glenbrae School

Dear Miss Elia/Mrs.Raj, I would like to thank you for selecting me to compete for the role of the Manaiakalani ambassador of Glenbrae school. I would love to be the school ambassador for the following reasons, being ambassador gives me a strong reputation which I would need when I attend college.  I believe that this role will open more opportunities and leader roles for me in college, if and when my school teachers learn that I was once an ambassador. This makes things easier for me in college, it would be like having a good resume. If you haven't heard already, Levi R, who was once a school ambassador at Glenbrae school, was offered the role of year 9 ambassador at Tamaki college.  The reason for this was because of his performance last year as school ambassador (His words). This influenced me to work even harder to be school ambassador.

I want to follow in my older sister’s footsteps and become the school ambassador to impress them as well as making them even more proud(Same goes with the rest of my family and principal, as well as my past teachers too, yes! you too Mrs. Raj). Over the years I have watched my older sisters take on important school roles such as school prefect. If I ever want to be a prefect, I would like to start off as an ambassador and carry on from there. I want to prove to my sisters that I am capable of receiving a role such as this. Coming from a family of 13, it is quite hard to grab my parents attention when my other siblings are keeping them busy. I know that when and if I get this special opportunity, I am going to be the centre of attention, which is probably gonna last a week or so but at least the spotlight will be on little old me;).

Being Ambassador gives me an opportunity to get involved in different types of work and develop my skills I have already as well as gain new ones. If I become school ambassador I will gain skills such as

• Public speaking
• Interpersonal skills
• Presentation skills
• Team work
• Networking

I know already that I am an expert (Not quite at that level)at public speaking, working together with other people, networking and communication skills. Though there is still much more for me to learn, which I am hoping that being a school ambassador will accomplish for me.  

Last but not least I would like to be school ambassador because I would become a more better influence to those in school, home and other schools as well. It would give me an good outlook from others, from the littlest of children to students/teachers and other adults. Being a good influence means as much to me then it is to be a school ambassador, just kidding both would mean the world to me. Though I know that I am already a good influence but I just want to expand my learning and skills to become an even greater influence.

I am going to commit to this role and work very hard to represent my school. I will work continuously and willingly to finish my projects and presentations that I would be working on to present, that is if I receive the role. Even if I do not receive the role of school ambassador, I am going support who ever it is representing our school and continue to work very hard on my presentations. If I were to become school ambassador it would be a deeply rewarding opportunity, it would mean the world to me if I become school ambassador. I hope i’ve shared enough information on why I want to be the Glenbrae school ambassador and convinced you that I am fit for this role. I support and agree to whoever you guys choose as school ambassador.

Sincere Regards, Luisa

Room 7 Water Pollution Project

Today Room 7 were working on their science intensive work. Our work is all about Water Pollution. We watched a video about the importance of having water and what would happen if all the water in the world ran out. The video had really shaken me and I realized that water pollution is a severe problem in our world. Without water, us humans will d-hydrate, get sick and not receive the education we deserve. We wanted to make a change in the world, but before that could happen we wanted to start off in our school.

The Room 7 students roamed around the school to see how much rubbish we can collect. We found loads of empty food packets in most of our drains and near our play areas. Mrs. Tofa took several photos of the rubbish we found. I am really sad and disgusted that our school litters a lot, but all of that will change when the children of Glen brae school realize the importance of keeping our school clean.

Moana Presentation

I have been learning how to code using Hour of Code. The skills I have learnt include using the Move Forward blog, Repeat block and the fish block in the code game Moana.

I have shared my moana presentation in my ePortfolio, to visually showcase my work.

I have also shared my Moana presentation i the Year 8  Class Community, as a rewindable learning resource for others

Room 7's Favourite Basketball Team-Bar graph

For maths, we had to gather information on a certain subject from our classmates to find out what they like and dislike. The subject I chose was, Room 7's favourite Basketball teams(NBA). Here is my bar graph on the information I gathered on my some of my classmates favourite basketball teams, I only gathered data from 15 people in my class.

(Click to enlarge bar graph)

The most popular basketball teams in Room 7 is the Golden State Warriors(GSW) and Chicago Bulls.

The least favourite basketball team in Room 7 is Cavaliers, Phoenix and Lakers.

Waipuna Wedding✨

Twas a beautiful day at the Waipuna Hotel, a beautiful scenery and a beautiful bride and groom. In the Waipuna garden was a isle made of tapa cloth and chairs covered in white fabric, sat on by the groom and bride's family.

