World War One Study

This week in class we did a World War One study. We got replica items of things in the first world war, Maggie and I got a map and a diary. Here is the information we gathered about each of them.

The Sons of Moray Place

In Dunedin there is a street called Moray Place. During World War l many families sent their sons off to join the war effort. Twenty three of the families that lived on Moray Place sent their sons off to war. Of the twenty three sons that were sent to the war one returned home without any visible scars. He however had many emotional scars that wouldn’t fade over time. Others did return home to Moray Place but they were either sick or injured. Twelve died in action and the other eleven became sick or injured. All of the families were heartbroken.

Perpetual Crackle of Fire

A Diary 

This is Hami Grace’s diary. In the war they were not allowed to write very detailed letters home because if they got trapped with the enemies they won’t give away important information. But they were allowed to write a diary and that they could write anything in. Many soldiers had diaries and Hami was one of them. In his diary he wrote about Gallipoli and how horrible it was. At Wellington college he was known for being good at sports and especially at cricket and shooting. This turned out to be helpful in the war. Hami had very good aim which meant he could shoot easily. He also used his good bowling aim to throw grenades very accurately into the Turkish trenches.

The two items we got were a map of Dunedin streets. The story behind that was the story of The Sons of Moray Place. The other item we got was a diary. It was the diary of Hami Grace a Maori soldier. The story behind it was the story of Perpetual Crackle of Fire.

St Peters Orchestra Visit

Today the St Peters Orchestra visited our school. They started off with the string instruments who played two pieces. Then it was time for the brass. After they played a couple of pieces together the different parts of the brass played different songs. My favourite was the Pink Panther Theme Tune played on the saxophone. It was an amazing performance and I can't wait to play an instrument next year at St Mary's. 

Beak experiment

Today in class we did a science experiment. We used six different tweezers to act as different bird beaks. First we had to list our equipment (which was the tweezers or forceps), cut up gummy worms, skittles and ripped up paper. Then we had to make our predictions. After we had made our prediction we were ready to go. The first thing we tried our beaks on was the gummy worms. Then we did skittles. Last we did paper. All the different things were standing in for something. The gummy worms were standing in for real worms. The skittles were standing in for berries and the paper was standing in for leaves . It was a very fun experiment and I can't wait for our next one.

Here is a picture of my group experimenting.

A-Z of NZ Bands and Artists

This term for topic we are learning about New Zealand bands and artists. We have to do lots of different activities to earn 200 points. One of them was to list A-Z of NZ artists. It was worth twenty points. There was no artist or band that started with X so we had to find a band or artist with the letter x in it. The 20 points I earned were my first points. Only 180 points to go.

Athletics

Yesterday was our school athletics. I was competing in the eleven year old girls. First up we had 800 metres which was optional and was open to anyone. In that I came second. Woohoo! The juniors did track events while the seniors did the running races. Next we had 200 metres in which I came first. Then 400 metres. I came second. Before I knew it it was 100 metres. The clapper went and I started to sprint. I crossed the finished line second. We had some lunch then it was off to the track events. First we had discus and I came third.  This was a great result because I'd never come a place in discus before. Next up was long jump which is my favourite track event. I jumped 2.9 metres and came first. Last was shotput. I couldn't believe it. I'd came first. At first I couldn't believe  it. Never before had I come a place in shotput let alone first. It was great fun and I can't wait to do it again. 

Kiwi Song Album

For topic this term we are learning about New Zealand artists and bands. We have to earn 200 points over the term by doing different activities that are worth different amounts of points from different learning perspectives. One of the activities was making a kiwi song album for a school disco. It had to have at ten to fifteen songs. I worked on it for a couple of days then it was finished. Mrs Drummond approved it and I got forty points. Here is computer version of my work.

1. Slice of Heaven - Dave Dobbyn 

2.Royals - Lorde 

3. Woke up late - Drax Project

4. I See Red - Split Enz

5. The Gumboot Song - John Clark

6. How Bizarre - OMC

7. Bananas - Tami Nelson

8. Better Be Home Soon - Crowded House

9. Poi E - Patea Maori Club

10. Why Does Love Do This To Me - The Exponents 

11. April Sun In Cuba - Dragon 

12. Written In The Water - Gin Wigmore

13.Tennis Court - Lorde

14. Don't Give It Up - Six60

15. New Rush - Gin Wigmore

High Jump

Yesterday was the eleven year old's high jump competition. It was optional but I still entered. There aren't many eleven year old girls and only three entered: me, Eva and Frankie. We started at 95cm and I made it over. It then jumped up to a metre. Eva was eliminated the round before so it was between me and Frankie. Frankie made it over but I didn't make it, so I came second. I was really happy with this result as I had never placed in high jump before.

Comics

This week we have been learning about how to write comic strips. On Monday we were given some small comics without words. We had to fill in the speech bubbles with a story we made up. It had to make sense with the pictures. Then on Tuesday our teacher's husband came in to teach us all about drawing. He is an artist. He also taught us about how to make up lots of different and original characters for comics.

After he had shown us a slideshow we got to work making our own comics. My first comic was about a character called Captain New Zealand. He's kind of like Captain America except he solves problems in New Zealand. On Wednesday he came in again. I did another comic. This one was about a girl who does a slideshow presentation. She tells her teacher that she has some special effects. Her teacher is okay with that so she starts her slideshow. It turns out she went a bit over the top with her special effects.

I found it really fun and can't wait to do it again.

Concert Ticket

For topic this term we are learning about New Zealand artists and bands. We have to do lots of different activities to earn 200 points. One of the activities was creating a concert ticket for a New Zealand band or artist from the past. The band I created a ticket for was Crowded House. It was only worth ten points but it was a lot of fun.

Another activity I did was doing a dance to an New Zealand song. You could do a solo or do it in a group. I chose to do it in a group with two of my friends. We did a dance to the song Closer by Six60. It was really fun to choreograph a dance of our own and I can't wait for our next dance activity. 

Hippos

This week in reading my group read a book called Under Cover Of Darkness. It was all about lots of different nocturnal animals. After we had read the book we had to pick one of the animals to do a small poster on. I chose to do hippos. The reason I chose hippos was I didn't know much about them and they are my dad's favourite animal. On my poster I wrote about what hippos do in the day and night, what they eat and how they got their name. Then I drew some pictures. One of a hippo opening its mouth. Another one of hippo tracks and the last of a hippo's head half above the water.  Here is my finished poster.