Polyfest learning story

Every 2 years we have Polyfest. What is Polyfest you say? Polyfest is when schools do cultural dances and show off their moves to everybody. We also have cultural groups e.g Maori, Cook Island, Samoan, Tokelau and Kapa haka we all have our own flair to the dance. We have been practising for months to make it perfect till the big day. There have been some bad moments and some proud moments during this.

The big day came. The hall was packed. All these people came to see their kids shining on the stage to make them happy and proud. We all did a good job wait scratch that we did a fantastic job on our performance.

I was good at being a role model for others to copy so they can learn quickly and be respectable to the tutors also I am good at choosing appropriate behaviours to learn and improve so I know what's best for me.

Angel noticed that I was using a lot of facial expression e.g Smiling.

Sareta noticed that I was doing big sharp actions when I was performing. I noticed other people like Anita singing her hardest when she was on the stage by herself and Samuel dancing sassy as usual and putting a lot of effort in it.

I got better at being patient because I was would kinda moan all the time about when we are going to do something or if we are going to leave but I would just sit or stand there and wait until its finish or starts.

Next time I need to work on sharing my skills by teaching others because I was a bit shy when we were practising because I was in a new group I have never been in before and that is Senior Samoan I didn’t know what to do because I was usually in Maori.

Dialogue learning story

Dialogue Learning story

Since term 2 we have been working on dialogues. If you don’t know what a dialogue is? A dialogue is 2 or more people having a discussion but in a film or books.

We have written a couple of dialogs like Superman, monkey symphony, rock paper scissors.

For the monkey symphony and rock paper scissors, we had to watch a video that had no talking in it so we had to write down what they would say.

But for superman we had to look at the picture and visualise what they would do and what they would say. We had to pick one of them to improve more and post it on our blog. So I just read all my dialogues and thought Superman was the one.

I was good at a lot of humour e.g Oh man this I beam is too skinny for my butt why can’t I balance? Also I was good at using similes e.g I will drop down and lie flat like a pancake.

I got better at giving it a go and just being brave and write down the gold that is in my head because in the past I would just be stumped and wouldn’t write anything down.

But now I have made a big improvement because a lot of people thought that it was really funny, interesting and they could visualise in their head what was going on.

My next steps is to not to put in so much argument because it would mean that it’s about a characters having a fight but I just had ideas that would contain a fight so I just wrote it down but next time I will think of another way of to make less negative.

Superman quick write

Mr Wado - ahh what a beautiful hot day with a beautiful city behind us to have Superman to get us pizza

Mr Greedy - Oh man this I beam is too skinny for my butt why can’t I balance?

Mr Johnson- Well maybe you just need to work out like me, you’re as fat as a hippopotamus.

Mr Greedy - Hmph! I am perfectly fit myself I just need to...

Mr Johnson- You just need to work out? Like seriously!!

Mr Greedy - That is so rude Mr Johnson, I am going to talk to Mr Weirdo, He won’t mind that I’m fat

Mr Greedy - Hey Mr Weirdo?

Mr Wado - For the millionth time, It's Wado.

Mr Greedy - Okay, Weirdo.

Mr Wado - Ugh what is it?

Mr Greedy - Well Mr Johnson over there thinks I am fat do you think I am?

Mr Wado - Ok I am just going to say this once and only once. You need to start exercising. No matter what you do besides exercising your stomach will be fatter than the whole world

Mr Greedy - Really you too?

Mr Greedy -  Where’s Superman at. He's taken to long to get the pizza. I am getting super hungry.

Superman - Hungry you say?

Mr Greedy - Finally you have the pizza, now give me, give me, give me!

Superman - hold on mate I just hope it won’t make you even bigger,

Mr Greedy - what I wasn’t listening I was just busy eating the pizza - could you go and buy some more.

Superman - wha what how did you

Mr Greedy - the power of the stomach Superman

Superman - okay I will go get another pizza.

Superman - Done

Mr Greedy - Yay now give it to me

Mr Johnson - oh no you don’t you will get even fatter and then your whole butt won’t even fit on the bar.

Mr Greedy - Woah Woah Woah do you know who you are messing with.

Mr Johnson - Yeah I'm messing with a fat guy who NEEDS to work out and eat a bit more healthier.

Mr Wado  - Well let's just think it’s best that to fight down on the ground not HIGH UP IN THE SKY

Mr Johnson - wow Mr Weirdo I never knew you had it in you

Mr Wado - OH MY GOSH IT'S WADO

Mr. Johnson - Ok Weirdo

Mr Greedy - Ugh I don’t care Mr whatever his name is just how do you get down from here.

