Year 8 camp

Last week on tuesday the year 8’s arrived at school bright and early to leave for Ngaruawahias Christian Youth Camp. When we left on the bus the journey wasn’t too long but as the bus pulled up at the camping grounds, we unloaded the bus and we looked ahead to miss Nua awaiting further instructions. She noted that we had to find your own bags and take to the cabin with your name on it and then meet back up at the park at the front. After some more words from mrs nua we took off for a long walk up the mountain. Walking up was hard and exhausting and the part when it was time to come back down the hill was a big mission as well because the hill was very slippery and steep. When we got back to camp after hours of tramping it was time for dinner.

Munching back dinner and dessert we were instructed to go back to our cabins and get into your pjs and we weren't allowed to bring a pillow although we were allowed to bring a blanket for the movie that they were preparing. As I slowly strolled into the games room where the movies was going to be held I sat down with some friends and waited for the movie to start. Sadly the sound wasnt working but the teachers had a back up tv in the tv room upstairs, so everyone walked up the stairs into a little room. The movie was Nacho Libre and it was funny. After halfway through the movie, the teacher stopped it because it was late and we had to go to sleep.

Day 2 at camp and we did a couple of activities before we had a morning tea break. After that we had more lunch and it was pizza. Later on we went down to the gym me and my team and we played some basketball. Then once again it was time for dinner and soon it was time for bed.

Days 3 and 4 kinda turned out the same the only difference was that we had to come home back to Auckland, but before this happened the year eights went to Waingaro hot springs and had a swim and a turn on the hydroslides.

back in Auckland and I thought that camp was cool. I like Ngaruawahia and I would like to go back there one day to the campsite.

Manaiakalani Film Festival

Pt England along with other schools went to Sylvia Park to watch the films that
they have made. When we got into the Cinema I looked around at the people seated. As I continued up the stairs I managed to find an empty row of seats so me Toko, Matthew and Aidan walked along towards the end and waited patiently as the films began.

The lights dimmed and the introduction began. It informed us about what the Manaiakalani Film Festival is and what it means. After that finished Tamaki College presented us with a funny and hilarious movie about the One Direction Eastside Styles. Laughing, cheering and whistling was the sound after the movie finished, a sign of congrats from the crowd. Us Pt England School was up next and Toreka and Makerita presented us with a movie called Pick A Path. A movie made by the year seven and eight extension group. At first I didn’t get the point of the film but when I watched it again today I got it and I think that it had a good meaning to it.

After like heaps more films this exhilarating festival was over for us. The lights brightened and Pt England stood up and left the Cinema leaving Tamaki College to watch the rest of the films. We exited the mall and we rustled through the carpark trying to locate our classes. After reconnecting with my class we boarded the bus awaiting the journey back to school.

After having a good day out I think I liked the The Room 18 Test movie the best because it was funny and I liked the way they didn’t talk throughout the movie. The Manaiakalani Film Festival was cool and I liked it.

Athletics Day

On Thursday the 8th of November Pt England School had our annual Athletics day. Getting ready for the day my legs start playing up and straight away I knew that it wasn't going away anytime soon. I was in Mrs Tele’as group and our first event was high jump. When we were lining up we had to line up on two sides.

I waited in the line to jump over the bar and then it quickly got to my turn. I ran up to the mat and leapt over with ease. Then as I lined up again the bar shot up high, and in my head I was thinking “aye that went up high straight away”. As I attempted to jump the bar a second time I luckily got over. But as I tried to do it again I failed with my last attempt following the same way.

Our 12.9+ team moved to the next event, the sprints. As we were told what to do we all lined up in a line with each boys and girls having two heats before the semi finals. “On your marks... set.... Bang!” was the last thing I heard as we sped off down the tracks. Running with a sore leg I looked to the left and was surprised to see that there were 2 people behind me. I finished the race and while limping off to the side I tried to not race again but I had to.

