Glenbrae School Class of 2020

 Tonight we congratulated our Year 8 students at their graduation. It has been a wonderful journey of learning and perseverance with you all. We wish you all the best for 2021 as you start college.

Our school leaders trip to Wellington

 

He kura haumaru

Our movie this year is sharing our journey this year about being on lockdown and coming back to the safety of our school. We are blessed to be part of a learning community where we are supported by our friends, teachers and all staff members. 

Please leave a comment about our movie. 

Summer Learning Journey 2020-2021 trial

 

Kick Start  Art Colouring Book: choose an image to colour. Dig Deeper  Watch: colouring time lapse Share  Upload your Art and a screenshot of the original and label each image. Describe why you chose a different colour for one of the objects in the painting. Watch: create your blog post.

Step It Up  Art Colouring Book: choose an image to colour. Use the Zoom Tool Look closely at the original image you chose to colour. What do you see? Dig Deeper  Watch: Elements of Art Read: Elements of Art Share Upload your Art and a screenshot of the original and label each image. Describe the image using as much detail as you can. Watch: create your blog post.

Holiday learning programme with Nanogirl.

Our students have been participating in a Holiday learning programme designed by Nanogirl's team. This is Dwayne's experiment with making a Xylophone. 

Activity 1 - Build a Xylophone

Today I have built a Xylophone, it was very easy and fun to make.

What is a Xylophone?

A Xylophone is a type of instruments with various pitch. You can make many

beautiful melody with a Xylophone. 

Here are the materials you need

• Glasses 
• Water
• Pencil
• Paper
• Tape
• Scissors

Here is a video of me making the Xylophone

When I tested out the Xylophone, it made many pitch, low pitch, high pitch and medium pitch.

The paper Xylophone sounded good as well and also it made good pitches.

Making a Xylophone with papers and glasses were fun to make. While I was making the glass xylophone, I learnt that the more the glass aren't filled with water, the more the pitch is higher and when the glass is filled with more water, it creates a low pitch

Science experiment gone wrong. An entertaining narrative by Viliami T

 It was a nice Monday morning coming back from the weekend. I was excited to come back to school because Mark Robert, a former NASA scientist, is coming to school and testing out an experiment with us. As I got to school, I saw Mark Robert get out of his car and walk into the hall. 

He asked me if I could help him out by setting up his experiment. I was excited but didn’t want to act like it so I just said “Ok”. 

As soon as he turned around to walk towards the hall, I started jumping up and down in excitement. My best friend Levi looked at me while I was jumping and said “Nerd”.

After Mark told me where to put his stuff, he then asked me to go to his car and get some of the other  equipment. I went to his car to get the equipment but as I carried them into the hall, half of the project was already set up by him. 

We finished setting up the project and he asked me if I could help him test it out. He asked me if there was anything in this hall you won’t need I said “Umm that chair was already broken try that”. 

He grabbed the chair and he said “Watch this”. 

As soon as he said “Watch this”, Levi came running into the hall and Mark got distracted and pointed the machine at him. The machine shot Levi and he got hit and after 20 long seconds he somehow started shrinking. 

I was looking at Mark and I said “ HOLY MOLY!!!!” 

I could hear Levi saying “ Huh what's happening? Why are you guys so tall?”. 

Mark said “His organs and everything in his body have now gone small but his voice volume and strength was still the same”. As I walked up to Levi I picked him up and he said “ DON’T YOU TRY TO EAT ME ZORO” I giggled a little. 

I asked Mark “ How are we going to fix this ?“ 

He said “The only way to fix this is if I could recreate the machine and blast him again but I am only able to do that in my lab. 

I said “Then we should get going”.

Mark made up an excuse and told the office lady that someone was attacking his lab. He hopped in his car and we were ready to get going. 

As we were  trying to get to the other side of town we were getting chased down by police officers because they thought I was getting kidnaped. I put my window down and said “This is all a misunderstanding” but I doubt they could have heard me because of the thunder. 

Mark decided to pull over and I said “What are you doing you will get arrested?”.

But Mark said “ It’s better off telling them. They will think that I am kidnapping you and eventually helicopters would come” 

I agreed as an entire SWAT team came to his window pointing their guns at him. I put my window down and I said “ THIS IS A MISUNDERSTANDING WE FAILED OUR SCIENCE PROJECT AND ACCIDENTALLY SHRUNK  MY FRIEND!!”. 

