Nifty Narratives

Over the last couple of weeks we have been working on writing narratives. We've been focusing on including an orientation, problem and outcome, as well as thinking about what our theme is. Check out some of our work so far!

Answered Prayer

 Be strong and courageous do not be afraid or troubled, the Lord your God is with you wherever you go ~Joshua 1:9 

 John is a hard working engineer in the Philippines. He was living before with his loving family, his parents and wife who then gave birth to their third child. His problem then was John didn’t have enough income, so every night he would pray for something good to happen.

 Then one day John’s friend came and spoke to him with great news! “John!” He called out, “I heard that there is a company in New Zealand who are hiring engineers!” John’s heart pounded. “Is this the answer to all my prayers?” He took his friends advise and applied for the job. 

  A few weeks passed and John’s plane was soon going to take off! Sadly, he had to say goodbye to his family and friends. They all wished him good luck. John had mixed feelings about leaving the country that he was born and raised in. He was excited, and worried. It was then time to take off! The plane started to rise higher and higher until it was above the clouds. “It’s beautiful!” John thought to himself.

  After long hours, the plane finally arrived in New Zealand! As John looked around, he could see fresh green leaves on trees, and smell the cool air. He was astonished with the clean environment and the friendly people. John was delighted to meet his new boss and teammates. They gave him a warm welcome.

  John needs to adjust his accent when having conversation with Kiwis. They are having a hard time understanding John with his Filipino accent, but as months pass, John learned how to speak English similar to Kiwi accent.

  Sometimes John feels lonely whenever he misses his family, especially his kids, but his day lightens up whenever his family and kids calls him.

  Years have passed and John was now successful with his career. He is now the manager of the company that hired him back in the Philippines. He now has wonderful friends that he considers his second family. Most wonderful of all, John saved enough money to bring his whole family here in New Zealand. Indeed, New Zealand was the answer to his prayers.

 By: Katherine

A Journey To Aotearoa

 It was August 1768. Captain Snook and his wife Mirajane were sailing the vast blue sea’s with hope of finding a new island that they could call home. For years and years they have looked for land, but no matter where they went. Nowhere felt like home.

Mirajane and Captain Snook had been on sea for 2 years. They found many islands, but none of them felt right, it wasn't what they were searching for. But one day, things took an unexpected turn. Marijane and Captain Snook’s boat had been damaged due to a rough landing during the night. Due to their ship being damaged it started leaking and eventually their boat began to sink.

Captain Snook quickly got the emergency boat and he and Mirajane paddled to the nearest island. They had just entered the South Pacific Oceans and the first island they saw was an island that the natives called Aoeteroa. They welcomed them, fed them and gave them places to stay. It was wonderful. They didn’t want to leave.

Aoeteroa was a very spacious island. It was covered with greenery, and was very healthy. There was not even one wasteland on the island. Everything was natural and provided from earth. The village Whare’s were made out of timber, rushes, tree ferns and bark, with a thatched roof and earth floors. It was very nice and spacious and comfortable, there was even an active volcano in the distance. It’s stone was black and had dried up lava around. The locals said that it erupted on an average every 20 - 25 years.

5 months had passed since making it to Aoeteroa and they were now considered natives. The Maori ( who were the natives ) people offered to help Mirajane and Captain Snook build a new boat. It was made from fine wood and was big enough to fit 10 people. It took months to build but it was worth it. With the help of the natives things went smoothly. 

Finally it was time to leave. Captain Snook and Mirajane were quite sad that their journey had to end there, but they kept their heads high and continued to travel the world. Aoeteroa was a lovely place to live, but it still didn’t feel like home. And so their journey continued!

By Ruqayat

Day In The Clouds

In a land where magic lives there is a girl named Maria. Maria is a shy person so that means she doesn't go out that much. When she does go out she goes to her secret place in the clouds. Not a lot of people go there because they have nothing to do there but for Maria it is a place full of imagination and to relax. 

One day the normal white clouds all turned purple and pinkish. “ What happened to the clouds?” said a villager. The villagers walked up the path to the clouds and found… nothing. When they looped around to go back a glass wall was blocking them.”Let us out!” the villagers shouted and cried. “Why did you trap us here?” someone said. 

