Term 4 Reflection

What have you enjoyed the most this term and why?

• I have enjoyed art because I have never done art with a canvas.
• I have enjoyed Book club this term because I have been doing amazing roles.
• I have also enjoyed swimming because I really like swimming.

What has been challenging this term and why?

• Getting all of my stickers because I get distracted really easily.
• Moving away from my friends because they keep following me.
• The Milk Bottle Challenge because it was hard cutting the bottle.

What are you looking forward to next year?

I am looking forward to being a Marama student because they don’t have homework.

Milk Bottle Homework Project

For the Homework Project I am doing a bird house. It took a lot of googling and Youtubing and I finally came across a video and it looked cool.

I finished the project on Sunday the 27th. It was hard to cut the bottle and push the entrance in. It took a lot of problem solving but in the end it was really easy so I decided to do two. One to show at school and one to put up at home.

Labour day

Labour day is on the fourth Monday of October. The first Labour day was on the 28th of October 1890.

Labour day is a day to remember the thousands of people who fought for the eight hour working day.

New Zealand was the first country to claim this right when Samuel Parnell won an eight-hour working day in Wellington. Samuel's full name was Samuel Duncan Parnell. He was born on the 19th of February 1810 and died on the 17th of December 1890.    

Learning in The Making Conference

On Friday in the first week of term 4 the whole school participated in Learning in The Making.

My first workshop was Scout Skills. The people who ran the workshop were my mum and my Cub leader. In that workshop we did a burma trail and all sorts of fun things we do in Scouts.

My second workshop was The Mad Science returns. The teacher who ran the workshop was Mrs Barker. Our challenge was to get our balloon the farthest down the nylon racecourse.

My third workshop was Drink Bottle craft with Rebecca. In drink bottle craft we got to decorate our drink bottles with paint, stickers and all sorts of cool stuff.

My last workshop was Electronics with two college students. We learnt how to make a LED light turn on by hooking wires up to a circuit board. After everyone got the hang of it we played Bullrush and Duck, Duck,Goose.

My favourite workshop was The Mad Science Returns because I got to work with my favourite teacher Mrs Barker.

The skills that I learned were to pinpoint where North, South, East and West are.

Holiday Recount

In the second week of the holidays my whole family and I, (all sixteen of them), went to Rarotonga for my Nana's birthday. We lost a day and gained an hour. When we got there I jumped straight into the pool.

While we were there I opened three coconuts. One night we went to one of my mums best friends house for dinner. Before dinner I went snorkeling with Hamond, (the eldest of three children), and it was my first time doing it. After dinner we went down the the beach and caught seven huge hermit crabs. The next day I went snorkeling with my cousins a Muri beach.

When my Aunty and I went down the the wharf to look at the colourful fish, we saw a pod of whales. At one point they were right outside our hotel and we saw the fluke.

On the plane home I watched Hunt for the Wilderpeople and The Angry Birds movie. The flight was four hours long.   

Term 3 Reflection

What have you enjoyed the most this term and why?

• This term I have enjoyed Impact because I get to do it with people I don't normally work with.    
• Playing Tapawai because it was really fun playing with my classmates.
• I have also enjoyed book club because my group said that my roles are fantastic because it looked like I spent a really long time on it.

What has been challenging this term?

• Trying to get all of my stickers because it was hard to get all of my work done.
• Cross country because I am not a good long distance runner.
• IXL has also been challenging this term because my maths teacher has been giving us year six questions.   

What are you looking forward to next term?

Next term I  am looking forward to the year six bike ride because it sounds really fun. I am also looking forward to swimming in the summer with all of my friends. The thing I am the most excited about is my first swim meet with the Thames swim club!!!

Cross Country

At Cross Country this year I came 10th and surprisingly last year I got the same place😀. At the end of my run I felt exhausted😰. I think my training really helped with my run especially the big hill at the start. I did get through to HP but my time was too slow⏱. Last year I made it to HP and came last😔.  

