Exciting journey to the pool!!

It is now coming to the end of the Term and to celebrate. My school went on a trip to Waltham pool.

As you may have known it has been raining a lot these past few weeks. My school was fortunate enough to go to the pool both days when it was sunny. It wasn't exactly the warmest weather but it was sunny and I was grateful that we were able to go. I really enjoyed hanging out with my friends and having a whole day where we could just have fun. We were in the pool for majority of the time because it was so cold just standing outside the pool.

We also had a choice of going on the hydroslide. I went down it twice because standing in line was to cold for me. I thoroughly enjoyed our pool trip although I did get very sun burnt but whos fault was that. Mine

Have you ever been on a school trip, if so where??

Favourite memory of Primary school

I am Year 8 and I am now coming to an end of my primary school career. To share the exciting life we have had at primary school, we all created memoirs. Now memoirs are special memories of a special time you have had. We have all written our planners for our memoirs and have now finished our final piece. I hope you enjoy reading my memoir and I hope it really takes you back to my special time.

Being told that you were going to a new school the next year was really devastating for me.
I loved the school I was in and I didn’t want it to closed. But when I heard we were emerging with
another school and becoming one. I was interested because it meant that I was meeting new people.
I wasn’t the most social person back then, I only had the friends that I had made and had been with
since I was 5. It was a real struggle for me because I had no clue how to talk to people and how to
make a real conversation.

On the first day at St Francis I was really nervous because I was going into a school where I only
new half the people. The rest were complete strangers for me. I didn’t really talk to many other people
on the first day because I didn’t really know how. As the year went on I let my talent of music out, that
was when people started noticing me not just as a student in the same school but an actual person.
I still didn’t really talk to many people, I would just look and talk to myself. How am I gonna talk to these
people??

The next year I was in a completely different hub so even more new people. Uhhh this was a pain. I
wasn’t any good at talking to the people the year before how am I gonna do it now. The only way I
could try was to put myself out there and just do it. It started when we had our yr 7/8  camp. This was the
best part of 2017 I was able to talk to people, I got to know the people in my cabin and who they really
were. Not just a person in the distance but a person with a personality, a personality that became really
easy to talk to. Through this camp I started talking to new people but it was pretty hard because I really
was only limited to the people in my cabin and in my activity group. Any of the other times were at our
meal times. I definitely didn’t have the courage to just sit with random people.

This year it really has changed for me, I am now with the people I started with at the school so all the
faces were familiar. I have really gone out of my comfort zone and just talked to everyone. I have
become friends with so many people, this has been amazing. I have gotten to know people and who
they are. I have really enjoyed our trips that we have gone on because it all gave me an opportunity to
talk to different people. I am now coming to the end of my primary school journey and I am really looking
forward to high school because I will only know about 20 people there .

Whats your favourite memory??

The teachers strike again, will the government listen or will they ignore.....

Across New Zealand the teachers are battling between the government so they will listen to their needs. At the moment the teachers are struggling with the amount of children in their classes. I would be too because its a big jump from about 19 children to 30 children. I am one of those students and looking after me would be hard. 

It is pretty cool how the teachers are fighting for what they think is right. I too would want to do this if I become a teacher. Last strike the government chose to ignore them so they fought to strike again, it must be hard when you have needs that are unable to be fixed unless the government listens. 

What are your thoughts on the teacher strike??

The buzz you feel when you do creative writing

Through out the year the teachers have introduced the students to different ways of writing. From this we were given a story starter and we had to finish it. This was probably my favourite writing piece this year as I got to express my writing skills in the best way I could. My story ended up being very mysterious and interesting. I hope you enjoy reading this and I hope it hooks you in right from the start. 

"All was silent in the forest. Not a breath of wind could be felt or heard. The dew from the air was fogging up my glasses, struggling to move from tree to tree with only a glimpse to get you through. As I came to a clearing I saw a pair of boots neatly placed together, this was very peculiar? When is it that you see two boots together standing up straight perfectly. I slowly walked away as these boots were giving me chills but as I turned around I heard something move. I didn’t want to look behind me but the urge I had was taking over me. I looked behind and there they were, the boots had taken a step. This was really freaking me out, why is this happening and why to me?......