Just then the evil witch appeared.”Hahahahaha, looks like you need help?’ said the Witch. “Well you all are going to be trapped there forever.” Maria wasn’t trapped though because she did come because was too scared to go with other people. ”Now I will take all the magic for myself, hahahahaha.” Said the Witch. “What am I going to do?” Maria said to herself. 

“I know I will teleportal ray.” said Maria I will also get the shrink ray so I can shrink the witch and put her in the glass dome. Meanwhile in the clouds the villagers all got on one side and pushed the glass wall. “It’s working,” said the villager.” Keep it up”. The glass fell and hit the witch on the head. When Maria heard the sounds she went outside with the shrink ray and srinked the witch.

The villagers cheered.” YAAY!!! Woohoo hip hip hooray!!” The villagers put the mini witch in a glass dome and put her in the town square collection shop. As for the clouds it was a sight to see.

By Neha

Have you ever travelled in a plane or by boat before? Let us know in the comments!

Activities from Kiwican to keep you entertained this weekend (or next week!)

 

Ngā mihi nui Kiwican, thank you so much for these activities.

Which one was your favourite? Let us know in the comments!

Superb Sea Vessels

 Our new topic this week is navigation and innovation - we're exploring how people find their way around, and how this has changed over time. One project some of us completed was to design or make our own sea vessel. Check out our work below!

If you could sail anywhere in the world, where would you go and why? Let us know in the comments!

A Message from Kiwican

Leave your replies to Gabe in the comments!

 

Digital Art and Animation

 We hope you are all doing well during this lockdown! Why not use it as a chance to get creative? Some Room 9 students have been using their Chromebooks to make artistic digital projects. Check it out:

Pacman Animation by Neha

Sunset Party by Ruqayat

Have you made any digital art recently? Link us to your blog in the comments!

The Art of Persuasion

 I hope you are all doing well during this current lockdown! It is great that we can still meet online to stay connected and keep learning together. Lately we have been focusing on persuasive writing. Here are a few that we completed this week:

Which Season Is The Best? By Neha

Which season do you think is the best? In my opinion I think summer is the best season because of multiple reasons. What do you think is summer the best season or not? In summer crops grow best and the days are longer, best of all more ice creams or popsicles.

My first reason is crops grow better in summer but it’s not all crops. Summer is also called the growing season because people grow crops mostly in summer. The best crops to grow in summer are cucumbers, tomatoes, beans, berries and many more like them.

My second reason is that summer has long days because the sun rises earlier and sets later at night. For kids summer holidays are really fun because school is out and they can have fun  and play games. You can go to the beach and have fun. Go on a vacation or just play outside and have tons of fun.

My third and final reason is cold delicious ice cream or popsicles. First of all, they're really tasty and so good for hot summer days. It is also a fun little snack for kids to eat while they play.

In conclusion I think summer is the best season because crops grow better in summer. Summer has long days for more fun. Cold delicious ice cream for hot days. So what's your opinion on summer being the best season?

Books are important

By Ruqayat

How many books do you read a day? None? In my opinion, getting into reading is a good idea because it can benefit you in many ways . Books play a significant role in every student's life by introducing them to a world of imagination, providing knowledge of the outside world, improving their reading, writing and speaking skills as well as boosting memory and boosting intelligence. 

Some more benefits of reading are. Reading makes you more empathetic. Reading is a way to escape reality, and can take you to faraway lands, sometimes it also allows you to step into other people’s shoes. Some more benefits are, reading keeps your brain healthy, reading reduces stress, reading helps you sleep better and lastly reading sets a good example for kids.

But, sadly nothing can be that perfect, as much as reading has a large variety of pros, it also has a large variety of cons. Some of those cons are…. It can damage your eyesight drastically, it is time consuming ( Which in a way can also be a pro ), it costs a lot of money, it takes up a lot of storage and some books are propaganda. Although reading has lots of cons we need to remember that reading also has LOTS of benefits. Some of the main benefits are it improves your creativity and vocabulary, it provides inspiration, it improves your productivity, it can assist you in developing a personality and it can enable you to be open minded. For example, reading books about different cultures, religions or countries can help you make connections to that place.

