The One And Only Marble Challenge

 This week in Te Ngahere we have been doing something called The Marble Challenge and while we were doing the marble challenge we have been learning how to use The Scientific Method  In The Marble Challenge you had to build a ramp that could send a marble accurately at 110cm.  After that you can test the ramp, you can chose to modify the ramp.  After you made the ramp you had to build instructions for the ramp so if it was two pieces you would have to put how to build the ramp in instructions.  When you did those things you let someone else test your instructions.  After you have done everything you wait for competition day.  Even though it was a simple and easy process my team Amber and Alana did not succeed BUT our team did not fail either because we got 11 points and some teams got 0 so we stay grateful.

After the challenge we reflected on the marble run we made and our team. We thought our ramp did good because of how fast the marble went but maybe it went too fast.  We thought we needed to make our instructions better because when we put our ramp down for competition day we had no instructions for building and our ramp was two pieces so the testers had to make the ramps themselves.  We thought our ramp wasn't really successful because the testers had to build it because we forgot about the instructions and our marble kept on rolling past the places were you get a point.  If we had the chance to change or modify the ramp we would make the ramp stepper and we could of made taped it all together.

Have you ever made a ramp for a marble before?

The Very Scientific Roadshow

In Te Ngahere we have been learning about science. There was a Science Roadshow about science at BOI Collage (A.K.A Bay Of Islands College).  So first we took our bus to BOI Collage at 12:00.  Next we went into the school hall to see the BOI College about to leave.  When they left after the starting show the scientists said we could have some time to check out the interactive displays.  Before we went we had to get into groups and my group was Aaron and Jacob, my classmates. After some displays we saw a quiz about electricity so we tried the quiz and it was actually very awesome and you actual can learn some stuff from it.  From the electricity quiz I learned that DC stands for direct current and AC stands for alternate current. 

I am sure my favorite exhibit was called “Pepper's Ghost”.  In Pepper’s Ghost you can flip a switch and then look in the box and in the chair you will find a invisible skeleton.  You can figure out how they did this by reading the info card on top of the box or you can open the lid of the box to see what unravels.  Apparently they used a very shiny skeleton and a mirror to reflect the skeletons shine to the chair.  The reason I like this exhibit is because it is simple and interesting.  

At the end there was another show and that show introduced something called fair testing.  Fair testing is when you test your hypothesis and if your test fails you change ONE variable at a time.  Fair testing would definitely help with future science projects because instead of removing more than one variable you can remove only one so you don’t remove a variable that is good by accident.

Do like like science?

The Silent movie Called Wing

 This week in Te Ngahere we have been learning about using language features to set our mood and atmosphere.  We had to write and describe a scene of a movie called Wing.  The thing is the movie was silent so we had to watch without sound and we had to write what happened in a certain scene (besides the first scene) WITHOUT SOUND.  So first they introduced the year 6’s to the movie because we haven’t seen the movie but the year 7 and 8’s already watched it for their writing.

We watched the movie and it was quite interesting especially since it had no sound.  So next we went on a doc and we started planning.  One of the language features we had to use was a concrete noun and that is when there is a noun that can be described with the five senses, and the other language feature I wanted to talk about was a vivid adjective and that is when you make an adjective more interesting like if you replace very loud with deafening.  It was fun writing but I was away most of the week so I did not complete much.  I think I was good at the writing generally.  I think I should get better at describing what I write about.

Have you watched Wing before?

Astounding Narratives

This week in Te Ngahere we were learning to plan and write an exciting narrative. We were allowed to write about whatever we wanted.  I was doing a narrative about time traveling, gummy and egypt.  This was based on one of my other narratives and it was based on chocolate, time traveling and the dinosaur age.  So first we planned out our narrative and I already knew what I wanted to write about.  I knew what I was going to write as soon as the teacher said “narrative”.  So I started planning and so I wrote down everything I wanted in my story.  So first the characters were: Jimmy, Carol, harry, Will and Jim.  I made it so in the story you were Jim.

Since my story was about egypt the story would take place at: Carol’s house in Australia, Egypt and pyramid chambers.  The problem was that they fall into the chambers and they get arrested on accident.  The solution was that the chamber was actually unlocked and they go back through and they survive.  After we finished doing the narrative the teachers were disappointed so they showed us a short film called WING.  It was a silent movie and it was very nice.

