2015 Reflection

This year has been a huge 'way to go' and this has been made possible because of our AWESOME teachers. Parakai, year 8 leadership camp, rainbows' end and even visits from Andrew Patterson.  This year couldn't get any better! Unfortunately this is my last year at Point England school and I wished all these events had happened sooner. All though, most of these events have a purpose to it. Such as our Year 8 camp earlier, the purpose of this was to learn, practice and take action in our leadership roles as we continue in the 2015 year. Here are a few reflections/flashbacks of my year at Point England School 2015.

Year 8/ Leadership Camp/ Term 1 
Year 8 means to show what awesome looks like, be a good role model and care for our school. Earlier in  term 1, team 5 had set up some cake stalls and our school had also set up a garage sale to be able to fund raise enough money for this camp (and we thank you for that!) This camp was very fun, amazing and inspiring too. We were all able to pick up on a few lessons and tips on our activities. Such as the water slide activity. Sure it looked like we were there just for the 'fun'. But we were able to co-operate and share our ideas openly and also be able to find new ways of formatting ourselves in lines to go down the slippery slide!

Garage Sale @ Pt England School 2015 from SchoolTV on Vimeo.



Year 8 Leadership Camp: Step up Marsden Camp from SchoolTV on Vimeo.



Tamaki College Talk Back For College / Term 2 
In order to prep ourselves for college, a few students from Tamaki College surprised us with a talk about things that happen in college. We were also very lucky to be given Tamaki College enrollment forms. You can read about how I found this talk, and into more what they were talking about by reading a blog post I posted just half an hour after the talk! Shows how much I was very excited for college. http://pesjosephinef.blogspot.co.nz/2015/07/tamaki-college-talk-back.html


Term 3/ Cindy In Da House 
Every two or three years, Mr Jacobson and some other few teachers organize and set up a production for our school and community to see. This year, our school were able to perform an eye opening act called Cindy In Da House. Unluckily, I wasn't apart of it. But I was able to be a supporter and enjoy the amazing show!




Reflection: 
So far this year, I was able to find myself as an independent person and be able to take huge responsibilities as a prefect. I have gained more knowledge in my leadership through out the year and I am very proud of myself.  Next year I hope my teachers would be able to pick up on how a confident speaker I am. As I go off to college I hope to take these teachings , learn from my mistakes and be able to be  a better person next year :)



Come aboard - we're expecting you! from SchoolTV on Vimeo.

Extension Reflection

Bioengineering, Tiritiri Matangi, Treaty Of Waitangi.. What else could there be!? It's been a really cool journey in extension and there's been some really cool stuff we've learnt this year as well. I would definitely miss extension as I head off to college next year.


Treaty Of Waitangi

To start off our year @ extension, we kicked off with learning about the treaty of waitangi.  Our task was to all make a document in groups and start researching about the history behind the treaty and why we have it. Once we had all the information, we had to gather it all together in a movie. Ana, Jordenne and I made a movie based on our knowledge of the treaty of waitangi. My highlight for this task was being able to co-operate with my group in making this movie such as sharing different ideas and even working with our new extension teacher, Mrs Lagitupu.



TOW JJA from Team 5 PES on Vimeo.


Tiritiri Matangi / Department Of Conservation 

Are you interested in birds? or even bizarre ones? Luck for us, because the extension also had the chance of learning about tiritiri matangi and the department of conservation. Unfortunately, during the process of research we found out that some of the species there are endangered. Our task was to create a home, or a model to help those endangered species so that they will no longer be endangered.
Josephine Biodiversity from Team 5 PES on Vimeo.


Bioengineering 
Our last project of the year happened to be very fun and cool to learn about. Why? Because through all our research we found out some very interesting facts about the things that happen, can happen, or will happen to your body. Thats right! We learn about bioengineering. Bioengineering, is another word for biological engineering. This can help you through severe injuries. Our task was to partner up, and create a presentation with all the evidence of our learning from our research. We even had a few discussion about the ethical and non ethical use of bioengineering.

Josephine and Jordenne from Team 5 PES on Vimeo.

Extension this year has been a huge journey for me here at Point England School. I've been in extension for about 4 years now and I have very much enjoyed all the different things we've learnt about. Extension places a huge part in my years at Point England school and I hope it does place a part in my years next year.

Also a huge thank you to my teachers who made it possible for me. Mrs Lagitupu and Mrs Tele'a xx Faafetai Lava

Yanomami

 This term, as part of our topic "Survivors" as a home class ( class 3 ) we have been focusing on some really bizarre countries. One of those countries happen to be the Yanomami people. Here is a presentation we did as group (Hannah, Angelina and Myself) to show you our understanding of the Yanomami people. 

Bioengineering (Term 4 Extension Task)

 This term , the extension group have been focusing on Bioengineering as part of our school topic 'Survivors'. We have learnt a whole lot from it and even had some discussions about the ethical and untethical uses of Bioengineering. Here is a presentation about Bioengineering followed by a movie at the end to guide you on what we have been doing and learning as part of this task,

Google Expedition

Dubai, Washington, England and even Space! Any place you could think of i’m sure we went there yesterday. What? Did you actually go there? Yes we did, with our eyes and mind. It may sound weird, but I tell you it was something realistic and so amazing! All the different places we went to and explored is something everyone would've definitely want to try again and again!

