Kapahaka Letter

Dear Mr Gifkins,

I am writing to tell you about why we should participate in Kapahaka more often.  It helps kids and adults to learn about Maori culture and to learn new Maori songs.  Kapahaka is a great thing because you make new friends and at the end of a performance you feel awesome that you have shared a part of your culture with the audience.

Parkvale pride is displayed when we perform kapahaka. I enjoy performing the best that I can with integrity and determination. It would be fantastic if all of the Parkvale school students were able to experience kapahaka including the juniors.

It is important to learn kapahaka at an early age and is easier the more times you practice. If the juniors were started on kapahaka at year 1, Parkvale school would have an awesome kapahaka group by the time they got to year 6.

So Mr.G, I hope we can do Kapahaka more often because more people will learn about Maori culture.  If the year 1’s started Kapahaka, Parkvale school will have a fantastic group by the time they got to year 6.  They would lean heaps of songs so when they are year 6’s they wouldn’t have to learn much.

Yours Sincerely

Braeden Foster

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Maths Fractions

Eating fractions of pie, pizza and cake

This task is about adding and subtracting fractions.

a) Petra ate two-fifths (2/5 ) of a pizza and Sarah ate one-fifth (1/5 ).  Show how to work out how much pizza they ate altogether.

Answer: ⅗ of the pizza

b) Lima and Paul each had the same sized cake.  Lima ate four-fifths (4/5 ) of his cake and Paul ate three-fifths ( ) of his cake.  Show how to work out how much cake they ate altogether.

Lima:⅘              Paul:3/5                                                               ⅘+⅗=1 and 2/5 Answer: Lima and Paul ate 1 and ⅔ of cake.

c) Bill ate one-fifth (1/5) of a whole apple pie.  Show how to work out how much pie was left.

5/5 - 1/5= 4/5   Answer: ⅘ of the pie is left.

d) Andrew started with one and a half pizzas (1 1/2 ) and ate three-quarters (3/4 ) of a whole pizza.  Show how to work out how much pizza is left.

½+¼=¾ Answer: ¾ of the pizza is left.

How to play minecraft

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Explain Everything

Image Writing

I asked my father if I could paddle out to sea in a little boat.  He said, “Maybe when your older son.”  I really wanted to do it!  One day when dad wasn’t home, I used my imagination and then I asked myself, “How did this happen?”

I went straight to go tell mum to have a fantastic sleep in because I had something huge to tick off my bucket list.  Mum listened to me but only because she went to bed at 5:30 am.  (½ an hour ago.)  So I unscrewed the bath and put it outside.  I filled it up with ice cold water, got a life jacket and a paddle.  I started to paddle.

I was paddling as fast as I could and then thats when I asked myself, “How did this happen?”  With my awesome imagination I was in a real boat and right in the middle of the sea.  How was I supposed to get back home?  I said, “Well, I’ve ticked that off my bucket list!”  I thought and tried to think of a way back home.  “That’s it I said!”  “If I stop using my imagination then I could probably get back home.”  I stopped.  I had arrived back home.  Mum was still in bed so that gave me enough time to put everything back the way it was.  “What an adventure I said to Mum.”  She had no idea what I was talking about.

One day I used my outstanding imagination and I was in the middle of the sea in a little boat.  I really wanted to do this but dad said no.  So with my imagination I tick this off my bucket list.  I had to put on a life jacket, get a paddle, unscrew the bath and fill it up with ice cold water.  I got back home and I told mum about my awesome adventure but she had no idea what I was talking about because I had told her to have a fantastic sleep in.  “ Now I’ve thought of something even better to use with imagination!”

Bar Graph VS Line Graph

Bar Graph	Line Graph
Room 10’s favourite colour What fruit do we have in our lunch box? How children come to school How long you can hold your breath for Most common number rolled on a dice.	Temperatures in March The height of a bean plant over 2 months Depth of a bath How I felt over yachting week. Lemonade sales over a week.

