Halloween

Halloween is one of the world’s oldest holiday that is celebrated on November the first. People used to celebrate this event, and some still, by dressing up in costumes and lighting a bonfire. This was supposed to ward off the spirits.

Now, most people celebrate this event by dressing up as ‘scary’ characters. They also go knocking on doors, asking for lollies by saying “Trick or Treat!”

Halloween was not the original name for this event. It originated as All Saints Day but as years passed, the name, All Saints Day turned to All Hallows Eve. Nowadays we call it Halloween.

People believed that the night before Halloween, October the 31st, Samhain would summon spirits, witches and wicked souls. Since these people were afraid of the spirits they chose to sacrifice to their gods, hoping that this would protect them. On that day, they believed that they were surrounded by witches, spirits, souls, ghosts and much more that came to hurt them.

Kiwi Valley

During the holidays, I visited a place out in Henderson called Kiwi Valley. For those who don't know what Kiwi Valley is, it is a farm with many animals to interact with. It is very good for younger kids and animals lovers such as myself.

As soon as I walked in, I had already spotted some baby animals. There were lambs, piglets, bunnies and rabbits being looked after in a nursery pen. While I was in the nursery pen, I learnt that one lamb, Yoda, ate hair and the other ate material. My brother and cousin had been enjoying most of their time with the bunnies on the lap, but finally, we got them to come with us to the next attraction.

After having a go at the maze we went for a ride with Farmer Ben on the tractor. He took us up on a hill where the view was great! You could see Rangitoto as well as the Skytower. We also saw a cow called Summer that had a white belt.

Everything was great but my highlight would've had to be the part where we got to ride on the horses/ponies. My brother, cousin and I, rode on the horses a few times. We rode the horses around a course many times. It was great!

Overall, I had a great time and I think that it's quite a good place to check out. If you want to know more about Kiwi Valley click here : http://www.kiwivalley.co.nz/

Outlook For Someday Workshop. Amamauls Studios

What a great opportunity it was to have two of the OUTLOOK FOR SOMEDAY representatives do a workshop with a class of students from Pt England School. It is definitely something worth remembering.

During the lesson, Elie and Chris taught us about the OUTLOOK FOR SOMEDAY as well as much much more including the variety of genre’s, the different shots and also the different angles.

Before we started we got into groups. In my group was Tyla, Lisia, Jorja and I. To start off, Elie and Chris introduced the competition itself. They explained how it works, how you can enter and what you can enter. They also showed us a few of the winning movie from the year before.

After this we were given some quotes, puzzle pieces and pictures. Then we chose one favourite and stood up to explain why we liked it. As soon as we finished that, we started to talk about some idea’s for a movie.

Once our planning was finished we got to create a movie ourselves. My group and I chose to make a quick movie about sustaining the environment.

So on behalf of the year 7 and 8 students from Pt England school, we thank you for teaching us skills and techniques that will definitely be worth remembering. Also thanks for the DVD!
Outlook for Someday Workshop@ Pt England School from SchoolTV on Vimeo.

Here is the movie we made with Elie and Chris.

Hexagonal Learning

Yesterday afternoon, our class did some hexagonal learning with Miss King. When doing Hexagonal Learning, you connect the hexagons that may have something to do with each other. For Example: Bread and Knife go together because the knife can cut the Bread. First, we did a very easy one. Then once we had finished that we split up into groups of 3 and started to make our own hexagons. Once we finished making our hexagons, we swapped with another group and tried to connect their's. Here is what we did and why.

SER Kaycee

IN extension we have been investigating what people think about the new improvement on our local streets. First, with a partner, we had to create a form to get our evidence. Then we had to make a movie to conclude what we found out. Here is my movie.

SER Kaycee from Team 4 Pes on Vimeo.

John Farrell

John Farrell is not only an award-winning performing artist, but also a songwriter, author and peace educator. He has performed in the US, Canada, Ireland and Japan. He also likes to take time out to cycle, read and write. Also, he believes that people should spend more time talking, singing and reading with each other instead of having the TV in front of them the whole time. 

Along with his wife, Ann Marie, who is a Kindergarten teacher, he lives in Hillsdale, New York. They have five kids named Katien, Jack, Maggie, and twins Colleen and Patrick. 

Here are three of the books he has published as being an author. The first one is called, Dear Child, the second, Stargazers Alphabet and the last one is called, It's Just a Game.

I cannot wait until Thursday when we, the extension group, get to meet him up close!

Courtesy of http://www.storylines.org.nz

Line Graphs

Here is a presentation with three different line graphs.