Mini Tattoo Project

For our task we were to create two tattoo designs. The first one being a cultural one and the second being one that represented yourself. The presentation above includes the tattoos and an explanation for each I created. 

Samoan Pe'a

In extension, we have been looking at symbols and the meanings and reasons behind the tattoos. But the very tattoo we have been researching and focusing on is the samoan Tatau, or, the Pe'a.

Recently, we were visited by Mr Tele'a, who was going to show us his very own Tatau. But before we could ask questions and find out more information about it, Mrs Tele'a pointed out some of the elements included in the tattoo such as the va'a (canoe).

The Va'a, is a 20-30 cm solid coloured strip that represents family. It wraps around the back and towards the front. In this case, the va'a wraps around and comes just under the ribcage. It also has an arrow point or a faaulutao at each end. 

Once we had done that, we started asking him questions we had prepared before. We asked about the designs, the meanings, how long it took, etc. He answered the questions with detail and explained things very well. One thing he said that I found quite interesting, was that if you unwrap the Pe'a from around your body and look it as if you were looking at it on a piece of paper, it'll look like a bat.

We are now working on creating and designing two of our very own symbols/tattoos. One of them had to include one aspect of our culture or heritage and the other, had to represent ourselves. Currently, I am working on designing the two tattoo's. 

Storyline Reflection

Last week the year 5, 6, 7 and 8 extension groups went along to The Storylines Festival out at the Vodafone Events Center. It was a pretty interesting and enjoyable day hearing from the different authors but overall, my favourite’s were probably, Juliette McIver and Jill McGregor, even though they both wrote children’s books.

These two authors were very entertaining, interacted with the audience and creative. Juliette had a really ‘out there’ kind of personality and seemed really excited. She was really into rhyming and also created her own words. She also read aloud one of her books called, Queen Alice’s Palaces. Jill, was more of an educational writer who spoke with a soft tone. She talked about her experiences in the islands and why she started writing.

If I presented at the festival, I would try to interact with the audience to get them more excited and interested. Maybe things like, getting some students on stage to act out parts of the story or getting them to read the speech bits in a voice that matched the character. That would be quite interesting.

Overall, I had a great time listening and learning about the different authors even though I did enjoy last year’s Storyline Festival more enjoyable and interesting.

Storylines 2014

This Thursday, the extension group is heading to the Storyline's Festival at the Vodafone Events Centre. Similar to last year, we will be hearing from four New Zealand authors, Jill MacGregor, Juliette MacIver, Cath Mayo and Paula Green. Below is a short biography about each of the authors we will be seeing.

Jill MacGregor was born in Dunedin but currently lives on the Kapiti Coast. She was a VSA teacher in Tonga for two years. She has travelled throughout the Pacific Island exploring and experiencing the cultures and the village life. Her ‘Children Of The Pacific’ stories are based on her own experiences in the islands.

Juliette MacIver is an author of Children’s books, who grew up in Wellington and went to Victoria University. There, she completed a degree in linguistics then got a diploma in teaching English. When she was young, she always enjoyed writing but never really thought she would, ‘Be A Writer’.

Born in Auckland, Catherine Mayo writes novels for young adults. She is a musician and is apart of a band called Gentle Annie.

Paula Green lives with her husband on the West Coast of Auckland. She writes poets and Childrens stories. Including Flamingo Bendalingo and Macaroni Moon, she has published eight poetry collections.

Astria Countdown To Impact #2

Gloria and I, tried to play the game, Astria, everyday but it we found it quite difficult, especially when we were close to finishing. It would start glitching and freezing but soon, we found out it wasn't just ours. Soon we were told that every else was having the same problem and that there was a bug in the game.

Luckily, we recieved a new link and were able to finish the game. But we did do a few things on Wednesday and Thursday when we played. We figured out that we have finished all the areas, except for the part that involved the council. So we presented our chosen solution, which was Solar Sail, to the council and waited for their approval. There were a few reasons as to why we chose it such as how, this idea resulted in less deaths and the information that was given about this idea seemed more credible. 

