Winter Learning Journey Day 2 Activity 1

For this activity we had to watch a video about the two mascots of the Rio Olympics, Tom and Vinicius. I watched the first of three episodes and I think it was about two people brought together by two balls which symbolised sport.

Winter Learning Journey Day 3 Activity 1

For this activity we have to choose an Olympic sport and list the name of that sport, the aim of the sport, and two rules for that sport. I chose Trampoline Gymnastics since it is a sport that I don't know anything about. I found out that the aim is to get the most points. You can get more by doing diffucult things, like somersaults, by executing them properly (not failing anything), and staying in the air long.

Winter Learning Journey Day 2 Bonus

For this activity we had to create a new logo for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. This is the logo I created:

Winter Learning Journey Day 2 Activity 2

For thia activity we have to list three famous New Zealand Landmarks and why they are famous. I chose the Beehive as one because it's the parliment building. It is shaped like a beehive which is why it has that name, and it was built in 1977. Another building I chose was the Moeraki Boulders because they are special to the Maori people, and the last landmark I chose was the Lemon and Paeroa bottle in Paeroa because it is a massive image of  a drink created by New Zealanders.

Winter Learning Journey Day 1 Bonus

For this activity we had to choose wether it was fair that women were not allowed to compete and also not allowed to watch the olympic games in ancient Greece. I think it is unfair because one of the best NZ athletes is a woman (Valerie Adams).

Winter Learning Journey Day 1 Activity 2

For this activity we researched Milo of Kroton to find out some interesting facts about him. I found out that he was a general as well as a wrestler, he was killed y a hungry pack of wolves when he tried to rip a tree to pieces and also he could lift a bull over his head.

Winter Learning Journey Day 1 Activity 1

For this activity we had to choose and old olympic sport that we would like to participate in and why we chose that sport. I would like to do a pentathlon, which is an event where the competetors have to fence, shoot, swim, ride and run cross country. I chose this because it has more than one sport that you compete in.

Leadership

Yesterday Lynne from spark came to talk to us about leadership. She told us about a a man named Sir Peter Blake who was the captain of the New Zealand team that competed in the Americas Cup. We then filled in some cards about what our dreams are and what our dream for New Zealand is. We then got some things with Spark Foundation written on them.

Orienteering

Today was the last time the Year 8's are going to do Orienteering since we aren't doing it again this year and next year we will all be in colleges. Yesterday I won the interschool Orienteering which was held at Point England School. This time we had to find twenty-two controls all around the school except there were two maps with eleven controls showing on both.

Get Wise

Yesterday the Year 8's went into the auditorium and Jeremy from ASB visited us and told us about Get Wise. This is about learning how to get money and how to save money. We all brainstormed how to make some money doing chores, neighborhood jobs, etc. We also learnt about interest, which is when you give money to the bank and the bank gives you extra money for trusting them with your money. We also learnt that most CEO's of big businesses started off in supermarkets either as trolley boys or shelf fillers. He said to work hard as well, because people are always watching you when you work, like your supervisors and he also told us about his friend Tui, who started off as a trolley boy and now owns two supermarkets.

Inferring game

Today I played an Inferring game in which I read a letter and had to infer what type of person they were and where they were moving to. I used my inferring skills to find out that the person lived in Arizona.

Life Education

Today the Year 8's went to Life Education and Nicole told us about body systems and told us about a few of them. We learnt about the Circulartory system, which is your veins, arteries and kidneys, the Nervous system, which contains your nerves, your spinal cord, your brain, and the Muscular system which is your muscles and how your brain controls them and makes them move.

Orienteering

Today the Year 8's had Orienteering. I chose to be partners with Gozan and we came first with a time of 8 minutes and 10 seconds. We won because mostly the controls we went to didn't have many other students from LS2 at them.

Persuasive Speech

Why Minecraft should be allowed in learning time

Minecraft. It has been around for about 7 years so far, and about 5.8 million people have bought it. And if 5.8 million people think that it’s a fun game and that it’s worth it, why can’t schools in New Zealand use it to learn too? I say schools in New Zealand because in Switzerland, some schools have actually got some time in a day where they get their students to play Minecraft. They use it because in it there are a variety of blocks which can be used to craft more blocks or to create massive structures. There are three modes in minecraft, which are Survival, Creative and Adventure. Survival is my favourite, since you start of with nothing and have to collect everything yourself. I like this best because since you have to get everything yourself, when I create something amazing I feel more proud of it than I would normally be, since everything I used had to be collected through long periods of time. Creative is my second favourite, since even though you have access to everything in the game, when you build something since everything is easy to get you don’t really feel as accomplished. Then there is adventure mode. In it, you cannot break blocks without the right tools. Just to break dirt, you need an Iron shovel, the second best grade of tool in the game!

