Tuesday, November 30, 2010

A Magical Sleepover at Kelly Tarltons

Today was the day I went to Kelly Tarltons. I was even more excited because I was going with my class and Room 8. It was 5:30 p.m. and I was just getting ready. I shoved my sleeping bag into my little bag and hurried off. We arrived at Kelly Taltons at exactly 6:10 p.m. on Monday the first of November. This was part of out EOTC Programme.

I took the first ride with some of my friends in room 2. As we drove we saw the other van with the rest of my class in it. On our arrival we were greeted by our guide Darren. We had to wait in a classroom for the others. Then, the other guide Stephen explained the rules to us. After that we went on a tour with him and Darren.

While we were walking Darren walked off somewhere and I was suspicious. Finally we reached the penguin section and I ran to the see-through glass and saw the penguins just sitting there. Next we went down a short corridor to enter a room full of old stuff used in Antarctica. This was Scott’s Hut. Suddenly out of nowhere a strange figure with a sack over his head jumped out from the top bunk and lunged out into the crowd. It was only Darren trying to scare us and he succeeded.

After all that mayhem he took us to stingray bay and allowed us to feed heaps of giant king fish. This was awesome! Next Stephen said in a loud voice, “Let’s have a competition, boys versus girls!” Five boys and girls put their hands in. It was freezing and so cold so 2 of the boys pulled out and the score was 5 to 3 to the girls.

Then we spotted a massive stingray just hovering close to the floor in the tank while the other stingrays and the humongous kingfish went right past it.

It was getting late and Darren told us to get some sleep because we had more to do the next day. The lights went off and we were allowed to go exploring with our torches. It was an amazing experience. Eventually everyone went to sleep except for the 11 boys in the shark tunnel who were awake and talking all night.

“Wake up!” shouted Darren in a high pitched voice. We had to get out of bed, wash our face and brush our teeth. It was discussion time and then a big breakfast. We watched an interesting video on Kelly Tarlton the founder of the aquarium. After that we went to see the penguins and go on the snow cat ride. The ride was slow but the bonus was that we got to go twice. It was worth the wait to see the penguins and the king gentoo. Unfortunately it was time to go back to school.

We did experience a magical night at Kelly Tarltons.

Manaiakalani Film Festival

Digital Storytelling is the new thing in education and I suggest that you should not be afraid of it neither should you praise it instead you should use it as an education tool. That’s what the Manaiakalani Cluster is doing by holding the Manaiakalani Film Festival. Tamaki Intermediate School and Pt England School were the first to view the films made exclusively by the
Manaiakalani Schools. It was chilly that November morning when we all piled on to the bus. It soon became clammy inside the cramped bus all the way to Sylvia Park Hoyts to see the films on the X-treme Screen.

After the confined, clammy, cramped bus journey the bus came to a halt outside Sylvia Park and we all skipped, hopped and jumped off the bus. It was raining so we all ran across the pedestrian crossing like we were running a sprinting race. When we walked into the courtyard it was like a scene out of a movie. The arch above us slowly moved as we walked to reveal a huge, beautiful Christmas tree decorated from top to bottom with reindeer, sleighs, Santa, toys and everything related to Christmas.

We then followed on to the escalators and then we turned and went up the stairs while Pt England were happily gliding up the escalator. We ran as fast as we could and then we stopped so suddenly that it was like we hit a brick wall only because the door could only fit two people at a time.

Soon we were seated and the films started.. First up were two people from our school, Afu and Apelu. Their movie was fantastic and an enormous success. It was about Digital Storytelling and it was called Are You Ready? It was aimed at teachers and parents/caregivers. The next few movies passed through my mind like a hot knife through butter. Until one great movie caught my eye, Who’s Your Neighbour? was what it was called. It had a great moral and good filming and cute little actors playing the good Samaritans.

Over all I thought that all of the movies were fantastic but a few really caught my eye.

Monday, November 29, 2010

Manaiakalani Film Festival 2010




A humorous and fun experience for many students of various age groups, uniting the schools of our neighbourhood at the colossal screens. It was a bright sunlit Thursday morning and our school was travelling to the renowned Hoyts theatre recognized for its superb surround sound and titanic screens.


At last after a painstaking period of travelling we’d arrived at the mall and within it was the theatre. Gradually as we walked towards our destination I began to feel slightly frivolous and brimming with anticipation .As I followed series of human signs I soon came across ingenious posters created by the entire cluster of schools taking part which had further enticed me to glance at the films which had optimistically been strikingly completed.


