Float Your Boat

For today's Summer Learning Journey task, we had to make paper boats. But, that isn't all, we also had to test our boats to see if they could float. 

From there, if we wanted to complete the Step It Up task we also had to see if they floated with weights (rocks) and see what boat can hold the most weight. 

To test my paper boats, I went down to the river with my family. At our river spot we have a small flowing creek which I used to float the boats in to see if they floated in both still and flowing water. 

I found the making of the paper boats really easy and fun, my boats floated perfectly with and without weight, although once I added to many rocks... it sunk! But to be fair, it was already a little bit wet and so the paper had already been soaking in the water and there were way too many rocks in the boat. 

Anyways, without further to do, here is the pictures I got...

In this photo (above) I am holding my 2 boats, I also named one of my paper boats Bateau De Papier. I don't really have a reason of why I called one of my boats 'Bateau De Papier' I just thought that calling it 'Paper Boat' would be boring so I chose a country, used Google translate to translate paper boat, and that's how I got the name!

In this picture one of my boats (above) is floating down the stream

And in this photo, my boat flowing down the stream once again. I got sidetracked swimming and playing around at the river and completely forgot to get any photos of the paper boats carrying weights, but the Bateau De Papier did manage to carry over 10 rocks before sinking. 

Have you ever made a Paper Boat? Did you find it easy or hard to make?

String Games!

Today I completed the 'string games' activity from the Summer Learning Journey page. This blog post was super fun to do! This blog post is quite short, but their really isn't a lot to it. All we had to make was a cup and saucer, I remember making one of these when I was younger, and it was relatively easy, anyways without any further to do, here is my cup and saucer... 

There is a 'Step It Up' task coming soon! 

Sundial w/ Nanogirl

For today's SLJ blog post I completed one of the the tasks with Nanogirl. I found this task super fun and I only needed a few things to make it! Anyways, you'll be wondering what I made with Nanogirl, so... I made, drum roll please, *drum rolls* a sundial!

If your unsure on what a sun dial is, it's a simple device for showing the time only using the sun. To use a sundial, you need to read where the shadow is on the dial, it's pretty simple to use, however the idea of using the sun to tell the time is very unfamiliar these days. Sundials were originated in Greece around 5,500 years ago. 

Anyways, here is my sundial... 

Podcast!

Today's Summer Learning Journey task, was to create a Witchy Airwaves podcast. I found this activity super fun! The book I chose to make a podcast I chose to read the children's book Hansel and Gretel. And to record my podcast I used Screencastify. The reason I chose the book Hansel and Gretel, is because it was one of my favourite books when I was younger (around age 4) and the book is Witchy like the example on the SLJ page. Anyways, the instructions were pretty straight forward and I'm pretty sure that I have followed the right steps, however here is my podcast... 

(I also forgot that Screencastify has a recording limit of 5 minutes, so I had to split my podcast in 2, sorry for the inconvenience)

Summer Symmetry

Today's task for the SLJ was all about Symmetry, Summer symmetry. For this task I started by completing the Kick start activities, which were to watch and sing a quick song about two kids at the fair explaining symmetry. Then from there, we had to read an article about finding symmetry in nature and finally play a quick game called Seafloor Symmetry. I found the game pretty easy! 

Finally, we were asked to take 4 photos of symmetrical objects, from there we had to draw a symmetrical line across every object. Anyways, here is my four objects with symmetrical lines...

I hope you enjoyed my blog post and look forward to more!!

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream For Ice Cream!!!

The next Summer Learning Journey task is another Te Reo Maori task, this time about Ice Cream. What's your favourite flavour of Ice Cream? First, we started by making a copy and filling out a deck of slides, full of questions about ice cream flavours and how to pronounce them along with how much it costs. The deck of slides basically explains everything. 

So, here is my slide deck.

Next, for the Step It Up task we had to create an animation on Scratch of characters talking using words and sentences we learnt. I had some knowledge on who to use Scratch because I have used it in the past! I had so much fun doing this and I hope you enjoy my animation. (My animation is on the very last slide of the slide deck!) Enjoy!

(I'm terribly sorry about my screencastify, I am not familiar what so ever with Te Reo Maori, I don;t mean to offend anyone, sorry)

I hope you enjoyed it! Comment in the comments below, what your favourite Ice Cream flavour is! Do you like to have toppings on your ice cream? I had loads of fun doing this blog post and I can't wait for the next one! 

Summer sounds

Today I managed to achieve another blog post, this time about Summer sounds (sounds you can hear in Summer in NZ) 

First, we started off by reading a poem about Summer sounds written by Jenny Bornholdt. Next, we were asked to highlight all of the sound words and words we don't understand. 

