Famous Cathedrals

There were so many Cathedrals to choose from but I had to choose St Patrick's in Auckland. It was built on 1848 until 1845. If my calculations are correct than it would have taken 33 years which seems like a lot of hard work if you ask me. I hope you've learned more about St Patrick's Cathedral.

Would I Participate In The Waka Ama Race?

Well yes because it would help me to work in a group and get over my fear of the sea. I know this sounds silly but I'm scared that I'm going to either drown or sink. Also rowing is a good arm workout and I like a little competition. Over all I think that I would like to join because it is a fun sport!

Journey To A New Territory

Dear reader

It's been hours of sailing but still no sight of land I have mixed feelings in my head like anxiety, nervousness and I feel sea sick. All we could do now was follow the clouds because where there's clouds there will likely be land. Sailing all day had me thinking  how will we survive in a new territory but luckily we remembered our lessons back home on how to plant make shelter. I hope we find land soon or I'm going to be sick.Finally after sailing on the vast ocean we found land and I can't wait to tell you more.

3 Facts About Maui

The first fact is that Maui is a demigod who has the ability to shape shift with the magic from his fish hook.
Did you know that Maui slowed down the sun? Well there are many legends that were told of Maui like fishing up New Zealand, how he stole the fire and heaps more.
The final fact that I will state is that according to google the meaning of Maui is unknown. This is possibly because he is a trickster and you never know what Maui is going to shape shift into next.

Summer Learning Journey

On Friday Rachel Williams came to Ruapotaka School to talk about the Summer Learning Journey. Rachel said that this year's theme is based on New Zealand.

This year she was lucky enough to have a team of bloggers to help comment on each student's blog from different clusters. I knew that as soon as she started talking about it I wanted to register and the prizes would relate to the theme.

The reason why I want to participate is because when I come back next year I will be ready for my tests that I have to sit. And because I want to make more progress and be better than before. I can't wait until I'm registered and ready to blog.

Also it begins on the 18th of December and ends on the 26th of January 2018. If you haven't registered then register now so you can start blogging.

Last Day of Technicraft for 2017!☹

Today was the last day of Tech at Tamaki College for this year. I was so devastated when I heard the news but in a way I was happy because we were going to be coming back next year. I finished all my art works and I wrote my summary about what I have learnt at graphics and my favourite things about it. In the end we all achieved our goals which was to finish all our art works and be better than before in art. Leaving was sad but I'm excited for the new year to come.

Athletics Day

Today we had athletics and it was a hot sunny day with only a few clouds in the sky and nothing but a calm chilling breeze. As I looked at the track, butterflies started to fill my stomach but I tried not to think about it. First was the years 7 and 8 girls including me running the hardest race of all the 400 meter races.  The next race was the 200 meter race. We were each running in our own years.

Finally when the juniors had finished all of their races it was our turn to run the last race which was the 100 meter race. While I was walking to the track I forgot about everything and focused on the race. I was running down the track as fast as I could and I caught a glimpse of one of the girls that I had just passed. When I reached the finish line I was surprised because I received a brown block which meant third. I was so proud of myself for what I had achieved.  Next time I will set my goal higher so that I can be better than before.

Speeches

Today was our first practice for speeches and we were being judged by one of our classmates. The judging was out of 39 and I was so nervous because I thought that the year 7s were going to go first but luckily the year 8s had to present theirs first.

My speech topic is Tonga and all the unique things like food, dances and heaps more. It will be exciting to see the speech finalist presenting Room 12. But until then we will have to keep practicing our speeches.

Manaiakalani Film Festival

Yesterday the whole school went to Sylvia Park Hoyts. We were in cinema two with St Pius School. A lot of the movies were funny and had meaning but I think our movie was more strong and powerful. The Room 12 Year 8's have done a great job and I hope you enjoy it.  

First Day Of Term 4

On the 16th of October 2017 term 4 had finally started. I was excited to be back at school especially because I missed my friends. Daily fitness was fun and Mrs Golder announced that it was Chinese language week. We learned a Chinese word which was 'Huānyíng' and it means 'welcome'.

