Kiwi Jingle Bells

For today's activity I chose to start off by completing a task called, Kiwi Jingle Bells. Our first instruction with this task was to watch a small video of a singer's interpretation of Jingle Bells, but Kiwi edition! Then we had the task of creating our own! So, I have been busily creating my version of the song. Then if we could we were asked to sing our songs by our selves or with a friend or family member, and this family member is, "drum roll please" my Mother! Here is my song...

Apologies for the laughing and terrible, singing! 

Let's Go On A Treasure Hunt w/ The SLJ

Today for the Summer Learning Journey we got to learn how to encrypt and decrypt Pigpen coding. Now, you may be think "What in the world in Pigpen coding? A pig stuck in a pen and you have to code the pig to get it out?" Well, if you guess was anything like that, I hate to tell you but... your incorrect! Pigpen coding looks like this... 

And I am sorry if this picture made it look even more confusing! But, I promise I got the hang of the Pigpen coding pretty quick, and I am sure you will too, if you try it! It's a little hard to explain, but I will try my best, here goes...

Here's how Pigpen Code Works -

Pigpen cipher is a code system and is made up of 4 main grids. The first grid is like a naughts and crosses grid, made up of 9 boxes.In each of the 9 squares there are 9 letters, one filling each box. In the first box, the letters go from A to I, just like this one...

Then you take the sides of the box that the letters are in. So the letters A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H and I will look something like this if they are translated into Pigpen code...

Anyways, for the next 9 letters in the alphabet you will need to do the same, draw a naughts and crosses box and fill in each box with a letter this time the letters in the box should be, J,K,L,M,N,O,P,Q,R and should look like this...

But, instead of doing the exact same thing as last time you are going to add a small dot in the corner, translated into Pigpen code it should look like this...

Now, we have covered 18 letters of the alphabet and we have 8 to go, here is where the system changes again. Instead of a 3x3 box, you need to draw a big ( X ) like the one below. 

After you have drawn your ( X ) take the next 4 letters of the alphabet (S,T,U,V) and add them to the X, like this...

From here, it's like the first grid again, where you need to take the sides of box that the letter is in, meaning it should look like this...

Then, finally for the last 4 letters it like the one we just did with the ( X ) however we add dots, so it should look something like this... 

So, in conclusion the Pigpen alphabet should look like this...

After, finding out how Pigpen coding works, we were instructed to complete and fill out a deck of slides. Here is my completed copy of the Pigpen coding slides...

HINT- The beach is located in the North Island, the initials are AB

Tell me your guess in the comment section and I'll tell you if your correct or incorrect! 

Maybe you will even make me one to solve? 

I hope you enjoyed my blog post! This one was super fun, tricky, but I learnt lots of new things! 

My Hana Kōkō Design

Today I decided to complete another Summer Learning task, this time the task was about creating our very own Hana Kōkō outfit designs. Hana Kōkō is the Maori Santa. Firstly, we started by reading a small story from a School journal, from there our instructions for the creating side of the task were, to open a new Google Drawing or to use the template below. Then we were instructed to make our own outfit for Santa, based on our surroundings and where we live. I have made a short video for you below and also embedded the Google Drawing. I had a BLAST making this and I hope you enjoy!  

(I was having some problems with embedding my video, however if you tap HERE it will take you to my video on a separate tab) 

Summer Haiku

Today, I chose to complete a quick writing task from the Summer Learning Journey, all about writing poems! But not just any poems, Haiku's! A Haiku, incase your unsure, is a poem constructed of 3 lines, the first line has 5 syllables, followed by the middle line which includes 7 syllables and the last line once again made of 5 syllables. I have written a few Haiku's before at school, have you ever written a Haiku? However, the poem couldn't just be about anything, we had to write them around, Summer! Have you been enjoying your Summer? 

When I think of Summer I think of LOTS of things, but I'm not going to list them because when if I started I wouldn't be able to stop, although, 1 of the main things I think of is the river or going to the beach. So, I decided to write mine about the beach. Here is my Summer Haiku, (well I wrote a few, not just one!) Here they are...

