Current Events

New Zealand Plans To Be Pest Free By 2050

New Zealand set a goal to be free of rats, stoats and possums by 2050 in order to protect our wildlife. John Key says that the pests kill 25 million native birds each year. The government is going to invest 28 million dollars to a new company, Predator Free New Zealand Ltd. Poison will be the main way to kill these predators but some other technical advances will be used.

My Opinion:
I think that this is a pretty far-fetched goal for New Zealand!

Source: I found this information on Kiwi Kids News.

My Wondering:
When there is a new Prime Minister, will they change this goal?

Words:
Wildlife: Wild animals collectively; the native fauna (and sometimes flora) of a region.
Invest: Put (money) into financial schemes, shares, property, or a commercial venture with the expectation on receiving a profit.
Advances: Make or cause to make progress.

Mural Artwork

In Marama we did our mural art work. It was a long process, and a really fun one. On my mural I had these things:

• The New Zealand Flag - Because I am from New Zealand.
• The Irish Flag - Because I am partly Irish.
• The Ocean - Because I like to swim.
• Flowers - Because I like flowers.
• Camera - Because my great great great grandmother might have been the first female photographer in New Zealand.
• The Sun - Because I like Summer.
• Diamonds - Because diamonds are my birthstone.
• Piano - Because I play piano.
• Music Notes - Because I like music.

Everything in my mural has a meaning. 

Here is what we had to do to make the mural:

1. First we had to fill out a sheet of different symbols we might have on our mural.
2. Then we drew out our mural in our books, and coloured it in.
3. After that, we drew our murals onto our good piece of paper.
4. Then we had to do a watercolour practise. 
5. Now, we painted our mural.

I think that the thing I did best in this art project was painting the mural. It took me a long time, but it really was worth it. I think that if I did something different in this project I would most likely have spent more time on it because I think I really over-estimated our time. The hardest part for me was probably painting my ocean. It consists of lots of wavy lines, and took quite a while, about two hours.

The learning powers I used in this project were these:

• Resilience

I used Resilience because it took a very long time, and every time I drew something wrong, I had to try again, which eventually got quite frustrating.

• Creativity

I used Creativity because I had to be very creative so I could find ways to make different things pop, and make sure that it looked good with the colours and patterns I chose. 

• Being Me

I had to be myself during this task because I had to design it to do with ME, and my family and history.

I really enjoyed this project, and I hope to do something like it again. 

News Report: Kaelum's Holiday

Kaelum hung out with his friends Liam, Jemma and Jemma's friend on the streets. They went to get some food at the bakery, and Kaelum nearly lost his phone. Someone threw Liam's ball in the river, and they all had to get it. They were all jumping in, trying to retrieve the ball. The ball kept going further down the river and then it reached a wider part of the river that didn't look deep, but when you got in it sunk.

Raiden was there with Kaelum, and they were daring each other to do stupid things. They dared each other to run into the fence as fast as they could, and they both got covered in scratches. They all continued playing around the water, and sometimes they fell in. Liam got his new shoes soaked.

Maori Language Week

This week was Maori Language week! Here are four things we did to celebrate it.

We made pois, which was very hard. I really enjoyed making pois, and the challenge was cool.
We also did some art about native birds. My bird was the fantail. In maori fantail is Piwakawaka.
Our house team challenge was also based around maori language week. There were four different activities we could choose to specialise in. There were objects, faces, numbers, and rako sticks. I specialised in numbers, and my group got all the questions right.
We even wrote our own Maori legend about a NZ native bird. My bird was the kiwi, and how it lost it's flight.

Fried Bread

On Tuesday I made fried bread with my learning team. I was buddied up with Lara. We made the dough, and then we got half each. We kneaded the dough and then left it to rise while we did the dishes. When we came back we flattened out the dough and cut it into two pieces. After that we fried the dough in oil. Then... We ate it!!

My Pepeha

Ko Te Aroha toku mounga
Ko Piako toku awa
Ko Firth Of Thames toku moana
No Hauraki Plains
Ko Ngatea Primary toku kura
Ko Graeme toku matua
Ko Christine toku whaea
Ko Elaina toku ingoa
No reira tena koutou tena koutou tena tatou katoa

Translation:
My mountain is Mt Te Aroha.
My river is the Piako River.
My sea is the Firth Of Thames.
I am from the Hauraki Plains.
My father is Graeme.
My mother is Christine.
My name is Elaina.
Therefore greetings to you, greetings to you, greetings to us all.