Shortly after sports the bell rang and everyone walked to assembly in the multipurpose room. Mrs Vickers talked about the Tamaki College Gala and the prefects said some reminders like 'testing soon' and 'to go home straight away'. One student from each classroom received a Duffy book from our sponsor Terry Jarvis for 'caught being good'. When we were back in class, Room Twelve Group One reviewed this week's Homework.

I learned a lot of things on my first day back at school I can't wait until tomorrow.

Color Combination

The topic for science experiment was making a rotating color disk. We started off with three circles then we colored them each with primary colors. Next we had to punch holes beside the center then add a meter long string then we experimented with them.
As we got the hang of it we discovered that the faster the disk spins the more likely you will see a different color appear. Then as we kept on spinning our arms got tired but I didn't care because I liked watching colors like orange,purple and yellow appear. Not only was it fun but it was great arm workout. My arms were aching but I managed to work with them through out the rest of the day.

Duffy Role Model Assembly And Orienteering With Mr Leon

Today was an exciting day because it was our Duffy assembly with a special visitor. Before the assembly we found out some interesting things about our visitor which was Michel Mulipola. I already knew some things like, he makes comics but I was amused when he said that he wrestles because I love watching it on T.V. I was all excited to meet him that I forgot we had orienteering around the same time. As Michel was talking about his comic, one of them appeared in the school journal that my reading group had read. It was about some tips on making a comic. Just as he was started to talk about his wrestling we were escorted to room 11 for orienteering.

First we went over the basics which was colours from our previous maps. We were divided into four groups I was in group four. The first activity was to pick up the picture and then match it with the word.  It was the same for the second activity but the other way round. Next was my favourite. It was a bit like snap but you had to put your hand by your side and when the teacher called the name the first hand on the correct card got to take it back to their team. That was a fun day!

Practicing For Cross Country

Toady was our first practice for cross country and it only happens once a year so we all have to build up our stamina. Running outside of the school grounds was tiring because the distance was much longer than our usual run but I'd rather run around two times then run for ten minuets. After my first run I was feeling exhausted like all my energy had been drained but that didn't stop me I knew I only had one lap left so I used maximum power for the last lap. Finally when I finished my lap I was relieved and I could tell by everyone's faces that they were all tired and ready to rest. That was a good first practice run but I'll keep on trying my hardest and put in a 100 % effort.

Technicraft Rotation

Toady I hopped on the bus excited for Tech rotation. When we had arrived  at Tech Mr Pineda was sadly absent but I was still happy because our teacher was Miss Kasipale. The task  that was  assigned to us was to draw our names and the width had to be approximately 60mm long which is equivalent to 6cm.

We were  instructed to try and make each letter of our name different and unique. As I looked around at everyone else their drawings were nearly ready for coloring. Then I looked at mine and saw only three letters and some weird looking shapes. I felt really frustrated because I didn't know how to draw with detail so I remembered our mindfulness session.  I stopped,  took a deep breath then I carried on. At first I didn't think it was going to work but after I finished my drawing I actually had time to add some detail.

After the bell rang for first period a new reliever came in and took over Miss Kasipale. When I was adding my detail I was distracted by Mr Stag. I couldn't help laughing,  he was just so hilarious. When I was about to color in my drawing the bell rang for the second period.  We sadly had to go but I had fun for the first time in graphics.

Chocolate Cake

Today was the last day of Tech cooking for this year but we will be coming back next year.

We made chocolate cake with whip cream and Hershey's chocolate sauce.
First we began by mixing the dry and wet ingredients in one bowl then we mixed the batter until it was no longer dry. We had to put our cake batter into the cake tin and I was becoming anxious because I couldn't find it. But luckily Mrs Tuipulotu had some extras for us.
Afterwards, we put the cake tin in the oven to bake. I looked at the wooden spoon which had the cake batter - it smelt so delicious and I couldn't help myself, so I tasted the raw batter which was surprisingly not that bad.
Finally, I took the cake tin out of the oven. Mrs Tuipulotu  added the toppings then I sliced it into segments before eating it.

