Tiritiri Matangi

Last week on Wednesday the whole of the year 7&8 extension left Auckland for an island called Tiri Tiri Matangi. We left early in the morning at about 8:00am. There were only 3 people that didn't show up but other than that we had a big group. There were 3 adults including our extension teacher, Mrs Lagitupu, there was also Mrs Samuel's and Miss Hotu. They were both mothers of students.

We left Pt England school wanting to already be at the island but we had to wait. Hoping on to the shuttle, a van, it went quiet all you could hear were the boys talking loudly and laughing. The shuttle then started move. The girls, Lucy, Lesieli and I, were sitting and it was kind of awkward and that went on through out the whole trip to the ferry.

We rolled up to the waiting area and as the shuttle is leaving Lesieli screams out the camera is still in the shuttle. Miss Hotu and Lesieli sprinted to the window of the driver and yelled, "STOP STOP STOP THE SHUTTLE WE LEFT OUR CAMERA IN THERE" The shuttle stopped and Lesieli opened the door to retrieve the camera. They both sighed in relief. It was then time to meet the rest of the crew that we were going to be travelling with. We all formed into a circle and went around saying our names and what year we are.

It was then time to board the ferry we had to walk for a little while until we got to the loading dock. There were brushes for you to clean your shoes because you are not allowed to carry eggs of pests under your shoe. Finally we boarded the boat in search of a seat we were expecting to sit on the top deck but we were told to stay on the bottom deck.

1hour and 1/2 later we got to our destination as soon as we got out of the boat everyone rushed to the brushes to clean there shoes all though there shoes were already clean. We had to go across a bridge with a train track on it. When we got to the concrete area we had to sit down on the floor for a ranger to tell us the rules on what to do and what not to do.

 After about 5 to 10 minutes we were on our way to going through the forest. but before that we had to get into our groups and go and have a little look at the blue penguins which were really cute but smelly. It was finally time to go on the the wattle track to look at all the species of birds there are and what kind of plants there are.

As soon as we started our walk the first bird we saw was the fantail it was a cute bird with its big tail and small body. Did you know that every single fantails tail is bigger than its body! Lesieli said that she was afraid of birds then she turned stiff she was to scared to move. She then started to walk well her body was straight with her arms stuck to her sides. The fantail kept on following us because our guide said that the more us humans walk the more the bugs get annoyed and she said that the more we annoy the bugs the fantail can get them easily.

Moving on to the forest we saw tui's, stitch birds and most of all saddle backs. The saddle backs were my favourite birds. Going deeper into the forest we spotted a red crowned parakeet to be honest I think it was the most prettiest bird on the island.  It was then I changed my mind to thinking that the kakariki was my new favourite bird.

Half way through the track I spotted a morepork sleeping in a tree. I had also spotted a feeder with bell birds in it. When ever I would look at the bell bird they would puff up and our tour guide said that they were showing off. In the feeder there was sugar and water mixed together we were told by our guide that they put it in a cage so the tui's couldn't get because tui's are greedy and would drink all of it.

Moving on we spotted a bird bath with bell birds in it they were having a drink and a little wash. Lower on the track there was a log on a tree and our tour guide ask someone to open the log and I volunteered to and guess what was in there A whole weta and luckily there was glass covering it other wise I would have screamed. The weta was really big and there were 2 side to the log and I was thinking one was a female and on e was a male.

Getting near the end of the track we spotted another birdbath with more bell birds in it. It was then our tour guide asked us if we wanted to do a little treasure hunt except the treasure wasn't in a treasure chest instead it was hanging on a brach and we had to spot them. We were told to get into a line and each of us would get a clue and know one else could help us find it. I had found Morepork, Tui and a Tuatara finger puppet. It was then the end of the wattle track and it was time to eat.

We went to the backyard of a gift shop and we ate our food when we finished we  got to go and see the light house did you know that the light house had been the for over 60 years and is the oldest working light house that was when I saw a Takahe and its baby they were so cute but also so rare. Takahe is the rarest bird on the island in fact there are only 10 of them including 9 grownups and 1 baby.

Going on the trip was a great experience and I hope one other day I could go there again.

Symbol

This week in Extension we had to create our own symbols representing something special about our families. But before we started we had to pick a partner to discus what is special so I picked Ariana. We had a little discussion and she talked about cook island dancing and that was what she picked. I told her to do something about my culture's, Cook Island, Niuean and Tahitian.

After we decided what the symbols were we started to draw but instead of me drawing my own  we had to switch which is when I do Ariana's symbol and she does mine. We only had about half an hour to finish it. I think Ariana's drawing came out pretty good, I really like how she wrote which island is which.

Story Line Reflection

Last week year 5, 6, 7, 8 went down to the Vodafone event center to see 4 special authors. The names were   Juliette Mclver, Cath Mayo, Jill MacGregor, Paula Green. (You can click on the names to see the sites) My favourite author would have to be Paula green. I liked her because she is really good at rhyming (Sorry to the others) but she wasn't the only one, there was also Juliette Mclver who was my second favourite. I guess I like them because I am just interested in the beat and the rhyms.

If I were on the stage having to present what kinds of books I have and what I have been studding I would have froze or even forget what to say. I think I would have like to have more time to learn about them and understand why they were doing all of these things.

f one of the authors are reading this right know all I would want to say is thank you for giving up your time to share the things that you have been doing to us and it would be great if you left me a comment.

War Poem

I have been learning about nouns, adjectives and participles to write diamante poems.

Commonwealth

The commonwealth games first started in 1931 which was 83 years ago. The commonwealth is not just games but more.  The Commonwealth is made up of countries that were part of the British Empire and many of these countries still share the same Queen as the UK.There are 71 member countries of the Commonwealth, coming from all the continents!  for all the names.The leaders of the Commonwealth countries meet every 2 years to discuss common issues.The Commonwealth includes some of the richest and poorest, largest and smallest nations in the world.

Coordinates Challenge

This is the coordinate challenge that I did. I think I got a most of them right and some of them wrong because I didn't really understand the questions but I searched up what some words and it helped me. Hopefully I got most of them right so good luck to me. I found it kind of hard but I still got through it I think the trickiest question was the last one.

Adding Detail to our sentences

This is by the Moas group in Mr Somerville's reading group. This is about adding more detail to our sentences. One thing that I learnt was to make the sentences attract my audience.

My Statistical Investigation

I was investigating what the highest wind speed. I conclude that when the temperature went high the wind speed went low. The highest temperature was about 37 and the lowest wind speed was 5.






This chart was ok to read but I got mixed up. This was because it was on the side and I couldn't read it clearly.









This was the easiest one to read because it shows the differences. As you can see on the 5th one the wind speed dropped really low and the temperature rised high. 

Using Your Wits

Have you ever been angry? Well were here to tell you about using your WITS. Your WITS stand for, W - walk away, I - Ignore it, T - Talk about it and S - Seek help.

Using your WITS helps you because you might be in a fight or in big trouble so you could stop and think about using it.

First up is walk away. Being in a fight is not the best option so you should think then walk away. You do this because you don't want to be involved in the situation or go into detention.

Now for I - ignore it. You Ignore it by not listening to people if they're not saying nice things.

If you do you will start to talk back and say bad things to them and then maybe you'll visit the bosses room.

Next up is Talk about it. It is important to talk about if you're in a argument with your friend or anyone.  If this happens remember to talk about it and sort it out.

Next is Seek help. When someone is in a fight you should always walk away and seek help for a teacher. This is because it might become a bigger mess but if you tell the teacher she or he will sort it all out.

Using your WITS help you by telling you what is right. It also helps by sorting out problems and situations. Has this helped you?