Christmas and holidays!

This year for my christmas holidays me and my family are going to Philippines to see some of my relatives. I will be celebrating christmas sometime on the trip to the Philippines probably on a plane.
I am excited about our trip because in the philippines they launch fireworks and celebrate christmas is lots of different ways compared to New Zealand and other countries. They also to this christmas decoration competition where people build these light displays that have really cool patterns like the picture on the right.
 
Any way I know that my holiday is going to be great, I hope that your holiday goes well and have a very Merry Christmas and a happy New year. BYE!

Random post

So.... I was bored one day while doing some tasks and then I saw this online card trick on some site. So you pick a card but you never click it and it will try to guess your card. Every time I played this game I guessed my card correctly. (Kind of creepy)

Here's the link to the card trick: Click here!!!

P.S it has got nothing to do with you saying your card twice. Try it your self and say nothing.

Highlights of term 4

Term 4 has been a very exiting and fun term as it is also our last of the year. Some of my highlights have been:

• Space topic 
• Dodgeball
• PE
• Tech

This term my favourite highlight has been our space topic because i have learned a lot from it and it was very interesting. I think we are winning this term's dodgeball but I'm not sure because it has been very close so far. This term for PE we have been learning some ball skills by practicing trowing and catching tennis balls and also by playing softball. This term at tech we have been making some pillows for sowing. I just finished making mine today and I think it's really good because it has a Captain America shield design on it (Captain America is a comic book character is you didn't know).

Did you agree with my Highlights of the term? Comment what were your favourite highlight in the comments below

This is what happens if you don't play attention during dodgeball.

Next year!

Next year I will finally become a year 8! Being a year 8 is so fun because you go to camp, get to sit on the chairs during assembly and we will totally dominate in year 7's vs year 8's dodgeball. Next year I aim to become a house captain or part of the catholic character team. Next year I am going to be looking forward to playing lots of dodgeball especially year 7's vs year 8's and as i said before we are totally going to dominate. I am also looking forward to camp. Camp will pose new challenges and it will be very fun. One challenge I set for myself  next year is to be able to get my merit and excellence badges before term 2 ends. Although it will be sad to see the year 8's go I am looking forward to finally being a year 8!

Speeches are over!!!!

Today at school I finally finished my speech! I am now very glad to have got my speech over and done with. It feels like a massive weight lifted of  my shoulders. I think that i did okay in my speech it wasn't the best but not the worst also. I am really liking other peoples speeches and all the different topics and I am really looking forward to listening everybody else's speeches.

Some books i read...

I haven't read a fiction book for ages and I can't remember what was the last fiction book I read so instead i will talk about my favourite book series. My favorite series is the Cherub series. I finished reading this series a few months ago and it is about a boy called James Choke who after he becomes a orphan gets recruited by a secret organisation called Cherub. He then changes is name to James Adams and goes on several missions during the series. This series is written by Robert Muchamore who as also written many other books including the Henderson's Boys series that is related to the Cherub series. What was your favourite book or series tell me in the comments below.

Speeches!

We have speeches every year in term 4. Speeches are coming up in 2 weeks and I am feeling nervous about mine. I have only written half of my speech so I should really get going on finishing it. My speech topic this year is........ not going to tell you ha ha! :) I think that my speech topic is quite good and I am really looking forward to getting my speech over and done with.

1000 views!

I just got 1000 views on my blog so..... yay for me! (totally just didn't spam refresh on my blog) ;)

Space

This term at school we have been learning about space. I have found this topic very interesting and I have learned a lot from it. One of the most interesting thing i have learnt is that the sun is a million times bigger than the earth. What makes this so interesting is that that the sun is not really that big compared to other stars. There are galaxies containing thousands of stars and there clusters of galaxies containing millions of stars and thats not even like 0.00001 % of the total universe so when you think about how small we are it really boggles my mind. I think that this topic has really been helpful for me and i learnt a lot of very interesting stuff.  

What I did on the Holidays

Roar!

On the holidays I went to see my family and Paolo's family went to see the T-Rex exhibition at Te Papa. I thought that the exhibition was really cool and and a lot of interactive activities that we could use. There was one activity that you had to squeeze a handle and it would tell you how much bite force you were squeezing it at. It was so freaking hard!!!!! The exhibit also had a lot of information and facts about the T-Rex. There was also many models of dinosaurs and there was a big skeleton of a T-Rex that looked really cool.

Production is over finally!

