Morning blog post

Dear Santa,

In 2013 I believe I've worked hard and dealt with every situation responsibly. I know that you're very busy and a very hard worker. This year, the only thing I want, the only thing to make this christmas amazing would be to get the one thing I've wanted for ages. I really really really want this horse called Lovato.

My current horse is actually dying at this very moment. I know how to look after a horse, I know that I would love it more then anything in this world. I know that this present is very expensive and might sound greedy but this is the only thing I want.

I've worked all year not just at school but also at my riding. I have my own horse poo business and I've successfully taught 3 horses to jump. Im also earning money by teaching young children how to ride as well. I was a volunteer at the Tauranga Riding for Disabled academy for 5 months and I will always continue to help in the riding community.

I deserve this horse because every moment of my spare time when I don't have surfing, I'm down at my horses place and my instructors horses picking up their poo, cleaning her horses, feeding and coating them. My passion for this sport and the animal is not a temporary thing, I always have and always will.

I will constantly be grateful and appreciate this always. I'll continue to work hard in everything and try my best. I know this is a lot to ask, especially seeming it's the busy time of the year but i'm always willing to help.

Your's Sincerely,
Jess

Morning blog post

A third world country is known as a underdeveloped country which is worstly affected by hunger and disease outbreaks, since they don't have the materials and a plan to counter these, they are called third world nations or developing countries. Developing nations are usually located in Africa, Asia and south America.

 Tanzania is located in Eastern Africa with a population of 45 million. Tanzania is known as a third world country as its not very habited and theres too much wildlife and forests. The income level in Tanzania is very very low and 33.4% of the population live in poverty. The life expectancy is 60 years old.

45 minute inquiry

….a rose by any other name….

A rose by any other name is part of the famous quotes from William Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet play. The quote is written as a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. 

Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet is written about young star-crossed lovers with feuding families. The play is based on love and the strengths people will go to while there in love, and the troubles faced in love. Juliet was speaking the quote. The scene is 

'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;

      Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.

      What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,

      Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part

      Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!

      What's in a name? that which we call a rose

      By any other name would smell as sweet;

      So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,

      Retain that dear perfection which he owes

      Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,

      And for that name which is no part of thee

      Take all myself.

The quote means the nature of things is more important than what it is called. What matters is what something is, not what it is called. The plays plot was based on an Italian tale. His quote has now been created into a television show but with no connection to the play. 

William was baptised in 1564 on april the 26th. His birth date is unknown. He lived in Capulets Orchard in England. Shakespeare died on the 23rd of April 1616 at the age of 52. He was survived by his wife and two daughters. 

  

Morning blog post

New uniforms:

Things that need to be included:

Comfort
Flexibility
Usable for all seasons
Style
Multiple sizes
Formal
Easy to wash
Easy to take on and off
Affordable for all people

45 minute inquiry

Morning blog post

Athletics Day

On Friday at the Tauranga Domain to compete in the Poverty bay Athletics tournament. Our school took around 40-60 students, to compete against schools all around the Bay of plenty and some schools from Gisborne as well.

The first race was the 100m sprint which I was competing in. Nearly at the finish line I leaned over the line but I leaned a bit to far over and ended up tripping on my own foot, and skidded and skinning myself over the line. I guess it was worth it I got into the finals, and placed 4th in it.

 I also raced in the 200m where I made it into the finals for that aswell. I also came 4th in that final as well. I then had the year 8 mixed relay where my team came 1st there were no finals needed for that.

Our school overall did very well coming 1st for the school placings and some of the kids did really well coming 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the overall best people.

45 minute inquiry

Curling is sport played by 1.5 million people around the world but 80% of those people are Canadians. The sport was first discovered in 1530 but was first announced as a sport in 1860 in Scotland. They first played Curling on frozen lochs and ponds.

 The game is played by 4 players one being the skip (the captain) the other a lead, then you also have a second and third. The skip tells the lead where and how to push the Curling stone which weighs around 44 pounds, then the skip will tell the second and third when to start sweeping, how hard to sweep and in what angle. 

The most common injury to receive in Curling is Knee injuries then back and then your shoulder. Curling is a very safe sport though with only have a 3.5% injury rate. The most common countries to play this sport are Canada, USA, Norway, Switzerland, France and Germany. 

Curling was introduced into the Winter Olympics in 1998. Curling is a unisex sport, played by any ages and can now be played by wheel chaired people  but they use a "delivery stick." The aim of the game is to slide your stone to rest on the closest area around the target area. Teams consist of 4 members and you play with 8 stones.

In New Zealand Curling is based in Dunedin and Auckland, we actually have curling schools where any person can learn the sport of Curling. Curling is a low cost sport and is a great help for good health. 


Links

Link to more information
Information
New Zealand curling
Injuries and Information 

Task: create your own Dystopian Image


Dystopia: A ruined future

Morning blog post

Dystopia Picture

A constant clunk of all the different cars fleeing the one place they use to call home. Screaming babies, yelling men, winey woman and a frightened me. I sit there and wait, like I have been for the past 13 days. Waiting for the clouds of agitated screams to vanish. The tears raining down on the widowed womans faces like Typhoon Haaiyan Disater.

Looking back at the circled men loaded with any weapon they stole. They stood round the edges of our rundown and taken over town. The only thing we have to smile about is the unknown place of where to go next. Cars surround our car just digging at the chance to sneak away. Looking down the lanes you can only see people in the exact same position as you, bewildered.

Numbness in my fingers and toes tingle into pins and needles.

Morning blog post

"How do you think your behaviour has been this year?" Miss Campbell asked.
"I've had my lows just like every other student, but I guess there things I could be proud of."
"How can you not be proud of all things that you achieved this year?"
"I had the expectation of not doing anything wrong and everything happening my way. I guess I built trust and worked on everything I wanted to get better at. Being year 8 and going to this school has helped me not just academically but socially."
" You've worked hard and stayed on track most of the year, you've achieved and exceeded everyones expectations."


"For the assembly you will need to be prepared to stay still and not chat, everyone is on display and Rimu doesn't need the bad publicity."
"I'm guessing we shouldn't sit with our close friends, so there's less chancing of being caught talking."
"Yes exactly, remember were all on display, we want to look the best."

Morning blog post

Organising room 42's picnic day

10 questions

Cost questions

1. What is our budget for the overall day?

2. If we want to go somewhere costly, would we have to fundraise at all?

Safety Questions

3. How many parents would need to be there on the day?

4. Should we get transport from parents or get a bus?

5. Do we need permission from Mr diver or any senior staff to leave the school?

6. Does any activity or location have to have an educational purpose?

7. Can we leave Tauranga?

8. Is there a time limit of when we have to be back or leave?

9. Do we all have to be doing the same activity at the same time?

10.  