Mrs.Hinde gave us a task to see witch graph would be better.  I completed this challenge and I thought a bar graph would be better because my one was about food.

Graph About Optimist Yachting

On the first day I went optimist yachting, I thought I would be a 4/10 because it was a long time since I had done it.
On Tuesday and Wednesday I thought I would be a 6/10 because I still was very good.
For Thursday I thought I would be a 7/10 because I was getting better but, I still was very good.
On the last day I went optimist yachting I wanted to try to sail by myself, so I did and thought I would be a 9/10.

Stop Motion Animation

Heith and I made a Stop Motion  Animation.  It is called Don't dance by the lake.

Bar Graph About Different Sports

This is another bar graph I had to do.  I also had to figure out the mode, median, mean and range.
Mode:4     Median:5     Mean:11 R1     Range:15

Bar Graph About Different Devices

Mode:17   Median:11   Mean:10 R1   Range
I had to make a bar graph about different devices and figure out the mode, median, mean, range.  If you would like to make one too, click this link.
graph link

Photo Writting

Before I went on stage I had to get my Moko done in room 5.  I didn’t smile because I don’t like photos at all.  First I got my chin done with face paint, then I got the checks done and then the eyebrows.  But the photo only shows the chin. The face paint felt very weird and after it had dried it felt like I had cement on my face.  I wanted to rub it  off but, it would look weird in the production.

Character Writing

Have you ever met this humorous man before?  This man can be super funny at one point and then, nek minute, boring!  He is average height and has black hair on the top with shades of grey on the sides.  My Dad is Maori and has a built in tan so, he doesn't have to sunbathe.  He also has dark brown eyes and is interested in sports.  Dad is always encouraging me to try new things.  

He is a sporty and competitive man.  Dad loves playing rugby league.  He is a caring man and is very energetic.  This man is a fantastic joker and is always trying to make me laugh.  Whenever he beats me at something, he always says, “Yeah boy!”   Since Dad always wins a card game he says, “Who’s the best?  “Super Dad is.”  “Who is?”  “Super Dad.”  When Dad gets annoyed it looks like he has smoke coming out of his ears and he starts to yell.

Dad is a fantastic teacher and is always helping me with my homework.  Although he isn’t the best cook, he can serve up the best mash potatoes and sausages.  I really like his graffiti art and drawings, Dad is a true artist.

Dad will never get off facebook no matter what you try to do.  He is always at work and has a lot of things to catch up on, so he is always busy.  Even though Dad has a lot of work he would still go on facebook, play league or go for a bike ride.  That is my Dad.

Baked beans on toast

Baked beans on toast

This story is about a boy named Blake, his friends, Uncle Andy and his mum.  Blake wanted to see the latest Jackie Chan movie.  He had been doing chores around the house and his mum promised him that she would pay him to go to the movie.  

Mum had gone to the Empire instead and spent all of her money on the pokie machines.  Blake went down the street and his Uncle Andy gave him a fright.  Uncle Andy said to Blake that he thought he would be going the the movies.  Blake said that there would probably be a lot of people in the theater.  Uncle Andy gave Blake some money to go to the movies, but he said that he would have to chop some wood for him tomorrow.  

Blake went home and had bake beans on toast for tea.  Mum said that she was sorry for playing on the pokies and not giving Blake any money to go to the Jackie Chan movie.  Mum told Blake that Uncle Andy would help her stop playing on the pokie machines.  

Synthesis

WALT build our knowledge

Strategies and skills practised:  activating prior knowledge, synthesising

Materials: Our brains, our own thoughts and our journals

Student Groupings:  Reading groups

Procedure: 1. Before you read the text, write down what you already know about the topic 2. During and after the reading, write the new information you have discovered 3. After this, combine your prior knowledge  and the new information you have learnt 4. Share your finding with your group

Synthesis Title- Prior Knowledge - what I already know New Information - what I read in the text Synthesis - my new understanding is Light is in north, You can only see in Winter caused by part of atmosphere and solar flare The magnetic field and the magnetic shield pull the solar wind in with some light that creates the northern lights or the southern lights.   Another name for the northern and Southern lights is the Aurora. The best time to see an Aurora is at 1 a.m. (During daylight saving or midnight.) (For the rest of the year.) The best spot to see it is in the South Island The southern lights are called Aurora Australis   You can see the Aurora up in the Northern Hemisphere and down in the Southern Hemisphere. If you go down the Southern Hemisphere during Winter you might be able to see the Aurora.