Then, the funniest part of this blog post... was to go outside and record summer sounds that we can hear on our Chromebook. Listen back to them and create our own Summer Poem. Anyways, here is my poem...

I also chose to Step it Up and narrate my poem using screencastify. So, here is my screencastify...

Origami!

Today's SLJ post is about Origami and 3D paper! Our first instruction was to find a video clip on YouTube explaining how to fold origami, slow it down and complete the tutorial. I decided to fold and create a paper cup. After we created the origami, to Step It Up we were asked to create a screencastify to explain how we made our origami creations. This took me a little while to create, and I found it quite challenging, but anyways, here is my final result, and instructions to how I made my cup. Have you ever tried Origami, what did you make? Tell me in the comments and I will try to reply as soon as possible! Enjoy!

Surprisingly, the cup actually held water and I managed to drink out of it! 

Now, for the screencastify, and how I made it...

(there are actually two videos, sorry for the inconvenience!)

 

It's Cool To Be Kind!

For today's SLJ task, we learnt about being kind, and that it's cool to be kind. Our first step or activity for this task, was to play a little game It’s Cool to Be Kind. Which is a game all about spending kindness to others and blocking the bully. Personally, I found this game quite fun! 

Our next step was to screenshot a nice comment (and our reply) from our blog and place it onto a Google Drawing, provided on the SLJ website. Our last step was to embed the Google Drawing a PNG and post it to our blogs. 

So, without further to do here is my kind comment..

Do you think the comment and my reply were nice, and kind? Tell me in the comments below, I'll reply as soon as possible!

I hope you all enjoy the rest of the Summer holidays!

Te Huarere

For this Summer Learning task, our two main focuses were... Te Reo Maori, and the weather. For a start we had to complete a deck of slides full of questions and activities, all about pronouncing "What is the weather forecast today?" in Maori and answering that question. Afterwards to Step It Up, we were asked to create a screencastify. So, without any further to do, here is my screencastify and deck of slides... 

What is the weather like where you live? Today, for me we had rain, cloud and sun!

Building a Dam!

Today the Summer Learning Journey challenged us (SLJ participators) to create a dam, out of natural resources. I made my mine in a aluminium foil baking tray, because their isn't a lot of running water at the moment. While making our dams, we were asked to take pictures of the steps, progress and final result (if we could). Here is how I made my dam... 

First off all, I started by folding up the edges of the tray to make more of a container. Like this..

In the photo above you can see the tray before I folded the edges.

And in this photo above you can see the tray after I had folded up the edges.

From there, I placed a layer of dirt in a straight line right across the centre of my tray. Then I added sticks and bark to support the centre of the dam wall. Like this,

After that, I used another layer of dirt to cover up the sticks, followed by a layer of ferns. I used the ferns as I thought that they could mesh it together with their shape.

And once again, covered the ferns up with dirt. Here is what my dam looked like, before I added water.

Afterwards, as my final step, I added water to one side of the container, to test if the dam wall in the middle blocked the water from seeking though to the other side. 

After pouring the water into one side, I left my dam sit there for around ten minutes. As I watched I saw that water was starting to flow into the other side of the dam. I think in conclusion it worked quite well, and it kept a lot of water from flowing to the other side. 

Although, next time if I made my dam again, I would make my dam wall a curved shape, and not just a straight wall, this is because the curve usually used in huge dams around the world like this one...

makes the structure stronger, and harder for the water to burst the dam wall. Next time, I would also use thick mud or clay, because when I placed the dirt, the surface of my tray was flat, so there were little gaps between the dirt and the tray. 

Have you ever built a dam at the river, creek, or at home? 

 

Goodbye For Now!

In conclusion I have really enjoyed the Summer Learning Program, it has been very beneficial and I have learnt a lot. Doing three blog posts a day is maybe a little much because at some points I was struggling to keep up. There was some very challenging blog posts, but I got through it eventually. All of the way from 

Sport and Exploration, Politics and Activism, Science, Technology and Invention and Arts and Entertainment. I will think about doing it next time (if they do it) and I say I will think about it because I have spent a lot of time on my computer this summer so I think for the last tow weeks of the holidays I will be trying no to spend to much time on my computer and enjoy outside and nature.

Braver, Stronger, Smarter Than You Think!

The Summer Learning Journey challenged me to chose a quote from a website called '25 Inspirational Quotes All Kids Should Hear'. We also had to design and create a text graphic, here is my quote and text graphic below . . . 

