2012 Reflection

Honestly, I think that 2012 has been full of surprises. I think this because at the beginning of the year, I thought that year 8 wasn't going to be a very surprising year. Though 2012 has had their ups and downs and to be totally honest, I think there was an equal amount on both, though I won't say it on here. This is suppose to be happy, right?

One of the things that was great of 2012 was the friends. It's going to be our last year together and we've made the most of it and hopefully cherish this one last week together. My friends, Sylvia, Seini-Mino, Selena and Toreka have also been great support this year and I'm really going to miss when we leave, though we will still be in contact.

Another thing that I'm really glad about is the opportunities that I have gotten this year. Extension was great at this, one of the many reasons is because we got to meet a few guys from the Auckland Museum, where they taught us about animation now and also back in the days. There has been many opportunities that have been great and I'm really proud of taking them.

Camp Next Week

“I can’t wait for camp!!”. Yr 8’s had been saying this all this week. It’s Friday today and next week on Tuesday we’ll be heading down to our camp. CYC Ngaruawahia. This is located down south. If you didn’t know already the Yr 8’s always have a camp around the end of the year.

To be completely honest with you, I am not really looking forward to this camp because I am not a really big fan of camps but hopefully it will be lots of fun and I will be able to make the most of it. It is my last year at Pt England with all of my friends!   

Greek Mythology

In term 3 our class had to get into a group and from there we had to make a movie and we also had to choose from a list of topics associated with the olympics. My group consisted of 3 people, Seini- Mino, Jarna and me. We had the topic Greek Mythology. Here is our movie that we created, hope you enjoy.

Extension Creation

Last week the extension group got given a object which we then had to develop into a toy, though not in real life. We all had to think creative for this. The object I received was a cup.

My imaginative brain developed this awesome cup into an electric cup and by this I mean that I thought it would be really cool to have a mixer/spoon within the cup. Basically, with this electric cup, whenever you make coffee, hot chocolate etc. you won't need to wash an extra dish. You won't need a spoon anymore. All you need to do it press the button which is located opposite of the handle and it'll do the job for you.

Basic Information:
Age group: 9+
How many can use it: Anyone!
Aim of toy: the aim of this toy is so that you don't need to wash an extra dish anymore and also it will be very quick and easy to make any beverages.

Spoken Word

Manukau
Where I am from I see clothing in all directions.
Where I am from I hear music and laughter which sounds like a beautiful harmony.
Where I am from I touch my hair which flows breezily from the wind.
Where I am from I feel the cold air and all the air conditioning on to my face.
Where I am from I taste the amazing fruity smoothies.
Where I am from I smell the delicious aroma of food all surrounding me.

Etch-A-Sketch

Name: Etch a Sketch
Date Invented: In the late 1950’s, though it was marketed on July 12 1960
Inventor: Arthur Granjean
Costs: Today’s price: $15 - $20
Audience: Age’s 2 - 82

Etch a Sketch is a mechanical toy which was made in the late 1950’s by a frenchman, Arthur Granjean. He created this in his garage and named it L'Ecran Magique, The magic screen. In 1959 he took his toy to a International Toy Fair in Nuremberg, Germany. At first the Ohio Art Company weren’t interested by this toy but when they saw it a second time they decided to give it a go. They renamed it Etch a Sketch and NOW these are one of the most famous toys in the world. Also now Etch-a-Sketch has over 2000 users, ages 2-82

B - Bigger = The button that you erase your picture with because sometimes it’s very small.
A - Add = I would like to add a few cool features e.g buttons that make the screen cleaned up or stamps, so when you put the stamp on the screen, the pattern would go on nicely and you wouldn't even need to draw it.
R - Replace = I would like to replace the screen and have a screen that is more clearer because then you'll be able to make more intense artwork.

Terrorist Massacre

Have you ever heard about the Terrorist Massacre that happened in 1972? These were the Olympic games which were held in Munich, West Germany. This controversy that happened during the games were actually very tragic because by the end of this whole situation a lot of people were injured and there was around 20 people killed.

Why don't you watch this movie, I have created and find out for yourself, all about what happened?  

The Bush

It was a bright sunny day, though the trees above them made it look dark, haunted and scary. The three 17 year old girls, Danielle, Jade and Lianna kept walking, paying no attention behind them. The previous day, Danielle had received a letter that said to go out and look for another letter which was for the 3 best friends. It read ‘Here’s a map, go and get the other letter. You wouldn’t want the whole town to find out all your dirty secrets, would you?’

