Leadership Quote For 2017

I chose this quote because to be a leader you need to set an example. The example you set should be a good one as well.  You should also have your own personal example of what you should be like.

Marama Camp 2017

What is your goal for camp? To try something new and out of my comfort zone.

Why are you coming on camp? To have fun and do something different from school.

What skills, strengths, qualities, powers do you possess that will help you have a really successful camp experience? I am adventures and good at climbing I am also open to try new things.

What will you do if you have a problem at camp? Ask for help Who will you speak to? A teacher or instructor. What will help you solve your problem? Problem solving.

How will you be an effective team member in your car group, activity group and cabin group? Be respectful and not to loud. What will we see or hear? Sound waves.

Coromandel Hit By Severe Flooding

Recently the Coromandel has been battered by heavy rain. In hours towns like Wahi exceeded their monthly rainfall. Kids having their school camp had to be evacuated as a nearby waterfall turned from a trickle to a torrent. Rhodes Park outside of Thames was knee deep in water. In Auckland parts of the footpath gave way leaving massive holes in the ground.

The water is slowly drying up and everything is on the mend for most. At least the farmers will be happy.

Can You Solve The Unexpected Hanging Paradox

 A criminal convicted of murder has been sentenced to hanging but to surprise him the judge has only told him that he will be hanged in the next five days. The criminal is left to ponder when he will be hanged he then realises that they can't hang him on Friday because if they haven't hanged him by Thursday they can only hang him on Friday. Then he realises that if they haven't hanged him by Wednesday they can only hang him on Thursday so they can't hang him on Thursday and so on. When he is hanged on Wednesday his is surprised can you find the flaw in his logic. 

The Nutmeg

Whats the most embarrassing thing that can happen to you in a game of football? Easy, you get nutmeged.

The nutmeg is the second most famous soccer skill beaten only by the stopover. A skill where you kick the ball between the opponents legs and then run around them.

The are lots of types of nutmegs but the pana is most effective. A pana nutmeg is where you roll the ball to one side, this forces the opponent to move his or her leg to one side then the nutmeg is there for the taking.

One way to prevent getting nutmeged is to keep your stance thin not wide and have your feet about 15cm apart at all times.

Can You Solve The Counterfeit Coin Problem

You are the greatest mathematician in the world but ever since you criticized the emperor's tax laws you have mean locked away in a dungeon. Luckily for you one of the emperor's governors has been caught paying his taxes with a counterfeit coin which found it’s way into the national treasury. Can you find the fake and once again have freedom.

My IE

What is it I hope I will come to understand more deeply through this inquiry?

I hope that after my IE research I have a deeper understanding of magnetism and how it works.

What knowledge might I need to help move towards this understanding?

A beginning understanding of magnetism and how it works.

What is it I hope to be able to do more competently?  (skills)

Using and understanding magnets in everyday life.

What learning powers will this inquiry help me practice and develop further?  (Explain this)

Curiosity and Creativity will definitely be needed for this project.

Could You Break a Guinness World Record?

You may think that you have to be Usain Bolt or Edmund Hillary to break a world record but you don't. Most records are not even hard to break like most matchsticks stacked in a tower. Or you could simply come up with a new record like biggest collection of blue and red hats.

I have tried to brake a world record for the highest tower built using a packet of pasta and a metre of string and sellotape. We scored about -30Cm (the tower fell over). So why don't you attempt a world record today and you might just get into the book.

My Trip Around The World (Not Real)

I'm sitting on the seat 6 row 8 of Avianca Brazil flight S3H7 waiting to take of from the bustling Auckland Airport to Brazil. The purpose of the journey is to watch the likes of Neymar, Fred, Oscar, Marcello, Hulk, and Coutinho play at the Maracana in Rio Di Janeiro. I am also going to go to the carnival.

2 weeks later...
 I am now sitting in a bright yellow taxi cab in New York going to visit Trump Tower. I am hoping to meet Donald Trump himself so I can destroy the plans for his wall. I also want to climb the Statue of Liberty and check out the view from the top.

2 more weeks later...
I am sitting on the heated floor of the Min Sok Chon restaurant in the heart of Seoul South Korea. I am eating bibimbap and bulgogi some of my favourite Korean food. Afterwards I'm going to check out the DMZ the border between North and South Korea.

Who Is Better, Messi or Ronaldo

One of the biggest debates in soccer has always been who is better Messi or Ronaldo. I personally think Messi is better but who do you think is better. It would take to long to write all of the stats so here's a video to sum them up.

How Does A Cars Brakes Work?

When you are riding in a car do you ever wonder how such a fast moving object can be stopped so easily. With just a tap on the brake pedal a car can slow down from 100kmph to 0 in a matter of seconds and this all comes down to very simple science.

When you push down your foot on the brake pedal a connected lever pushes a piston into a master cylinder filled with hydraulic fluid. The hydraulic fluid is then pumped through tubes into wider cylinders positioned next to the brakes on each wheel. This hydraulic system multiples the power of the action of putting your foot down on the brake pedal.