The Captain of the SWAT replied with “ I know he's telling you to say this kid. It’s ok we caught him before he used you as a LABRAT!!!!”. 

As Mark got arrested my parents came to pick me up with Zoro but no one knew that and took me home. I was complaining the whole way home but they just wouldn’t listen. I lost hope but two hours later Mark's Japanese assistant Nisinoya came and made up an excuse.

“Oh I am the school principal I need to take your son to school for his next test”.

My parents agreed I actually thought he was the principal but when we both hopped in the car he said “I’m Mark's assistant he asked me to come fix his mistake”.

As we reached the lab we got ready to fire the machine. I asked him “Umm am I supposed to put Zoro somewhere”?

He said “ In front of the machine”.

But as he fired the machine a  huge energy wave got out because Nishinoya didn’t know how to power the machine. However, Zoro still turned back to his original size. As everyone had eyes on the lab I went outside and surprisingly there was a news crew. They wanted to ask me questions about me getting kidnapped but I said “Listen Mark didn’t kidnap me. He was taking me to his lab because he failed his science experiment. That's why”.

The news reporter just turned around and reported what I said. As I watched Mark get released  from prison he told me that I am a good kid and I might become a good scientist myself.

The Shrink Ray experiment. A fascinating narrative by Viliami Ma

Jimmy always aspired to be a scientist. He enjoyed creating inventions and was currently working on a Shrinking Ray. The Shrinking Ray can shrink anything into minis. Jimmy was working on the project day and night and was starting to lose focus and a sense of reality.

Jimmy woke up and went to school. Before he left, he had to test his experiment one more time as the Science fair was tomorrow. He put his favourite toy in front of the Shrink Ray and turned it on. A big beam of light shot at Jimmy’s toy and it disappeared. He used his microscopic goggles to search for his toy. He spotted the toy and it was smaller than he thought. Jimmy was happy and mad, his Shrink Ray works but his favourite toy was now a casualty of the experiment.

Jimmy picked up the Shrink Ray and walked towards the door. As he arrived at school, he noticed no one was in the lab. He entered the lab but Jimmy slipped and turned on the switch of the Shrink Ray by accident. A big beam of light shot at Jimmy. Jimmy was now on the floor and unconscious. Worse, he was now a Mini.

The next day, Jimmy woke as if it was a normal day, except he was at school on the floor of the science lab. He thought to himself,

 “Why is everything so big?” 

Jimmy looked to himself and he was naked, Jimmy shrunk but his clothes stayed the same size. Jimmy had to look for something to cover himself. It wasn’t like anybody was gonna see him, but he felt uncomfortable.

Jimmy realised that the science fair is today, but he didn’t know how he was going to win the science fair. He had to figure out how to get back to his normal-sized self. 

The Shrink-Ray was too tall for him to reach so he had a lot of climbing to do. He reached the top and turned on the switch. The Shrink-ray wouldn’t turn on, the Shrink-Ray didn’t have enough power. Jimmy needed to get his Shrink-Ray charger from home, but it was going be a long journey. Jimmy had a long way in front of him. 

Jimmy had to find something to help him travel back to his house. He then stumbled upon a gang of fire ants, of course, they were bigger than him but Jimmy wasn’t afraid, the fire ants could talk which was surprising to Jimmy.

“Well, well, well, who do we have here,” said a giant fire ant.

“Sorry I didn’t mean to disturb you” Jimmy hastily replied.

“Well, you did, do you know what happens to people who come across the fire ants?” said a bigger fire ant.

“You help them because you guys are nice,” said a kind fire ant.

“No you get pulverised” said the other fire ant.

The Fire ants began to march forward but suddenly a group of  black ants came marching through and told them to back off. 

“Who are you guys” said Jimmy.

“We are the protectors of the tiny world,” said black ant.

“Could you help get to my house?” asked Jimmy.

“Sure” said the black ant.

Jimmy got on the black ants' back and Jimmy started to guide them to his destination. They finally exit the school and are on their way to Jimmy’s house. 

