Year 8 boys

This is the year 8 boys of 2012. It has been a good 8 years at Pt england and we are all sad that we have to go to another school. So our teacher assigned us to take a photo for the end of the year and thats what we have done.

Camp part 1

Camp has been a great experience and I have been happy to take part in it. Camp had started on an early Tuesday morning. Mum and I were getting ready to leave to depart on our adventurous camp that was all the way down in the south suburb of Ngarawahia. All was okay when we were waiting. It seemed like it was going to take a decade to get on our way to our Ngarawahia Christian Youth Camp. Once everyone was set we all entered our bus for the day and off we left to depart for Ngarawahia.

Once we got there I was amazed at the site that I saw while I was sitting on the bus with my good friend Jephte. It was a really long trip which was probably took up to 2 hours . My thoughts about the camp were that it was going to be an exstatic and our first activity was a massive walk that took upto three hours. 2 hours were going upwards and the next hour was going dow the steep as hill. When I was in that forest I looked outside and all I could actually see was clouds. But I was so relieved when we were finished because my legs were aching so bad.

Netbook Reflection

It has been a great year with netbooks mostly because it is a great break from writing with pencil and plus it is a great way to get educated and know about netbooks and other sorts of computers so that if anything goes wrong with them then you know what to do. The wireless internet connection has been way better than last year's connection because last year we were still learning and developing the internet. Netbooks have helped us with learning lots because we can just spell check if we've spelled something wrong. Netbooks are the best and I love using them.

How To Make A Pencil Cross Bow

Step 1:Grab 2 pencils to start off with and push them together

Step 2: Grab two rubber bands and tie the rubber bands around two pencils so that it looks like this

Step 3:Then repeat Step 1 and 2 with different pencils and rubber bands

Step 4:Now what you have to do is tape your two pencil creations together so that it now kind of looks like a cross

Step 5:Put a rubber band in between the one of the pencils so that it looks kind of like a slingshot.

Step 6:This is the last step and all you have to do is tape the middle of the rubber band so that it looks like this then you’re pencil crossbow is yours to enjoy

My Favourite Toy

My PS3 is the toy that I have grown to love over the past few years. It is actually one of the only toys that I have left. But out of all my other toys I know that it was actually one of the most entertaining toys out of the rest of them. It’s really amazing how PS3’s work because they are kind of like your very own netbooks.

One of the best things I like about my PS3 is that you can go online and challenge your friends. It’s really cool because you can play against your friends in games such as ‘Call Of Duty, Modern Warfare 3 and All Blacks Rugby Challenge’. My mates and I usually just play Call Of Duty because it’s the game that all of us are interested in mostly. I love beating my friends at Call Of Duty and by the way Call Of Duty is a shooting game and is one of the most successful games sold in history. That game is also my favourite game because I really love everything about the game. It is a pretty exciting game. My favourite gun is a L8G LSW with

Besides going online there is also other things you can do with PS3’s. You can also get other games and in the dashboard of the PS3’s you can collect trophies from the games by following the small descriptions it tells you to do. So that’s another exciting thing to do because you can strive to achieve trophies. There are different coloured trophies, there is a bronze trophy for the easy missions, a silver trophy which only have a medium difficulty and there’s gold trophies that are really difficult to achieve. But you have to be really good at the particular game to receive a golden trophy. Once you collect all trophies you get one big platinum trophy which you only get by achieving 100 percent completion on the game.

Murderous Adventures

It was a frosty cold day as some campers were getting ready to go on a bush walk. Their co-ordinator had been told that they would have a rain delay due to the unpredictable weather. But the co-ordinator (whose name was Steve Marshal) thought to himself “You know what? I'm going to do this bushwalk with the kids because they'd hate me so bad for delaying it for them”. One of the children ran up towards Steve to confront him about the bush walk that was scheduled. A 13 year old girl named Aziza asked Steve politely “ Can we still go for a bushwalk because all the other kids decided they still wanted to go?”. Steve thought about it for a moment and then replied with a wide grin glued to his face. ”Yeah sure just grab your raincoats and umbrellas from inside your backpacks”. They all followed the instructions and within seconds they were ready to trample into the depths of the Amazon jungle.

So off they went on their amazingly spectacular journey. But little did they know that there was a deadly killer named Jason that had been reported and sighted running off into the jungle. He was the most extremely dangerous criminal in the whole entire universe. It was like he was from another planet with the way he tormented and tortured people slowly towards their deaths. While the campers were only a quarter way through their jungle exhibition they heard a loud gunshot that sounded like the shot was only metres away from them. So the children ran off wildly not knowing where they were going, but that wasn't what was on their minds. But something that was - was trying to stay alive. Aziza ran off and a boy called Matthew followed her.

Once they cleared the area where their fellow campers were, Matthew and Aziza decided to become really good friends. They were talking together just to pass time while wandering through the maze of horror. Suddenly out of the blue there was a loud wild shriek “Ahhh!!!! Hhh..elp.....” before they could finish hearing the rest of her shriek they heard about 3 gunshots. Then you could hear other campers yelling and calling for desperate life ”HELP US!!!!!”.

There was sadly nothing they could do to survive the onslaught that Jason was on. He blocked up all the entrances and exits and people had nowhere to go. Matthew and Aziza moved quickly because they knew that if they just waited around they wouldn't exist in another 10 minutes. So they ran and found an exit but standing in front of it was a large shady figure. It was Jason. He went to pull out his murderous gun but fortunately it had no bullets in there. Suddenly there was a big thud and the blocked up door flew straight down to the ground and lots of gunfire was aimed at Jason. Gunshots were fired everywhere and the cops killed Jason. But unfortunately Jason was not the only person in the jungle dead. The rest of the campers including Steve Marshal also died.

