End Of Year Reflections 2021 (Leavers Edition)

Hi guys, this is my last blog post for this year. I am writing this post on an old Chromebook. Honestly this was probably my favourite year out of the 6 & 1/2 years I have been at this school. This year at South Hornby School we went to a great camp called Woodend Camp. I personally found this camp more fun and interesting than the one we visited last year. 

Last year I wrote a post similar to this one. But last year we got to see the Year 6 T-ball game and did Top-Team. This year today the T-ball game and last swimming session was canceled, yesterday Top-Team was canceled as well. This year in August we went back into lock-down, I didn't think that we would make it back for a few months but surprisingly we made it back the next month. I'm glad we managed to do the leavers assembly after we had lock-down. I also enjoyed leavers dinner which we had 3 days ago. It was fun to hang out and eat with all the people leaving and the teachers (not all of the teachers are leaving). Next year if you see this blog my new school will either be reusing it or it won't have live stuff. Hope you have a great Christmas & goodbye for 2021!!

Bird Feeders! - Inquiry

This week for Inquiry we made bird feeders. This was fun because we got to spread pine cones with peanut butter and roll it in bird seeds! I didn't find this very hard because all we had to really do was spread a pine cone with peanut butter in between each seed thing. Then we had to roll it through a plate/bowl/tray filled with wild bird seed to make the birds want to eat it. Then we attached it to a piece of string (or you can do it at the start) and hung it on a tree! 

Here it is:

How To Plant A Tree D.L.O - Inquiry

Today for Inquiry we made a D.L.O on how to plant a tree. We got to plant trees 1 or 2 weeks ago so making this D.L.O was rather easy. I found it fun to make because it was about something I knew how to do. The steps go in this order. 

1. Scrape the bark
2. Cut the weed mat
3. Dig a hole with a trowel
4. Tip Plant Out of pot
5. Take plant out of pot
6. Put plant in hole
7. Hold Plant In Place and put dirt back
8. Push dirt firmly
9. Put bark around the plant
10. Water the plant

Here it is:

The Life Cycle Of A Tree - Inquiry

 Today for inquiry we made a D.L.O about the life cycle of a tree. This was fun because we got to learn about the full life cycle of a tree which has four main stages. These are seed, seedling, sapling & finally adult tree. Each year 1 tree gets rid of 48 pounds of carbon dioxide. This means we should plant more trees! I found this rather easy but it was also challenging to find all the info.

Here It Is:

Endangered Animals Red Pandas! - Writing

This week for writing we have been writing to inform texts about endangered animals. I chose the animal red panda, we had to learn about the creature and write down facts we find in a plan. Then using the information in the plan we write the introduction, body paragraphs & conclusion. After we finished that we did self check, partner check and finally teacher check. 

Here it is: 

Red Pandas

Introduction

Did you know there are less than 10,000 red pandas left. Red pandas live in eastern himalayas like China, Nepal & Bhutan. They are given the status of endangered. Red pandas are very skillful and acrobatic.

Endangered Reason

Did you know red pandas are killed for multiple reasons? The fur of a red panda is used for clothes. It is often sold on the pet black market. Red pandas are often caught in traps meant for other animals like deer. Also occasionally poached in the place of another animal.

Appearance

Did you know that red pandas aren’t actually very red? Although they are known as ‘red pandas’ they are actually more orangey. They have black back legs and have orange and brown striped tails. Red pandas mostly have a white face. They also have slightly black bodies. Most red pandas grow up to 2 metres in length.

Diet

Did you know red pandas love bamboo and leaves? They often live in trees and that's why their diets are mainly leaves and bamboo. Red pandas occasionally eat insects. The word panda is said to come from the Nepali word for ‘ponya’ which means bamboo or plant eating animal. The red panda's diet consists of quite simple things.

Conclusion

To conclude, Red pandas are a cute animal that are being harmed by traps for other animals. They are very acrobatic animals and there are less than 10,000 left in the world. So help these animals out by preventing poaching or anything else that will harm red pandas.

Calendar Art - Art

Last term we did our calendar art. Since we were at the time doing art we made graffiti using pastels and pencil to make it look like actual wall art which was then stuck on a brick wall background. This gave it the effect that it was actually painted on the wall. It then looked like some real graffiti. We also used pastels to colour in the letters of our names. We also made a background to colour in a singular or multiple colour/s. 