I started backing away from the boots but as I did I stumbled down a hill. As I rolled down the hill I passed the boots and they were running along side me. I closed my eyes but as I opened them I was rolling head straight into a tree…..I was knocked out for quite some time and by the time I woke up it was pitch black. It was still dark but I could still see the shadows of those boots in front of me. I woke up to blood dripping down my head and an inch deep cut on my leg. I was in so much pain but you can’t really do much when everything’s spinning around you. Dawn approached very slowly but as it did the boots became a lot more visible, they were indeed there right in front of me. I was freaking out, I could barely move and those boots were slowly taking steps towards me…..

I attempted to move but I was in so much pain I fell straight back on the ground. Those boots were about a few metres in my distance, I had to do something but I was only limited to what my hands could do. My head was spinning and I was losing control, my whole body was flipping out and I didn’t know what to do. I completely just lost it and fell…

I woke up hoping it was a dream, I was wrong. I was still in the forest but where were the boots?? This was worrying me because I had no idea where the boots were and what they would do to me. My leg was still in a lot of pain but I had been out in this forest for too long. I had to do something, I strapped my leg in the materials I could find around me. I then grabbed a stick to help me off the ground. I hadn’t eaten in a few days, I wasn’t sure how or where I would find food?? I started foraging around for food, there was nothing. Was I gonna die out here??

As I wandered along I found a hill, this may be the hill that I fell down but I wasn’t sure. I thought what the heck let’s just climb it. As I got further and further up the hill the area became more and more familiar but I still really wasn’t sure where I was going. Every step I took it was taking the very little energy out of me, this was all I had to get home. After a few hours I reached the top, the top was familiar but it was bringing back scary memories of those boots. From here onwards I wasn’t sure where I was going….

As I hobbled onwards I saw footprints, as it went through my mind I had no idea who’s they were. I decided to follow the footprints as it was all I had to keep me getting home. I had been moving for hours until end where I still was going nowhere. It was getting dark and I was losing hope of every finding home, I had no idea where I was going but I had to rest as my leg was honestly killing me. I really struggled to sleep as those boots kept haunting me in my dreams, dawn came too quickly as I had barely rested but I knew I had to start moving.

I unwrapped my leg, it was looking infected. This couldn’t be good, I may not only get home but I may die from this infection. Although I struggled getting up off the ground, I knew that somewhere in this forest was a way out. But where, I knew where I had been so moving forward was my only hope. I was really trippy on my feet but it was the only way of getting out of here. After an hour of hobbling on my leg I was done, I just wanted to go home to where I knew I had another day of living. My only option in this forest was to keep going. I wasn’t sure but in the distance I saw water, this may be a mirage but deep down in me it helped me to have hope. I carried on towards the water, it honestly wasn’t getting any closer but where else am I gonna go. As I kept walking I saw a few yards away...there the boots lay.

They weren’t moving and this interested me, I walked towards them not a thought in my mind that they could hurt me. I kept walking and what I thought were boots revealed a person.. Now this person was familiar, it was my dad. I ran as fast as my leg would let me and I started yelling his name, he couldn’t hear me. I started yelling as loud as I could, he turned around. Tears running down his eyes he started running towards me, words couldn’t describe how happy we were to see each other. We both hugged and cried as this was the moment where we both felt safe. This was the last thing I remembered before I was taken home. I was straight away taken to the hospital where the doctors checked my head and leg for anything serious. I was right because my leg was infected and I also have a minor head injury. As I went head first into that tree, it took skin on my head creating a shortage of blood in my head knocking me out.

Every night I still have nightmares of those boots. I still have the thought in my mind that those boots are still following me day after day. I still feel uneasy walking alone as being in the forest alone has scarred me for life. "

What is your favourite piece of writing and why??

Rock'in roll'in at the kids in town

In the middle of the year I put forward an idea to create a year 7/8 singing group. Most singing groups you don't get the choice of choosing your own music. In this group we were able to choose our own songs and create a mash up for our performance. 

We practised together as a group on Wednesday mornings, this was a time to be together and practise our mash up. These practises and songs were going towards our performance at kids in town. We worked really hard to get our song ready and it was time to perform. 

Last week on the 1st of November the singing group performed. I was so excited to perform, when we started singing I was honestly buzzing. I loved this trip we did together and I enjoyed hanging out with my mates.

Have you ever been on a trip like this?? 

Surprising yourself in athletics

Last week our school hosted our athletics, I personally love doing athletics although I'm not very good at it. When we did our athletics it started pouring with rain, I love the rain so I didn't mind getting wet and cold. 

The girls started with sprints and long distance, I came second in both my heats and I came sixth overall. We then went off to do our field events, I was really excited for them because they all didn't involve much running. In long jump I was jumping as far as I could and on my second jump i slid and landed on my bum. I was really surprised that I got 3.35 metres on my second because I fell over. In all my other events I tried my best but didn't do anything magnificent in them.