All was happy now for Aziza and Matthew. They grew old and got happily married and moved to a happy unbothered street called Elm street. But one night Jason's brother Freddy swore vengeance on the happy couple. He is Freddy Krueger and he is the Nightmare on Elm Street.

Toy Presentation

Term 3 Reflection

This term has been really great. I have had a really great experience but the one thing that has let us down, and that is getting into trouble more than any of the other terms. We have had some pretty messy lines when we line up outside and we always get into trouble by shouting from one end of the room to the other. There have also been some good things that we do such as help other people out when they are down. Another reason is by looking out for the little kids making sure that they dont get bullied. But besides that this has been really great because this has been the term of sports.

But we have had really cool sports days such as Mini Olympics for the juniors and the seniors and we had our annual Cross Country and we also had our Basketball tournament. We have also had a massive olympic day not so long ago which was a huge success. The thing that I like about sport is that it gives us a break from work and we can just get out there and have a fun day of sports. Plus we have had our semi finals for rugby but we sadly lost and also we had our league tournament. It is sad because last year we were one of the best schools around Auckland but now we are not that great because last year we had the best sportsmen in our school.

The most exciting thing that has happened to me this term is being announced the house captain for Te Arawa. I felt so proud of myself that I wanted to just jump up and scream “YEAAHHHH!!”. House Captains have lots of responsibilities just like prefects, except House Captains have responsibilities about sports. Another thing that has been really awesome was the year 7 and 8 annual social. Its like a disco except it is only for year 7 and 8’s. That social was an epic night and will leave a lot of memories. Im looking forward to see what next term brings us. Because next term we are going to have the opportunity to win touch and tag.

Pt England Boys vs Kedgley Boys

We had been fighting and clawing for our spot in the semi finals. This was going to be a tough battle against the winner of the 7’s tournament we went to. Kedgley Intermediate. Once we took a glance at them we noticed they were massive beasts and tried not to focus on their training and get on with ours. This had been the moment we had been waiting for, the only thing that held us back from going out on the field and completely obliterating each other was the ref who was explaining the rules. But once that was over and done with it was time for war.

It was our school kicking off first to these monstrous beasts. BRRRR!! the referee’s whistle blew as the starting hooter also sounded. Kedgley had the first ball retention and were making good use of the ball by reaching our halfway line. Their forwards were the ones doing the hard work and making the yards. Then they passed it out to their first five and he booted it down towards our fullback who dropped the ball and almost let one of the Kedgley players score but luckily our fullback tackled him and he knocked it on. So we finally had the ball and it was time to stand up and fight for our spot in the finals at Eden Park. But instead of having a go at their line we booted it for touch but it didnt make much metres. In fact it only made around 10 metres because Lepa failed his kick. It was kind of funny. But it was time to cut that out and get straight into destroying each other. We could not hold these monsters out and let in Kedgley to get the first points of the game but luckily there first five missed his goal kick.

Then we had to kick off to those monsters had recieved the ball and were making good use of the ball until they lsot the ball and we had it.Anyway we had successfully launched ourselves into Kedgley’s side of the field. Then we were just inches away from their line and it was our powering forward Tui Moa who crashed through the line and put Pt England on the scoreboard. After a devastating first half it came to an end and we were listening to our coaches Mr Marks and Mr Sommervile speak some words of wisdom. But it was only a short break until we had to get back to playing on the field.

BRRRR!!!! the second half whistle went as we received the ball but sadly one of the forwards dropped it because of the pressure that Kedgley were giving us. Anyway it was Kedgleys ball and they were making great use of the ball because they scored an easy try through the backs. Even worse the first five got his kick and the score was 12-5. We kicked off to them but ended up getting the ball back. We also got back down to their territory and I found a gap so I picked the ball up and drove over the try line screaming my lungs out”YEAAAAHHH!!!!” but sadly we missed our kick and so the score was 10-12. We were still trailing and needed to score one more try but that never lasted long when Kedgley scored again thanks to another pressured drop ball and they got their kick. So now the score was 19-10. We kicked back off to them and yet again we reclaimed the ball is if it was our ball. But sadly we lost 15-27.

What If I had Super Powers

There were three decisive and mysterious super heroes. One of the superheroes was called Bold Axe. He was one of the powerfullest superheroes in the galaxy. Another one of their names was Kill Buzz. Most people know about his identity because his mask got ripped off while facing Broly the Legendary Super Saiyan. Did you know that Kill Buzz saved my life. He kept the Rugby World Cup alive because some drunk mercenaries tried to bomb the stadium. Last but certainly not least Me a.ka Mysterion. No’one can beat me because I am the leader of the entire universe. I am unstoppable. One day I think I might just turn evil and kill my comrades. We are the most heroic superheroes in all of the world. Lots of other superheroes are jealous of us. Did you know that Batman and Robin tried to kill us by joining up with Joker to join the League of Shadows with Raj Al Gul

One of our arch enemies Devil man. The man with the curliest and evil eyebrows I have ever seen. He has all the powers of Satin and drained the life of his best friend and ex convict a tiny little boy called Wanya. We finally collided with our nemesis Devil man. He was so powerful he killed Bold Axe and Kill Buzz. I almost died too but then I flew back to our lab and went back in Toko’s broken time machine. Sometimes I wonder if I would see Toko and Aidan again. But then I remember Aidan was dead from the terrorist war. But I forgot I was already transported and got killed while also killing Devil Man. I yelled out to Kill Buzz and Bold Axe to come and help me. Sadly they were to busy trying to fight Devil Mans minions which are called Kiti’s.