My Holiday Highlight

Tenpin Bowling Experience

Have you ever been Tenpin bowling before?  

I threw the bowling ball and it hit the pins.  They made a sound, Boom! Crash! The pins hit the deck.  During the school holidays Dad, my little sister Riana and I went Tenpin bowling.  We went there because Dad wanted to go Tenpin bowling sometime in the holidays.  

Dad said we could have one game and then have lunch.  Riana needed help to bowl her ball so Dad and I helped her.  She almost got a strike but she only hit 9 pins.  When it was Dad’s turn to bowl he got a strike.  He said to me, “Yeah boy!”  It was my turn next.  I only hit 4 pins and on my second turn I hit down 2 pins.

After that, game Dad had won with a total score of 121.  Riana came 2nd with 92 points.  So that meant I came 3rd with 87 points.  My sister was happy that she came second and not last. I thought the Tenpin bowl game was fantastic.  

I really enjoyed playing the game with my sister and Dad because we haven’t played Tenpin bowling for a while.  I hope  that I will win next time we play.  Tenpin Bowling is a really awesome game to play with your family. Now for lunch!

How clouds are made on GoAnimate

Cloud Story by Braeden Foster on GoAnimate

Rabbit Hutch

Matariki Workshops

On the 17th of June 2014 a Maori dance group called the Kahurangi did a show to start our Matariki.  When that was finished we had our Matariki workshops that we had to go to.  My first one was cooking then rakau and then I did string games.  What is Matariki?

For cooking I made fried bread and it was really easy to make.  It took a while but we did it in the end. When Mum makes fried bread she uses yeast but we didn’t use yeast when we were doing our Matariki workshops.  I think everyone liked it because some of the teachers had to come in and have some of our delicious food.  I didn’t have morning tea or lunch because I was full of fried bread.   

Rakau was my second workshop that I went to.  I learnt how to play games with the rakau and I learnt some new songs to go with the rakau.  I do rakau in Kapa Haka so it was really easy.  We do different songs for rakau in Kapa Haka.  I went home that day and I taught Mum and Dad some of the songs we did for Kapa Haka and our Matariki Workshops.  Dad said that he used to do rakau when we was my age.  Mum said that she liked the songs that go with the rakau.

For string games I learnt how to do a cup and saucer.  It took me about 20 minutes to figure out how to make it but I did it just when we had to pack up and go back to class.  Half of us had to do rakoau while the other half got to do string games.  I did rako first and we did a completely different song and actions.  After that I went to do the string games.  I liked string games because I taught my sister how to do it and now she can do it.

The answer to my initial question (what is Matariki?) is a Maori New year and a Maori celebration.  People go there to celebrate the Maori new year.  My favourite one was rako because I learnt some different songs to do with them.  Matariki was awesome!

Amazing Race Reflection

This year my favourite thing was when Room 10 went to camp and had an amazing race.  What is an amazing race you ask?  Well, Room 10’s race was completely different than what you see on t.v.  

We started of making a human pyramid with our team that we got put into. My team had five people in it so our human pyramid didn’t look like a pyramid at all.

After that we had to eat little plastic cups of rice bubbles until we had 2 faces at the bottom the cup.  Each group had to pick one person to eat the rice bubbles and my group picked Heith.  We picked him because he can eat anything in 5 seconds.