Overall I came second in the long jump and I'm pretty happy I did. I am really excited for zones and I can't wait to get better at long jump and practice.  

What's you best event in athletics??

Singing infront of thousands

My whole life I have had a passion of singing and music. Last week I was lucky enough to participate in the Lions Christchurch schools music festival. At the start of the year I auditioned to be a part of the senior special choir within the music festival, practising for my audition was very hard but i the end it was worth it.

I had a lot of fun in the senior choir and I made so many friends, I have been in this group for 3 years and I have enjoyed every bit of it. This year I was given the chance of being a compere, I took the offer up and auditioned for the part. I was chosen to be a compere, this was an amazing opportunity as I was representing my school and myself. The music festival was over 3 days, I went to all those days and each night I had an amazing time. 

I have loved being apart of the music festival and the opportunities I was given. I am looking forward to what music and singing will grant me in the future. 

Whats your passion and what do you love??

Try different food and you will be renewed

Different food from different cultures can be a challenge to try. Today the year 7/8 students brought food based on a specific country, today we brought the food in and had a shared lunch. 

The foods I tried were very yummy but hard to guess which country it was from. Although it was a struggle to get the food ready for today, we all did it in the end and I really enjoyed eating the food. Today was a very great experience and I would definitely like to do it again sometime in the term. 

Today was only the start of our Project Based Learning (PBL). 'How do we successfully design, build, market and sell a product, that meets the needs of our cultural diverse community'. By answering this question we will be having a school market on the 4th of December this term. 

I am really excited for the end result of this project!! 

Have you ever done something like this within your school or another group???

 

Swimming in the deep blue pool

For the past two weeks my school has been participating in swimming lessons. I really enjoyed practicing my swimming and learning more about how to swim and what swim you should use in different situations. 

My group practiced our diving and our roly poly's in the water. It was really cool to learn more about swimming and to get better if I'm ever in an difficult situation.

In the last three days we all did swim safety, I really enjoyed doing this because we were able to use a boat and life jackets. It was really cool to have the simulation in the pool. " Our boat had sunken, we were there in the ocean with no life jackets. We had to tread water for about 3 minutes while the instructors were throwing us life jackets. Then we had to get everyone onto the boat, but there wasn't enough room and life jackets. So the people who didn't fit had to hold onto the people on the boat." I really got into this simulation and I had a lot of fun participating in it.

Swimming lessons were very tiring and I am glad but sad that it is over. By the end of the two weeks I was exhausted, I am thankful for the instructors who taught us.

Have you done swimming lessons before?? 

Joy of dancing in front of a crowd

For the past few weeks my dance group have been working very hard to get our dance ready for our production. We have been struggling with choreography but now I am proud to say that my group /iframe> have worked through it and have finished! Getting ready for this production has been a roller coaster, my group has been hit by deadlines but we have pulled through and finished them. 

Over the Term the teachers has been teaching us about elements in dance, from these session we have been given groups to create dances. My group at the start were fighting and weren't really working together. By now we have brought our heads together and thought a plan out to help us work well with each other. I am very proud of my group and I can't wait to see what we look like next week. 

Although the production is next week I am very excited to see the all the dances as one, all groups have been working very hard to get finished. The teachers are now just tweaking a few of the dances to make them better and easier to transition off them. 

Have you ever been pressured as a group to get something done??

The War between the Teachers and the government

As you may know last week the teachers at my school and other teachers went on strike. This was pretty cool for the students because they weren't really involved but we got to have a day off school! Although the teachers didn't end up winning, I think that they were pretty gutsy that they were stepping up and going against the government for what they felt was right. 

Going on strike can be pretty scary because you have no idea what's going to happen, there were hundreds of teachers that turned out in Christchurch. Man it was a big crowd. I think that this strike was pretty cool because the teachers were stepping up for what they needed and wanted to become right. My teachers told us that they were striking because they do too much work and they don't get enough time for us. They want to have more time to teach the students so that they can help them learn.

I thought that this was really cool because at the moment I thought the teachers were just there to teach us and not to learn more about the students itself. It was really nice to know that the teachers care about us and how we are really feeling.

What did you think about the teacher strike??

Scoring again!!

Recently me, my team and other teams from my school participated in the Primary schools winter tournament. It was really cool to go to this tournament and play other teams that I don't already play. 