After that we did a couple more events. Before I knew it the day was over. In my head I was saying to myself “why did you run so much yesterday?” but even with sore legs I thought that the day was good and I still liked it.

What if I was poor

Aye mate how's it going, been quite a while since I as last managed to get in a house. So I as went to me mayte yeah and he has hooked it up wit box that he lives in. But the greedy chap got greedy yeah so I as to give him a hiding. So yea me did, an aidan walses over like he is the man, so me gives him a wallop round the head. But it all good coz da fulla yea, reckons it didn't hurt so yea me goes for a little stroll to da cuzzy matty ew is also a poor hara, ohh my bad where is me manners love, me forgot to mention we're all poor in da story. Den as I was told, dah cuzzy toko ew I as just met got hit by a truck that me dad was apparently driven. Anyway back to da cuzzy matty ew is in a little gang called da duck quackers yea, so I as gave him a korero bout dat love. After explaining um self I reckons it is all good yo coz them duck quackers are me mates to. Anywho I visits the cuzzy toko in hospital he was all good so me gapped it.

A couple of months have past now love and as I caught up with some of the homies all three of them. Aidan, Toko and matty all went to jail so I is all by me self out here and I is starting to cry.
So yeah the bros get out a couple of months later and me is so happy about it that me starts bawling me eyes out. But before all this poorness we were billionaires believe it or not love. Then the idiots get us into a stupid fight with the three top dogg gangs around, the warriors,Hi Hats and Baseball Furies. Anyway matty grabs a 12 gauge shotgun and shoots chatterbox the leader of the Hi Hats yeah and he drops down. So everyone gets all angus and we the boys or bros as one might prefer, goes home and that is the end to our saga.

Cross Country

Friday the 17th of August a normal day of boring writing, reading and maths work... NOT!. Today was the day Pt England School were participating in the annual Cross Country.

Anticipating the race I gradually walked around as if I was listening to no one then “Shawn sit down” the teacher Ms M said killing my buzz. I took a seat and observed the little kids run their race and I saw a little kid in my house Tainui come 3rd. All the house captains of Matatua, Takitimu, Te arawa and Tainui started doing their chants. It was almost like they were all going to have a massive scrap (fight) because they were all screaming at the top of their lungs. Filled with confidence and excitement I stood up and did some stretches with the boys.

Before I knew it my age group 13 got called up to compete. Our race just a heartbeat away began with  “On Your Marks...Set...GO..!”. We took off some of us, I stayed behind jogging with some of my friends coming last. Then as I rounded the corner my house captain Tokorima said “hurry up Shawn” as he waited for me at the 3rd bend. We jogged together on the grass/mud and we trailed behind some people and eventually ran past them. As we went past the 6th corner I was kind of amazed because we had only been running for what seemed like 5 minutes. I was covered in mud as high as my knees.

After getting past the mud and wet stuff I thought that was the worst the dirt was going to get, but this was not to be. My jogging partner Toko kept on running as I stopped and urged him on. After leaving the grass for the gravel my pace started to pick up as I found that it was easier running on concrete than grass. I also found out that the mud and muck was nothing compared to the big puddles that lay upon the track.

Running on the footpath and walking through the puddles, trailing the leaders I managed to catch a glimpse of the watery scenery amongst the hills. Finally overcoming the stoney footpath I boosted it into the bush walk. I started running fast and I bumped into two 12 year old girls. Then as I looked back and positioned my head back to the front I hit face first into a tree ricocheting into another one. Whilst rubbing my head I continued running and found myself halfway through the bush walk by Tamaki College. Mrs Squires told me to go that way pointing to the 2nd part of the bush’s.

I ran for what seemed like my fastest until I finished the bushwalk. Mr Barks was waiting at the end of the bushwalk as a marshall directing me around the corner to do 1 final lap of the field before hitting the home straight and running past the finishing line, stopping the torture.