“Dani, Jade please come on lets go back” Lianna whispered. “This is so scary and I’m getting freaked out”. Dani and Jade payed no attention, whatsoever. They NEEDED to find this letter! The 2 girls couldn’t go back NOW, they were already half way through. Lianna on the other hand was against this whole idea from the start, she’d been one of those suspicious ones ever since a few girls from high school played a scary prank on her.

The 3 of them sat down for a break. They needed water and also needed to get a torch out, it had been starting to get darker and darker. As the girls sat on a rock in silence, Jade hears a ruffling sound. “Guys, shhh! Listen.” but by that time the ruffling had stopped. It’s nothing, probably you’re just hearing things, Danielle had said though Jade couldn’t stop thinking about it.

Not long after, they started to walk again. They only needed to walk a bit before Danielle had spotted the x. All the girls ran to it and saw there was a letter placed under a small stone. “Why don’t we read it after we get home, cause it’s becoming dark and we really should start heading home” Dani explained.  Jade and Lianna agreed.

As they were walking back, Dani hears footsteps and they didn’t seem like Jade and Lianna’s. “I think someone is following us, you think?”
“Yes, I told you! Come on lets run!” Jade says trying to whisper but was a epic fail.
They started to run, getting faster and faster as they ran. The girls out of breath stop to see what was behind them though there was nothing. “I swear, there was something or someone behind us” Dani shrieked, still trying to catch her breath.
“Guys look there’s that arch that was there when we came. It’s the way out. Come on” Lianna, managing to say that all too quickly, though the girls knew what she was saying, by her hand gestures.

As soon as Dani, Jade and Lianna got out of that forest. They get to Dani’s house and race up to Dani’s bedroom. Quickly, Jade got Dani’s backpack that they had placed the letter in and took it out in a swift motion. Jade read “Got yah! Danielle, Jade and Lianna, don’t fear, your secrets are safe with me, maybe?”

Writing Practice

Sweat beads dripped down his forehead as he hid behind a tree. He couldn’t control his breathing though he tried his best to be super silent. The wind blew hard and you could hear the whistles of the night. However, tonight the winds blew EVEN harder and it just wouldn’t stop precipitating. The trees shook fearsomely. Soldiers ran across the forest with their battle equipment about to get on with the fight.

Beach Calamity

Lucy lay there on the beach, relaxing. “What a lovely summer day” Out in the distance she could see the sea glimmering. The glare made her squint so she put her sunglasses on, protecting her eyes from the hot, bright light. She felt the need to quench her thirst but shrugged it off, she wanted to make the most of the last day of summer before school started.

Lucy had calmly lain there enjoying the scorching hot summer sun but was now starting to feel restless. Lucy couldn’t take it anymore. She needed a drink or some delicious coldness in her mouth. As energetically as she could, Lucy arose from where she lay and looked around to find something that sold ice lollies or a cold drink. Way out in the distance she saw a van selling ice cream and many others summer goodness.

Casually walking along the shore where the van stood she thought to herself “That’s a odd place to put a van”. Lucy stood in line so she could get herself her favourite cookies and cream ice cream. She glanced around until her eyes caught something. Eye’s bulged straight out of her eye as she saw what’ was happening. Lucy runs until she is out of breath. And there where she stood, was a little kid SINKING.... in the sand!

The little kid looked around the age of 5 years. He screamed and shouted but nobody even helped. What is wrong with these people, Lucy thought. “OMG, what’s happening?” she shrieked. “HELP! GET ME OUT! MUM! MUM!”

With all of her might, Lucy pulled the kid but unfortunately he didn’t budge. The sand though was very powerful against Lucy, though she tried. She tugged and tugged on the boy but he didn’t seem to budge at all. “1...2...3.... PULL!!” and she pulled with all her strength and out he came.

The kid bawled. Lucy asked what was wrong. In between sobs he managed to choke out that he wanted his parents. A lady with blonde locks rushed over... Lucy picked up the kid and together they went to look for his parents.

Soon, they found both the parents and sure enough, his parents were very pleased she helped. “Thank you soo much, we really appreciate what you did!” his mother shrieked. They thanked her once again and walked away. Lucy was glad she’d done some good on her last day of the summer by helping a innocent little kid. Feeling pleased, she decided that she need a reward, how about I celebrate with some food, she thought.

