Thursday 31 March 2011

What's the Difference Between Sharks & Dolphins?



DolphinsSimalaritiesSharks
Dolphins are mammalsThey both live in the water.Sharks are a type of fish
Dolphins skeletons are made out of bone.They don’t sleep.
Dolphins dorsal fins are curved at the top.They are both vertebratesSharks dorsal fins are straight.
Dolphins have to come to the surface to breathe.They have torpedo like bodies.Sharks breathe through their gills.


Dolphins are mammals

Dolphins skeletons are made out of bone.

Dolphins dorsal fins are curved at the top.They are both vertebratesSharks dorsal fins are straight.
Dolphins have to come to the surface to breathe.They have torpedo like bodies.Sharks breathe through their gills.

Wednesday 30 March 2011

What Are Hieroglyphics?




The words hieroglyphics is hard to say and harder to spell. It is made up of two Greek words meaning ‘sacred carving’. Hieroglyphics is a picture of an object like a tree, animal or weapon, to represent a word, syllable or sound.

These marks were found on temples and palaces in Egypt. The buildings were built thousands of years ago, and are still standing today.

In 1799 a large stone covered in hieroglyphics was found in Egypt. It was called the ‘Rosetta Stone’, the hieroglyphics were a decree done by priests to admire the crowning of a king. Underneath, the message was written in two other languages. In a language of Egypt and in Greek, this made it easier for a French Professor to work out the hieroglyphics.

Monday 28 March 2011

Day 3 of Camp: Last day of camp and activities

Waking up, sad that camp was almost over but excited to do the activities away from school, I got dressed and got my day pack ready. First up on the schedule for the day was Skate-land, and then the recreation centre. Unfortunately we were missing out on racket ball. I was just hoping that our other two activities would be cool.

My favourite activity for the day was the recreation centre. Our instructors name was Roy. We played lots of games like, octopus, ant hospital, dodge-ball, basketball, soccer and hockey. All of the games were really fun, and in some games instead of tagging people just with your hand we used pool noodles. The best game for me was ant hospital.


I had no idea how to play this game so I was really excited to learn about it. In this game there are four people in at a time. Everybody just runs around anywhere they want. But if you get tagged you have to put your hand on the place that you were tugged. That is the same when you get tagged the second time. Then on the third time you have to lie down on the ground and wait for someone to rescue you. Only two people can rescue you and then they have to drag you into one of the big black circles which are called the hospitals. It was so fun!


There was half an hour left to play some games. First we had to get into pairs and then sit opposite each other. You and your partner would have the same number but you would be in different teams. My team were the bands team. This is how the game worked. Roy would call out a couple of numbers, and if it was your number you and your partner would have to run to the end of the court and play either basketball,soccer or hockey. I played hockey and scored a point for my team. Then to finish our activity off we had a huge game of soccer with three balls.


I had an awesome time at camp, and it was even better to be a leader for my group. Now I can’t wait for the rest of the camps that I am going to go on during the rest of the year.

Day 2 of Camp: First day of activities

“ Who Let the Dogs Out”, the music played loudly as the second day of the yr 5 & 6 camp, and the first day of activities began with some Jump Jam. My group, the Responsible Rockers ,were staying at school to do things like orienteering, camp cooking and kayaking. I was a little bit anxious about the orienteering because last year my partner and I got it completely wrong and we had to start all over again.


The Responsible Rockers all went to the Tusitala meeting room to learn how to do orienteering. I chose to work with Te Rina. Everyone looked at the screen as they walked in, where it said,”Orienteering, a game of Skill not Speed”, I thought that was very true. Mr J started talking about how to use the compass. It all started coming back to me, about which arrow you follow, where the compass needle always points, and how to use the compass rose. So then it just started getting really boring, sitting there when you already know how to use it.


Finally we got to have a practise. We got to the 3rd red card, put down the letter, and then turned the compass rose. But it pointed to the first card we were at. Checking over and over until Mr J
blew his huge sheep horn, to signal that our practise was over. I was really nervous that we were going to stuff it up in the real one now. Not twice in a row!