Doing narratives is fun and I enjoyed doing these narratives and I also enjoyed watching the movie.  I think I should improve in actually telling what is happening and I think I did well in the narrative.

Have you wrote a narrative before?

Coral Reef Calmness

 This week in Te Ngahere we have been learning about Google Drawing tools.  We tried a cybersmart challenge and the challenge was about google drawing tools and learning how to use them.  We had to draw a fish and I knew it at the start because the title of the challenge was called Google Drawn Fish.  We had to draw something like a fish using google drawing shapes.  The teacher let us use shapes to draw the Ngahere (Forest) but we had to finish the fish drawing first.  We watched the video and then we got to work.  I finished the fish and I put sand at the bottom.  The next day I started work on some coral.  I was proud of myself.  The next day I started on a sea turtle.  I also made a rock.

I think I did a Great job with my coral reef.  I think I should improve in my size because I would of been able to fit more fish.

Have you ever made a coral reef made out of shapes?

The Catapult Launch Fail

 This week in Te Ngahere the year sixes have been doing something called Edpro 8.  Edpro 8 is a challenge where you use math and measurement to solve problems.  This week we built a catapult that can launch a ping pong ball 3 meters.  Our catapult failed.  We thought we made it but we did not read the criteria properly and it said that we had to launch the ball 3 metres in the air so it was not allowed to hit the ground.

We used two types of energy called: kinetic energy and potential energy.  Potential energy is when the energy is stored up inside something like a catapult. kinetic energy is when the energy is transferred to another object.  Like a ball being launched from a catapult.  

It was mostly challenging because of the structure.  The structure kept on falling down and it was annoying because the catapult had to keep standing up.  I thought we did well for the bottom part of the structure because it was easy to put the rubber bands together on the structure.  I would say that we need to improve on planning our stuff because we tried to talk to each other but we were doing our own thing.  

Have you made a catapult before?

A Test About Tricky Instructions

This week in Te Ngahere we have been given a test about reading instructions. We had four minutes to finish and the test had 23 instructions. Our teacher gave us a piece of paper and we got ourselves a pencil. The first instruction said “read EVERYTHING carefully before doing anything.” This was the reason everyone failed. The second instruction was to write our name in the top right corner and really that was all we had to do but nobody actually read all instructions so I continued. Next we had to call out our first name. Well I didn’t have to but I did not listen to the first instruction. I made it to question 16 but that's when the time stopped. This was also when the teacher presented the last question and that question said “Now that you have finished READING EVERYTHING, do only sentences one and two! Then draw quietly on the back of this paper while you wait for everyone else to finish!” So all we had to do was read everything and then do one and two. The teacher was teaching this because we would never read the entire “success criteria,” and we would never read the instructions carefully. Now that the teacher has taught us we have learned that we have to read the whole page carefully before we do anything. It was actually very funny because sometimes we had to yell out something like “I AM THE MASTER OF FOLLOWING DIRECTIONS.” We didn’t even need to do it though and that was the funny part. It was fun and it taught me alot about me. I felt disappointed in myself when I heard that we only had to do question one and two. Have you been given a test about instructions?

EP Perfection

This term we made a DLO about Maori. We used a program called education perfect  (A.K.A EP).   EP has a lot of subjects but the teachers were only aiming at one subject and that was Te Reo Maori.  Te Reo Maori is a language that New Zealanders and Maori people use. For the first three we had to repeat the Maori words.

We had to repeat the Maori Alphabet and then record ourselves saying the Maori alphabet.  The only letter I got wrong is the letter “h” but I still passed.  Next we record ourselves saying New Zealand (NZ) place names.  A few places in Maori are Aotearoa (NZ) and Otipoti (Dunedin).  The final one we had to do was us saying greetings in Maori.

This was the category that had the shortest amount of words so it was quite easy.  All I had say was simple greetings in Maori like: Kia Ora (hello), Tena Korua (hi to two) and Tena Koutou (hi to three or more).

It was quite annoying because when I recorded people annoyed me so I had to restart every time they annoyed me but nothing stopped me from finishing.  For me it was stressful because we had to finish this fast.

Do you know your Te Reo Maori?

