HNI's Got Talent

HNI has announced they are doing a talent show. Lots of people auditioned with loads of different talents and I was one of the lucky few who got in the finals. I am going to be acting and narrating a short story that I've written called 'Neighbour's Gossip.' Here it is:

Agnes listened patiently to Mrs Hurshe gossiping on and on, this time about their street. ‘Oh, and did you know that Petunia Sweetpea has got a pink car! I must say it really doesn’t suit her house…..’ Her shrill voice droned on forever in that high, monotonous tone. Agnes checked her watch. Her mother would be visiting her soon. She turned back to Mrs Hurshe. ‘.....Yes, little Jo Collins got stuck on their roof yesterday; Ms MacMillan told me…..’ Agnes was starting to think that Mrs Hurshe was actually a parrot in disguise, when her mother parked on the front lawn. She went to welcome her in and introduce her to Mrs Hurshe. The first thing Mrs Hurshe said when she saw Agnes’s mother was: ‘Well, my cousin Audrey just happens to have that same handbag! What a stunning blue, don’t you agree?’ There was a stunned silence, and then Agnes’s mother gave a horrified shriek. ‘AGNES! Do not go making friends with gossipers! What did I tell you? They are irritating, mindless twits!’ Mrs Hurshe looked terrified. Agnes gave Mrs Hurshe an apologetic look and ushered her to the door.    

Sustainability Collage

Term 4's inquiry topic is sustainability. For inquiry our class did a collage of pictures from the internet, putting forward a message about sustainability. Can you guess my message?

Kuripapango

Eels

Every curve in the water slithers and slides under the rocks like an eel. Second by second, the crawling black socks surrounding my ankles grow larger. Soon they are tainted with red from the blood that the sandflies have sucked out of me. There is whole army of them, and the fact they are eating me alive hurts, but my imagination hurts me more. I can see myself being bitten by the eel that lives in the water. Suddenly it seems much bigger than before, and it drags me down, down to the algae at the bottom of the river. The silent algae caresses me softly with its slimy fingers, pulling me into underwater hell. I shake myself awake to find that my face is wet. The socks have now climbed to almost my knees and the pain is unbearable. My legs are beginning to go numb with cold and my teeth are rattling machines. Taking a deep breath, I make the decision. I could go home feeling like a sucker, and a loser or I could just……...JUMP!

Science!!!

In science we have been learning about magnets and magnetism. The are two ends of a magnet. They are called the north and south poles, and if the opposite poles are put near each other they attract and stick together. However, if the same poles are pushed near each other, they repel, which is push away from each other.

                                         

Olympian Story

My fingers are torn and bleeding, no longer smooth as they were before the nerves. I’m sitting here, breathing heavily, the soft sheets under me pulling me down. My eyelids are drooping and I’m sinking into sleep again. There’s a sharp rap at the door that stings me like a bucket of icy water. My coach is standing stone still in the door frame, waiting. For once, I hate her with her tight bike shorts and cold green eyes, locking me in her gaze. I want to knock her skinny figure down and run away. I want to forget the world and die. Then she says the words I’ve been waiting for - ‘Get ready.’ I don’t want to, but my arms slide my t-shirt over my head, push me up from my hotel bed. She is walking, stiff but fast, towards me. Suddenly she wraps her snakelike arms around my hair, pulls it hard and fastens it securely on top off my head. ‘In the car, I’ve packed your stuff.’ She points. I feel like a dog being cursed like its owner, tail down, skulking off down the corridor. When I get to the car, I slam my door really hard so it can soak up a few emotions. My fingers fumble with the shoelaces of my trainers. The drive seems stretched out, long and sickly. We are early at the stadium, and the lights burn my ears bright pink. My face is hot and I need to throw up, but I force it down again. I know I can win this, so when my feet finally hit the racetrack they power forward like the hounds of hell are behind me. I can feel the pain in my side, chewing through me without teeth. In the final few metres my shoelace slithers undone, and I trip over finish line, slamming my hollow stomach down on first. Over.

New Teacher!

At the start of this term, we were welcomed into class by room 4's lovely new teacher, Mrs Baker-Sherman! She has been getting to know us in a number of different ways, including our pic collages, which symbolise all our hobbies and talents.

Nucleation

In Science Technology we did the coke and mentos experiment. We learned about nucleation. By watching the Dancing Raisins experiment we also learnt about nucleation.

Electronics

I enjoyed...
Completing my torch, because I put a lot of effort into my soldering.
I am pleased about...
Soldering things together.
Most difficult/challenging was...
Soldering the resistors onto the LEDs and copper tape.

School Speech

The year sevens at HNI have been doing a speech competition. We didn't all have to go into the house competition, but we did have to write a speech. Here is mine:

Imagine….you die in a car crash. The ambulance comes and the doctors lift your bloody body onto a stretcher. The policeman at the scene fishes around and in the midst of broken glass finds your wallet. Pulls out your shiny new driver’s licence. “donor”. Everything that happens next happens in an immense blur. Ambulance and police car rushing, hospital parking, screeching, wheeling your dead body into the huge grey building. Into a room, onto a bed, machinery. A pale nurse picks up a telephone and dials a number. After a while, your family comes in and cries, then they leave you to be dissected! First, the surgeons make sure you are totally brain-dead, then they cut you open straight through your skin, up your body. They examine your organs, which are still healthy. Now they cut them out! Despite being dead, you have saved a life. You may now rest in pieces.

