Athletics

I was very excited for athletics because it was a day off school. I was really happy that they were still running athletics even though the weather wasn't the best. Everyone sat down at the courts as the sun shone on theirs heads. When Miss Va’afusuanga told the year 8 boys to stand and go to discus happiness surrounded me.

My first throw was alright I was coming second until I got bumped down to third then while i waited I got bumped down to nothing. But I was still happy for the people who got a placing because most of them were in my house colour, which is red. When we finished discus we got ready to go to javelin.

When we arrived to our next event we sat down and listened to Mr Barks explain how to throw the javelin. Javelin is one of the hardest event for me because I am not good at throwing objects for a long length. But when it was my turn I just gave a try.

Sadly we didn't finish athletics because of bad weather so we had to finish the rest the next week. I can’t wait for next year athletics because I will be in college.  

Year 8 Marsden Bay Camp 2014

Marsden Bay Camp 2014

Last week our year 8’s travelled up north to Marsden Bay Christian Camp. We were all excited to see what the campgrounds were going to look like and what exciting things we were going to do throughout the week. Like me, everyone arrived at school grinning from ear to ear.

When we finished loading the bus with our gear we all got on and got ready to leave. Waving goodbye to our parents as we left , I felt very lucky because I got to do no work for a whole week and instead hang out with my friends.  When we were on the road still on our way to Marsden Bay,  my friends and I ate some lollies. Once we hopped off the bus we saw that we were at a beach. We all thought that we were going for a swim but instead we were going to go for a long walk.

The walk was really tiring but the view was incredible. The track was really muddy and some people slipped, but luckily nobody got hurt.  As soon as we reached the end it brought us to a long road with nowhere to rest but luckily there was a patch of grass. We all had lunch and then walked down the road and to our astonishment another beach awaited. We all got to have a long and good rest. Some of us also got to go for a swim and hang out with our friends.  

Finally we arrived at Marsden Bay Camp.  Our bus drove into the camp grounds everyone looked out the window and saw a really big flying fox as well as a waterslide. Everybody was really excited, they all wanted to go on it on the first day. When we hopped off the bus we unloaded our gear and placed near the deck. The moment we finished unloading the bus we immediately ran to our cabins.

As soon as we had unpacked everyone had free time. A lot of our year eight’s went to play on the volleyball court while some of my friends and I played basketball in the hall. We were all very excited for a week off school and just a week of fun. I hope every week could be like camp.

My Avatar

I am able to manage myself and my learning consistently.  I have put myself at level three because I get my work done even though the teacher isn't watching over me.I created an avatar to represent my house colour which is red. I am able to manage myself and my learning consistently.

Kiwi Sport Netball

Kiwi Sport Netball

Netball is one of New Zealand’s most common sports, it is also played around the world as well. Our class have been attending Kiwi Sport Netball in the hall with Merrin for the past 4 weeks. I’m not a big fan of netball but I decided to just give it a try. When I took part in our first netball lesson it wasn't to bad.

I was away for our first lesson so my first session was about defense. We learnt how to follow and block your attacker from getting the ball. We also got to learn how to pass a netball and shoot it as well. Merrin said when you shoot you have to hold the netball above your head and shoot it. She also said when you pass a netball it is best to past from your chest.

Our class went to Kiwi Sport Netball today and we learnt about pivoting. If you were to jump and catch the ball, the first foot that lands on the ground stays there and your second foot can pivot. We had a little netball game today. It was really confusing for me because I didn't know where I was allowed and where I wasn't. I also didn't know my position until I got to play. There are only seven positions in netball they are goal shoot, goal attack, wing attack, wing defense, goal defense, goalkeeper and center.

Through out the past four weeks of learning netball hasn't been too bad. Netball was alright but I’m not to sure if I want to play again!!

Kiwi Sport Football

Kiwi Sport Football

For the past five weeks we have been participating in kiwi sport football with Sophia. I didn't really like to play soccer but ever since our class started attending kiwi sport I sort of started to like football. Football is the most popular sport in the world.