Morning blog post

Morning blog post

TIS School year 8 records

Boys:
Shotput: Rikihana Borell 13.32m - 2009
Discus: Kyle Hamilton 38.46 - 2012
High Jump: Burton Mcadam 1.65m - 2009
Long Jump: Darcy Slattery 5.67m - 1998
100m: Hamish Symes 11.52sec - 2009
200m: Hamish Symes 25.05sec - 2009
1500m: Justin Mitchell 4:52:28min - 2011

Girls
Shotput: Khanum Elisia 11.21m - 2007
Discus: Fiona Bennett 25.95m - 2008
High Jump: Nicole Young 1.47m - 2009
Long Jump: Petra Ririnui 4.77m - 2011
100m: Mariah Ririnui 12.41sec - 2005
200m: Samantha Bitcheno 27.80sec - 2011
1500m: Alice Wilson 5:21:70min - 1998

OLYMPIC RECORDS
Girls
Shotput:
Discus:
High Jump:
Long Jump:
100m:
200m:
1500m:

Boys
Shotput:
Discus:
High Jump: Charles Austin - 2.39m - USA - 1996 Atlanta games
Long Jump: Bob Beamon - 8.90m - USA - 1968 Mexico City games
100m:  Usaine Bolt - 9.63s - Jamaica - 2012 London games
1500m: Noah Ngeny - 3:32.07 - Kenya - 2000 Sydney games
200m: Usaine Bolt - 19:30 - Jamaica - 2008 Beijing games

Morning blog post

Create dialogue which illustrates the following:

1.An elderly couple on a walk
"Dear, walk faster" "darling my heart and legs can only go a certain speed." "You need to get your blood pressure down" argued Mary. "Your being dramatic!" yelled Bryan "just relax you old bag."


2. A teen discussing a pocket money bonus with his/her parents


3. Paper, scissors & rock arguing to claim that they personally are the best.
"I can cover people!" "That doesn't take skill, I can cut people" aggressively said scissors "Guys guys, I think we all know I have the most skill" proclaimed rock "You just need to come to terms with the fact that everyone prefers me because well I am better then you."

Morning blog post

Waimarino shape poem

Waimarino.

No sun.

So little tanning.

Being so numbingly cold.

Just waiting for the warmth.

Every moment being more

diverting by the day

no needing

sunshine.  

Morning blog post

12 hour relay

A friendly competition,
a firmly dedicated team.
Whisking through the team members,
Frisky personalities slowly dying down.
Hours after hours jolly people weeped,
the finishing line is creeping closer.
It's 7 o'clock and everyones ready for bed,
we dread the decision to wake up so early.

Morning blog post

A 12 hour relay disaster

Mrs Mills's jaw gaped open and her eyes rolled skyward, she went to move but her feet just stayed glued to the floor. Everyone looked up to see the hurling tornado come at us. As soon as we finished blinking Steffanie farted and created a 9.2 magnitude earthquake. The growling sound of the ground breaking open and creating a crack right through the field. I see people falling and yelling right down the 37 meter crack. A gang of motorcyclists circled our field with machine guns and pitbulls, they stared us down. They shoot us and continued shooting until we were all downand surrounded in our own blood.

Homework

Morning blog post

Dear Mr Diver,

Personally I think that the main thing we need to change is the student - teacher/staff relationships. I really do believe students should have more of say with what we do with this school and things that need to change. Our students should be the ones to decide who or what the 12 relay money goes towards. Being on Student council it's easier for me because I get a say in things well more then others.

Morning blog post

12 hour relay

Fighting for the top house title.
Uniting Rimu by cheering them on from afar.
Nagging teachers making you run faster.

Running through the sunny hours of the day.
Undergoing plenty of activities.
Never ending fun.

Get your game on

Homework

Morning blog post

I've got some older friends (i'm 13, they are 14/15) who have invited me to a party on Saturday night at someone's house. I'm pretty sure everyone there will be drinking. I've never had alcohol before. I'm going to tell my parents i'm staying the night at my friend's. I feel quite nervous, cos I know it's  bad. What should I do?

The fact that you think it's bad is a good thing, your having doubts about drinking at such a young age so you definitely shouldn't. I understand that everyone else will be and it would look and seem weird being the only one who's not drinking but at such a young age so many more things can go wrong. Your 13 not 16, being at parties is not common at this age anyway, drinking is not common or cool at all. At this age we should be kids, playing outside, doing sport, drinking is a privilege when your an adult and because your not an adult you don't have the right yet. Lying to your parents isn't the best way to go with things also, maybe if you get your parents to understand that you want to go to a party and connivence them your not going to drink because at 13 you shouldn't. It's harder growing up in this generation with the amount of temptations but screwing up now could cost you a lot more in the future.

Morning blog post

Life education
On the 18th of October room 42 had there first life education session. Last year as year 7s we mainly discussed puberty and making choices but now as year 8s we discussed the affects of drugs and alcohol. We learnt the different ways our bodies can be affected by drug use and how we all react differently to all substances. We learnt gib -greater in packet on brain which means at the teenage years before you've gone through puberty the higher risk drugs and alcohol have on your brain. Also there is gap- greater addiction potential

Morning blog post

A survey in 2007 prove that 1 in 6 (16.6%) of  New Zealanders aged 16-64 had used drugs recreationally.

84% of Teenagers consume alcohol  twice a week.

32% of people under the age of 18 have been reported drinking alcohol on more then three occasions in the past month.

24.8% of 16-17 years old have been reported using cannabis in the last year.

Morning blog post

Class A,B,C drugs

What is class A,B,C drug groups?
Illegal drugs are divided into 3 groups, class A drugs, class B drugs and class C drugs.

How are the drug divided?
Class A drugs are the most harmful drugs, they attract very serious punishment and very big fines. This includes drugs like cocaine, ecstasy, Heroin and LSD. Class B drugs are more like amphetamines, like speed and cannabis. Class C drugs are more like steroids, class C drugs are still illegal to deal,give away or have. 

What's the difference between Possession and Manufacturing?
Manufacturing gets more of a hefty punishment as possession is when you just have any class of drug on you yet manufacturing is where make and deal the drugs to other people. The Misuse of Drugs act of 1975

Life ED

Homework

Homework

Homework

Morning blog post

Recount a formal occasion
I went to my uncles wedding last year in summer, on Waiheke island. As I was apart of the wedding the preparation was different, I was with the bride and bridesmaids. I  had my hair done by a hairdresser and being the baby bridesmaid I had my dress picked out for me, it was the same as the bridesmaids but more appropriate for someone my age. I was in charge of the something blue, something borrowed, something new and something old.

Morning blog post

Superstition and Black friday

Top 13 Superstitions in the world 

13. Beginner's luck
12. Find a penny, pick it up …
11. Don't walk under that ladder!
10. Black cats crossing your path
9. A rabbit's foot will bring you luck
8. Bad luck comes in threes
7. Careful with that mirror
6. 66
5. Knock on wood or touch wood
4. Make a wish on a wishbone
3. Cross your fingers
2. No umbrellas inside
1. Friday the 13th
Superstition is a belief of something or a reference for supernatural things or beings. 
Pretty much superstition is believing something based on a myth, magic or irrational.  