At the end of the isle was the Groom, Dario, dressed in his navy blue tux, handsome as always. In walked the best man and the groomsmen. Soon the brides maids (Sandra’s 4 sisters)and her maid of honor(her best friend) also walked in. Their elegant navy blue dresses matched Dario’s tux. The cute little flower girls walked in throwing the rose petals on the isle and took a seat in the front row. Later on the alluring bride walked down the aisle hand in hand with her father. Phones were pulled out and flashed continuously at the bride. Sandra looked stunning in her slim white laced dress, with her brunette hair pinned up. My Aunty had never looked so dazzling.

When Sandra reached Dario, the marriage ceremony started, and all I could think of was of how happy I was for my Aunty. The marriage conductor started with the opening statement, then to the reading and carried onto the vows. Dario and Sandra’s vows were very heart touching and very emotional, (yes I cried). "Do you Dario, take Sandra to be your lawfully wedded wife, promising to love and cherish, through joy and sorrow, sickness and health, and whatever challenges you may face, for as long as you both shall live?" , “I do”. They exchanged rings later on and placed it on their fingers, one at a time. As soon as the conductor spoke the words “You may kiss the bride”, they kissed and cheers of excitement shot out of our families mouths. Before they continued on with the rest of the wedding events, the bride and the groom had to sign their marriage licence.

As soon as that was finished, Dario and Sandra walked around to their family members to greet them and to take photos too. Finally Sandra  approached my family and I and we congratulated her and her husband. It has been a while since we’ve seen each other and a wedding was such a great way to reunite our families. Dario and Sandra arranged for a family photo in front of the river. The view was dazzling but my eyes couldn’t break off Sandra.

Later on we were ordered to go to the Restaurant for the after party and the traditional ceremonies. Everything in the restaurant was colour coordinated, it matched the groomsmen and bridesmaids outfits. The party started off with speeches from the parents of the groom and bride. Later we moved onto the prayers for the food. Speaking of food, the entree, main and dessert were very delicious and fancy. We were offered drinks and given chips and nuggets for the little kids. There was a bar at the far end of the restaurant where we were allowed to order drinks (soft drinks)in see through glass cups. I would continuously go back and forward just to get a drink and pretend as if I was taking shots ;).

We moved on to the traditional part of the party which was the ceremony of the cake, and the money offering (Ta’olunga’s). The ceremony of the cake is when you offer 4 or 5 small cakes to the family members of the bride and groom. In this case the cakes were given to the bride's parents and the groom's parents too. The other 3 cakes were given to the their close friends. Moments after the ceremony, my older sister who was saying a speech at that time introduced my other sister (Maryanne), who had to dance for everybody. Money was thrown at her (literally somebody threw money at her), but she continued to dance elegantly. Sandra stood up and danced along with her, grinning and holding her hand to her heart. At the end of the dance, my sister donated all the money to the married couple (there was a lot of money!). Afterwards there were other performances from the groom’s family who were Samoan, more performances from the bride’s family and a performance from the bride herself. All dances were entertaining.

It was getting late, so us little kids (pff little?) had to go home and sleep for church. We said our goodbyes to Sandra, Dario and to Sandra’s sisters (my other aunties). We were very tired but we wanted to stay. I enjoyed my day at the wedding, surprisingly it was the first wedding reception I've ever been to!. The first and the best so far. I can’t wait for my wedding and my other 12 sibling’s weddings too, yes 12 weddings!! (well that depends on if they get married at all), that ought to keep me busy over the years.

Te Taiao o Tamaki-Quad Blogging

Kio ora, my name is Luisa, as you can tell by the name of my blog. I am a participant in the Te Taiao o Tamaki blogging event. My blogging buddies/partners are Tevita (Tamaki Primary),Inez (Pt England) and Kevin (St Patricks).

I am very excited to be apart of this event, with 3 other bloggers alongside me from different schools. I am going to work very hard to blog as much as I can and comment on my quad buddies blogs. Bring it on Manaikalani!.