Tuesday afternoon, after a hot interval of playing in the sun, I knew it was time to get my mind back on track. Earlier that morning, all the year 7 and 8 students were announced that there was going to be a google expedition held in the morning for the year 7’s and after morning tea for the year 8’s. I was so thrilled, I couldn't even bother going to tech.

11:30 the bell struck loudly. I paused my play, and sprinted my way to back class. All though, I was getting a bit impatient and I couldn't hold all that excitement myself, so I shared some with my friends by basically doing what normal girls do, laugh and laugh and laugh. “Mrs Tele'a's coming!” I heard a small shout from the side of my shoulder, and I immediately got into position.

Mrs Tele’a then lead us inside the classroom and all the year 8s’ gathered together in the street for a few notices before trying the “Google Expedition.” Unfortunately, we had to do this event in our te reo groups ‘tahi, rua and toru’.  Rua was the first group to try it out and so tahi and toru had to go to into their maths classes and wait for their turn. I happened to be in toru, and it wasn’t really the outcome I expected.

“Woooww!” “Coool!” “Can I see yours?” All this excitement from the other group has really got me even more impatient. They looked so amazed, happy and looked like they were having a lot of fun. It felt like torture seeing them having fun.

12:06. I sat impatiently in maths class waiting for our turn. “Can they hurry up already?” “This is taking too long.” I complained in my head, as well as trying to stay on task with my maths work. “Toru, in the street now.” As soon as I heard that I raised my head and made my way into the street in quick movement. As we all sat together, Mrs Tele’a had told us our instructions before actually doing the real thing.

Google Expedition happens to be the name of the event that was happening. What we were using is something called a google cardboard. It looked very similar to binoculars, but with a smartphone inside. A way to hold it, well the only way to hold it, is if you’re holding a burger or sandwich, except it’s for your eyes not your mouth.

As I held it up to my eyes, I could see the different countries I could explore even the different few places. I even got to see David Attenborough (famous discovery narrator) in one of the places.

The coolest thing about the Google Cardboard is that we could zoom in and zoom out and even spot different insects and animals. I had a lot of fun visiting, different cities and countries.

The google cardboard is something that kids in the future could use as a part of their learning. This could also save a lot of money from going to trips and events. Hopefully there would be a way that you could make your own google cardboard! This is definitely an experience i’d try again in college and share with my friends.

A Talk For College

Earlier today, the year 8's were very fortunate to have an eye opening talk by Mr Andrew Patterson.  The purpose of this talk was to help us in our upcoming years in college, to prepare and organize ourselves for things we do in college that we don't do in primary or intermediate. What's a start in college, with out a talk about college before the year of college? 

In our talk, he discussed about the importance of time periods in college.  My favourite topic he discussed about was the "7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens" He showed a movie showing a summary of those 7 habits. And of course these will become our habits next year becoming teens in college. 

The 7 habits were 

1. Be proactive
2. Begin with the end in mind 
3. Put first things first 
4. Think Win-Win
5. Seek first to understand, then to be understood
6. Synergize
7. Sharpen the Saw

What I learnt from Andrew, has provided a huge boost for my years at college. It made me feel what college would be like next year for me. Hopefully these ' habits ' will be applied to my every day teenage school life. :) 

Amazing Race

“What team are you in?” “What do you think we’re gonna do?” “I honestly can’t wait!” Chatter started to fill up our whole street and there was no sign of shut lips. Everyone seemed to be excited that they just couldn’t stop talking or moving and you’d probably wonder why.

Earlier that morning, to our surprise, it was announced by Mrs Tele’a that we were going to have an amazing race after morning tea. “Okay, shhh, shhh.” Mrs Tele’a said, capturing the year 7 and 8’s attention.

There was a timetable displayed on the projector for all the groups and events that were going to happen. Just before morning tea, every teacher wrote on the board what groups we were in.

This was based on who we could work well with. I was placed in a group with 6 girls including me (Ana, Jordenne, Hannah,Jennifer, Angelina). After Mrs Tele’a had introduced all the different events happening, she then sent us off to our first challenges.

‘Room 3 1A’ was the name of my group and our first challenge was called the ‘brain bust’ which was taken care of by Miss Fuamatu. This challenge was set on knowledge and on how well we know things.

My group sat together on one table, eagerly waiting for the papers with questions to arrive. Miss Fuamatu started off the challenge by letting us know some instructions.

Finally, the papers were handed out and we all started to hunch over the paper, focused on the questions. I’d  have to say that this was one of the hardest challenges we had faced.

Unfortunately, out of the whole 15 minutes my group had only reached 50 points since we did only get one question right. Everyone had different reactions to the points they had gotten, some had happy, sad, and some were even in rage.