Now the discs on the brakes have the power to rub hard enough against each other to convert most of the kinetic (movement) energy in to heat using the power of friction. But remember if to much friction is applied to flammable objects it will result in a fire.

I find contraptions and science like this amazing and I might just even make an IE project relating to this.

The Pressure Of A Penalty

Roberto Baggio steps up to the edge of the penalty box. He is the best player in the world at the time and is about to take the penalty that could win the 1994 FIFA World Cup for Italy. He runs up, he strikes the ball but it's over the bar.

This is just one example of how pressure can effect penalty takers in a game of football. Recent research has shown that the crowd, importance and skill can all be important contributors to how a players convert a penalty.

The Crowd
The crowd can have a major effect on penalty takers. If they are playing an away game the crowd will no doubt boo them to try and stop the penalty taker from thinking clearly. If playing at home the player will of course be much more at home but there is still the pressure there to convert it for the fans.

The Importance
This is most likely what put of Roberto Baggio. It was the penalty to keep Italy in the FIFA World Cup there is nothing in football more important than that. If it is a domestic league penalty it's not that important but if it's in a big professional league like the Champions League that is viewed by audiences worldwide it means the difference between glory and disgrace.

Skill
If you can't even take a penalty why do you even have to worry about pressure if you know your going to miss anyway. So learn how to take a penalty. Also players need to learn to control there heart rate and ignore the boos and chants echoing around the stadium. If you can do these things you could take a penalty at the Nuecamp any day.

What Makes A Great Flag

For some reason I've always liked the Japanese flag. So now I sit here wondering what makes a good flag. After doing some research this is what I found out.1.A flag should be simple enough for a young child to draw and not have a complicated coat of arms like the Mexican flag.2.It should have meaningful designs but they should still be simple.3.It should have effective use of colour but not to much (about three colours is recommended).Now that I think about it the Japanese flag has all of these. It is a simple but effective red circle on a white background. It is also represents the sun rising through the sky so that ticks box number two. Finally it contains only two colours red and white which complement each other nicely. I also like the South Korean flag as well which also happens to tick all these boxes.

What Is Snowmobile Paragliding?

Recently some crazy people have invented a sport called Snowmobile Paragliding. This involves attaching Paragliding equipment to a snowmobile and riding the snowmobile fast enough so the parachute billows out and starts acting like a giant kite. Then they are flying.

It must feel very cool to be on a flying snowmobile but it would also be quite dangerous. For one you would have to land at the right angle otherwise you could flip over or worse. Also you have to be able to control the snow mobile at a high speed so it is possible to take off. I still think I want to go Snowmobile Paragliding though.

My Tagul

Yesterday I started something called a Tagul that takes a picture of you and makes a duplicate of it in words. At first it didn't work so I had to us resilience. So here it is,

How to Grow a Healthy Brain

What does your brain need to learn effectively?
To learn effectively you need water and brain food (healthy food), you also need to take breaks when you need them. Challenge is also necessary if you want to learn something new or different. You should also get a good nights sleep and not stay up all night watching Lord Of The Rings. If you do all these things you will grow a big and healthy brain.

My Pepeha

A Pepeha is something that you can make to tell people about your history or origins. Here is mine,

This explains my family history from the Fijian Islands and how they got to New Zealand.

The Marama Way

In Marama we have something called the Marama Way which is made up of different drivers for our learning.

If I had to pick one of these drivers I would pick have fresh air. When I don't have fresh air the room gets really stuff and it is hard to think. Then I guess my brain starts overheating sort of like when you work your computer to hard and it makes a vrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr noise.

A good way to get fresh air is to go outside because the air is much fresher outside than it is inside. Also I feel a lot fresher after taking a break.

This driver really helps in my learning and this is why I am going to use it.

My Holiday Instagram Post

Tuakana Teina

One Word 2017

                                           If I could pick one word to motivate me in 2017 it would be

 This word represents how you can always figure out a problem or equation if you work hard and give it lots of effort. I think that this word fits me well as a learner and will motivate me to learn in 2017.

My Learning Smarts

Recently I took a multiple intelligence test online and the results were pretty much what I expected. I came out 81% Logical-Mathematical smart which was no surprise, I love to work out long or hard equations to challenge myself and then when I'm done I get that feeling of satisfaction. It also ties in nicely with the quote to the right of this post "Everything Is Figureoutable."

I also scored 67% on Visual-Spatial smart which I also expected because I am really good with colour, design and proportioning. I scored the same (67%) in Linguistic smart and that must be correct because I love to get into a good book.

After reviewing these results I think it won't really have an impact on my learning since all the results were what I expected. Here are the full results below.

Week 9 Homework Challenge

Week 9 Homework Challenge

For the last week Whetu has been working on our milk bottle homework project. Like our polystyrene project we could make anything using a milk bottle, or two or three. For my project I am going to make a movie with a milk bottle in it. I have just started writing the script for it.

Now what I really need to do is finish writing my script and then get my hands on a camera so I can start filming and then after that editing.