Minecraft is also like real life, since in it you must eat or you will die of starvation. You can either break leaves to try and get apples, or you can kill animals to get meat. There is no blood however, and the animals bodies just disappear without leaving anything to show that they were there. There is also some school work involved as well. For maths, you can think. If one piece of wood makes 4 planks, how many pieces of wood do I need for 16 planks? And if 2 planks equal one stick, how many planks will I need for 20 sticks? As you can see, it can also help with your basic facts.

Minecraft can also be played online, which means you can go on servers, and play with people from everywhere in the world. I think that these reasons are more than enough to make you consider allowing Minecraft in learning time.

This is my persuasive speech which was judged by Manu, Sylis, Juanita and Mishaan. It took me 2 minutes and 20 seconds to say it, which means that I just need to slow down when reading it and it will be perfect.

Orienteering

Today theYear 8's diid orienteering. We had the choice of going as a pair or solo. I chose to go by myself and I actually came first, and just in time too! As soon as I had finished, it started pouring with rain and most of the Year 8's got absolutely soaked.

Current Events DLO

This is my DLO on the current event where Ed Sheeran is being taken to a court in America after the singer/songwriter Matt Cardle accused him of copying his song Amazing to make his song Photograph.

Forgotten Silver Movie Advertisement

This DLO is my advertisement of the documentry Forgotten Silver. It was made by Peter Jackson and Costa Botes.

Rounding Money

This is my DLO on rounding money. We learnt to round to the nearest 10c and the nearest $1.

Hot Money Novel Study

This is a screen-shot of the prediction of the novel I am studying at the moment (Hot Money). I have predicted that the story is set in the present, and it will be about someone stealiong some money and hiding it.

Young Authors Challenge

Touchdown

“Yes!”

“Nice job!”

The crowd roars as Mark runs across the line, scoring the final touchdown and winning the match for his college team. His friends stream across the pitch towards him, patting him on the back and hugging him. His coach just nods at him, but for Mark that is the equivalent to all the praise in the world. He smiles. To him right now, life is great. Little does he know, after this game, nothing would be the same. He’s walking across the street, and a car comes screaming around the corner. It’s going way too fast. Mark looks at it, staring like a possum in headlights. There’s a sickening crunch, and the world goes black.

He drifts in and out of consciousness, catching snatches of conversation, and wakes to an unfamiliar voice. “He’s in a critical condition miss, you can’t see him right now.”

“But he’s my son! You’ve got to let me in!” He hears his mother say.

The unfamiliar voice responds. “Sorry miss, but right now the best thing for him is sleep. You can sit outside though, and I’ll keep you updated.”

He hears the defeat in his mother’s tired voice. “Fine.” He hears her slump into a chair and let out a shaky breath, and he falls asleep. “He’s awake! Nurse, can I please see him?” He opens his eyes. “Mom?” The word feels unused, rusty. Ever since his father had run off and let his son down, all he had ever called his mother was her first name, Mary. “I suppose you can.” The nurse replied in a monotonous voice. His mother rushed in and grabbed his hand. “Mark, I was so scared. You were hit by a drunk driver who was going at about ninety kilometres an hour. The police said he was well over the limit!” She suddenly looked hesitant. “Mark, I don’t want you to get angry at this, but the doctors said you sustained permanent head damage. You’ll never be able to play again.” Instead of being angry, all Mark could feel was numbness. Never play again? Playing for a team had been his dream ever since he was a kid. “There must be something else you want to do right? Some other job in case something happened?” Mark’s mother said. Mark thought for a bit, then he remembered something. “I kind of wanted to be a mechanic when I was four.” His mother smiled. “There you go then. You can become a mechanic.” Mark shrugged. “It’s worth a try.” He said.

“Morning Mark!” Jericho, one of Mark's employees said.

“Morning!” Mark replied.

Mark had done what his mother had said and opened up a mechanic shop. Business was booming, so much that he had to so far hire seven people to help him, while doing some of the work himself. He now had enough money to live comfortably and luxuriously. To be honest, he thought, thinking back to that day when he had made a touchdown and won the match but also had his dreams crushed, I probably would have been injured during a match anyway, so maybe being a mechanic is for the best. Putting his feet up, he realised that no matter what happens in life, you will always get opportunities to be happy.

This is my entry to the Barfoot and Thompson young authors challenge. The stories could be funny or scary but they had to have an inspirational message. My message was that whatever happens in life you will always have opportunities to be happy.