Jimmy’s house was right in front of  him, the door was wide open. Suddenly his Mum and Dad drove into the driveway and got out of the car. He tried to get his parents to notice but at his size it was mostly impossible to get their attention. 

Jimmy told the ants to get him inside and upstairs to his room. The ants began to get tired, as they reached Jimmy’s front door they got inside and started to climb, the Science Fair was going to begin at 8:30 and the time was currently 7:30. He had one hour to get his charger to school, turn himself back to normal, and show his Shrink-Ray to the whole school. 

When they arrived upstairs they headed to Jimmy’s room and started to look for the Shrink-Ray charger. Jimmy and his group of ants finally found it but there was just one problem, the charger was bigger than them.

“Don’t worry, Jimmy we can get this charger to school in no time,” said Black ant.

The black ant began to whistle and then the ground started to rumble. He saw something in the distance and it were more ants. There were a lot of ants  helping out. They took it out of the house, on the road, and they were finally going to get back to school and turn himself into a regular sized boy. 

As they reached the entrance of the school, it looked like the hall was full of people. He wondered how he was going to get inside but then he realised that he was small so he stopped thinking and headed to the hall. They plugged in the charger and two minutes later the Shrink Ray was charged up. They flipped the switch and Jimmy’s body started to grow and grow even more. When he was a regular sized kid again he was so happy but he was also naked in front of the whole school. He put his clothes on, everyone was confused about what just happened, but he told them it was just part of his act to show his Shrink-Ray to school. 

Everyone gathered around and he put his little ant friend and turned him into a huge ant. The school were frightened but Jimmy turned him into his normal size. Jimmy then got the 1st place ribbon and in the end he got what he wanted. He left the school that day a normal sized boy with bigger dreams of being a scientist. 

Argument writing by Dwayne about school uniforms

 Should Glenbrae School student wear what they want to wear to school?

Kamusta my name is Dwyane Lucero and I am a year 8 student at Glenbrae School. 

Some students might not agree but I think it is important to wear school uniform. 

Well I think students can wear anything to school ON special occasions like: language weeks, school festivals, sports day and mufti day. 

Wearing school uniforms means we are neat and tidy students and we belong to a pleasant and hard-working school. 

If students wear anything they want to school, they might wear bandanas and pretend like they are gangsters. Going to school trips wearing bandanas and baggy clothes might bring disgrace to your school. Some citizens looking at you head to toe will be thinking what school is this kid from? 

Don’t you want people to think that you go to the best school in town? 

An entertaining narrative by Bianca

 The day we were shrunk at school

“Ring” Goes to the lunch bell. We had just finished lunch and it's time for science . As we entered the Science Lab, Jay wanted to have a look at the experiment test tubes. He thought it would be funny if we played with the liquid. As class was going to start Jay tripped and the liquid from the test tube spilt on us, as the liquid was dissolving on us we slowly were turning into miniature students. 

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh we are shrinking” I yelled but my voice sounded like a mouse. 

How were we meant to survive? We had no idea but we had to make a plan on how to survive as miniature students. Since Jay was the only person that didn’t shrink we tried our best to make contact with him to see what he can do to turn us back into our normal size.

As days went by we slept under a cardboard box. One day our science teacher walked into the room, “Ring, ring” goes his phone as he answered, I was so surprised I heard our parents talking over the phone saying,

”Hello Mr, my name is Ashley. I am Jay’s mum. My kids have not returned home. Please help me find them. I am worried”. 

The science teacher reported us missing; they asked everyone at school to tell them where they saw us last. After many hours of them looking around for us Jay reported to the Science teacher that he was playing around with the test tubes and accidentally spilt it on us and we had disappeared. So Mr bob the science teacher reported to the police that we were missing and we were probably a fraction of our normal size. What did they do next? Well they released the dogs, called detetives to try and find us. 

The next day, one of the detectives was looking for fingerprints but still no sign of us. Then Mr Bob had forgotten that he had a hidden camera in the room so he looked at the footage and saw that we had turned into small students. How did they know where to find us? Well we did leave a lot of fingerprints so the detective could probably find our fingerprints around the class. Then the detective found the traces of our fingerprints and footprints but there was still no sign. 