Smart Surfing The Web Waves

 This week we learnt how to search the internet using keyword searches.  Basically a keyword search is when you use the keywords of your question.  Keywords are main words in a sentence so if you use a keyword search it will be easier to find.  Using keyword searches makes finding exactly what you need easier.

In the web there is something called a spider and the spider roams around the “web” to find what you need.  The spider studies what your searching for and then The spider checks for websites that include the words of your search.  If you type the entire question the spiders will look for websites that have the word “the” or “a” and ANY website can have those words so it is worthless trying that.  That's why keyword searches exist.

If you type in “What is the largest spider” the spiders  will search the web for websites that include one  of those words.  Instead use keyword searches and type “largest spider” because the spiders will only search for largest and spider and that makes the spiders job easier.

This makes things easier and I liked that but the teacher regrets teaching us how to smart surf this late in the term.

Have you ever keyword searched before

Coastal Seas Remake

This week we have been learning about The seas. We watched a video about the sea and this was documented by Sir David Attenborough. The episode we watched was called Coastal sea and it was on Netflix, you should check it out. David documented some of the parts in sections so I will be explaining about what happened. First David documented about seagrass. Seagrass helps with global warming because it consumes as much carbon dioxide as a rainforest. Next David documented about the coral reefs and it was quite fascinating. Sea coral cover only 1% of the ocean but all the coral can hold a quarter of the fish population. While david documented over the coral sharks appeared meaning he started documenting about sharks and how Reef Sharks hunt. Since Reef Sharks can’t fit in most hiding spots another type of shark called the White Tip Reef Shark slides through the hiding places and the fish get eaten. After the shark attack David starts documenting about dolphins and how dolphins hunt. Dolphins use mud to scare the fish and then the fish panic and jump trying to escape the mud. Some fail but most of the herings succeed. Next david documents about California's sea and inside the California ocean there is something special because they have kelp forests. In conclusion I liked the episode and the full series is on Youtube so anyone can check it out. Have you seen a documentary before?

Butter Chicken Birthday Bash

This week it was my friends birthday but since his parents owned a restaurant we got to go to Greens for his birthday.  He took the entire class to the restaurant to have lunch.  While we were at school we figured out what we were having and we had Butter Chicken.  The chicken was delicious but I nearly didn't have any because I said I was vegaterien.  I was vegaterein before and I survived 2 months being vegetarian last year.

At the end there was a big surprise even the teachers did not expect it.  There was a entire furniture trolly full of easter eggs.  Most of the eggs were Pineapple Lumps and the other eggs were Freddos.  I got a Freddo egg but people tried to trade their Pineapple Lumps but I denied.

We acknowledged our friend Shivam by writing a card and we did it secretly because we did the card a morning tea.  At the same time there was a speech.  We said thank you by doing 3 waiata (Maori Song).  The songs were called Ka Pioioi,   Rerenga Wairua

and Utaina.

It was very fun walking their and in my opinion walking was the best.

Have you been vegaterein before?

What Does A Tidy Drive Look Like?

This week we have been learning how to clean our Google Drive.  We first watched a video of a person doing a activity.  After the we watched the  video we had to do the same activity as the person on the video.  First we ignored the 2nd slide and moved on to the 3rd slide which was the slide the person did.  

I actually figured out that the 2nd slide was a activity two..   On the 3rd slide we had to sort files for John.  We put a red circle around the docs that aren't named and if the docs were not named right we would have to put a blue circle around the file.  When we sorted the correct files we had to drag the docs into the correct folders.  There was multiple folders we had to drag the docs into like a writing folder and a reading folder.

I liked sorting out files and it inspired me to make a few other folders.

Do you know how to tidy drives?

Team Building Busters

 This week in Te Ngahere  we have been doing team building.  We did something called Taskmaster.  The name was based on a show that has comedians that do tasks.  Today fo Taskmaster we had to copy a drawing that was hanging outside but the challenge was that only the walkers can go outside and the walkers can’t touch the paper.

For the first attempt it was quite challenging because we did not know what the teacher was talking about.  I expected it to be one big drawing but it was a complex system of random drawings and that made it complicated.  Everything was going smooth until the teachers said “5 more minutes!” That's the reason that we did not complete the picture.  The only thing that was good was the drawer being a good boy and actually listening to us.

