About Me

My name is Danielle and I attend Berkley Normal Middle School as a year eight. This blog is all about my learning in school and out of school. There are six people in my family my Mum, Dad, Myself, Amy, Hannah and Patrick. My family lives on a dairy farm where my Mum and Dad work. My hobbies are Irish dancing and swimming. My favourite is Irish dancing so I get to do competitions in Auckland and this year I'm aiming to go to the nationals. My favourite subject at school would be maths because there is always are right or a wrong answer; unlike english when you have to keep improving and keep improving . My favourite tech art is food because I really enjoy cooking and I would love to be on junior master chef. Every year my family go camping with about six other families. We take tents and our boats and go ski biscuiting and fishing and one time we went to Cape Reinga. My favourite year camping was when we visited and snorkeled at the Poor nights New Zealands' best snorkeling attraction. My family love fishing and we belong to a fishing club so we do competitions sometimes. We have been to Fiji and England and they are both great places to visit we went tobogganing and built snowmen in England and we went snorkeling and swam with Manta rays in Fiji. I hope you like my blog and please comment on some of my posts.

Wednesday 18 November 2015

The Rose Festival

Last Wednesday Room 10 went to the Hamilton Gardens to judge the roses for the children's choice award.  On Monday Mr Paviour-Smith had come in to talk about the things we needed to look out for while we were judging these roses. Some of these examples were their scent, straight stem, shiny leaves and bright colors.


On the day we were given our marking sheet where we were to name our top 5 roses. We were also given a bit of a quiz where the answer to the question was those of one of the roses on display. This made you really have to stop and look at each individual rose bush and think about it's name. After we were finished judging we marked our answers to the quiz and we went and had a quick walk around the Hamilton Gardens visiting the Modernist garden and the char bargh garden.

Here is a Kizoa I made on the day. Thanks to Mrs Hogg and Evahn for taking these amazing photos on the day.






The following Friday 6 students including me went back to the gardens to enter some roses into the inter school rose competition. Mr Paviour-Smith show us how to display our roses in the vases. We are eagerly awaiting these results.

Joy riding

This is my PowToon on joyriding. I hope you learn something.

Wednesday 21 October 2015

Blog Action Day 2015

Hi there,

I think that the issue of shark finning needs to be addressed.

What is shark finning?

Shark finning is the practice of removinf of shark fins after being caught. The 3% of the sharks body weight are the high valued shark fins and then the other 97% is the lower value of the body. Often the body of the shark still alive is thrown back into the ocean but without being able to swim or pass water through the gills dies a slow painful death of suffacation, bloodloss, or predatation from other species.



Why is it a problem?

It is a highly unstable fishery. Targeting any species, sex or size. There has even been testing to prove that the most protected shark species in the world the great whit has been shark finned.



What is being done?

There are many websites where you caan donate to or sing a petition against shark finning. But something that has recently been shown to me is Yao Ming former basketball star who has dropped sales in shark finning by up to 70%. Read this interesting article to find out more.




Sources of information:
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/chinas-choice/2014/aug/08/sales-of-shark-fin-china-drop-70
http://www.sharksavers.org/en/education/sharks-are-in-trouble/finning-and-the-fin-trade/

Wednesday 14 October 2015

Reflection on Exhibition

If you have read the post below this one you will know what I mean by Exhibition.

I thought overall exhibition became one of those projects that you just really didn't want to finish. But we did and I was really proud of how far our groups learning had come.
I think that our movie showed everyone the message but the facts were all the facts are at the end and I found most of the students walked away after the beginning and didn't stay for the rest of it.

We could have engaged the audience a bit more maybe by having a game as well as our movie.


I also think we could have pushed our can drive a bit further so we could of collected a few more cans.

This was a great learning experience for me and I hope I will continue to learn about child poverty in New Zealand and I hope that the statistics will start changing for the better soon.

Thank you to Mrs Hogg for these wonderful photos.

Child Poverty in NZ

Last term we had Exhibition there was about eight weeks leading up to the day and a lot of work and effort went into the final products. My group's topic was child poverty in NZ after researching we found that this was a huge problem in New Zealand so we decided to take two actions our first one was to collect cans from the school and then donate them to a school who needed help with supplying food for their children and the second one was to create awareness by showing the community our videos and pamphlets.

Here are some photos from the day:




Thank you to Mrs Hogg for these wonderful photos.