The 8th Fabo Story Competition - Writing

Over lockdown we wrote stories for a story competition known as the 8th Fabo story competition where we were given a story starter and then had to finish the story using 550 words or less. This was really fun because the story starter was based around magic abilities. At the start they get kits and get to have either a witch or wizard starter kit (read the rest below). I found this challenging because personally in fictional stories I like to have a whole plot but in this competition it was 550 and under so I had to work with it. If you have done anything similar or basically the same tell me in the comments and I will try to reply.

Here it is:

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Mark and Maeve skipped along the dark corridors of McMinty Towers, and into the dining hall. They expected to see their mother sitting at the head of the table. Instead, they found a letter pinned to the top of a large, black chest.

My Dear Twins,

First of all, Happy Birthday!

This chest contains two magical things:

1 x Witch-Starter-Kit   &

1 x Wizard- Starter-Kit

Please choose one kit. Choose carefully as you cannot swap your kit once you have chosen. However, Mark may choose the Witch-Starter-Kit, while Maeve might choose the Wizard-Starter-Kit. It doesn’t matter.

Please write down each spell you test, and the results. A few words of warning. When starting out, I advise all young witches and wizards to use their new powers wisely. Because spells, when not followed correctly can go terribly wrong. Terribly wrong!

Good luck. Good luck, I repeat. You will need it.

Yours in witchcraft

Mother Witch McMinty

Mark shrugged his shoulders. Maeve opened the chest …

Now you finish the story…

Inside the chest there are two kits laid out. Mark picked up one kit and around him, the wizard's robes floated, suddenly the robes wrapped around him. Maeve is immensely surprised and jumps back, then suddenly without knowing it was there Mark pulled out a small wand made out of curved and polished wood. Maeve grabbed the remaining kit and suddenly witch robes weaved themselves around her. Maeve and Mark look down at themselves with their magnificent robes. Without thinking, Maeve pulls out a spell book  lined with layers of dust. Maeve blows all of the dust off the cover and says to Mark “so what do we do with these new items”? 

“I guess we do what the letter says and try to cast some spells,” replies Mark.

They both grab their tools and walk down to the garden through the dark corridors. When they arrive at the garden they sit down and try to figure out what to do with their tools. Maeve tries to read the text on the first page of her book but it all just looks like scrambled letters. Mark has absolutely no idea what he’s supposed to do but is waving his wand in random directions and making up words. When suddenly out of Mark's wand flies a small bolt of lightning hitting a shrub and making it burst into flames. Maeve suddenly notices a word that she understands. 

“Aqua pluvia”, yells Maeve at the top of her lungs, and from the sky rains an extreme amount of water, splashing the burning shrub. 

Mark was astounded at what Maeve had just figured out how to do. Maeve then says “I think all my spells are written in latin because puluvia means rain and aqua means water”.

Mark replies by saying “well that was interesting afterall I almost burnt the whole garden”. Maeve and Mark then start looking through Maeve’s spellbook looking for spells they can try out. Mark eventually gets bored and starts yelling random made up words again but this time nothing happens. Maeve then notices a spell named spiritus potator. She says it and out of her book flies a small little pixie-like creature heading straight towards Mark. It’s about to hit him when he yells “exitium laser”, which sends a stream of red light straight at the creature obliterating it and also pushing everything away in a small radius. Maeve looks terrified as Mark holds his wand. Mark then says “you said that the spells were in latin so I said destruction laser but in latin, it's about the only thing I know how to say”. Maeve replies with “I can’t believe that you just shot a red laser out of a wand you barely know how to use,” Maeve then says ``I have no idea what that means but it sounded cool so I said it”. 

Mark then says “I think I know another spell but I'm willing to guess it's not going to work”. 

Maeve replies with “should at least try because what if it works, just make sure it doesn’t have destruction in it”. 

Mark then says in his most confident voice “invisibilitatem”, which makes him disappear. “It worked, I'm invisible! Now I just need to work out how to say visible, and find a Latin dictionary”.

Folk Dance D.L.O - Inquiry

Before lockdown began we were learning about dance and at the time we were doing folk dance. This was an interesting topic but was side tracked by it turning to level 4. It is an interesting dance because it shows off your culture, this means that each different dance is a different type of culture. It was slightly challenging to finish off my D.L.O after 3 weeks of not learning anything about it. If you have done anything similar or basically the same tell me in the comments and I will try to reply.