Netball Practice!

Today after lunch the names of the students who were selected for netball had to go to the court to practice. Mrs Shortland had the list of names and their positions. The teams were years 7/8 against years 5/6. My position was reserve. As I was watching the teams play I noticed that even though the years 5/6 weren't the same height as some of the other team they managed to block the ball a few times.

When it was my turn to play I had to go as goal defense or GD for short. As I was playing my team managed to get 7 goals then I had to switch back to reserve. 5 minutes later I switched positions with the wing defense. It was only 1 minute and it was time to finish netball. It was a short time I still had fun.

Moana How Far I'll Go

Straight after interval all of the classrooms lined up at the multipurpose to get ready to perform their class item. As Room 6 entered the multipurpose room I was curious about what they selected to perform.

The first class to perform was Room 1 with a Samoan dance called the Sasa. Once their performance was finished the audience was kind enough to give them a round of applause.  Next up was Room 5 performing Le Aute which is a Samoan song, I thought that they were all on time and on beat with the music.


Finally the performance that I was curious about was next and it was Room 6. When their teacher  announced that they were going to model their Tongan and Samoan wear I was so excited because we've never had a catwalk before. At the end I looked at all the costumes and they were all beautiful. Up next was Room 7 with a dance routine to the song Picking Coconuts. I liked their dance because their song was catchy. My favourite was the dab. Room 9 sang a song called Little Birdy On A Tree the students both sang in English and Samoan.



 They could have sang louder but apart from that they were awesome. Room 10 was next. They were singing E Otua acapella which I thought was great, but when they finished I was really nervous because we were next. When everyone started singing I managed to get rid of my nerves and just sang. I think we did a good job and I had lots of fun singing with all my classmates. I can't wait till we sing together again.

Chicken Curry Indian Style!

Today for tech Mrs Tuipulotu told us that we were going to be making chicken curry. The equipment we needed was a pot, pan, wooden spoon, metal spoon and a strainer. The first step was to put our chicken the pot and make sure to fill the pot above the chicken. Then set the stove on hi and once it started steaming with air we lowered the temperature to 160 and left it to cook for five minutes. While  the chicken was cooking we made some curry sauce. First we Mrs Tuipulotu tipped the Indian style sauce,black pepper and curry powder then she sent us back to our tables. As we were stirring the sauce Mrs Tuipulotu came around putting a scoop or two in our sauce to make it slightly more sweet or the sourness of the tomato will take over the sauce.

When I took out the cooked chicken I poured it into a strainer to let all the water out, then we set the stove on 180 and poured the chicken into the pan with the sauce. Later when I was mixing the chicken in the sauce the chicken started to turn yellow so I took it out and I grabbed the tongs and put the chicken on the plate with the rice then I scooped the rest of the sauce onto the rice then it was time to eat.

Chocolate Muffins With Chocolate Chips😏

Today was like any other normal morning putting on our aprons, washing our hands, getting our cooking equipment ready and setting up our table. When it came to deciding who would do the dry and wet ingredients, it was easy because I wanted to do dry and Mary wanted to do the wet.

The dry ingredients were one and a half cup of S.R.F (Self Rising Flour), one quarter cup of cocoa powder, half a cup of sugar and fifty grams of chocolate chips.  When Mary was adding in the wet ingredients she was very careful not to spill anything.

The wet ingredients were one egg, half a cup of milk and half a cup of vegetable oil. We all set our ovens to 180 degrees Celsius. I put the muffins in the oven and left them to bake for 10 minutes. Once they were ready I carefully took them out of the oven and placed them on a cake cooler to cool while everybody was cleaning their cooking station. When we had finished cleaning everything up, sadly it was time to go back to school.

Cinnamon And Jam Muffin

Today at Technicraft year sevens received a recipe for cinnamon and jam muffin. First we had to put on our aprons then we washed our hands before getting out the cooking equipment. Once we had finished putting all the equipment we needed on our tables, each group had to decide who would do the wet and dry ingredients.

