Wero Whitewater Trip

Last week Friday, Room 12 got to go on their kayaking trip. 

When our lesson began we started with organising groups. Some had six and others had seven. Next we talked about river safety. Moving on from that, we finally hopped into a raft and started paddling. We went around the course, trying to get comfortable with paddling. 

After our first lap my group decided to make our raft spin around the rushing river. We were bumping into walls and another group. When we collided with the other group, Peni (their member) fell out. That resulted in laughs. I think I was crying. 

Many laughs later we moved onto swimming down the river. There were two groups, those who wanted to float down the small fall and those who chose the big fall. I chose the small fall.

I had a bunch of fun and hope to go again.

Kakapos in Danger

The past few months kakapo's have been affected by a disease named aspergillosis, a fungal disease that affects the respiratory system. Seven kakapo have died with 35 in hospitals around the country.

Those in hospitals are being medicated twice a day and are being fed their favourite native plants. 160 of the birds remain.

This is disheartening to hear seeing that there are not many kakapos left. Hopefully the numbers go up soon.

Rippa Rugby

Yesterday was our last day of rippa rugby. For six weeks, every Tuesday we've been with coach Corey who would try to teach us to use comms, pay attention to our own team, and to not shy away from the ball.

This session we played cat and mouse, over the river, rippa rugby and bullrush. Over the river was a newly added game which nearly everyone loved. There were two teams and a section in the middle, the river. We played with two rugby balls/grenades. If they dropped on the floor, no matter what side or who threw/kicked it, the closest person would be out. If it landed in the river, the person who threw/kicked it would be out. If someone caught the grenade the thrower would be out.

We also had a competition. We had to pass down five balls to the end of our line and beat 19 seconds, Room 8A's score. If we had won, we would have gotten three rugby balls.

This session was the most enjoyable.

Art Session

Ever since this year started we've been working on perspectives and optical illusions. Maybe with a hint of shading. We've gone from self portraits to 3D shapes to buildings and illusions. I've enjoyed doing the illusions because you'd think they'd be drawn a different way as to how they're actually done.

If you can't tell, they're stairs.

First Day With KiwiCan!

Today we had our first lesson with KiwiCan. We were being taught by Miss Tuia and Mrs Mac (who was filling in for Mr Matt).

This term our theme will be based around integrity, meaning doing the right thing even if no one's watching. However, for the next three week's, our topic will be focused on honesty.

To get to know us, Miss Tuia got us into a circle and made us call out our names. After that we played bang. Kotipi won the first round and the second was a tie between Agueer and Leanah.

Our next activity was changes, where we were asked questions and if our answer was a 'yes', we had to swap seats.

Lastly we had a General Knowledge Quiz (GKQ). Then we got to ask our supervisors questions.

Sammy V.

Last week we had a Duffy assembly which starred Sam Verlinden. Like any other Duffy assembly, he came to talk to us about why reading is important, but it came with a twist. He talked about how he wanted to impress a girl, Hannah, but Noah would always one up him. That's when he realised he should sing her a song, so he read books which helped him with lyrics. The way he told the story drew students in and also cracked us up.

Shortly after that he showed us a clip of people dancing to his song, Jumble. Everyone was captivated.

I was surprised to find out that he was majoring in  music. He was our first guest to choose a different career besides being an athlete and author.

Tick Tock For The Clock

We have finally started working on creating our clocks!

First we started off with drawing an 80mm by 80mm square on a piece of card. Next we had to draw our design around it. That is going to be the back. Many of us were going to trace our design but it was too small so we had to draw it bigger.

Thirdly, we had to cut out the outline and the square. Then we were to trace our outline onto another piece of paper and cut it out. That is going to be our front.

After cutting out that one we had to draw two 40mm by 80mm rectangles. We had to cut them out and fold them in thirds. We then glued the front piece to the back piece using the two rectangles.

Unfortunately I'm still stuck on tracing my design around the square so hopefully this week I can move on quickly.