Summer Learning Journey

Rachel from Woolf Fisher introduced the 2016/17 Summer Learning Journey at PBS this morning. With over 60 challenges and 10 countries to 'travel' to, this looks to be a fun and engaging way for our students to maintain the progress they have made this year. There are lots of amazing prizes being offered to the students across the cluster who earn the most points. The challenge runs from 17 December 2016 - 27 January 2017. You can register for the 2016/17 Summer Learning Journey here.

Congratulations Mahdia!

Congratulations Mahdia for working hard to earn your Gold CARE award for Attitude. Well done for completing the challenges. Mr Johnston was very impressed with how you could discuss your learning.

Inquiry: The connection between the Kauaka and the Maori people by Afu

Today we have been making a storyboard on the connection between the Godwit and the Maori people. This task was our last task for inquiry. Our learning intention was to describe the importance between the Godwit to the Maori people. 

Congratulations AJ and John!

Congratulations AJ and John, a certificate for progress in writing! Both of you have listened to feedback and thought of ways you could apply new learning to help move your work to the next level.

Building Leadership by Jorja, Ma'ata and Sa Kae

On Monday the Yr 7's had another leadership lesson. We had a race to see who was the first group to finish and make a tower with cups, for more information on what we did read my DLO that I have made about building our leadership.

Migration from Tahuna Torea by Pote and Te Paki

This week, Te Paki and I collaborated to finish challenge 3. This challenge was all about Migration. We had to make a DLO about migration and why birds migrate.  We learned about the nearest mudswamp ( Mud swamp are where the Bar tailed Godwit migrate to). Tahuna Torea is linked to the Tamaki river and is located on the borders of Glendowie.

Growing our Leadership by Mia

In this weeks leadership lesson we continued to work on our team building.  We got faced a challenge  that involved working as a team. So we got into groups of 4 then got given 5 rubber bands and 10 cups. It sounded odd but it kept me thinking.  We had to make a carrier with the 5 rubber bands because we had to stack the cups into a pyramid. But we had to work as a team and collaborate to complete because I learnt that a successful team  works with each other, learns from each other and helps with each other.  Since we are starting to grow leaders I figured that we had to start working as a team. 

Building Leadership Skills Year 7 by Oh Hsen and Sylis

This is my DLO on Leadership I did with Sylis. Every Mondays the Yr8s have dance while the Yr7's have leadership. We are doing this to build trust with each other and next year we're going camp and we need to get along with each other. Mrs Anderson gives us really fun and exciting. I really enjoy doing leadership activities.

5 minutes of... by Thomas

Down with the fish

I could see the bubbles, floating up towards the shiny surface above, but I couldn’t follow them. As the shore swept by, I felt a sudden push. My board, that used to be stuck, was ripped out by the surf, and the rip shoved me further out. It was pitch black, I couldn’t untie the string around my hand. I slammed into something, wondered what it was, then the pain hit. My head began to turn, I felt as if I was going to puke in the water. I screamed in pain and fear. As I tried to hurl up, I was pushed downwards. I heard some cries, and someone shouted out, “Just hold on, son! Help’s on th...” CRASH! The words were swept away by the roaring of the ocean. I could hear a machine coming in from the distance. A steady beat of whoomph, whoomph, whoomph. I could see a red wagon in the air, down came a rope. I heard a calming voice, “It’s okay, kid, I’ve got you.” I thought I was on death's row, my heart felt as if it had stopped. Then everything faded into blackness and murmurs, except for the steady beat of the chopper's blades, seeming to tell me everything will be alright.

This is Lathams and my "5 minutes of.." narrative recount writing sample that we wrote based on a picture of a rescue helicopter. We took turns writing a line each until we had finished it. It was all about what we thought had happened in 5 minutes for the picture.

Operation: Eagle Swoop by Pote and Sebastian

Operation: Eagle Swoop

It was cold as usual. Nothing exciting about the weather here. ‘Cold Hell,’ is what the locals call it. Mondays, are the worst as we were getting ready to leave for the beaches of the cold south. It was the first time we have ever got a day like this. Every winter, it’s either helping a stranded citizen escape their car or someone has been sucked into the fearless waters.

“SSSSHHHH!” the helicopter zoomed across the sea. The hair of the ocean was elegant yet rough with boulders laid all around her.

“Unit 935, please report to homebase when you reach the location of a capsized boat.”

Everything had looked strange but familiar as if I had been far out at sea. Our biggest enemy, the never ending blue hair still spreads.

“ Home base , we have made it to the location.”

The captain of the helicopter mumbled as the helicopter propellers made a louder sound and made him sound like a rat.

“ You guys had better be ready. From our intel it is known that there is a group of people who have  been stucked at sea for two days. Their boat capsized and they  been stranded out in the middle of nowhere for what feels to them like an eternity!“ Screamed the Captain.

Time just kept ticking by ...

Congratulations Silivia and Daniel!

  

Congratulations Silivia and Daniel! A certificate for showing our CARE values of confidence, attitude, respect and excellence and innovation. You both do this in your approach to work and your ability to work collaboratively. Well done!

Who flew first? by Pote and John

This week for Reading, Ms. Kirkpatrick set us with another text to read (That is related to Flight). The text was all about Richard Pearse but also if he flew before the Wright Brothers. Supposedly, Pearse flew before the Wright Brothers ( By a couple of months). I worked with John to see what our opinion about who was the 1st to reach the sky by control.

Bar-Tailed Godwit 'Storyboard That' by Daniel

Made with Storyboard That

This is a DLO that I created on Bar-Tailed Godwits. Our task was a to make a comic strip on Bar-Tailed Godwits using storyboard that. First we created a comic strip. Then we got some of the most interesting facts about the Godwit and we put it on the comic strip. This was my first time doing something like this so it took a while to get the hang of it. It was actually pretty fun to use with all of the backgrounds and characters you could use.

Godwit Popplet by Thomas

This is an image of Latham's, Reon's, and my Godwit Popplet on its appearance, diet, habitat, and predators. This is the second part of our Flight topic for inquiry. We are learning about the Godwit because it is a native New Zealand bird, and also is one of a group of birds that fly long distances to migrate. We also learnt that Godwits stop for rest in China/Korea when they start migrating, but on the return journey they don't rest at all, flying straight from Alaska straight to New Zealand. There are 5 other activities after this one where we will find out more about the Godwit, since we've only found out the basics so far.

Measurement Challenge by Thomas

Yesterday we started on our silent measurement activity. For this activity, we had to make groups then prototype paper plane designs individually, either getting the designs that we use from our memory or online (YouTube, Paper plane websites, etc), then test how far they can fly by throwing them from different areas such as the senior playground, the LS2 balcony, or the field, then get the good ideas from each prototype and eventually make a super plane as a group that will fly further than the other groups super planes. We have already made and tested our prototypes, and today we are moving on to the combining part of our designs, and also making our groups super plane. The hardest part for this activity is that all of our instructions were given silently, with us looking at a presentation.

'Outlook for Someday' movie shortlisted

Congratulations Latham, Daniel, Jasmine, Sylis and Reon for getting your movie on the shortlist for the 'Outlook for Someday' challenge. We are all very proud of you.

Here is the link to watch it: https://vimeo.com/189095082

The Shake Out from The Outlook for Someday on Vimeo.