The second drawing went better than the first attempt.   We were better mostly because the teacher wouldn't yell how much time is left.  What worked well is that we were not stressed because we were having to much fun.  It all went smooth but one thing happened and it was still hard because we had the same rules as last time.  It was not challenging because we already knew some of the drawing which helped us.  We mostly got better because we had more knowledge because it was the same picture and that’s how we changed our picture.

It was very fun but we had Taskmaster before and our name was 3 Little Fishes.

Have you done team building before?

Original 

1st attempt

2nd attempt

The Food Web Catastrophe

This week in Te Ngahere we have been learning about Food webs and food chains. Food webs are more complex than food chains because they have more arrows than a food chain. Here are 3 reasons why my food web is different to the other one: There are different colored arrows to represent what type of consumer it is, the arrows are WAY more complex than mine and the arrows phase through the pictures making it easy to understand and see. The reason why the arrows are like this is because it is the way energy transfers. If the arrows were pointing the wrong way (Eg: bird pointing to plant) that means the plant is eating the bird. If it was the opposite (Eg: plant pointing to bird) that means the bird is eating the plant. So if you get it wrong it can change everything!! Even though I didn't have a proper food web it was close enough and the teacher liked it. We are making food webs because we are going for a walk in the Ngahere so we can learn enough to make a report. I feel like next time we do this I should make my food web more complex. Have you made a food web before?

Mutualism/Ecosystem Help!!

This week in Te Ngahere we have been learning about mutualism. Mutualism is based on plants, organisms, organic things and inorganic things having relationships with each other. An inorganic thing in ecosystems is a dead thing that was living and a orginic is the opposite of inorganic because organic stuff is living. I discovered that trees help birds by giving them fruit and birds help trees by fertilizing the seed from the fruit and dropping the seed somewhere else. Since bees collect pollen they help the flowers by transporting the pollen to another flower and then they transport the rest of the pollen to their hive. . I.Ecosystems can be anything between the smallest puddle to the biggest jungle because all it needs is a producer, consumer and a decomposer. Mutualism can be done by anything because bees and flowers can also do mutualism. I like this because it is reading and reading is my favorite subject because we write and read and I like doing that. Did you know about Ecosystems or mutualism?

A Tsunami Fake Out

Last week we experienced a Tsunami warning as soon as we started school. I was a bit nervous and started to freak out as soon as I heard that this was not a drill, but an actual Tsunami warning. We started to walk up the hill and I got more anxious. While going up the hill we left everything behind and we had no food but we had water later on. 

 I felt anxious because of my family but I noticed my family was safe and the other reason why I was anxious because our bags and our chromebooks were down at Tsunami level. A little while later there was still no Tsunami but then the staff went down to get our bags and I was very happy because I would've starved. Along with us getting our bags we got some sausage sizzles from down below and their company name was called Fritz‘s Wieners . We had a quiz about Harry Potter and after that quiz we did, another one about prior knowledge. 

 Halfway through the second quiz the quiz master thought it was a good idea to change the quiz up because we had to make a funny sound to answer the question. We had to stop because cars kept on interrupting us. While we were eating we had a little dance party music in the background and some of the songs made people dance. 

 There was no tsunami at the end and I was even happier that my chromebook was not destroyed. After the fake-out we had a play outside for the rest of school day. At the end we got ice cream and it was delicious. Have you had a fake or real Tsunami before?

Perfect Knowledge About The Kawa of Care

In Te Ngahere we have been learning about The Kawa of Care. We had to learn the Kawa Of Care so we look after our chromebook and at the same time we learnt about insurance. We had a choice of making a slide animation or we could make a comic strip, I chose the animation because I prefer that better. The Kawa of Care is a list of expectations for your chromebook and you would have to read it and sign a contract. After you read the Kawa of Care you can keep your chromebook but if you break the Kawa of Care your chromebook would be taken off you for a day or two. It was fun recording my animation, especially with my. Have you done an animation or a comic strip before?

Finger Licking Lichtenstein Art

These few weeks Te Ngahere has been learning about the popular artist Roy Lichtenstein. He is an artist who uses Ben Day Dots. I am sharing the facts I learnt about Roy Lichtenstein for you. Roy Lichtenstein used Ben Day Dots for his artwork, Roy Lichtenstein liked painting explosions and Roy lichtenstein made paintings based on comics and sculptures to. Did you know: since there was not much ink in the old days some pop artists had to use Ben Day Dots?