“ No it’s not that card it’s the other one”, “Who cares lets just go there”, Te Rina and I stood by the tree arguing over which way we were meant to go. Miss King came over to help us.The people that she was working with were already finished. As frustrating as it was, we had to start all over again. In the end we didn’t finish the whole thing, but I still had fun. The words were, “Be responsible and take charge”.

Wednesday 16 March 2011

Day 1 of Camp: Swimarama!

Finally it was my turn to swim. I jumped in to the pool and it felt like I was in a freezer. My first day at yr 5 & 6 camp for 2011 was spent at Swimarama. The exciting day started with swimming sports. I was really nervous as I was just about to start the heat for the freestyle. " Take your marks, GO!" Miss King shouted. Pushing off the wall, and kicking as hard as I could, I tried to hold my breath. Counting in my head, 1,2,3, breathe, I saw Ms Squires standing at the halfway mark. It felt like forever, but I finished the race and came.....1st!! I swam to the side of the pool and got handed a small blue card with a 1 on it as I hopped out.


Tuesday 15 March 2011

Japan Earthquake & Tsunami

Click on the link below to see where I got this picture from.
Japan Earthquake

On Friday a gigantic, 8.9 magnitude earthquake hit Japan. It triggered a tsunami which caused lots of the destruction. Thousands of people are dead and others are homeless. Houses, cars, and boats are distributed everywhere like toys. The scene in Japan is absolutely horrific.


Because Japan always has lots of quakes,their buildings are built to withstand the regular tremors. The epi-centre was just off the coast of Japan. But it wasn’t the earthquake that did lots of the damage.

The earthquake caused a massive tsunami. Everything in it’s path was destroyed by the surging waves. A huge, 10 metre wall of water crashed over Japan, leaving it destroyed and engulfed by water. Debris floated on the surface and was carried out to sea.

As if the earthquake and tsunami weren’t already enough, fires had to be delt with. They blazed out of control. Bright orange flames burning people’s houses and places of work. What
a nightmare.

Like everyone else I hope that Japan will recover from this disaster.

Wednesday 9 March 2011

Cricket


The sun was shining, and I was really happy that it was because I love cricket. As room 17 walked on to the field, we saw a long line of wickets waiting for us. I was really excited!

Our first practise drill showed that I could hit the ball, I just couldn’t aim.We had to try and get the ball off the stump and in between the cones. My group was Ashleigh, Ahsin and Logan. Everyone got a turn at batting,fielding and being the wicket-keeper. It was lots of fun!


Finally we got to play a game. My team was fielding first, but I don’t really like being in the fielding team because I’m not the best catcher. One time the ball came my way, but when I looked up to catch the ball, the sun was really bright and I couldn’t see it, so it was really hard to see the ball. So unfortunately I didn't catch the ball.

Friday 4 March 2011

First Glee rehearsal


For the first time yesterday, glee rehearsals started after school. Our teacher is Miss Muliaumaseali’i. She always says that if you want to be in glee club you have to have the big”C”(confidence).We practised the fast version of our “Stop,Look and Listen” dance and we learnt the new, very slow, version. It was so much fun!

First of all we had to get into our lines and audition. I was really nervous. My whole line was split into two groups. Vivienne,Rita, Mele and I stood up ready to start dancing. Miss M told us not to look at her ,but to look at the pattern on the wall of the hall. We started doing our dance but I didn’t do it as well as I could have because I kept looking at Miss M. She let us try it again and this time I focused on the wall and what move came next. I got to sit back down again and watch the year 5’s audition.

Some people got sent to the other side of the hall and others, like me, just stayed where we were. The people that didn’t stay where they were first went out onto the field and practised the dance. We did the same thing in the hall over, and over again. One of the things we had to do was find a partner and do the dance. We were challenging each other and kind of practising being serious and not giggling in the middle of our dance. It was a good practice.

We have our first performance in front of the school in week 9 or 10 so we have to be ready.I had so much fun at our first glee rehearsal and I can’t wait till our next one!