Once the battle was over my mates picked me up from the ground and transported me back to base. I was almost about to die but if it wasn’t for this kind little boy who is half sheep and half man. His name was Shaun the Sheep. Shaun gave me a special elixer and I was restored to full health. There was something that was bugging me. That was who was Bold Axe. So I ripped his mask off to find out that Bold Axe was Aidan. I already knew Kill Buzz was Toko because I remembered about the war with Broly. But in a sudden Bold Axe picked up a knife and stabbed me straight through the heart. I was bleeding to death and as I took one last glance at Bold Axe I found out that it was’nt Aidan it was Devil Man. Before I could yell out to my mates to look out it was too late. I was dead.

What if I was Poor

I am a homeless old bag that lives on the side of the street with my poor friends in crime Toko, Aidan and Shawn. Toko is the poorest out of all of us because he always tries to steal my box. So I pushed him out of the way and he almost died because I pushed him onto the road and he got hit by a truck that Shawns dad was riding. But luckily Toko stayed alive. I remember when we used to be billionares roming around the place throwing cash every where and laughing at old homeless people wrestling and fighting each other for money. Until Richard my son brought us back to life and said he lost the fortune so I grabbed a knife and stabbed him in the stomach and he bled to death. There is one really sad man his name is Sonny Bill Williams. He always threatens us and throws 2 dollar coins at our faces. Luckily we had a tiny bit of our superhero powers and we sent him flying all the way to Japan. We were as happy as a billionare

One day we saw a group of hippies protesting about whales. So we got up and smashed them, I got so angry that I turned into the hulk and I was on a rampage. But really I did’nt im just lying but we did smash the hippies and they called the police. In the police there were four policemen named Joe, Cleveland, Quagmire and last but not least Peter Griffin. Peter Griffin was fast and he was also fat because he keeps eating donuts. Joe was handicap because he is in a wheel chair and cant walk. Quagmire is the funny one because he has a fat head. No one likes Cleveland because he is brown. Anyway they jacked us up and chucked us into jail where we met a big ugly guy called Meg and a little man called Stewie and  2 dogs called Brian and Tokotoko. As was laughing as hard as a hyena

We became the best of friends and planned to get out of jail. The break out of jail plan was a success and we were finally free to go back to the streets where we belong. Once we got to our place it was taken by a gang called the Warriors who were fighting with 2 gangs called the High Hats and the Baseball Furies. So we formed a Hippie and Homeless gang and smashed everyone and killed a guy from the Warriors called Fox. We also killed a guy from the High Hats named Chatterbox. Chatterbox was their leader so they were furious with us. But once we kicked them out of our home we killed all the hippies with a 12 barrell shotgun that we stole from the Baseball Furies. But I had found out that I got stabbed by a guy from the Warriors called Leon. So I fell down and died and some other hippies came back and killed Toko, Aidan and Shawn.

What If Situation

WHAT IF I WAS A BILLIONAIRE???

I have become very rich and famous from playing rugby league. My career is as successful as a movie actor. I am so rich that I own every single mansion in the world  and I also own the Monopoly company. I am really famous, so famous that everybody sees me on the news and I even destroyed Toko’s book club. But it was too late he was already rich and famous. Aidan is one of my closest friends because he tries to end world hunger with me. I have a butler called Joshua that is also one of my mates. Toko is one of my frenemies, we are the best of friends but we are enemies in the business company.

My life is as great as an adventure on the sea. The things I had always dreamed about getting when I was a little kid had become true. I had invented a time machine but by frenemy Toko stole it from my work factory. I had enjoyed life and its many adventures it brought me. There was one time in my career when my business was about to be closed down Toko and Aidan helped raise my company to its higher standards. Once they saved my company I was as excited as a homeless man getting some change.

Toko and I had built a business together and we both made billions. We were not frenemies any more, we were starting to be the best of friends. Sometimes Toko would come to my house and bully my butler Joshua. But I knew they were just joking around. There was a devastating shock when I found out that my old time friend Aidan and my long time no see friend Shawn were killed in the Afghanistanian war trying to kill Osama Bin Laden and his terrorists. Toko and I were in deep shock and were dreading going to Aidan and Shawns funeral. Because the last thing I said to Aidan was “I don’t want you here go, hurry up leave “. I was so sad that I threw 1 million dollars into each of their funerals. But unfortunatetly my butler Joshua took the money and ran away to live in Australia. I said “Must be Aussies”. Then I had a heart attack and went to hospital but sadly I did not survive and died. My billionare dollar fortune went down to my son Richard ad

The Mini Olympics

It was an icy cold morning as I entered our school grounds shivering from the freezing winds. Even though I hadn't even started the day I thought to myself "this day is going to be the worst day ever!". But luckily there was some great news. There was the mini olympics!!!!!. That news made me so happy I rushed straight to the hall to help Miss Va'afusuaga set the obstacle course and other activities up. 

Once we were finished the bell rang and all the classes started to enter the hall and get into their house groups (Te Arawa, Mataatua, Takitimu, Tainui ). Then Mr Burt had a talk to the seniors (which was year 5 and up). Once that was out of the way we went to our first activity.

Our first activity was with Mrs Flavell. This was a mysterious activity and since I was the leader of my team I was looking forward to this part of our journey. Her activity was being held in the library so my team and I entered the room with nervous apprehension about what our team was going to do. But once we were all sitting down thats when Mrs Flavell revealed that we had to get into 2 groups. One group was going to draw on a shell the most olympic things they could think of. The other team had to create a design on a cookie. Once Mrs Flavell finished explaining the rules we got down to business.