And lastly decades ago, studies showed that young children whose parents read to them regularly or made them read regularly demonstrated performance improvements in three categories: vocabulary, spelling and (unexpectedly) math. This suggests that developing as a reader helps improve a student's overall ability to process new concepts and new types of information.

In conclusion, ready is healthy and good for you. But, reading an unhealthy amount is not good for you. In my opinion getting into reading is a good idea, just don’t overdo it.

Should sports be easier for the kids with medical problems?  By Luisapeta

Should sports be easier for the kids with medical problems?  My opinion is yes because 1. They have medical problems 2. The sports that everyone else is playing might be too hard for them and 3. It would be a better chance for everyone to win. 

Reason 1: They have medical problems.

You don’t know what type of medical problem/s he or she could have. It could be Heart problem, Asthma, cancer, diabetes or even lung disease. But whatever it is that is slowing them down from winning whatever sport you are playing. 

Reason 2. The sports that everyone else is playing might be too hard for them. 

whatever sport you are playing like Basketball, baseball, touch rugby, soccer might be too hard for the kids with medical problems. Maybe the teacher can make the rules easier for the kids with the medical problems. But whatever it is that is slowing them down from winning whatever sport you are playing. 

Reason 3.  It would be a better chance for everyone to win. 

Like I said in reason 2 whatever sport you are playing like Basketball, baseball, touch rugby, soccer might be too hard for the kids with medical problems. But maybe when the teachers twist the rules a little bit it would be much easier for the kids with medical problems to win as well as the other kids.

Should sports be easier for the kids with medical problems? What do you think?

 Stay safe, be kind and we will be back next week with another blog post. What topics should we persuade you on next??

Olympics: Report Writing

 So far this term Room 9 has been learning lots about the Olympics! We each chose a competing country to research and share information about. Here are three of our reports:

Have you been watching the Olympics? Which country do you think will win the most medals? Let us know in the comments!

FUN FUN FUN

In week 9 we were lucky enough to participate in a Fun Day at Pulman Park. We tried out all kinds of sports and team building activities. Here are some photos from our day:

During physical education we have been focusing on having positive and assertive interactions with one another - this helps everyone to have more fun! Here is a video of some of the Room 9 boys doing an awesome job of this using a parachute to catapult a beanbag into the sky...

Murray's Acrostic Poem

 This week we have been exploring different types of poetry. Murray wrote a spectacular acrostic poem about global warming: 

Leave us a comment below of an acrostic poem with your first name! 

Term 2 School Trips!

Wow, Room 9 sure has had a lot of adventures over the last couple of weeks! Here is a collection of photos to share what we have been up to. A special thank you to KPMG for being our awesome helpers at camp and Kelly Tarltons! What is your favourite activity to do at school camp? Let us know in the comments!

More Descriptive Writing

 Last week we continued to work on our descriptive writing with this photo as our prompt: 

We were working on using present tense (writing as if it is happening right now) and descriptive language. Below are some of our efforts. Which one is your favourite and why? Let us know in the comments!

Chastity

The snow under my shoes is super thick. It's kind of hard to walk but it was fine. The view is amazing.

I could see huge mountains and lumps of ice. The ice is really slippery. I need to watch out so I don't fall over.

I can hear and feel the icy cold wind. It’s so cold out here that my cheeks looked like they were slapped red. The sky is a beautiful blue colour today.

Jasmine

Luisapeta

Victoria

My toes feel really numb. I can’t feel them. We are marching up the mountains.As we are walking we can see pieces of ice starting to break, we are scared. Some are so soft that I feel like I was about to sink. I look up and see mountains made out of what look like hard dirt. I can’t feel anything because my hands feel weakened . I pinch myself really hard to see if I feel it, but as I do it feels like the numbness surrounding my body has suddenly broken like a shell but quickly covers me up again.

I stomp on one of the ice and I sink down and  my foot gets wet. I am  stuck. I try so hard to pull my leg out but I can't. I shout so loud that people beside me hear. They quickly rush over and hold both of my hands and pull me out. “Thank you” I say and we carry on snow hiking. It is a really long hike. 

I zoom into the snowy ground and it is  really dirty. I look up and see seagulls flying overhead with chilliness. Finally I arrive at my destination safely.  