Cross Country

As soon as the gates opened up, Ms Squires signalled we could start running. Emilee and I, start jogging. As people rush past us on the sidewalk, we slow down not wanting to cause any accidents. We walk till the other year 7 & 8 finish hovering past us. As they emerge further in sight, Emilee and I start running again.

By the time we were coming back. Emilee and I were already breathless. Though we didn’t give up. We kept on running till we were half way to school. Taking long strides, thinking I’d get to the end was a really stupid thing.

Legs aching, arm’s throbbing, I carry on putting one foot in front of the other. I look up to see how much distance I had left. Surprisingly though I was so close to the gate. “You can do it. Keep on going! there’s only a little bit left” and with that chanting in my mind, I kept running and running to the finish line.  

“Finally!!” I exclaim. It was an amazing feeling to finish this. Head dropped, hands on knees I breath heavily trying to calm down. It’s always hard at the beginning but you eventually get it over and done with.

Cyber Coach

“Would you like to continue and do a hip hop class?” I read in my mind. I press continue. I wait for the first two teams to come to do this activity. Bored, I wait until I hear whispers and small talk heading to the street. I go back into the room and play the cyber coach so everyone can start dancing.

What’s cyber coach? This is a dance game where you learn how to do dance’s in many different styles. These include hip hop, ballet, street dance and many others. Cyber coach is like zumba really.

10 minutes through the game, everyone seemed to have been enjoying themselves. It looks great having everybody enjoying themselves and having fun. These are the moments we should cherish.

Olympics Day

Searching through the sea of multi coloured t-shirts for Mino, the leader of our team. “Everyone get in a line we’re going to sitting volleyball.” she exclaimed. We head quietly to the hall, where the game took place. Mr Jacobson the teacher in charge strode towards us.

This Olympics day Miss Va'afusuaga had organized was going alright but when it came to playing volleyball while sitting seemed rather interesting. Mexico (the country I was in) versed Kenya. We positioned our team and started playing. “MUBBA, HIT IT!” my ears started ringing with voices telling me to do so. I hit it and the ball kept coming and going until one of our opponents team members hit the ball, though fortunately it didn’t go over the net, which made our team win.

Mexico had already did 7 of the activities, handball, volleyball, foursquare, ultimate frisbee, touch and rounders. My favourite till now was the sitting volleyball. We still had one more activity after lunchtime which was 3 legged soccer. This also caught my attention and I really looked forward to this.

Not long after lunch, Mexico was sitting down on the bottom field waiting to do the 3 legged soccer with Ms Squires. We got told that we would all need to get with a person with a similar height and we would have to put a band around one of our partners leg and your leg. It was actually a little tricky to maneuver but me and Serena, who I was with managed pretty well.

Serena and I both worked simultaneously and ACTUALLY got 2 of the goals. There were many players sprawled across on the ground. Soon after, Ms squires announced that we would have to go individually now and put a band around both your legs, this ended up making people hopping all around the field. Me obviously thinking this was super funny started laughing uncontrollably and ended up falling on my butt.

This was actually one amazing day. At the beginning of the day, I thought this was going to be something like athletics, but my guesses were obviously wrong, since these ended up being a few silly games as well. I wish our school would do these kinds of days more often.

Joshua Iosefo at Pt England!

Joshua Iosefo, who was an average New Zealand teenager who did an amazing job expressing polynesians and talking about stereotypes came to our school. If you don’t know already, he wrote an amazing poem which being a prefect he recited it to his school, Mt Roskill Grammar.

This inspiring teenager, opened up minds of many New Zealand kids and young adults. As him and his family came to Pt England today, the year 7 & 8’s welcomed them by doing a mihi, karakia and a waiata. Which he thought was pretty neat.

He said a few words about himself then started to recite his poem to us live. It was an amazing privilege to have him talk to our yr 7 and 8’s. Hopefully his words of wisdom that he has given us today will encourage us in life and also guide us to the right path to achieving our goals.

Social 2012

I glance at the clock. 5:00pm! "Oh My Gosh!" I had only 45 minutes before Selina was going to come pick me up. My clothes were all spread out on the bed, and I still hadn’t done my makeup and hair. Frantically I ran around the room looking for everything I needed. Camera, ticket, clothes, makeup, shoes. Phew! I had everything.