Sophia was our instructor, taught our class the simple skills for football. She is also a football player, she comes from Argentina. When we first saw her she had a broken arm because a team they played against in soccer crushed her arm. She had a really cool haircut, it was dreadlocks.

The FIFA World Cup had just finished so Sophia decided that we should have our own little FIFA class cup. We got into groups of four and all decided on a name. My group chose to be Mexico. We had about five football games overall in the FIFA class cup. We had a lot of fun playing against the other teams.

When it was time to go Sophia announced the placings of all of the teams. My team was really lucky because we came second out of the whole class but Brazil won in the end. My group was very happy with our placing. Our class loves to play soccer and we all hope Sophia can come back and teach us more about Football.

Maths Strategy for this week

WALT to solve mental division problems with remainders

How to play Pegball

Uili Math DLO

Kings Rugby

Yesterday our year 8 rugby team travelled to King Prep School to play against them in rugby. We were very lucky because Kings school gave us a free ride to their school and back. When we arrived most of our rugby boys were staring at how big the school was. I thought it looked  bigger than Tamaki College.

As we made it to the field some of our boys didn't like the field because it had fake grass. As we warmed up we were looking at the Kings team. As they kicked off I felt nervous because it was my first time playing prop. The first scrum was really uncomfortable because the other props and hookers were short so it was hard for me. As the game went we scored the first try of the game. And straight after Kings scored as well.

At half-time we were still in the lead , but our half-back and our first-five were injured so we had to make a few changes. Kings was the hardest team we had ever played against. It was a really tough game but we managed to pull through and win 26-24. When we said our cheers we walked over to them and our captain thanked them for giving us a free ride. He also thanked them all for a tough game.

When we were riding back to school all the rugby boys were exhausted and wanted to go home early. I hope we can play them again.

Maths DLO

Australian Football League Research

Research on the country?

The History of Australia refers to the history of the area and people of the Commonwealth of Australia and its preceding Indigenous and colonial societies. Aboriginal Australians are believed to have first arrived on the Australian mainland by sea from Maritime Southeast Asia between 40,000 and 70,000 years ago. The artistic,musical and spiritual traditions they established are among the longest surviving such traditions in human history.

Rules:  A.F.L is a sport played between two teams of eighteen players on the field of either an Australian football ground Or a modified cricket field, or a similarly sized sports venue. The main way to score points is by kicking the ball between the two tall goal posts. The team with the higher total score at the end of the match wins unless either a draw is declared or a tie-break which then will go into a golden point.

Skills:

Understand the basics of the game. Australian football, or "footy" as it is known the ball is also often referred to as the footy is played on a large oval field 135 - 185 meters long from goal and 110 -115 meters wide and has four large goalposts on each side of the field. Points are scored by kicking goals, which occurs when the football is kicked between the 2 middle goalposts, and behinds, when the ball is kicked through the outside goalposts. Goals are worth 6 points and behinds are worth 1 point. There are 18 players on each side, with 3 interchange bench players and 1 substitute on the side. The ball can be disposed of either by kicking or handballing bumping the ball with the fist similar to volleyball, and goals can only be scored by kicking the ball through the goalposts.

Equipment:

The equipment you need for AFL is football boots, AFL shorts and a AFL singlet. The most important thing you need is a mouth guard. You can have a head guard if you want to use one.

Teams:

Carlton

Adelaide Crows                                            

Brisbane Lions

Blues

Collingwood Magpies

Bombers

Fremantle Dockers

Geelong Cats

Hawthorn Hawks

Melbourne Demons

North Melbourne Kangaroos

Port Adelaide Power

Richmond Tigers

Melbourne St. Kilda

Sydney Swans

West Coast Eagles

Western Bulldogs

Gold Coast Suns

Essendon

GWS Giants

Collingwood Magpies

History

In 1857 Tom Wills was  one of the founders of Australian Football league after he returned to Australia after schooling in England where he was football captain of Rugby School and a brilliant cricketer. He advocated the winter game of football as a way of keeping cricketers fit during off-season.