At long last we’d made it. As soon as I saw a glimpse of the theatre I knew it was going to be out of this world. Furthermore as soon as I’d been seated I realised how comfy and hefty those dream seats were. It was as if I was floating on a cloud. Whilst all these things far expected my expectations I found that the films were equally as good as several commercial and highly funded movies apart from showing greater morals and virtues.


One of the movies I found to be the most valuable was Unity and Diversity which demonstrated that no matter what your ethnicity is you can work, communicate and become best of pals. Another film that surpassed my expectation was a short film by Point England School. It was a Justin Beiber music video re-enactment which featured many young actors aged around six to seven. I also was surprised on how each of the presenter s of many age groups showed no sign of stage fright and showed a lot of courage. What let me down was that not every student from each class was able to take part in their class film.


To the end of my experience I was left with new values and morals to look up to from tons of movies shown. This experience was extremely fun and I definitely yearn to see a second movie festival.

Manaiakalani Film Festival 2010


Time was running out and I was going to be late! It was a beautiful but windy day on Thursday 11th of November 2010, Tamaki Intermediate School travelled in four buses to Sylvia Park for the Manaiakalani Film Festival. It was 9:00 in the morning and everyone was ready to go. We were all filled with excitement.

Once we arrived at Sylvia Park we quickly marched out of the bus. We felt little tiny rain drops touching our soft, smooth skin so we rushed across the crossing and went into the mall for shelter.

We finally got to the cinemas where it was very warm and quiet. There were teachers there to usher us to our seats. We were in the Extreme Theatre seated in front of a massive screen.

It was time for the movies to roll. Two presenters from Tamaki Intermediate, Afu and Apelu stepped onto the stage and introduced their movie. Their movie was “Are you ready?” It was a really awesome and interesting movie to watch. The students were very talented. They very superior actors. Are you ready was all about the 21st Century learning?

Next up was Pt.England’s turn to shine on stage. Two little girls were presenting for Pt.England. Their topic for their movie was The X Factor. Pt.England school have very talented young children. One young student sang Dutty Love by Sean Kingston and the other sang somebody to Love by Justin Bieber.

After Pt.England, Glen Brae Primary entered the stage. Their topic was on worms, yucky slimy worms along with little tiny bugs. I don’t like worms and bugs.
Pt.Engand had appeared on the stage again but with different presenters. It was two five year olds. They were tremendous. They were so cute and had outstanding expressions.

Then later on two students from Tamaki Intermediate went on stage and it wasn’t Afu and Apelu this time, it was Olivia and Jorjah. Their topic was about Heal the World, and that was the right topic for us. We want the world to be a better place.
After Tamaki Intermediate it St.Piux. Their topic was about You’re Not My Neighbour. In this movie boys from different cultures had walked past a friend and danced. They knew he was hurt but they didn’t care. But lucky there was a lady who marched to take her child to school and l saw that he needed help. He finally made it to hospital, thanks to that lady.

The Manaiakalani Festival films were not over but we had to head back home because we were only there for 1 hour. We didn’t want to leave but we had to because we had to get ready to write a test the next day.

We had finally reached school and were starving. We quickly ran like a bunch of little mice as if we could see or smell cheese because we were so hungry.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Heal the World

We did a study about the many disasters that happened in different parts of the world and what we can do to heal the world in a small way. Watch our movie and please leave a comment.

Unity in Diversity

As an end product of our inquiry learning project on "Heroes" we made this movie. It is a documentary worth watching.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Eastern Zone Girls Volleyball Tournament

Wow’ it was a beautiful day but windy. On Monday 18th October 2010 the volleyball girls from Tamaki Intermediate participated in the Eastern Zone Volleyball Tournament at the Lagoon Stadium in Panmure. We travelled by van with Mrs Parker-Tofa and Miss Curran.

Once we arrived at the stadium we hurried out of the van eager to take on the other teams.

The siren finally went and all the schools were ready to give it their all. Our game was against Pt.England. It was a really awesome game. We managed to get along with them. The points were 21-13 to us.

Our second game was against Ellerslie Intermediate. They looked pretty good but unfortunate for them we won 18-15.

Next we played Baradene College. We actually thought we were going to lose; they were so fast they caught up to us. The points were 22-19.

Later on we played Panmure District School. It was a very close game. Panmure District actually showed that they had good skills because they won by 29-28.

Our fifth game was against Sylvia Park Intermediate. We managed to get along with Sylvia Park too. In this game we worked as a team but unfortunately we lost 20-19.

