Just letting you know that I’ve recently made a new blog in edublogs. To visit go to http://sarahm3.edublogs.org Please come and leave comments!
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Just recently the school has been involved in our latest interclass event, soccer. We have been so far, doing better than I expected. Our class team, this year, consists of, Ryan, Josh, Darcey, Mitch, Patrick, Sorrel, Greg, Iain, Magan, Holly, Hayley, Milly and myself. The way inter-class soccer works is, first of all, you play the classes that are in your pool. If your team gets enough points you go through to the semi-final and so on until there is a winner. We have played numerous games and surprisingly we have won each and every one of them. We have scored maximum points, with a total of 24. This makes us the highest scoring class by 3 points. We are really hoping to make it further than we did last year in the standings. I think that with our sportsmenship, teamwork and soccer skills that we have a fairly good shot at coming at least 3rd. Wish us luck!
Recently, a 30 year old man named, Navtej Singh was shot in his chest after being held up by robbers at his Liquor Store. He later died in hospital, only just after midnight. Their were three men who performed this criminal act who then ran off with a large amount of alcohol as well as money. The scary thing about it is that, Mr Singh was following along with all demands and yet these three offenders still shot him. This makes me wonder what kind of people are really out on the streets of this country. Detective Senior Sergeant, Dave Pizzini stated that, ”There has been an element of planning. They’ve clearly gone into the store, the three of them, with a loaded 22 calibre rifle, and they’ve demonstrated that they’re prepared to use it. It doesn’t get much more serious than that.” The hold up was one of few that have recently occured in the Manurewa area. These armed robberies are leaving the residents of this area feeling unsafe and at risk. I think that these eople have good reason to feel the way they do. After this incident, New Zealand’s police and medical forces have come under observation after allegedly taking a long time to get to the scene of the crime. The police took 25 minutes to arrive with the ambulance taking 38. After hearing about this I couldn’t see why the police took this long to get to the scene. It’s good that they followed proticole but it’s very unhuman too! This was precious time for the victim. I also think that this was nothing more than a cold-blooded murder because even though Mr Singh followed through with all demands they still shot killed him . It is very devistating and disgraceful that people can do this sort of thing. I have also recently learnt that the offenders left the store laughing. I think that this fact makes the crime even more more devistating. These malignant culprits deserve to be caught so that they can meet their punishment. These people should not be roaming New Zealands Street’s.
“Paraparaumu-Raumati Community Board deputy chairman Dale Evans walked into the Kapiti District Council’s monthly meeting during public speaking time, dressed in the white outfit with a sign around his neck that said “its wotz under da hood dat counts” - mimicking the slogan used in a current national hoodie campaign. He wore the costume as a publicity stunt to draw attention to problems with Kapiti bore water.” - Stuff.co.nz Personally, I think that this act was completely uncalled for. It was very disgraceful on so many levels. It was an outrageous stunt for publicity. I feel that it was very disrespectful to some black American people. The Ku Klux Klan were a horrible society and to think that someone dressed up as these people is a huge disgrace. I later watched “Close Up”, where the man, Dale Evans was being interviewed and when asked to reveal his face, he did, only to show his face proudly painted in a dark brown colour. I believe that doing that has just added more offence to the already shameful act. Dale Evans wore this outfit to draw much needed attention to Kapiti’s water, believing without doubt that he was doing a good thing. I think that he was doing the complete opposite, and instead also drew more attention to himself than the water issue. He should have never worn this costume as it was very offencive to many. Last Monday, 40 students from our school gathered at 6:45 to go to Rotorua for the annual Young Leaders Day. It was a very early start to the day and everyone looked tired. So, Hayley, Milly, Naveen and I went in Mr Kay’s car. Once we got there we waited a while for the doors to open. When they did we rushed in to get our tickets. In the lecture theatre we sat ourselves down and got ready for an action-packed day. We had a day full of inspiring speakers and leadership activities. My favourite speaker was without a doubt, Mark Ingils. He was the man that climbed Mount Everest with no legs. He told us of the inspiring things he has done in his life. The hardships in his life. He was very inspiring as he carried on with his life even though he had a major setback. Young Leaders Day was awesome and I hope to achieve great things in my life just like the speakers that we heard.