I put all the wet ingredients into one bowl while Mary put all the dry ingredients in another bowl. When all the ingredients were in their correct bowls we then combined them together to make the muffin batter. Before we put our muffins in the oven we added a sprinkle of cinnamon and a hint of jam. Five minuets before we put our trays in the oven we set it to bake and put it on 160 degree to bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Once we poked our skewer in our muffins we then checked if the skewer was clean.

When I was getting the trays out it looked cooked and ready to be served. Once the trays of muffins were out of the oven we put them on the cake cooler to cool while we were washing the dishes. After cleaning our cooking area we finally got to eat, talk and relax with our friends and that was what the year 7's cooked at Technicraft.

Milk Shakes..... Yum 😏

Finally we are doing my favourite subject which is cooking with Mrs Tuipulotu. When we arrived at cooking class she was nowhere to be found. So while we were waiting patiently we told our buddies what we thought we were going to make.

 Once Mrs Tuipulotu arrived we were all excited to start cooking. The first thing we had to do was sit at a table with our buddies and take out the cooking equipment. We had to learn all the names of the equipment like serving spoon, measuring cups and all sorts. After learning about the cooking quipment we then learned where they live.  Next was the fire safety. We all had to learn about what would happen if there was a fire. Once we all learned about the cooking area we each helped each other put on our aprons, then we  washed our hands before cooking because we don't want germs in our food.

The meal we were making was milk shake. The ingredients we were using were vanilla ice-cream, Hershey chocolate sauce and whipped cream. First we used a whisk to soften the ice-cream and then pour it into our cup. Later we went to Mrs Tuipulotu for extra ice-cream. After our cups were full with ice-cream we drizzled chocolate sauce and added whipped cream. Lastly we topped off with a drizzle of chocolate sauce and we each got a straw and enjoyed our milk shake. That was what I made at Technicraft.

My Jewllery Tree I Made At Tech

Today I finally received my jewellery tree that I created at Technicraft at Tamaki College. I worked hard in Mr Grundy's workshop to complete my tree and all that work paid off.

 First we all had to draw our woodwork so it could match the measurement.
 Then we had to write down reasons why our projects are useful. I asked Mr Grundy if he could show me how to put on the hooks correctly. After putting on my hooks I finished writing my reasons down on paper. It was time to pack up so Mr Grundy said he would finish our work for us because we had to move on to a different class which was cooking.

The Beginning Of New Learning And A New Term🤓

On Monday 1st of May 2017 term 2 had just begun. I was so excited to be back at school because I couldn't wait to see my wonderful friends and learn new things during term 2. I have to admit the holidays was fun but now I'm back at school and back learning.

 A few minutes later we started our Maths learning. We each organised ourselves into pairs like mature year 7 and 8 students. After we had completed our Maths it was time for lunch time monitors to go to their rooms. Lunch was the same as usual: pupils eating, monitors watching and teachers sometimes watching or gone to have their lunch in the staff room. Everyone went outside to play and enjoy their lunch. As soon as the bell rang everyone either went for a drink after sport or lined up outside their class or by the multipurpose.

When assembly finished we all thought that we would just go back to class, but there was a slight change of schedule due to our immunization top up. I was scared at first but as I was learning that injections help you avoid getting germs. I was happy in fact I wanted to get it done right away. Then the health nurse said that we had to get the of our parents' permission first. When I told my parents about it they were happy to sign it. When I had brought my permission slip to school I just couldn't wait to get my injection done.

Every Child Has Hopes & Dreams

Today we had some special visitors come to Room 12 from the Everyday Theatre. First I thought it was all about acting, but as the minutes went on I realised that each time we swiped the actors in, a new scene begins.  We had to do the challenges and if we did them really well we won bonus points.

Our first challenge activity was when one person had to go  on the inside of the donut and the other person was on the outside. Then we had to summarise what our buddies said to the next person. For completing the task we received one bonus point and we had to try earn ten bonus points. Once again we swiped in Katelyn and Julia into the game as they were role playing.  The game got interesting but then they paused the game and gave us another task to do which was to get in to groups and whatever the piece of paper says we had to make a picture.