Homework

Morning blog post

Disco
Last night was the Tauranga Intermediates term 3 disco. This term's theme was Careers but not even half the students who came dressed up. The disco had no where near as many people who came last term. Mrs Colvile was a little disappointed but we still made a reasonable amount of money with the food and drinks sold and the tickets sales. The music also wasn't as good this time as all the newer songs were playing right at the start when nobody was there.

SPCA

SPCA visit with Norm Hewitt
Today in the middle block we were asked to attend a presentation about the SPCA. We all sat in the gym to learn about animals and the SPCA. Norm Hewitt an ex all black and the winner of the dancing with the stars 2005. He came to tell us his personal experience with family violence and how animals are similar to humans. He explained that if you are violent to animals it's almost impossible to be kind to humans. 

Homework

Morning blog post

Sergeant Simon Tate
Simon is a close family friend of ours. He actually trained my dad to be a cop and helped him complete his physical tests before he gained a serious knee injury. His girlfriend Lisa Ross was me and my mums hairdresser before she actually came a police officer also. Simon was assaulted, a man jumped on his head, kicked him and punched. Simon broke all the bones in his face and his surgery is tomorrow according to Lisa. Me, my mum and dad are going to auckland this weekend to see him and Lisa. There is a website where people re donating money for either is recovery, medical bills or even a holiday, the donations are up to $8000.

Morning blog post

Spring

Slight sunlight glowing through the curtains in the morning.

Playing outside after spending the wet winter days inside.

Running around in the dry green grass.

Intriguing new choices in what to do in your day, now that you can enjoy the sun.

Now planting your flowers, plants and veggie gardens so they blossom for Summer.

Growing your tan, wearing less and less layers so when Summer comes you have more of a chance to not be ghostly white.

Morning blog post

Describing someone in our class

This person has brown hair with a medium length. Her hazily brown eyes and thick eyebrows are her pure assets of her face. This girl is loud and loves to talk, lot's. Socializing is something that she does to often that sometimes it affects her work, all though she is still a good student. Having long lanky legs this girl does netball. People have this thing inside their head to stop them a think before they speak, this person does not have this. She likes the sound of her voice because she is always talking and usually about herself or family or her friends. Having crazy weird fingers, that look like long skinny paint brushes.

Homework

Homework

The Stanford marshmallow experiment.

Homework

Homework week 4-5 How to use Picmonkey

Morning blog post

Funny story
The last two days while the girls' were at self defense the boys' were making videos. One of the key props they had to use was a cookie pad. Connor Simpson and Kodi were playing around with a cookie pad and Connor threw it at Kodi but he dodged it and it went down a ditch. Miss Campbell made them go down with her to find it, they saw these boys down there with a scooter in Tauranga Intermediate school uniforms.

Girls' self defense

Self defense 2013

On Monday the 27th the Rimu year 8 girls had the opportunity to take a self defense course. The course was based on making ourselves safe and keeping it that way. We learn't what to do in a dangerous situation and how to get ourselves out of that situation. All of us had a go at new punches and kicks to help ourselves escape when a person has hold of you. Ali, our instructor, told us about all the natural weapons we have around us in our ever day lives.

We talked about the different situations we could be put in and we also discussed real life situations of real woman. She told us how important it is to speak up and let people know it's not ok to touch us without our consent. Our course was based giving each girl the confidence not just to fight back, but to have the courage to stand up for ourselves and get the help we deserve.

She explained how she felt that the woman of today aren't powerful or are portrayed  as just as mum's who should just cook and clean, Ali also went on to tell us that woman do have more rights now day but there are still things that undermined the power of ladies. She really got us to understand the power and rights we have and just because they are men does not mean we can't fight back.

I personally believe that this is one of the most important courses for girls to ever go through. The amount of knowledge, skill, confidence and power we learn in 2 days is not describable. It's something you remember forever and will also benefit from whether or not you are put into that sort of situation. I'm very thankful and appreciative to have this opportunity.

Homework

How to make a bowl of sweets

Inferring

Inferring

1. Matthew was lonely.
Matthew sat on his chair with only his computer near. He listened to everyone's conversations and laughter but he had no one have his own with. He always wondered what it would be like to have someone else.


2. Kyle was excited about maths.
Kyle ruled up his book and his work was ready to get started but when the teacher explained that they were going outside instead, his eyes teared up

3. Connor was terrified of answering the phone.

Homework

Homework week 3-4

Morning blog post

Everyone knows that Pi is a never ending decimal number. A savant is an autistic person who is extremely crazy good at one or two things, whether it's memorizing numbers or knowing what the whether is going to be. Daniel Tammet is a one of the 52 savant's left in the world. His ability is numbers, he memorized 22,000 numbers of the number Pi. He is now the Guinness world record holder for memorizing the most numbers of Pi. If you give him your birthday and year he would tell you if it's a prime number, what day you were born, what day your birthday will be this year. Being autistic Daniel Tammet is very talented at looking after himself and memorizing things, he can even understand the working of his brain which is incredible for an autistic human being.

Morning blog post

My weekend poem

Walking down to my instructor's house.
Eager to keep talking while she was, she decided to
End all of my fun
Killing my day she had one way to punish me
Enlightening me to pick up horse poo
Now after 2 hours of picking it up
Down went me into the wheel barrel fill of poo after slipping on horse flour

Morning blog post

Being in multimedia and not being multimedia 

Homework

Morning blog post

The last two day's
Yesterday at lunch time, me and Ryan had MKR, which is my klassroom rules. Our challenge was to create a New Zealand themed muffin with either Pumpkin, Kumara and Zucchini. Me and Ryan decided to use Pumpkin, we made a Kiwi breekie muffin. If was made up of, Pumpkin, Cheese, Garlic, Paprika, Mixed Herbs and Bacon. Your Momolama (My team) and The tote trays who are also in room 42 both won and we go to the next round.

Morning blog post

My experience of bullying

Before I moved to Tauranga last year, I lived in a place called Pukekohe. Not only did we move to Tauranga because my dad bought a business but the high school was certainly not a place were my parents wanted to send there kids. After two terms of my sister getting bullied, she was sick of it, one day these three girls that once were her friends came up to her and took her bag, but my sister snatched it back and walked the other way, the girls weren't happy. They ran back to Danelle (my sister) grabbed her bag chucked it on the ground and punched my sister in the nose, my sister fell back and got kicked in the stomach. It was at the end of the day and my sister was walking home, the girls were year 12 so they could drive and they followed my sister all the way home in there car. My sister was just creeped out and sick of it. My parents transferred my sister to Auckland Girls Grammar but after 2 years there, of getting up at 5 am and catch the train at 6:15, and then school finished at 3:30 but she had to catch the train at 4:30 and she wouldn't get home until 6.