Luckily we were given extra points for departure and arrival. My favorite challenge was the photo booth challenge set by Mrs Tele’a. It had already looked exciting before we even did the challenge, due to the different colourful costumes that were laid out on the tables.

The aim for this activity was to be creative in our thinking and think of the many poses we could come up with. Our first station was the hat station. It was fun dressing our heads in flowers, hats, and even wigs too!

As Mrs Tele’a came by with the ipad, my group started to practice our poses. We had an idea of pretending to scare someone with our crazy hats. The street was full of amusement.

My group was lucky enough to score 100 points including arrival and departure. My group seemed to be ready and excited for our next challenge which was the cookie face activity!

As we walked through the street on our way to the cookie face challenge , we were able to see different groups doing their challenges. We even saw people eating spaghetti mixed with fruits and all sorts of odd stuff.

Once we reached the shade outside on the courts, we noticed a big board with lots of pictures. The pictures included cookies, smiley faces and even people attempting to do the cookie challenge. All of the teams sat together in their groups, facing Ms Flavelle for instructions.

The focus for this activity was to place a cookie on our forehead and attempt to put the cookie in our mouth with no sign of hands. This was a very challenging part of the amazing race. After announcing instructions, she then handed the cookies to us, which we then placed on our forehead.  

I could already feel the crumbles from the cookie falling out of place on my face. It was really distracting. “And... go!” Ms Flavelle shouted in excitement. In straight action, I moved my eyebrows up and down, trying to make an effort of getting the cookie at least down to my cheek.

Successfully, the cookie slowly made its way down to the apple of my cheek leaving leftover crumbles behind. I attempted to reach my tongue out, aiming for the cookie, eagerly hoping to at least have the cookie in my mouth. Unfortunately, I failed the attempt.

 The cookie fell out of place, and slipped its way down to the concrete. It then went in shambles, only leaving nothing but little bits of cookie.

The amazing race challenge is definitely a way to face challenges with people you get along with. Along the way, you get to find out new things and have fun at the same time! This is an activity, I would definitely do again, but maybe we could add even more fun stuff! But all that’s important, is that I got to face the challenges with my friends.

Missing Headphones

Missing Headphones

8pm Saturday Night,

I sat in the car listening to my favorite music with my headphones plugged into my ears from my phone. I actually felt happy and calm listening to the different types of artists such as Tori Kelly, Beyonce and even Drake.

To make it even more better the lights of the streets looked beautiful and suited the nights sky. I was with my mum, driving on our way home from a long day at the hospital. We had been visiting my uncle.

When we made our way home I placed my headphones on the nearest couch to the door and made my way to my room. To my surprise my older brother and his partner had arrived with dinner. We all sat together, ate and started to talk and laugh as usual. I felt very content.  

It was then time for my brother to go back home. He had picked up some new clothes that was brought by my dad for him on the couch next to the couch I had my headphones on.  I didn’t even think about him taking my headphones away, since he did lose his phone. I sat there watching television for a good 20 minutes. Then it came to a point where I felt tired and exhausted.

I grabbed my phone and charged it up while I layed out my clothes for church the next day. At this moment, I was still calm and happy but tired.  Then I walked into the living room to collect my headphones and place them in my draw.

To my shocking surprise, I had noticed nothing was there! So, I rushed myself around the house eager to find my headphones. My parents started to get annoyed at the fact that I had asked them about several times in one hour.

The next thing that was missing, was my happiness and calm emotions. It had all splattered all over the floor and my emotions were replaced with anger, worry and sadness. I had searched under the chairs, under the tables and even behind the tv.

I stopped, sat down and tried to trace my footsteps. Then I had thought of my brother collecting the clothes from the couch. Maybe he could’ve taken it. Because my brother could take anything.

I had then texted my brother if he had the headphones, and in relief, he said yes. The next day, we went to go pick up my headphones, which were still in good condition. And I enjoyed another nice ride with music in my ears.

This gives me a lesson, of telling myself where to put things. Especially when guests arrive. No matter how small it or big it is, it needs to be put in the right place. Another example is remembering where you put your stuff because this can help you find what you're missing.

The Secret Underground

To start off term 4, Mrs Tele'a's literacy group 'Aoraki' have been focusing on Cave insects and animals and to support this we have been reading a book called The Secret Underground. This book talks about the underground life of different varieties of insects and animals. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My Animal: Ambrosio 
The name behind Ambrosio means eternal and indestructible. Ambrosio happens to be one of the longest living animals on the earth and even happened to be living around ancient times. 
An Ambrosio has very soft white pale skin, this only appears when the Ambrosio is calm and happy. When on it's bad side, the Ambrosio happens to pop out spikes on its back. 
You can learn more about this in my upcoming DLO

Immersion Assembly Term 4 2015

Every start of the term, our school gather in the hall for an immersion assembly. Immersion assembly is where teachers dress up in costumes related to our topic and perform an item or present a movie about what they’ll be learning about this term. What is our topic this term? Our school topic is Survivor.  

We are learning overall about the living world and how to adapt to survive. For me , this happens to be one of the most exciting topics of the year because, in our team we are learning about different countries and the way they adapt to survive!