Later at night the detective had kept searching with the magnifying glass and had spotted us under the table. A as a sign of relief!

I was so happy that they had found us. How did we manage to be normal sized humans? Well thank goodness for technology. The science teacher had to reverse the shrinking liquid to make us big again. Days after, Jay and the rest of us had a boundary to never touch the test tubes. I am so happy that we are back to normal. 

By Bianca

`

 

Narrative writing by Richie

 Richie chose to use the prompt from our class novel for his narrative writing. This is his entertaining narrative about the Vile prompt. 

Vile prompt

 

As my brother Vile ran from the house screaming for help, dad was chasing him with the salu (Samoan Broom) in his lavalava. 

I yelled “Just face your consequences like the gangster you think you are Vile”. 

Vile took a quick glance at me and yelled “NEVER” then bolted down the street like the flash as dad was screaming,

“I will KEEL YOU”. 

Vile didn’t come home that week.  

 

The next week, Vile knew dad was out at work so he came back to the house looking for some food. Mum got him inside and warmed up some leftovers. 

“Vile”, mum said “What have you done? Your dad is so angry with you”. 

As Vile was about to speak, he heard the sound of dad’s car pulling up in the driveway. He was home early. I quickly ran Vile up into my room and shut the door.

 

As dad entered the house I could hear him talking in Samoan to my mum. He was saying something about work being cancelled. He was then passing my room to go and take a shower. I never heard him coming past my room because I was trying to get Vile out the window. As he was about to climb out the window, dad stormed into the room and was shocked to see Vile. 

 

Dad then grabbed Vile by his ears and dragged him into the living room. Vile was screaming for help and was begging for mercy, but dad didn’t care. Vile was sat down and given a hiding for at least an hour. During the hour, we got at least two noise complaints. After one long excruciating hour, Vile walked out of the room alive but had bruises and belt marks on his body.

 

Vile then went to his room and was crying. I wanted to go cheer him up but I thought it would be too much for him right now. A couple of hours later it was dinner time and Vile had stopped crying. When he sat down at the dinner table he apologised to dad and said it would never happen again. Dad then took his eyes off his food, laid them on Vile and said, 

“It better not happen again boy, because if it does, I will KEEL YOU”. 

 

 

Impersonating characters from stories we read

 This week, Room 7 are reading a story called Badge of Honour. One of the activities was to impersonate the school principal in the story and to address a student character in the story who has not been wise in his decisions. The story is a great read. It is based in New Zealand and the Room 7 students can relate to this story in many ways. 

Here are the slides Room 7 have been working through. You can also access the text from the slides.

Here is Soane's impersonation of Miss Latu the school principal from the story Badge of Honour. Great work Soane. 

One of the activities for this week's reading tasks was to analyse the role of each character. This is Viliami T's analysis of characters in the story Badge of Honour

Viliami M created this comic page from our reading materials this week. Great use of dialogue Viliami.

This week we are reading a narrative called Badge of Honour. It is a great story with a lot of lessons for our students to learn from. One of the tasks was to create a comic page with images and add dialogue for the characters. Viliami M did a great job in capturing what the characters were feeling and saying in the story. 

Viliami T shares his work about Charles Darwin using screencastify

 

Blog commenting by Room 7

 This week our class have made 316 comments on the blogs of students not only in Room 7, Glenbrae school but also our Tuhi Mai, Tuhi Atu buddies in the South Island.

Commenting on blogs is a great opportunity to learn about what other students are learning and also their interests. 

Blogging in the long term is a record of each student's learning and growth. 

Well done Room 7 for your mahi this week. Kia kaha!

Thank you Richie for creating the gif to celebrate our success this week. 

via GIPHY

Hangout fitness session

This morning our class hangout was a little bit different. Our house leaders planned a workout for our hangout this morning. We did exercises like bear crawls, lunges, push ups, inch worms and sit ups. These are all exercises we can do while at home. It was great to see everyone participating and getting into the workout. 

Well done house leaders for today's session. 

Soane has created this screencastify to talk about the current lockdown.

Kue'a's lockdown flowchart.

Kue'a completed the lockdown flow chart our class have been working on. He then used screencastify to talk about his flow chart. 