Technology ePortfolios

In technology, we will be trialling the use of ePortfolios. The ePortfolios will be used to visually show case the work that we do in technology. We will use our ePortfolios in each technology subject. We will use our bogs to reflect on our learning, we will also use the Year 8 Digi Tech blog to collaborate on different learning activities. These are different ways in which we will share what we learn.

ePortfolio

Queen Victoria Speech

Next week our class is hosting and presenting in our school assembly. We figured (Mrs. Tofa figured) that we do an assembly item on Waitangi Day. We had to choose someone who signed the treaty or was involved in making it, and write a speech about the treaty. We had to write from the perspectives of the people we chose, and then say the speech as if we were them (the character, not exactly character). I chose Queen Victoria, one of the longest reigning monarchs that has ever ruled England.

Facts on Queen Victoria

Queen Victoria was Queen of the United kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Queen Victoria was married to Prince Albert Consort(Fact: Apparently Prince Albert is her cousin!), who died on  the 14th of December, 1841( by a fever and died at 42 years old). As for Queen Victoria, she died from Intracerebral hemorrhage, (A type of stroke). She died. on the 22nd of January 1901. Victoria had 9 children, she had 5 daughters and 4 sons.

Victoria sent James Busby as a representative on her behalf to create the treaty and to convince the Maori to sign. She also sent a few other Europeans too. Some Maori chiefs had to protect the Queen back then which was part of an agreement in the treaty.

My speech as Queen Victoria

“Victoria is my name, Queen Victoria to be exact.  I am the Empress of India, Queen of England and the Queen of Ireland also. As the  queen of England I am  prepared to take on any country I come face to face, allies or non allies. As one of the most longest reigning monarchs who has ever ruled England, I need to make the days of being a Queen count. Speaking of rules, New Zealand(Odd name, soon to be New England) needs a couple of them. What a great opportunity to rule another country, and help of course, they seem reasonable. Creating a treaty is a great way to settle things between our countries, though we need the Maoris, is that correct term, Maoris?, to sign the treaty before the French get to them first. I put my trust in William to accomplish this for me, as well as James too. From what I've heard, Maori warriors are very fierce men and women. I could use some more protection up in the Palace, perhaps I could add that to the treaty, but that is to be determined later.”

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I present to you Queen Victoria

Water Fun Day- Friday

Another year, another successful Water fun day. Every year Glenbrae school holds 7 different fun water involved activities. This year’s Water Fun Day was more exciting, competitive and fun. Obviously, as you can tell by the name “Water Fun Day”, the day was all about having fun with water.

Room 7 once again, came face to face with the famous Glenbrae water slide. We had to fill a cup with water and slide down, the slippery and soapy slide and fill our house bins. The twist to the activity, was that that the cups had a hole at the very bottom of the cup (doesn’t sound so easy now, does it). Some of the students reached the end of the slide with no water remaining in their cup, others had a few drops of water left but like a ticking time bomb, the water’s life span ran out of time. As I watched the other students in front of me dive onto the slide, I was eager but also nervous to slide in front of everybody on the slide. I stepped back, steadying myself as if I was in a race and as the person in front of me returned to the line, I pulled the trigger in my leg and shot at the slide. By the looks on everybody’s wet faces, I could tell they were having a blast and so was I.

The bell rang for our next activity, which as I call it Soldier crawling (Odd right, I think not). This is because we had to fill a cup with water, and crawl under rows of chairs, to then empty the water into our house bins. I found this the most challenging obstacle on that day, for I had to do  a lot of arm work. I also found that the more strength I put in into crawling, left me exhausted as I got up to run to the bins.

Our other activities were, the Over and under obstacle, Zig zag , Partner walk and Walk the plank. All of which, were very fun and exciting. Glenbrae school did something very different that day, which our school had never done before. We had a water balloon fight. One water balloon was given per student, which meant one lucky person was in for a surprise. I myself was targeted by four different people, who knew themselves that some girls and i were planning to water bomb them. But the smart people they are, got me before I got them (Well played).

To add to the fun day I had, Mrs. Tofa broke the great news to us about the water fun day house results. In fourth place, was Nikau. In third, Kowhai and in 2nd place Rata. Yes, that’s right the mighty Kauri house, took 1st place. This was very relieving and satisfying. At that moment, I wanted to gloat and relish, but as an leader I had no choice but to stay humble. Though gloating seemed better ;)(Kidding). It was an exquisite day and I had loads of fun with my friends, peers and the teachers.

Sportsmanship Quotes

Sport plays a major part in my life, something I can't live without. To become a successful sports player I have to have courage and respect, these are quotes that I adore so much and inspire me.