Viena

The wind flies in my face the journey starts,the snow is cold as ice and the mountains are like giants ahead, the warmness is going away and it feels cold and chilly, the mountains are singing in the daylight and the snow is soft as a cushion, My head feels at ease, we start the quiet walk up, never have I ever felt so worried in my life.

My hands and toes are numb as in I cant feel it at all,  we are marching up the big large mountains, in the corner of my eye the ice starts to break but it is ok, The journey lasts for hours it starts getting cold and the snow is colder and colder, as I am walking on the ice the ice breaks and my foot is stuck in the cold icy water but i get it out and my foot is cold as winter.

I get a closer look into the snow and there are sticks and stones hiding within the snow, but I am walking and I feel snow falling on my head as then I look up and there is nothing but a big cliff under me then I run to safety.

Ruqayat

                                   

   

     

Anzac Day Descriptive Writing

 This week we have been working on descriptive writing. To do this well we needed to write in present tense, think about our senses, use figurative language and weave in a complex idea. A fantastic example of all of these is Luisapeta's writing about a poppy field:

Red poppies blowing through the air with their green stems. The sun getting ready to go to sleep. The smell of nectar in the air bright red poppies their petals so soft, feels like a soft touch from my father going out to war.

I can hear the wind blowing pushing the poppies side to side. In my imagination I can hear sobbing of people’s family’s finding out one of their family members died or mia (missing in action). The sound of sad music playing at their funerals.

Another wonderful example is Poppies by Ruqayat:

Kiwican's Term 1 Finale

 Room 9 are stoked to announce that we claimed the Kiwican trophy for this term! We spent the afternoon completing a fun "Amazing Race" challenge with our Kiwican leaders Here and Gabe. 

Throughout Term 1 Kiwican taught us about positive relationships. This included positive body language, communication and friendship. Thank you Kiwican!

"Have a Go" Day!

 On Friday Edmund Hillary School participated in a Have a Go sports day. We got to try out orienteering, weightlifting, volleyball, handball, golf, ki o rahi, badminton and athletics. It was so much fun, and we discovered some hidden talents - Chastity is a pro at badminton and Faafua was excellent at shotput! Here are some photos of us having a go at weightlifting:

Which sport would you most like to try? Let us know in the comments!

Looking Back on Lockdown Learning

 We are back at school this week, woohoo! On our return we spent some time reflecting on how our learning went at home. Here are some graphs showing why we did (or didn't) participate in online learning.

Why did you do your online learning tasks?

Why didn't you do your online learning tasks? 

Then we brainstormed some ideas for how we can help ourselves to keep learning if we ever have another lockdown:

• Ask our whānau for support to stay on task
• Sit next to others at home who are working
• Limit our time playing games
• Set a timer for doing our work
• Do our work FIRST then have free time after
• Encourage our friends with their learning
• Listen to calming music to help us focus
• Have breaks/rests and spend some time outside
• Play learning games (like Prodigy) if we really want to play a game
• Read books
• Email Roya for feedback or help if we get stuck
• Get our whānau to contact Roya if we need to pick up a device

What's your best tip for home learning? Let us know in the comments!

He inu māu?

 We are currently in the midst of learning how to request, offer, accept and decline food and drinks in te reo Māori. This week we designed our own cafes with menus in te reo Māori. When we go back to school, we'll be able to practise ordering from one another! 

Here are some of our cafe designs:

By Kavel

By Priththika

-

By Ruqayat

By Tiannah

By Limihai

By Neha

Which menu and cafe design is your favourite? Why? Let us know in the comments!

What is the Author's Purpose?

Lately for reading we have been learning to analyse the author's purpose. This means deciding why the author wrote what they wrote. Was it to inform (give us information)? Was it to entertain us, something we would read for fun? Or was it to persuade us of their opinion? Here is some of our work on this for texts we have been reading about Te Tiriti o Waitangi. 

If you had to choose between a story, a poem or a news article, which would you prefer to read? Let us know in the comments!

Our 2021 Goals

 

Happy New Year! When we came back to school this week, we started thinking about what we would like to accomplish in 2021. Here are some of our goals:

What's your biggest goal for 2021? How will you work towards achieving it? Let us know in the comments!