Morning blog post

Should richer people, who earn more money have to pay more tax
For
• The wealthier people could actually afford to pay the tax
• The government wouldn't have to raise everyone's tax, especially the people who cant afford it now
• The more they pay the less the people who can't afford have to pay
• Everyone pays according to the salary or earnings

Against 
• The wealthier people may not actually wont to spend more as they believe they should keep all the money
• The poorer people may be offended and disrespected because people think they can't pay tax
• Richer people may not want to have to pay for the less fortunate

Morning blog post

What annoys me?

What annoys me the most is that when people commit a murder or very serious crimes, they are sentenced to life, but in New Zealand Life isn't life. The life sentence in NZ is 10-20 years but in America, Life is life, you spend your life in prison or you get executed. It frustrates me because someone could go around  kill a bunch of people go to prison get out 20 years later, kill another bunch of people and then go back to prison, get out of prison 20 years later and do it again. I want to do something to do with the law when I'm older, I want to be a police officer and then a Forensic Crime Scene Investigator. It's been a dream of mine since I was 4 and so me and my dad have been looking at the job ever since. This has frustrated me for years and I just don't understand why they use the word life if they aren't sentenced to life, if they commit a serious enough crime to have to been sentenced to life then they should spend their life in prison and pay the consequences.

Homework week 1-2

ICT
Find a web 2.0 tool you enjoy using. E.G. Graffiti Creater film your screen and voice as you explain how to create a simple task. No longer than 1 minute. You can use Quicktime screen recorder.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-R48jsVZEw

Morning blog post

Homework

For :

• Continuing work from your day after school helps you to revise and remember the things you learned in the day.  

• It's very good practice for things you have to do in class time, so your ahead in your work.

• It keeps your brain active and working so your brain works better the next day when your doing school work.

Against :

• Children spend 6-7 hours at school doing work, and they also have after school commitments that takes up there time, so there ins't very much time to do it.

• We work hard all day and have the pressure to work just as hard after school, there is a certain standard that homework has to be presented at and that makes it harder as we would need more time to meet this standard 

• After 6-7 hours at school we come home to relax and get away school and have a break but we have to got to sports events and complete all our homework in a week's time.

Morning blog post

Computer gaming is good for people

For         
• It's enjoyable and entertaining for any age, it's a great way to fill your boredom
• It's an easy way to distract children, and get them off your back if they annoy you


Against 
• There is evidence that if yoyu spend most of the time playing games you are more likely to gain weight
• If you play lots of games reassearchers have discovered that it can damage your eye sight by staring at the same distance for too long.
• If you play violent games you tend to be more of a violent person yourself

Morning blog post

Languages
At the moment Rimu House year 8's are doing languages, right now the languages are Mandarin and Sign Language. The two year 8 classes were split into two groups and at the moment I am currently learning Sign Language. The last two lessons we have learn't vocabulary, which is like hello, goodbye, thank you, how are you?, learn, NZSL, and much more. For our homework we had to make a video of ourselves doing all the signs and the we had to put a text on the bottom of what we are saying. Next week we are learning numbers and many other new things.

Morning blog post

Where am I?
I'm one of the most busiest cities in the world. I have a very high crime rate. I'm full of high rise buildings, big apartment buildings, shopping malls and food places. I'm located in America, I'm very famous for my new year's celebrations. Im one of the most visited cities in the world. I'm very very busy in the day and night, i'm told I'm the city that never sleeps. Im famous for my big bright lights and i'm very famous for time square.

Holidays

My school holidays

My most exciting moment in the holidays was finally being allowed to jump my horse. I've waited about 4 months for horse to be ready to jump so everything would be safe. I have been training it and feeding and been looking after everyday for 6 months. On the Sunday morning that just past I saddled her up and warmed her up in the arena. I first lunged her so she would calm down and not be so hypo. My horses name is Dorothy like Dorothy the dinosaur, because when I first her she was covered in green paint and she reminded me of her so I named her Dorothy, but I usually just call her Flicka because when she is not covered in paint she reminds me of the horse Flicka from the movies. Dorothy has another horse with her at the stables where we keep her, my instructors horse called Cilla, she is a very young horse but she is very big and she misbehaves a lot so she spooks Dorothy if we ride in the arena and Cilla is in plain sight. After I got Flicka already when went for a trot and a canter and then Me and Naomi, my instructor, put out the jumps. We put 3 jumps out around the arena, they were at roughly 65cm just to start with. We tried at those hight's and we successfully jumped them and then we decided to move the hight up. Naomi moved it up to 80cm's. I jumped the first 2 jumps then in the last one, Dorothy's back leg hit her front leg just before the jump and she got spooked, she quickly turned left and started bucking, so slid out of the saddle and my legs were just like hanging on the side of her, I had no control of the rails so I held onto the saddle, she bucked again and I flung out the side of her and slide on the jump.

Tai Mitchell 2013

Tai Mitchell 2013

Tai Mitchell is Rugby reps competition for school boys from Primary to Intermediate ages. The Tauranga West team is based at Tauranga Intermediate that is why I support West, but it also involves some boys from Aquinas Collage and Te Puna school. In the July school holidays Tai Mitchell has there main tournament which this year was based at Blake Park Mt Maunganui. The boys played & games as they were in semi finals and the grand final. Sattori (My friend) and I went to there Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday Game. As they drew one game and won all the rest they were in the finals they ended up winning the 2013 tournament with the final score being Tauranga West - 25 and Te Puke 17. Tauranga West has won this tournament in 1991, 1995, 1996, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010. This photo below is of Me and Sattori at there Monday game

These are the boys in the team:    From Tauranga Intermediate

Lachlan Haycock
Kobe Rodger
Eldo Pasi
Matthew Brittain
Charles Taylor-Wereta
Wiremu Leef
Ryan Bosselmann

Luke Gardiner
Zane Booth
Zavahn Hepi
Netana Tapiata-Smith
Kees Pohatu
Jake Dunphy
Izahn Le Comte

From Aquinas College
Jack Broadley-Ryan
Louis Schuler
Jack McManaway

Returning Players from 2012 -

Finn Sears - Tauranga Intermediate

Logan Karauria - Tauranga Intermediate
Louis Grindrod - Aquinas College
Jay Gardiner - Tauranga Intermediate


New players joining the team -
From Te Puna School
George Catto

Morning blog post

Term 2 overview
Term 2 has been filled with lots of special events, including cross country, production and Rimu year 8 camp. My highlight was definitely camp, I got to face my fears and do all the hight activities which I was extremely scared about.  My lowlight was inter-house soccer, in our semi final against Totara house in the second half I ran into the ball and then into Marcel's foot and my toe bent off the side of my foot, so I dislocated my toe and torn the ligament. Luckily I had two weeks to recover for the finals. We were going to be playing Rata and I really really wanted to win so I wanted to play. We didn't end up wining due to a penalty caused by someone stepping in the red circle. I have improved on my reading, I have more of a understanding of dialogue and technical terms. I still need to improve on my maths, particularly on revising everything I've learned throughout the terms. Overall I have really enjoyed this term and look forward to term 3. I'm looking forward to Aims and the winter tournament as I'm able to participate this year, because last year I was injured and I couldn't attend the tournaments, so I'm very excited.