It was finally lunch-time. We all felt like we had bottomless pits. After we had something to eat we went and played volley with the other schools just for fun. It was so exciting and fun.

Now it was time to get back to the game. Next up we played Ellerslie Intermediate. It was a complicating game because of the umpire, but we managed to understand the umpire. The points were 21-19 to them.

After our game against Ellerslie Intermediate we played Stanhope School. Playing Stanhope School was one of the most interesting and funny games because of their mistakes. We had heaps of laughter. The points were 24-18.

Our second to last game was against Parnell Intermediate. We couldn’t wait to play our second to last game because we were going to make it into the finals. The points were 26-21.

It finally came to our last game against Bailey Road. It was a fun game because we managed to beat them 23-10.

Our player of the day went to Kathleen Vili for playing really well and for her awesome spikes. The sad bit of the tournament was that we didn’t have any finals. But we actually came second equal with Stanhope.

Last but not least we would like to thank Mrs Parker-Tofa for putting her effort in training us and Miss Curran for taking us. Also big ups to the volleyball girls for playing well.

By Lana Room 2...

Tama's First Trip to Wellington

It was a tiring Friday morning and I was awake at 2:00am. I was as cold as my freezer sleepy but excited. The day came when my family and I had driven down to Wellington.


I had my bags packed ready for the trip. On the way down to Wellington we had

stopped in a few towns from Auckland to Hamilton and Hamilton to Cambridge and from Cambridge we had gone all the way to Taupo. Taupo was the best town we had stopped at because of the lake. It was huge and we had driven right around the edge of it.

It had been a long drive, so long, that I thought that we would be old people by the time we arrived. However by the time we had arrived it was around lunchtime and we were starving so we stopped at the shop to get something to eat.

In Wellington we were all tired. We went to the hall where the wedding happened and we set up some mattresses for us to sleep on. On the day of the wedding we were all excited that my uncle was going to get married. That day was really busy and everyone was singing and dancing and eating. I was so happy for my uncle, the wedding was great and everything was perfect. Afterwards we had said our good byes and we were on our way back to Auckland. I wanted to stay but we had to leave.

I had a great time that day and I had lots of fun.

Friday, September 24, 2010

The Chinese Flood That Took So Many



The China Flood began in early May 2010. Heavy Monsoon rains caused the big flood in China.
The deaths occurred when people were washed into fast flowing rivers and mudslides buried houses and people in China.

Many carried bundles of possession salvaged from the water that turned the streets into rivers . One of the men that survived said, " My mother and father were in their 60’s and my brothers, all 3 of them are still buried in the house.”

More than 10 million people had lost property, many have been injured and others have suffered from disease caused by the flooding waters.

In China 392 people died and 232 had been reported missing. Aids came in to help the Chinese people. The First Aid and the Local Red Cross volunteers on the ground evacuated people. First Aid people supplied emergency relief like food, clothing and water.

Jets of water shot through three Gorge Dam on 27 July. On Wednesday the flow peaked at 1.96 million cubic feet.

Term 3 Report

Term 3 has been a really busy term for Room 2. Throughout this term we have been learning about Disasters. Learning about Disasters was really interesting because of the many disasters that happened globally this year. An example was the Christchurch earthquake with a magnitude of 7.1.
For the first few weeks of this term we have been doing procedure writing. Our teacher Mrs Sigamoney demonstrated the procedure of making Indian samoosas. We had to follow the instructions and welearnt how to fold the pastry. It was not as easy as we thought, but it was fun. We had to listen carefully to the instructions and then do a procedure writing of our own.

Then we started doing a news report on a New Zealand or World Disaster. That was an interesting research task for us.


Money group this year has been really challenging for us Room 2 students. Most of us had been participating in it. It was a maths competition where a group of 3 people confront the other group. It was so fun because we learnt new stuff such as GST, kiwi saver, and many more.


Thanks to the Duffy Club and Mrs Raj.



The amazing media team! What have we been doing in media? The Yr8’s have been training the Yr7’s for next year. It was an awesome opportunity for Room 2 students to present Tamaki Today and School...Inc. We would like to thank Mr Munnik for helping us.

‘Sports’. Highlights were the Open Grade boys game against Pt.England, and Open Grade girls game against Bader. This term we also have been training for Volleyball for our tournament next term.