In Room 7, we are focussing on adding sound and motion to our DLOs. Here is a screencastify Richie completed to share his learning about the Big Bang Theory

 

We have been looking at the origin of life and have been learning about The Big Bang. This is Pitara's work on the topic

Learning in Bounce Back about Nelson Mandela.

Nelson Mandela is a famous leader who showed resilience by bouncing back from the challenges he went through. Uinita, has put her learning and reflections about Nelson Mandela's life in these slides.

Starting off Genomics with the Origin of Life activity. This is Ngakiri's presentation about the origin of life

Tupou's guide sheet for making a winter vegetable garden

Tupou's literacy group have been reading about how to make a vegetable garden in winter. They used several resources to gather information. He created this poster to help others who would like to make a garden.

Viliami Ma's tips for planting winter vegestables

Viliami's reading group are comparing texts about making a winter garden. They have been reading information from different companies and identifying the common tips and differences. He has made this poster to help others who want to make their own winter vege garden.

A DLO made by Bianca and Maria about Bounce Back

Bianca and Maria created this google slide to teach others about the acronym for Bounce Back. They added music to the slides to engage their viewers. They hope these slides will encourage our blog viewers to be more resilient. 

Viliami Ma's Pick a Path quiz for his reading activities

Viliami's reading group have been learning about Chris Ryan and his research about rongoā. He created this quiz using Google Slides to test the knowledge of his group about their main text.

Pick a Path NBA quiz by Viliami

Room 7 have been learning how to do Pick a Path quizzes using Google Slides. This is Viliami T's quiz on NBA. Great job Viliami. The visuals are really effective too.

This week we got the chance to create a pick a path quiz DLO. In mine I did a quiz about the NBA. My quiz is basically telling you how much you know about the NBA. I'm a massive fan of the NBA because I get to watch players evolve like Zion Williamson. I've been watching him since he joined the Duke basketball team and he was amazing.

When I was watching the 2019 draft I was so excited to see the draft because I heard the Pelicans was going to be the first draft pick and I knew they needed a power forward so they picked Zion.

My blog analysis from January - May 2020

Today in class, we analysed how many blog posts we have done this year for each month. We used Google Sheets to enter the data and then inserted a table. 

What we can see from this table is - April has the most blog posts. The least blog posts made were in February and no blog posts in January.

The total of blog posts our class blog has so far is 121.

A Samoan language week DLO by Viliami T

Today I created a video explaining facts about Samoa for Samoan language week. In the slides there are facts about Samoa. Did you know Samoans have their own version of cricket? Happy Samoan Language Week.

Faatāuaina o le Gagana Samoa i Niu Sila

As we celebrate the Samoan language in New Zealand this week, Room 7 are working on learning about different aspects of being Samoan and the Samoan language. 

Kalolaine made this Google Slide to teach her viewers what the months of the year are in Samoan.

Fa'afetai Kalolaine

Bounce Back DLO by Ngakiri

This week, we have started our learning about BOUNCE BACK. It is an Australian programme designed to teach students about being resilient. We started the unit by understanding what the acronym BOUNCE BACK stands for. This is Ngakiri's DLO about Bounce Back. 

This is Richie's screencastify discussing his Google Drawing about the lockdown

Step 1 - fill in the Google Drawing about your experience of the lockdown

Step 2 - record a screencastify explaining your answers in detail

Step 3 - embed your screencastify in a blog post on your blog

These are the steps Richie had to follow for this activity. Well done Richie. Great explanation of how the lockdown was for you.

Dwyane is sharing her lockdown experience with our blog viewers. She used screencastify. Well done Dwyane.

Try out this quiz Mrs Tofa made using Google Slides

Richie recounting his first day back at school

Preparing for our return back to Room 7

The past six weeks have been an amazing journey of learning, reflecting and adjusting. When we first started the lockdown, my biggest fear was - how are my students going to cope with their learning from home? How can I support them when they are not in class? Will the parents be able to help with their learning activities?

However...I strongly believe we have made it work Room 7. We utilised the technology we are blessed to have today, we utilitised the cluster we are blessed to be in and we also utilised the kaupapa of our school and made it work.

Having the hangouts was a great way to see you all and learn together. There were days I felt like the hangout was just simply a hangout where we chatted then you would go off and enjoy your day not giving a second through to your work. A few motivational speeches from Mrs Tofa changed that (I still have to copyright my motivational speech guys).