Sunday 11 October 2015

New Books

If you have read the post I wrote last term then you will know that I have been one of the ones chosen to be a blog librarian. Part of this means that we get to read some of the new books before they get put on the shelves and review them. Here are my first five reviews:

Thirteen days of Midnight
Leo Hunt

I found this book full of adventure, suspense and thrill. The last 4 chapters I couldn't even put my book down I was that hooked in. ( This book only has 13 chapters so the chapters are long!) I personally really liked it and I would recommend this book to anyone who likes thriller novels. This is a bit of an insight into the book. There is a boy named Luke and hi dad passes away so that would mean his son could inherit  million dollars but he had to sign something first that he had no idea what he was signing for. So he ends up with 8 murderous ghosts who come  million dollars but he needs to learn how to control these ghosts before Halloween when they will break from their binding and murder the whole town. Will he get this under control before it's too late...

If You were Me
Sam Hepburn

This book for me wasn't the best book I have read but it was still worth reading. This book was about a family who were refugees from a country and came to London to stay. A couple of weeks later police find the eldest son with a bomb in a workshop where he is injured. They said that that is why he came to London in the first place and it turned everyone against him. Aliya his younger sister knows that he would never do such a thing so she risks her life to try and uncover the truth...

The Storm
Virginia Bergin

This is a great book for anyone interested in a sad and just a bit depressing fantasy. I really enjoyed the book it kept me turning the pages. Th book is set after an apocalypse. Rain is the deadly killer that caused the apocalypse and once you have survived that the old rules don't seem to matter so much. This book tells the story of Ruby Morris who hates rain.

How to Fly with Broken Wings
Jane Elson

This book has a beautiful message to it . At times it is sad and others fun but it brings a lot of joy. This book I found moving and for those of you who haven't read the book A Room Full of Chocolate by the same author you should. Any way back to this book. Willem Edward Smith is twelve years old and is on a mission. He wants to make friends but with most of the kids his own age in gangs he finds it hard.

Pinocchio by Pinocchio
Michael Morpurgo

This book has a message to it about doing the right thing. I didn't really enjoy this book as much as the other two because I got so frustrated with Pinocchio for always doing the wrong thing. Pinocchio is more than just wood and strings so it's about time he tells you his story.

Thank you Happy Reading,
Danielle :)




Wednesday 9 September 2015

Fiji

I just got back from 10 days in Fiji and I thought I could share some of my adventure with you. This first post will be all about what we did and then I will do a few more expanding on my highlights with photos and videos.

So here is everything we did:

Friday 28th August:
We arrived n Nadi, Fiji at 7:00pm and took a taxi to port Denerau where my dad's parents had a boat they steamed over from NZ that they were staying on; we would stay on their boat for the next 10 days. We had pizza for dinner and then went to bed.

Saturday 29th August:

We woke up at port Denerau and after breakfast we trolled (fished) to Vomo and saw a  turtle skimming across the water. When we got to Vomo we snorkelled  and we saw lots of zebra fish but my favourite fish was probably the little electric blue fish. Amy, Hannah and I jumped off the top of the boat which is about 4 metres high. We put the lures back out and set off for manta ray bay also known as drawaqu island. On the way their Amy caught a Queenfish. We arrived at drawaqu island . We went snorkelling on the reef and spotted goats on the island. We ate Amy's small fish as a snack and then we had dinner. Dad and Patrick decided to put a line down afterwards and they caught a barracuda that we kept and tree others which we released. We played a game of zilch and then went to bed.

Sunday 30th August (Nan's Birthday):

We woke up at Manta Ray Bay. We went to the Manta Ray passage in the dinghy and we were lucky enough to snorkel with 12 manta rays there were really big ones and then there were some babies. some had long tails while others had none. Some of them had little fish cleansing them and some were doing flips in the water. We went snorkelling at another reef and then we set off for Blue Lagoon. We arrived in Blue Lagoon after 2 1/2 hours and we ate Nan's birthday cake for afternoon tea we then went ashore to give a Fijian some fish, a jacket and some medicine. We finished the day with some dinner and then sleep.

Monday 31st August:

We woke up at Blue Lagoon. We went and said hello to another boat and then went ashore for a walk along the beach. We then went snorkelling and took some bread for the fish. The fish loved it and there were fish everywhere. We saw a lion fish and there were lots of zebra fish . We even saw two snapper fighting for food out of each others mouths! We then jumped off the top of the boat and I dived off. We set of for Yasawa-rara. When we arrived we took some reading glasses, fish and a few magazines. We gave some fish  to the chief and some glasses to the villagers in return we got 3 drinking coconuts. Asnaili insisted to thank us by holding a dinner the next night this would mean we would have to take him fishing in the morning to catch some fish. We had a last swim had dinner and coconut juice and went to sleep.