Finally the production is over! I think that the dances and the acting was really good. I was in props and I think that we did a pretty good job of taking out and taking in the props.

Highlights

My highlights in the production was the cantina dance because it was the only dance i was in. I think that all the dances were really good and fun. I also liked being backstage on props because we got to watch all the dances and the acting. I like the last scene i liked the most was the last scene on Thursday because it was funny when the medallions got stuck to the microphones.

Things we could have done differently

I don't think that that we could of done differently in much things as most things went well

How I feel about my performance

I think that I did well in my dance but unfortunately on the Thursday show my alien collar thing came loose so I had to constantly fix it. I think I did well in props just like my other props buddies.

I think that this production was the best one I've been in because I got to be in props

#PropsForTheWin

(just like Paolo)

Pre-production post

The production is only 2 days away! I think that most of the dances and acts need a little bit more time to practice to make them perfect. I still need to do the finishing touches on my costume same as some other people. Most of the props look really good, like the walls which have a lot of detail. This years production is probably going to be my favourite production out of the three I have been in at St Benedict's. I am really looking forward to the production I know that it will be very fun and the audience will love it.

 

Parliament

This is a photo of the Beehive, Parliament house and Bowen house in the backround.

For the past week we have been learning about parliament and the government because of the upcoming general election. During the time I have been studying about parliament and the government I have learnt

That the system of government we run on is called the Westminster system which was named after the place Parliament is in London

We lived in a democracy and have a government to rule us instead of a dictator.

When you vote you get two votes one for the MP that is standing for parliament in your electorate and one for your favored political party.

There are 70 electorates in New Zealand.

There were a lot more facts that I have learned but if i was to list them all this post would be very long. We have four buildings in Parliament which are the Parliamentary library, Parliament house, Bowen house and the Executive wing which is more commonly known as the Beehive. The Beehive is named after its shape which looks like a beehive.

Reading Challenges

This term I have not so far completed any of the reading challenges. I am aiming to compete the read ten books in a term and the pick a book randomly of a shelf challenge. I probably will not be able to finish all of
the challenges but  but by the end of the term I am aiming to complete at least 3.

So...much...reading....

Basketball

My favourite sport is Basketball. I like basketball because it is a fun and fast paced sport. I think you should try basketball because it helps you with your aim and you can have fun with your friends because it is a team sport.

 



Basketball Bob says play basketball.

Production

This year we are having a  school production. We have a production every two years. This years theme is space, the plot is about a villain who is looking for a piece of tech which will heal her cat called fluffy. And she goes on a stealing spree to find this piece of tech.  And there is this plot twist but I don't want to spoil the thing if you don't know the plot. We are still practicing the dance and some of us still need to finish our costumes. We still need to learn our dances and practice our moves. It's hard work but I guess it's going to be awesome
                     

Heal the World

Heal the World (Michael Jackson)

The Inspirational song I have chosen to write about is Heal the World by Michael Jackson. I like this song because all the things in the song are true and we need to change all the problems we have so we can "heal the world". This is very inspiring for people because we have so many problems such as crime wars and other forms of violence and this song awakens us and make us more aware of all these problems. Another good thing about this song is that it was sung by Michael Jackson; I think this is good because he was so famous more people listened to this song which meant that a lot of people actually started caring about the world and are now more motivated to make things better. `  

             

My Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics

These are my hieroglyphics

Over the past few weeks we have been learning about Ancient Egypt. As well as learning about Ancient Egypt we also did some art the linked with the topic. We did two pieces of artwork this included a picture of an Ancient Egyptian god or person done in a 2D style and a hieroglyphics/tomb drawing picture. My favourite was the hieroglyphics picture, we were allowed to make the hieroglyphics a translated message or we could copy hieroglyphics from a book or picture. I chose to make my hieroglyphics a message and I did that by using a online hieroglyphics translator.
I used dyes to colour my hieroglyphics and my tomb drawing. To make the lines stand out I used a sharpie. I liked making this because I had never done anything like it before.

Ancient Egypt

The Pyramids of Giza.

For the last few weeks at as school we have been learning about Ancient Egypt. We learnt about hieroglyphics and about tombs and buildings in Ancient Egypt. We did a few activities linked to the Ancient Egyptian subject such as building some Ancient Egyptian buildings and tombs in Minecraft and making a double page spread about an Egyptian topic of your choice.

Things we did

Some of the activities we did was a hieroglyphics styled artwork. We were meant to have an tomb drawing surrounded by hieroglyphics. The hieroglyphics could have been copied of a picture in a book or it could have been a message translated into hieroglyphics. 

