Nature Is Speaking Video - I am ice

Term 3 Week 6

This week we had a man called Dan come to talk to us about how to be a good friend and what not to do. He was very humorous and he got lots of laughs. I learnt how to be a good friend and how friendships can be broken.
In maths (algebra), I learnt how to evaluate expressions. You are pretty much just finding out the number that the pronumeral represents to find an answer. For Example:
                                                   A = 5
                                                   B = 17
                                 Find what C = if C=3(A+B) - 5.
Well A = 5 and B = 17, so that turns into C=3(22) - 5. There are no multiplication signs in algebra, so it means 3 x ( 22) - 5. So: 3 x 22=66, then you have to take away 5, so 66 - 5=61. So the answer is 61.

Term 2 Week 8

This week we had to finish our science fair. My question was ' How does the temperature of water affect how fast bread moulds?' I have to confess, I did leave it to the last minute, so I learnt that I should do it earlier next time. I had to spray water of different temperatures on different pieces of bread. The variables were:
Resealable Glad Bags, water, thermometer, Homebrand white bread, ice-cream container, spray bottle and vivid.

I used four pieces of bread, and I didn't put water on 1 piece of bread.

The temperatures were:
Bread 1 - 33.5 5 Squirts

Bread 2 - 14.7 5 Squirts

Bread 3 - 29.8 5 Squirts

Bread 4 - 0 Squirts of water

This is my finished science fair:

Term 2 Week 6

This week we held our inter-house winter games. I played football. In our first game we played Waikato. They were a good side, and they passed well. We scored a quick goal, and about a minute later they bounced back to score as well. I scored our winning goal for us to win a close 2 - 1. In our next game we played Mangapiko. They were a good side too, but they lost control of the ball a lot. We managed to take our opportunities, and Jayden scored one and I scored one for a 2 - 0 win. In our final game we played Puniu. They were quite clumsy with the ball. We counter-attacked on their mistakes and scored three goals, but there could have been a lot more but Punius goal keeper Rory, saved same great shots. We ended up with a 3 - 0 win. We won all our games which gave us some great contributing points towards the house points. Our house ( Waipa ) came out with the win. During this sport I learnt to have great sportsmanship, which I think all of us showed, never give up even if you are losing, and be graceful losers.

Term 2 Week 5

This week we got a new TV in our class. We are getting rid of our whiteboard because we will just use the TV. Cheng-Yu and I made a little whiteboard with a white covering. The whiteboard is for the date and activity's we will do for the day. We had a small piece of polystyrene, and some book covering like sheet of white. We had to carefully stick it on straight. Our first attempt was quite terrible with lots of air bubbles and marks showing up. We decided to have another go on the other side, and that was quite good. It was straight and didn't have many if any air bubbles. I learnt that you should never give up and keep trying - even if it will take long time.
In music I learnt how to make a twelve-bar blues song on the I pad-minis with backing track music. We made them on Garage Band ( a music app ), and I was in a group with Ben and Cheng-Yu. We had to write a blues song and then record it with the music in the background, and then share it with the rest of us. Our blues was called ' The Tripping Over Blues.' It was quite original and got a few laughs when we were presenting it to the others. The other blues were quite good and had some great instruments in the background. Our feedback was that it was quite entertaining, but we probably could have chosen some different instruments. We had a bit to work on but we did quite well for a first try. I learnt how to use backing instruments and record my voice on Garage Band.

WIMS Football

On Tuesday was meant to be the WIMS football day, but it was cancelled because of all the rain, so it was on Thursday. The two teams ( one boys, one girls ), had to be at school at 7:30 to get our tracksuits, and then leave by 7:45 for a 8:45 briefing and a 9:00 start. I went straight to Jansen Park in Hamilton, which was where it was held. The fields were muddy but not to wet. We had our first game at 9:00 against Cambridge. We were both good teams and the scoreline was 0 - 0 at half time. The halves were only 10 minutes long. In the second half the Cambridge forwards slipped past our defence thanks to some great passing. They scored, followed by another one closely after. We managed to score a goal with about three minutes to go, with a pinpoint corner from me, ending up with an own goal from a header from one of Cambridge's players. They scored another quick goal just before full time. The final score was unfortunately 3 - 1 to Cambridge. We had a quick break while the girls were playing. Our next game was against Maeroa. They were a great team as well, hitting the crossbar a few times thanks to some good goal keeping by Quin. They eventually scored, and again in the second half. The final score was another loss: 0 - 2 to Maeroa. We had another break before another game against Rototuna. They weren't as good as the teams we had played before and we should of won. We had quite a few chances in the first half although we couldn't quite score. Rototuna caught us off guard as we were playing most of our players forward and they scored an unlucky goal where Quin slipped in the mud and the ball slipped past into the goal. That gave them the confidence to score another goal. The final score was 2 - 0 to Rototuna. We had a bye, which is where we don't play a game. We had our last pool game against Berkley. They were a very rough team and kept pushing us around. The referee unfortunately didn't call them, so they scored two quick goals to win 2 - 0. We had one last game for 9th and 10th against Morrinsville. They hadn't won a game either, but we had scored a goal and they hadn't scored one. We won 2 - 0. Our goalscorers were me and Thomas. We ended up ninth. The girls came third overall.