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Why the Treaty of Waitangi was needed

My reading group Kea, worked together to find out Why the Treaty of Waitangi was needed. Here is what we came up with.

Why a treaty was needed?

Maori-  

They desperately needed the treaty due to the behavior of European settlers in Kororareka/ Russell.  Also because the Europeans offered better and more advanced weapons which the Maori people wanted their hands on. They also signed the treaty because they wanted regulated settlement and support in controlling settlers and land sales.

Why some didn’t sign the treaty

The treaty was not passed on to some areas in NZ, like Hawks bay. There were treaty meetings, which some chiefs did not attend. The negotiators were impatient and decided to cut them out. Copies of the treaty reached other areas, but the chiefs refused to sign it. The chiefs valued their independence and were not prepared to work for the Queen.

Europeans -

The Europeans wanted the Treaty because they wanted all their Land ( Oil, Weapons, Tech and power, fame and righteousness).

My perspective on the Treaty of Waitangi

After watching a video about Waitangi day, I changed my whole perspective on the Treaty of Waitangi. Turns out, clauses of the treaty were disobeyed and not honoured.

The first clause, giving Queen Victoria the rights of the New Zealand government. Meaning, Queen Victoria created the rules in NZ at that time. The second clause, giving the Maori total ownership over their lands. Though, the Maori were also allowed to or sell their land. The third and last clause, which was that Maori tribes get equal rights and duties as the Europeans do.

All clauses except for the the first clause, were not honoured. Many years later, there were tribes who tried to prevent the Europeans from settling, those tribes were branded or called rebels. This led to their land being confiscated,(Clause 2 dishonored). This was not fair at all, in the treaty it stated the Maori were in charge of their own land, which was part of the agreement. Yet the Europeans took matters into their own hands and decided to punish them, by taking their land.

In the 1860 war, Europeans gained power of the Maori. They bribed Maori tribes and warriors to fight against the other Maori protesters. The wars, were brutal, horrendous and murderous. The europeans had an advantage for they had more advanced weapons such as shotguns, swords, bayonets and military rifles. The Maori warriors only had spears, Patu (club), Pouwhenua (pointed fighting staff), Tewhatewha (axe-like fighting staff) and many more hand made weapons.

There are still Maori protesters, up to this day, who are unhappy about the celebrations of Waitangi day. This is because they believed the treaty was a fraud. The British were very careless, about the treaty, judging by what I've seen and heard.  

I strongly agree with the Maori people. Their land were encroached on and taken over, no wonder why they are mad. It was an absurd act from the Europeans, they disobeyed the rules on the treaty

and did not keep their word. From a Maori's perspective, I can understand where they’re coming from and their anger. Though at first, I was quite confused why, to some Maoris, Waitangi day was a sad and also angry day for them.

Other people think that they should move on from the past and focus on present. What do you think about Waitangi day?

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Volley Ball: Fitness

Once again, the girls went head to head with the boys in Volleyball for fitness. At first I was a bit nervous about going against them but as we continued to get more and more points, I grew more confident and started hitting the ball more often.

Our first game was so energetic. There were times when the girls team would get points, by serving. But same went with the boys. I’ve got to admit Inoke was an exquisite server, but then again, so was Linda, Whitney, Maara and I. Later in the game it was 14 points to 13, to the girls, match point. I served with all my might, watching the ball hover in the air, then dropping rapidly. At that moment I knew we had won the game. We cheered in delight and gloated a little.

In the second game we won again. Most of our points we earned was from our serving. Our serving was really good, who could blame us for having good aim ;,). This time the points were 15-12 to us mighty girls. Once again we cheered and gloated in delight and happiness.

Just as we began to get a little cocky, we lost the 3rd game. We were a little devastated but we were determined to win the last game. The points for the 3rd game was 15-12 (again!) to the boys. At that moment, all I could say to the boys was “Good game boys, good luck! You’re gonna need it ;,)”.

This time, it was first team to reach 3 points. To us girls, our strong point was our serves, so we used that as an advantage. With Linda serving, we were bound to win. Which is exactly what we did. As the reigning champions, the boys would have to bring a tougher fight next time!.

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First day at school quotes

Back to school wisdom
First days at school are always surprising, whether it's finding out what class your'e in or what teacher you have for the rest of the year. These quotes about school inspired me, and I hope i'll inspire you too!.
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