One of the other things we did was a double page spread as I mentioned earlier. The topic I had to research and write about was Ancient Egyptian battles. I talked about life as an Ancient Egyptian soldier and the Hyksos invasion and so on.

The last thing we did was make an Ancient Egyptian Minecraft world with tombs and villages. I and some other people were assigned to make the tombs in the valley of the kings. Although I did not make a tomb by my self I helped build a large tomb with Matthew, Joseph and some other people.

What I Learnt

When we first started the Ancient Egyptian topic I didn't know much about Ancient Egypt. Basically all I knew was that there was three large pyramids in Giza and there was a famous Pharaoh called Tutankhamun and when an important person died he or she would be mummified. I think that this experience has helped me learn more about Ancient Egypt. Over the past few weeks I have learnt more about Ancient Egyptian tombs, houses, transport, wars, pyramids and other things to do with Ancient Egypt.

What activity did I learn from the most

I bet that the activity that I learnt from the most was the double-page spread because when I was researching my topic I also stumbled on some interesting facts. I also learnt more because I read some of my other classmates double-page spread when we were proofreading each others work.

Good-bye ! 

               

Gymnastics

In the last few weeks we have been having gymnastics at Nairnville recreation centre. I utterly hate gymnastics and I will to the day I die and even beyond that into the very end of time. In other words I hate gymnastics. I mean why can’t we please do sport? Just one day of sport? Please? Pretty please? “Hello kids were doing another day of gymnastics. It’s going to be so fun. First we have a beam thingy and this really fun ladder thingy……” Why? At least we only have one more week of gymnastics.

At gymnastics we have a warm-up game such as ship to shore or octopus. Then we do some stretches and get arranged in to three groups. Once we are in three groups each of the groups goes to a different stage in the three-stage circuit. At each circuit we do a number of activities relating to gymnastics. 

For each stage we have eleven minutes to practice the activities that are stationed there.

My favourite stage of the circuit is probably the teacher stage. I like the teacher stage because we often do a lot of things with ladders and the slide. The other two circuits usually have the rungs to do candle sticks, balance beams and the air-track.

Even though I disliked gymnastics I did improve in some of my areas of gymnastics such as forward rolls and candle sticks.   

What I learned at school last week

Last week I learned more about the inspirational man: Martin Luther King Jr. We had to write a page long biography of a person that we talked about in R.E. I chose Martin Luther King Jr. because I knew that he was a major person in the fight for black people’s rights but all I knew about him was that we said a very famous speech called I had a dream. When I did my research I was really surprised because I found out some really cool facts about him such as the fact he never really finished high school because he was so smart. I also learned that he had a wife and four children. I even learned he's start in black peoples rights protesting which was the Montgomery bus boycott. The next thing I found out was the famous I have a dream speech. Martin Luther King Jr. helped organise a march which over 250,000 people attended. This is where he spoke his I have a dream speech. A year later black people were granted rights. The only downfall about writing the biography had to write about Martin Luther King Jr.’s death. Even though he was very-well respected some people wanted to kill him for what he did and one day he was shot from his hotel balcony by James Earl Ray. Martin Luther King died believing in equal rights for all people’s rights. So that is all I learned last week when I was writing my biography.

Running Wild

This year for book groups I choose a book by Michael Morpurgo called Running Wild. It is based on a boy called Will who is riding an elephant on an Indonesian beach line until a tsunami hits the coast. Will only survives because the elephant he is riding storms of into the dense Indonesian jungle away from the wave. Then for the next year Will survives in the jungle with the elephant which is called Oona until he finds a clearing in the jungle where he finds a woman in a straw hat that helps him find the rest of his family. We had a few problems when we had our group discussions like on the first week some of us in the group weren't listening and also on the second week I forgot to bring my book discussion notes. Another problem was that once we read six chapters in one go and for the next two weeks we only read 4 pages every time to make the book last so that we didn't finish two weeks earlier than the other book groups. I think what went well was that we all had mixed ideas of what was going to happen next which showed that we were all thinking about the story and not agreeing to what everybody else said. What I got out of this experience was that I found out that other books in other genres are sometimes good to read, I used to always read books filled with action such as the CHERUB series or the Alex Rider series and so on.