Here it is:

Te Reo Maori Classroom Objects - Screencastify/ Te Reo Maori

Today for Te Reo Maori we recorded a video about classroom objects. In this activity we had to show each other objects and ask what it is in Te Reo Maori, then the other person would reply what it actually is. We were each supposed to ask 3 questions and answer 3 questions. I did this activity working with Bailey R. If you have done anything similar or even basically the same thing tell me in the comments and I will try to reply.

Here it is:

Lockdown Algebra 5 - Maths

 Today for maths we did our fifth algebra lesson. This time we learnt about balance equations so that they equal the same. This meant we had a table which was like this kinda. _ + 5 = _ - 7. This table was used to try and make the equations on either side equal the same numbers. This was slightly challenging because at times we had to add and subtract hundreds numbers to equal the same thing. Also this will probably be the last lockdown algebra I post on my blog because we are going back to level 2!! If you have done anything similar or basically the same thing tell me below in the comments an I will try to reply.

Here it is:

Lockdown Algebra 4 - Maths

 Today for maths we did our fourth algebra task during lockdown. This one was to do with patterns and basically we had to find out the top rule e.g. 1, 2, 3 and then work out that 1 of the top rule equals 3 of the bottom rule making the answer 3, 4, 5. This activity was fun because it really got me thinking because of the rule for example this was one rule c=2s+2. I found this quite enjoyable because I personally like things that make me think hard because it means that I have to figure it out. If you have done anything similar or even basically the same thing tell me in the comments and I will try to reply.

Here it is:

Lockdown Algebra Patterns - Maths

 Today for maths we did algebra patterns. We did a fun slideshow where we got to write what changed in each stage of the pattern and even draw/ make our own version of the next shape that was going to come. This was really fun mainly because I got to make my own version (even if they weren't as tidily made as the real deal). I found this slightly challenging because on some of them it took me a while to describe what was changing in the patterns. If you have done anything similar or even done basically the same thing tell me in the comments and I will try to reply.

Here it is:

Lockdown Algebra 3 - Maths

 Today for maths we did algebra again but this time we were learning to figure out the missing number in algebraic patterns. This was medium challenging for me because I found it fun to do this since this was the first form of algebra I learnt how to do. I hope we do more of this because so far this has been my favourite type of algebra. If you have done anything similar or even basically the same tell me in the comments and I will try to reply.

Here it is:

Lockdown Algebra 2 - Maths

 Today for maths we did another fun algebra activity. Our goal today was to learn less and greater than using arrows and also equal. This was fun because I personally enjoy algebra and enjoy figuring out the patterns. Just like the last algebra lesson I found this quite confusing at first then remembered what to do then it transformed into quite easy. If you have done any work like this recently or before tell me below in the comments.

Here it is

Lockdown Algebra - Maths

This week for maths in lockdown we did algebra. We were focusing on patterns and number rules. I enjoyed this because algebra really challenges me. We used to do these sheets every week of algebra and we would keep going but eventually we stopped. This was a bit challenging because at first I had almost forgotten how to do algebra but in the end I remembered what to do. Have you done anything like this cause if you have let me know in the comments!

Here it is:

Place Value Basic Strategy - Maths

 Today I made a screencastify of how to do place value which is one of the most basic maths strategy's for multiplication. This was fun to make and record, on the side of the video there is a step by step instruction on how to do it with some tips. It is quite simple for beginners. 

Here it is:

Hip Hop D.L.O - Inquiry

The past week for inquiry we have been doing the topic dance (the theory behind dance not the actual thing). We have learnt about hip hop, which falls under the street dancing branch. This was fun to do because we got to learn about hip hop and I like to make D.L.O's about activities. This was kinda challenging because we had to find out a bit of our own information like for the timeline I put in mine.

Here it is:

My classroom Activity - Te Reo Maori

 Today I finished my labelling the classroom activity which we did for Te Reo Maori. This was fun because I got to use my knowledge of objects and colours in Te Reo Maori. This was also quite challenging if I didn't know the correct vocabulary. If you have done something like this tell me in the comments (I will try to reply).

Here it is:

Digital Pixel Art 5 - Maths

 Today we did our fifth pixel art, and today it was a volleyball/ netball (couldn't tell which, if you know comment which). This was a fun pixel art because it was division and multiplication. It was harder than just multiplication but was still very easy. It was a very fun thing to do because each answer made more and more pixels appear.