The morning started off with a warm welcome greeting from Mr Burt. We were very lucky to have the sun out.  Everyone looked anxious to see the team items. I turned my head around to see what the teachers were wearing. They looked very amazing and some even had tutus, even Mr Blakley. The hall was full of excitement.

Our first item was from Team 1. The teachers had worn shirts with our school topic printed on them.  I was surprised that there was no item from them. The teachers had chosen a few students to participate in their Karaoke to Katy Perry’s roar. Most of the other teams had great movies/performances and their focus looked very exciting. Lots of them were learning about dinosaurs and habitats! How amazing is that!

My favorite item was from team 5 because their performance was very understandable and funny too. The teachers all dressed up and acted in individual countries. They were playing the game show ‘survivor’.  Their goal was to try and adapt to survive.  

The first game they did was eating noodles with chopsticks, which obviously Miss Clark won. You could tell by the chopsticks that were placed on her head. Miss Clark is from Tibet, which is also an Asian culture! And in Asian cultures they use chopsticks to eat.

Since this is the last term of the year, I noticed that this was our last immersion assembly ever.  So far during my time at Point England I have enjoyed lots of immersion assemblies and so far this was one of the best.  Hopefully this is something that can carry on for history!

How To: Have The Plane Ride Ever!

 Here is a presentation about How To : Have the best plane ride ever! This was just something I worked on during the week, and I hope this helps you a lot!

Cyber Smart!

     

Today with Miss Kyla, we were very fortunate to take a quiz based on how to be a cyber smart person. The quiz was provided with 11 questions all on the same topic. It was a bit weird how , it was a bit hard to understand a few questions as I am the type of person to always be around social media. From the quiz that I took today, I learnt that it is important not to give out any information or passwords to strangers - even parents, family or friends!  Following the small quiz activity, we were then told to answer a few questions on the google drawing. You can see from there what i have learnt this term, and what i have learnt from the quiz. 

Last Year Of Netball

Netball has been a huge experience for me! Especially as I have played for full five years. I started  playing for Point England in Year 4, where Mr Jacobson was my first coach and his wife was the manager. Just because this does happen to be my last year of playing for Point England, doesn't mean i'll stop playing. Playing netball is a sport that I really treasure a lot. In year 5 I played for team 1, which was coached and managed by Mrs Squires. That year was probably one of the best years of netball! We came first in our netball grade and received medals as part of our gift :) In year 6 & 7 I played for team 2, which was coached by Mrs Erasmus. This year, I played for the Point England Storm team which was coached by Timmi and Managed by Greg. It was a really tough ride this year having cake stalls, and a few fundraisers for our fees but it was all worth it! Hopefully sometime when I grow up, I can coach one of our Point England teams.

Staying Smart With Mobiles

 Today, Miss Peato's maths class got to discuss about being cyber smart with personal mobile phones with Miss Kyla. We had a talk about the many things we should be aware of when we are using mobile devices. We were then set up to a task to fill out the speech bubbles with at least 3 advice's to people who own mobile phones.

BOOT CAMP! BOOT CAMP! BOOT CAMP!

Yesterday afternoon, Room 3 got the chance to participate in an activity usually called as "Boot Camp". Every afternoon Friday, individual team 5 classes get a chance to participate in boot camp that's usually managed by the training coach - Nickila. Boot Camp basically focuses on keeping students like us fit and' physical for the year.

Room 3 had finally made their arrival to the courts with nothing but being nervous. We were welcome to sit down on the courts while she announced the few instructions we needed to do. We were very fortunate to have the sun out to keep us warm during this fitness time. Nickila first set us all up into partners, from there we all had to get in one line with our partners. Our challenge was to get our partner to run up and down the court, while the others either do ' 5 burpees/ 10 squats or 15 push ups '  .  It was a very tough challenge and my partner and I only lasted 5 minutes! 5 minutes!

Our next challenge was to get in to three groups and we were set up to go to an individual station. My groups first station was having to do lunges for 1 minute. I know that seems short, but it was harder than you thought!!! My thighs were hurting and my calves too. Our next station was the "Mountain Climber" station. Where we had to get into a push up position and move our legs as if we were climbing a mountain. The last station was similar to the mountain climbing one. Except, we had to hold ourselves. That was the most challenging one we had to be honest.

Boot Camp is something that lots of our junior kids can look forward too. It's great for children who would like to develop a special sports talent. All though it is hard and sweaty, it all become worth it!

Spend Save Share

 This term we are focusing on Trade and Enterprise. And in team 5 our main focus is " How to be financially responsible!" This week we were given  a presentation to work on as part of our team topic. It listed a few questions on how we can be financially responsible and specifically why we save money. P.s The presentation will automatically update during the next few days ! 

Josephine Smart Surfing

 We have been learning about Smart Surfing with Mrs Kyla and how to search for information efficiently using Key Words. You can look at the presentation above to also help you search for things you need!