  

Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy

The book I liked when I was young was Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s Dairy. The author of Hairy Maclary is Lynley Dodd. The book is written in a poetic style with stanzas. The plot is about a dog called Hairy Maclary who goes for a walk and gets followed by other dogs from Donaldson’s Dairy and after a while they see Scarface Claw who is the toughest cat in town. All the dogs run away because they are scared by Scarface claw and the story ends there. My Dad Used to read it to me when I was about five or six. I like the way that the whole story rhymes and all the unusual names for the dogs. There are lot of books in the series such as Hairy Maclary’s Showbusiness, Hairy Maclary’s bone and Hairy Maclary Rumpus at the vet.                                                                                                                        

Captain America 2 the Winter Soldier Movie

In the school holidays I went to watch 3 films at the cinema. My favourite was the captain America 2 the winter soldier. I went to see it with my brother James, Arthur, Anthony and Matthew Chu. The film was good and it had a lot of action and it kept everybody on the edge of their seats. It was about a government agency that was corrupt by an enemy agents and captain America's long lost friend was working for that enemies and captain America tries to solve the problem.it was a great film and I would rate it a 4 1/2 stars out of 5.

The second movie I saw was the amazing spider man 2 rise of electro. I went to see it with my brother James. It was about a person who is exposed to a lot of electricity and turns into a blue superhuman with the power to control electricity. I liked all the action in it but I did not like the unexpected death at the end. I would rate it a 4 stars out of 5.













The last movie I saw was the Lego movie.  I also saw it with James. The movie wasn't as exciting as the others because it didn't have a lot of violence and suspense. The plot was about a normal minifigure called Emmet that finds out that the person that rules his city in which he lives in has a plan to glue every block of Lego together. He finds himself dragged in to a world of master builders who all believe that he is the chosen one who is supposed to save them all. I would rate this movie 3 1/2 out 5.

Mission fair madness

Last week our school organised a mission fair to help raise money for Solomon Islands as they desperately need it since the flood has ruined most of the land and the homes of the people that live there. The mission fair stalls were held by the year 6s,7s and 8s of St Benedicts school. Our stall was called PABJAR for the first letters in each of names. In our stall team was Bernard, Paulo, Astin, Renzo and Josh. We all decided that we would split the group in two and do two activities to max our gain in money for the Solomon Islands. In my half I had Paulo and Bernard, our activity was trying to shoot Nerf bullets in to cardboard box that had a hole in it. The other part of our group was doing a guess how many lollies in a jar type thing.

What went well?

I think that our choice of activity was ok because I think that people like playing with Nerf guns.

 What didn't go so well and would be changed next time?

 I think that we should have done more advertising by placing posters the corridors to attract more customers. It would be have been better if we had a different place for our stall because the gaming stall was also in the library and a lot of kids went there and didn't check out our stall.

 All in all I think the mission fair was a success because we got $1900+. And I think that it all went to a good cause and I hope that the people in the Solomon Islands use this money for the greater good. 

My hobby at home

This is what Lego looks like if you didn't know.

My hobby at home is building Lego. I like Lego because it is fun to build creations of all sorts and there is a lot of bricks to experiment with and see how different bricks look and fit on your creation. I usually build Lego any chance I get after I finish my tasks. Do you like building Lego,and if so what kinds of things do you like to build?

This is my previous creation I built out of Lego.
sorry it is kind of blurry

I based my creation on this aircraft.

My stats test

A few days ago at school we redid a statistics math test to see how much we improved since the stats unit. My scores percentage the first time was 37% out of 100 which was a puny score because I accidentally missed a page of questions when I was doing it. I know your thinking that that was a crap excuse but believe it or not I did miss a page. On the up side in my second test I got 97% which was huge improvement since my last test.  

EOTC week was Awesome

last week was EOTC week we did a lot of cool things like Sailing, climbing Mt kaukau and going to camp kitoke and doing a lot of fun activities over there like kayaking etc.

What did you find the most challenging?
 I found climbing Mt Kaukau the most challenging out of all the activities last week. I think that some other students found that challenging.

What did you find easy?

I found sailing easy because it was fun and easy to control and steer the boat we even had massive water fight between the other bats because we found bucket on the boat and a water pump so we filled the buckets with sea water then used the pump to pump water at the other boats.

Was it what you expected?

No it wasn't. It was more fun than I expected.

What was your proudest moment?

My proudest moment was when I reached the top of Mt Kaukau and I saw the massive and great view.

Describe your favourite moment

Okay. It was when we first put the sails up at sailing. The sails went up, the wind filled them up, the boom swung left and the boat tilled side ways, we were off!
                                                                          
                                                                                                         The person in the grey is me!!!:)