I have not done much yet so I have not yet had to overcome any challenges, overall I think it will end up really cool and better than my last one.

Kaikoura Earrthquke

The average earthquake has a magnitude 5.0 but just after midnight in Kaikoura a much more sinister geological event occurred. The coastal settlement of Kaikoura was left devastated after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake. State Highway One was blocked in several places by massive slips cutting the town's only lifeline, cows and livestock were left stranded on lone peaks of solid ground (Pictured Below) and there was even a miniature tsunami which knocked an iconic New Zealand holiday home of its stilts.

Did you know that the earthquake was so powerful it was even felt in some parts of Auckland. Imagine if the epicentre of the earthquake had been in Auckland, because of the denser population there would be much more injuries and possibly a higher death toll.

Because of the earthquake Kaikoura’s seafood industry could die out since the earthquake raised rocks out of the water by nearly two metres exposing paua and fish alike. John Key who called this utter devastation also said that it could cause major losses for New Zealand's fishing infrastructure.

Thankfully help has arrived from the HMNZS Canterbury and a few US navy ships and helicopters. Kaikoura is slowly on the mend and the country is starting to recover.

Labour Day

How did Labour Day come about?

In the 19th century, New Zealand workers fought for the right to have an eight hour working day.

Then in 1840 carpenter Samuel Parnell fought for the right in Wellington and won.

When was Labour Day first celebrated?

Labour Day was first celebrated as a public holiday on October 28, 1890 when thousands of workers paraded in the main city centres. Everyone got a day of work to attend to the celebrations. But the first official Labour Day was on the second Wednesday of October in 1900.

What happens on Labour Day?

Everyone gets a day of work which means most shops are closed, and all the schools a deserted. Everyone can sit back and have a great time. Besides everyone needs a break from work someday don't they?

Learning in the Making Conference

On Friday in the first week of term 4 we had our third Learning In The Making Conference.

We started off the day with a keynote speaker called Mark Osborne who talked to us about weird jobs such as urban farmers and drone pilots. Unfortunately the video feed on skype kept cutting out so it was sometimes hard to understand him.

The first workshop I went to was Scout Skills. Our first challenge was a race between two groups to make a compass out of wooden blocks, the end result was a draw. Next we were blindfolded and had to attempt a Burma trail. At the finish line the rope ended and we had to find our way between a pallet and a tree without the rope to guide us. For our next challenge we had damp sponges tied to pegs which were then clipped to our shirts. Then we had to squat down and try and make the damp sponge touch a candle in the bowl and extinguish the flame.

The second workshop that I went to was Fun With Flax. It was actually not as bad as I thought it would be, it was still boring though. At least I learnt how to flax weave.

The third workshop I went to was Drink Bottle Craft. First off I wrote the words,’ Go Charlie ‘on the side of the drink bottle. Next I did some polka dots which I would eventually paint over with red. After that I started reading book reviews written by Marama students.

The last workshop I did was Cooking. My group was making chocolate caramel slice. This was my favourite workshop for two reasons. Number one, I love cooking. Number two, I got to eat it.

Overall I found the conference day very fun and I am looking forward to conference number 4.

In the holidays

In the first week of the wet, damp and miserable holidays, I went on an hour long car journey to Hamilton. We first stopped off at my grandma’s house in Ngaruawahia where we had some authentic homemade Indian beef curry. Then we took a tour of one of the new subdivisions going up on the once barren former hillsides on the outskirts of Hamilton.

About an hour later we drove to an old friend of my mum and dad's house to stay the night. I really enjoyed lying on the furry rug in the lounge, next to the fire and finishing a Thunderbirds puzzle. The next day we went to The Base where I bought a watch and a light up C for my bedroom.

After I got home I didn’t do anything because of all the rain.

Up And Over The Hill

Last weekend on Saturday I braved the long bending corners of State Highway 25 to get to Whitianga to play Mercury Bay in a rugby match.

I was amazed by the new clubrooms they have built. The changing rooms had shower, toilets and even three rows of benches and hooks to sit on and hang your bags on. Marcus made a joke that he was a hooker, (a hooker is a position in rugby and Marcus plays that position), and he had to hang his bag on a hook, get it.😁

In the game I played lock and I really enjoyed it because I was right in the middle of the scrum. We lost 32-20 but I was still happy. Marcus got player of the day but Lucas forgot to bring back the player of the day trophy. Naughty Lucas🙊

I think that I blew over the ball really well against Mercury Bay but I need to work on my tackling for next week.

Ngatea Primary School's Ice Skating Tour

Last week I went ice skating in the school hall with a group of other students from Whetu for an hour. First we were given a safety brief, then we told one of the two instructors our shoe size so they could find us a correctly fitted pair of skates. We also had to wear a helmet and gloves.

It was my first time ice skating so I fell over a lot. After about twenty minutes I got the hang of it.

The ice was not real, it was just slightly frozen interlocking plates.  There was inflatable rubber sides to help you balance. They also had bubble machines.

Overall I really enjoyed having a go at ice skating.

My Learning From This Week That I Am Proud Of