Tuesday 1st September:

We woke up at Yasasawa-rara. Dad went to get Asnaili ( the chief ) on the dinghy and brought him and his fishing lines back to thee boat. While we were out fishing we caught 6 Walu one of those of which I caught. We gave 3 of these fish to Asnaili along with the heads of the 3 fish which we would have he fillets of. Some of this fish would be used for dinner. We took Asnaili home and then headed off for a ride to champagne beach in the dinghy. Amy and I swam in the waves and then we went for a snorkel. We went back to the boat to get ready to go ashore to prepare the lovo which is like an earth oven. So we went ashore and helped with the lovo. They put rooster ( which the chief had caught the other night and prepared for us to eat), cassava ( a root vegetable ) and pumpkin into he lovo. The food went on to hot rocks and was covered in flax and then we covered that up with banana leaves and sacks and then sand on top of that. We then looked at the village's garden and then we went for a walk along the beach. We then came back and helped uncover the lovo. We went to the boat and had a swim before going back to the island for dinner. We said grace and then ate a selection of yams, cassava, pumpkin, shell fish, raw fish, baked fish, Nan's coleslaw and rice salads. There was a yacht who also came for dinner. The visitors ate first and then the Fijians ate afterward this is their custom. It was a delicious dinner and afterward we went back to the boat and slept.

Wednesday 2nd September:

Wake up at Yasawa-rara. We go to Korovu and troll for 4 hours to get there. We caught 5 fish on the way 2 shark mackerel, 2 mackerel tuna and 1 walu. We arrived at Korovu and had lunch. We went for a snorkel and then we went ashore. We walked over the hill here we caught lots of hermit crabs and had crab races with them. We walked back over the hill to have fresh fish sashimi and fresh fried fish for dinner.

Thursday 3rd September: ( Dad's Birthday )

Wake up at Korovu and go for a snorkel. We saw lots of crown of thorns starfish and a few fish. We set off for Waya island and on the way we stopped at manta ray passage for one last snorkel with the manta rays. We saw 5 some of them were doing flips and once again they were massive. We were back on our way to Waa island. Once we got to the island where we would be spending the night we went ashore to the school. A group of students showed us around the school. They were really cheerful and it looked like they were having fun. Once we had seen the school we went back to the boat to have dad's birthday cake that I made on the way there. Poppa was fixing John's boat when we got back so we gave him some fish for the funeral taking place the next day and some bags of clothes for the villagers he promised to give us some coconuts so Poppa went to get them later when he dropped off the fish. We ate dinner drank coconuts and went to bed.

Friday 4th September:

Wake up at Waya island and set off for Musket cove. We stop at the sand cay on the way and play in the waves. We have a snorkel and then have lunch. We are back on our way to musket cove. There is a space in the marina when we get to Musket cove so we anchor in the marina and then go ashore for a walk. We get ice creams and then we walk to plantation island to get our hair braided. Once we got our hair braided we went back to Musket and had a swim in the swimming pool. We went back to the boat and had dinner at the sand bar. We went back to the boat and played cards and went to bed.

Saturday 5th September:

We woke up at Musket Cove Marina and had a swim with our yacht neighbours and their 3 year old kids Jasmine and Zoe. We then went for a kayak around to plantation island and back again. We had lunch and then we hired a hobby cat and went sailing for 1 hour. After that we went for a swim in the Musket Cove pool and then we had ice creams for afternoon tea and then we went back to the boat. We watched a movie with Jasmine and Zoe, had dinner and then we went to bed.

Sunday 6th September: ( Fathers Day )

We woke up at Musket Cove and had a swim in the sea. Amy and Patrick found this really weird crab it camouflaged into the sand and then when you put it in water it squirted it out through it's mouth. It was raining that day but once it had passed we went for a walk to see if we could find the flat frogs and the crabs by the airstrip. We saw the crabs almost straight away but we had to walk quite far for the frogs. We eventually the flat frogs and after walking back to where we started from we decided that we would have an ice cream for morning tea. We walked back to the boat and got ready to leave Musket Cove to go to Smugglers cove where we would take a taxi to the airport. I made potato fritters for lunch on the way to our first stop the sand bar and once we got there we had them for lunch and then went snorkelling. This was one of the best snorkels I had had yet. There were lots of fish and there was one type of fish that kept biting my toes. After we had finished snorkelling we continued on our way to smugglers cove. When we arrived we went ashore in the dinghy to book the taxi ready for when we would need it later and went back to the boat. We had dinner and then packed everything up ready to go home. We all went ashore once more with our luggage and took the taxi to the airport. We cleared customs and flew home; our adventure over.

If there s anything particular you would like me to show pictures or videos of please comment in the comment section below.