It was my decision to go to the team that was drawing on the shells. Once I got stuck into the activity it was starting to get really exciting. Sure enough the time was over and it was time to display our projects. Mrs Flavell liked all of them but never said which one of them was her favourite This was one of my favourite activities and I can't wait until we do something like this again.

David Mead

David Mead is a fantastic superstar and a great rugby league player. He plays Nrl for the Gold Coast Titans. The titans have a lot of speed on their side and David Mead is one of the fastest Nrl players to have ever played. He has exceptional speed and great catching and agility. David Mead is a real good player and has scored one of the trys of the year against the Cronulla Sharks when his teammate Scott Prince kicked for him and he caught the ball in one hand behind his back.

Usain Bolt

They have described Usain Bolt in a news article is a legend. Usain Bolt is a very fast olympic sprinter and he holds the world record for the 100m and 200m race. The thing that I really like about Usain Bolt is that he is an olympic champion that has successfully defended his title as the world’s fastest. He really is a legend in my eyes because for two olympics in a row he has proven that he is a glorious champ.

The whole world quotes”he is the best there ever was, and the best there ever will be”. As long as his record stays in tact he is the best there ever was so far but there is one person that does not agree. His name is Jacques Rogge. Jacques Rogge is the IOC president and thinks that Usain Bolt has’nt proven himself worthy of having the crown title a.k.a Legend. Some other people also do not agree that Usain Bolt has proven himself worthy. I think he has because he has beaten plenty of people and no one has overtaken his record.

In the london 2012 olympics he earned his Jamaican team the new world record at a demolishing time of 36.84. Also in the 2008 Olympics at China,Beijing he created two new world records. He beat Michael Johnson's time at the 200m and went on to be one of the olympic champions.

The Olympic Message

I think that the Olympic message that was quoted from Baron Pierre de Coubertin is very inspirational. He made a great point with his speech when he founded the Modern Olympics. The man’s very words were ”The most important thing about the olympic games is not to win, but to take part...just as the most important in life is not the triumph, but the struggle”. Those words are words of encouragement and I think that it is one of the most inspirational quotes I have ever heard in my life. Baron Pierre must have been really famous for being the founder of the modern olympics. I thank him for that.

What I think the olympic message means, is to not give up in any sport that you participate in. If you lose don’t hang your head down, but to be proud that you are the best in your country at that particular sport. They are great words of wisdom. Also I think that it means if you lose and you want to win next time, you need to work hard with training and if you don’t struggle while training then you’re not trying your hardest to accomplish your goal.

A person in the Olympics that I really look up to is Michael Phelps from the USA. He is a sensational swimmer and even if he is losing he never gives up and always puts up a fight until he touches the end of the pool. That is one of the reasons why I think he is the greatest Olympian ever. Michael Phelps always strives to do his best in anything that he competes in. Thats what I like about Phelps. He has sheer determination to win and he has a never die attitude. I really think that Michael Phelps follows the Olympic message.

Now I start to wonder how Baron Pierre de Coubert came up with the olympic message. I think he just came up with those words of wisdom to inspire and encourage other people if they lose or if they actually do triumph. Did you know that Baron Pierre de Coubertin came up with the 5 olympic rings. Baron Pierre is pretty successful to keep the modern olympics alive. He is a legend because billions of people watch the olympics and they always love when people break world records. Well I like it when people break world records.

There is another thing that I wonder about. That is why that very speech is the actual olympic message. What I think is that the olympic message is out there to support people to strive hard and train extremely hard to get something that you really desperately need. Those are really inspiring words. It tells people to never ever give up and keep striving to win and eventually you will win a gold medal.

Michael Phelps

Michael Phelps is one of the best swimmers ever. He is from the USA and he swam in the olympics and has won many gold medals. Some people say he is the best olympian ever, some people think otherwise. My opinion is he is the best swimmer ever in history. Michael Phelps this year is going pretty good so far. He has 5 olympic medals so far at this years Olympics. Two medals are gold, two medals are silver and one medal is bronze. He has made history by having the most olympics medals ever. When I swim I think of him because he is my idol and he pushes me to do harder. He is going great this year and I hope he can win more gold medals for his country because I think he deserves it.

His swimming technique is fabulous. Michael Phelps may not have the best start position in a race but through my experience of watching him he always catches up to his opponents like a lion stalking his prey. The reason I think he is a champion is because he has competed in four olympic games so far and in three of them he has won medals. Altogether he has 19 olympic medals. I really think that Michael Phelps has earned his reputation of being the best olympian ever because when he swims he has always dominated. But who knows someone else might beat his record.

Soccer Girls

The players are going crazy as they score the winning goal. Expressions of happiness and joy is captured on their faces. These girls are overwhelmed with their victory. The team celebrate their victory as they relieve the pressure hanging on their shoulders. Now they have piece of mind knowing that they have the opportunity to win the grand final

Maths Whizz For 90 Minutes

Brown Brother

Brown Brother was a really inspiring poem. The reason why this poem is inspiring is because he is trying to teach the world that brown people can be smart and dont think they're not because of their skin colour. He is trying to say that you can be the first one to change in your family if your family has a reputation for not being smart. Another thing I think he is trying to say is that you cant judge people by the way they look. That is what I think he is trying to say to people around the world.

Bill Maclaren Final South Vs East

It was a cold Monday and it was the first day of the holidays. This was the week I had been waiting for it was my rugby week. Which means we got to play rugby from Monday through to Friday. The Bill Maclaren tournament is about representing where you come from because I come from the East side(thats the team I am playing for)and there was a West ,a Central and a South who have been the reigning champs for 4 years.The position in rugby that I was-was the second five position(a.k.a Sonny Bills Position In The Chiefs)Our first game we were going to play against were the champs South. Our team knew this was going to be a difficult game and we were hoping and praying that we would beat this team.