As I stopped and walked over to the hard courts for a drink and to wash my shoes my body felt like I didn’t run anything it just felt heavy and lazy. The school cross country for me wasn’t too bad just the tree hitting part of my adventure I didn’t like. After running 3.5km I liked my position of 7th overall.

Usain Bolt

Usain Bolt is a legendary living olympic athlete that every one knows and loves. The 25 year old races in the 100 and 200 metre sprints representing his country Jamaica. In 2008 he competed in the 100 metre sprints and smashed the world record and replacing it with his new one of 9.69s. He is known for his upset world record breaking win in beijing, propelling him to the title of “Fastest man in the world”.This year the olympic games were held in London england.

In London 2012 he raced his heats and won the rights to compete in the quarter finals, he continued his roll and moved up to the grand final for 100 metre and 200 metre. He once again won the 100 metre race and 200 claiming the gold medal.

Usain Bolt ran with the Jamaican team for the 4x100 relay. They broke the world record.

Archery and Wrestling

Title:Archery
Brainstorm:,Strong,Focused,Stiff.bow and arrow.
Sentences:
1.The man precisely aimed at the target trying to get it.

2.As he puts his bow up the archer is trying to make his arrow soar through the air to get the target.

3.The archer is trying to win if not a gold then a medal.

4.The man is closely targeting the board.

5.The look on his face shows he is not playing around.


Title:Wrestling

Brainstorm:Strong,
Sentences:
1.The chinese man with his big muscles got the Albanian man into submission hold.

2. Meanwhile the other man is trying to escape from this submission hold.

3.Their expression on their face shows that this was hard.

4.The man in the red clearly looks like hes is the dominant wrestler.

5.As they clinched their teeth this close battle still continues.

Mascot - Explain ready Task

Mathswhizz

This is how long I have been on mathswhizz for this week.

Joshua Losefa

Joshua Iosefa is a year 13 prefect at mt roskill grammar. His speech brown brother was very inspiring because of the way he used his words and put them into rhyming sentences. The one I liked was the part when he said “don't be afraid to be the first”. He is brown trying to tell people that just because people are a certain colour that you aren't better than them. His speech is a good example of what he knows brown people can be, and I think that if people listened to his words that they might make a change. I think that people look up to him not only as a prefect but as a person.

Term 2 Reflection

This term has been a good term. It will be the last ever term 2 I will have as a year 8. This term our topic has been art alive and all this term we have been painting and doing artwork. I liked hanging around with my friends in my class and other classes as well.

When I leave this Intermediate for college I will be both happy and sad because most of my friends will be going to other schools. This term I liked the topic because I like drawing. I liked this term and I think that next term will be if not the same then better.

My Special Place

My special place is my dads truck because it has taken me all around the north island of new zealand and I like riding in it. Another reason why I like the truck is because I like looking out the window at the view as we ride past the mountains and sites like the big L&P bottle in paeroa and the big dog shed in Tirau. Thats just another reason why the truck is my special place but one more reason is that whenever i'm hungry I can just ask my dad to pull over and get something to eat and whenever I ask my attempt is usually successful.

The artist that I have decided to paint my artwork in is Henri matisse. The reason I choose to do my painting in the style of matisse is because I like the style of fauvism. Fauvism uses bright bold colours and I liked that idea so I chose it. The colours red, blue and green usually come into Henri matisse artwork and when I saw his paintings I wanted to copy or try to copy in that style. Originally I was going to paint my work in the style of Claude Monet but once I actually started painting, my use of mostly bright colours made me change to Henri Matisse.                                        

The Tesseract

The year was 5012. In a town called Vissurge lived a man who hid with a sniper rifle, killing anyone who came into sight. No one knew where or why this man hid. Afraid of being killed, all the citizens ran and got out of Vissurge. His aim like every other villain. To get within reach and eventually take hold of the most powerful weapon imaginable. The Tesseract.