Monday 24 August 2015

Food Tech Academy

Hi there,

Over the past month a group of students from my class have been working on a video to be entered in the vegetarian society film contest. The category winners will be announced on the first of September and the overall winner on the first of October.

We created this film I hope you like it:

Sunday 23 August 2015

Library

Hi there,

I haven't really shared anything about the facilities of our school, so I will try and share 1 of these each week so the first one is of our library.

Here is a video:

I have also been chosen to be one of the school blog librarians the blog address is: http://berkleylibrary.blogspot.co.nz/

Science Fair

On Friday most of my class and some others from Berkley went to the  NIWA Waikato Science Fair. About 22 of us entered projects, including me and the others came to help us and have a look at the other boards. All of the contestants were interviewed and judged and then we had some fun walking around the gardens.

There are prizes up for grabs in hard cash so that would be cool to win but there is a lot of competition so that would be rather hard to do. So far there are 17 prize winners from Berkley but none of us knows what those winners get so it's a waiting game for them till Tomorrow night when prize giving takes place.

Here are some photos Brooke took from the gardens:

Sunday 16 August 2015

Perspective Photos

In Media we have been taking perspective photos and how to look at life through the other end of a telescope. Some of our end products I really like but there not all that good. Here they are.
We took these over two blocks.

















Monday 10 August 2015

Appearance

Do you judge a book by it's cover?

Watch these two videos that show the reality is that we do judge people for what they look like.







What do you think about these two videos?
Why do you think we do this?
Comment you responses in the comments section.

Wednesday 5 August 2015

UOI 3 and UOI 4

These are three powtoons showing my learning of theses two UOI's

Tuesday 28 July 2015

Dove - Good or Bad

Is dove an all round good company?


Watch this video:



Think about these questions:

How does this apply to you?
Will you take one of dove's workshops?
Do you think dove is a good company for boosting women's confidence?

Tell me what you like about this video in the comment section and then scroll down to watch the next video on the next post.



Dove - Good or Bad continued...

If you have watched the video above now watch this video:




Think about these questions and then comment with your opinions below:

What do you think about dove now?
Are you going to buy dove's products or talk to dove about their usage of palm oil before it's too late?
Has this video changed your opinion about the first video?

Saturday 20 June 2015

Gymnastics Continued...

Yesterday was our gymnastics competition. I wasn't placed but many children from my school were. Berkley scored 4 x 1st which is really some 2nds a few 3rds, 4ths and 5ths.

Berkley entered lots of people in this team we had girls and boys who were on steps, club twisters,  twisters, flyers, and springers.  We also had some people performing trampoline.

Here are some photos from the day. Hover over each photo to see a close up.


Sunday 14 June 2015

So you Think you can Dance?

Last week my school held a dance competition. Read the prezi to find out more.

Thursday 11 June 2015

Gymnastics

At school I am in the Gymnastics inter schools team for the school gym sport festival.

I am learning 3 routines for this competition. We do 1 on the beam 1 on the floor and 1 on the vault. These are here: Can you do this?

This is my beam routine:


This is my floor routine:






This is my Vault routine:

















The competition is on Wednesday the 17th of June I will up date you after I have performed at the competition to tell you how our school did. Wish me Luck!

Thursday 4 June 2015

My Ballad - Before the Treaty

In class we have been learning about why the treaty of Waitangi
Was written and signed. We have been writing ballads about this.
Before the Treaty

Trading wood, flax and food were the chief,
Of many tribes to save them the grief,
Of their tribe numbers dropping to one and then none,
You see they were trading for muskets; a gun
Tribes fired on tribes within their range,
As their tribe boundaries were starting to change.

Next on the traders list were the whales,
Who got slaughtered then traded when a ship rose their sails,
They were a way for a while,
Out further than a mile,
So when land was in sight,
They would party and fight.

The Missionaries came,
With one big aim,
To change the customs that were tribal,
So that Maori could read the bible,
They then bought some land,
With a shake of a hand.

There were many changes to Maori ways of life,
Including Pakiha and Maori becoming husband and Wife,
In 1835 NZ got an independence,
Signed by 34 chiefs in attendance
We signed the treat in sync and afterward had a friendly drink.







Tuesday 2 June 2015

Berkley's ANZAC Service

A few weeks ago my Class set up our own ANZAC service. About a month ago we were given 30 crosses to represent 30 soldiers around our area who gave the ultimate sacrifice fighting in war. Everyone in my class did their part to help to set up our service; giving out roles to hosts, readers to read out the ode and our singers to start off our National Anthem and our hymn. We even had someone sharing about their ancestor who fought in the war and returned but he had nightmares of the war till the day he passed away.