Once we had finished our training and talks we were lined up with the South team. The ref had told us the rules and so we got set for this fierce rivalry. BRRRR!! the refs whistle went as we kicked off to the South team. There fowards were charging at us like raging bulls and the were nearly unstoppable. But luckily our fowards were safe and secure with their defence. But once they handed it out the backs we could not stop their explosive wingers and first five from scoring. By halftime the score was 31-0. We were getting thrashed so we had to do something about it.

Second half kick off began with an epic hit on our star number 8 Isi Manu. He was down and was struggling to get up but in the end he pulled through his sustained injury and got up. Once our first five Adrian passed it to me I could see a gap so I fended the opposite second five marking me and started accelerating throught the gap. I was in space with only the fullback to beat. I heard Joe screaming “Matty over here”. So I drew the fullback in and passed but unfortunately the ball went flying over Joe’s head and our fullback Steven caught the ball and went to score but got taken out.

At the end of the day the south team had beaten us in the final by a whopping score of 57-7. Butour team just thought to ourselves ohh well and we were just happy that we came second. So once we went to our coaches the players of the day went to our fowards Taiberg and Brandon. So as we went to the prizegiving our team went up and collected our necklaces and held them proudly. Then South went up and collected their necklaces. Then the announcer announced the player of the tournament and that went to the South first five Etene. Once that was finished I went home knowing I tried my best to win.

My Art Writing

My special place is the field because I have been playing on the football field for seven years in a row. Many times it has brought me great joy when I run down the sideline and score a try. I love the goal post and practising my goal and drop kicking. What I like the best about the field is that after my games on the weekend I get to go home and have a nice hot shower. This is a really special place because I have spent most of my life playing sport on the field. That is why this is the place that I have chosen.
The artist style that I decided to use is Claude Monet. Monet has become famous for his art called ‘Impressionism’. That means that he captures impressions focused on things such as the rising sun. He mostly captures photos in his mind and then paints a picture of it to make a beautiful portrait. That is why I have captured a picture of myself trying to fend someone off. Once I had taken the photo then I painted it in the style of Claude Monet and completed it.

Matthew T

Queenslanders

Term 2 Reflection

This term has been a really great term. It has been a good experience because this is going to be the last term 2 that I will participate in as an intermediate block. I cannot wait until I go to college but it is going to be sad because most of my friends are going to different colleges. The good things is that I got to see my friends step up into the spotlight and become school prefects also the job that I signed up to be is still awaited to be announced which is house captains.

I am going to miss this school when I leave and I am sad that I have to leave this school because this is like my home because I have been coming to this school for 8 years. But sadly I have to say goodbye.

Spooky Narritive Writing

Once upon a time there lived a girl named Cruz and a boy named Dakota. They were young. Dakota was 10 years old with short, shaggy, auburn brown coloured hair. Cruz was 7 years old and had long hair with a blondish colour. They lived in a house that was built by their father before he died. After he was gone, the family were left with only a sparse amount of money to live on.

Unfortunately, because they only had a mother to take care of them, they were living below the poverty line. On good days their mother could get odd jobs to buy them food, but on bad days they starved.  Their mother couldn’t take it anymore because she was starving. As sly as a fox, an evil witch approached from the shadows and decided to cast an evil spell on her. The evil witch brainwashed the mother to think that her children could be food.

One day Dakota and Cruz quietly creeped into their mother‘s room and overheard her yelling out her terrible ideas. “Lets run away so she can’t kill us” Cruz whispered. “Ok lets escape fast”  Dakota replied. But their mother overheard them and threatened them. “Quickly, run! yelled Dakota. Dakota and Cruz escaped through the front door and ran through an enchanted forest. Once they looked back they saw a glimpse of their mothers wicked smile. They dashed down the footpath, and reached a gate where they would hide.Their hearts were pumping and they were flashing things in their mind of what their mother might do to them.

The mother (a.k.a. the witch), was just about to cast a spell on them, but luckily Dakota found a rock and regretfully threw it at her forehead. Their mother was knocked out cold. She laid unconscious until she finally awoke. Her memory was erased but she could only remember her children. It was a sad ending but at least their mother wouldn’t plan to eat them ever again. Or would she....................................?

AFL Session

Toko and I got ready to go to AFL with Mrs Nua’s class because we had Kapa Haka when it was our classes turn to go to AFL. So we lined up with Mrs Nua’s class and walked towards where our session was going to be held. Once we got there we sat down with a bunch of little kids who were ready for their session also. I saw two men walk up to us and said ”Hi Guys” and we all responded with”Hi”.One of them said that their name was Michael and the other said his name was Sam.

Once we were done introducing ourselves we got onto learning how to drop punt. The mentors yelled out “Grab a partner and what I want you to do is practise doing a drop punt”. They both demonstrated what the drop punt looked like and they sent us out to practise. My partner was Toko and we started getting the hang of drop punting even though the kicks went crooked. As we kept practising I started looking at other peoples kicks and they were really accurate. It was about 10 minutes since we had been asked to practise, so Michael and Sam blew a whistle and yelled “Come in”, so we all rushed in to listen to what we were going to do next.

The next thing we were going to do was to learn how to pass the ball with your hand. That technique was called handball. The instructors said to us “With your partner you are going to practise the hand ball”. But first they did another demonstration of how to do it. So Toko and I rose from the floor and started to do the handball. Our attempts were not very successful and our ball went flying everywhere, almost hitting everyone in sight. But as we practised and practised we got better at it. Once Toko and I started to have fun because we finally learned how to handball accurately the mentors blew the whistle and called us in.

