My Faith of Flight by Kanye

My Faith of Flight

It was a nice warm sunset and all my friends were awake. I had just woken up from an
exciting dream about today, the day that I’d learn to fly. All my friends were at training
so I was joined with my brother. He was waiting with our mother outside on a nice,
stable chunk of wood that lied lazily by the old wagon.

My brother had been waiting his whole life for this day to come. He had thought that
he was ready. I can say that he is pretty confident when it comes to trying new things.
He’s like a superhero: he’s fearless, always giving things a go, and he won’t stop until
he had completed he’s goal.

While we were at training I had felt scared, pressured, frightened and excited all at the
same time. My heart was pounding so fast and loud I couldn't hear myself breathing.
At that moment I had just felt myself leap off that stable chunk of wood.

It took me a couple of goes to learn how to fly. Not everyone can do it on their first go;
not even my brother, and he’d been training all night. Maybe flying ain't all about
training.

I was the different one out of all of us, but that didn't stop me from being me.
All I needed to do now was spread my wings. This was like my final act. A shot
of adrenaline shot through my body and it was the encouragement that boosted me up.
Then the moment of truth had happened, all I remember was me just hesitating while
I was in the air. I was like an angel with my wings spread out.

I started to flap my wings super fast then suddenly, I was in the air and I was really
flying, I felt free from everything like I had lost myself. Everything troubling me
disappeared and I was able to zoom through any obstacles that I had come face to
face with when I was soaring through the sky.

I turned my head smirking at my brother and then, I had a head on collision with a
tree. “What happened?” I groaned. “Shhh, rest.” my mother whispered in a soft voice.
My vision went hazy and then a blanket of darkness covered my eyes.

Tech: Year 7 Thank You Letter

For the final session of Pewter Casting for the year 7's Tech, the year 7's decided to create a thank you letter. Specifically, and thank you letter to Mr Grundy, the year 7 Tech teacher. Almost every year 7 contributed to create this, and we all individually wrote a personal thank you message in their own small boxes. Although on top of that, we had a large thank you from everyone, to show our appreciation for what Mr Grundy had done for us.

Creating GIFs to show why we need a skeletal system...

Today we had fun creating GIFs to reflect our understanding of the skeletal system. Last week during our visit to the Life Ed caravan we found out that all babies are born with 300 bones. As we grow some of our bones fuse together which is why adults only have 206 bones. The skeletal system is one of our body systems. It is the framework for our bodies and helps protect our internal organs.

Gif created by Aung Naing, San Kyaw, Miki and Josh

Gif created by Joel, Angela, Viva, Chavda and Hajera

                                              Gif created by Joshua V, Jay-Don, Dallas and Jona-Dana

                                                          Gif created by Jonathan and Nevaeh

Walk To School Poem - Juxtaposition

This week we have been looking at a poem called Two Day Wonder by David Hill. For the first activity we listed words that had similar meanings to the words: sick, sad, depressed or bored. Secondly, that we did the same thing with the words: well, happy, bright and active. After that we listed five opposite situations such as The world yawned and grumbled - the world shines and dances. This is called juxtaposition. Juxtaposition is when you have two different situations then put them side by side to create a contrasting effect. Lastly we wrote our own version of a poem similar to David Hill's but for this one it was based on our way to school. The DLO on the top is the poem. Reading a poem with low level words such as sad and happy can be very boring. To help us discover more vocabulary and to help us make our poem more powerful we used a cline. This is a resource that helps develop better words.

Metaphor - Mele

Today I created a completed google drawing about what is a metaphor. In my DLO I included the meaning of a metaphor, a season poem, examples of a metaphor, and 2 images of a metaphor. Read this google drawing to find out what a metaphor is and examples of a metaphor.

Walking to school | Juxtaposition Poem | By Ofa

As part of poetry this week we read a poem called Two Day Wonder which was written by David Hill. Our first task was to list all the synonym to the words: sick, depressed, sad or bored. Then we wrote down the synonyms for well, bright, happy and active. Then we listed 5 opposite sentences that were in the poem such as the dog sulked in his basket - The dog gallops around the house. This is called Juxtaposition. Juxtaposition means when you put two words together to make a contrast. For example Cold/Hot or Winter/Summer. Our task that we were to post was our poem. We were to create our own version of David Hills poem but it had to be based on our way to school. As you can see I have two different poems which is opposite to each other. I have a poem for Winter and one for Summer. As part of writing down the synonyms we were to write high standard words in our poems. For example instead of using happy you can use ecstatic. To help us find more vocabulary and to make our poem powerful we used a word cline. This really helps us succeed in our vocabulary skills.