Lots of people also helped to make the crosses. There was a lot of precision put into this as each cross had to be the exact replica of the others. After two days our crosses were finally finished and it was time to make our Field of Remembrance. We had to measure how far apart each cross was from the back and side on. We finished our Field and started on our speeches. By the end of the day everything was prepared for our ANZAC service the next day and we didn't think anything could go wrong.

However... The next day I arrived on the bus to find some of my classmates picking up the crosses from our field of remembrance. I raced to class; my curiosity getting the best of me only to find some drunk 17 year-old boys had vandalized our crosses by kicking them over and had left them in a heap on the ground. My class couldn't believe how someone could choose to do this. After all it was hallowed ground. Our crosses weren't damaged too bad but some still had chips and cracks in them which we did our best to fix an hour before our service. A group of about 6 people including me stayed behind from our Tech Art to make the Field of Remembrance again. We did the best we could to make up for what these two boys had done to the crosses.

Making our Field of Remembrance
Next Block...
Now was finally the time for our ANZAC service. We started by welcoming our guests to our ceremony and then we sung the National Anthem. Next we had Rose sharing about her ancestor, then a minute of silence and after that the ode, the reveille and our hymn. 

I think overall our ANZAC service was a success we all rose above the example of the 17 year old boys and we were able to deliver a clear and heart warming message to those who attended our service and our speakers did a fabulous job. 



The Finished Product
We were written about in newspaper articles . Here is a link to this http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/68030286/teen-arrested-over-anzac-cross-vandalism

We were also in the Waikato Times and when the RSA found out they were rather emotional. They decided to come to our school to replace our crosses. When my class found out we were very excited.

When they Came:

We welcomed them in by singing Toia ( a maori hymn ) and then the National Anthem.

Mr Gibson talked to us about the war and compared the drunk 17 year old to 17-year-old Private Persson, believed to be the youngest Kiwi to die at Gallipoli. He referred to the person who committed the vandalism as an "idiot" and Private Persson a "Hero".

Mr Gibson and Mr Francis also gave us some gifts including ANZAC Warriors tee-shirt 4 Anzac tee-shirts a scarf for our teacher and some badges.

This was also written about here:

Monday 1 June 2015

Ice Blocks



Food Tech - Ice Blocks

At our school we are fortunate enough to have a food tech room, where my group trialed a quick pop maker, called Zoku. Here is a list of pros and cons.

Pros:


  • It was really fast and efficient
  • Really easy to use
  • Clear instructions, with eye catching booklet

Cons: 

  • Quite hard to remove quick pop from product/machine
  • Breaks fairly easily

This product was really easy to use, there were only a few steps and it was undeniably efficient. One flaw though, was that the orange tool you use to remove the quick pop broke with minimum use. Overall I think that our experience with this product was quite enjoyable and I recommend you try out the Zoku Quick Pop Maker.





We also trialed the old way of doing it using molds. This way wasn't as efficient and takes longer but is more reliable.

We made a smoothie for this with berries milk and yogurt, and then put the mixture in the molds. We then left the ice blocks in the freezer overnight to freeze.

Review by: Danielle and Renee

Tuesday 26 May 2015

SBC - Week 10


Posts


How many Posts did I write?

I wrote 19 posts including this one.


How many were school based, your own interests or set by the challenge?

15 were set by the challenge
4 were school based

How many comments did you receive from classmates, teachers or overseas students?

Overall I received 16 comments from:

9 from class mates
5 from overseas students
2 from teachers


Which post received the most comments? Why do you think that happened?

My Turangawaewae poem received three comments along with Adding and Subtracting Fractio Review and My mini game I made.

I think this happened because they were different and fun posts and visitors asked questions and I answered them.


Which post did you enjoy writing the most and why?

I enjoyed making my mini game on sploder as my post the best because it was fun and creative.

Did you change blog themes at all and why?

Yes, I did change blog themes at the start because I wanted my posts to be on a plain background, my widgets to be on a transparent background and my background to be Autumn-ish.


How many widgets do you have? Do you think this is too many or not enough?

I have 9 widgets I think this is too much so I will take one of the irrelevant ones off like my fish.

How many overseas students do you have on your blogroll?

I have 5 at the moment and I will try and find more. The ones I have on their though are great blogs.

Which web tools did you use to show creativity on your blog?

I have used Lucidpress, GetLoupe and Sploder. These are all really easy and fun to use. I will know try and use more web tools I haven't used before.



Monday 25 May 2015

Energy

This is My ThingLink


In class we have been learning about types of energy. My ThingLink shows 5 different types of energy.