The new game was devised by Wills, his cousin H.C.A. Harrison, W.J. Hammersley and J.B. Thompson. The Melbourne Football Club was formed on August 7, 1858 – the year of the code's first recorded match between Scotch College and Melbourne Grammar School.                                                                                    

Popularity:

In 1857 when A.F.L. was made there were 205,464. Now there are 23,344,735 people in Australia.

July Holidays

                                                      July Holidays

In the holidays I went with Wyatt and Levi’s family to Okahu Bay for the day. We played kicks on the grass and we also played on the flying fox. When I sat down on the flying fox seat it felt different than the last time I was on it. As I took off the ride felt really slow because they changed the gear on top. I was really bummed out about that so we went and had lunch.

Lunch was really delicious, it was chicken nibble, pork buns, hot chips and fizzy drinks. As I finished my chicken nibble Wyatt, Levi and his brothers and I ran over to the playground and played tag. It was a really fun game because you were only allowed to take three steps. We also got to hide in places that they couldn't find us in. We had lots of fun, but then it was time to pack up.

When we got to the car Levi’s mother Shannon opened up the boot of the car. I didn’t know why she did but when I looked inside there were longboards, skateboards and a scooter. We got to skate all the way to Mission Bay. It was really fun because we got to race each other and look at the beautiful ocean. We stopped many times for a rest, we even stopped for a toilet break. When we finished Shannon asked us if we wanted to stop but we said no. But we just left because she said we were going to get ice cream.

I had a lot of fun with Wyatt and Levi’s family I hope I could go again sometime!!

Ki O Rahi

                                                      Ki O Rahi

Yesterday I was selected to play Ki O Rahi at the ami stadium. We took two teams to compete in this Maori sport, it was Pt Englands first time taking a team to this sport event. The Pt England Kapa Haka group also came to this event because there were maori workshops inside the hall. We left early from school to go be part of the welcoming.

We were really excited to play our first game of Ki O Rahi.  I didn’t actually know how to pronounce the other teams name because it was in maori. As the other team kicked off points had already been scored straight away. We were in the lead and the our first game was nearly over. At full time we managed to win 5-1. We were happy with the score and were amazed that we won our first Ki O Rahi game.

The day went very fast and soon we found out that we were in the semi-final. We were up against the reigning champions. It was our hardest game of the day. We gave it all we had but they came out with a win. We were the only team that scored against them out of the whole tournament. It was a close game 5 - 4.

It was a really great experience I hope I can do it next year!!

Term 3 Immersion Assembly

Term 3 Immersion Assembly

The theme for this term is Game On. This term we are learning about the Common Wealth Games. The Common Wealth Games are going to be held in a city called Glasgow in Scotland for 2014. There are going to be 54 nations competing in 2014.

As our school assembly started Mr Jacobsen entered the hall riding his bike. We also got to see a video on the projector of Mr Burt telling us that there was a quiz the school was going to do. The quiz was to find out where Mr Burt was.

On the projector it showed team one’s video about the Commonwealth Games. Team one’s video showed some of the nations that were competing. They were all dressed like they were going to be participating in one of the sports. It also showed one of our teachers dressed up like the queen giving a speech.

Team two’s video popped up on the screen and it was a video of them playing different sports. We were also very lucky because one of our older teachers came back to our school to teach. She was also in the video. They were playing sports like netball, shotput, swimming and running. The video was very funny as well as team one’s.

The teachers of team three walked up on the stage and were dressed up like they were gymnasts. They were holding ribbons and wearing tutu’s. It showed a video of other gymnasts competing against each other. Gymnastics is one of the hardest sports in the world to me because you would have to be very flexible and skinny to compete in this sport.