So listen up, would you?

Organ donation is the process of surgically removing an organ or tissue from one person and placing it in another person's body. The person whose organs have been removed is usually brain-dead, and the operation is done to save another person’s life. Organs donated by dead donors include eyes, heart or heart valves, skin and pancreas. However, it is becoming more common to donate organs or parts of organs while still being alive. Kidneys are the most regular organs donated by living donors. Other organs that can be donated are parts of lung, liver or intestine.

The procedure of organ donation starts when the doctors suspect that the patient is brain-dead. They will carry out two brain-death assessments. The time of death for the person is when the second brain-death assessment is completed.  Sometime after the loved one’s family has been informed, the intensive care doctor will discuss donation. If the family agrees to donation, written permission about the organs and tissues they are comfortable with donating is given. After this, the donor coordinator from Organ Donation New Zealand is contacted and the transplant surgical team travel to the hospital where the donor is kept. The patient is transferred to the operating rooms while a ventilator continues to supply oxygen to the organs until they are surgically removed. Following the donation, the family can spend time with their loved one if they wish.

In New Zealand, the time to officially decide to donate is when the person first gets their driver's licence. This information will be showed on the driver’s licence by the single word, ‘donor’.

Despite the gross, disgusting truth about this whole process, it saves others who are suffering greater than you. So would you? Why not think about donating when you are older, to save someone who you truly love?

I'm proud of my speech because my timing was very close to 3 minutes and I always wanted to do something different than the rest of the class.

  

	STRUCTURE
1	There is an introduction to the topic.
2	The introduction tells the reader what the writer’s point of view on the topic is.
3	Each reason for the writer’s point of view is backed up by other information.
4	There is a new paragraph for each new reason.
5	All the reasons given in the argument are put in a sensible order.
6	The argument ends with a conclusion.
7	The conclusion restates the main points made in the argument.

Body Image Homework

This week for homework we had to write some tips for teens to do with body image. Here's mine!

Keith Haring Interactive

We are learning about the artwork of Keith Haring. He used bright colours and simple designs based on the human body. Today we tried an interactive to practice his designs.

The making of me

Today we used a body interactive to help us learn body facts. I learnt heaps! All you have to do is type in your weight, height, and gender. Then you're off! Find out some facts about the amazing you like room four did today.
Use this link: http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/the-making-of-me-and-you?ocid=fbert

Ode

Success Criteria for Writing an Ode:

• Choose an ordinary place or object
• Give your subject praise or thanks e.g. Oh, tree….
• Speak directly to the object
• Use descriptive vocabulary to bring the object to life (personification)
• Use repeated lines

Ode to my Artistic Fingers

Thank you

Fluttering across the white landscape,

guided by a single piece of wood.

Sculpting the grey froth of the ocean’s many tongues

and the ominous shadow of the old man’s hood.

Together you work with my mind,

Painting the salt-sand grains of the sea.

The gentle sighing of seagulls’ wings

and the mulling-over smell of the old man’s tea.

Finished with the whipping wind,

you lay down the guiding wood

and pick up your own cup of tea,

Examining the shadow of the old man’s hood.

Thank you

Medal: I really liked writing this poem because the idea just popped into my head

Medal: I am proud of myself because I helped Tobias write his ode at the same time as mine

Mission: To thank the object more

Electronics Tech

I found that the Get ready Get through website says we need a torch with spare batteries in our Emergency Kit. I am going to design and create a torch ready for an emergency.

Body parts

Yesterday Ms Smith got us to make a few  body parts and stick them on someone in your group. They had to be the right colour, shape, size and  in place. This is how they turned out: 

    

My group was a team of three and I drew the parts. We worked together really well and won the challenge. What we could have done better was not mucking around discussing at the start. My wondering from this is 'why does the kidney look like a kidney bean? Were kidney beans named after the human kidney?'  

Term 2 goals

 This term has started with a few reflections and goals for term two. May the 4th be with you!

STOP	KEEP	START
I am going to stop Going to bed late because I need lots of sleep.	I am going to keep Trying my best in swimming, homework, maths, science fair project.	I am going to start Running laps in the winter to keep fit and train for cross country. Writing, writing, writing for the ICAS exams.

Moment in time

This term we have been writing recounts in as vivid detail as possible, inspired from our class book this term; Boy.

 Planning 
 Gray school day 
Bored 
Went to play with two girls 
First girl had a ‘vampire ball’ 
Second girl pretended to be a vampire and bit me 
Year 3

 Success Criteria: 
 Hook 
Important information 
Include details 


                                                            Vampire bite
 It was a grey school day. Dull, bored clouds dominated the sky, tired of looking down their noses at tiny ant-people and miniature ant houses and huts. Down in Clive School, students sat in never-ending piles of work. Including me. My pencil drooled and dribbled over the page, then eventually clattered to the floor as the lunch bell saved 235 students from hard labour.