Friday 22 May 2015

Food Technology

Today in Food Tech we melted chocolate with a chocolate fountain and moulded it with shapes:

How has the chocolate fountain evolved over time?

They have become bigger, more complex and more common. The first chocolate fountain was invented by Ben Brisbane and were popularized in 1991.

Evaluation of the chocolate fountain and our method:

The chocolate fountain was easy to use. But our method of moulding it takes a while for the chocolate to set. This could be improved by freezing the moulds before hand.







Tuesday 12 May 2015

Defenseless Ducks SBC - Week 9

It's duck shooting season in New Zealand at the moment, and in class we are having a bit of a debate about whether ducks are defenceless or not. There are two sides to the story. One thinks that they aren't they think that the ducks can fly away and they choose to come in range of the gun. The other side thinks that they are hopelessly defenceless.

I think they are tricked into flying into the range of the gun. When the hunter, duck calls the duck is tricked into coming into the  sound of the call becoming in range of the gun.

Some facts about Duck shooting.


  •  Maori Hunted ducks for their meat and feathers; mainly in the late summer when the birds were fat.

  • European settlers introduced more than 20 species of game birds to NZ; not all survived though. Mallard ducks and Canada geese established and laws were passed to set a season for duck shooting.

  • Lots of wetlands ( The ducks main habitat ) were drained so that the land could be used for farming. Luckily the two species mallards and paradise shelducks did well on open farmland and today some organisations are working to restore wetlands.

  • Ducks and geese have good eyesight so hunters will hide in a maimai sometimes and will also wear camouflage clothing. They use decoy ducks which are fake birds made from wood cork or plastic. They also blow on instruments to mimic the birds call to make them think it's safe to land. These things are all done to attract and trick the birds.

  • On the opening day of each season ( the first Saturday in May ) Most hunters take part so tis is when most of the birds are shot. Hunters head out to their own shooting spots in the dark and then at dawn the shooting begins.

  • After a day's hunting the hunter will oil his gun put away gear and pluck and dress the birds. Ducks are often roasted and eaten with gravy.

Info from :  http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/duck-shooting




File:Bgforhunting.jpg
 Taken by Dr. F Eugene Hester. Picture supplied by Fish and Wildlife Service Website. http://www.fws.gov/hunting/ The gun fired by the man standing is a Browning Auto-5 or possibly a model based off of it.


So are Ducks Defenceless?

 

 

Sunday 10 May 2015

My adventures in Fiji

Thanks Mum for the photos


I'm on my Way

Japan
Canada
United Kingdom

Toilet signs in each country

Japan:

This is Japan's Toilet sign












The Canada and UK toilet sign is the same as the New Zealand one.

Road signs:

Canada

Japan

United Kingdom













Time Zone for Skyping:

Canada: The difference is taking 16 hours away from nz time so a good time to skype would be: 5:00 pm Canada and 9:00 am NZ or 6:00 pm Canada and 10:00 am NZ

Japan : The difference is taking 3 hours away from NZ time so a good time to skype would be:  any where in between 7:00 pm NZ and 4:00 pm Japan to 10;00 am NZ and 7:00 am Japan

United Kingdom: The difference is taking 11 hours away from NZ time so a good time to skype would be: 7:00 pm NZ and 8:00 am UK or 6:00 pm NZ and 7:00 am UK

The Website I used was :

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/difference.html?p1=22

Tuesday 5 May 2015

Student Blogging Challenge - Week 8 - Let's Travel

The countries I will visit:

South Africa - Africa
Bouvet Island - Antarctica
Fiji - Oceania
Canada - North America
United Kingdom - Europe
Japan - Eurasia
Argentina - South America

I'm now 18 and I'm going to go travel. Over the this week I will post blog posts planning my trip, what it's like their and at the end sharing my experiences.

This first post is all about planning. I will plan for three countries these will be:

Japan
Canada
United Kingdom

Visas

Japan - Because I'm not staying longer than 90 days and I have a New Zealand passport I do not need a visa to enter the country how ever if i am working I would need that. The table that I used to find out this information is really easy to follow. Information found here

Canada - Because I will also not work in Canada I do not need a visa to enter Canada with my New Zealand Passport.

United Kingdom - The UK visa conditions are that if you are staying linger than 6 months then you will need one but because I am not I will not need one.

What will I need to pack:

Canada - Because the weather conditions in Canada are warm and cold at the moment I will need some warm clothes for example coat, thermals, jumpers as well as the basics (shorts and tee-shirt). This is the weather in Canada.