For those who don’t know, graffiti is drawings or words scribbled or sprayed on walls, posters, fences etc… Almost everyday, I see some kind of graffiti around our town. Mainly seen on local dairys and fences. Most tagging also has some gang related meaning behind it such as ‘ westside’. The main perpetrators seem to be young adults in their late teens. This issue also looks as though it’s getting worse. What I don’t understand is why? Why perform this act of pure stupidity? I think that some graffiti artists are actually very talented and simply tag to express themselves in the only way they know how. I also believe some people tag for their own reasons, but at the end of the day, graffiti is still a crime, no matter why you did it. I think that the police should have a more strict, serious attitude towards this behaviour. Tagging is vandalism and should not be taken too lightly. This issue needs to be dealt to. What do you think? Warming up in the Lecture Hall, everyone seemed tense and nervous. Instrument sounds and encouraging voices filled the air. The first year students looked as though they were going to collapse into a panic state, but thankfully they didn’t. Suddenly, a fire alarm went off. It took me seconds to realise what was going on. Calmly, we evacuated the building and made our way, noisily, over to the teachers. We were told that it was merely a towel left on a eater and that we had nothing to worry about. After a nervous laugh from the students, we went back to the Lecture Hall and finished our tuning. We silently marched into the hall. The audiences’ eyes darted from student to student. Mrs German’s voice filled the hall as she introduced us to the audience. She introduced our first song to be Latin Fire. As I picked up my saxophone, I prayed that I wouldn’t make a foolish mistake. We erupted with sound and an energetic melody filled the hall. Applause came from the audience along with words of inspirational praise. A proud smile plastered itself along my nervous face. After a night of singing, music and clapping, we finally came to an end with the popular song Eye of the Tiger. We played perfectly and were all buzzing with excitement when we had finished. I thought to myself “that wasn’t so bad after all”. On Tuesday the 8th of April our class along with room7 set off for Ohope Beach. Everyone was excited and ready to go, because we knew we had a great camp ahead of us. The drive there seemed to be short and sweet, the time flew by as we chatted away in the car. Once we got there, we unloaded our gear into our cabins. My cabin was Megan, Hayley, Kaitlyn, Milly, Holly and I. We were ready to get started on our camp activities. My highlight of camp was without a doubt the high ropes. High ropes are basically an obstacle course based numerous meters off the ground. I loved the adrenalin rush they caused. Lucky I’m not afraid of heights so it wasn’t that scary. Our camp lasted a total of four days and three nights. We were tired and sleepy by the end of it but I still wish it could have lasted longer.
I am going to improve on my reading comprehension by reading more often. I will also focus on the storyline more and read more challenging books. I will strive to improve on my maths. I am going to do this by asking for help when needed. I am going to make the most of each and every moment so I can complete my work before the due date. I will try to work better in a group so we can complete the task at hand, to a high standard. I will do this by listening to others thoughts, opinions and ideas. I am going to be the best student councillor I can be by informing the class about certain things and also putting great effort towards this role. I will try to improve on my saxophone skills by practising each day. I am going to try my hardest in all subjects, including tech arts so that I can achieve the best results I possibly can. On Friday the 7th of March our class and the rest of the school marched over to the school poool for our annual swimming sports. We sat down in our school houses and prepared for the following day. Everyone was excited as to what event was going to happen first. As soon as the races began the cheering and support also started. I participated in all the non championship events that I could. I also participated in 2 championship events which I qualified for a week earlier. I had qualified for both 25 metres and 50 metres breaststroke. I was quite nervous at first and a bit scared. The fact that everyone’s eyes were being drawn to the competing swimmers sent cold shivers up my spine. However as the day went on I became less and less nervous. Overall it was a great competitive day but was also very, very tiring. The pool was really cold to start off with but I still didn’t hold back and in the end I did quite well and got placings in a variety of events. Doors are magnificent beings that are very rarely recognised for their true beauty.Pathways to tomorrow and the rest of our lives.Blinding light flows under some doors,inspiring the world to persevere in all that they set out to do.Chilling winds come underneath others,frightening many.Encouragement can be heard leading up to most doors.Silence and darkness lead up to the minority.Rushing towards a door can have a harsh penalty,but it can also bring great delight and happiness.Spider’s webs dangle miserably off the unlocked doors.Lonely and patiently they wait.Some people sprint towards the realm of opportunities.Others are slow and wary.Untangling a weave of opportunities as they are unlocked.Precious days pass and numerous doors, opened.Gateways to our unknown future.Unlocking the door is like a blank canvas… Chances are endless.