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Poem

Word Cline 

Poetry - Two Day Wonder - Sanujan

This week we were working on poetry. Our task was to re write the poem in our own words after reading a poem called Two Day Wonder. My partners and I decided to take one step forward and made our poem rhyme even though the original poem didn't. For this task I worked collaboratively with Jack and Fraidoon.

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Winter

I struggle to wake up, as I resist to get out of my warm bed.

I was stuck in the rain yesterday, now I have a fever, and a boiling head.

I dawdle through the icy smooth floor, chuck on my uniform, and go to boil the kettle.

I felt like I slept for days, maybe I’ll even get a sleeping medal.

I chuck on my bag, and scurry my way out the door.

I need to get to school fast, because I make it back home at quarter past four!

I have half an hour left, so I need to run.

Although I forgot my lunch, looks like I need to purchase a cinnamon bun.

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Summer

As I leapt out of my bed I hear the birds carolling and chirping away.    

The bright leaves rush and gush in the breeze as they sway.

The sun peered over me like it was just waiting to give me a hug.

I say hello, stride to the kitchen, and boil the jug.

I assemble and eat my breakfast, and prepare to brush my teeth.

I then walk outside, and put up the christmas wreath.

Then I kiss my mum goodbye and dash my way to school.

Reading: Harry's War DLO's | By Jack

This week for reading, we read the story Harry's War. We read this story with my reading group, and had a few DLO's to create. 1. A vocabulary DLO that showed all the new words in the story, 2. an Evaluating DLO that has what we learnt from the text, questions we have after reading, and what the text was about, 3. To create a DLO about the Bulford Kiwi, with different facts, and information about the Bulford Kiwi. For this activity, I worked with Sanujan, Joshua, Jericho, Mataio, Savelina, and Zane.

Poetry Juxtaposition - Alex

This week's task for poetry was to first read a poem and then answer some questions and create some word clines, for the word clines we first needed to choose a word and then find all of the necessary synonyms for it. After that the task was to draw a line on some paper and then write down the synonyms that we'd written down onto the line in order from top to bottom depending on how important we found that one synonym.

In the summer I’m aroused to a snug and friendly breeze, all the pollen in the air always makes me sneeze.

After clambering into my uniform and leaving for school,

I wait for friends by a wall of hedges, relishing the blue and inviting sun.

In the winter I sullenly rise from my bed, chilled to the bone from the despairful air. After painfully getting into my uniform and slowly leaving the door, I sprint to school just to keep myself warm.

Two-Day Wonder | Coree

Today we read a book called Two-Day Wonder.
For reading we made a poem about coming to school in winter and coming to school in summer.

In the poem we used Powerful words and used Juxtaposition.Today I learnt how to use Juxtaposition Properly and how to use Powerful words in my story and put them in the right place's.

Homonym | By Magenta

Yesterday we got to make a DLO about homonym. What homonym means is when two or more words that are spelt the same or sound a like but means the complete opposite. E.g ball means I am playing with the ball and ball means when girls wear dresses and boys wear suite. What we did was we did some examples and the meaning of homonyms in other words definition on our DLO. What I like about making this DLO is that I got to learn about homonyms.

The 7 Life Processes | MRS GREN | By Ofa

As part of Inquiry this week we have been learning about Mrs Gren. Mrs Gren is a Mnemonic which is used to help kids and adults remember all the 7 Life Processes features of what a living thing needs which is Movement, Respiration, Sensitivity, Growth, Reproduction, Excretion and Nutrition. Some of us were doubting each other that a fire is not a living thing. A fire is not a living thing because it does not have any senses. As you know we are learning about the Body System and this week we were learning about the lungs which is why we did a bar graph of the Lung Capacity of students in LS2. 

Sailing Have a Go! | By Tiava

Sailing Have a Go!

This Wednesday 23 people were given a special opportunity to learn how to sail, I was lucky enough to be a part of the that. We packed our bags and took a bus all the way to Okahu bay. We got to met our instructor Maria who was from Argentina. First we were taught how to set up the boat we would be sailing on. Then we put on our sailing gear and started to put our boats into the water. We learned how to control the boat and after we started to playing games like netball and follow the leader. Although I returned to school with a few cuts I really enjoyed the special experience. A big thank you to Mr Ogilvie for organizing the trip and Mr Johnston. Ms Kirkpatrick and Mrs Colenbrander for supervising us.