When team three’s video was over team four’s video showed up on the projector. It was about a mashed potato sculpture challenge. We weren’t too sure what kind of sculpture they were going to do. Mashed potato sculpting isn’t one of the Commonwealth games but you never know it might just be a sport in the future.

I wasn’t actually quite sure what team five’s video was about. But it was pretty cool because Mrs Nua went to spain with her family in the holidays to watch her nephew compete in motorcycling races. Miss Squires went to Machu Picchu and she also travelled to Chile. Our teacher Miss Paget went to Atlanta U.S.A to watch the blue angels. She also took pictures of the beach. Miss Clarke also went to U.S.A but she stayed in New York. She was also very lucky because she got to see Kim Kardashian. Nearly every intermediate teacher travelled overseas.

I think this term is going to be a fun term, I hope!!!

Term 2 Reflection

                                                        Term 2 Reflection

This term was a great term because I got to know my classmates better and I learnt new things. My favorite thing about this term was sports because we came first place in rugby and league. I also like going to technology at Tamaki College on Tuesday morning. The subject that I liked the best at tech was Cooking Tech. The subject I’m attending at Tech now is graphics.

Maori this Term was really fun because we got to learn new prayers and got to play bingo but in Maori. The prayers we learnt this term were for when you eat your food. We also learnt how to count to one million in Maori. Then we had a go at playing bingo and Miss Tito would say the numbers in Maori and we had to know them so we could get BINGO.

It was also cool helping with every assembly since I am a Prefect. The only thing I didn’t like about helping with assembly was that one of the Prefects would have to say their Mihi and Karakia. It is the Prefects responsibility to run assembly.

This term has been really fun, I hope next term will be better.

Rugby League Tournament

Rugby League

On Wednesday morning the league boys from around Pt England School went to Dunkirk to play Rugby League. We were very excited to play against the other schools in our cluster. We were lucky that we went in the car to Dunkirk because it started to rain a little.

When we set up the tent our team went to warm up for our first game against Panmure Bridge. As we jogged onto the field the wind started to pick up and it was getting cold so we had to run a lot more to get warm. We scored the first try of the game. They were a good team to play against but I reckon they could’ve done better. At full time the score was 0 - 5 to us.

Our second game was up against Tamaki Primary. They were the hardest team for us. When we kicked off we rushed up as a line and made our first tackles. It was a really tough team but we managed to pull through and win.

Next we were playing our own team which was Pt England B Team. We were so excited to play against our own team because we knew what their strengths were and their weaknesses. We had a lot of fun playing against our B Team. We were really lucky to win because they were one of the toughest team as well.

We were very happy when we won because we are now the best in Tamaki. I hope we can have this league tournament again!

Swimming

Our class walked down to the pools to go for swimming. As we entered I could feel the warmth that surrounded me. It was a really warm place until we hopped into the pool. The big pool was freezing and a lot of the students in my class wanted to go to the warm pool.

We had to swim three lengths of the pool without touching the ground.It was like our test to see if we learnt anything. “You could swim any way you like” the instructor said. I was so relieved when the instructor said that because I’m not a very good swimmer. I was so happy when I finished because I didn't touch the ground.

As I got out of the pool I could feel my knees and thighs starting to hurt. I was so tired when I finished, I hope we were doing something fun after. Just as I sat down Miss Paget said we had free time in the swimming pool I was so happy.

Swimming is very important in NZ because too many people are drowning because they don’t know how to swim. Start practising swimming now!

AFL

Every Wednesday morning at 10:20 we walk to the courts and practice our AFL. For those of you who don’t know what AFL is it stands for Australian Football League. Last Wednesday our tutor for AFL Tim took us through some drills of how to pass the ball to the other person.

You have to hold the ball at the front of you like your holding your dinner plate and then scoop it with your other hand. But your other hand you have to make a fist to hit it.

We also learnt how to kick the as well. When you kick the ball it is called a drop punt. When you kick you have to make sure that the laces are facing away from your face. Tim told us that the move for it is called laces away from faces. He also said to hold the ball x’s facing up and down. If you were to kick it straight you toes would have to be pointing at the place you would want it to land.

