NZSL

This blog post is going to be about what I have learnt this year at school, I chose to do Sign Language because it is one of our official languages in New Zealand. At first I was really passionate about the project because it is a new language. Below you will see a video of me doing the alphabet.

What have you learnt at school this year?

Book Character Day

On Friday the 3rd of November our school celebrated book week. The Year 8s in charge of library decided to create a competition that involves getting dressed up as a character from a book. Liana, my best friend, and I decided to come dressed as Lightning McQueen and Sally from Cars and yes it is a book. After we had shown off our amazing outfits, we went inside to take pictures of them so we could show the world what we had done at our school. The reason why we went and showed everyone our outfits was because our teachers were deciding the winners of the best dressed. Sadly my friend and I didn't win, the winners were boys dressed as Anna and Elsa (they were in dresses and high heels, it was pretty funny though). I think that this day was well planned out and I quite liked seeing the people that were dressed up.

Has your school ever done something for book week?

What the Kaupeka Hub is all About.

This blog is all about our hub and what we do. We have 66 people in our hub and that is including me. In our learning we work in rooms that are set by us. In literacy time we choose what type of writing we want to do and go from there. Our classrooms are set out so that our teachers can see us in the class and we can see them. In our school we do things differently, like we use chrome books in our everyday life. We use them to do writing and go onto websites so we can learn more.
Most days in our hub are the same but some are different and that can confuse most of us. The teachers needed a way to show us what we were doing everyday, the teachers created our timetables and I think that it has helped a lot.  Every term we have a different topic for PBL, my personal favourite would be the political PBL, which we completed last term. I liked it so much because it was like an election that New Zealand was having. I liked how we got to learn more about politics because I knew nothing. In learning we should have learnt the normal skills and more for what a year 7/8 leader should have when they go off to high school. For example we have learnt languages and PE.
In the hub I like space 2 because the layout is amazing and it feels a lot like home. Through this year in the year 7/8 hub my proudest moment would be becoming the Student Prime Minister of the school because we did the election and my party won. I think that this school provides amazing opportunities to learn more things you don't know. This school has given me a lot of knowledge about almost everything.

What are some similarities and differences about your classroom/hub/school?

Community PBL

In Term 3 we were put into groups that involve giving back to to the community.

Throughout this project we have been learning new things from different people, The most important thing I have learnt during this project would be the new entrants and how they work down there. It kind of reminded me that I learnt down there first and I think how far I've gone from there.

I wish that I spent more time on asking questions to the teachers about the juniors and what they needed and already had. The other thing would be that my group didn't work well as a team and I think that we could've worked a bit better.

I think that my group worked best on creating something to give back to the community. We had chosen to put some posters out that would help them learn a bit more around the hub.

The most enjoyable part of this project would be working with new people in the hub. I enjoyed it when we got to eat lunch with the people and asking more about them in questions.

The least enjoyable part in this project was that not everyone was taking part in this project because some of the people was sitting around and not helping finishing the project.

I think that the teachers did a pretty good job on organising this project but I would've liked if we got to choose the groups.

Have you ever learnt something from kids that are younger than you.

Athletic's Day

I know that we have just started school but on Wednesday we had Athletics day. I really enjoyed it even though I am not so good at athletics, I liked it because I tried everything and gave everything a go. First off we started with sprints, I didn't do very well because I am short and there are people in my class that are faster than me at sprints. After that we went off and started our other events like shot put, discus etc. The only thing I did well on was high jump and that was quite surprising because I am really short, I didn't practise much either and I thought that that would've effected me when I jumped. I thought this day was really well done and the teachers who made this day possible should really be proud of themselves for what they had done.

Have you ever organised something really big before?

Political Party Campaign

Throughout the term we have created political groups that will be elected this Friday to become government of the school. Through this project I have learned more about politics, so I think that it is really important for you when you go to high school. If I were to change this project in a way I would give a bit more time for us to work on the project instead of the teachers leaving it to the last minute. My favourite part of the project would be that we have this opportunity to know more about politics so I know for the future. The worst part of starting this project is we are going up against people in our hub, so there is a bit of tension between us. I do wish we had more time as a group because we don't really have enough time to do everything together as a group. I am hoping that people will vote for my group so that they will have positive attitude towards learning and school.

Have you ever campaigned in front of a crowd or tried to get people on your side of opinion?

RE Reflection.

In Kaupeka we have been reflecting on prayer, the questions that we have been asked to give our own answer as down below...

 My favourite time and place to pray is…...
- My favourite place to pray would be in my bedroom because it is one of the most quiet place I can think of because other places like school can get quite loud and at home people are always talking. So the I like the most quietest places are my favourite places to prayer.

Sometimes I pray for…...
- I usually prayer for the people that I know who are ill because they are the people that have cared for me and the return I give them is prayer. I sometimes pray for myself because when I am feeling stressed out in school I ask for help to feel his comfort around school.

When I pray I imagine Te Atua (God) as…...
- When I pray I imagine God is with me at that moment and that he is listening to me. I imagine that he is sitting right in front of me talking to me and hearing about the hard times I have been in at school and at home.

My favourite Karakia is…...

- My favourite prayers are the traditional prayers because they are a reminder of the prayers back in the day.

Most of my prayers are about…...

- I pray for the people who are unwell and are in need of some help. They are the people who are having babies, who have lost there loved ones and who are sick. These prayers usually involve thank yous because the Lord helps them and sometimes listens and answers me.

Where is your favourite place to pray?