Holt Planetarium

On the 26th of October our class visited the Holt Planetarium with Room 13. First, our group watched a video about how, in ancient times they were able to keep track of time using the sun and other planets. We also went into the planetarium which has a dome shaped ceiling and Mr Sparks showed us what the night would look like that night an 9:00. He also showed us all the zodiac star signs in the sky. Thankyou so much Holt Planetarium for teaching us about the sky and planets.

Mancala

"Mancala!" Liam calls as he drops his last bead into his tray. He looks at my side, where there are about half the amount of beads as his, chuckles and goes to count them. I put up my hand to stop him.

"Don't bother..." His mouth turns up at the corners, "...you won." I sigh

"Again." Liam reminds me while dropping the beads into their original trays. 

"Again." I mimic him. Liam starts singing his tune he has infected all our brains with.

"Do do do do, chi chi, do do, chi chi, do do, MANCALA!" And repeats again. Beth, Liam's mum calls out to him, "Oh great, so now your waking us up to it." Our whole family can't stop singing that awful song. We have all played this stupid game against Liam, not one of us with a winning score... Yet. I'll get him, in time. Mum, across the camping spot calls out, 

"Do you need some more Q-tol, Jamie?" That's when I stop and realise my fingernails are on my leg, scratching the huge red lump, with a tiny pin sized hole in the middle of it. "They were in my tent last night." I yell back.

"How would you and the mosquito's fit in your pimple of a tent!" She teases, and soon comes back with the pink life saving bottle of Q-tol. Mum calls mine the ' Pimple Tent' because it's so tiny. "Thanks" I say just as Liam makes his first move on the wooden board. Soothing the itchy, pain that these insect bites leave, I rub in the Q-tol. It has been so popular throughout the family camp. The first second we got here the mosquito's were all over us, and this pink stuff stops the bites eating us alive.

"Your turn" and he stops mum, "Can I have some?" 

"Sure." Replies mum and goes back to her tent. 

I glide my hand across the board leaving a trail of glass beads on the way and leave the last one on my tray.

"Good move." Liam tells me, I smile and take the extra turn my last won me. The river behind the bush crashes against the rock wall and carries on to the left. 

"Do you want to go for a swim after? I ask and Liam takes a deep breath of that wonderful, 'fresh from the tree' air. 

"Yep." Liam replies and taps his fingernails against the wooden board.

"Got him!" I yell as I slap another mosquito that was going for my arm. 

The mildew on the grass has transferred from my jandals onto my feet. This makes my toes very cold, so I tell Liam, "Hold on, I'm just going to grab some socks." He lifts the board off of our laps while I get up, heading for my tent. I unzip my bag find my socks and crawl over to the other side of my tent, where my hidden stash of chocolates are. To my surprise they are not so secret. The morning sun, peaking over the trees behind me have found them! They are now not a solid but creeping across my tent floor! AAAAAAAH!

Rain

All night, rocking the babies asleep,

The drummer, drum, drum, drum,

All day, filling the river full, 

The drummer, drum, drum, drum,

All night, tapping on the windows, 

The drummer, drum, drum, drum,

All day, dragging the blossoms down,

The drummer, drum, drum, drum

The "Lost" Thing

The Lost Thing

I can feel the sharp broken bits of glass slicing into the back of my throat as I breath. I swallow. It's worse. I can't taste anything out here. My mouth is dry. The air around me is... dry. There is no other word to describe it. It's like somebody took a very old, dried up sand pit and copied and pasted it a million times. The sound of blood-thirsty mosquitoes circling around my head makes me dizzy. I gave up thirst a while ago. Also gave up hunger. As soon as I got lost in this bone dry piece of land, my body gave up hope. It gave up the thought of living, it gave up the need for life. My white shirt has become brown. My dark pants have lost seems from all the tripping up I've had. They cover my shoes and now trip me up even more. My dark green bag, filled with empty water bottles. We were here for a business course. I work at the lab of SOL. Science Of Living. The aim was to take samples of the dry land, take them back to our science lab and rule the world. If we could find traces of rust here, we would be able to prove that robots have lived here, and may still. We could sue the government for Trillions of dollars. The Labour party promised us that they would destroy all National party robots because they are ruining the world. Robots break the communication between humans. They also need water to run, which mean we need to physically fight for it. There have been so many world wars. The last one was WW8. 5 world wars have begun because of the need of water. Labour destroyed all the National party robots, that wasn't the problem. They promised us no more use of robots. This land used to be filled with lakes and rivers. We suspect robots are being used here.

SOL, the group I obviously used to be in, decided they would take the Trillions of dollars by themselves. They erased my fingerprint unlock data from the float. When I went to unlock the doors, they wouldn't disappear. SOL flew away without me.

