Narrative: Deannika

Fire!

From where I stood it looked like the flames were swallowing the house. I coughed and coughed until I could catch some breath. As I fell to the ground I thought to myself “Are my parents alright?! I have to do something!” So I climbed up the tree that was outside of my mum and dads window, as I took a look inside all I could see was my mum panicking while squeezing my dad’s hand. I yelled out to them, “Mum!, Dad!” 

They looked as I threw a rock through the window. I helped my mum and dad to get out safely. We ran around the back to have a look through the sliding door. But, we could only see one child. We grabbed the brick and smashed the door so we could get in, it was like we were stealing from our own house! But we weren't. 

I ran up stairs to have a look for him but he wasn’t here and then I thought about the hut that our family built in the garage. So I sprinted as fast as I could. There he was, fast asleep on the bed. I held him close to me and met my family outside. 

Me and my little brother ran to them and gave them a huge hug!Straight after we called the fire station and they came straight away. We all had to go to the hospital though to get a check up. We got out the next day and went straight home to clean it up. It was a frustrating journey but I was just thankful that my family was safe.

Everything went back to normal in no time, our family were as happy as we could ever be!

Year 8 Design Tech: Tienira

Here is a sketch on myself and I used Photoshop to do this.  If you want to give it a try follow these instructions.

Photo Booth Instructions

1. Click on the spotlight

2. Type in “photo booth”

3. Click on the photo booth

4. Click on the red camera button to take a photo of yourself

5. Drag your photo onto the desktop

6. Close photo booth

Photoshop Instructions

1. Click on the spotlight

2. Type in “photoshop”

3. Click on adobe photoshop cs4

4. Click on file then open

5. click on the desktop icon

6. Choose the picture view

7. Click on the photo of yourself

8. Click on open

9. Click on window then workspace then essentials (default)

10. DRag the background layer into the create a new layer icon which is next to the mini rubbish bin

11. Change the opacity of the background copy layer to 80%

12. Click on the background layer and close the eye on the left to make the layer invisible

13. Click on the create a new layer icon

14. You should have three layers

15. Make sure that you are click onto layer one (it should be highlighted in blue)

16. Drag the bottom right hand corner of the image to stretch it out.

17. Click on the zoom button (magnifying glass) in te left tool bar, to zoom into the image.

18. Click on the option key and zoom button to zoom out of the image.

19. Click on the brush tool in the left tool  bar.

20. Change the brush size to three in the menu bar.

21. Set the foreground colour to black and click on ok.

22. Use the brush tool to draw the outline of your photo including face, facial features, clothes and hair.

23. Click on the paint bucket tool in the left tool bar.

24. Set the foreground color to the colour you want to use.

25. Use the paint bucket to fill in different part of you sketch.

26. Click on file then save as.

27. Make sure to save your sketch to the desktop.

28. Make sure that you are logged in to your google drive.

29. Click on the upload button.

30. Click on file and then locate your sketch on the desktop.

31. Click on open.

Year 8 Design Tech: Mahdia

This is my sketch photo we had to write down the instructions and then follow it ourselves we first had to take a photo, then we dragged the picture to the desktop and we followed all the other instructions.  Once we had finished doing the instructions we upload it on our google drive and we're done.

Mahdia's Writing Toolkit

Narrative: Asmah

The Hungry Flames

From where I stood it looked like the flames were swallowing the house with its bloody red fangs. Suddenly the smoke drifted towards me, I stared at it with big panicked eyes. I kept on telling my legs to run but they had turned against me and into wobbly jelly. The smoke soon trapped me in its prison. I couldn’t help but fall to my knees, eyes closed and coughing. I could hear everyone’s voices calling, shouting my name. I felt a pair of arms grab me. ‘No! No! Its taking me into more smoke!’ I panicked as I struggled to open my eyes, my vision had blurred.

“Kate! Kate you’ve got to wake up! Please Kate. Please!” A voice cried as the pair of arms carried my to safety. I was still coughing as the person laid me down on the hot grass. The green, hot grass swayed in the breeze, tickling my face. Someone began to shake me violently, screaming my name over and over again. The screaming, coughing and shaking gave me a massive headache.

Slowly I opened my eyes to weak sunlight, after a few blinks my eyes went back to their normal clear vision. Mum, Dad and my older brother Jake were hovering over me, sighing with relief. I struggled to sit up. They all gave me a bone crushing family hug, but I didn’t return it. I was too weak to even force a fake smile.

“Please let go of me. I need air.” I whimpered. They let go with a nervous laugh from Mum.

“What happened?” I asked as I searched through my memories to know the answer, but it didn’t come, my memories were blank.

“Your father left some spare papers on his desk, somehow the papers flew off covering the electric heater causing a fire in the house. As we were running away from the house, you for some reason, stood there watching the house burn. We called your name several times but you wouldn’t move. Thankfully, Troy was able to get you out before the flames touched you.” Mum stepped back and there stood Mr Popularity, Troy. He grinned so wide I’m sure his cheekbones were hurting.

“So what happens now?” Jake asked.

“We’re going to move to a different house.” Dad said simply as if moving wasn’t a big deal to him, but it was to Jake and mostly me. I watched as the firemen put out the flames.

After a couple of days we moved to a new house, this house was more comfortable looking than our last one. From that day on my life became way different, but in some ways it stayed the same.

