Koru and Kowhaiwhai

 Kia Ora!

WALT: Drawing on what you have learnt about the use of koru and kowhaiwhai featuring in Māori Art, describe what, how and why these are used.

We had information and links to click on, this is what I have learnt about Korus and Kowhaiwhai whilst answering the questions. Enjoy!

Rot Ya Teeth!

For a few weeks now, our class has been doing Science. We've been learning about "Fair-testing". Fair-testing is where you have an experiment and when you fair-test it, you're keeping everything fair, keep it equal. But then we did Variables. A Variable is something you change or you vary. Our group (Mikaela, Felix and I) and every group had to make six variables up.

Our group was doing the experiment "Rot Ya Teeth". We used egg shells as teeth and got different types of fizzy drink: Cola, No sugar Cola, Lemonade, No Sugar Lemonade.

But before we made the experiment, we had to had to make 3 things we could measure of the end result. Out of the things we could measure, we chose how rotten/dark the egg shell had gotten in colour. Out of our six variables, we chose to change the types of drinks.

After we started our experiment, we left our cups of eggs in fizzy up in the windowsill for a week. When we got them down after the week we made a science board. Every group had to make one about they're experiments. We had to put all the information in, graphs or diagrams, all the variables and measurements. It took days, but on the day of the science fair, our group finished, and our board looks great.

The results were, cola was the most rot and dark in colour. The next was cola no sugar. Then lemonade, then lemonade no sugar. But lemonade no sugar's drink in the cup turned pee yellow, for some reason I don't know of. The cola's drinks went kinda milky and lost some colour. Lemonade stayed the same.

But before all that, we started small. Miss Wilton gave us little containers and we got to choose our groups. We put water in the containers then went outside and put different amounts of Barroca into the containers. That was when we learnt what a fair-test was. After that we did blood splatter. Miss Wilton made fake blood, and we measured it on the same surface. But we measured how big the splat was using the same amount of blood but from different distances, the different distances was the variable. Then we learnt how to graph our fair-tests. This was all so fun, but then we got into our own experiments, which all the information is in these other paragraphs.

Here are the photos of our science board.

My Mihi! Play and enjoy!

This week, as it is Maori Language Week, Our class was doing our Mihi's on a game called Gamefroot. It gave us a tutorial for a Mihi. It's kind of like coding, but because we had a tutorial, you don't have to do much/any coding, unless your doing the script. Anyway, this is my Mihi. Play it, and enjoy.

Infographic About Wind.

This week, we have been learning about wind and how it works. We had to make an infographic about wind. An infographic is something you make that can involve, pictures, diagrams, symbols, flow charts, numbers and letters to explain something in a fun way.

Wind is air. Hot air and cold air actually. So, when you get hot air, it'll come down for awhile and then rise again, because hot air is less dense than cold air. When the hot air rises it empties a space for the cold air to come. And the cold air will stay because it is more dense. This forms a cycle and makes wind. Then you get sea breezes and land breezes. A sea breeze is: The land will heat up more easily than the sea, so the air will get hot on the land, the the hot air rises. That makes a space for the air off of the sea, that is a sea breeze. It's like a cooling fan on a hot day at the beach. A land breeze is the complete opposite. Land breeze will happen at night. So, the land cools faster than the sea, so when the hot air rises from the sea, the cold air from the land will replace it. That's my understanding of wind.
WALT: Think critically when looking at the information in the texts.
Here is my infographic, for a bit I didn't know what to do, so it's not exactly perfect. (You may have to zoom in).

What would you choose? Classic Coke or Coke No Sugar? Read this to find out why you should choose Coke No Sugar!

WALT: I can write a shorter persuasive Post by making a claim and backing it up with reasons.
This week and part of last week, our class had a different teacher in. She was wanting us to do Persuasive writing on any topic we wanted, or a sight that Mrs. Sutherland sent to us. We all were supposed to write two. Here's my second one, I like it better.

Should we drink normal Coca Cola or should we drink the No Sugar version?

I think that the No Sugar version is the best option here. First of all, a small bottle - 600 ml - that you would get out of a public fridge is just over 2 calories. Whereas Classic Coca Cola has 258 calories.