I think they have come back for me! There's something in the distance! Dark and grey, and there is a dark red shape moving around it. This must have all been an accident. SOL didn't mean to delete my fingerprint ID, I was worrying about nothing. I better run or they might miss me! It's hard to run when you feel so drained. I must be getting slower, because the float seems to be moving further and further away from me. My eyes need to shut for a while, I'm just going to lie down.

My eyes are open, it's still dark though. Am I blinded? Light is thrown at my face. I think I'm blinded now. The red shape that I saw before I fell asleep is hovering over me. 

"AAAAAH!" I scream. It has huge green pincers. Standing up now, cowering before the red robot! Red, that means it's a Labour party robot! SOL was obviously way too smart for me! What does this robot want from me? Water? My life? "I don't have any water." I call, pleading for mercy. My heart is beating extremely fast, like I have just ran a marathon. His green tentacle legs bend up and down. Creating a nodding movement. A green chimney pops out of one of the hundreds of doors he has covered over his red, rusty body. Another one opens and the pincers reach into grab a bottle of water. The robot squashes it into the chimney and it disappears into the long dark tube. A puff of steam and the robot opens another door. Out topples another bottle of water. He pushes it towards me. Slowly, carefully not taking my eyes off the robot I snatch it from in front of his feet. Labour's robot's eyes smile and I drift back off to sleep.

My spine shivers, I feel so isolated. Where am I? Again light blinds me. This time in front of me is a man sitting on a blanket draped over a camel, holding an empty bottle of water out to me. The broken glass in my throat has gone. He gestures to climb onto the red blanket. He makes a clicking sound and the cream-coloured camel walks towards another shape in the distance, a brown one this time. With a door and windows. Through the glass I see a nicely made bed with a jug of water next to it. We arrive at my new home.

By Jamie Hollway

What is Matariki?

- An explanation of the term Matariki including where, when and how and why and  it is celebrated. Also who celebrates Matariki. 

Matariki

A New Year

Matariki Acknowledges Celebration, Futility and Remembrance. The cluster of stars begins the Maori New Year. It was used for hints to plant crops. In traditional times they would have big celebrations and fly kites to make connections to the heavens, the sky.

In late May or early June a cluster of stars can be see on the North-Eastern Horizon. Thus beginning the Maori New year. This year, on the 18th of June, kites will be flown, connections to the heavens, and all night we will be gazing upon the tail of the milky way.

There are many legends of how the cluster of stars came to be. One of them being, The God of Wind tears out his eyes and hurled them into the heavens, Matariki being his eyes. In Greece, they call them the Pleiades.

Big celebrations were popular until the 1940's. All over Aotearoa Maori (in the 19th and 20th century) and Europeans would acknowledge the new year. Before the arrival of the Europeans, they would watch the "Eyes of God" for hints to planting crops. If the stars were bright, it meant that there was going to be a short winter and the Maori would start planting in September. But if the stars were hazy, they would put the planting off for October. They could measure the seasons with this constellation.

Matariki not only begins a new year, but a new season. The time when the gods give the hints to a happy life. 

References

http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/classroom/matariki-maori-new-year

http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/matariki-maori-new-year/page-1

Acids and Bases

In Science Tech we have been investigating acids and bases. We each tested 6 household substances with universal indicator paper to see what their PH numbers are. Nbers 1-6 were acids, 7 is neutral eg. water and 8-14 are bases.

Persuasive Writing

Doctors should come to YOU

Why should we extend our recovery time of a cold, trying to shorten it? We have to get out of bed, sit and wait in the slow process of the waiting room to finally see the doctor. All in the time of leaving and picking up more germs. If the doctors came to you, for a checkup, at your own home then you can chose how clean the magazines are. Not that you would be reading them, waiting.You'll never pick up anybody elses germs. You would get one on one uninterrupted time with them, to try and get better. Without even having to leave your own bed. I am going to explain to you, why Doctors should come to you, for your benefit. 

Waiting rooms are unhygienic. The "Waiting Room" is a germ airport. Flying in different directions, being picked up and left in so many different locations! You're reading through a magazine you found in the box next to you, in the doctor's waiting room. The person across from you sneezes, grabs a tissue and wipes the snot she just spat out onto the magazine she is reading. Back you go to your one to see that at the top corner the text reads:

DATE: 20/3/2010.

That gives over 5 years of people to do the same thing the lady across from you has just done! If I was you, I would slam that magazine shut and run down to your local dairy to read this piece of writing. Don't wait that long process of the waiting room full of germs that you can pick up, and leave so others catch them. The reason you have come here is to recover from your cold, not to pick up another one! 

Doctors coming to you avoids patients having to leave the warmth of their home. Having to get out of bed is a struggle, let alone when you have a cold! Doctors should come to you because otherwise you're just going to get worse and never get better. You lean over to your bedside table, the cough syrup is eliminated from its bottle! This really helpful stuff that you have taken now means that you have to get out of bed, make a trip to the airport of germs the "Waiting Room" to get a prescription for some new stuff and get told to stay in bed. Well what have you just done? Exactly, get out of bed. 