An AFL ball is quite small to play with but very easy to carry. It is important that when you hit the ball you move your arms like a pirate. When you hit the ball it shouldn’t make a noise. If you just hit the ball without moving the arm you're holding the ball with, it will hurt the hand that you scooped the ball with.

AFL is a very fun sport to play and I think more people should know how to play it!

Word Problems

Sound

                                                                 
                                                                                    Sound

Yesterday our class got to go on sites to learn about different sounds. We had to match sound waves and got to learn how sounds are low pitch and high pitch. If you would like to have a go at the games we played click on sound.

I learnt that the thinner a string on a guitar the higher the note is and the thicker the string is the lower the pitch. We had to complete a quiz as well as listening to the instruments. If you would like to play this game click on the sound.

My Goals for This Term

I have a lot of goals that I want to achieve. I would like to set goals for reading, writing, maths and sports. I go on maths whizz everyday and try to do my best at it. I try to do math whizz at home so I can improve and get a good report. We also get given math work to do in our books every week. My goal for math’s this term is to do at home so i can improve.

Writing is one of the many subjects I am not very good at. I always try to make my writing more interesting but I am always forgetting one or two things in my writing that isn’t there. I have never done a blog post at home so my goal is to do it.

At this stage my reading is still the same. I read at home but not very much at school. We haven’t really got reading work this term but I am looking forward to it. My goal is to read everyday.

Sports is my favourite subject of all well it’s actually P.E. I like to play and run around because it’s a good way to lose weight and its fun too. I joined the rugby team for school and I am having a lot of fun. We have a tournament coming up this term and I can’t wait. I don’t really know what my goal is but if I had to it would be to have fun!

Badminton

                                                      

Badminton

Our class went to the hall this morning for badminton. I wasn’t expecting P.E in the morning but that didn’t really bother me. When we sat down in the hall we saw a badminton rackets and shuttles. There was a man standing in the hall waiting for us, his name was Robbie.

“Okay guys my name is Robbie and I’m going to be taking you guys for badminton, but first let’s play a warm up game” he said with excitement. Everyone was looking tired but it was a good time to wake them up.

After we finished our warm up we went through some drills. We learnt how to hold the racket then we had a go at hitting the shuttles by ourselves. As I looked around at the other students they were going hard out and were having fun. I had fun playing badminton this morning. I can’t wait for the next one!

Holidays

                                                                   (  In the Holidays )

“Yes I can’t wait for the great amazing race” I thought to myself with excitement. I got to participate in the great amazing race with my youth group. The race started at Mission bay.  As I shut the car door I looked over to see who was there and it was my youth group and YSA. (Young Single Adults.)

We were all divided up into 4 groups. When it started our first task was to make a banner with our group name on it. We were called The Latter Day Soldiers. We were the third group to finish that task and we were onto the next.

Our next task was to make a basket out of any material but on one condition, we were only allowed to use stuff from nature. The only thing we could use that was not from nature was string. We used sticks, long branches, leaves and seaweed to hold our basket. We then had to put 8 raw eggs in our basket and we had to make sure that they didn't crack.

The next task was to walk all the way to Okahu bay and complete some tasks on the way. When we were half-way we stopped and we all had to make the word OKAHU with our bodies and take a photo of it for proof. No one in our group was allowed to take the photo it had to be a stranger. When we had done that we arrived at the Okahu Playground.

Our whole group then had to go on the slide, one by one and we had to video it to show proof. After that we had to go to a big tree where our pit stops were. Three people from our group had to eat hot cross buns. They weren't allowed to use their hands, the hot cross buns were hanging from the tree and that was the hardest thing about it. While they were eating the rest of the group had to make an Easter bunny out of balloons, tape and straws. It was really hard but we got the job done.

We had finished all our tasks and headed back to Mission Bay for a feed.

I hope I get to do this again!!