The blogs have been my go to for the last six weeks. Looking at your blog posts provided a wealth of knowledge, insight and appreciation to your efforts in your learning. Your individuality really comes across in your blog posts. Some of you really are fabulous authors with the way you present your personal voice in your blog posts.

I tried to incorporate your home life in your learning activities. Your whanau recipes were great, our whanau challenges for ANZAC, our school assembly...just pure joy to see. I hope through this lockdown you have been able to see just how important your home learning is as well as your school learning. I also hope you and your whanau have built on your capacity to work together in your learning. Remember this is all for you and your future. The more effort you put in, the more you will be able to receive in success.

Lastly my thank yous. First I would like to thank myself for being Room 7's greatest teacher (lol) just kidding. I would firstly like to thank all of you who consistently tried your best in your learning during the lockdown. Thank you for persevering with your learning. I would also like to thank your parents and caregivers for their on going support. I hope they have been able to enjoy and learn from our learning activities throughout the lockdown weeks. Big thank you to the Manaiakalani team for their support in setting up our hangout links and being there for me to call upon when I needed help. A massive faafetai lava to our Glenbrae whanau Mrs Patea and our staff members for the great team work and communication and guidance during the lockdown.

A special thank you which deserves to be in its own paragraph would have to be for our government. Our Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and the cabinet not forgetting Dr Bloomfield who is now almost as famous as Taika Waititi or maybe more famous? The support for education and our country has been phenomenal. I am truly grateful for how the government managed the Covid-19 pandemic and how they are still managing the effects of this pandemic on our nation.

Now, as we prepare to head back to school. I know some of you are excited and some might not be too excited about the early morning rises. Just be grateful we had experienced what we had with the lockdown. Covid-19 has changed the world in many ways. We are adaptive and resilient people and now we will go into school on Monday to make adjustments to our new norm.

With that, see you all on Monday. The photo is a preview of what our classroom will look like. I still have to fit in a few more tables in to cater for our class.

This week we are working on multiplication problems. Here are Dwyane's responses to the easy questions.

A reflection from a very proud debate team leader. Well done Viliami Ma for your wonderful leadership.

Last week, we had our class debate and Dwayne and I were team leaders for one of the teams. 

We first had to get our teams ready for the debate and it was really difficult for us but, we managed to get our teams to cope with it and we were all ready for the Class debate.

Our teams couldn't decide what team would go first so we held a Kahoot to decide who goes first and who goes last. The short of it, is that my brother won and luckily he was in my team so we got to go last. The debate went like this, Dwayne went first and then I went with a bit of a long speech and all of our team members said the little speeches they made. 

After Mrs Tofa our teacher had to decide which team won the debate but, she said "Learning Won" and I was shocked but it was alright. Here is my debate speech.

Viliami's speech :

Good afternoon my name is Viliami I am the leader of this debate team. The topic for today is, Lockdown should be extended for another four weeks and we are going against this statement, and my team members are Aisea, Richie, Gideon, Kuea and Jayden.

First, we have Aisea, he is going to be talking about kids not being able to see their relatives, Next we have Richie and his argument will be about how this lockdown is affecting kids learning. Then we have Gideon, whose argument will be about kids missing out on activities. Lastly but not least Jaydin will be our last speaker.

Our team beliefs are that kids cannot cope with Covid-19 and this Lockdown, and they are so used to working at school, we believe that kids find it hard to work from home, and not just the children but the adults as well.

Gideon sharing a recipe for dinner with measurements for each ingredient

Room 7 class debate on hangout

Today, we had our second debate. We had our first one last Friday and the students wanted to do another debate this Friday. We have decided Fridays, we will have our theme for our hangouts and a debate.

During the week, the students work on their arguments. Each team has a team leader and the leader works on making sure everyone is ready with their arguments by Friday. We certainly have very good debaters in Room 7.

Today's topic was 'The lockdown should be extended for another four weeks'. Viliami M's team were against the topic and Dwyane's team were for it. Both teams had very good arguments to support their stance.

Well done to this week's team leaders for our class debate. You did a great job in ensuring your team worked together and had the confidence to speak.