When we got there my team all grabbed a ball and started shooting hoops. It was a pain that we didn't have enough balls so the team all fought over to try and get a shoot in or even get the ball. I struggled with this because I am the second shortest in my team. 

I think that my team played very well through all the games and we played very fairly towards the other teams. I really enjoyed participating in the Winter sport tournament and the outcome of all the games. I would definitely like to do the Winter tournament again. At the end of the day my legs were really sore and I could not do anymore netball. 

Have you ever had really sore legs from doing any type of sport?

Frightening feeling you get when you do your speech

You know the feeling you get when you have your speech. Yeah that one! I know no-one wants to have a flashback on that feeling. I'm only talking about it because I've had the feeling recently because we had speeches. 

The thought of doing speeches in front of a massive crowd of people really freaks me out, the feeling I usually get is butterflies in my stomach can get really close to throwing up. You get really nervous before your speech but if you just breathe and get on with it, it's not so bad. I mean I did my speech and before I started speaking I almost fell over. My hands and legs were shaking, I started talking and it calmed me because what I was saying was coming from the heart and it was what I believed in. 

I finished my speech and man it was a relief, the annoying part was that I was selected for the next level in the speeches so I had to do that speech all over again. As you already may know I had the feeling again!!!

When you did speeches what feelings do you have before it started??

My Speech

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Do you struggle making your blog interesting, read carefully through these steps and your blogs will become amazing!!

Did these steps help??

Term 3

I started Term 3 excited and ready to learn. Over the holiday's I had been chilling out at home and doing pretty much nothing. So when I started school I was ready for it, there was a few new subjects that we were doing throughout the Term. This Term we are going to be doing speeches which I'm not too excited for it but it happens every year so I'm pretty used to it by now. We are also doing a production, but I don't know too many details about it. A dance that we are doing in groups, I'm pretty interested in the results and outcomes we have from this dance because we are given groups with people we don't usually work with. At the moment in my group it is pretty much chaos.

It is now week 4 and it has gone very quickly, I didn't want it to go too fast because I have speeches just round the corner and I am very worried because I am practicing at the moment and honestly it's not going too great. Some of my friends are still writing theirs speeches and we only have about 4 days till be present them, I really feel for them so I'm giving them a few pointers to help with their stress.

This Term my school has decided to do the Koru games, I mean I'm not the greatest at sport but I gotta try something new. I signed up for volleyball but after I reviewed all the games of volleyball I have played, it's a really bad idea to play (i'll be a big mess, I really feel for the people in my team.)  This Term so far is pretty fun, can't wait for all the other exciting activities we will be doing throughout the Term though!!

What have you doing this Term at your school?

Novel study

In the Kaupeka hub this Term the teachers decided to incorporate in the learning a novel study. In each class we had a choice of 5 different books, these books were chosen from the teachers and there was only a limited number of books for each group. I chose Goodnight Mister Tom, when I was listening to the books from the summary at the back this book really caught my eye. Although it is a very long book, it sounded very interesting to me.

I chose this book because of the background behind it because it talks about what children lived like back then and the hardship they went through in their everyday life. For example Willie went to the new country with scars on his leg, he was afraid to show people. These scars were from his mum whipping him from all the bad things he did. Willie was one of the kids who went through a lot because his mum thinks that Willie's a sinner, so she always expects him to behave. It really got hold of me because most children now go through their everyday life with their parents loving them. I really felt for these people. On the picture at the front of the book it shows of a kid holding suitcases by himself with a background of a different country behind him. The cover of books always show and tell a lot of the book and I could tell that this book was for me.

So far I have read 76 pages, I was right in choosing this book because it is very interesting. This book is about a kid named Willie who lived in London but World War ll had just started over there. So his mum sent him over to another country. This story tells us about the man Willie lives with and the emotions Willie is feeling. 

The start of this book has been amazing, I loved how they describe where they are and how they are feeling. Although it is sad about Willie and how his mother treated him at home, this book has just kept me reading. 

With our novel study this Term our teachers decided that we should have literacy circles. At first when they told us this, I wasn't too fond on the idea. But as they described what was happening and how we were doing it in our groups. I understood and I thought that it was a really good idea. The books we had chosen to read over the Term would be done in groups of people who chose the same book as us. In these groups we will assign people into their jobs. These jobs will be for different things like answering questions with the group, illustrating a paragraph in the book or finding words that people don't understand. We would discuss this in our groups so that everyone in the group would understand. I have found that the literacy circles have been helping me because if I were to do this by myself I would've gotten confused with most of the questions. In this group we make sure that everyone understands the book and we are all on the same page. 