This book is about a girl named Kirby. Kirby and her mum live happily in New Zealand and get along really well. One day Kirby’s mum gets a letter and announces that she will be moving to Wellington to work in a refugee programme. Kirby is shocked but things get even worse when she finds that her mum is actually moving to Africa to work with refugees and she will be left to live with an Uncle that she has never met before. After a long struggle Kirby finally decides that she will go with her Uncle while her mum works in Africa. Life turns to a nightmare when she finds that her relations are part of a strict religious cult and that she will also be forced to uphold “The Rule”. She is then given the religious name, Esther. This book was really interesting and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. It was not only a good read but it also broadened my mind to the types of religion in the world and how faith can impact a person’s life so greatly. The storyline was very original which was also good. There was always something happening all the way through the story which I liked. The development of the plot was excellent as it never rushed into anything or drag on at any point. I also liked the fact that the story was set in New Zealand because it made me feel as if I could relate to the story a lot more. Another thing I liked was the way that Kirby kept repeating the phrase “I am not Esther I am Kirby” because in some ways it showed the struggle that she was going through. My favourite character was without a doubt Daniel, purely because he stood up for what he believed in even though he had to go against his family’s wishes to do so. Overall this book was a great read which kept me interested the whole time because it opened my eyes to religion and the world. I would recommend this book to young adults who enjoy a fascinating read. Yesterday, 25th of Monday our class and the rest of the school attended the weekly Monday morning assembly. We walked in, mouths closed and silent. We knew that we would soon find out who the student council and house captains for 2008 would be. I had applied for both positions and because of this butterflies were jumping around inside me. Tension hung thick in the air and a number of people were nervous. My eyes darted towards Mr McCabe, our princable as he marched up the stage steps. His low and stern voice began to fill our school hall. After a moments whisper everyone turned dead silent. A few minutes later he began to announce the leaders and role models of the following year. Starting with room one, then two and after what seemed like a lifetime he came to our class, room 3. I couldn’t breath and my mouth turned dry. He announced that the class councillor for our class was..Me. I turned stiff for a few seconds then stood up and started to walk towards the stage, all eyes on me. We walked up on stage. I still hadn’t taken it all in yet. Mrs Ellis paced towards me and I felt great pride as she placed a student councillor badge on my uniform top. “Congratulations” Mrs Crowe said as I sat down. I was overwhelmed with joy so I couldn’t help but smile. In November, me and all the other symphonic band members got the chance to travel up to Northcross Intermediate in Brown’s Bay as part of a band exchange. On the way to Northcross we stopped at the rainbow’s end theme park for several hours. Rainbow’s end was great. The fear fall was by far the most frightning but worth it. However, my favourie ride would have had to be the corkscrew rollercoaster. We departed rainbow’s end at around 1:30. We arrived at Northcross and met the people we were going to be staying with. I found the person who was billeting me and we soon set off home. I had alot of fun gettting to know her. On the second day we went to the beach and I got to see more of the town. On the third day we departed Northcross for our small hometown of Te Awamutu. Our class have been working on a project with students from Shadows continuously follow as they do not have enough courage to lead. Shadows are lonely, timid and shy creatures and have very little confidence to show for themselves. This characteristic makes them the best listeners. They don’t give advice but listen with sympathy and compassion. Shadows are dark and mysterious. Their outlines differ from time to time but generally stay the same. A shadow can sometimes be forgotten but when it’s there beside you, you can feel it’s presence. They mirror you as you walk and copy each movement you make no matter how slight. They are the kind of creatures that will follow you down a dark alley and support each step you take. They are not just shadows, they are friends in disguise. On Monday our class and room 7 started social dance practice. First of all we chose our partners, the boys chose the girls. Jayden chose me. We stood in a circle and were told how to hold our partners. The first dance we learnt was the Waltz. It was quite simple with basic steps. After a few runs through of the Waltz, the girls were asked to choose a boy. I chose Josh. We did the Waltz a couple more times then moved on to learn the Gay Gordon. This dance was quicker than the last, you also changed partners alot in this dance. We finished after trying the Gay Gordon. I am going to be enthusiastic about social dance and try my hardest to learn each of the dances I am going to check my blog