Moving In

 For inquiry, we have been focusing on Trade and Enterprise. Following our inquiry, we had the job to finish off a task of moving in. See what Ana and I have done in the presentation.

Fair Chocolate

In literacy class, we have been focusing on an article based on fair-trade and fair chocolate too. We were given a presentation with questions relating to the article we had read. Hopefully through out the answers you would be able to understand the mean of fair-chocolate! 

Helping The Department Of Conservation

In term 2, the extension class have been focusing on biodiversity. Earlier in the term, we had the chance of going on a trip to Tiritiri Matangi to learn more about biodiversity and endangered animals too. Did you know that the Department of conservation otherwise known as (DOC) have been working hard on protecting these endangered animals. So what was our task? Our task was to create a product for a specific animal to help out DOC have an easier job of protecting these animals. You can look at the video below which sums up what I have done, followed by the presentation to go more deep into what we have learnt, and what I have created! 
Josephine Biodiversity from Team 5 PES on Vimeo.

Maths Working Out

 This week, we are focusing on percentages and learning them through prices of things. I have learnt a lot of stuff from this, even how to convert percentages into fractions and into decimals too! 

Tamaki College - Talk Back

This morning, our year 8's had the great privilege of listening to a few year 9 speakers from Tamaki College about what their school is like. They told us many facts about their school and even what its like on a typical day! The speakers that came were some of the  ex-Point England students who were either house-captains or prefects. One of my favorite things that they said, was about how they like to do P.E. every afternoon.  And if you didn't know, I love to do a lot of physical education! Following that, the speakers gave us a bit of advice for next year which were very thoughtful. Thank you to the small group that came, I hope you do come back t tell us a bit more. 

 

Future Thinkers

  In our literacy class, we have been focusing on an article by the name of " Future-Thinkers " which was written by Pat Quinn. Mrs Tele'a gave us a presentation to fill out the questions that were written inside. This text has made me go deeper in to being a future thinker and also a future learner too. 

Term 2 Mini Reflection :

Term 2 mini reflection.

Unfortuanetly, I have now come to my last term 2 at Point England School. All though, I have learnt a lot of lessons from friends, teachers and other students too. This term, our main focus was to learn about tinkering tools and toys. It was a struggle for me at first to learn about the first world war but I did very much enjoy it!  We learnt a whole lot of new stuff! Even about the mascots and food in the world war. It was an experience to remember!

Right now, we are focusing on another inquiry task which involves how we can improve the life at Point England School. Mrs Tele’a, put us into small groups to work together on this project and think of one main idea. My group and I had gone through a lot through out this project. We decided that we wanted to fix our school toilets, due to its broken locks and other stuff too.

This term has been one of the most outstanding so far. I have learnt alot and hopefully can carry out these learnings in the next few terms or even in college next year! I do look forward to term 3 coming up! :)

Volume ( Maths )

Earlier this afternoon, Miss Peatos maths group had the very lucky chance of calculating volume into shape.  She first guided us with a video, showing how to do it. From that I learnt that, we have to times the length by width and that when we are calculating volumes it always ends with a 3. ( example: cm3 ) also known as cube. 

Here is a presentation show you how I work out these strategies :) 

Animals At War

 In literacy, we are learning how to make connections to a text and make inferences with them. This term, we have been focusing on the first World War that happened 100 years ago.  Today we read a book about mascots at war, the book included a few words that we could make a connection with. Mrs Tele'a gave us a task, to choose a few sentences that we could make connections with and put a inference between them. The following presentation ( slide 5 ) shows you the connections I made with the book ( First World War Mascots ) and how I inferred them too. What I have learnt overall is how I can make connections with a book and how I can make inferences between the text and my connection.

Using The Point England Way Online

Late morning, our maths group had the chance to communicate with a teacher from Tamaki primary about how we connect ' The Point England way ' online. As you can see, I have included a few bullet points related to how I show The Point England way online. I hope that you can apply these tips to your online life.

Anzac Biscuits

 Every Friday's, after assembly, team 5 gather in to small groups for Zeal zone time - which the teachers hold. This Friday, we  found ourselves in Mrs Tele'a cooking zeal zone which was exciting. I have learnt that as we bake the ' Anzac biscuits' we are also learning the history behind them. I hope that you get to sometime make these in your spare time! 

Cyber Smarts!

 This early afternoon, our maths group had the chance to talk with another teacher about what is true on the internet and what is not. To help us, we were given the chance to watch a small documentary movie based on spaghetti - was the information we were seeing true? Following that, we got to talk with the teacher about what makes this true and what makes it false. Here is a google drawing to help others to know if their information is valid 

Measurement

 This week, our maths class have been focusing on Measurement, and how to convert it. Miss Peato gave us a range of different questions to help understand how to convert measurement, like matching things and giving us word problems. Here is the following presentation. 

George Bollinger WW1

 This term, team 5 is kick starting off with learning about the World War 1 that took place in Gallipoli. My literacy group have mostly been focusing on the story of George Bollinger. Here is my presentation that i'd recommend you read :) To go more deep into the story, please do click on the link .... http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/video/37667/war-story-george-bollinger

Maths Question 1 ; How Many Truckloads Of Dirt Are There?