Morning blog post

Production -
This week it was Tauranga Intermediate's 2013 production of a Most Triumphant Tale. As being apart if the student council I went to all of the production shows. All I had to do was escort people to there seats, hand out programmes and greet people. I watched the production all of the nights and the matinee performances. The first performance didn't go aswel as the other shows, but after watching everyone getting better and better each time it was very enjoyable. There was sometimes  when I wanted to get up and leave but I think that was just because I had watched so many times, and I knew pretty much each line and every word to the songs. They had a few hiccups each time but they weren't to major that they were totally ruining the show. There were multiple people who got sick in the production, luckily I haven't been sick this year and Im not sick now either. On Wednesday night and Thursday night Mr Diver bought me and the other helpers drinks and we hung out for a little while before going into the show and then our parents eventually came and picked us up.  

Daily blog post

Jokes

1. Q: What happens if you eat yeast and shoe polish? A: Every morning you'll rise and shine! 

2. Q: What gets wetter the more it dries? A: A towel. 

3. Q: How do you drown a Hipster? A: In the mainstream. 

4. Q: Why don't skeletons fight each other? A. They dont have the guts.

Homework

Homework

Service in school and community
S. Create own challenge: Help out in community and with local businesses or injured people.

Last year I did a horse riding course at the Tauranga RDA - Riding for the disabled club and afterwards I decided I wanted to keep riding horses and work with them, so I went down to these woman down in Oropi who have 4 horses. One of the ladies injured herself at the start of this year so she hasn't been able to work on her farm or help her horses as much as she should or want to. I offered to help out around the farm doing any work necessary and in return I get to ride their horses and they teach me as much as possible. The lady Naomi was so pleased to take me on as she was going to advertise for someone like me to work with her recently bought ex race horse. I have been going round to the stables/house ever since. One day I was bucked and kicked off Naomi's horse, the horse hit me on the head while I was riding her knowing that I would fall backwards and then bucked me off the side. We then discovered that we needed to break the horse, not physically but retrain it and discipline it pretty much starting all over again. I have been lucky enough to met Peter Townsend a famous Tauranga rider and ride in his brand new arena. I haven't just rid the horses, i've spent plenty of days just picking up poo in the paddocks, cleaning the tack room, lunging the horses, feeding them, turning the electric fences on and off and also putting fences up and down. I keep planing on helping Naomi until she makes a full recovery and I will still help her because I have now discovered a passion towards horses.

Daily blog post

Bad product or service
One time when me and my family were on holiday we went out to dinner at a local restaurant. We had a very young waiter who just got a new phone before her shift started and we knew that because she decided to tell us before she took our order. My mum got chicken schnitzels and she cut the chicken and discovered in one of the pieces it was only bread crumbs and no chicken. In the salad it was only lettuce and no dressing no nothing other then lettuce. The waiter didn't even want to go into the kitchen and complain to the chef because she was scared of him. Luckily the manager came in at the time and we didn't have to pay for the meals and we just went somewhere else for dinner.

Morning blog post

Science Fair 2013
This year my science fair topic is, Does the colour of food or drink affect whether or not we like them? My aim was to figure out if taste was affected at all, or how does our body figure out if we like things or not? In different situations our taste buds actually control our dislikes and likes, as we are going to pick the bright red tomato not the brown mushy one, and when we eat both of these tomatoes our body naturally likes the bright red one. This year I was more organized and had a plan throughout my testing, I knew what I wanted to achieve so my science fair was more of a success then last year and I only had to relie on myself.

Homework

Book reviewHead Games - By Keri Mikulski

Taylor Thomas is a total all-star on the court. Off-court, not so much. She may be model-tall, gorgeous and quite a catch, but try telling her that. With a showcase game and playoffs fast approaching, Taylor’s basketball career is totally on the line. She doesn’t know which way to turn first when her BFF ropes her into a fashion show and she finds herself torn between Zach, the super-tall, super-off limits basketball star and Matt, the super-sweet guy from her English class. Can Taylor stop her head from spinning long enough to strike a pose, land the boy of her dreams, and win the game?
Head Games was absolutely awesome! I adore Taylor and could relate to every part. The sport of basketball was written well. I like reading all the sports talk and enjoying how it entwined with Taylor's life. Ms Mikulski made all the sports talk easy to know. I for one, did not know much about basketball, but after reading this, I think I can go to a game and finally get it. This book is totally sweet, enduring, and full of great literature. I look forward to reading the rest of the series and learning more about sports. This fun and engaging novel would appeal to reluctant readers and to sporty girls ages 10-14 years. Even a non-basketball player like me could understand the plays and appreciate the drama. 

Homework

Book review =
The abduction- By John Grisham

Theodore Boone: The Abduction is a novel written by the famous author, John Grisham. It is part of a series and this particular book explores the abduction of Theodore's best friend, April. Theodore is a teenage boy with big ambitions. His parents are lawyers, and he wishes to follow in their footsteps and become a lawyer too.Theodore Boone is back in a new adventure, and the stakes are higher than ever.When his best friend, April, disappears from her bedroom in the middle of the night, no one, not even Theo Boone-who knows April better than anyone-has answers.As fear ripples through his small hometown and the police hit dead ends, its up to Theo to use his legal knowledge and investigative skills to chase down the truth and save April.Filled with the page-turning suspense that made John Grisham a #1 international bestseller and the undisputed master of the legal thriller, Theodore Boone's trials and triumphs will keep readers guessing until the very end.When April goes missing, he puts his skills to the test and does everything he possibly can to try and find out what happened and where she is, after the police struggle.I think that sometimes the plot and story can be a bit predictable, but it still definitely fits the genre and includes a lot of basic suspense and mystery, great for a younger audience. However, it still has a very decent storyline, which I do like. I think I'd prefer a book  that is longer, or maybe I enjoyed it to much and read it fast. Overall, a great read and I'd happily read another book in the series.I'd recommend this book to young readers because of the simplicity and exciting storyline, based on my personal tastes, I would give this book a high rating.

Morning blog post

CAPTCHA
Captcha is a service that helps convert Books, newspapers and old time radio shows. Captcha is a free programe that tells whether your a human or not, so robot's dont spam your blog or whatever it may be. Approximately 200 million people around the world have to solve Captcha a day. Captcha asks you to write two words, the first word would be easy and clear to read and write, but the second word is not very clear and hard to read. The reason for the second word is that the computers cant read unclear words like humans can. It protects your website from robots and spam, it also saves old books, people spend average 10 seconds filling it out but it saves old books, newspapers and radio shows.