Bring on the next debate!

Jaydin has been working on his maths activities. Here are some problems he worked on. Do you agree with him?

Dwyane's Mother's Day card for her Mama

Happy Mothers Day!

Cooking in technology via hangout

This morning the Year 8 students cooked during their Technology hangout. Mrs Heka and the students did the theory work for today's cooking last week. Therefore, today was a session of cooking in the kitchen. 

Richie sourced the help of his mum to cook his dish and this is the delicious result. 

Great work Richie and Mrs Changchreonkul. 

Pitara sharing her Mana Whenua work. A great post to read and learn from

This is Pitara's creation for Mother's Day

Slides dedicated to my Mum, Nena and all our Glenbrae School 

This is Richie's creation for his Mum for Mother's Day

Today I made a poster for my mum. I made this poster because on Sunday this week it is Mother's day in New Zealand. 

Another Smart Learner Blog Challenge by Dwyane. Great work Dwyane.

Today I did another blog challenge this challenge is called Collage.

What I did is I went to google and typed textures.

E.g blue textures, green textures.

I really had fun doing this challenge

Blogging comments by Room 7 this week

We have been enriched with reading many blog posts by students in our school and our Tuhi Mai Tuhi Atu buddy classes.

This week we made 193 comments. We will continue to support the learning of our peers and each other by looking at blogs and learning about what other students are learning about.

via GIPHY

Another Smart Learner Blog Challenge completed by Soane

Soane working his way through the Smar Learner Blog Challenge

Another great drawing of Robin by Viliami M

This is one of my google drawings I've been working on, which I just finished today. My Google drawing is of Robin. A young superhero and he is Batman's sidekick. He is in the Teen Titans and he is a good leader. 

This is Pitara's work on the tiaki promise and the history of Glen Innes

The big debate

Tomorrow on our hangout, we will have a debate about a topic related to our new topic of study Mana Whenua. It is a great learning opportunity for students to be in a debate team and to think of their arguments and counter arguments. It will be a great day tomorrow. 

Time of debate 1.40 pm 

Maths in the home activities by Viliami Mi

This week we are learning Maths through activities which can do at home everyday. Mrs Tofa started off by sharing her Chop Suey recipe. We also had to share our own family recipes. The lesson for us it to understand how big different units of measurement are. We have had some fun in our activities this week and some big learning too. 

Miiana's work on our new topic of Mana Whenua

This is my inquiry tasks that I have done today for Mana Whenua. I did three tasks today on a google presentation. This is what I got done and it was today's task for inquiry. This was fun to do and I kinda learnt something new from the video.

Pitara's activity on displaying the beauty of Aotearoa which why we need to look after our beautiful country

As part of our Mana Whenua introduction to our topic, we have been learning about how special and beautiful New Zealand is. Here is Richie's work on our first introduction to our topic Mana Whenua

In Room 7, we love reading about current events. We love finding out about what is happening around the world. Here is Soane's blog post about what he read. Quite fascinating.

Today I read an article based on one of the most intelligent games of all time ,Chess. A  16 year old Iranian boy was declared champion over beating the worlds best chess player of all the ages. He did something one hundred percent terrific and knocked out 132 chess players in a tournament including 109 chess kings. 

 

If you wanna check out one of the most latest news on kiwi kids news click this link 

>https://www.kiwikidsnews.co.nz/

Tu'inukue'a used shapes to create this image of a killer whale for his Smart Learner Blog Challenge activity

Today I made a Killer whale only using 

shapes and lines on google drawing for the smart learners 

challenge.

Viliami M's freehand drawing. Amazing skills.

Today, I freehand drew Giannis Antetokounmpo on chrome canvas. Giannis is a NBA basketball star who plays for the Milwaukee Bucks, he is Greek and he his Number 34 and people call him the Greek Freak.

Kalo's presentation about her mum's first baking attempt

Kalo proudly sharing her mum's success in her first baking attempt. Well done Mrs Tukuafu. You  have surely achieved a lot during the lockdown. Keep on baking. I am sure your children will enjoy it. 

Our Year 8 students showing what they cooked for Friday's technology class

Mason sharing his conversation with his Mum about the ANZAC tunnellers

Yesterday after dinner time, I told my mum about the tunnels which were found by some college students. They were 30 metres underground and there were names, signs, graffiti and also a Kia Ora and big fern on the wall. 