The army was called in to hunt down this man but no one could find him. Then suddenly the ground started shaking and every building in the city fell to the ground. The mysterious sniper man was killed. A new enemy to the public armed with only a powerful Sledge hammer came to his world from outer space in search of the Tesseract. The only thing keeping his world from being destroyed. His leader demanded that the Tesseract had to be returned at once, but after a couple of months it didn't show. That’s why he sent down his strongest and mightiest warrior “Thor”. He searched high and low, day after day, with no luck. Then suddenly a strike of hope. A blue laser shot up into the sky. Thor knew straight away who the person was who had stuffed it up. “The only reason the weapon did that was because someone had used it wrong” Thor mumbled with a determined look on his face.

While jumping, leaping and sprinting towards the blue checkpoint, he was stopped 10 metres short by his own blood brother from the same world and army. Spongebob. “What are you doing!” Thor angrily shouted. “Stopping you from taking what's mine!” Spongebob said with an evil grin. Spongebob struck Thor with the Tesseract instantly killing him. Spongebob thought it was all over, so he ran. He ran continuously day and night till the point that he started flying.

The leader that no one knew his name flew down right in front of Spongebob and the Tesseract. Spongebob shot at him but he summoned a force field saying him from being struck. He jumped up and hooked Spongebob in the face knocking him down, the leader picked up the Tesseract while he could and killed Spongebob, although he thought. The Tesseract along with the leader returned to their world saving it from self destruction.

“I shall return” Spongebob said.

Compare and Contrast

Our task this week is to compare two very famous paintings by Van Gogh and Henri Matisse. We are comparing Van Gogh's ‘Sunflowers’ and Henri Matisse's ‘La Musique’. Henri Matisse's style of art is Fauvism and Van Gogh's is Expressionism. These two talented artists like others used bright colors to express good feelings and darker colors to express being angry or down.

The Sunflower painting by Vincent Van Gogh uses dull colors, making me feel sad and by painting this piece of artwork at the time he would have been a bit down. Throughout his life Van Gogh was sad painting different portraits of himself and other things, although these painting are amazing now back when he was alive he only sold one of his famous paintings. In one part of his depressed life Van Gogh cut off his ear and sent it to his girlfriend for some unknown reason. Van Gogh had a unique way of painting using lots of small strokes to make the painting look as if you could touch it and would be able to feel the bumps in the picture. The main colors are brown and yellow.

Henri Matisse’s painting ‘La Musique’ gave the feeling of joy because of the bright colors he used. The use of colors and curvy lines in this picture stood out because the way he used them. The style fauvism in french means wild beast. This style uses basic drawing with strong colors to make them stand out. The main obvious color or colors in Henri Matisse’s painting are blue, yellow, green and red.

The ‘Sunflower’ and ‘La Musique’ both have a couple of things in common like the colors, both using yellow and both are paintings. The difference between the two famous paintings are the style. The Sunflowers one is expressionism using a lot of little brushstrokes giving it an emotional effect giving up the mood. The La Musique uses powerful colors and bold drawings giving the happy feeling.

I think that these two pioneers of the art industry would have inspired many to take up painting and encourage more to as well. Despite the differences between the two artists and their styles, the painting and the similarities amazed me like the colors used and how they both made me feel differently.

Picnic

On Friday the 24 of February Pt England school got ready to go to the Pt England reserve for a wonderful day at our picnic. In the morning the whole school got into their class lines and sat in a row in the hall, awaiting the principle Mr Burts arrival. As the big catastrophe in the hall was going on the teachers were checking to see if every pupil had a hat. The teachers were equipped with school hats and prepared to give them to the people that didn't. Mr Burt got us all to quieten down so that he could speak, he said his words about how he wanted the day to go, and then told us to take off our hats, bow our heads before saying the prayer. After he got that done, Mr Burt said the year seven and eight students could leave first following by the years 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1.