 Lunchtime wasn’t any better; everything was covered in thick grey sludge. I wandered around the field, feeling lost in the school that I had been in for 3 years already. “Hey Sophie!” someone shouted from the side of the field. It was my friend. She was with another girl and they were playing a game called ‘Vampires’. When I joined them, they explained all about the second girl’s ‘vampire ball’. We were gathered around a little patch of twigs and the girl put her ‘vampire ball’ in the middle. “ Right,” she said, “Let’s call the vampires!” So we sat in a circle with our legs crossed, eyes closed, and arms in praying position. At some stage I opened my eyes, which I was not supposed to, and said, “The ball’s not doing anything….” The second girl was not happy with me saying that, so she ushered my friend over and whispered something in her ear. I sat there, smiling, thinking something good was going to happen.


 But no. Suddenly my friend lunged at me and sunk her teeth into my arm. Her mouth felt wet with saliva and gooey, but her teeth felt hard and cold, like nails pinching into my skin. The searing pain spread through my body and paralysed me. I looked down at the mark on my arm, shocked so much I could only stare. When I came to and screamed, the two girls scampered, leaving no evidence of our little game.

My digital Mihi

Place Poem

WALT: Use our senses to write a poem about a special place.

Mahia

See the sun melting slowly like a giant ball of cheese on the horizon.

Hear the silent wind pulling your hair, telling you its secrets.

Feel the sand crunching softly under your feet.

Smell the salt.

Taste it on your tongue.

Mahia is like that.

See the octopus, looking up at you from the rockpool.

Hear the waves sloshing lazily in the channel, knowing in the back of your mind that the tide is coming in.

Gasp as the cold water from the deepest pool envelopes you.

Smell the sweet scent of pohutukawa as your tall uncle gives you a flower.

Mahia is like that.

See the old wisened faces of your tipuna, smiling at you.

Hear them laughing at your silly jokes, young again.

Feel the tiredness creep in, like the mosquitoes, through the open door.

Smell the thick aroma of cheese and bread.

Curl your lips around the glass and sip at the vermilion wine.                                             

Mahia is like that.

See the barefoot people milling around, careless of what they wear.

Hear the low, tired murmurs of a hot day.

Feel sweat trickling slowly down your forehead.

Sniff the air for the brilliant smell of orange and chocolate chip.

Lick your ice-cream and melt in bliss.

Mahia is like that.

See the sun waking up and climbing over the hill.

Hear the quiet clink of sad knives cutting up toast.

Feel the instant, almost strange, change in atmosphere.

Smell the last smells and climb into the car.

Taste the lump in your throat.

Feel the never-boredom become boredom once more.

Leaving Mahia is like that.

Quirky Quick Writes

WALT: Use our imaginations to write on a variety of topics for 5 to 10 minutes.

12th Feb 2016

Stella-Rosa was a sandwhich. She was caring, soft and had a heart as red as a tomato. She had meaty brains in her bread, and was covered in a thick skin of mayonaise (so she didn’t get bullied). I was always hungry after her lettuce-green dress, which trailed around her pale, bready legs. She was a beautiful sandwhich. Until she got eaten.

18th Feb

“Aw, mum, why do we have to go to Pizza hut?” I whined, “you know I hate their pizza! Why can’t we go somewhere cool, like Poopie’s Pizza where we get a free chocolate bar?”

25th Feb               50 words

Twisting gracefully in that plasticy orange dress,

Her round body looking light, beautiful for once.

I look down at her and smile at that almost vermilion lipstick,

And think: my, what a pretty one you are.

Then slowly, slowly, I peel off that beautiful coat and bite into -

My orange!

Hope you enjoyed the Quick Writes!

Apocalypse Short Film- Setting Descriptions

WALT: Use detail in our writing to describe a setting.

Apocalypse

Cold, windswept and lifeless. The old city lay in a thick layer of dust, so lonely you could even feel its sadness. No air in that barren landscape. Nobody there. The tired dead trees creaked in their forever sleep. Fear had just spread itself across the land, the buildings, the school playground. No hope, just a grey, sandy canvas.

Apocalypse 2

A musty smell hung in the air. The whole place was a very light, sad green colour. A colour mourning of the bright life it had once lived. White fragments of a teacup lay dissipated on the floor. An old four poster bed sat moaning and groaning of age. Next to it were the remnants of a torn, tatty sleeping bag. That was the only evidence that two inhabitants had once lived there.

Portrait Poem

Cyclone Yassy

My sister the cyclone………...

She streaks through the house

a path of debris wherever she goes.

When she walks past

she leaves a breeze that ruffles the paper she has just drawn on.

I fly into the beanbag when she shoves past me

a whirlwind of fists and feet.

She is too big for our house.

Tearing the pillows up,

hurling the cat around.

Whenever anyone comes to our house

it’s really hard to clean up because she keeps destroying things.

We are scared for surprise visitors because

they might get shocked and run away.

It does not matter what time, which place;

my sister is always messy like a cyclone.

This is my portrait poem. I had to include at least one simile and a metaphor.