Once we were all gathered round them,they announced that it was time for a game. Quietly I said to myself “Finally something really fun”. But they explained that it wasn't the actual game of AFL but it was something that improved kicking accuracy. The game was kind of like force back but if you had the ball you could bomb the ball high and if the opposition didn’t catch it then your team would gain 1 point. They also explained the rules and once they had finished we started the game with a simple blow of the whistle. Once the game began I looked for any ball in the air. There was one ball that went really high so I yelled at the top of my lungs “MY BALL!!!!” and miraculously caught the ball in mid-air. The game went on and I had caught about 5 balls, I was like a viper searching for his prey. But fun came to an end when they blew the whistle and told us to come in. By the way our team won 9 points to 10.

That was it we had finished our AFL session for the week. I was sad that it had come to an end and I wanted to keep on going but other people hadn’t had their turn to have loads of fun. I cannot wait until we go back next week. So we headed back to class and I hoped that the next class that went to AFL would have a wonderful time just like us.

Taonga Time

It was our first day at Taonga Time which was on Fridays and our Taonga Time class was with Miss Va’afusuaga. Once I had entered the classroom that it was being held in I wondered what we would be doing. I saw Joe, Lepa, Miracle, Sampson and Devyne so I was happy because all my friends were in my class. So as soon as we took our seats Miss Va’afusuaga started to explain what we were going to do.

So she told us that she had recruited this group because the group were the most sportiest people. Miss V also told us to split into 5 groups and she also said that we had to write down the most sport that we knew on a piece of paper. Loads of sports came to mind but I could’nt think of all of them so I just write what I first thought of. My group that I was with was Samuela, Pesi and some other people. Once the 5 minutes were up it was time to share with the class what we had written down. Lepa’s group went first and called out a numerous number of sports. Once they had finished we had to try name the sports they didn’t say. Our group had loads of sports to say that people had’nt even thought of. But once every group said what they possibly could we had been told to do another task.

The task now was to think of as many sports stars as we could and pick one of them to study  for the term. We were in our same groups and we write down everyone we could think of in 2 minutes. Miss Va’afusuaga yelled “Put your markers down”. So we all stopped and called out our sport stars we had written down. My favourite person that I called out was Jon ‘Bones Jones. After that we went outside and played a bit of Basketball

Comparing Picasso and Hulme

This is the second time our class has been asked to compare two paintings, which is Pablo Picasso’s painting ’The Weeping Woman’ and Daniella Hulmes painting ‘A Lazy Day In Paradise’. Pablo Picasso is famous for his paintings because he paints from different perspectives and his style is called Cubism. While Daniella Hulmes became a famous artist for her island paintings and patterns. Also Daniella’s style is modern contemporary.

When I look at ‘The Weeping Woman’ I see sadness in the painting and I see lots of small lines. As I carefully observe for five minutes, I can also see that Pablo Picasso has involved lots of colour in his painting. He has also included lots of different patterns and mostly the colour yellow. The faded tears that roll down the woman’s face expresses sadness and I think that might of been how Picasso had been feeling.

As soon as I take one deciding look at the portrait ‘A Lazy Day In Paradise’ I see laziness in the painting as the lady lays her head on the couch. I kept observing to find out that there were lots of wild patterns on the pillows and the couch and the ladies clothing. Mostly the patterns are pacific islander patterns and colours. The colour you can see more of than any other colour is blue which is spread pretty much throughout the painting. Plus all the clothing on the lady is the colour yellow.

When I try to compare the similarities between each of the paintings there aren’t too many. But one of the similarities I noticed was that they have both used lots of the colour yellow. Another similarity is that they both have used lots and lots of patterns. But there are some things that they do not have in common such as Daniella Hulmes island patterns that Pablo Picasso never drew. Another difference is that Picasso paints from different perspectives as Daniella Hulmes just paints what she can see.

What I have experienced doing this writing has been really inspiring. Mostly inspiring me to look more carefully at paintings than last time. This has been great to witness something like this and write this post.

Comparison betwwen Van Gogh and Henri Matisse

Our class teacher has asked our class to compare Vincent Van Goghs painting of ‘Sunflowers’ and Henri Matisse’s painting ‘La Musique’. Henri Matisse was a French artist who used a very different style of painting called Fauvism. Fauvism actually means ‘wild beast’ in French and that’s how Henri Matisse painted. Vincent Van Gogh became a famous artist when he died. When he was alive he was very sad and he even chopped his ear lobe off and sent it to his girlfriend.

When I observe Vincent Van Goghs painting ‘Sunflowers’ I can see that the flowers look rotten and have not been taken care of. The background colours look dull. Lots of yellows and browns have been used. Also some flowers have lost their petals. The colour yellow is meant to make you feel like dancing but the painting doesn’t express that emotion. I think that Vincent Van Gogh was painting how he felt.

As I carefully eye up the painting La Musique I think that there are lots and lots of bright colours and patterns. By looking at the background patterns I could tell that Henri Matisse was a happy man. There is a mixture of colours and he used lots of triangular shapes. What I really realised is he painted two ladies and no men and one of the ladies is holding a guitar and also there are heaps of contrasting colour.

To me I think that ‘Sunflowers’ and ‘La Musique’ have hardly any similarities between each other. Mostly because ‘Sunflowers’ colours are dull, meaningless and sad colours and ‘La Musique’ has bright colours and lots of contrast. But one similarity is that both of the paintings have included types of plants. Another is that they both used the same colour yellow in their patterns. From what I see I don’t think that there are any other similarities.

From what I have experienced I think I had a good time observing both paintings. Also I have learnt to look at things more carefully to see some really unoticable similarities.