A bonus for us this term is having another student teacher for 5 weeks, Miss Andrea Begunk. She’s really fun to hang around. She has a bubbling personality. Learning with her and Mrs Sigamoney has been really cool and fun. Mrs Sigamoney teaches us great new stuff. We would like to thank both of them for putting their effort in teaching us so we can get a good and wonderful education.



By Lana and Maroussia, Room 2.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Introduction to Report Writing

Room 2's Research and Report Writing on Disasters.

Synergy’s Amazing Report



Humanities Most Lethal Event in History

There have been many reasons to believe that the great flood was a myth but now there has been evidence to enforce the calamity.

It is said that the final resting point of the Noah’s ark is within a single mountain in Turkey and is what thousands of Christian deem. A structure found on the mountains of Turkey contained radio carbon wood dating to 4800 years and was near to the instant that the great flood had subsided which had occurred in 2300 BC.

According to biblical accounts the human race was 5 million and soon after the tragedy a colossal death toll of 4992,000,000 and a diminutive amount of 8 survivors.

God created the big bang which created the earth. He intended us to discover evolution. It does not say in the bible how God created the earth which means he may have used the big bang. There is reason to believe that there must have been someone before the big bang, which you assume to be God. For the big bang to occur there had to be something there. This evidence proves significant and establishes a basis that God does exist and that the great flood that he supposedly caused is true.

There is reason to believe God could have caused various disasters .There is proof that heaven is actually in some point of space which makes it possible that the scientific theory was factual .God may have sent the 3-mile ball of rock smashing into the ocean off the coast of Madagascar thus resulting in a series of tsunamis crashing against the world’s coastlines and injecting plumes of superheated water vapour into the atmosphere. Within hours the infusion of heat and moisture formed super hurricanes that strike the other side of the planet. For about a week, material ejected into the atmosphere plunged the world into darkness. All told, up to 80 percent of the world’s population may have perished, making it the single most lethal event in history.

Noah saved two of every animal genre which comes to 16000 individual animals. Only 11 percent of animals were no bigger than a sheep and a small percent of which have become extinct. Most of the animals we have today have descended from an initial species such as the horse. It has adapted and formed many other species such as donkeys and zebras and mammoths have adapted to form elephants and so forth. Many animals have also grown in size to adapt with earth's harsh conditions

This evidence has proved substantial and should convince all atheists and non believers to join or convert to Christianity.

Friday, September 3, 2010

Mereia's Procedural Writing

HOW TO MAKE NACHOS


Ingredients/Equipment

· 1 big bowl

· 1 packet of corn chips

· 1 packet of grated cheese

· 2 Tbs of Salsa

· A Microwave


Method:
First carefully pour the corn chips into the bowl.
Next take two handfuls of grated cheese and gently sprinkle it around the bowl of corn chips.
Then put 2 Tbs of salsa and grated cheese into the bowl of corn chips.
Place the bowl of corn chips in the microwave and heat for 90 seconds.
Then use a tea towel to remove the HOT bowl of Nachos carefully.

Enjoy!

TIPS:

If you don’t have a microwave, heat up your nachos in a 400 degree oven .

Add refried beans, ground beef or grilled chicken over the salsa for a tastier Nachos.





Lorenzo's Procedural Writing

Silent Ball

Equipment:
Stable chairs
1 tennis ball
3-14 Players in this game

Instructions
Grab enough chairs for everyone to stand on. (Stabilized chairs only).
Next you stand on the chair and pass the ball around.
Now you cannot pass it to the player that has just passed it to you.
You are eliminated if you talk, jump, or fall off your chair or drop the ball.
To win in this game you must be the last man standing.
Perfect indoor game for a winter's day!

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Meshaq's Winter Game

How to play Indoor Dodge Ball

Equipment needed:

5 large softballs

2 even teams of 5

A wall

A gold coin

A stop watch

Method:

1. First you get into two even teams.

2 Next play heads and tails and the winner gets the ball first.

3. Then each player in the winning team gets a ball each.

4. Use the stop watch to time the game for five minutes

5. Now begin the game.

6. You can only throw the ball at the players from the waist and below.

7. The team with the most players still standing wins.

8. After five minutes swap over.

You can make the time shorter to make the game more intense and challenging .

Introduction to Procedural Writing

Our topic for this term is on weather and weather disasters. Room 2 has been writing winter recipes and how to play indoor games for procedural writing.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Finacial Literacy Evaluations



We just finished an awesome session about financial literacy for a Math competition. I learnt new stuff about money such as profit, loss, interest, principal, amount, Kiwi saver and much more. It was an awesome experience. Math is my favourite subject
- Lana

We just finished training for some hard but cool Math for a competition. Math is not my favourite subject but what I learnt is how to solve money matter problems.