Normal coke isn’t BAD for you, except for the sugar. It has an alarming amount of sugar, and if you drink a lot it could contribute to something to give you a disease. But the sweeteners in No Sugar Coke - acesulfame potassium & aspartame - are considered good for you (if you don’t have huge doses of aspartame).

Aspartame consists of Methanol which is wood alcohol, This turns into formaldehyde at high temperatures. Formaldehyde is flammable and toxic gas with a strong smell. It is also a Neurotoxin that can affect the Nervous System and the Brain. (Information put into my own words, but I got it from Srividya Bhaskara on Quora).

In a classic Coke, there are 16 teaspoons in 600ml. But, as it says in the name, there are none in the No sugar version.

If you like the taste of classic Coke, it’s practically the same in coke no sugar. It just doesn’t have the after taste. In Diet coke, it tastes far off of the classic taste that we all love. It is pretty good for you though. Anyway, could you tell the difference between Coke Classic and No Sugar? 

In conclusion, choose No Sugar Coke. It tastes the same, eats the same and smells the same. No, but if your a Coca Cola lover, choose No Sugar Coke. I assure you, you can’t taste the difference, and it’s way better for you.

Paragraph Writing!

For a couple of weeks now, our class has been learning paragraph writing. We learnt how to leak our paragraphs, like having one topic in the first and linking that topic to the next. We had a picture to base our stories on. I wrote five paragraphs, and tried my best to link them all.

Displeasure ran through his nerves as a flake from the paint on the window pain fell into his left eye. He squinted to try to get the paint flake out but it was submerged into the bottom eyelid. For a minute after that he kept his eyes closed, trying not to feel the pain from the paint flake. He remembered his wife's eyes, beautiful and blue, like the waves that crashed onto the beach on their wedding day. All he was thinking about was good memories, everything to keep his mind off the pain. When he opened his eyes again, he howled. As soon as they were open, agony shot through his whole face. He wished so hard to not be in pain, to see his wife and kids again. 

He tried to remember their names, Lucy and Kit. Kit was probably at the basketball game that he paid to go to himself; Shouting “Go Team!”, because he didn’t know the names of the teams. Soon, he couldn’t feel pain anymore. Not in his eye anyway, in his heart, he still could. He was so used to the pain already, the physical pain, that he didn’t notice his eye was watering. Not from crying or missing his family, but from irritation in his eye. Soon, the attention was on his nose, all he could smell was musk and rotting wood. 

His eyes were closed for long enough and he was tired enough to just…

When he awoke, he didn’t know the time of day. He could taste the toothpaste from nights ago in his mouth. It was a faint taste, but still there. He smacked his tongue up and down in his mouth to keep the taste going, anything was better than mud and rotten wood. He suddenly got a confused look on his face. His position changed, must have moved in his sleep, which wasn’t like him because he is a still sleeper, he didn’t use to be, but he had to adapt to that life because of his wife, there couldn’t be two dancers, so he gave her the stage. 

Now, all he could think about was his wife; nothing else. He remembered her short curly brown hair. She used to streak it with blonde, which always looked amazing on her. Her short cut pencil skirt and pink blouse that she wore to the office every day, with maroon-ish purple lipstick, sometimes Lucy would steal and make a “masterpiece” out of it. One time, after Lucy put on her mothers' bright pink lipstick, we took her out with a kite and went to the park on the corner. It wasn’t a great park, it had a set of swings, a seesaw, and a slide. She loved it though. Her kite had a little monsters face, orange, yellow, teal and green. The main color was blue, but it had accents of the others. He would say “Luc, go get your twin! We’re going out.” He would say that because Lucy was a little monster; when she would be down, he would say “Your my beautiful, strong, brave, cute, loving and caring little monster, now go to bed and get some sleep.”

He loved having those talks with her, stroking her blonde hair that she never brushed. She had the same eyes as her mum though, bright blue with a hint of green.  He would stare into her eyes, seeing his wife in her. Lucy was going to grow up a strong and independent woman, just like her mum.

Kit looked much different from Luc and Emerson. When Kit was little, he would sit in front of the TV watching Teletubbies. His favorite was Laa-Laa, and he would always dress up as Laa-Laa for Halloween. Well, not exactly. When he dressed as Laa-Laa, he would dress green; just like Dipsy. But he would think he was Laa-Laa. and Emerson would quietly with her Husband.

Pig The Pug, Character Descriptions.