These tunnels were secrete hideouts and were made by NZ soldiers who worked very hard to dig the tunnels. They also used geophones. A geophone was used by soldiers to listen for sounds from the enemy. They were placed on the ground and they could hear the faintest sounds of what the Germans were doing. 

After telling all that to my mum my mum said "Wow I didn't know that geophones were a thing". Then my mum told me everything she knows about the war.

This is Mason's recording for our hangout reminder and weekend message. Thank you Mason

Pitara's post about the Poppy which symbolises the ANZACs. Great work Pitara

Why are there poppies around on ANZAC

The red poppy has become a symbol of war remembrance all over the world over.

People in many countries wear the poppy to remember those who died in war or who still serve. In many countries,

the poppy is worn around Armistice

Day (11 November), but in New Zealand it is most commonly seen around Anzac Day, 25 April. 

The red or Flanders poppy has been linked with battlefield deaths since the time of the Great War (1914–18).

The plant was one of the first to grow and bloom in the mud and soil of Flanders in Belgium. 

The connection was made, most famously, by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae in his poem 'In Flanders fields'. 

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses row on row, 

That mark our place; and in the sky 

The larks, still bravely singing, fly 

Scarce heard amid the guns below. 

We are the Dead. 

Short days ago 

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, 

Loved and were loved, 

and now we lie In Flanders fields. 

Take up our quarrel with the foe: 

To you from failing hands we throw 

The torch; 

be yours to hold it high. 

If ye break faith with us who die 

We shall not sleep, 

though poppies grow In Flanders fields. 

In New Zealand the poppy is most often worn around  Anzac Day. Since 1927 Poppy Day itself has been marked on the

Friday before Anzac Day (unless it 

falls on a Good Friday) with the appeal going through to 25 April. 

Poppies still symbolise remembrance, and New Zealanders want to show this at other times as well as on Anzac Day.

At big commemorative events, at military funerals and at war graves and cemeteries in

New Zealand and around the world, the red poppy can be seen. 

Real poppies are hard to supply in the amounts needed for a whole country, so most of the

poppies we see are the paper and plastic ones that raise funds for the RSA

(The Royal New Zealand Returned and Services Association). 

Why are there poppies around on ANZAC day?

1. During which war did they start remembering fallen soldiers with poppies? 

The war that they started remembering fallen soldiers with poppies is the Great war 1914-1918.

2. In which country is ‘Flanders?

Flanders is in Belgium.

3. Was the poet who wrote ‘In Flanders Fields’ a soldier? How do you know? 

Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae was a soldier in World War 1 and also a surgeon during the

second battle of Ypres, in Belgium.

4. In the poem it mentions a ‘quarrel’. Find a definition for the word quarrel:

Quarrel: A heated argument or disagreement, typically about a trivial issue and between people

who are usually on good term.

5. Where in the World is Belgium? Explain where you find it… 

Belgium is a country in Western Europe. It is bordered by the Netherlands to the north,

Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to the southwest, and the North Sea to the northwest.

6. What is an Armistice?

Armistice is an agreement made by opposing sides in a war to stop fighting for a certain time; a truce.

7. What is another name for the ‘red poppy’? Flanders Poppy.

8. How do you think John McCrae felt when he wrote his poem? I think John McCrae felt sad and heart broken

when he wrote his poem, because of the many people that sacrificed their lives during the Great War. 

9. Find an image that portrays the words of the first verse the best you can. 

     

10. Why do you think the RSA want to raise money from poppies?

I think the RSA raises money from the poppies to help provide funds to support both currently serving and

ex-service men and women and their families affected by their service. I also think that the poppy is a

great symbolic icon to remind us of the sacrifices made. 

11. If you could choose another symbol to remember the ANZAC soldiers,  

     what would it be?  Explain your choice. A white cross, with a red poppy centered. I choose this simply to

signify the fallen soldiers and the poppies that grew on Flanders battlefield after the World War1.  

Extra Fact: Poppy Day has been a part of the

New Zealand calendar since 1922, making it one of the oldest nationwide appeals.

Lest we forget