- Natalia

I really enjoyed being involved in the learning that ended with the money competition. It was cool as. I have learned a lot. It was a great experience. Math is my number 1 subject

-Vanessa

I really think that the Duffy Money Group has helped me a lot. It has made me do my Maths easier and I love it. Thanks to Mrs. Raj I learnt about GST, Profit and Loss.

- Maroussia

I really think that this group learning has been fun and thanks to Miss Raj I’ve learnt about profit and loss, loans, GST and Kiwi saver.

- Ocean

For teaching us how to solve money problems thank you Mrs. Raj. We learnt about GST, Profit and loss etc. The Duffy money competition was a good experience.

- Coltrane

The Duffy money maths competition was a fantastic experience because we learnt about stuff we didn’t know. I just wanna say to all the year 7s to go hard next year on the asttle maths test. I just want to say a big thank you to Mrs. Raj for teaching us a lot about GST, Profit and Loss and for using her own time to teach us.

- Lorenzo

The Duffy Money competition was a great experience and I would like to thank Mrs. Raj for teaching me all about money and other stuff that has to do with money

- Raiden

Ever since I had joined this group I realised that I have gotten better at solving math questions.

- Anthony

I have learnt a lot of strategies and have improved in problem solving. When I grow up I want to be a teacher or a bank teller and a league player.

- Taiapa

I really enjoyed being in this competition because I learnt a lot of new strategies and it was an amazing experience. It was awesome.

- Sheralee

I liked the Duffy Money competition because it helped me learn new strategies and I also learnt about GST. I am now confident with solving problems.

- Vaegaau

During the preparation for the money problem solving competition I learnt a lot of new strategies that helped me with math problems including cross multiplication. Thanks to Mrs. Raj I am now more confident with problem solving.

- Afu

Even though I joined the group late I loved learning about GST and Kiwi saver. The competition was thrilling.

- Synergy

I thought percentages and decimals were hard stuff in math. But after joining this maths competition classes it made me realise that math is not hard after all. “It’s a piece of cake!”

- Jessica

I really enjoyed being in this financial literacy programme. I hope I can get into more of these groups in the future.

- Meshaq

The Duffy money programme taught me a lot about kiwi saver, GST, interest, profit and loss, loans, credit and debit and much more.

- Longoa’a





Friday, August 20, 2010

Norman Playing The Vuvuzela

Yes, I’m playing a Vuvuzela!

I was fortunate to get to blow a vuvuzela which my teacher Mrs Sigamoney brought back from South Africa. I was interested to know more about the vuvuzela so I read about it.

The vuvuzela is also known as lepatata and it is a Tswana name. It is typically a 65-centimetre (2 ft) plastic device that requires the flow of air to produce a loud monotone note. A similar device, known as the corneta is used in Brazil and other Latin American countries. Many types of vuvuzelas are made by several manufacturers, may produce varying intensity and frequency outputs. The intensity of these outputs depends on the blowing technique and pressure exerted.


Thousands of vuvuzelas were blown by soccer fans at the FIFA World Cup in South Africa. I was thrilled to get the technique right and have a go at it.

Here I am playing the Vuvuzela.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Bob Mc Davitt the Meteorologist

Bob Mc Davitt the former Meteorologist came to Tamaki Intermediate to talk to us year 8’s about different types of weather disasters and how they are caused.

We asked him why he became a meteorologist. It wasn’t a passion for Mr Davitt. He and his family experienced the violent storm which caused the Wahine disaster in 1968. His mum had tried to light a fire during the storm and this resulted in the roof blowing off.. This experience inspired him to take an interest in weather patterns and become a meteorologist.

When all the year 8’s assembled in the hall Ms Waetford introduced us to Mr Davitt. First he showed us the different cloud types and names. He told us how fast lightning can travel and how to know when a storm is coming. He then showed us images of what buoyancy looks like. For example a hot air balloon rising.

Mr Davitt also explained how fast lightning could travel and the size of hail stones. They were the size of a ten cents coin or bigger or smaller.

It was time for questions from the students and there were questions like, “Why are some weather predictions inaccurate?”

It was the end of his talk and the year 8 Syndicate had said thank you to Mr Davitt for teaching us new stuff about weather.

Then it was time for the classes to leave.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Bob the Weather Man

What Room 2 students have learnt from Bob Mc Davitt the Meteorologist.