Then we went to get one kayak, a paddle and two life jackets. Our groups had to carry the kayaks, paddles and life jackets down to Mrs.Roils stream and paddle down to a bridge.  Then we got given a plastic plane that we had to make.  When we had done that we had to get a different person to paddle back to where we started.

After that we had to bring the kayak, paddle and the 2 life jackets and run through the finish line.  The finish line had caution tape between 2 trees.  I thought that camp Roil was a fantastic camp.  My favourite part in the amazing race was putting the paper plane together because Heith was really good at putting stuff like that together.

I think I have improved on maths because last year I always had to have Luca helping me but now I don’t.  Another thing that I think I have improved on is writing because when I show a new piece of writing Mum and Dad always say,  “Great work son, you have improved a lot from last year.”

I think that I need to work more on reading because, Mum and Dad really want me up another reading to level 30.  So I need to read a lot more than I used to if I want to get up to level 30.

The answer to my initial question is (what is an amazing race) is, where there is some teams compete against each other and there are a bunch of fun, challenging activities that you have to do.

Isaiah's Worse Nightmare

This book is based in a graveyard.  There are two people named Isaiah and Becs who are best buddies.  The idea is that the two buddies walk into a graveyard and saw a monkey that had red eyes, a red mouth and black fur, as you can see in this picture.  What would be a good age for this book?

Firstly, I will tell you what this book is about.  This book is about two people that are have been friends for a while and they both walk into a spooky graveyard.  They both see a monkey and in a flash of light they were buried in their own graves alive.  Isaiah was terrified!

Secondly, I will tell you why I chose this title.  I chose this title because Isaiah and Becs are best friends.  I wanted Isaiah to have a really scary dream about monkeys, graveyards and themselves.  They were buried next to each other scared to death.  They were trying so hard to get out of their grave.

Finally, the conclusion.  The answer to my initial question (what would be a good age for this book) is 7 and over. Imagine if you got the same nightmare as Isaiah.  This book is for people that are interested in graveyards, monkeys, nightmares and best friends.

My Rabbit Hutch

Lucky Numbers

Main Character	Other Character	Setting	Problem
2	1	1	2
Jack	Giant	Dark and scary wood	Being chased by other character

Once upon a time Jack was climbing up a beanstalk.  He climbed and climbed until he was up in the clouds looking all over the place.  He walked forwards until everything started to look like a dark scary wood.  He said to himself, “Where am I?” in a scared voice.  He saw a huge house and went inside.  “Anybody home?” said Jack.  Jack walked closer and closer until he saw a big bed with a giant sleeping on it.  The giant started to sleepwalk and Jack was frightened to death.

“Whoo” said Jack.”  “Some belly you have big guy”! Jack started to laugh.  The giant started chasing Jack around the dark scary  woods while he was asleep.  “Slow down big belly guy.” “I just came to visit your house and this is how you treat visitors and tiny people?  Some friend you are.” Said Jack.  “ I like my house better.”

Jack was searching for the beanstalk he climbed up but, it had disappeared.  “Where is that beanstalk I climbed up?” Jack was confused.  He was in the middle of nowhere.  

Jack found a tall, big tree.  He climbed up the tree but, the giant was too tall.  The giant started to wreck everything.  Jack ran back to the giants bed and lay down.  The giant followed Jack and thought that Jack was his tiny teddy named Ted.  Jack ran away.  “There’s that beanstalk”, said Jack.

Jack climbed down the beanstalk and ran home.  “Wow, what an adventure.” Said Jack.  

“What are you talking about?” said Jacks little sister.  

“Oh nothing, you're too little to know what I’ve been through.”  

“Mum.”  screamed Jacks sister.

Hockey Skills

Hockey is a sport that is play on ice, turf or on a field.  To play hockey you will need a hockey stick, a hard ball and a place to play.  A hockey stick is shaped like a candy cane but, much bigger.  You need to wear shoes when you play this sport because if the ball hits your feet it can really hurt.  You also need to have a mouth guard incase you get whacked by the stick or ball in the face. This game is played in winter and it is a team sport.  There are eleven players playing each game.  Why are you only aloud eleven players on each game?     