Morning blog post

Cross country
On Monday 24th of June was Tauranga Intermediates 2013 cross country. Rimu house showed up to the field dressed up and ready to support everyone. First up was the year 7 girls, everyone had to run 3kms. Our girls did amazing with Meila braking the year 7 girls record, next up year 7 boys. Our boys also did amazing with most of the boys coming in the top 150. Next was my category year 8 girls. Me and my friends started warming up with Rata house while the last of the boys came through. We went to the starting line were we had to move twice so all of us could fit running around the first corner. By that time of the day it had warmed up so it wasn't as cold or slippery. I got to the hill and my friends wanted to walk but I decided I was only going to walk when I really needed to, not when people couldn't see me. I ended up beating both of my goals which were to come in top 100 then top 75 and I ended up coming 45th out of 300 girls. 

Morning blog post

Computer game I have played-
I haven't played many computer games but the only games I have played are on my phone, the game I play the most would be Fruit Ninja. Fruit would glide across the screen, the aim of the game is to slice the fruit in half, you only have 3 chances to miss a piece of fruit. The background is wooden and it looks like chopping board, and then when you try slice the fruit it's like a knife slice when you move your hand along the screen. You can get the free version on the app store but the most points you can get is 125 points but if you get the full version you can get heaps more points. 

Morning blog post

My parent's jobs =
My Dad
My dad owns Fast way couriers Tauranga and half of the Taupo Fast way couriers, he also owns the line haul business with Fast way couriers and he works from 3:30 pm to 5:30 am in the morning.
My Mum
My mum runs and is part owner in my granddad's (her dad's) painting business but the business is based in auckland so she works at home, and her uncle own's a caravan place in the mount so on wednesday she goes in and helps him set up the business and helps with the books.

Morning blog post

Famous TV chef Nigella Lawson has recently had photo's taken of her being grabbed in the throat by her multi millionaire husband Charles Saatchi. Nigella and her husband were at a up class restaurant and as they were leaving they started to argue, apparently about their children. Paparazzi caught Charles grabbing her in the throat with one hand and then in other photo's with both hands, aslo in an another photo he is grabbing her nose pushing her head back. Charles has spoken out saying they were just having a playful tiff and they were just arguing a little. In more photo's there is Nigella walking out crying and Charles says she was just upset about fighting as she doesn't like to argue. Nigella hasn't spoken out but is excepted to and soon, the police have also been involved in this situation. Paparazzi also took photo's of Nigella that same day leaving her house with a close friend with a suitcase packed and handbag.

Morning blog post

My weekend:
 My weekend started with my netball game, I had been at my dad's work that night through till the morning so I was pretty tired. We arrived at the netball courts and I had to run around trying to find Sharnae to get a team mates netball dress off her. As last week 4 of our players didn't bother to show up and without telling my sister (coach) so we had to ask Sharnae to play for us but we had different uniforms. We ended up winning our netball game 15-18 to us. Afterwards it started to rain so we went and got heaps of movies from the dvd store and then I realized that I had to make cupcakes for my science fair, so we had to go to the supermarket for some butter. I got home had lunch and then started the cupcakes. I made the batter then with this ice cream scoop I separated some of the batter into different bowls, in the different bowls I put different food colour.  I then put them in the oven and when they were ready to come out these perfectly round pink, purple, green and blue cupcakes were ready to take photo's of. I decorated my science board and printed out the things I had finished, so im prepared to stick most of my science fair together and finish it by next week. I then just started to watch movies, relax and make the most out of this horrible weather.

Morning blog post- Dialogue

"Hey, want to do something?" asked Drew "We could go up on the hill and hang"
"Maybe, just wait for some people to come over" squeaked Isabella
"Tell them to hurry up!" growled Drew "before lunch is over!"
Isabella screeched "They will come, just have some patients"
"They obviously aren't coming, you told them to come and they aren't even looking for you"
"You dont know, they could be looking for me through the school"
"Well are they here?, did you tell them to met you here?"
"Well yes I did. They could be busy at a metting or something. They will come."
"I'm not waiting all day for this, it's my lunchtime they are wasting!" growled Drew
"Okay fine, bye"

Morning blog post

Interesting person:

I choose my cousin Brittany Campbell as my interesting person. When she was year 10 she moved from Papakura to Queenstown  and she hated her parents for it. So she decided she would get in the most trouble she could possible get in and make her parents mad. She met some dodgy people and got into the wrong crowd, she decided to drink and do illegal stuff to really make her parents really insane. My aunty (her mum) was apart of the city council and one day (a school day) she went to the new local mall to open up some stores.

Morning blog post

Charging laptops at school

What are the negatives of Rimu students charging their laptops at school? 
1. If we are allowed to charge them at school no one would try or remember to charger them at home.
2. It would cost a lot of money for Rimu students to charge their laptop everyday.
3. It would be quite dangerous with chargers hanging everywhere and some kids would probably forget their chargers and might leave their chargers plugged in over night.

What are 2 of the suggestions for solving the problem?

1.Only have two chargers on charge each day at the front of the class and everyone shares them.

2.We can only charge them at lunchtime.

What is your opinion about Rimu students charging their laptops at school?
I think we should allow the chance for people to charge their computers. Some nights we are busy and out most of the night and we just go to bed or you lend your charger to someone else who has a faulty battery and they forget to give it back to you and you dont have the opportunity to charge it. I think we should have at least 2 chargers running a day and everyone in the class can use them in that day but if your the last to use them, you are the one to put them away. Our class leaders or we can pick two people a day to take the responsibility and ew write tabs on who hasn't and who used the chargers so this way not everyone gets the blame if something is wrong or tidy up is incorrect. This way everyone has an equally opportunity to charge our computers, it's not expensive, it's safe and you will know who has to take the responsibility if they are not putten away.

Homework

Homework

Book review

Theodore Boone Young lawyer book review:

Theodore Boone Young lawyer is written by the famous adult writer John Grisham. This book is categorized as a mystery. The book is based on a teenage boy Theodore with two parents as lawyers, everyone come to Theo in need of advice, but one day a boy from the food bank came and talked to Theo about something he expected least. The boy knew and had a secret witness on the local murder in town, everyone in the town had been divided whether or not they thought Mr Wright (accused murderer) killed his wife or not. The young boy told Theo that his cousin that is in the country illegally had witness the murder of Mrs Wright while he was working at the gold course picking up balls. 