The Yr 8 student’s at Tamaki Intermediate School got the visit of a life time by the meteorologist Bob Mc Davitt who studies the different temperaments of weather in different parts of the world.
One of the things I took great pleasure in learning about was the water cycle. We were taught how almost infinite sums of minute droplets of water mostly known as clouds form together and produce rain which soon goes through a process called the water cycle which is basically only fluid transpiring from the earth and forming condensation which will soon become clouds. As clouds begin to bond they begin to form droplets which evaporate in to masses of smaller droplets and as a result creating rain. These steps are repeated therefore sustaining the cycle of rain.
I learnt limitless tons of knowledge and the few things that I thought most likely would help me in future was how to figure out how various disasters are caused as well as how to read satellite images of the weather

Friday, August 13, 2010

Olivia's Money Competition Reflection

The day had arrived, where we all had to compete against each other to score a final place in the Interschool competition and to be into win a Nokia Phone.

In my group was Daysha, Alysha and I. We were called Team Ollie .Before the competition started we all said to each other that it does not matter if we win or lose, it’s just having fun and learning that counts.

The competition started and the pressure was tense. It felt like my blood pressure was just about going over 75 because your whole group depended on you to find a correct answer.

Half way through the competition we were experiencing major problems because we weren’t sure if we were giving the correct answers..

Finally the competition came to an end, Paul the Duffy twin collected our test sheets .As Paul marked our papers we felt sweat running down our forehead as we anxiously watched.

He then announced the winners. We were crossing our fingers, to win a phone (at least I was).

Unfortunately team Ollie was not announced .We felt gutted that we didn’t win. But then we looked at the positive side and that was that there were still two more phones up for grabs, and all we had to do was to answer two questions to score a phone.

Paul asked what does CEO stand for and he pointed at me I felt an enormous amount of pressure on me , I didn’t say anything because I was shocked but I still had to answer that tricky question, so my answer was Chief Executive Officer.

He said that I was right; I scored a phone on the spot. In my mind I was saying’,” yes, yes, yes! I won a phone thank you, thank you, thank you.’!”

Sadly the competition came to an end .I enjoyed answering all those hard questions and learning more about kiwi saver.

Thank you Paul for helping us, understand how kiwi saver works, and thanks for giving us the chance to win a Nokia phone and I would also like to thank Mrs. Raj for preparing me for the last two weeks . You really taught me some good strategies that I can use in my future . THANK YOU!!!

Lorenzo's Money Competition Reflection

On Wednesday 11th August 2010 we the money group participated in a competition and which ever group won got a mobile phone. Unfortunately my group did not win but we were still happy about how we participated in this competition. I just want to thank Mrs Raj for dedicating her time to us and teaching us about great things, including banking which would help us help our lives. I really want to say good luck to our winners Longoa’a, Earle, Tama Jnr, Scott, Sela, and Jorjah on going to the Interschool Challenge.

Synergy's Money Competition Reflection

At last our school had been given the chance to take part in one of the most enjoyable and brain busting experiences. Out of numerous sums of form one and two student in Tamaki intermediate school a select group of enthusiastic students with a variety of different skill were chosen through sums of different test.

Luckily even though my test weren’t up to the standard I was not chosen for the select group of people but because of my enthusiasm to be in the group and the kindness of the assistant principal in charge of the group I was fortunate enough to be put in the group just before the competition had started.

I knew that if I wanted a chance in the competition that I would have to strive to do my best .I was taught numerous ways to solve equations related to GST, Intrest, and kiwi saver. I was able to consolidate all the knowledge knew as well as extra information.

When I arrived for my first time at the money I was split into a group of 3 which was great because it would help when the competition had come .I listen precisely to our entire instructors step and on the day of the competition the steps had been really handy. But because I had focused more on the mathematical side money I had not been able to answer many of the questions and even though I had not won I was proud to at least take part in this knowledgeable experience.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Oh What a Day!


Oh what a day!

Wednesday the 11th of August 2010 had finally arrived and everybody that was involved was revising all the math strategies that they learnt over the past two weeks with Mrs. Raj. They were revising because there was a competition that was being held in the hall called ‘The Duffy Money Competition’.

The Duffy Money Competition organised by the Duffy twins Craig and Paul was all about financial literacy. We learnt a lot about assets, liabilities, income, expenditure, kiwi saver, interest, credit and debit cards and other money matters. It was terrifying at the start but as time slipped by it became extremely exciting.