Firstly, an explanation about blocking and striking .  Blocking is when somebody hits the ball and you stop the ball with the flat side of the hockey stick.  Striking is when you hit the ball with the candy cane shaped stick.  You need to have the stick below your waist because if you swing it back you could hit somebody in the face.

Secondly, you need to keep your eye on the ball because if you don’t you could hit the ground not the ball and the other team can come and swipe it.  Another reason why you should have your eye on the ball is because you could hit it but, it could go in the wrong direction.

Finally, you have to have your body behind the ball because sometimes the ball rolls up and over the hockey stick.  You also need to give a little.  When the ball is coming really fast you need to bring the stick back so it doesn’t snap when you hit it.

The answer to my initial question is because there are eleven positions to play a game.  The two main skills are striking and blocking.  Striking is when you hit the ball and blocking is when you stop the ball.  You need to keep your eye on the ball because if you don’t you could hit the ground not the ball.  Make sure you have your body behind the ball because sometimes the ball rolls up and over the stick.

Camp Recount

Last week on the 3rd of April room 10 went to camp at Mrs Roil’s farm.  We went on a Waka ride on the Clive River first, then we went fishing off the Napier Wharf and then to Mrs Roil’s place in Maraekakaho.  The camp lasted 2 days and one night.  We had to build and sleep in our own bivouac.  We got put into camp groups and had to cook our own breakfast, dinner and pudding.  On the second day we had an amazing race and went to Flax Rock.

We drove to Clive to go on the Waka.  A man who owned the Waka said a 20 minute speech about the Waka and himself.  He said he had built the Waka and told us about some of the weapons that the Maori used to use.  We had to make the Waka turn around to get off and we did it with P.R.I.D.E.

When I went fishing, I used a hand line.  It was going really well until the fish took the bait of the hook.  I put some more bait on the hook and tried again but I was just feeding the fish.  Mr Roil had made a net with a flower pot and some netting.  I had a try of it and I got 3 fish in one go.  Take that fish!

After that we went to Mrs Roil’s place.  We had to build our own bivouac out of a tarpaulin, rope and tent pegs and then set up our sleeping gear inside it.  My sleeping group was Liam, Jagdip and myself.  Jagdip and I didn’t want to sleep in it though so we left Liam all by himself.  Jagdip and I slept in a tent with Hamish and Jacob.

For dinner my group made potato chips, raw noodles and burgers.  We sliced some potatoes and cooked them on a little barbeque.  We did the same with the meat patties.  After that we got some plates and put our chips and burgers on them.  When we had done that we scoffed our faces with delicious food. Everybody said that it was yummy!

For pudding we had to cut some oranges in half and get rid of all the flesh from them.  We had to make a chocolate muffin mix.  We put the muffin mix into one half of the orange and put the other half on top.  After we did that we wrapped it in tinfoil 2 times and put it on the fire.  Some of us enjoyed eating it, but I didn’t.

For the amazing race we had to build a human pyramid with our team. I was at the bottom of the pyramid, so my back was just about breaking. We had to pick 1 person to eat cups of rice bubbles and get 2 faces at the bottom of the cup.  When we had done that we got a kayak, paddle and a life jacket and went down to Mrs Roil’s lake.  Then we would paddle down the lake to the end where we got a puzzle.  The puzzle was a paper airplane.  We had to try and put it together.  Then we paddled back and got the kayak out of the water and ran through the finish line.  After that we had to make a raft to carry a doll down the lake.  My team came second.

When we went rock climbing in Flaxmere, we had to climb around the wall and see how far we could go, but I didn’t go very far at all.  Naz climbed the farest.  Then we had to climb up the walls and it was super hard, especially on my arms.  When we had finished a wall we would rotate clockwise.  It was tricky but really fun, so I enjoyed it.

Camp Roil was awesome and probably the best camp ever.  My favourite part was fishing because I caught some fish for the first time.