posts for spelling errors before posting them I will try my hardest in athletics and any other sports events I am going to write more meaningful blog comments I will get on with work straight away instead of leaving it too the last minute I will try my hardest to write to my potential and push myself further I am going to try my hardest when making all digital presentations At school we have had the Life Education programme. Life Education is a programme that teaches children the importance of keeping safe, secure and healthy. Harold is a giraffe and the mascot for Life Ed. Nicky, a teacher for Life Education is teaching our class the importance of eating healthily. On our first session with Nicky, she showed us what we should be eating and drinking and what the world really is eating and drinking. It was quite surprising at first but once I got my head around it I realsied that what she said is probably true. The world is eating far more sweets and treat foods that we really should be. I think that it is important for children to learn how to stay healthy because with all the advertisements and magazines encouraging these processed foods children may believe that there is nothing wrong with these foods because these advertisements only tell half the truth, so I think it is important for this programme to be in schools so that children are informed and hopefully make the right choices in their diet. It’s also a very enjoyable experience so you actually want to listen and learn to what is being said. A good tip that Nicky gave us was, when grocery shopping stay to the outside of the store, this is where all your nutritious food are kept. All the processed foods are put in the middle aisles so that you have to walk through them to get to the essential foods on the other side. I will be entering BP Challenge with some of my peers, Kaitlyn, Milly, Celeste and Holly. Our team name is Smackos. BP Challenge is using newspaper and other everyday objects to create an object. From there, selected teams and people go on to compete against other schools. I am looking forward to competing in the Challenge. If I don’t make it in at least I’ve tried. If I enjoy the experience I will definately be trying out for it next year. I feel that it’s important to do extra learning activities even when they are not essential. In Baltimore, Maryland, it is not legal to take a lion to the movies. In Shakespeare’s time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes when you pulled on the ropes the mattress tightened, making the bed firmer to sleep on. Hence the phrase, “Goodnight, sleep tight.” If you keep a goldfish in the dark room, it will eventually turn white. Women blink nearly twice as much as men. The cigarette lighter was invented before the match. A beam of white light is made up of all the colours in the spectrum. The range extends from red to violet, with orange, yellow, green and blue in between. But there is one colour that is notable by its absence, pink (or magenta, to use its official name) simply isn’t there. China has more English speakers than theUnited States. No president of theUnited States was an only child. His black pants and polo shirt, a little scruffy and not very modern but this is his everyday attire. Grey hairs intertwine with one and other like a spider’s web that is slowly diminishing. He sits in his treasured chair as he listens to his cherished country music on the old radio. His glasses sit upon his nose as he reads his favourite book for the second or third time. His hands show the journey that he has taken. They are rough and fragile. His heart-warming smile is seen along his wrinkly and worn face. He embraces all things good and is able to find the faint silver lining when no one else can. He is honest, moral and thoughtful towards everyone. You listen to every word I say with sympathy and understanding. To the rest of the world he may seem old but I know that he is really youthful and young at heart and that’s what really counts. I think that a closed door provokes more thought than a window because you are left to wonder who or what could be behind it at any given time. You are left curious. Whereas with a window you can see though it and it leaves nothing to the imagination. This door leads to a whole new place, you don’t know what this place is so you start to visualise and picture all possibilities. Last week, I was a part of the year 7 speech finals. Everyone in the school has to make a speech from this students are chosen to go into the team finals. If the students are good enough they get moved up to the school finals. After saying my speech in the school finals I was thrilled to hear the results. I came third out of all the year 7s in the school!! This film is about Benjamin (Nicholas Cage), a treasure hunter who devotes every moment of his time to solving ancient clues. The film begins in Antarctica where Ben deciphers a clue that leads him to the Declaration of Independence. Ben believes there is an invisible map on the back of this important document. In order to protect the Declaration, he must steal it, before someone else does. Nicholas Cage was great in the lead role but I think a slightly younger actor would have enhanced the film even more. The supporting cast were great and played there roles well and always stayed in their character. There was only one woman playing a