United Kingdom - The weather conditions in England - UK is mostly sunny with a slight drizzle so I will pack some warm clothes as I stated in the canada one as well as the basics. This is the weather in the UK.

Japan - Because the weather conditions in Japan is a nice warm temperature. I will want tee-shirt, shorts maybe a jumper and a rain coat in case it rains. This is the weather in Japan.

Where I will stay:

Japan - I will book a hotel using this website.

UK - I will stay with my grandparents and other friends in England.

Canada - I will book a hotel using this website.

Wednesday 29 April 2015

Student Blogging Challenge - Week 7 - Lets Play a Game

No. 1

My favorite post on Abigails blog was her ANIMOTO which I thought showcased her hobbies really well.

I really liked Rosa's post a poem about standing out and being yourself because her poem had a really strong and clear message.

The reason why I chose the post on Hannah's blog was because I really like reading nd this pos twas about reading.

Wednesday 22 April 2015

Weekly Blogging Challenge - Week 6 - Activity 2

I have made this game for the Weekly Blogging Challenge
Have a go and have fun

Tuesday 21 April 2015

Weekly Blogging Chalenge - Week 6 - Activity 8


Mazzali: "Accento" bed / il letto "Accento" . Bedroom area
Mazzali
Mazzali:"Accento" bed / il letto "Accento" .Bedroom area





There once was a bed named Ed
Who really was an airhead
He would go down town
in his lovely new gown
And come back again bright red

Sunday 19 April 2015

Weekly Blogging Challenge- Week 6 - Activity 6

The electricity grid went out in your country. What would change in your lifestyle? How would you relax?

Personally I think it would be fun if all the electricity went out in the country. It would be very old school no electronics no oven no cooker no TV, no lights, no blogs and so on. We would have to adapt to this. My family would have lots of barbecues to cook with and lots of fires for heat in the winter.

To relax we would read books and play cards if it's cold or rainy and if it's hot have a swim in our pool or play a game outside like cricket, volleyball or soccer.


How would you and your family relax?

Saturday 18 April 2015

I Was Blobbed

My Favorite's at New Horizons


My favorite activity at New Horizons was the blob. Here is a memoir about the blob.

I'm ready I tell myself I have done one blob with someone my size. Now Dad can blob me. I listen to the instructor and his instructions, I need to lean forward on the blob before he jumps and keep a pin drop when I'm in the air. I can hear the countdown 3... 2.... 1... jump. I listen for the slap as dad lands on the Blob. Up. Up. And up. I'm flying.

My favorite venue on New Horizons was Waimarino because of all the activities for offer. Here is a poem setting the scene of Waimarino :

Rust clings to the aged ladders,
Hens run to and fro around each activity
The blob, water trampolines and hydro slide,
decorate the water with their fun.
White paint cracks on the wooden diving boards
Blinding sun brings hands to children's eyes
The blob bounces kids high
Kayaks paint colors over the glistening river,
dancing into a raft up,
in a near perfect circle.
Phones clicking rapidly,
capturing a memory that will always be remembered.

My favorite walk on New Horizons was the walk up the mount because of the view at the top of Mount Maunganui. Here is a piece of writing about the view at the top.

A stretch of land on your right painted in buildings
The sea on your left a clear deep blue

The greenery is beautiful a dark healthy green
Hefty waves crash in to the beach
Endeavor to get to the top of Mount Maunganui to see this view. ( make an effort to get to the top)

The roads full of traffic
On the water on the right of the buildings there are yachts 
Persevere and get to the top to see Tauranga as a whole.

This is a photo of the view from the Mount:
View from Mount Maunganui
Photo By: Christoph Strässler
View from Mount Maunganui
Creative Commons License


Here is a link to the place where we went so if you are interested you can have a look

http://www.waimarino.com/

Do you think you would try the blob if you ever went to Waimarino?

Monday 30 March 2015

Waimarino

Last week on Wednesday my school went on New Horizons. My New Horizon was Waimarino Kayak Adventures. Here is a piece of writing that I have written about it:

We climbed up Mt Mounganui
Activities weren't limited and ranged from the blob to high diving boards, rock climbing and kayaking.
I went flying on the blob
My favorite activities were the rock hopping day, the blob and the kayak slide.
A challenge for me to do was back flip off the high diving board
River challenges were set in place for us to participate in
In the river we floated under waterfalls
Never would we give up trying
Optimistic children had great fun at waimarino



Thursday 19 March 2015

Student Blogging Challenge: Week 3 - Activity 9

The Zoom Game 

The zoom game is when someone posts a close up picture on their blog. Then the first person to comment writes where the object in the picture might be as if it it is being "zoomed out." The next person will zoom out the picture even more; this can go on until you get to space. For example if the picture was of an orange then you could say the orange is on a glass plate, then the next person could say something like the plate is on a marbled table and so on. When you play this game please read all of the comments before you write your on and be as creative as you want.