Here it is:

Getting Hooked - Writing Mini Lesson

 Today and yesterday for writing we did a mini lesson about hooks we had to write hooks about different pictures in multiple styles. This was fun because I like to hook the readers in with a good hook. This was slightly challenging because I had to write multiple styles that I might not use very much. I hope we do more mini lessons like this one because it was quite fun to do.

Here it is:

Digital Pixel Art (we did this one already 🤔🙄) - Maths

 Today we did the same pixel art we did a while ago so here's the TOTALLY legit blurb (not copied from last blog post)  Today for maths we did another digital pixel art and today's one was a trophy. It was fun to do all of the questions. They were multiplication only today. It was very easy to speed through all the multiplication questions. The pixel art was satisfying to watch appear.

Here it is:

The Crown Jewels Caper - Winter Learning Journey Activity 20

 Today I did activity 20 on the winter learning journey where I had to go onto google earth to try and find the crown jewels which had been stolen by the elusive Carmen Sandiego. But when you found her eventually after reading all the clues and investigating you ended up working with her to catch VILE who had put tigress on the job of stealing the crown jewels. It was really fun working out which country it was just by reading hte clues given to you when you investigated some locations in each country. 

Here is some photos of it:

Sadako and the thousand paper cranes - Winter Learning Journey Activity 1

 Today I did the winter learning journey activity 1 it was fun because I got to watch a video about Sadako and once I finished it I made my own paper crane. This was a very fun activity to do because I got to make my own paper crane because I quite like origami. I hope in other activities there is fun stuff like there was in this activity.

Here's a photo of my crane:

Smart footprint + Visual blog Profile - Cyber-Smart

Today for digital citizenship we did 2 activities, I will split them into 2 sections so here is the first one.

Today we did a smart footprint and we had to put all of the private and not private things into the correct section. Then we also had to connect speech bubbles on why we should or shouldn't share them. It was actually quite fun to match them up. This activity was fun.

Here It Is:

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Visual Blog profile

Today we made a visual blog profile and we had to use tons of pictures to fill it in. It was really fun. If you have done something similar please leave a comment so I know. This was an interesting activity but I still enjoyed it.

Here It Is:

Using Ki To Describe The Weather + weather recount (term 2) - Te Reo Maori

 Today for Te Reo Maori we did an activity where we wrote which weather each one like this; Ki ________ ra. It was a fun activity because in it we got to identify which weather was what in Te Reo Maori. This was slightly challenging because on some I forgot which was which and I had to try hard to remember them. It was enjoyable because I like to solve each one based on what I know.

Here It Is: 

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Te Reo Maori - Term 2 Summary

Te Reo Maori has been a very interesting subject to study and I enjoyed doing the many activities that were challenging and fun. I hope that next term Te Reo Maori is just as fun next term as it was this term. Weather was our topic and I enjoyed it because now I know what weather is in Te Reo Maori. This was a great topic and I really enjoyed it so if its just as fun next term I will be very happy. I hope our topic will be just as interesting as it was this term. In summary I personally loved Te Reo Maori.

Diamante poem for Matariki - Writing

For writing we did diamante poems for matariki stars. This was fun to make because I enjoy making poems. This was not very hard since I enjoy doing poems and sometimes do them in my own time. This was a fun activity and I hope to do it again next term.

Here It Is:

Digital Pixel Art 4 - Maths

  Today for maths we did another digital pixel art and today's one was a mountain. It was fun to do all of the questions. They were multiplication only today. It was very easy to speed through all the multiplication questions. The pixel art was satisfying to watch appear.

Here It Is:

Matariki shape poem of a book - Writing

 This week and last week for writing we have been writing Matariki shape poems. For my object I decided on a book and I wrote quite a few lines about tales and stories of our past. This was really fun to write because I enjoy writing poems so getting to write one about books was really fun. This was challenging to find rhymes for each line but in the end I managed. 

Here it is:

Jupiter Information Report - Writing

 This week and last week for writing we have been doing information reports on planets. It was very fun to write this information report because I got to learn new things about the planet Jupiter. This was challenging because before this I didn't know much about Jupiter so thanks to this I now know a lot. If you have done something like this tell me in the comments.

Here it is:

Jumbo Jupiter!

Introduction

Did you know that Jupiter is the biggest planet in our whole solar system!?

