5 Reasons Why...

The other day in class, Mrs Bennett introduced a new type of writing, called '5 reasons why'. Basically, you write 5 things about why you think (for example) 'Spring is the best Season'.

We did this writing because recently we have been focusing on Persuasive Writing. We were trying to convince my readers that Matawai School is the best school. 
Here is my writing....

Athletics Day

Every year our school has an athletics day. I like participating in athletics because I like all of the categorises, I am not a very big fan of discus and shot put though. I really enjoy long jump, high jump and running. We do lots of events every year, which I try to blog about. We do many activities on athletics day like long jump, high jump, discus, shot put, sprints and running.

We were put into our age groups first, then we are taken off in our age groups to do different activities in a rotation. The 11 year old's (my group & I) were taken to sprints first, we lined up, Mr Knight said "take your marks, get set... GO!!" I ran all the way to the line at the end, I almost over took Liana but, she just bet me! We then moved on to high jump, the highest I could jump was 105cm (which is still pretty high!) Our next rotation took us to shot put then we moved on to ... Long jump, in long jump I jumped 3m something and I almost hit the wood at the end! We ran out of time on Tuesday so we didn't finish our last rotation but, we finished that the next day on Wednesday. Our last rotation was discus (the one I dread the most!)

I came 2nd in the sprints, 2nd in the 2 lap run and 2nd in the 3 lap run, 2nd in high jump, 1st or 2nd in shot put, 1st or 2nd in long jump and 3rd in discus. I had a super fun day, I can't wait for next years athletics day!!! My Dad took some pictures of me (Below)

How To Find Labelled For Reuse Pictures

Today, I will be showing you how to find labelled for reuse pictures when doing a Google search. Watch this short clip to find out how...

AG Day 2019

A couple of weeks ago, our school held AG day. On AG day we bring animals, this year I took my 3 legged dog, Cindy, my baby twin goats Nutmeg & Sugar and my lamb Lulu (I wheeled Lulu around in my vintage pram.) My brother brought our other dog Pepper or Pip for short, and one of our other goats named Coco, who we hand raised as a wild goat. When Dad went hunting he came back with a baby goat! But, we didn't mind because we have a small goat farm so she was just another goat for the collection. She was even lucky enough to live inside for a while. This year at our school AG day we had a couple of home school children bring there animals along and join in with some fun.

We also had the challenge to create plant holders and wind chimes. We made sand saucers in class, and brought flowers from our gardens at home to decorate them. I had fun creating our sand saucers because I liked making all of the lovely symmetrical patterns, I used Roses, Daises, Corn flowers, Alison flower & more! I went home a very happy girl, as I had been awarded 2nd for best led lamb even though I pushed it around in a old pram and 2nd for best dressed animal. My brother didn't get any awards in the pet ring but he did get a place in the wind chimes and planters. I'm sure he still enjoyed his day though! Overall I had a great day, and can't wait for next years AG day.

Afterwards we did some sporting activities with Sports Gisborne. We firstly had get into groups, then we started our first activity, which was "How many people can fit into one sack" then we did the egg on spoon slippery slide race this is where you have to ... get a big mat and put lots of water and soap on then run with an egg on a spoon, it's very fun! We played Tug A War too! The next activity was how much water can you get into a bucket here's how you play - first we had to get into a long line with about an arms space between each other, at each end you have a bucket of water the aim of the game is for the first person in the line to soak up all of the water that they can get into the sponge. Then carefully throw the sponge along the line until it gets to the end person the end person then needs to ring out the sponge into a empty bucket then that person need to run to the start and go over and over again until the bucket is full of water. This activity made me a little wet, but I didn't mind because it was a hot day. Have you tried any of these games before? 

                                    Here is one of the home school students with her ducklings

                                             Phoebe & her dog dressed up as bee keepers!

                                         Another home school student with her unicorn lamb

                                     Me & Cindy look like we've just come out from the shower

                                          My brother & goat Coco are builders in this pic!

                                                  Here are the local bee keepers again!

                                              Home school student and her goat Giggles

                                                Some of the AMAZING!! sand saucers

                                              My friend Sophia & her friendly lamb Zoe!

                                           My parents & brother with some of our animals!

                                                Home school student with her baby goat

                                                                Best dressed category!

                                                         Charlie & his egg on the spoon

Tug A War with Kate from Sports Gisborne

Medicinal Uses For ...

A few weeks ago, a small group of 5 children from our class went to a harakeke & medicinal workshop. They learnt how to create ninja stars and flowers out of harakeke. We tried making the ninja stars here in class, (it was TRICKY!) When we cut the flax or harakeke here at school we were told by the children how went to the workshop that before you cut the flax you need to say thank you or do a karakia, afterwards they told us that there is 3 lengths of harakeke, the baby, the parents and the grandparents they told us to only cut the grandparents and to cut the flax at the base on a downward slope. There were also some other rules like not to drop or step on the flax or put it on the ground. After we created our flax creations we put the leftover flax under the bush we cut it from. You have to respect the harakeke.

They learnt how to plant kumara in a plastic tub, we also tried it here at school. We started by adding a layer of stones then grass clippings, soil and sand on top. we then cut the two ends of the kumara and buried the ends into the sand and soil. The Maori used this recipe to grow the kumara all year round. Hopefully, our kumara will grow.

Two girls from our class, Sophia and Liana showed us how to create Kawakawa syrup. We used 5-6 leaves, 1 tsp of garlic, 1/2 a tsp of ginger and 1tsp of honey then we simmered it for 30-60 minutes. + the Kawakawa leave picks you the one with the most holes is better because it has more nutrients.

                                                         Simmering the Kawakawa syrup

                                             Holes in the Kawakawa, adding more nutrients

                                                                     Cutting the flax

                                                                  Planting the Kumara

                                                                             weaving 

Nau mai, haere mai ki tēnei taonga

Welcome to my blog for learning.

I look forward to sharing my learning with my school,

my whānau and friends anywhere.