Liberty

LI: to edit our writing using DRAFT.

Today's focus was about editing our abstract noun poems. We used the procedure DRAFT, which stands for delete, rearrange, add, fix and talk. First, we talked about what abstract noun poems include in them. In an abstract noun poem, there are things like: the 5 senses, an abstract noun, punctuation, complex sentences and compound words. We chose the abstract noun 'liberty'. Liberty means to be free or freedom. We chose this noun because we thought it was an easy noun to describe. We paired up with another pair and practiced 'DRAFT' with them. We deleted the unnecessary words, rearranged the sentences, added more words that were missing, fixed the sentences and read the poems to our other pair. I thought this activity was fun and enjoyable.

Forming an Opinion

LI: To consider both perspectives.

For this task we chose one of the seven places  Maori in legends and looked at the evidence for the stories being real or not. After we have looked at the evidence we as a group were tasked to form an opinion about the place and if we think if the stories are real or not.

Main Ideas

LI: to identify the main ideas in the text.

For this task we watched a video about the story of how maui slowed the sun. From this video we had to pick the ideas in the video, the four main ideas in the story and the three main ideas of the story. The main idea is the point of a text, story, book, etc..

Venn Diagram

LI: to find as many similarities and differences as you can between the video and the text of “The Beginning”.

For this task we compared the text “The beginning” and the video of rangi and papa’s story on a Venn Diagram. A venn diagram is used to show the similarities and differences between two or more things, the parts of the circle that overlap the other are for writing similarities and the parts that do not overlap are for writing the differences between the two things.

Summarising

LI: to explain in fewer words what the text is about.

A summary is a quick and short way to explain the main points of a story or text. For this activity we watched a Video about Rangi and Papa and their story. From the video we had to choose twenty important words from the story. Then we chose the six most important words and wrote a short summary that tells the reader what the story is about.

Science | Dissecting Hibiscus

LI: to learn about the different parts of a hibiscus flower.

Today, the year 7's went to tech to dissect a hibiscus flower. Our first task was based around our prior knowledge of the flowers. We answered two questions like: "What are your thoughts about flowers?" and "What have you noticed about flowers?". We did not have that much knowlegde about flowers. 

After this, we identified the parts of a hibiscus as our second task. On the right side, there is a stigma, style, anther, pollen tube, sepal and thalamus. On the left side, there was the male gametophyte, petal, ovule and female gametophyte. 

The next task was to dissect the flower. We used tools like: knife, cutting board and toothpick, We carefully removes one petal and one sepal. After this, we pinched the sides of the ovary and made a smooth cut down the middle. Then we removed the entire organ of from the style. 

While dissecting the flower, we saw the pollens. We placed one or two pollens to see them under a microscope.

I learned the many parts of a flower. I found it interesting that female and male cells are shared throughout a single flower. 

Misery

LI: to write an abstract noun senses poem.

Today, we focused on writing abstract noun senses poems. An abstract noun is an existing thing that cannot be touched or physical obtained such as, happiness, sadness, and anger. Metaphors compare two things without using the words 'like' or 'as'. The five human senses are sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell. 

For this task we worked collaboratively to create a poem using abstract nouns. Our group was given a list of abstract nouns that we can use to write a poem. The abstract noun we choose was misery. We used the five senses to describe what misery sounds, looks, tastes, and smells like while using metaphors to structure a poem correctly. 

An abstract noun is a feeling or emotion that cannot be physically touched. A metaphor is the comparison between two things without using as or like. For example: Happiness is a river of joy that is flowing through my heart. The word happiness is the abstract noun and is used to create this metaphor. The five senses are: hear, touch, smell, feel and see. Each of these five senses are what many humans are able to do. A metaphor is the comparison between two things without using as or like. 

I really enjoyed doing this because I got to work collaboratively and work together in a group and also use powerful words to strengthen the poem to make our poem stand out.

Silver Attitude | Own Task Created With My Teacher

For this C.A.R.E award task, I assisted Peyton with completing a set task given by the teacher. This challenge fits under attitude of the C.A.R.E values because I required a positive attitude to help this student finish a work-piece.

Peyton asked me various questions and I was able to answer them with confidence and a respectful and positive attitude. I also gave her ideas that she could work on and encouraged her to share her thoughts in order for her to finish her set task.

I found this task easy and quick because I am familiar with helping others as well as having a positive attitude towards others learning as well as my own. I enjoyed helping Peyton because I had the opportunity to share my knowledge of my learning to assist someone in need.

Five Senses Personification Narrative

LI: to use the five senses and personification to help us paint a picture with words. 

Our focus for this activity was based around using the five senses and personification to describe a pair of shoes. The five senses are: see, hear, touch, smell and taste. A personification is when an object is given an attribute of a human. We used a plan to structure our narritive properly. The structure of a narrative is: TOPES. TOPES stand for: title, orientation, problem, explain and solution. In our orientation, we wrote a hook, introduced the characters, the settings and hinted the problem. We talked mainly on the problem of the story in the paragraph after. We then explained the events leading to the solution in our explaining structure. After this, we talked about our solution and if there was a solution. In our story, there was never a solution. I enjoyed this activity because I found it fun and interesting. 

Story Web

LI: to practise oral language.

LS2 has been practicing their oral language skills and to do this, we created a story web. We picked a story and choose the seven main scenes that would tell the story. I chose to draw scenes from 'The Boy Who Cried Wolf'. This story is about a boy who got bored while keeping track of his sheep so then he shouted "WOLF" down to his village. A man from the village came to look for the wolf but there was no wolf in sight. The man got angry and ran back to his village telling everyone what happened. The boy got bored again and decided to repeat the same process by shouting "WOLF". Another man came up to the boy and didn't see any wolves around. He went back to the village and told people again. While keeping track of the sheep, a wolf appeared. The boy shouted "WOLF" down to his village but no one came due to the fact that he tricked the men in the village. The moral of the story is to not lie out of boredom because if your lie becomes true, no one will believe you. The purpose for this activity was to look at your drawings and explain it without any wors. I really enjoyed this activity and it helped me explain more things in better detail.

Topic 4 | Floating & Sinking

LI: to test the buoyancy of different materials.

Our focus for this week at science was about testing the buoyancy of different materials. First we discussed why some things float/sink/semi-float. Floating is the action of an object staying above water. Sinking is when something is unable to stay above water due to the density of it. Semi-float is when an object has the ability to both float and sink at the same time. We watched a video that explained what buoyancy/buoyant is. Buoyancy is the tendency of something that can float in water or a substance. 

After this, we gathered our materials and looked at the size of it, weight of it and what the object is made out of. We also made predictions on whether each object would sink or not. A prediction is an educated guess of something. Some of our objects were: cube, marble, tennis ball, rectangle block, plastic block and etc

We filled up our buckets up to 2/3 and started our experiment. My parnter and I started from the smallest objects up to the largest objects. Some of our predictions were correct. We noticed that the wood materials had the ability to semi-float. The plastic materials had the ability to float and the rubber materials could float/sink. 

I really enjoyed this experiment because it gave us the opportunity to learn about new things to do with buoyancy and sinking. One thing that I learned was that some objects have the ability to semi-float. I found this fact very interesting and cool. 

Simple Machines

LI: to find information about simple machines.

Our focus for inquiry was about making labelled diagrams (information pictures) in order to understand what each simple machines are. The six simple machines are: pulley, lever, wedge, inclined plane, wheel and axle and screw. The pulley is a simple machine that is able to lift objects by pulling the rope that is attached to it. A lever can lift heavy-weight objects when someone pushes the beam down from the opposite side. The wedge can stop objects from moving. An inclined plane is a surface that has an angle on it and can make objects go up or down easily. The wheel and axle helps transfer things. A screw has the ability to pull its surroundings in as it goes into a material and stay put in it. We made an information picture for each simple machines and get a good understanding of each of them. At the end of this activity, we were able to give a breif description of each simple machine. I enjoyed this activity because I have researched about simple machines before and found it pretty easy.

Dialogue

LI: to undestand how to use and correctly punctuate dialogue when writing.

Dialogue's are conversations between people. When writing a conversation, there are things to remember. In order to seperate what the speaker says to how they say it, we need to use punctuation marks. Puncuation marks look like: ("") some people call them quotation marks. 

First, we created a conversation on ifaketext.com between characters from The Three Little Pigs. We choose one out of four scenarios to create a conversation about. Our scenario is with the pig's mum telling the pigs to move out of the house because she is annoyed with them never helping her. 

After making a conversation, we changed what the characters said into writing. We added punctuation, speech marks and said words in order to do this. For each character speaking, we added a different line. 

We then wrote about what we know about the requirements of writing a conversation. I found this activity easy because I knew a lot about how to write a conversation and use them in a lot of my recounts. 

Science Exploration Topic 3 (Tech)

LI: to test how long it can take for sugar to dissolve in hot or cold water.

This week for our technology session, we looked at the amount of time it takes for sugar to dissolve in different tempatures of water. Our first experiment required cold water. We measured 100 ml of cold water into the beaker then looked at the tempature of the water which was 20°C. After this, we weighed 10 grams of sugar. To do this, we needed to place some sugar onto the Petri dish and transport that onto our weighing scale. We then poured our exact measurement of sugar into the cold water and mixed while looking at the amount of time it takes to dissolve with a stopwatch. It took the sugar 59.66 seconds for it to dissolve into the water making a solution. We did the same thing all over again but with hot water. The tempature was 75°C and the time it took to dissolve was 17.10 seconds. 

I enjoyed this activity very much because I am familiar with measuring water and weighing different types of materials/things. I learned that a solution is when a solid is mixed in with a liquid. I really enjoyed the part where we needed to measure 10 grams of sugar.

PB4L Expectations

LI: To follow the rules and expectations, expected from teachers.

Our topic for PB4L this week was focused around the expectations and rules set for us, and we should know how to understand and carry them out because we are the role models of the school. As a class, we talked about the expectations of a wet day monitor, the common rules inside of the classroom and what is expected from the teachers.

Some students showed us an example of how we can show respect in other classrooms as well as our own. They roleplayed an example of what they should do if a class was acting up during a wet-day and including other students during a casual conversation. More topics that we talked about was the necessary noise volume in different situations.

I found this lesson interesting but easy to understand because I am familiar with respecting the classroom rules and following expectations to a high standard.

Afghanistan Brochure

LI: To create a brochure advertising a truthful visit at Afghanistan.

 

Our reading focus was around Afghanistan and creating informed opinions on a text or informative article. The text we explored was focused around attracting tourists despite the recent dangers and attacks that have been occurring in Afghanistan. 

Our creative task was to construct  an informative brochure that could persuade foreigners to visit Bamyan, Afghanistan on an escorted tour. 

We read through the article and shared our thoughts using information that we knew about the topical issue. We used different reading comprehension strategies to comprehend the text in a more clear and direct way so that we can make an educated opinion. We also used questions to help us understand the text better, skimming and scanning to evaluate the text even more and summarising in order to retell the text with our own form of comprehension. 

I found this task fairly easy because I am familiar with creating persuasive brochures that advertise an area, and I was able to use my prior understanding of a text to make and share my formed opinions with others.

Science (Tech)

LI: To measure water using meniscus.

Today for Tech with Miss Sharmal, we explored the basic science laboratory equipment and performed an experiment based off of meniscus.

We found out that meniscus is the curve of water that occurs when water is inside of a beaker or measuring cylinder. A meniscus can cause improper measurements. The bottom of the meniscus (where the water is flat surfaced) can be measured instead to perform accurate measurements.

We used a beaker to measure 100ml of water and transferred 40ml of water to a measuring cylinder. We used a pipette to make sure our measurement was exact using our knowledge of meniscus. Then, we added 3 more ml of water to the measuring cylinder using the pipette.

 

I found this task easy because I am familiar with science/laboratory equipment and I enjoyed performing the experiment of measuring and exploring meniscus.

Book Week

LI: to celebrate reading. 

Our school had book week where we celebrated our reading. Today, each student had the opportunity to dress up as a book character. I decided to dress up as Velma from Scooby Doo because Scooby Doo is one of the books I enjoyed reading a lot. Many people came dressed up as different characters. We had our Book Week Assembly and a person dressed up as Spider-Man came and taught us about some books. After the book week assembly, we went outside and read books with some juniors from room 4 and 2. I enjoyed this week and especially today because I got to dress up as a character. 

Student Led Conferences

LI: to share our learning with our family.

Student Led Conferences are held in order for the students to showcase their learning throughout the year or term with their parents. Last night, I led a conference with my parents and shared my learning with them. We had a digital version which had the links of our learning that we have blogged on a Google Drawing. When we came into the classroom, we followed a script and showed our parents around the classroom. My parents wrote a comment on one of my blogposts I made. 

Samoan Language Week

LI: to pay it forward by creating a screencastify that teaches others how to use Samoan words or phrases. 

This week is Samoan Language Week - Vaiaso o le Gagana Samoa. The theme for 2021 is Poupou le lotoifale. Ola manuia le anofale which means strengthen the posts of your house, for all to thrive. In LS2 we have decided to value the measina of the language by creating a screencastify that teaches others how to use Samoan words and phrases. My partner and I chose to pay it forward by showing others how to pronounce some everyday phrases/words in Samoan. I found this challenge fun and educational because I myself, learnt how to pronounce some words too.

Cinquain Poem

LI: to write a cinquain poem to describe a sports star.

We have been learning to write cinquain poems to help us strengthen our connections to description. A cinquain poem has 5 lines. Each line has a different purpose. Line 1 is a noun which is a name. Line 2 has 2 adjectives taht describe the noun. Line 3 has 3 verbs that end in ‘ing’ and describe the actions. Line 4 is a noun phrase which is a group of words (not a sentence) that go together to describe the noun. Line 5 is a synonym which is a word with a similar meaning to the noun. I enjoyed this activity because it taught me how to create a cinquain poem.

My Reading Pathway

LI: to show my personal journey through books.

This week is book week at Panmure Bridge School, which means every class participates in a number of reading activities. One of our activities was to create a reading pathway that shows how my favourite books have changed over time. At the moment I like reading 'The Witches' because it is a very interesting story and although there are very few illustrations they are still really good.