I am looking forward to finishing this book in reading this Term because I am really excited to know what happens within the book and the twists that go through it. Reading this Term has been a lot more interesting than last Term because we are doing something a lot different but it is helping me with my learning. 

What do you do as reading at your school or what have you done in the past??

Holidays

Finally time for a Holiday....My family and I had a pretty relaxed holiday because we were all tired of having activities on in the school Term. But when it came I thought hmm what should I do. Most of my Holidays were at home but that didn't mind me, I was chilling and no one was bothering me.

In the first week the younger kids in my family decided to go to the new pool QE2. I enjoyed this because we went at night time when most people have either gone home to bed or just having tea. So there wasn't any line for me to wait in, Yay !!!. On top of that at the end of the week my sister had her Birthday party, so in between the day's we were going around organising and buying food for her party. 

So far in the holidays I was challenged with my sister party although I was trying to relax. The day came for my sister party, I felt pretty relaxed because all we needed to do was clean the house. People started arriving earlier than we expected so I started freaking out because I hadn't finished cleaning or having lunch. So the first they saw as they walked through the door was me eating ( What a great first impression.) I found that this party was pretty cruisey because we just went through the games slowly and  they watched a movie at the end, Easy right. I had a bit of food but after that I was stuffed.

The next was not very enjoyable because I was sick, I found it pretty hard to do anything because I felt useless. From my annoying sickness I had to cancel most of my plans with my friends that week. Although on Friday I did hang out with my friends and watched a movie, I really enjoyed getting out of the house. 

The next day it was my sister's birthday, she ended up waking me up at 6:50 in the morning. "This annoyed me because it's the holidays and I'm waking up earlier than a school day!" Through the day I think that my sister enjoyed herself and I had a lot of fun too. 

What did you do in your holidays? 

All about me

Here is a few things you might want to know about me

Life Education lessons

On the 2nd of June, my class and I went into a truck for Life education. Our teacher talked to us about what makes a good leader. This made me think, what does make a good leader. The teacher had put a few notes around the classroom, then she talked about what they meant. She asked us which picture described ourselves as people, so we all went to the pictures that described us. I found that I was a Lion because it is a person who loves to lead and who wants to be heard of. This one really spoke to me because it described me perfectly. We then had to talk about what our strengths could do to help in the classroom. This was a really cool session and I can't wait to have my next session and what we are going to learn.

Have you ever thought about what makes a good leader??

Caritas Challenge

On the 18th - 19th of May the Kaupeka hub joined in a worldwide challenge that is run by Caritas. We have been learning about a country that was in need of our help, to help them my hub and I decided to sleep over at school in cardboard boxes. This was very tricky because we were doing it in winter and we had to organise everything.

The start of the day was really interesting, so we all had a big breakfast and we were unable to have morning tea and afternoon tea. This was really cool because I got to feel what it was like for Timor-Leste as they don't have much food to eat in their day. After we went to mass, the teachers brought in a city missioner to talk to us about the people of Christchurch, who don't have homes and who live in their cars. I was really surprised by the amount of people who were living in their cars and who were homeless. I really felt for the people who didn't have homes because they were living in freezing temperatures in winter and they didn't have half the stuff we had for the night. Then we had a mini move it challenge for three hours, we had asked if another school wanted to join us when we did this challenge. They came to our school and joined in for three hours of exercise. This was really cool because we got to have some fun with another school. I really enjoyed this day so far because it had made me realise what it is like in different countries in the day.

What has been challenging for me during the day is the food because I usually have morning tea and afternoon tea in my day. But today we had breakfast, lunch and dinner. I was really hungry in between but I knew that this was for a good cause and I kept telling myself that I shouldn't have any food and finish the challenge properly. Since I was hungry now I was getting really anxious because I was scared about the stomach cramps that night.

The connections I have made from this experience is that Timor-Leste doesn't have very much food and water. This was a struggle for me with food but I always had to remember that they don't have very much and I was doing this for them.

From today, it made me think about them and how I could help them in long term. I thought that I could give them some money to help them and give them some cans of food. I think that this will help their families and those who need help.

At the start of this challenge I had no idea what other people in the world were going through. But as this challenge went on I learnt what people lived in and how they cooked and ate food. This challenge really spoke to me through out the day and night, it really made me think about the world and what people lived like.

Have you ever had this feeling about people in the world?