In total there were 9 groups of 3. The competition was challenging but it also gave our minds a good workout. Paul hosted the competition. It took approximately an hour before our excited heart beats slowed down. At the end of the competition Paul collected all the answer sheets and marked them.

Waiting for the results was agonizing but we were over the moon when Paul read out the answers. Our group was happy because we had got almost every answer correct and we came first. In second place was Team Piggybank. Earle, Longoa’a and Tama were proud winners. They each got a brand new cell phone. Then to our surprise Paul announced that our team, Team Thingy, had come first. We also got a cell phone each and we were ecstatic. Our eyes turned to our friend Olivia who had not received a phone. Then, to our surprise Paul announced that he had two extra cell phones to give away. He asked two very hard questions and Coltrane won the first cell phone while our friend, Olivia, won the other one. We were so happy for her.

The competition was so much fun even though only two groups went through to the Inter-School Competition. Everybody had so much fun that they forgot about losing and celebrated with all their friends. We would all like to say a big thank you to Paul and his twin brother Craig for organising the competition. We would also like to say a huge thank you to Mrs Raj for preparing us for the competition. THANK YOU!!!




Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Friday, August 6, 2010

Berttina's Term 2 Reflection

This term has been a busy and fun term at the same time. Mrs Sigamoney is back this term from Africa which was a great start to this term.
This  term has been so cool because we  participated in different things like the media team, after school netball, Young Leader’s Conferences, school activities and  much  more.

 This term was a testing term for us year 8's to see where we are at with the National Standards and set goals for term three.

 I have been so proud of myself  because I have achieved my term goals and  I also achieved in my weakest subject  which is Mathematics. I have also improved in my spelling and basic facts test that happens every Friday morning in each classroom.  I have also met deadlines but there are  just some bits I need to work on.

Term 2 has been amazing because I am doing well in the media team.  I get to go out with the media team and fiilm  great sports events happening in and out of  our school and  positive  things that happen in our school.

 Every Tuesday afternoon the year 8 and year 7 girls play netball at the Morrin Road Courts. I am part of the year 8 team. My memorable moment this term  is when I got some goals in for our team.

This Term  was  my best term  because I went to the Young Leader’s Conference with other leaders, which was brilliant. It  had helped be become a confidentt leader.
 At our school we learn and have lots of fun. Term two has been a great term.

By Berttina

Daisha's Term 2 Reflections

This term has been like a ride you can’t get off. But a good ride of course. I’ve had some downbeat days but mostly upbeat days this term. Last term our present teacher Mrs Sigamoney was not able to be there for us . While Mrs Sigamoney was away Mrs Bailey our current Te Reo teacher, and Mrs Raj our Assistant Principal had been teaching us. We enjoyed having both teachers.

When Mrs Sigamoney made her comeback we had to get used to her way of teaching and  her expectations. She had to get used to us and our routines.

My school involvements were Soccer, Netball, Guitar, and Kapa Haka. For soccer, Mrs Sigamoney was our coach. She taught us well and we ended up coming fourth We  drew one game, lost two and won the rest. For netball our coach and part time coach  was Miss Samson and  Lana’s Dad ‘Erosita’. We have made it through to the finals and just this week we won our championship game. In guitar Ms Dekker is my teacher. She teaches me and the others the basics of guitar and in Kapa Haka  Miss Popata and Anthony's grandfather are also teaching us Kapa Haka.

I did start to sllacken a bit in these last few weeks. Next term it will be different. I will pick up my grades like a handful of water and throw them as high as I can.

Bob Mc Davitt The Meteorologist

On Tuesday 3rd of August, the yr 8’s gathered in the hall to learn all about weather from Bob Mc Davitt the Meteorologist.

Bob Mc Davitt is a well known Meteorologist who used to be a weather man on the news a few years back. He was inspired to study the weather after he and his family experienced a violent storm that happened during the Wahine Disaster in 1968.

Mr Mc Davitt had prepared a slideshow showing many different types of weathers and how they were caused.

He explained that the largest hail stone to be found within New Zealand was the same size as a 10c coin (22mm) big.

He showed us a slide where a twister destroyed a city. He said that a twister spins by the speed of 110km per hour, and that if a twister wants to transport it will transport from moving its eye from one place to another then, slowly moving its body.

My favourite part about this talk on weather was when we watched and learnt all about the different types of clouds.

Thank you Mr Bob Mc Davitt for giving us awesome information on weather. The information you have given us will help us during this term on our topic on weather disasters.