(Sorry, in the image above I have made a small spelling error and I don't have the original to change it, 'shells' is supposed to be 'shell', thanks!)

I hope you like my Summer Haiku's! Enjoy the rest of your Summer holidays and be safe! What do you like to do the most in the holidays?

Rise Up!

Recently, the Summer Learning Journey featured a task called 'Rise Up'. For this activity we had to write our very own song chorus. We started off by listening to an incredible song written and performed by Mangere Collage students 'We Will Rise'. If you would like to listen to their song you can take a look here. 

For my song, I wanted to include all off my School values in my song, so without further to do, here is my song! (If you wondering my school values are Excellence, Perseverance, Community and Respect. This song chorus took a quite a long time to create, and I hope you like it! 

One more hing before you read it though, the bold words is the main parts of the chorus and the faded (not bold) words are the echo's. Here it is!

I hope you all enjoyed my blog post, can't wait for the next task!

(Part 2 - A few days later, after posting this)

Today, I finally got enough courage to post the video of me singing my song lyrics. I like singing (even though I am not good at it at ALL) but this style of singing I am not great at! Singing is not my passion or strength, but I gave it ago anyways, and I am not offended if you don't like it! Tell the truth! Do you like singing, leave you answer in the comments below, I will reply as soon as I see it! Anyways, here it is...

Optical Illusions

 Today, I decided to try the Optical illusions task from the Summer Learning Journey. To start off with I thought that this task would be pretty simple and easy, however after I started drawing my illusion I found that it was a lot harder than it seemed! But, I tried my best and this is how my optical illusion turned out...

Is this tree projecting in or out?  

I made quite a few mistakes, which doesn't make the illusion as quite effective as it could have been. 

There are 3 main types of Illusions, physical illusions, cognitive illusions and literal illusions. 

Now, to explain what an optical illusion is, an Optical Illusion is something that deceives the eye that appears to be something else. Another explanation for an Optical Illusion is, a experience of seeming to see something which does not exist. 

I hope you enjoyed reading my blog post! Once again sorry if the instructions aren't very clear, I can't wait for the next post! Have you ever drawn an Optical Illusion? 

Te Reo Maori - What Are You Doing Today?

Another task from the Summer Learning Journey that I chose to complete today was 'What are You Doing Today?' For this task we were provided with a Google Slide that had small activities on each slide, to help us understand the words, what are you doing today? in Te Reo Maori. Firstly, we had listen to a quick clip then arrange the words to make the sentence, and so on... Here is the slide, so that you can look at my work...

And here is my Step It Up work...

We had to draw a picture relating to the work above, what's your favourite thing to do at the playground?

Which One Doesn't Belong!?

Another activity from the SLJ that I chose to complete today, was called 'Which One Doesn't Belong'. To start we were given a set of slides, on each slide there was 4 photos, from there we had to list all of our reasons why we believed they didn't belong with the others. (sorry for my terrible explaining!) 

For example...

This plate of 4 donuts, they're all different, meaning we had to write our reason why they didn't belong... 

- D (bottom left) is the only doughnut that has pink frosting or the only doughnut with sprinkles

Another one could be...

- C (bottom left) is the only doughnut with nuts 

or A (top left) is the only doughnut with no frosting and so on...

What doughnut would you like to eat the most?

 Here is my reasons why these pictures below in the set of slides don't belong...

Do you agree with me, could you add any on top of mine? 

Here is one for you...

(write your reasons in the comments)

I hope you enjoyed! Can't wait for the next task! This task was a BLAST!

Tānerore!

Today I attempted and completed another Summer Learning Journey task, this time learning about Tānerore, Kowhaiwhai, and other Maori patterns. 

Now, if you wondering who Tānerore is, I made a Google Drawing and wrote in my own words, my understanding of him. 