Not long after explaining why we chose this option, out of the four, we continued on our journey to saving the planet. It ended up being quite an effective choice and we saved the planet and killed no one while doing so. 

Overall, the game didn't end up being very hard but it was pretty enjoyable. I do think if it had more activites and tasks, it would've been better. But the game was quite good.

Astria Countdown To Impact #1

The Extension group have been given the opportunity to trial a new game, which is designed to help improve literacy skills. It was designed and created by a group based at the Auckland University.

Gloria and I paired up and started the game. We acted as the Alpha Leader in the future, whose duty was to prevent an astroid from destroying many lives and their planet, Astria. There are different area's to the base that you can explore to try and find clues and information. 

The most difficult thing for me was finding the right people to talk to for the right information. Also, another thing I found hard was rating whether or not some of the pieces of information were very credible.

Today, I think Gloria and I did quite well for our first time. We achieved a lot more than we thought we would, especially in the time we were given.

20 Thinkers Keys : BAR Keys

For the last few weeks we have been looking at what the 20 Thinkers Keys. Each week we have been focusing on one of the 20 and have learnt more about it. Today we looked at the B.A.R Key. B.A.R stands for B : Bigger , A : Add , R : Replace. As an activity, we were given five minutes to draw a simple house. Here is the house, below, I drew.

Five minutes passed and now came the second part of the task. We rotated around the room, skipping a few computers, then made a change on the other persons house. With the first computer we stopped at, we had to make something Bigger, following the B.A.R. Key steps. We then rotated again but on the next computer we had to add something. Lastly we replaced something on the final house we stopped at. Here are the changes people have added to my house. (Below)

New Zealand Compared to Malawi

Recently in extension, we have been looking at what it's like to be living in Malawi. I have created a presentation showing the differences between a kid in New Zealand's day and menu , in this case mine, and a kid in Malawi's.

Term 1 Reflection

 This movie is all about term 1 and what we learnt. Hope you enjoy.   
Kaycee - Term 1 Reflection from Team 5 PES on Vimeo.

Visual Mihi 2014

In extension, our task was to create a visual mihi and explain what they mean. These are the few graphics I drew representing me. 

The first one, in the top left, shows the Maori Flag. I drew this as I am Maori. 

The second one, in the top right, is the New Zealand Flag. Again I drew this because I am a New Zealander. 

The third picture, in the bottom left, shows a few music notes/symbols. These were drawn because I love basically everything to do with music! 

The last symbol shows a cross and the bible. This is because I believe in God. Anyway these are what my symbols mean. 

Here is a link to my classmates visual mihi's.

Earthquake in Motutapu

Today at extension, our task was to copy an idea we saw in a article from the news paper. First we had to write what we felt when the earthquake occurred. Here is my finished product.

There were 2 earthquakes with the magnitude of 3.1 and 3.9 that were only 4 minutes away from each other. Many people felt it but some didn't. This has Gloria, Lisia and myself.

Olympic Medals

In extension, we had to design an olympic medal. We had to think about what the olympics would look like in New Zealand. Once we had ideas we planned them on piece of paper. As you can see I have put a kiwi bird, a silver fern and the skytower. These represent New Zealand.

Paper Cup Experiment

At Extension today we had a task to make a paper cup. We followed the instructions step by step. This experiment is sort of like origami.  At first I didn't really understand the instructions but then it was quite easy. If I had to say what I was like making it I would probably say it was a little bit hard until I passed the 2nd or 3rd step. After that it was easy peasy! 


To make this all you need is a pice of paper which is shaped as a square and some water. If you don't have a square paper. Fold a rectangle's top corner down to meet the edge. Then cut the remaining. 


We watched a little bit of a video on TED Talks. He explained what origami is. There we saw some very complicated pieces of art. 


We did this for some fun and to see if it works. Watch this video to learn how to do it and see if it works! 

Hidden Matariki

This is a movie about Matariki. It has been made into a Hidden matariki. If you have seen Hidden talents on Sky then you might know. This movie was made by some year 5 students in extension. I hope you enjoy!