Comparisons by Pah Nwee

LI: To find the thing things that are the same and the things that are different with bears and lions

Lions	Same	Bears
Live in a pride Live in Africa Big Cat Have whiskers The mum carries her baby in her  mouth	They sleep on the trees and on the ground   They have paws, claws, sharp teeth	Eat fish eat flowers  Can walk on two legs  Makes a den under a rock  The polar bear eat seals and they live in ice. The polar bear they swim under the ice   The polar  they looking for fish and seal in the water.

Pah Nwee read two books. One was called 'The Lion" and the other was called 'Bears". After he had finished the books we used the white hat to help us find information. Pah Nwee was able to talk about the lions and the bears and used the information he found to find out what was the same and what was different between the two animals.

Pah Nwee's Voice Thread

To practise his reading Pah Nwee read the text 'The Lion' onto Voice Thread. It helps him to listen to himself read on his netbook.

Using the 6 Thinking Hats to explore an environmental issue: Teagan and Addnan

Kane, Phoenix, Piripi , Isaac and Aryan's Writing Toolkit

Kane, Phoenix, Piripi and Aryan created this presentation to help them think about the language features they need to be using to move their writing to the next level.

The boys have created this presentation to help them think about the language features they need to be using to move their writing to the next level.

Puke, Roswell, Jacob and Michael's Writing Toolkit

The boys have created this presentation to help them think about the language features they need to be using to move their writing to the next level.

Using the 6 Thinking Hats to explore an environmental issue: Puke and Jacob

Using the 6 Thinking Hats to explore an environmental issue: Roswell

Candice's Orientation

It was a lovely summers day on Saturday morning, just the right day to go fishing! Bob was on his way to the nearest wharf, which was in Panmure.  He was so excited to catch a nice size snapper, and enjoy the peaceful vibe of being out in the sea.  

“Finally” he sighed, we are here!  He hopped out of his car but forgot to put the handbrake on, not knowing there was a small hill.  As he attempted to gather his gear out of the boat, the car decided it would roll down the small but very steep hill leading it into the welcoming water.  “This is a disaster” Bob thought to himself! FUMING with frustration as the unpleasant the wharf was laughing at him as it stole his car.

Asmah's Orientation

LI: Write an orientation that hooks the reader in.

‘I hate this! I hate this! I hate this!’ I screamed in my head as Dad was taking out the bait and rods out of the backseat of the car. 
“Alright Alex, now park the car.” Dad instructed as he gently closed the door, stepping back he nodded at me to go for it. I sighed and gave a low groan under my breath. Suddenly something vibrated in my pocket, searching through my pocket of my pants, I took out my phone and pressed it against my ear as I parked the car on the scorching sand. ‘This seems to be a good place’ I thought as I turned off the angry car and stepped out on the sand, my flip-flops scrunching the tiny shells under my feet. As I was walking away from the car, 
“Alex! Look at what you’ve done!!!” Dad hollered at me with horror. He pointed behind me and I gave him a puzzled look.  
“What are you talking...” My words were lost as my eyes had widened with the first shock this morning. The car was taking a swim, as if the heat of the sun was too much for it to bear.

Jacob's Orientation

We used this picture to write a narrative.

Beep!!, Beep!! sounded as Steve beeped the horn while he was speeding down the highway in my favourite 4 wheel drive to go catch some fish. Steve got to the beach and paused, he gazed at an old friend/Daniel from high school. They strolled to go eat some burgers to catch up and see what is happening. He talked and talked until his friend Screamed, “LOOK!!!, your car is going into the water”. Steve watched as his car dived into the water and for a swim. Steve thought, “what did I forget to do or did someone else do it”..........

Panmure Bridge Past/Present by Dahl group

Deannika's Fantasy Island

This is what Deannika worked on while the year 7/8's went on camp. Inside is what she had to do, like make up her own Fantasy Island, and make new things like a new National Anthem and a new flag. 

Deannika's Keyboard skills

Deannika has been practicing her key board skills, and she been trying hard. She has put a lot of effort into her work and as you can see she has done 34 words per minute. 

Asmah and Tienira's BODMAS

These are Asmah and Tienira's results from the BODMAS challenge. They were practising solving linear equations by thinking carefully about the order of operations.

Brackets 

Other things 

Division

Multiplication

Addition 

Subtraction

It tells you the order of how to solve the equation.

Kyra's Orientation

LI: Write an orientation that hooks the reader in.

As strange as it may seem I just looked in horror as I found myself driving off the shore into the freezing cold water. I was so sure that I put my breaks on or had I ? Unfortunately for me I realised that instead of putting the handbrake on I accidently put it into gear which made me go straight into the water! "Uh ohh!" I gasped for air as I glanced at my brand new truck sinking into the water. I was wondering what would happen next. I had all my belongings in the truck! As I wondered what would happen next I rang the Tower Company and crossed my fingers and hoped that I had paid the car insurance!

Celebrating Room 9's Work

How exciting to know that our blog posts are reaching a wide audience. We were asked by Stacey from the Auckland Biosecurity Council if they could share one of our blog posts on the Kauri Dieback website. The link below will take you to the site where Jacob, Teagan and Kane's Prezi is featured.

http://www.kauridieback.co.nz/news-media/2013/10/3/digital-footsteps