Walking from oldest to youngest down to the Pt, the beautiful view of the glittering water surprised me as the other people ran around chasing each other. I looked at the front of me and it seemed like there were thousands of people, and in my mind I thought that it was the whole school until I took a look behind and there were even more, it looked like they were all raging bulls chasing me all the way to the beach. After finally getting there I took off my bag and dropped it on the ground. I noticed that the grass was shiny and was like aye?, so I felt the ground and it was wet, in my mind I was like “oh no” then I picked up my bag and the bottom of it was damp. The whole school eventually joined at the Pt. The teachers told us to get into our class lines again and sit or kneel down on the wet grass. I chose to sit because at that time the grass was dry. We were given our talk by the principle and we were on our way but first we had to go with our class and pick a spot to dump our bags. After doing that we could go and play.

I didn't know what to do so I just sat down, my friend Joshua came past and said “come” so I went with him and he we went onto the beach and started digging a tunnel like thing for the water to come into, so I started helping him. We did our best at digging but hardly no water was coming in and the reason why was because the tide was going out. So instead of wasting my time on nothing I went back up onto the grass to my bag. I got out some chips and ate them, then Joshua and some other boys came and started eating some of their lunch as well. I reached into my bag and grabbed the T-shirt that I had put in there before the picnic and replaced the school shirt with the one in my bag, and went looking for a game to play. As I was walking along the path I saw some of my other friends playing hit and roll, so I asked if I could play. They gave me a positive reply and I was the pitcher. I pitched a little bowl and the batter hit me a easy catch so I caught it and got him out. Hitting a couple of big and minor hits I got bored and went to play some thing else.

There was a lot of games to play but I didn't want to do any of them because I was to exhausted, and before I knew it a teacher walked up to me and said get ready where heading back to school now. In my head I was thinking “oh what we have to go back already”. Every class lined up their class lines and Mr Burt said his words then we were on our way back. The leaving was just like how we got there with people chasing people. I reached my class and the teacher Mrs Lagitupu said we could have free time on our net books for about 10 to 15 minutes. I thought the day was pretty cool and I enjoyed it. I want another picnic this year.

The Treaty Of Waitangi

This was going to be a historic day, on the 6th of February 1840 the Maori and Pakeha were going to come together in peace to sign a treaty. The signing was about the three P's protection,partnership, and participation. The treaty of Waitangi is a agreement between the British crown and the Maori. The treaty introduced a foreign British law into the country. To remember the day the treaty was signed, there is a public holiday in New Zealand called “Waitangi day”.

The Maori chiefs and all the British people participated an agreed on the document. The missionary Henry Williams translated both the Maori and English versions of the treaty, allowing the natives and the overseas people to understand the writing.

Over 500 Maori signed the treaty writing the names of their moko onto the document. From between February and October the European missionaries, traders, and officials took the treaty all over the north island of New Zealand resulting in 50 or so treaty meetings. Some chose not to sign. 9 copies of the treaty were made because they were afraid that they might lose the original. The reason the treaty was needed in the first place was because of the three P’s.

The Treaty Of Waitangi

This was going to be a historic day, on the 6th of February 1840 the Maori and Pakeha were going to come together in peace to sign a treaty. The signing was about the three P's protection,partnership, and participation. The treaty of Waitangi is a agreement between the British crown and the Maori. The treaty introduced a foreign British law into the country. To remember the day the treaty was signed, there is a public holiday in New Zealand called “Waitangi day”.

The Maori chiefs and all the British people participated an agreed on the document. The missionary Henry Williams translated both the Maori and English versions of the treaty, allowing the natives and the overseas people to understand the writing.

Over 500 Maori signed the treaty writing the names their moko onto the document. From between February and October the European missionaries, traders, and officials took the treaty all over the north island of New Zealand resulting in 50 or so treaty meetings. Some chose not to sign. 9 copies of the treaty were made because they were afraid that they might lose the original. The reason the treaty was needed in the first place was because of the three P’s.

Bar Graph

This week Room 21 created and completed graphs on a site called create a graph. This is my bar graph of the most favourite sports within the class. The sports that came out with the same results are Netball and League, and the sport that came out victorious were all the other sports.