Pig the Pug.

Pig The Pug is a pug. He is very chunky and funky, he has folds all over him. His eyes stick out to the side of his head. It's hard for Pig to smile because his face is all droopy. He has floppy ears and has brownish red eyes that make him look evil. His figure is cute, but not when you look closer...

Pig The Pug is a vindictive dog who is always stealing the limelight. Pig never lets Trevor do anything, this causes Pig to get hurt when he tries to overcome Trevor but doesn't succeed. His behaviour is a sort of rude and cheeky type. There is toxic steam that always comes off him. Pig has everyone wrapped around his finger, but not Trevor. He likes all the attention and doesn’t want anyone to share it with him. Pig always has this thought in his head: “I am the best, no one is better than ME!”

Pig makes people feel used, manipulated, and grief-stricken. 
Trevor always thinks to himself: “Pig is my brother, I would never make him blue, even if he makes me feel blue. I can’t just bluntly be rude to him.”
Trevor feels manipulated, even though his brother is uncivil to Trevor.
Pigs owners/parents have been deceived, they think Pig is a little Angel, but Pig has made them think that by being nice to everyone around them and taking the spotlight. Trevor wishes they saw the truth between Pig and Trevor's abusive relationship. Everyone has been fooled by Pigs behaviour around everyone.
Pig is making people doubt themselves in every way. His behaviour is appalling!

Pig would ALWAYS have his furniture glossed. He would always have his toys in his chest by his bed. He would always have his expensive colognes in alphabetical order. He was like a little Prince. He even had a Tiara on his bedside table to show how amazing he was. His bed was one sheet only, no wrinkles, no bumps. It had to be perfect, every side had to be the exact same length. Everything in his room is pristine white. Everything is painted with a creamy white, a greyish white or a bright white. Nothing is out of order, if something moves, he'll have a panic attack. Pigs lawyers call him O.C.D, it's true though.

By: Lauren

Trickle Down (more writing)

Trickle Down

 I had… I had got it. I finally got the statue’s head that was in the middle of the city. After I had cut the head off the statue i got my red paint and made it trickle down from the neck. I ran away as fast as I could. There are three important rules you should live by if you want to survive in this world. First, always look over your shoulder. Second never trust anyone, and third, Run away from the light. I could see lights up ahead so I ran into a corn field and slept there that night. In the morning I could see news reporters everywhere I looked. I stood up and sucked on a cold cigar. Next thing I know I was getting interviewed, they didn’t suspect a thing I got away with my 7th crime. When I got home it was empty and silent. I slide the briefcase with the statue head under my bed. I breathed one big gulp of air and thought to myself I’ve finally got it, now my colleagues will bow down to me! I wake up in bed with three gang members hanging over me. My gang members.

Teachers rites.

Teachers Rites!

To whom it may concern,

I would like to acknowledge how hard teachers work all day. If all the teachers were to go on strike because they get harassed by some other staff member or they are disappointed about how they get paid.

Teachers are very special to the students and if they went on strike for one whole day children would lose a day of fun and education and parents would lose a day of pay and work.

Most teachers work from six or seven AM to four or five PM everyday, also when the holidays come if it is a normal holiday with two weeks the teachers usually only get one week of holiday or even five days, that's not fair at all.

I think you could fix this by forming friendly relationships with the other staff members and give them maybe even $3 more to they’re pay for each hour. This will prevent the teachers from going on strike.

Sincerely,

Lauren

A Bedazzle in the Mist.

A Bedazzle in the Mist.

Chapter 1

Yay, again my teacher kicks me out of class. All I was doing was writing in the back of my book… but the thing that I was writing got a bit out of hand.

I don't like school and I would say that I am not very good at it either. I stayed up late the night before hanging out with my brothers. I’m the only girl in the family because my mum died when I was very young.

We had three dogs Muffy, Cookie and Tinsel. They are all from the pound. I guess I can say that all of the dogs are girls so, I am the only human girl in the family.

My dad was always out with his new girlfriend Lizzie and my brothers were always in detention so I had the house to myself.

Kind of like Matilda but not. The house that I live in is apparently haunted because the lady who lived here before us was attacked by her dog and found dead under the floorboards, blinking but not breathing.