Anzac Test

It was time for the annual Anzac Test between the mighty Kiwis and the unstoppable Australians at the Kiwis home turf at Eden Park. As the teams had their final warm up of the night they scurried out of the changing rooms and rushed onto the field. The stadium was swarming with screaming spectators. All of a sudden the ref blew his whistle to start the game and the Kiwis kicked the ball off.

The Australians had the first ball retention and used the ball very well by using their strong star winger Akuilla Uate making a break down the sideline. Shaun Johnson chased him but was unsuccessful tackling the Flying Fijian but eventually he was brought down by a wall of kiwis.
But Johnson didn’t get up and was lying on the field. The crowd thought he was injured until he made a miraculous recovery and jumped to his feet. In the 10th minute the Kiwis were near the try line but were struggling to score. That was until Isaac Luke did a dummy pass from a hooker position and dived over the line. Then it was time for the conversion from Benji Marshall who successfully attempted the goal to make the score 6-0.

But the Australians striked back in the 21st minute when Jonathan Thurston stepped through the Kiwis defence with ease and Thurston converted the goal. Yet again the Australians scored thanks to the brilliant legend Greg Inglis. Thurston converted again. When the Kiwis were striking the Australians try line, the Kiwis had a chance to score until Billy Slater made an illegal move which resulted in a sin bin for 10 minutes. Then the ref blew his whistle for half time.

Ping Pong and Roller Blading

During our camp activities on day 2 we were roller skating and playing ping pong. Our group team the Respectronics had a choice to make whether to roller skate or play ping pong. Toko and I choose to play ping pong against each other. We were both competitive. The competition was rough. I started to go serious and Toko started to go serious as well. We then battled it out all for nothing. In an unlikely turn of events I won.

I was happy about my victory over ping pong because I had never played before. Once we had finished our turn at ping pong and roller skating we then headed down to Room 21 to work on our item

Camp Concert

“Its CAMP CONCERT TIME!!!” I said to myself as we were getting ready to have our final item practise. It was time to reveal it to the audience in the hall. We practised for around half an hour until we heard the signal for all the groups to enter the hall. It felt like we were walking on red carpet to sit down in our line. When everyone was in their spots it was time to start our annual camp concert.

The first group to go up and perform was Team Respect and they did a spectacular item. As another group went up and performed we then heard our group. The Respectronics were next to perform. It was really nerve wracking when we were walking up the stage stairs. I was finding it hard to stay still because I was really apprehensive. Suddenly the music started and our item began. So I just sucked it up and just joined in with everyone who was dancing. I actually ended up having a good time.

Once all the groups had finished their items it was time for the awards. As soon as they called out the awards(and I won best kayaker and best at old school games for the boys) it was time to decide which group had the best item. I thought we were going to be last but we were’nt. Then I thought we’re either going to be 5th, 4th or 3rd but we were’nt. It was down to our group the Respectronics and the Respect Crew. They announced the winner... and the winner was......the Respect Crew. Unfortunately we lost. As soon as they announced the winner we finished our concert and headed back to our tent to sleep.

Camp Reflection

For our final day at camp we travelled down to Swimarama to have a fun time. I certainly had a fun time because I was playing lots of sports and chilling with my mates. What I most enjoyed was see the Warriors live training. A crowd of our school gathered around chanting loudly and ferociously repeating the word “WARRIORS!!!”. Kayde, Joshua and I were starting most of the deafening chants. But sadly the Warriors left early for some reason. I loved the last day of camp because this was the chance to have a really fun time before we had to go back to school and work.

Justin Hodges

Justin Hodges is a phenomenon and he is now my favourite player. He has tremendous speed and has very good upper body strength. He was injured for a long time but came back last year. Also he made the mighty Queensland team and almost made one of the most famous trys. He has acquired the skills of a legend and I think that he will be one of the best because of his all rounding skills as a rugby league player. If I can make it into NRL I would like to be just like my idol Justin Hodges.

Softball Tournament

“Its softball today” I screamed at the top of my lungs because this was the Tuesday I had been waiting nervously for. My scream was so loud it woke my Mum up. I jumped out of bed as fast as lightning and began to get changed. It was only around the time 7:30 when I was ready to have an exhilarating day at our softball tournament. We quickly got to the car and took off to school.

Once I had reached school grounds I checked to see where everyone was. Then I looked around the room 20 area and there they were. I was wondering why they had not left yet but then I looked at the time and it was only 7:55. As I was apprehensively waiting for our team to gather in I just talked to my friends to pass the time by. Not knowing I had completely lost track of time I kept chattering until they finally called us in. We quickly got changed and walked down to Tamaki Intermediate.

As we finally reached Tamaki, I had a look to see what the competition was like. Most teams looked very skilled and experienced. So we got ready to train but we had suddenly been informed that it was time for our first game. Our first game was against Parnell Intermediate. I was really nervous when it was my turn to bat. I had never felt so nervous but it did go away when I swung the ball. Joe, Lepa, Cruz and Havea were doing the major shots that went miles away from where we were playing. But in the end our team came out victorious with a score of 6-5.

Straight away we had to rush to our second game which was against St Heller's. I sat this game out with Cruz and Kaiden and we all were cheering on our team. In this game we were thrashing them at first but they did start to come back. Joe was up to bat as the pitcher pitched to him he slamed the ball completely obliterating it up into the clouds. That hit would have been at least 30 metres long. We played hard and strived with our batting and destroyed them with our fielding we won. I was’nt sure about the score but I think people knew that we won.