lead role and the film needed more females because it was a mainly male cast. I really enjoyed this film because it was action packed and there was always something exciting happening. The storyline was very interesting as it was original in all aspects.. I liked the way the film did not only entertain but also educated viewers about Overall I enjoyed this film. It had a few faults but these were out weighed by the good features. I would recommend this movie to a young teenager. Download Video: Posted by lynnec at TeacherTube.com. This is mine and Shannon’s presentation about the colour blue. This presentation shows our feelings about the colour blue and how we interpret this colour. Download Video: Posted by lynnec at TeacherTube.com. This is my inquiry based on the essential question, who has more power, men or women? I think that a spider web is weaker because a promise can be kept for life, it just depends on the person who is keeping that promise and if they are trustworthy,whereas a spider’s web can easily be broken. It is a different story if the person is not trustworthy and goes in favour of the spider web. A couple of weeks ago I was involved in WAI Maths. WAI maths is a competition that involves problem solving. I represented the school in the year seven team along with Holly and Ryan. We placed 14th equal, out of 24 teams. WAI Maths was held in Hamilton and was a great experience. Hopefully next year the year 8s will acheive a higher placing. I have been tagged by one of my classmates to write 8 random facts about myself The rules are: 1. Post these rules before you write your facts 2.List 8 random facts about yourself 3. At the end of your post tag some people and list their names linking to them 4. Leave a comment on their blog telling them they have been tagged Here goes… 1. I don’t like chocolate pebbles 2. I am fairly good a badminton 3. I can do a one-handed cartwheel 4. I like the colours blue and turqoise 5. I have been to the South Island 6.My family goes to Coromandel quite often 7. I once had a cat named Koala and one named Turtle 8. I don’t mind public speaking I tag Sarah(All Stars), Gloria(All Stars) Have you any idea what would happen if too many immigrants moved to New Zealand? Our beloved kiwiana will turn from pavlova’s, the silver fern, buzzy bee, gumboots and jandals, L and P to chopsticks, sushi, boomerangs, and of course the Kilts and bag pipes. Immigrants are changing our cultural icons as I speak. Why should we have to change our lifestyle to fit theirs. As the old proverb goes “When in New Zealand’s culture is in danger with all the immigrants coming into Along with immigrants can also come many harmful diseases. With the hectic lifestyle we live in today, some people are able to slip their way through our boarder patrol. Just Think! If a pandemic was to break out in New Zealand it could easily spread across our small country and wipe out a significant amount of the population. Would you rather be the cleaner at the hospital or the doctor? What about a paper boy or a journalist. Well, with all the immigrants coming in you may not have a choice. Did you know that 51,236 people were grantedNew Zealand residency from 2005- 2006? Of these people 62 percent were granted residency on account of their business and career skills. Now, do you really believe these people are just going to sit back and settle for the low income jobs, especially when they have most likely come from a privileged background . No, these people will want to take advantage of the skills that they do have and claim the high income careers. Often when an immigrant does introduce business, the positions are filled by family members who have traveled with them. How many times have you walked into a shop and spoken to a staff member only to find that you can not understand them because of their thick accent and lack of English skills. This can become very frustrating when you have to repeat yourself over and over again and possibly even resort to sign language. This can often push costumers away and a loss of business can develop. Another problem that can occur with too many immigrants is over population. If you look across at countries like You must also remember that with an immigrant comes their family. More people will mean more cars and rubbish and along with that pollution. Our beautiful environment will turn into a horrible wasteland. Our rubbish dumps will grow and grow. Pollution is a growing problem world wide and with more immigrants the problem will only become worse. Furthermore, immigrants are changing our country for the worst and will continue to do so unless we take a stand and do something now. They are taking our jobs, changing our culture, causing difficulties due to their lack of English skills. They are also over crowding our country. So, I ask you why do we need more? On Wednesday 8th of August people across I am currently involved with debating at my school. For 12 years my school and a school called Belmont have been having a sports exchange. I am in the year 7 team and we are the practise team for the year 8s. Next year I may be travelling to Belmont. I am tired of hearing that television is bad for children. How can we expect children to learn the difference between good and bad if we do not expose them to both? By watching t.v, children will learn good judgment. Also there are many