Every week in maths class, our teachers gives us a few word problems to work out during the week to help improve our maths. My first question for this week was ; " While preparing for our ANZAC memorial, we needed some dirt to fill the boxed pit outside. 3 small truckloads of dirt only filled an eighth of the pit. How many more truckloads were needed to completely fill the pit? " Then we had to make a new Google drawing that tells people how I worked it out. I have left a small paragraph explaining what I've done.

My Thoughts And Feelings About The Memorial

   Our literacy group have been focusing on the world war 1 that took place in gallipoli. Mrs Tele'a gave us a task to focus on our thoughts and feelings about the memorial of Anzac that was built in the middle of our school.

Comparing And Contrasting

Earlier this term, the Pihanga literacy group were set on a task to see the similarities and differences between two books that we had recently read. The first book was based on how people explored the world through voyage on a canoe, with a person as navigator. The second book was based on a boy who sets out on a journey with the transport on ships that have easier navigation. In between the circles represent the similar activities to the two books. On the blue and red circles, it represents the differences.

Polynesian Festival

Polyfest ( short for Polynesian Festival ) is a cultural dance festival that was first established in 1976. This year in 2015, we celebrate the 40 years that Polyfest has been going on for. Polyfest is a festival, where high schools compete in. There a separate individual cultural stages at Polyfest, such as the Cook Island stage, Niuean, Samoan, Tongan and even a diversity stage. I bet that hardest thing to think of is which stage you could go to!

Yesterday, the Point England year 7 & 8 students were very fortunate to attend the Polyfest education workshop, and do whole lot of fun activities! We even got to meet the prime minister, John Key and his camera crew! We were warmly welcomed by the Polyfest organisers. We met a lot of people, especially the people from Niu.Fm ( 103. 8 ) and Flava.Fm ( 95. 8 ).  We were all doing different activities as a class, and our first one was learning about how to save power.

Class 3 was kindly taught by a lady named Helen and she gave us advice on how we should save our parents power bills. Did you know that heat and air conditioning takes up most of the power? Remember, that it is important that you should always unplug electricity devices before heading out or to sleep.  Luckily, we were gifted an hourglass that was given to remind us of how long we should shower or use the tap!  

My favorite activity was writing messages of why we love Polyfest! I wrote “ I love Polyfest because I get to see my family and friends perform on stage well “ We were also given another piece of paper which I wrote “ happy 40th birthday Polyfest! “ At the end of our sessions we had the chance to go and visit some stalls for some prizes and visit the Kapa Haka stage! Next year, I would very much love to perform at Polyfest next year for my college!

Our Video Conference With An Elementary School From Hawaii 😊

On the 24th of March, the Hokule'a crew will take voyage to our Point England beach. Our Manaiakalani cluster has been very prepared for this event, as this is very crucial for us. We have prepared our chants, waiatas and mihis to present to them. It is very interesting how they are using a traditional navigation to come to the Point England beach, which is a very amazing thing!

There are many things that we are very grateful for in this world. One of them is technology. It helps us to connect with others around the world and develop new skills in our learning too. This morning, the year 7 & 8 extension crew were very fortunate to have a video conference with a school in Hawaii, Kea'au Elementary school and Nanakuli Elementary. We shared many things about our school to them. Such as, our technology learning and many things about the Glenn Innes Community.

The extension group were very interested in how the Kea'au Elementary school develop their learning and many more. I was mostly interested in their school trips. They get to go on a trip to the Tsunami Museum which is dedicated to the people that died from the Tsunami that had hit most of the east cost on the big island back in 1946.

It's weird how - just from a video conference, we learnt a lot from 2 different schools. It was really nice to see that they had set up a presentation and a movie to share with us about their schools and a little bit about their daily activities. One of my favourite things that I had learnt from that presentation and movie is that they are made up of many different cultures, like us. It was a very long experience talking to 3 different teachers from two different school at the same time. But it was worth the time talking and collaborating into their learning.  I look very forward to connecting with them again.

 😍 Here is a few links to their A M A Z I N G blog sites    :

http://nes.nwcomplex.org
http://www.keaau.k12.hi.us/index.php/main/index

Miss Peato's Birthday Surprise

Every morning the teachers are given a task to present notices coming ahead for the week. But something was different this morning. While Miss Peato was giving out notices to the students, Mr Wiseman suddenly started to play his guitar like nothing ever happened. I sat there wondering why he was playing his guitar, especially in the middle of  Miss Peato’s notices and I think Miss Peato thought the same. As Mr Wiseman was playing the guitar to some sort of song, he threw a really big grin at the green room door. Miss Peato couldn’t help but giggle at his surprising act.

I noticed that there was something missing too. I looked around the room only to see a street with a few missing teachers. “ What is even happening? “ I thought. Mr Wiseman started to kick the green room door behind Miss Peato. Immediately, I heard a few shakers and instruments playing.  Suddenly - out of nowhere- the teachers were singing happy birthday to Miss Peato. Finally! I knew what this whole thing was actually about! It was Miss Peato’s birthday. Still, there was question buzzing in my mind - how old is she? Nothing gave me a clue. Not even the candle on the cake.