SuperMan - Well maybe you could fly down

Mr. Greedy - Are you crazy even if I could fly down I will drop down and lie flat like a flat pancake

Superman - Then take the elevator.

Mr. Greedy - ARE YOU STILL CRAZY, Just look at me, I have a big stomach, do you think an elevator would like to be friends with a stomach like mine. Nuh uh.

Maths learning story

Maths learning story.

This was the best maths ever. It's more fun than the rest of the other maths I was in.

The problem was about a competition between Philomena and June to see who could jump the farthest. There are three events to compete in, they are Hop, skip and jump. Philomena thought that she would win because she is the fastest. She could have the best run up. June thought she would win because she has longer legs than her.

Philomena's points in the three events were hop 1.01, Skip .97, Jump 1.57.

Junes points in the three events were hop   .89, Skip 1.11, Jump  1.5.

The problem was asking us who was right and who jumped the farthest.

So first me and my group added up all of Philomena's points from the events because we want to know the total all together. So we added    

We did the same thing with Junes but different points.          

 P         1   1                                     J   1   1                                    

             1.01m                                      0.89m

         +  0.97m                                 +   1.11m

             1.57m                                      1.5m

             3.55                                         3.50

Next we saw that Philomena won twice and June won once and lost the rest. So it looks like that Philomena won with 3.55 and june lost with 3.50.It was really close but it sounded like they had fun.

Kapa Haka learning story

Kapa Haka.

Do you have any idea what it feels like to be in kapa haka, well I do, it is the greatest feeling also a tired one too!

For many years I have been in kapa haka. I am in it because I am representing my culture, Maori. It’s like there was one piece missing and kapa haka was the perfect piece and filled it in.

Kapa haka is a place where you can be yourself by Sharing your singing with others and being confident and a leader for the song or haka. Once you join you need to get that old self that has been telling you that you can’t do anything but you can, you just need to leave that behind and be who you are.

Our tutors gave us this best opportunity to be in kapa haka. Their names are Matoa Todd and Whaea Clare. They gave us the strength to use the power of the haka, not for violence but for beauty. It’s used for the songs that we sing beautifully. As I was saying, giving this opportunity to us is a big deal because it means that we’re not just doing it for fun, we are doing it for the school so when they see how we do it in kapa haka they may want to join too. The more the merrier. And it makes you feel proud.

While I was writing this learning story I could hear the melody of our singing coming through my ears. The songs that we are doing now are called Ihoa, Hareruia and Papaki Titaha, I feel like that there is one more but I can’t seem to remember it. Anyhoo as I was saying, these songs are the precious things that keeps Kapa haka alive. When we sing we sound amazing, there may be a few twinks that we need to fix but still, we sound great.

But in the end, when we finish everything we feel good about ourselves for what we have done, about how hard we put in the work, it just feels so good. As we keep improving the more it will look and sound good.

Ehara taku toa

I te toa takitahi

Engari, he toa

Takitini

Success is not the work of one,

but the work of many.

Book report

Okay I will be talking about my book.

My book is called tinder.

It is a narrative.

Its purpose is to entertain people.

I located information so I found out that whenever Otto Hundebiss goes to a war he seems to see Death and I am inferring that he will die in the war by seeing it.

P.E learning story

P.E learning story.

For the past few weeks we have been doing P.E. Our goals is to work as a team by sharing/passing the ball to each other, Sharing idea’s also encouraging the team so they can feel hyped.

The game that provides hard work and working together is T-ball. I know that there is other games that require teamwork but my mind is on T-ball because it requires throwing the ball  to each other or even hitting the ball far as possible even cheering would make them feel accelerated.

When playing T-ball you always need a strategy to it like hitting the ball soft so the other team can run to it or hit it far at the sides so the other team can run all the way.

I am good at sharing my ideas (Strategy) so they know how to trick the other team also I am good at supporting them with feedback so next time they can improve more from their mistakes.

The next thing I want to talk about is dodge ball because it is a skilled throwing game that everybody loves.

Dodge ball is nearly everybody’s favorite game because they love throwing the balls to win but it's not always about winning, it's about having fun or even working together.

My next steps is to catch the ball because I always think that it will hit my face but I need to try and be brave by solving the problem. I can try and solve it by looking at the ball instead of closing my eyes then I could help the team more.