The book is full of mystery and each paragraph seems to leave you hanging on different information. I loved how the book included lot’s of dialogue and really went into detail in very point and view of every step in the book. It was probably more of a dialogue book then action but it had enough crime to really hook you in and make you very interested into each little step or challenge Theo came across. It was defiantly a book I would read again but this is actually the 2nd time I have read it anyway. John Grisham has made a take off of Theodore Boone Young Lawyer called The Abduction. I absolutely recommend anyone to read this book for more of the mature kids but totally adults. You need to read this book to understand his next book but once you read this book you would be more then to have read it. It was extremely enjoyable and made me excited for reading time, and im sure you will love it just as much as me. 

By Jessica

Morning blog post

My weekend:

I was pretty excited to be invited to go to the movies with Milly and my other friends, as sadly I didn't get to go to her birthday party last weekend as I was in Whiritoa for the long weekend. We decided to go watch the fast and the furious 6 and I was pretty stoked to see it again, because last weekend I watched it and I loved it and also because my family was all sick in the weekend we got some dvd's on friday and I actually hired the fast and the furious 1 and the fast and the furious 5. I definitely plan on getting the 2nd, 3rd and the 4th one. Annoyingly I was up most of the night listen to my sister cough like a choking dog.

Morning blog post

Answer to our questions-

How do we digest our food?

We break the food into pieces that our body can use, Pieces like- sugar and fats for energy, and protein for muscles. Digestion begins right when we eat food. Our teeth and our saliva break food down and allow us to swallow it. The the food is carried down a long pipe to the stomach. Our stomach grind and mash up our food into a mushy stuff called "Chime." Once food is in this mushy form, our body is ready to pop out the nutrients. To do this, the food leaves the stomach and goes into a long tube called the small intestine. Our bodies can't use all of the food we eat. What's left over is waste, once the leftovers have left the small intestine it goes into the big intestine. The watery part of the food is removed and only the solids stay. Since our bodies can't use the solids either, we have to get rid of them, so the only way is out. So that's when you should head to a bathroom.

Morning blog post

10 questions

1. What happens when earth disappears?
2. Where we go when we die?
3. Why do we need to release poo and pee?
4. Why is poo brown?
5. How to does our food digest?
6. Where does rain come from?
7. How did they create different languages?
8. Why is pee yellow?
9. How did they create the first human?
10. How was earth created?

Morning blog post

BP Technology Challenge
On Friday of last week, 5 members of room 42 represented our house and school at the BP Technology Challenge. Myself, Milly, Britney, Matt S and Cole were the representatives of room 42. For the first challenge we had to make a structure that would hold a marble 5cm's of the ground, we had 5 minutes to read the instructions and 20 minutes to create the structure. We only had straws, 1 meter of cellotape, paper bag, string and scissors to create it. We did alright in the challenge as we beat Totara which we were pretty proud of. The next challenge was we had to create something to make sure we could drop and egg from a hight without it breaking. Our construction didn't work very well as Mr Marsh said to us that the egg has to be visible and cant be sitting in something but as everyone finished their structure we discovered everyone wrapped their eggs up nice and tight or put them in the plastic bag with cushioning around them, but after we discovered that we could wrap pur egg the time was up and we new our egg would break straight away. The third challenge was we had to make a brush to pull a hammer and chisel close to you so you can pick it up and bang it. We did terrible in that challenge our design was to weak and we didn't pick the best person to try pull the hammer and chisel. We took 4 minutes and the fastest time was 24 secs.

Morning blog post

The day,

I woke up, slowly, quietly and with the intentions to leave without anyone seeing or talking to me. I wanted to think today was like any other day, but with everyone else treating it like it was some big deal then it came a big deal to me. See today was my birthday, but I dont like my birthday, I really dont. Im turning 14 today and 7 years ago my mum and dad dumped me, they left me on the side of the road and I've never heard from them since. Every year for some reason I expect to get something from them or hear from them but I never did and with the new family i'm living with I dont even feel comfortable talking to them about it.

 I went down to the garage to find my school shoes but I then realized my foster sister has obviously taken them to school, she had basketball at 6 so she had left early. I went down into the attic to see if they had any spare shoes, I went looking through some boxes then I found a small little brown chest with my last name engraved on the lid, I presumed it was mine so I opened it. The only things in it was letter's in brown envelope and black numbers on it, I then realized that all the numbers were labeled in order  , So I started reading the first one with the letter 1 on it. I got to the 4th letter and realized that these were letter's for me from my parents. They were writing to me, apologizing and explaining why they did what they did.

My last thoughts were why did my foster parents keep these from me? I rang the number on the bottom of each letter and my Dad answered. I told him to meet me after school, with my mum and that my foster parents will have to be there. "Why are you only talking to us now?" "I guess everyone needs an explanation, and we will get it tonight"

Morning Blog post

Our visit to Room 43

Yesterday the satellite classroom finally moved into their temporary classroom as a little while ago their original classroom was burnt down due to electrical fire with the air conditioner left on over night. A group of students from my class including me went over to Room 43 to see the new class and to officially introduce ourselves to them as we are their new neighbors. I got to meet all the kids and some of them talked to me and showed me around. Bobby one of the famous kids in room 43 gave me the deluxe tour, he showed me the room where he hides in the morning so the teaches cant find him. He introduced me to all the other students and where they work, he also showed me how he types as Bobby cant write words due to the disabilities he has.

Daily blog post

This weekend started with an 11:30 netball game, we ended up losing by two goals but it was my first netball game for 3 years ago. Surprisingly my grandma came down afterwards on Saturday to spend a few nights with us. She came down to help us find a house and just because she wanted a holiday, she will be heading home on Wednesday. To tell you the truth i wasn't really looking forward to going horse riding on Sunday afternoon because the weather from the night before had flooded all the paddocks. I ended up just cleaning the paddocks up, picking up poo and feeding the horses. I washed two of the horses after me and the owner of the horses went for a ride and then gave them some hay from the horse trailer. Unfortunately have the awesome duty of picking up poo and feeding the horses as the owner will be away over seas for the week so I have responsibility of 4 horses this week.

Morning blog posts

Top 5 teen problems today:

1: Cigarette smoking
Nearly 2/3 of young New Zealanders aged 14-17 have tried smoking cigarettes.

2: Bullying
As many as 70% of all young people have been bullied of some form.

3. Shoplifting
25% of New Zealand teenagers have tried shoplifting and 55% are adults but those adults started in there youth.

4. Obesity
 As of 2004 30% of New Zealand teenagers are obese

5. Bulimia and Anorexia
17% of teenagers are suffering from an eating disorder which makes 68,000 kids will suffer from these disorders once in their lives.

My opinion: I was extremely shocked and kinda disappointed that the percentages were so high, I certainly didn't expect the results I got. I thought the results would be half the percentage they were. 

Science

Science extinct animal:
European cave lion
The European cave lion or also known as eurasian cave lion first appeared 500,000 years ago and evidence shows that it was forced into isolation up to near the last european ice age. The cave lion is a lot bigger then the largest cats today and grew to an average of 3.5 meters and with males weighing up to 400 kilos.