“ Happy birthday to you “ chanted the teachers as they wore colourful leis around their neck with smiles planted above their chin. “ Happy birthday Miss Peato “ the teachers continued while they placed a cake in front of Miss Peato. Miss Peato’s reaction was quite surprising. A blush grew on Miss Peato’s cheek during their time singing. The Year 7 & 8’s couldn’t help but sing along too. “ Happy long life to you! Happy long life to you “ the teachers said aloud again. “ Blow out the cakes! “ reminded Miss Tele’a as she clapped along with the song. I was truly amazed at how the teachers had set up the birthday surprise.

Special Holiday

At the end of every year, my family and I go on a trip to the temple lights in hamilton. The temple lights is an event held near church college and helps to celebrate the new year or the birth of Jesus Christ. On the 17th of December evening, our house was very busy. My mom was preparing snacks for our trip to hamilton, my dad was checking the car, and my siblings were obviously preparing their electronic devices. “ We leave in a few minutes “ explained my mom as she packed the sandwiches into the containers set on the kitchen table. While everyone was busy, I quickly prepared my dark tablet and white headphones for the ride. A trip to Hamilton is a very long ride, it will take a few hours and minutes to get through all the traffic chaos! I quickly checked the time on my moms wrist, 5:45. “ Hurry, lets go “ shouted my mom as we all scattered our stuff together and headed for the car. “ Is the house locked ? “ My dad asked my siblings. “ Yes, can we just go now? “ replied my sister as she was really eager to get there. 

During our ride to Hamilton, I couldn’t help but sleep through half of the ride. Listening to 15 songs repeatedly , bored me. As I woke up, we were already in Hamilton. My tablet suddenly died of low battery and all I could do was listen to my parents talking.  Looking to the side, my brother slept with his jaw open, which really disgusted me. “ How long is this ride gonna take dad? “ I questioned frequently until he managed to reply. “ Just wait! gees. “ he growled back. I’ve been to Hamilton every year, and this is the first time we’ve managed to get through traffic slowly. I grabbed the packet of afghans , which was already finished. “ Take a sandwich “ suggested my mom as she handed me a container full of tuna sandwiches. “ Church college! There dad , the temple! “ I shouted as my dad, who was still annoyed, kept driving. 

As we got through the temple driveway, there were men in orange vests helping us to find a parking spot. I looked out the window and pondered which place I should visit  first. Getting out of the car, I stretched my arms and legs, which were really sore! “ Hurry let’s go “ said my mom. The night started to get dark, and that was my favorite part. Lights were everywhere! I loved how they crafted sculptures of when Jesus was born and put a few lights around it. We also took a lot of photos of the temple and the wonderful bright trees.  One of the greatest things about the temple, is that many people get married here. I had wished that they would have built stairs to see the whole sights of the Hamilton temple. 


While my brother and sister were taking selfies, my parents and I decided to visit the visitors centre. We were warmly welcomed by an elderly man wearing a suit and tie. “ Is anyone from Auckland ? “ he questioned as I raised my hand up as high as I can.  “ Which ward do you come from ? “ he asked. ( Ward means church ) “ Stonefields ward ! “ I replied immediately. “ Hello everyone , and welcome to the visitors centre” introduced the elderly man. I looked around the room, which looked very marvelous!  It had red velvet carpet, chandeliers hanging and indian printed cushions. I wished I had lived here. After the man introduced himself, we were all taken to another room. One section of the room, had a collection of bibles in different languages, and the other side had little movies playing.  I loved how there was soft music playing in the background too. I have had many memories here in the visitors centre, but I do hope to go inside the big temple someday.  I recommend going there before Christmas or on the night of new year! I had a lot of fun that day







----- Edited Version -----

At the end of every year, my family and I go on a trip to the temple lights in hamilton. The temple lights is an event held near church college and helps to celebrate the new year or the birth of Jesus Christ. On the 17th of December evening, our house was very busy. My mom was preparing snacks for our trip to hamilton, my dad was checking the car, and my siblings were obviously preparing their electronic devices. “ We leave in a few minutes “ explained my mom as she packed the sandwiches into the containers set on the kitchen table. While everyone was busy, I quickly prepared my dark tablet and white headphones for the ride. A trip to Hamilton is a very long ride, it will take a few hours and minutes to get through all the traffic chaos! I quickly checked the time on my moms wrist, 5:45. “ Hurry, lets go “ shouted my mom as we all scattered our stuff together and headed for the car. “ Is the house locked ? “ My dad asked my siblings. “ Yes, can we just go now? “ replied my sister as she was really eager to get there.