Builder's Measuring Tape 1
Photo By jkfid
Builders Measuring Tape 1
CC License

Student Blogging Challenge : Week 3 - Activity - 11

preview
Photo By Patrick
Miss E's Irish step dancing shoes.
CC Licence

Click on the photo to do the puzzle

Tuesday 17 March 2015

The Block

The Block was a day where my team Aranui ( which is made up of 4 classes,)  split into ten groups to challenge each other in different activities e.g wall sit, tug o war, making a shelter, quiz, preparing for lunch, and decorating your shelter. Our day was focused on our PYP Unit Of Inquiry : How we organise ourselves, looking at The central idea: Individuals can impact on a community's ability to function effectively, and our three Lines of Inquiry: 
No:1 The form and function of communities
No:2 Understanding our role and responsibilities
No:3 The Impact of different communities on society

Each activity led into each other. We started with the quiz, if you won the quiz then you chose what you wanted to help you build your shelter, 2nd place gets 2nd choice and so on. Once we finished our shelter we started Tug o war and came 6th equal with 3 other teams. We were only aloud 10 people in our team to participate in that activity. Then in the next one we could only have 10 people again so it was compulsory for the person who sat out on the tug o war to participate in the wall sit. Next we decorated our shelter. This was called 'Pimp Your Shelter' again winners of the tug o war chose their decorations then 2nd place, 3rd place, 4th place , 5th place and finally 6th equal. While some people were still doing the wall sit we started to decorate our shelter and prepare lunch.


My group worked well on remembering to bring everything however there were going to have filled rolls but the two people who were bringing either fillings or buns weren't on the same page so we ended up with cream bins and ham, cheese and lettuce. We did well on the wall sit encouraging each other to say on longer. I would change how we made the shelter because there were more effective ways than how we made it. Other groups made it over a piece of string which I thought was a good idea. The block relates to the central idea and lines of inquiry because we needed teamwork and we worked as a community. It relates to the first line of inquiry because our group had to form and function well in order to do our best. It relates to our second line of inquiry because we had to know our roles and responsibilities within our group. We related to the central idea because we needed a leader who would help our group work together that impacted our group by us working together.



Some Photos from the Block

Sunday 15 March 2015

Student Blogging Challenge - Week 3 - Activity 3

Spotted Dolphin
Picture By Tim Ellis
 Spotted Dolphin 


This is the place where I stand
With it's blue waters and long fishing rods; waiting for a catch
Shining silver dolphins
Playing, leaping, flipping in the rocky wake

The crystal clear water filled with schools of colorful fish
Sightings of red crayfish peeking out of the holes in the grey rocks
Sprays of white wash, fly at me; covering me in sea salt
Where gulls seek there dinner

This is the place where I feel safe
It is here I have learnt to stand alone
And it will always remain deep in my heart
Even when I'm somewhere else

Inspired by Andy Williamson

This is my Turangawaewae Poem I wrote in class last year; when I saw this picture I remembered I had written this poem so I decided to use it.
Do you relate to this picture?

Thursday 12 March 2015

Student Blogging Challenge No.1

Challenge No.1

Good Commenting: this weeks focus is good commenting so I thought I would share this video with you.

Do you think there is anything else to add to the video?

I think that he could add:

Put a little bit of feedforward at the end - What could the do to improve their post, but say it in a nice way.

Blogging Challenge No.8

As you know I am involved in the 2015 student blogging challenge. One of the tasks for this week is to add a ClustrMap to your blog. I have added mine to my sidebar so you can see where my visitors are mostly coming from; you can also click on the picture or the link above for a bigger and more detailed map. It will be interesting to find out where my traffic sources are coming from. I would really like to get a visitor from as many countries as  I can and as many visitors as I can so please tell your friends about my blog and start seeing my map grow.

Sunday 1 March 2015

Adding and Subtracting Fractio Review

The game is good for practicing adding and subtracting fractions but you don't get given many questions so you have to do it twice or more times to get the hang of it. I think the target audience are kids with prior knowledge on adding and subtracting fractions but need some practice. If you want to know how to add and subtract fractions then watch the tutorial video below. I think that this game could be made better by making the board bigger with more questions and having the dice with only the numbers one two and three and having each number twice on the dice so you don't go as far as quickly therefore answering more questions. Why don't you try the game below and then comment in the box below what you think.
By Danielle

Click on me to play the game
Click on me for a tutorial