A Splash Of Colour On The Streets!

The Summer Learning Journey challenged me to visit a website, on the website it had pictures of street art in Christchurch New Zealand. The SLJ (Summer Learning Journey) then challenged me to chose 2 pictures of street art, write and identify similarities and differences between the two. 
Here is my work . . . 


These 2 pieces of artwork are similar because . .  .
- They both have a lot of blue
- They both have animals in them
- 
These 2 pieces of artwork are not similar because . . . 
- They aren't in the same place
- One picture is on land and the other is underwater

What else do you see between the 2 pictures???

Tapa

The Summer Learning Journey challenged me to create a Tapa (A piece of art from places like Samoa, Tonga and Fiji). I had the chose to make my design on paper or on Google Draw, I choose to do mine using Google Draw. I started by drawing a Turtle out of shapes, then I added 3 squares  My class made Tapa designs last year, and so I understood how to draw some patterns, colours and shapes on my art. Have you ever made a Tapa??? Have you heard of Tapa??? Here is my art work. . . 

Twenty-Seven Names

The Summer Learning Journey challenged me to read about how some of most successful New Zealand companies, and how they got there names. We also had to find out how Twenty-Seven Names got their name. Here is my research and information . . .

Twenty-Seven Names started as Love Lies Bleeding in 2006, but after finding that the name was copyrighted by a US company, they renamed themselves in an homage to the 27 people who have supported their business along the way.

Designer and co-founder of Twenty-Seven Names Anjali​ Stewart said, 

"the name change bought a lot of media attention. We didn't have the capacity to get into a international legal battle and decided to re-name our brand. It was difficult to get attached to something new. During a session when we were spit balling other name ideas…we wrote a list of people who helped get the label off the ground there were 27 names on that list." Stewart said. And that's how they got there name. 

After researching how they got their name, the Summer Learning Journey challenged me to look at their clothing brand and tell them on a blog post if you think that the name suits their website or do I think that it's needs to change, her is my opinion - I don't think that they should change their name because it's very unique and 27 names created it. What do you think?

20 or 40 Hour Famine

The Summer Learning Journey challenged me to make a blog post and explain if I would do the 20 or 40 hour Famine. I had no idea what this 20 or 40 hour Famine was until I did a little bit of reading online. I found out that this Famine is a time to raise money for a charity, but there is a twist you can not eat for 20-40 hours. I think that I would do this because there are a lot of charities that need help to raise money and because I like helping the environment and world, I also like helping charity's. But, I would probably find not eating for over 20 hours a little hard, maybe I could have a big feed before? Who knows? Would you participate in the Famine challenge? Have you ever done it?  

Marvelous Movies

The Summer Learning Journey challenged me to imagine that we had the chance to create and design our very own movie. I am not a big fan of movies (because I just simply can't stay still) however movies that I do like are Matilda, Harry Potter . . . Do you like watching movies? What is your favourite movie? Anyway, here is what I would make my movie about . . . 
I would create a wildlife and nature movie, explaining more about endangered and non-endangered animals and nature (trees, plants etc) I would explore all around the world making a movie about different countries and there nature, I could also include cultures and cuisine. What would your movie be about??? 

Future Plans

The Summer Learning Journey challenged me to list my future plans, for example jobs, lifestyle and travel . . . Of course it's a little hard trying to figure out future plans because anything can change in a matter of seconds. 
Here is my future plans (so far in life): 
One thing I would like to do is travel the world and experience different cultures and cuisine. However, if I couldn't manage to explore the whole world I would live in a tiny house or van and travel around New Zealand, bungy jumping etc.  
I would also like to have a baking business and deliver cakes and other baking around New Zealand as I travel, because I love cooking!!! I also love photography so I could do something with that too, or maybe just keep it as a hobby??? All my life I have wanted to be a vet, doctor or paramedic (I am currently learning first aid at St John Youth) I now how to use a defibrillator and I now how to do mouth to mouth, SPR and other thing like that. I love art, another one of my hobbies so it will be interesting where my hobbies and likes in activities will take me. Were do you think the future will take you??? 

My Role-Tastic Role Model

The Summer Learning Journey challenged me to choose one of our role models and tell you (viewers of my blog) all about them. I have many role models however I can only choose one so that one is . . .  Mrs Bennett (my teacher) and her's why . . . 

1. She is SUPER pretty!

2. She is a fantastic teacher and make school fun in every shape and form.

3. She understands 'children' very well, but maybe that's because she has 3 of her own Katie, Matt and Charlie.

Who is your role model???