Harry's war / Bulford kiwi, Evaluating and Vocab - Nyjah

This week me,Fui,Joseph,Hajera and Viva finished our Evaluating DLO and the Bulford Kiwi DLO. These two DLOs explain what the text was about, what interesting facts have you learnt from reading this text? Why?, What questions do you have after reading? and why the Bulford kiwi was built. Also the name of the book is titled "Harry's War". Before Evaluating and the Bulford Kiwi we had to write some vocab and about the word, like there synonyms and Antonyms.

Nurses during World War 1 | Created by Jack, Zane, Jericho, Mataio, Savelina

Jack, Zane, Jericho, Mataio and I have created a DLO on what it would have been like to be a nurse in WW1. This is also about Edith Covell a nurse who was in the WW1. My group worked collaboratively to finish off this task. We did learnt a lot about how the nurses helped the soldiers or how they would take care of them. We were learning about this topic because it is almost ANZAC day and to show respect to those who cared for our country  at World War 1. 

Inquiry: Mrs Gren DLO | By Jack

This week for inquiry, our focus was on the human body. To learn about what a living thing needs, we read a short story named Mrs Gren. Mrs Gren is a simple story about an old lady who find everything to be a living thing, because it could more, or breath, or sense, or grow, or reproduce, or excrete, or eat. Mrs Gren is also an acronym. It is made up of Movement, Respiration, Senses, Grow, Reproduction, Excrete, and Nutrition. All the things a living thing needs, or can do. We were to make a DLO with a partner, that explained each word, and what they mean to the human body. If you do not understand one of the words, you can look at the DLO, which explains each one. For this activity I worked with Sanujan, and we had a lot of fun doing this activity.

Harry's war | By Jeremiah

 Harry's war is a story about a reluctant soldier who was known as a Conscientious Objector. A conscientious objector is someone who refuses to join the armed forces because of belief or because they do not support war. It is also about how they were forced into fighting. When they arrived at Salisbury, England the war was over and there were no boats to take them home. After that they rioted for two days so the generals made them make a kiwi known by the name the Bulford kiwi. For the activity we created two DLO's that helped us understand the text better.

The Unfinished Drink | Created by Tiava & Mataio

Today we got to learn about a man named La Tour Mollet d'Auvergne (Ted). He served as a machine gun battalion in 1941. Unfortunately he was killed by the German elite. Ted was only 35 years of age. There was a poem written about Ted. It was about him leaving a beer at a bar called Waihao Forks and saying he will come back for it when he gets home from the war. Sadly he never did.

Age Problem | By Julian

Today we had done a rich task a rich task is when you are finished eney other task like a bonus. You have to workout how old the people are and this is what we had to figure out. Malcolm was 3 times the age of Peter but was 4 years younger than Jack. Jack was 10 years older than Craig, who was 4 times the age of Richard. Richard is 15. How old is everyone else?

Tech Reflection - Mele

Today was our second session of term 2 at Tamaki College Tech. Our instructor today was Mr Grundy. Mr Grundy's class learnt how to make pewter casting. Today most people were finishing their workbooks for good marks. Half of our marks come from our project and half of our marks come from our workbooks.

The Unfinished Drink - Reading | By Sanujan

This week for reading, we learnt about the story of Privet Ted (La Tour Mollet d'Auvergne). A poem written for Privet Ted was our main focus, because it told his story. We had two tasks to complete, 1 was to make a summary of the poem, and 2 was to create a DLO talking about Privet Ted's story. For both of these tasks, I worked with Jack, and we both decided to make a small animation for the DLO. This poem is both a sad, but happy poem. The sad part being Privet Ted never returning, but the happy part being him not forgotten. The full poem can be found midway through the animation if you want to read it yourself. Although unlike a real animation, this was done with a few different pictures, rather than over a hundred. In the end we think we did a great job, and that it turned out really well. Hopefully you think the same.

The Story of Hineahuone| By Ofa and Fraidoon

For this term we have moved from searching about the Winter Olympics to learning about the Human body. Our first task was to create a storyboard about the story of Hineahuone who was the first women to be created (based on the Maori Beliefs). I worked collaboratively with Fraidoon to create this and we did a amazing job together. Before creating anything we were to sketch note on paper. We did this by drawing symbols of what the story was talking about. For example if the story had the word jump in it we would probably draw a person jumping or an arrow going up. It was a bit challenging but we got the hang of it at the end. After sketch noting we were to read our symbols and try and read out the story. As you can see our storyboard looks very simple with short paragraphs to it. Hope you enjoy!