My Speech 2016

This year my speech is about drownings in New Zealand. I chose this topic with a little help from my teacher Mrs Taaffe. The research was easy because I found these websites called Water safety NZ and Drown Base. I changed my topic 4 times because I didn’t feel strongly about the others. I am really nervous because I don’t like speaking in front of lots of people. The hardest part of a speech for me is the presentation.  

My Learning Goals

My Learning Goals

My learning goals for writing are choose a hook for my audience, use language features e.g. alliteration and visual, and revise and edit to add impact. My reading goals are to not stutter and pronounce words properly.

  

My Numeracy goals are finding place value, solving equations involving time e.g What time is the time 3 ½ hours after 11.30 a.m. and find a rule for a number sequence.

The last goal in my Literacy is the one I want to focus on the most.

I think I am on target to achieving these goals and what I need to achieve them is resilience and a growth mindset.

The things I have enjoyed most this year was the movie and cross country training.

I am looking forward to the Whetu picnic in the local playground.

Holiday Recount

In the Holidays my family, cousin Emma from Ireland and I went on a trip to Rotorua,Taupo and Mangakino. When we got to Rotorua we went on the Luge. It was Emma's  first time on it and she really liked it. On the advanced track I crashed and went of the track. When we got to our motel my cousin, sister and I went in the thermal pool. When we got to Taupo Emma did a bungy jump. She said her first scream was OMG I'M GOING TO DIE! and her second scream was WOOHOO THIS IS SO AWESOME. When she was finished we went to my auntys bach in Mangakino. In the morning we packed up and started the long drive back home.

On Sunday in the second week of the holidays my sister, dad, Emma and I went to Hot Water Beach. While we were digging our hole the wind picked up and blew sand on our backs and it really hurt. On the way home we stopped at a cafe and I had a yummy piece of sushi.

The NZ Flag debate

The flag should be changed because both the New Zealand and the Australian flags are way too similar. They are too similar because they both have the Southern Cross, Union Jack and a blue background.

          Australian flag                                                           New Zealand

What if someone in the Olympics is on the Australian team and they won a gold medal but at the medal ceremony they raised the NZ flag instead of the Aussie flag.

The NZ flag needs more colour. People don't want to be represented by a dull flag. I think it looks way better with the Silver Fern. The old flag’s background was just blue, so I think people like the combination of the black, blue and Silver Fern.  

The Silver fern on the new flag represents NZ better because it is on all of New Zealand's sports uniforms like the All Blacks, the Silver Ferns, the Tall Whites, the Black Sticks and the All Whites. The silver fern is a native plant of NZ.

So my main reason is that the New Zealand flag should be changed because it looks way too similar to the Australian flag, it looks better with the Silver fern, it needs more colour and it represents NZ way better than the old flag.

These are the six flags that were in the debate at the start.

The Meaning of Easter

Good Friday is a Christian religious holiday that represents the crucifixion of Jesus. Good Friday is also known as Holy Friday, Great Friday, Black Friday and Easter Friday. Good Friday is a day when Catholics do not eat meat and when pubs are closed. On Good Friday shops are not allowed to sell alcohol. Some people go to church to do the stations of the cross. There are 14 stations of the cross and each station tells the story of Jesus carrying the cross up the hill of Calvary and what happens to him on his way up. On his way up he gets wiped by the Roman soldiers and falls to his knees several times.

Jesus was crucified on the cross on Good Friday. His body was buried in a tomb and an enormous stone was put over the entrance so no one stole his body. On Sunday the stone had been moved and his body was gone. Jesus was seen later that day and for forty days afterwards. People had realised that God had raised Jesus from the dead. This was called the resurrection.

The Easter egg represents the rising of Jesus when god revived him from the dead. The Hot Cross Bun represents the cross that Jesus was nailed to on the hill  of Calvary.

On Easter my family waits until everyone wakes up, go out and find the Easter eggs and eat them for breakfast.

My letter to Mrs Taaffe

To Mrs Taaffe

My name is Miles and I am your writing student.