I keep rethinking how this would work out because her dog was a small pup and it was blind? Anyway everyone runs away from me at school because that is one of my dogs.

It’s Tinsel. But she is lovely and it doesn't even seem like she is a dog. Tinsel usually sleeps with me but I always wake up with bites and bruises. But she can’t be giving me the bites and bruises because as I said before she is so lovely.

You know how Tinsel is blind she looks like she can see everything because she walks with her head held high. Tinsel always beats Muffy and Cookie up and Muffy and Cookie get the same bites and bruises as me.

I told my brothers this and they told my dad and now Tinsel is at the pound again. I want her back but my dad said no. I got a doctors check for the bites and bruises and I actually had a broken wrist, and the type of break that can only be broken if it gets twisted. Dads girlfriend lizzie is getting really scared of the house and me. She thinks that we are haunted.

Lizzie has always hated me and she's the one that puts Tinsel in my bed. But let's go to the good news. We’re getting another dog and I’m choosing her because it's going to be mine. So I made a plan to get Tinsel back! But Muffy and Cookie would hate me so I need to do some more thinking.

But there is more bad news my mother is back in town with her other half of the dogs. um I thought she was dead?! Like 6 years ago she died in front of me! I shivered and went to sleep, after 12:00 pm.

Now I can meet up with her and give the dogs some surprises! The dogs that my mum own are Majestia, Piper and Ivy. And now I have to tell mum that Tinsel is gone but tomorrow is the day that I get to pick out a new dog so I could get back Tinsel, and no one would know that Tinsel was gone….. 3 hours later… I was texting mum because I could not get to sleep.

Chapter 2

I did not know what to do with Tinsel.  Should I get another dog or get back my favorite dog in the world? If I got Tinsel, dad would kick me out of the house ! But I love Tinsel !

I don’t want to live on the streets so I will get a new dog. Yay! today is the day that I get a new dog. BUT my dad said that I could pick something else even a new toy so I picked a toy it was called “hide and seek hannah”.

I played with her and my brothers all night. 5 hours later…… I woke up hearing something in the basement.

It sounded like crying I went down there and it was “hide and seek hannah” It had bright red eyes then she started counting, the instructions said that if hide and seek hannah started counting you had to hide or you would get punished, but I forgot and she counted to twenty and she saw me staring at her and she opened her mouth, her teeth looked as sharp as daggers.

Why did this have to happen to me ? Why didn’t I just get Tinsel. Then the lights went out and icy fingers gripped me in the darkness so I screamed and it felt like claws ripping up my mouth, then Lizzie came in and ripped hide and seek hannah off of me and carried me to my brothers room and said “we will not speak of this to your dad” I nodded and she left into the hallway.

I cried myself to sleep and got Tinsel back the next day because Lizzie lied to dad just for me. Tinsel was back and that was the happiest day of my life. My father is getting so angry at me leaving Muffy and Cookie out and playing with Tinsel 14 hours later.

Today is the day that I get to meet up with mum again and see Piper, Majestia and Ivy for my first time. I am hoping they are french bulldog. Anyway mum looks so different from when I saw her last. It was good to see her again but I had an urge to tell her about that alarming experience!

I cried halfway through telling her.  When I came home there was no one home and all of the windows were smashed and the door was dismounted. So I ran to mums flat but halfway there I felt something jumped on me so I turned around and saw a devastating sight.

Hide and seek hannah was on me ! I started to cry horridly and then my mother drove past to get groceries and saw hide and seek hannah on my back.  

She was in the car with Lizzie and she was dropping off Lizzie but I don’t know why, because if life made sense they would of been enemies.

Chapter 3

Well everything was like a broken universe in my head. Lizzie pulled the horrid creature off of my back and my mum just started laughing in the car…”so much for a nice mum”, now I know why dad left her!

I need to stop dreaming because i think this is just a dream? I can’t deal with this. That Hannah thing is bad news, I should have just not have got Tinsel and not have got hide and seek hannah and gotten a new DOG not a toy!!! But it is just a dream so it’s fine hehehehe…..

I went to bed, I heard a noise, it came closer, closer it was like a bang on the door. Then I heard a gunshot fire and screaming and then that’s when I realised it was not a dream it was real!

I heard my the front door slam and I saw red eye’s through the window I closed mine and the black shadow figure left. Then I heard a car boot close and it was so loud that i had to run out of my room. I went to my brothers room and bit my finger.