Science

Summary of periodic table:
The periodic table is a table/grid to show the 118 elements, they are arranged by their similar properties. The elements are also arranged by there atomic numbers. Only 94 elements have been seen on earth but there are known to be 118 all together.  Each element on the periodic table makes up everything in our world. In 1864 the periodic table was created by Dmitri Mendeleev.

Science

Important Science discoveries

Isaac Newton, an english mathematician and physicist is consider one of the best scientist of all time. In 1664 Newton discovered gravity is the force that draws objects towards each other. It explained why things fall down and why the plants orbit around the sun. Isaac has discovered many things but gravity was the most important. 

Scientist post

Scientist- Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin was one of the founding fathers of the united states.  He was born on January 17 1706 and he died on April 17 1790 at the age of 84. His professions were being a Scientist, Writer and a Politician. As a scientist he was famous for the history of  physics for his discoveries and theories regarding electricity. He also was a major  figure in the American Enlightenment.

Science Post

Science experiment

Mentos in coke and putting it in a hole

In year 6 we had to do a obstacle course and one of the challenges was putting mentos in a coke and you had to close the lid, shake the bottle and put it in a hole. Then you would wait for your bottle to explode. When your bottle burst you could go to the next activity. I was partnered with a friend but we struggled closing the coke bottle before it exploded, we had to do it at least 3 times.
For it to work you should have your mentos in one hand the cap in the other and a partner holding the bottle but I didn't think of that until we had finished.

Homework

G2. Give to your family: Prepare 3 formal three course meals, including the
menu, cooking and presenting, photographs of the meal and feedback from
your guests.

Entree- Kumara rosti and garlic mayonaise
Main-  Chicken, spinach and feta pie
Dessert- Lemon curd tart with Raspberry coolie


Comments By Family -
Entree - Kumara rosti
Mum - Yum, Yum, Yum.
Dad - Very flavorsome, well cooked, wanted more!
Georgia (sister) - Really nice flavorsome and cooked golden brown.

Main-  Chicken, spinach and feta pie
Mum -  Lots of flavor, really enjoyed and loved
Dad - Beautiful pie, something different from the usual pies.
Georgia (sister) - Yummy pie with nice flavors and textures.

Dessert- Lemon curd tart with Raspberry coolie
Mum - I loved this lemon tart, the filling was smooth & silky.
Dad - Absolutely beautiful! wanted more and more, very nice flavors and textures.
Georgia (sister) -  Nice sour taste from the lemon with the sweet taste from coconut in bases and coolie.

Homework

Physical activity and the outdoors:
P5: Complete a sport for an entire term

In term 1 and 4 Miss Young our multimaterials teacher runs girls and boy surfing down at Omanu Beach, she teaches year 7 and 8 girls/boys of any experience how to surf. At each start of the term she teaches how to do jump ups on the ground and then slowly you move to doing it on your board, then eventually you will stand up on your board while riding a wave, we practicing every wednesday afternoon. Miss Young also teaches us water safety, tides, swells, rips, how we generally keep safe in the water and when & where we should go surfing, so we know when it's safe or not. I also did surfing in term 4 2012, I learnt how to stand up and im still currently doing surfing now also. When you start surfing you start surfing white water waves so they aren't as big, safer and easier to learn how to stand up on. 4 weeks ago I ride my first ever green water wave which is a wave that hasn't broken yet and they are a lot harder but now I can ride them pretty easy.


I got my first ever surfboard last year for my birthday, as you can see in the pictures above it looks like a twister board. It's an arcade board, which is a Mount Maungani brand, it's a mini mal and it's 7.6 inches. I really enjoy surfing now that I can practice anytime I want to. I'm learning tricks now, but currently the only tricks I can do is jump from one side of my board to the other so im facing the other way, and the other trick is that I can turn sharp one way then turn sharp the next way. Im still learning heaps of new things but I just enjoy doing the simple things like just simply surfing a white water wave. The reason I love surfing is that when your standing on a wave looking out into the beach the moment is indescribable, every time or moment your on a wave is different, you can never relive any of the amazing moments but they just keep getting better. Even when you fall of or face plant into the sand you still manage to laugh about it and then go back out there. I plan to surf in term 4 also and for years to come.

News

International News-
Texas fertilizer Blast-
A massive explosion at a Texas Fertiliser plant killed as many as 15 people and injured more then 160. The blast site was to hot for emergency crews to get to close. Local school stadiums were used for people affected by the blast, and to get checked by Doctors, Nurses, to get food and for shelter.

My opinion=
I thought this event was very sad especially seeming the latest blast in boston and the country has been through a lot this last couple of weeks.

News

National News-
Gay marriage legalized
Last night the gay marriage bill was legalized, with 77 votes to 44. The leader of the law change, labour MP Louisa Wall appeared delighted but exhausted and say's her partner (being gay herself) helped her through this journey. Gay people can start getting married in august.

My opinion= I think this is amazing news because I believe it was unfair that they couldn't wed, I believe love is love and we are told to be who we are and dont judge people for being different. I never really understood why they couldn't get married but im glad this is changed because every one deserves to be happy.

News

International News-

Boston Blast

Two bombs have exploded at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, two hours after the winners of the race crossed the line. Two people have died and 22 people injured, it is suspected that over 100 kiwis ran in the race at the time. A runner from Rhode Island said the blast tore limbs off people. These explosions are suspect terrorist attacks but no one has said anymore information about who or what these attacks mean.

My opinion= I think that this is a very sad event, spectators died watching loved one's or friends running not knowing that they might not see them cross the line. When I first saw the news I thought that maybe North Korea sent the explosions because in the news lately they haven't been saying that want to go to war with the US.

News

International News- Investigation into Bali plane crash

Indonesian investigators are investigating how a Lion Air passenger jet missed a runway and landed on the resort island Bali, crashing into the sea without causing any deaths or major
 injuries but caused plenty of suspension. The crash marked Lion Air's sixth accident in 11 years, and has renewed questions about how safe it is to fly in Indonesia.

My opinion- My opinion is that they have caused plenty of suspension and that they have caused to many crashes and clearly have something wrong with there system and how they fly. I personally dont think it's safe to fly with them and I wont be anytime soon.

News

International News-

Margaret Thatcher died last night at the age of 87. Margaret was the first ever female to be the prime minister of Britain and still is the only ever lady to have ruled Britain . She was known as the Iron Lady as she ruled Great Britain for 11 great years. She actually had a movie made about her as she was a world wide icon, Margaret was played by Meryl Streep and the movie was titled iron lady.

My opinion is that I was not around while she ruled Great Britain but the impact of her death around the world made me understand she was obviously a remarkable women and a great leader, she would not let Britain be pushed around. I admired that she was the first and last female to have ruled Great Britain and she has been named one of the best prime ministers worldwide so it proves how hard she worked.