During our ride to Hamilton, I couldn’t help but sleep through half of the ride. Listening to 15 songs repeatedly , bored me. As I woke up, we were already in Hamilton. My tablet suddenly died of low battery and all I could do was listen to my parents talking.  Looking to the side, my brother slept with his jaw open, which really disgusted me. “ How long is this ride gonna take dad? “ I questioned frequently until he managed to reply. “ Just wait! gees. “ he growled back. I’ve been to Hamilton every year, and this is the first time we’ve managed to get through traffic slowly. I grabbed the packet of afghans , which was already finished. “ Take a sandwich “ suggested my mom as she handed me a container full of tuna sandwiches. “ Church college! There dad , the temple! “ I shouted as my dad, who was still annoyed, kept driving. 

As we got through the temple driveway, there were men in orange vests helping us to find a parking spot. I looked out the window and pondered which place I should visit  first. Getting out of the car, I stretched my arms and legs, which were really sore! “ Hurry let’s go “ said my mom. The night started to get dark, and that was my favorite part. Lights were everywhere! I loved how they crafted sculptures of when Jesus was born and put a few lights around it. We also took a lot of photos of the temple and the wonderful bright trees.  One of the greatest things about the temple, is that many people get married here. I had wished that they would have built stairs to see the whole sights of the Hamilton temple. 

While my brother and sister were taking selfies, my parents and I decided to visit the visitors centre which was in front of the temple. We were warmly welcomed by an elderly man wearing a white and black suit and a tie. “ Is anyone from Auckland ? “ he questioned as I raised my hand up as high as I can in the answer of yes.  “ Which ward do you come from ? “ he asked. ( Ward means church ) “ Stonefields ward ! “ I replied immediately. “ Hello everyone , and welcome to the visitors centre” introduced the elderly man. I looked around the room, which looked very marvelous!  It had red velvet carpet, chandeliers hanging and indian printed cushions. The elderly man than played a short film from a small t.v. The film was based on the birth of Jesus Christ! Than we were taken to the bible area, which has a collection of bibles on the side made up of different languages. And touch screens - that give advice - on the other. So far, my time at the temple was really amazing! I recommend going there some day! 

Fiction Diary- Fly with me to, Japan

Here is a little Diary Fiction to help me improve my writing. This writing was inspired by a book called " The Titanic " which was a diary based book. I look forward to making more of these!

                                               

         Tuesday- February 28th 2019- Arrival

My Aunty Carothene suggested I should keep a written record of my time here in Japan, which I happily accepted. Its my first time here, so i’ve never experienced any parts of the Japanese culture, so i think its great to write down a written record of the many adventures coming. Sadly, I won’t be here for long since I am still a year 12 and need to finish off school in New Zealand. As I am writing this, I’m starting to feel a bit numb. Maybe, i’m just too homesick or  actually sick. My flight here was very long, and I did endure it. My back started to hurt a lot so I had to stand up every 2 hours and sit back down. I’m still waiting for the arrival of my taxi, which I can see coming now. Catch you later! .

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Its 9pm and I am still awake. But I must say, the view of  Yokohama is very amazing! I’ve never experienced something dashing and traditional like the Ashiteru Hotel! I’m not very use to luxurious and fancy hotels that cook small meals with expensive prices, but nothing beats the Ashiteru Hotel’s Teriyaki sushi!! And it only costed a few dollars and cents! Earlier, I was gifted a traditional floral mint green Kimono from the owner of the hotel followed by a “ it is my honor , to give you this in respect , foreigner“  greeting.  Agh! What a day to experience !

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Introducing Me!

Here is 4 pictures that symbolise who I am. Its shows my passion for netball and my culture and my religion. The other shows me trying out new things, which symbolises how I love to try out new stuff.  Here is a little introduction of me :
Hello, Talofa Lava, my name is Josephine Falefa and welcome to my blog. I am a year 8 student  at Point England School and also a prefect for 2015. I happen to be the youngest of one brother and one sister. My mother is Tongan and my dad is Samoan. My hobbies are mostly, playing netball, shopping and listening to music. I do hope to have good 2015!

Introducing Me!

Here is 4 pictures that symbolise who I am. Its shows my passion for netball and my culture and my religion. The other shows me trying out new things, which symbolises how I love to try out new stuff.

Love You Mrs She xo

On Wednesday 11th of February, Point England School lost one of our most important teachers. Mrs She is a very independent, loving and caring person who will never complain through out her years here in Point England. Being in Mrs She's class in 2008, was one of the greatest blessings I could ask for. Mrs She was a very strong women to me, who helped me and supported me through my time at Point England. Her smile was my favorite things about her. It always made me smile too :) As I am writing this, my heart feels really broke down and numb just thinking about her. When I first heard the news, I quickly broke down in a blink of an eye, that's how much I loved her.

- Mrs She,

My condolences go out to you and your lovely family. You were very warm, funny and lovely to me. Most importantly, you are a winner to me. Even when your fighting, your smile would always lighten everyday up. I know that your family is very proud of your work as a loving mother. Mrs She, I pray for you and your family to carry on through this hard time. I love you heaps and a lot more! You were the best junior role model I have had ever known. I send many blessings and strength to you and each of your wonderful children. May you be laid in peace and love. I love you Mrs She. xoxo