When we swiped them back in they were doing the scene called the hot seat. The way the hot seat works is:  we choose a character that we want to ask questions to,  if the person is having trouble then they can press help, if they think everybody is laughing at them then press the safe button and if you think the person is not telling the truth then we press the truth button.


When we swiped them back in the game they were up to the part when Dave goes to pick up T but when Maria opened the door she was in a bad mood and refused to let Dave take T because it was her turn to spend time with T that weekend. But as usual they had a big argument and Dave left so Katelyn and Julia decided to pause the game and move on to our next task. Our next task we participated in was to make a picture with a group and say something that popped in our head about our character on the piece of paper.


This time when they resumed the game they tried role play with a little bit of hope put into the game. When a  little bit of hope was put in everything was good and bright, the characters were being nice and working things out and it all turned out smooth. For our next task we did the same thing as our last task but we had to add a little bit of hope to our character.

We swiped them in for the last time and everything was back to normal but with all the characters nice and friendly. Our last task was to get in a circle and choose a character to give advice to and at the end of the task it was time to say goodbye but before we did we learnt a special new handshake and we got a games master badge.

What Is A Housing?

What is a housing joint, a housing joint is a joint which is normally the joint  in the middle of the wood your using.  Before you start planing it is important to write your name on the piece of paper before it gets lost. When your planning it's a good idea to use the wood you are working with so that you know the measurement of the drawing. If you are using extra pieces like a wheel it is important to know the measurement of that too.

When you are finished planning then you can start by drawing the joint on the wood. When you think it's the right length as the wood you can begin to cut. When you are cutting be carful of the saw when your cutting because you could be badly injured. When you are cutting it may be easier to put three fingers in the handle,your thumb at the top and your pinkie under the handle. When you are in the middle of the wood then to straighten the wood you simply just tap the saw as your straightening. When you think its straight enough and the saw is not wobbling then try putting in the wood. If the wood seems like it's going to fit but it's to tight it's okay because you can simply sand paper it because it's better to have a small hole than to have a big hole and when it fits then your done.

Tabloids At Ruapotaka School

 On Wednesday 15 of February 2017 was The Ruapotaka School Tabloids,
For tabloids we were each put into a house which had  a colored flag to represent our house. My flag color was red - whero is red in Maori. Our first activity was with Mrs Holbricks. The aim of the game was to throw a beanbag into the hoop or bucket -  you get one point if you get it in the hoop, two if you get it in the bucket and three if you get it in the big bucket.

 After doing most of the activities it was time to announce the points, Whero (red) got 35 points, Kikorangi (blue) also got 35 points, Kakariki (green) got 27 points and Kowhai (yellow) got 37 which means they have the most points for now.  We will keep on trying to score more points.

The First Syndicate Assembly For 2017

                         Tuesday the 7th of February 2017

 It was Room 12s turn to host the senior syndicate assembly . We all started off with a song called 'Smile and Be Happy' it is about smiling, being happy and living life to the fullest. We all sang loud but some people didn't sing so we all had to sing again. After singing the song twice we started our dance item.

Two students from each class had to come up and dance in the dance item:  from Room 9 was Maniarose and Diego,  Room 10 was le'aapeni and Dominic, Room 11 was Meafou and Teremoana and from Room 12 was Mika, Lupe and Saluselo. As the competitors showed everybody their dancing skills the audience was cheering them on. After dancing their best the competitors waited nervously for the results.  The audience decided who would win. by voting. We voted by putting our hand but you were not allowed to vote for your own classroom. The winners were Le'aapeni and Domonic because they danced the funniest.

We sang a another song called 'Lean on me'. It's about friendship, and if you're down and feeling blue you can lean on me. The prefects Meana and Mika said reminders like no more long pants because it's summer and it's so hot and wear your hats so you don't get sunburnt. Tyron concluded the senior syndicate assembly and then we all went back to class and did the rest of our work.