After learning about Tānerore, I started to create draw Kowhaiwhai. We had the option to either use a template provided or to draw our own on paper. I chose to sketch mine on paper. Afterwards we played around with a koru design rotating and reflecting the shapes to created we a repetitive pattern across the page.

Then I was onto the Step It Up activity, where we did a similar thing but making our own shapes and designs to make a banner. In my drawings I used Koru (new life, growth, strength and peace), and the Mangopare, (hammerhead shark) I also chose to colour my designs!

I really enjoyed drawing these patterns, however I found some of them a little hard to draw! I made some mistakes along the way however, I'm pretty proud of my efforts! 

Anyways, here are my drawings...

My kick start activity drawing...

And my Step It Up drawing...

Design #1           

What pattern is your favourite?

(I apologise if my instructions aren't very clear!)

I can't wait for the next SLJ task!

False Teeth Over Board!

Recently, the Summer Learning Journey featured the task of creating our own comic pages. Firstly, we watched a short film called Teeth, from there we had to create a comic page and fill in text boxes from scenes in the clip. We were provided a free template that we could make our comic page on, or had the option to make our own from scratch our use a comic making platform (website). Without further to do, here is my comic...

I had fun creating this, and I hope you like it! I can't wait for the next SLJ task! 

Incredible Insects

 December 15th 2020 - Summer Learning Journey - Task 2

Today the Summer Learning Journey challenged us to create a piece of art work using nature around us, the artwork was inspired by Raku Inoue, a Japanese artist who only uses leaves, barks, flowers and other things found from his backyard to create spectacular artwork like these...

If you would like to look at more art by Raku, this website has hundreds of cool photos!

To make the insect in photo 1 I used, a Chestnut seed casing (for the body), 8 small twigs (for the legs), and 2 thorns from a rose bush (for the fangs).

And to make the insect in photo 2  I used, a Lavender (for the body), green/unripe blackcurrants(for the eyes), ferns (for the antennae), 6 sticks (for the legs) and Zinnia petals (as wings).

Here are the final results!

Photo #1 (above)

Photo #2 (above)

I also made some more insects, however this time I chose to make some butterflies. To make the butterflies I used petals from flowers, the pistil, stigma, style and ovary (the middle of the flower). The types of flowers I used were... Nasturtium, Pansy, Alyssum, Chickory, Shirley Poppies, Marigold, and Salvia. Here are the butterflies I made...

                 

YOUR Comments Count!

Today marks the start of the Summer Learning Journey for 2020-2021. To begin, I decided to complete one of the activities for week 1, 'Your Comments Count'. We started off by carefully choosing another students blog post, I chose a blog post written by Tumanaako @ Glen Innes school as I saw that they had made a catapult. I chose this blog post, not only because it sounded interesting, but I have created a catapult using marshmallows and skewers and wanted to see how they had created theirs.

This is my comment to Tumanaako...

Today from this task I learnt to include more, positivity, thoughtfulness and helpfulness. Along with double checking my work, making a connection if possible, including a greeting, sharing experiences/facts and information, and adding more punctuation. I can't wait to complete another SLJ task!

Would You Rather...

This morning my class started of the by completing a quick writing task. We had to... Create 'Would You Rathers!' I wrote 12 in total, after writing them we had to chose a favourite and share it with the class and publish it to our blogs! We did this writing so that we could start a good discussion in the class. Here is my Would You Rather...

So, what would you rather?

Google Search Fun!!

Today in class, we were learning how to use the Microphone on Google to search "how to say Merry Christmas is Spanish" (for example). We made a set of Google Slides then wrote down 5 different ways of writing Merry Christmas. I chose to do the 5 languages, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, French, and Turkish. 

After we wrote down our 5 languages we moved onto the next task which was the 'Google Search fun' we had to search (say to the microphone) after searching them we then took a screenshot and placed it onto your slides. 

- Matawai School, the weather, what town Richie McCaw was born in, How to say Cucumber is Spanish, What commotion means, and finally, what is 500 x 39?

Here is my set of slides...