educational values such as watching documentries and the news. There are also cultural advantages such as the maori channel. World Vision and other charities etc. would not have such an impact. This term I am going to improve my reading level by reading more challenging books. I am going to improve my speaking skills by speaking slower and at a good pace. This term I am going to develop my editing skills by checking and correcting each wrong mistake. I would like to develop my maths ability by applying myself to each activity. This term I am going to contribute my ideas to the class discussions with more confidence. I this will also help me prepare for speeches. This term I am going to complete a good speech by managing my time more efficiently. This term I am going to try my hardest in everything I do. I am currently in a school prodution called The Pirate Queen. We auditioned at the start of the term and have been practising every Sunday and Thursday from 3 til 5. Our prodution is about a group of Irish pirates that get captured while searching for gold on the high seas. In the production I am a villager. The people involved were the band, sound and lighting crew, cast and backup singers. We have started perforning night and day and it is becoming very tiring. This book is about a series of events that happen to an unfortunate girl named Jayni.After moving away from her dad when he raises his hand to hit her, Jayni changes her name and personality to the “beautiful, outgoing Lola Rose”. This is a radical change from the shy timid Jayni. Lola Rose’s life becomes something it has never been before as Lola Rose is pushed into being more grown up than she really is when her mother leaves her to take care of her brother while her mother goes into hospital. All through this Jayni is left terrified.This book gave in depth and emotional feeling throughout and this allowed me to understand what was really happening. I enjoyed this book because it was based on a girl around my age. One of the other reasons I liked this book was because it shows me that not everyone’s lives are perfect and that I should be thankful for what I have. The start didn’t drag on at the start either which I liked. As soon as you get into the story it is very hard to put the book down. The language used was great as well. My favourite part of the story was the happy ending after what seemed a lifetime of sadness liked this book because it is a change from the stories about people with perfect lives. It also makes you think of the decisions we make in life and how they make a difference. There was only one weakness, I didn’t like the way that some of the events were exaggerated to a point where they didn’t seem real. I really enjoyed this book and there was definitely more strengths than weaknesses that I could spot out while reading this story. This book is definitely worth the time it took to read and it was definitely enjoyable to read. Once upon a time there lived a cheeky mischievous girl named Little Blue. Little Blue lived on the brim of the woods in a small cottage. On a beautiful autumn morning Little Blue strode down the dark and cold hall to find her mother who asked her to deliver some baking to her grandmother. Without hesitation she denied with force. Little Blue was never the type of girl to do what she was told. Although, Little blue was soon convinced into doing it after being bribed with sweets.Slowly Little Blue set off into the dark and mysterious woods, leaves crackling beneath her favourite sneakers. In the distance she could see a figure coming closer. Little Blue began to become anxious so her power walk came to a slow pace. Little blue noticed that the one person she saw had turned into many and that they were all holding large and bright protest signs. She soon realised that they were all animals. The leader seemed to be a lone wolf who had dreadlocks that hung to shoulder length and wore mainly green. “Excuse me have you seen the woodcutter I would like to talk with him about what he is doing to our homes when he cuts down the trees”. “I have heard that he chops wood for your grandmother” the wolf continued. Little Blue was told not to talk to strangers and frightfully carried on. “Wait please” howled the wolf “we do not wish to hurt him” “Follow me” Little Blue said uneasily. Little Blue anxiously led him and the other animals to her grandmother’s. Her grandmother’s house was even smaller than Little Blues home and was a lot older as well. When she got there the woodcutter was outside collecting wood at the time. Little Blue latched onto the door handle and threw herself inside. Little Blue could tell there was going to be trouble but left them to their business. A short time after she heard a commotion outside. Her and her grandmother went outside only to find the woodcutter tied up to a mighty oak tree. Little Blue’s grandmother struck into action using the martial arts that she had been learning for sometime. Little Blue gazed in amazement as the animals one by one slowly returned to the woods never to bother them again. The woodcutter was so grateful to Little Blue and her grandmother that he made her a new and exquisite home. This time the woodcutter knew only to use as little wood as possible. After that Little Blue and her family lived happily ever after. |
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