Friday, July 23, 2010

Lana's Term 2 Reflection

Term 2 Reflections!!! Term 2 has been a challenging term for my friends and I because we have been working so hard. For the first couple of weeks we had Mrs Bailey and Mrs Raj teaching us because our teacher Mrs Sigamoney was in South Africa.


When Mrs Sigamoney arrived back from South Africa,  Room 2 was so excited to see her. Mrs Sigamoney saw some new faces  but  she knew some of us. Five weeks later we had a student teacher Miss Hedgman who came and stayed with us only for five weeks. It was so awesome to have her, but at the same time we felt sad because she had to leave us. It was a pleasure to have her teach us for a short time.


Through the past few weeks we have been doing book reports, we also have been doing  descriptive writing along with narratives.  Every Monday we get homework and it is due on Friday. Last week was a very busy week because the whole school did  Assemmment Tests tests like Astle Reading, Astle Maths, NZ and World Map. Our topic was  Advertisements. A friend of Nellie’s came to talk to us about how to organise a Market  Fair. She spoke to us about her mobile coffee business. She travels in a big van to occasions like school athletics and more.


SPORTS! I’ve been joining a lot of sports such as soccer and netball. In soccer we played against many schools and we made it to the  finals but unfortunately we came fourth. Still  we came home proud. We represented our school well. Now netball, I’m in a netball team that represents our cool school Tamaki Intermediate. Playing netball is fun because we run around a lot and we get to make friends with other kids.


Now we just have to wait for our reports to come. I really hope my report is good.

Lorenzo's Term 2 Reflection

Term 2 was a great experience for me because it was my first time in extension. I had a fantastic time in the extension classroom and made  a lot of friends. This term was a great experience for me because I learnt how to be a leader and I had my first meeting in week 2 term 2.

I got to play in our first rugby game for the  open grade which was against Bader Intermediate. Unfortunately we lost by one try. We also competed in the Eastern Zone Rugby Tournament wher ere we came  second.

My behaviour this term was alright. The reason why I say alright is  because I got into trouble with the teacher and got sent to the Deputy principal 's office.  My work was not very good because I had not met all deadlines. I have improved in my spelling this term because in  term 1,  I was getting very low marks, but now I have been getting 20 out of 20 most of the times and 18 or 19 for  two  weeks.

Friday, June 25, 2010

........Monster Horror........

My three friends Justin, Sam, Cody and I were walking along the path to SPRONX when suddenly a hideous deformed creature struck us from behind. “Help me! Help me!” was going over and over in my head. We were petrified and we sped through a narrow alley way which was the nearest escape route that we could find. Once we thought we were safe at the end of the alley, we stopped running.


“We made it!” Justin yelled out.

“I DONT THINK SO,” screamed the creature that was now standing right in front of us again. “Don’t celebrate too early,” he yelled as we got a glimpse of the evil in its eyes.

As we tried to escape, we were trying to hide the feelings that were racing around inside us. He opened his mouth and a smell of an old rotten can of tuna blew right into our faces.


We stood there thinking, “What is it doing?” and as we speed quickly away covering our mouths. As we ran the sun began to rise and shine very heavily upon the creature. The creature started to turn into stone slowly from its feet to the tip of its head. It started to scream in horror as its body shattered into ashes captured with its horrified soul.

We stood there as if we were turned into stone with our eyes wide open and as our mouths released open with dried out saliva not knowing to believe or to think that this thing that we just saw was true.

After our one of a kind experience Sam and Justin would try to tell every one the story while Cody and I would just stand there quietly and not say a word.

By Maroussia

1970 KFC Ad

Back in 1970 K.F.C made an advertisement and in that ad there is a chubby little boy named Hugo and a chubby little girl named Holly.

Hugo and Holly along with their parents are going to go have some K.F.C but it was taking so long and the kids are bored, but when they arrived at K.F.C their eyes light up and they are fighting over who was going to go and get the food. Holly won and so Hugo goes and get the food and when he comes back they are stuffing their faces with as much chicken as they could and they then head home and were as happy as could be.

The things that I like about the advertisement are that it is a cartoon not a real life ad. I also I think it is an awesome idea to have animals and to make everything so happy when they finally get their K.F.C. (Kentucky Fried Chicken)

Although it is a cartoon, it is believable and what happens in that ad would usually happen in a normal, everyday family.

The only thing that I would change would be to make the kids slim, not chubby and fat.

No this advertisement would not work today because well I mean who would buy something that would make you that obese and advertisers today don’t use cartoons any more. They use real people because this is living proof there product is good.

By Jorjah Rm 2