I was born on the 21 October 2005, was eight weeks premature, weighed 4 pound 8 and was born not breathing. I grew up in the country in Ireland ☘ which is only about 29 hours and three plane rides away from  New Zealand where we moved to in September 2013. When we got here we had to stay at my Nana's while we were looking for a house. I have one younger sister and her name is Chloe. My dad is Irish and my mum is kiwi.

I started school in 2013 as a year 3 in Hi fives✋. My favourite subjects are Art and Reading📖. In my spare time I like to go swimming. For winter sport I like to do soccer⚽ and for summer sport I do athletics. I like playing games like Cluedo and Monopoly.

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Last weekend I did the Weet-Bix Kids Tryathlon in Hamilton and there were about 2800 kids taking part. I  swam 100m, biked 4km and ran 1.5km. At one point in the cycle there was a big hill and I barely made it. The run was hard because I had a bad stitch but I just kept going.😰   

In the holidays I went down to my aunty`s batch and tried skiing. I tried and tried but I just couldn't stay standing. On Easter weekend I am going down there to try again. Also in the holidays we went to the south island. First we went to Kaikoura and stayed one night and the next day we went whale watching🐋. Then we drove to Hanmer springs. While we were in Hanmer we went to a water park with big water slides. Me and my dad went on a bike track that was kind of hard. While we were on the bikes my mum and sister went horse riding.

On the way to the airport we got lost and nearly missed our flight because we had to will up our rental car but we made it just in time for check in.

Also in the holidays I went to Waitawheta Cub Summer Camp. It started on Sunday 10th  and finished on Thursday 14th. On the way we had to pick up Noah. When we got there we had to sign in and find our tent. When we got to the tent we saw Tana and Rohan who are from my cub group setting up their stuff.  I unpacked my stretcher and my air mattress and started putting it together. Next I put my sleeping bag and campfire blanket on my stretcher and waited until opening circle. Opening circle is when everyone at camp comes together and the New Zealand flag is opened, this is called the flag break. This camp had cubs from Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Rotorua, Kawerau, Eastern Waikato and Manukau and there was about 200 kids.That night after dinner we had milo and then went to bed.

Monday:

Onsite

On Monday in the morning we had opening circle and then everyone went to there first base. On my first base Noah and I learned how to make a figure eight bandage on an ankle and wrist. After that I learned how to put a triangular sling on Tana. Then Rohan, Noah, Tana and I got in a group with kids named Mela, Cody and Zoey. We learned how to make a stretcher with a blanket and to wooden poles. Then we went on the obstacle course. That night we had spaghetti on toast.

Tuesday:

Waterbase

My first base was water scopes. Water scopes are tubes with plastic on the bottom. Next I did fort building and smashing. Then I did the amazing race. After that I did Kayaking. Then surf life saving, we learned about Slip, Slop, slap and wrap. Last of all I did compass bearings.

Wednesday:

Offsite

In the morning I got up before everyone in my tent and packed my stuff.We went to a huge mine. We had to walk around the hole thing answering lots of questions. After that we went to lake ohinemuri. We got on the bus again and then went back to camp. That night I was really tired and went to bed first.

Thursday

Pack up

In the morning when I got up I took apart my stretcher and let the air out of my mattress. After I packed that up I rolled up my sleeping bag and started packing my Bags and waited to get picked up. On the way home we had Mcdonalds.  

Yours sincerely,

Miles Sargent 👦

NPS Swimming Sports 2016

On Wednesday 24th February was the Ngatea Primary School Swimming Sports.

 It was really hot while we were waiting for our races. I entered for one and two length freestyle, one length  backstroke and one and two length  breaststroke. For one breast I got thirty two seconds and  thirty one milliseconds and for the two length I got a minute and 36 milliseconds. I came first in all of my races including backstroke which I am not very good at. At the end I got my Jucie. The next day I found out that I got in for Hauraki Plains. For Hauraki Plains I chose one and two length freestyle, two length breaststroke and three length breaststroke.