Doctors can have vehicles set up and equipped with the right things to deal with most basic situations. It would be just the same as an ambulance although from the DP not ED. They would have everything stored in there. They turn up to your house, knock on the door, you would answer them and get them to come in. Of course, yes you have to get out of bed, but it's not like you have to go outside, the heater would be on and you would be nice and warm. They would ask you questions, grab the things that you need and come back to talk to you. It's so much easier, it cuts out so many steps of picking up more germs and it's much faster. This needs to happen! 

Waiting rooms are unhygienic. Doctors coming to you avoids patients having to leave the warmth of their home. Doctors can have vehicles set up and equipped with the right things to deal with most basic situations. So why should we extend our recovery time of a cold, trying to shorten it? Doctors should definitely come to you.

Enlargement Scale Drawing

Electronics Digital Presentation

Electronics: Progress So Far

Guided Persuasive Writing

Schools are full of great places to learn and experience things. When the bell finally rings for lunch though, everybody is so excited and needing of a break. If every kid went to go and run to their scooter and start parading everywhere. Then lunch time at the school will be more, lunch time at the zoo. I am going to explain to you why scooting should not be permitted at school.

Scooting is dangerous to other people. If you are in the path of the scooter and the kid who is using it can’t control it very well, (as they could be just learning) you will be squashed by the sharp edges and funny figure it has. The person using the scooter may not see small children. Just like most transportation devices. Although scooters do not have very good breaks. They take a while to stop and burn your feet while doing just that.

If everybody brought their scooters to school they would dominate the playground and courts. This means people playing their games and sport on the courts will be thrown around. Also kids would try and do tricks from up high on the playground like, scooter on the bars and bridges. Children with injuries from scooters, trying to do tricks like a tail whip or olly will fill the sick bay, and destroy learning time.

Unlike a bike, a scooter does not require safety gear. To ride a scooter you do not need helmets, knee, elbow or shin pads. A scooter does not ride very well on grass either, so there is not a softer more safer alternative than the hard concrete of the courts.

Lunchtime is just some time to get refreshed for the rest of the day. Scootering injures children, and if they are injured then they can’t work and learn. Do you want to waste precious learning time?

Some Weapons of World War 1

Materials Technology Presentation

Shaping my Writing (Bored Poem)

The purpose of this writing is to show how I can shape my text for an audience. In this poem I have tried to slow the pace of the writing by carefully selecting line breaks and choosing words and images that show how bored I was. What do you think?

On a Crowded Silent Court

“Show your support”

Dad would say while steam

exhales from his mouth

into the bitter cold air.

Blaring sounds

from the speaker

and the pole

sways to and fro

High pitched whistles blast

confusing the games

as the ball lazily bounces off court

into frozen hands.

Beanies are pulled over

red ears while

gloves are pulled over

quivering hands.

The wobbly wire fence

rattles behind me

as I lean back onto it

someone else does the same.

I pull over me headphones

switch on the sounds

my sister plays her game

on a crowded silent court.

Camp Cinquain

Before camp there was a lot of waiting for decisions because of the weather. Here is a cinquain on how that felt.

Camp

Waiting

Silent arguments

In the corner

Spitting, sitting, listening, disagreeing

While silent droplets fall outside

We Are Like That

I See Green Gardens

I See farming land filled with cattle and sheep

I See hard Workers

And that is what I See in NZ

I See new ideas

I See problem solvers

I See DIY

And that is what I See in NZ

I See the All Blacks supporting their country

I See the public supporting the All Blacks

And that is what I See in NZ

Bugman Learning

On Friday a man called Ruud Klientpaste aka the Bugman Came and informed H.N.I about Bugs and Animals. Here is some of my learning.

Akaroa It's Like That

Akaroa

Tourists keep the place buzzing,

Souvenir and French shops selling out,

Also the corner dairies,

but only in summer,

It’s Like That

French architecture and style,

Heat drowns the energy out of people

So you see them sleeping everywhere,

In their houses and in hammocks,

It’s Like That

The smell of fish and salt fill the hot air,

And all you can hear is the sound of somebody with no common sense playing the bagpipes,

Which disturbs everybodies relaxation and sleep,

It’s Like That

I am From

I am From

I am from

Frustrating practices of theatre,

Always waiting for others

The loud screech of feedback,

And the audience winces in pain

I am From

Long sleepless nights with my cat,

Squished on one side of my bed

Then she needs to go out,

Because I can’t get to sleep

I am From

Spinning around on the wheel at the playground,

Until somebody falls off

Swinging on the monkey bars,

Until blood blisters grow

I am From

Unexpected long Bike rides,

That are sometimes unwanted

The moan of tired legs,

When we want to go home

I am From

The past and present,

I will Grow and Learn.

Welcome to 2015

2015 has arrived and this year I am in the Best Class Ever, Room 17 with the Best Teacher Ever Mrs Sturch! Join me as my year unfolds!