Term 2 Week 3

Music
This week for Tech Arts we started music. In music for Yr 8 you learn different things to the Yr 7's. Last year we made a healthy living rap, and played on the keyboards and we even did some dancing. This year though we play guitar, and we play different tunes on the keyboards, and we make our own dance.

Belmont/WIMS Training
I am in the Belmont and WIMS team for football. Belmont is where our school and Belmont school play sports against each other. Belmont school is in Auckland, and some students from our school travel up to Belmont to play, and some students from Belmont school travel down to our school to play. I am fortunate enough to have made it into the team for football. WIMS is when you play against other intermediates around the Waikato. I have made it into that team too, which is on Tuesday next week.

Term 2 Week 2

Tech Arts - Science

This week was our last two lessons of science. We made bath bombs on Tuesday, which was made out of baking soda, icing sugar, scents and food colouring. We all got bowls and put our own mixtures and colours in, and then we filled up little moulds with different colours so they looked quite cool. We had to leave them to set so they don't just collapse and fall apart. When you put them in the shower or bath they fizz and dissolve. We made sherbet on Friday, which was made out of the same ingredients as bath bombs, but instead of scents we had flavours, and there was a lot of citric acid. The sherbet tasted very sour. My sherbet was green and had orange and mango flavour. Those were our last two lessons of science. We will be moving on two music now, which will start next Tuesday.

Term 2 Week 1

This week we had Mike King come to the school to talk to us about depression and anxiety, and recovering from these things. There were two two-hour sessions. He was a great speaker, and he used a lot of humor to tell us about his own journey through depression. Two hours sounds like a lot of time, but he was very entertaining and we didn't get bored. When people asked questions, they got a free poster. I personally  understand a lot more about depression and anxiety after his talk to the school. He has travelled to lots of different countries and schools to talk about the same thing.I think it is very important to tell people about these things in case they are going through depression, so they know what to expect as it can be very confusing and scary.
We also talked about science fair, which is due in week eight. We have to pick an experiment to do, and then we show the whole school our experiment we have done by explaining it. You need a hypothesis, which is an accurate estimation on how you think the experiment will go. So if your topic was 'How does the type of liquid effect how apples float?', your hypothesis could be whether you think that the apple will float better in water have to have a hypothesis. You have to research about your topic and put the results, your research, hypothesis and diagrams on a board, and then you present your board to the whole school in week ten.

Term 1 Week 9

On Thursday we had minor games. In the morning we had a house meeting to clarify which sports we were in. I was in padder tennis. The sports were in the afternoon. We had to play against the other houses. For our first game we played against Mangapiko. We lost 46 - 22. In our second game we played Waikato and won 36 - 17. In our third game we played Puniu and won 43 - 15. In our fourth and final game we played another Waikato team and won 34 - 18. Overall we played really well and won three out of our four games. All of the teams were challenging and everyone SHINE'd. It was an overall a great day.

Term 1 Week 7

This week we finally had French, which has been moved from the studio to Room 10. I enjoy doing French because we are always learning new words and meanings every week. This was the first time for us year 8's this year, but the year 7's have had it a few times already. In this lesson we went over words from last year that we had already learnt, only because it was our first lesson back and we had forgotten most of it. The year 7's have French on a Wednesday before jump jam, and the year 8's have it on Friday before morning tea.

Term 1 Week 6

This week we had some people come to our school to teach us about water safety. We learnt how to rescue people with just a rope. You have to throw a rope out to the person and then pull them in. We also learnt how to scuba dive off a little dingy. It was really cool when we had to go under the boat when it was upside down, and we had to breathe under it through the little air pocket. Then we learnt how to float in a group by holding on to each other. It was really fun and It also taught us how to survive out at sea. I really enjoyed it.

Term 1 Week 5

This week we have been writing our explanation on the Treaty of Waitangi. We have to explain about the Treaty. On Friday we had swimming sports. There were lots of fun races like walking, doggy paddle and fludder board races. I competed in most un-competitive races, but I didn't win any or get any places. There were lots of finals but I wasn't in any of them. It was a fun day that I enjoyed thoroughly.  

Term 1 Week 3

This week we did visual language. Our visual language was a dream board. Our dream board is about what we want to do in the future. We had to find pictures on the internet that relate to what we would like to be or do in the future. We had to choose a piece of A3 backing paper to glue the pictures to. Once we had found all our photos and had glued them on, we had to write a paragraph about what we had done, and explain why we put certain photos on. Then we glued the writing on the back of the A3 sheet. After we had finished gluing all the photos and had glued the writing on, we had to laminate them. Then we were finished. I am proud of my work.

Term 1 Week 2

This week we had tech arts. We are doing design. We are making speakers. I am up to making the hole for the switch. I don't have much more to do to finish it. We have tech twice a week - Tuesday first block, and Friday middle block. We will also make a phone holder after we finish our speakers. The year 7's are doing fabric, and last week they made tennis balls.

Week 1 Term 1

Wow, it's the first week back for 2016! This week we welcomed the new year 7's into the school with a powhiri. There were lots of Maori speeches. As I am now a year 8 I had to sit on the stage while all the year 7's were welcomed into the hall. When we got back to class after the powhiri, we had to teach the year 7's about the rules. It is very weird without the year 8's from last year. It feels a bit weird being a year 8 and having to be a role model to the year 7's, but I think I will get used to it.