Jupiter is one of our gas giants in our solar system just like Saturn & Uranus. If Jupiter was about 80x bigger than it is it could have been a star! Jupiter is one of the biggest objects in our solar system. Jupiter has 69, 911 km across in some places making it absolutely gigantic.

Size

Jupiter is bigger than all the planets combined in mass. It is the largest planet in our solar system. You could fit around 1,000 jupiters in our sun. Jupiter is home to the largest moon in our solar system named ganymede. Jupiter is 11 times wider than earth.

Appearance

Jupiter is home to the great red spot. Which is actually a giant storm which has been raging on Jupiter's surface. Jupiter is often an orangey yellow colour with the occasional spot of red which are storms. Sometimes Jupiter has different shaped storms because they don’t always stay in the same spot. Jupiter looks very small in our sky but that is because we are so far away. 

What's it made of?

Jupiter is made of gases just like Saturn and some other planets. Some of the gases it contains are hydrogen and helium. You can’t stand on the surface of Jupiter because it is gas. Gas is slightly see through and you go straight through it. Jupiter's atmosphere holds all the gas in place so it just doesn’t all disappear and float away.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Jupiter is a very fascinating planet and lots about it has been discovered but I believe there is much more to be uncovered. Jupiter is one of the most interesting planets because of the storms & that it's a gas giant. Do you think Jupiter is as interesting as I do, because it definitely is.

Digital Pixel Art 3 - Maths

 Today for maths we did another digital pixel art and today's one was a trophy. It was fun to do all of the questions. They were multiplication only today. It was very easy to speed through all the multiplication questions. The pixel art was satisfying to watch appear.

Here it is: 

Student Summit 2021 - Uru Manuka Cluster

 Today we went to the Uru Manuka cluster student summit! Our school presented codey rocky and for session 1 & 2 me, Phoenix & Cole presented. We had 16 people in total from our school. I was presenting for the first two sessions so I only did the 2 activities they were make a quiz with google forms and the second one was boosting biteable. It was fun to learn new things that I haven't done before. My biteable was unfinished but if you would like to do my quiz (its very small) about board games & online games it will be beside the photos. When we presented how to use the codey rockys it was fun to walk around helping everyone to learn about using them. We also have some photos.

Here they are:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfYgSK86rq8Ql5DwRW--4DIqTKS6NrhXlaDBOYldLD3TMJw-A/viewform

Digital Pixel Art 2 - Maths

 Today for maths we did a pixel art for maths. It was fun to do as when we answered them right a few pixels appeared and slowly it formed a picture. This pixel art turned into a sad face. It was not very challenging at all because this one is an addition and subtraction. 

Here it is: 

Brain Teaser - Maths

Today for maths we did a brain teaser on basic picture algebra. It was very confusing and when you see it you will probably be very confused on how its hard but spend a long time looking at all the features of the bananas and coconuts. This was fun trying to recognise the fruits amount and believe it or not the bananas vary!? 

Here it is:

Digital Pixel Art - Maths Brain Teaser

 Today we did a digital pixel art for maths and we had to answer a series of questions, if we got it right a green light would appear but pixels would also appear if it was right, if you got it wrong it would go red and no pixels would appear. When we finished it was an emoji with star glasses!

Here it is:

Volcanoes D.L.O - Reading

For reading we made a D.L.O about volcanoes this was for reading as we have read about volcanoes recently. We had to choose one volcano in particular and I chose Mt St. Helen's. This was interesting finding out new facts.

Here it is: 

Code Cracker Brain Teaser - Maths

 Today for maths we did a brain teaser which was a code cracker. In this we had to decode all the numbers using a set of clues. We also had to screencastify this, screencastify is the way we record videos of our self doing things. This brain teaser was challenging because the video would only record for 5 minutes which means I figured it out in five minutes. The answer is 64792!!

Here it is

Statistics - Maths Strand

For maths recently we have been doing statistics for maths strand and we have done a few different types of charts. Today for maths strand we used data we had collected from other classrooms or even our own homeroom. I collected data from my own homeroom on a tally chart. Then we turned it into a bar graph in our maths book. After that we turned into a graph on our Chromebooks using google sheets, we made a bar graph, and a pie chart.  

Here it is:

Blog Profile

 

Long-fin eels D.L.O

 Today for reading we made a D.L.O about long-fin eels which are endemic to New Zealand. I managed to find 7 facts and 5/7 of the facts I didn't know. 

Here it is: