What is a Million?

LI: to describe what a million is to you.

For this writing activity, we focused on describing what something means to us. I chose to describe what a million is to me. A million to me is represented by many things, one for example is: the number of mosquito bites I have had. I really enjoyed this activity because I could get creative with my describing and make different types of comparisions.

Letter Q

LI: to evaluate.

This week we read about the origin of the Letter Q, and where it came from. Our task was to create a DLO (Digital Learning Object) to identify words that begin with the Letter Q. Once we had done that we identified the words we didin’t know and defined these. I found out about a few words starting with the letter Q and the meanings of some of them. I enjoyed the looking for these words.

Hauora with Olympians

LI: to draw and label your own Hauora diagram.

In order to be able to perform at their best athletes need to have a four walls of the whare tapawha standing. We created this poster to show what each wall represents and why it is important. I found out that with each wall standing and stable, it always leads to great success. However, if even one wall is unstable, it can be the difference between success and failure. I enjoyed finding out about how the whare tapawha relates to Olympic athletes. 

Ancient Greek Olympics Presentation

LI: to skim and scan to find facts about the Ancient Olympics and make notes in my own words.

https://prezi.com/view/RkWeShYEf70Ur589JT2s/

We used our reading time this week to find out about the Ancient Greek Olympics. Once we had made our notes and reorganised our information we collaboratively created a presentation. I found out that if women were caught in the olympics, they would get thrown off Mt. Olympus. This was a form of punishment due to the fact that women were forbidden from entering the Olympics because men would compete naked. I enjoyed finding out the information for this activity because it was fun and very informational.

My Science Investigation

LI: to investigate the effect of different types of physical activities on heart rate.

Our focus this week was based on looking at the heart rates after doing certain physical activities. First, we looked at our prior knowledge about the heart rates. After this, we wrote down some questions which were about what we wanted to know about heart rates. When writing the questions, we wrote our hypothesis (what we thought the answer to the questions were). Our investigation part consisted of completing the 6 activites: sitting, jogging, throwing/catching, stretching, star jumps and running. My hypothesis was about how I thought running on the spot will cause my highest blood rate. I enjoyed this investigation because I am interested in blood pressure. One thing I learned was that blood rate is measured in mmHg. 

Hauora and Olympians

Athletes train in both areas, mentally and physically. This is because  both areas need to be stable and balanced. An athlete should have all walls of the Whare Tapa Wha standing, meaning that they are motivated, confident and have self belief. Without these walls standing, or even if one wall falls, athletes will lose their motivation, feel insecure and have low self esteem. As an athlete, being successful is a huge accomplishment. With being an athlete, they need to accept and embrace the unsuccessful times. If an athlete is unsuccessful, they continue to train and are grateful for the opportunity of representing their country. The support of friends and family pushes athletes to become the best they can and lead them to victory.

Farzana & Peyton

PB4L | Ready for Learning

LI: to understand how we can make sure we are ready for learning.

This week's PB4L lesson was about being ready for learning. When someone is ready or prepared for learning, they can focus more with their education. Being prepared for learning includes getting our school uniform ready the night before, charging our netbook and being early or on time. If we do these things, it shows that we are actually motivated and want better for our learning. Making the most of our learning time is a huge benefit and can increase our knowledge. I enjoyed this activity because I felt that this topic is really important and I practice many of these.

My Science Investigation

LI: to research about the taste buds of the tongue.

Our focus this week was based off of looking at the different tase buds located on the tongue. First we looked at our prior knowledge of taste buds. After doing so, we filled out the table that had steps 1-7. We looked at the investigation/research part. After that, we came up with questions that we wanted to be answered at the end of the experiment. Then we wrote down our hypothesis (what we think the answers to our questions are). 

Next we did some research about the taste buds and how sensitive they can be. The five taste buds are: sour, sweet, bitter, salt and savory. How these taste buds work is when the food/drink makes contact with your taste buds, the taste buds will know what the taste will be depending on the type of food/drink. For example: if I drink lemon juice, the lemon juice will make contact with the sour taste buds and notify my brain of the taste. 

To find out the taste of certain solutions, we got spoons and put the different solutions on them. Then we tasted the solutions. If the majority of us had the same taste, we put a tick on the part where we tasted. If someone didn't have the same taste as us, we wrote down their name. This gave us a conclusion of how everyone has different taste buds. 

I enjoyed this weeks science project because it taught me things I did not know about the tongue. 

Thinking Grid | Water Safety

LI: to learn how and why we need to stay safe in and around water.

This activity was based around our prior knowledge while around or in the water. There were six questions we were required to answer. One of the questions were: "Why is it important to be safe in the water?" I think that it is really important to be safe in the water because it can keep you and possibly others safe. While in crutial situations, you can stay calm and not panick. A piece of advice I would give to a child under 6 years old in order to keep them safe is, to always have an adult with you no matter what. In New Zealand, we are surrounded by water and there are many bodies of water, which makes it even more important to be educated around water. 

River Safety Brochure

LI: to learn how and why we need to stay safe in and around water.

This activity was based around how we could stay safe in and around rivers. We created a brochure promoting safety around rivers. The information would be researched or found at the River Safety site. It is important to always have safety equipment when in rivers. We also need to make sure to check how shallow or how deep the river is before we go in. While checking the depth of the river, look out for rocks or bumpy parts of it. It is recommended to wear covered shoes in rivers. If the water is not deep make sure to never dive into it. Some activities to do in a river is: kayaking, fishing, and paddle boarding. 

Olympic Challenge

LI: to use the most efficient strategy to find the answers.

For this task, we were required to compare a country's total medal score with New Zealands score. We looked at the different scores and picked one of the country's to compare. My group and I picked to compare the scores with the USA. The total medal tally for USA was 2673 whereas the total New Zealand medal score is 95. With these numbers in mind, we found out how many times we could multiply 95 to get as close to 2673 as we could. Doing this will draw the line of our comparision. First I found out what 95 x 20 was. 95 x 20 = 1900. After doing so, I added 1900 more to 1900. Which got me to 3800. Seeing this passed the total score for USA, I did 95 x 10 which was 950. If I added 950 to 1900 it would get me to 2850 which was also above the total score. With this in mind, I subtracted 95 however many times until getting the closest number to the total USA score. I subtracted 95 two more times (190), which would get me to 2660 with the remainder of 13. 

Greetings in Te Reo Maori

LI: to create a display poster that shows people the difference between tena koe, tena korua and tena koutou.

Our focus for the Te Reo Maori challenge this week was to talk about the difference between tena koe, tena korua and tena koutou when greeting people. Tena koe is a way of greeting one person alone. For example, when I meet one of my friends I say "Tena koe, kei te pehea koe?". By adding "kei te pehea koe?" to the greeting, you ask how your friend is. 

Tena korua is a greeting to two people. If I am with two of my teachers, I say: "Tena korua (teachers name) & (teachers name), he aha ake?". He aha ake means what are we doing? You can say this when speaking to two people. 

Tena koutou katoa is another greeting but to three or more people. An example of this is "Tena koutou katoa, kei te pehea koe?" which translates to "Hello everyone, how are you?". 

Mindfulness Reflection

LI: to practice mindfulness when in stressful situations. 

Mindfulness is training your mind to become aware of not only yourself, but also your surroundings. When it comes to mindfulness, there are two zones. The red zone and the green zone. The red zone is all the negative emotions you feel when stressed. The green zone is all of the positive emotions which help you when feeling stressed. For example, when in a stressful situation, you can clear your mind and stay calm. This is when your mind enters the green zone. In the red zone, you feel waves of negativity overcoming your mind. 

When trying to focus, your mind wanders. Although your body can be present, your mind can be wandering around and thinking about the past or future. With mindfulness, you focus on the present moment and what is happening at that moment. 

The mindfulness practice helps you clear your mind, focus on your breathing and overall makes you content and composed. To do this activity, we faced away from others to be focused. We had a straight back, soft stomach, closed eyes and our hands on our knees. When the mindfulness bell rang, we calmed ourselves and focused on our breathing. When breathing, you are more focused on you and your surroundings.

Olympic Maths Challenge

LI: to use the most efficient strategy to find the answers.

Today, we were looking at how we could solve another Olympic word problem. First, we gather the needed information. There are 250 squares in a badminton racket. With this piece of information we move to the next step and find out how many right angles in one square. Looking at a square, we see that there are 4 right angles per square. This means that the number problem is 250 x 4. When we multiply 250 four times, it gives us an answer of 1000. Therefore the answer to the question "How many right angles are on an entire badminton racket?"  is 1000.