As we won our matches and lost one game to Ellerslie Intermediate we had found ourselves in the semi finals with the team that won softball last year Churchill Intermediate. We fielded first. They were very clever and patient because they were just taking the walks(which happens when you pitch 4 inaccurate balls). They got around 5 runs until it was our turn to show them what our batting skills were made of. Once it was our turn to bat. 2 people went up and 2 people came back because they had been bowled out. Another person went up and came back because they got bowled out.We then changed to fielding with the score at 5-0 to them. We tried as hard as we could to get them out but they were to good. With the score at 11-0 to them it was our turn to bat. I thought the same result was going to happen but it didn’t. We whacked the ball regaining our confidence and scored many home runs. I hit the ball far as well. But when we had all got bowled out we were pretty happy with the result. The first score was 11-0, then it was 11-9 . Even though we lost we had a pretty good score.

It was a fun day but in the end we came fourth. That was so exciting playing and I hope to do it again sometime maybe when I am in college. Hopefully we can get results like that or better in league and rugby and soccer and all that.

Netball Session

For the last two Thursdays room 21 have been going to netball for some good old exercise. I don’t really like the sport netball but at least its some exercise for my bones. Our class got lined up with our hats and marched towards the court to work on our netball skills. When we got there, there was a lady who’s name was Liz. She was our instructor for the afternoon.

The first thing we did was jump onto some circles and x’s. They kind of looked like noughts and crosses. I was opposite Devyne and the lady split us into groups of 4. She explained to us that this exercise was about timing, to catch the ball with precise timing. So one group was on one side and another group was on the other. Each group was passing to the other group trying to perfect their passing and catching skills.

Then we moved on to another task which was to hold the ball up in your hand and your partner had to jump up and take the ball out of their hand. My partner was Devyne, and he was the first one that had the ball up in the air. With a mighty jump I swooped the ball from Devyne’s hand and regathered the all so precious ball. Then it was Devyne’s turn. I was being a bully at one stage because I was holding up the ball really high but then I lowered it because that’s being an egg. He jumped and snatched it out of my hands and we kept doing tremendous jumps and fabulous steals until Liz decided we should have a game that was sort of like netball.

Liz explained the rules to us. It was like netball because you weren’t allowed to move with the ball but there were no netball hoops. There were 4 squares and in each square there were 4 smaller circles. With our teams we had to hit the circle with the ball to gain a point. BRRRR!!! the whistle sounded as the game began with one team of girls and one team of boys. The game was only half court. We were winning at one stage. Gabriel and I were doing great combinations with each other. The girls team were very skilled and intercepted alot of our passes. But when the game came to an end, unfortunately we lost.

It was a spectacular day of netball and I ended up enjoying it. I never thought I would end up liking my experience with netball skills. I know I can’t wait until the next session.

The Treaty of Waitangi

Protection, partnership and participation were the key principles of the Treaty of Waitangi. Two of the Pakeha leaders named James Busby and William Hobson wrote a treaty to bring peace between the Maori and Pakeha. James Busby, William Hobson and Henry Williams stood in front of the Maori chiefs. Henry Williams was a missionary who translated the English version of the treaty into the Maori.

At first the Maoris disagreed with the treaty and threatened the Pakeha but they started to agree and signed the treaty. It was officially signed on the 6th of February in the year 1840. A lot of Maori tribes agreed with the treaty and its laws, some didn’t but over 400 chiefs had signed by the end of the year. The most important principles were the three P’s: protection, partnership and participation. The treaty appeared to be a success and the Pakeha people and the Maori people were in peace with their hatred between each other buried beneath the ground.

The three P’s are very important and they can relate to our school. Protection means to protect one another at any time if they are getting bullied or picked on. Partnership is to help your friends with work or if they are having trouble spelling or writing. Last but certainly not least participation which means to join in on chores if you are at peoples houses or something.

The treaty of Waitangi was mostly signed for the principles of the three p’s.

New Zealand vs Fiji

The match up between the mighty NZ 7'S champ New Zealand and their rivals Fiji was about to take place. They have great match ups, but this rivalry all comes down to this match in the finals at the Westpac stadium in Wellington. As the teams got set to unleash themselves onto the soil of the greats, this match got set to go.

BRRRRRR!!!!!! the ref blew his whistle and the match began with Fiji retaining the first possession of the ball. But within 3 minutes into the game, New Zealand rewarded themselves with a try thanks to DJ Forbes with his tremendous speed to back up Tim Mickellson. That try was followed up with another from NZ superstar, Frank Halai, who pinned his ears back and paced towards the try line. Tomasi converted to make the score 17-0.

Fiji tried to make a comeback but the New Zealand team were too strong and had all ready dominated territory. But yet again New Zealand proved they are truly champions with Frank Halai crossing the try line getting a double. Sadly, they missed the conversion. It was almost halftime but New Zealand weren't finished, making a statement when yet again they crossed the line from Tomasi to extend their triumphant score. With the halftime hooter sounding the teams gathered in a huddle and the score was laid at 24-0

Halftime came with the teams in their huddle talking about game plans. They were getting fired up for the second half. New Zealand have a great lead over Fiji and I don’t think they can come back from this this thrashing.

Second half kick off began with Fiji close to the try line but the New Zealand defence overwhelmed the power of the Fijian attack. With both teams coming close to scoring the time was counting down with only 3 minutes to play. New Zealand had pretty much won but you can’t count Fiji out of this match. With the time at 2 minutes Fiji stride towards the try line. I thought they weren’t going to score but I was wrong,Fiji finally score their first try of the match with the number 6 of Fiji scoring with the kick being converted to make the score 24-7

That was the end of the game New Zealand had won they are the Wellington 7’s champions. They celebrate by doing their traditional haka in front of everyone. The crowd was going crazy. New Zealand are champs again, can anyone stop their domanance