I saw my dad in the lounge with Lizzie. He was kneeling down and Lizzie was so happy she was nearly jumping out of her socks!

And that was when i knew. Dad had proposed to Lizzie. I felt so happy inside. I was going to have a new Stepmum! I was also sad how was my mum going to feel she has no one and i am going to have a Stepmum .

These thoughts were wiggling around in my head and making me go crazy. My brothers had gone to Australia for the army. Well now me, Dad and Lizzie were in Korea.

Sadly one of my brothers was fighting in battle and passed away. 3 years later.

I turned 18 today. Dad and Lizzie got married 4 weeks ago, it was the best night ever. There was dancing and it was the full moon and it was so amazing. For my birthday i got a brand new built flat to live in with my best friends at school. So i packed up and went to my flat. There was a huge surprise party with my brothers there. They came all the way from Australia to see me!

Omg omg omg.

I hugged every single one of them. So 7 to be exact. My life had gone uphill since the car boot closed. Me Dad and Lizzie went out on a walk in the morning. We were going to the airport. We had our bags ready and we started to walk. We decided to go on a walk because if we took the car where would it go after all of us went to the airport. Anyway it was only a 15 minute walk.

Well we got there but we were late! It's a good thing that the flight was delayed for 40 minutes. Well the plane took off and the loud propellers whirled around in the wind making the plane move. It was a 9 hour flight to France.

Yeah we were going on a holiday! I fell asleep on the plane and when i woke up there was no one there. I found a note under the seat. It read out. My darling daughter. Me and lizzie are in the hotel room. You just looked so peaceful sleeping. I love you. Hope you find your way here. Xoxo. dad.

Chapter 4

Oh no what do I do. Just as i thought that in my head i woke up for real. Wow oh Dad and Lizzie were there omg so all of that letter was all a dream.

The hotel room was so modern and beautiful. So different to what we have in Korea. The first thing i did was text my best friend. I went into my room. Stood in the doorway and stared at the bed… ugh I LOVE IT. I ran onto the bed and then texted my friend again and fell asleep 5 minutes after.

I woke up from the sound of birds and I could feel and see the the wind.  I got up out of bed and went into the kitchen, I got out a bowl from the cupboard and then poured some cereal into it.  I stood still and felt my chest for my necklace that my Mum gave me two days before Dad and her got divorced.

But, my necklace wasn’t there. I got a cold shiver up my spine moving to my neck. I hate it when this happens it probably got stuck in my bed when I was sleeping. I went to check. There was nothing there all though there was something shiny in my drawer. Why the heck is my necklace in there? Maybe Lizzie put it there when it fell off last night, (if it ever did fall off). This is really weird but I went to talk to Lizzie to ask her if she put my necklace in my draw. “Hey Mum did you put my necklace in my drawer last night?” I blurted out. “Ummm no why?”

“Because last night I wasn't on my neck so in the morning I found it in my drawer.”

“Oh it must've been your father go ask him, he’s in the garden.”

“Ok thanks Mum!”

I went to talk to dad.

I slipped…

I woke up in hospital. My leg was in a cast. My tooth hurt, a lot.

The doctor (I think) came in.

He whispered in my ear “if I were you I’d top myself.”

He walked away.

Grinning.

Winking.

Moving his finger across his throat.

Damn him, he doesn't know what I’ve been through.

Next week I was out of hospital. My real Mum texted me.

“So I've been thinking… We need to talk.

I’ve had another child.

Her name is Jemma.

She has cerebral palsy.

She has gone up for adoption because I did not have the strength to keep her.

You’ll understand when she is wheeled to your doorstep.

I tricked your Dad into signing the adoption papers.

Love you still.

Xx

-Mum”

My heart was broken after I read it. I couldn't bare to think that my Mum would just give up a child like that.

More than a child she is my sister!

Anyway, me and Lizzie went to the movies to have some “woman bonding time”.

We went to watch “Tag”.  It was really funny and I really think we bonded.

A few days later we went home and luckily again the flight got delayed because we were late! The flight was long and boring and this time we didn’t get any cookies and tea but Lizzie made a complaint. (a bit over the top).

Anyway when we got home safe and sound.

(This was a VERY long time ago, don't judge me)