Lesley, who I had met earlier and I walk through the doors after we had given our tickets. As soon as we enter the hall, we are welcomed with craziness, dancing and ear splitting music. “WOW!!” Lesley and I exclaimed. Both of us head of to the dance floor where we were greeted with hugs and people complimenting our dresses and skirt. I had worn a blue mullet skirt, a casual black top, a purple scarf and a leather jacket.

As I was talking to Lesley, I hear a familiar beat that I loved. Right away I knew what song it was, One Direction - What Makes you Beautiful! As soon as the song starts everyone starts screaming my name. They knew I loved One Direction. I wait till my favourite part comes and I start dancing away to the music. A lot of people actually were surprised, they never knew I danced that much.

Soon, when the song finished, Selena who was DJ announced that whoever wants to be in a Dougie comp has to go in the middle and all the others had to get in a circle. It started out with a few people but through the middle of the song a lot of people joined in and did their moves. Nezinli had won the comp since he was the best.  

By the end of the night, I had, had a great time. To be honest, I actually thought that this years social was better then last times because there was more music and because I had actually danced to most of the songs. This is what I would call a memorable moment!

Smoking.

Who hates smoking? I most certainly do. Smoking is something that can cause a lot of health issues. This deadly thing is the leading cause of many types of cancer and illnesses. Here a list of few:
- Lung cancer
- Kidney problems
- Stomach problems
and many other problems associated with a human’s body.

This doesn’t just mean destruct you body from the inside but from the outside, your appearance would be damaged as well.  Here is a list of few things that can be deformed by smoking:
- Yellow teeth
- Yellow fingers
- Smelly breath
- Black toes
and also many other harmful things. You wouldn’t want this to happen to you, would you?

One of the other things that people never tend to keep in mind is how much money they are spending on smokes. Let’s just say if a packet of smoke would cost $14 and you brought a packet everyday, you would be spending $98 a week, $420 a MONTH and around $5040 a YEAR! SHOCKING, right?

From all the information I gathered, I know that even though smoking is deadly, it is also very expensive. For the money though, you could save that up and buy yourself something you want or anything you want. My advice, don’t start.

Neil Armstrong Tragedy

25th August 2012, tragedy struck America as they mourn the loss of one of their hero’s. At the age of 82, Neil Armstrong died after complications after his heart surgery. If you didn’t know already, this is the first person that set foot on the moon.

“One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” This phrase was said by Neil Armstrong as he set foot onto the moon. He was the commander of the space rocket, Apollo 11 which was rode on the Lunar Space Mission in 1969.

This great man has shown the world what a great achievement is. We pray for his family and friends also America who has lost one of their hero’s.

Running Animation

Recently room 20 were told to create a running animation by Ms Squires. Here I present you my animation.

To create this I used these programs:
- Hyperstudio 5
- iMovie 11

Disappointed Valerie Adams

Did you hear about Valerie Adams’ valiant attempt at shotput? It was a very emotional evening for this amazing athlete because she only came 2nd, being beaten by Nadzeya Ostapchuk with the high score of 21.36m. Valerie had worked tirelessly for the gold medal but unfortunately couldn’t get it that distance. Visibly upset, Adams was disappointed, though New Zealand, proud of her achievement, still has hope for her in the 2016 Olympics.

Life of Precious McKenzie

Ever heard about the famous, Precious Mckenzie? The weightlifter who is widely known in New Zealand, England, South Africa, basically, known around the world, has been an inspiration to many.. This amazing man was originally from South Africa though he eventually immigrated to New Zealand, where he got more fame.

Born on 1936, Precious had a difficult early life. At the age of 3 he was hospitalized because he developed a rare chest condition which could have affected him badly but fortunately he survived this major problem. This is why he was named ‘Precious One’.

McKenzie wanted to work in a circus as a gymnast. The people who he asked if he could work there said something terrible actually. This is, that he had the wrong skin colour. This attitude is absolutely dimwitted, according to me because everyone should get treated equally not because their skin tone is different.

Though McKenzie couldn’t become a circus man he then thought of becoming a weightlifter. Showing great talent he gained the Natal Bantamweight Title but didn’t make it into the Empire or Olympic Games because of his skin colour. Later he then immigrated to England hoping to find more opportunities and where they won’t discriminate.

Not so long after in England he married a woman called Elizabeth and had fathered two girls, Vanessa and Sandra. After that he competed in the Olympic games and had records and that’s when he reached international interest and also came to New Zealand.

Precious McKenzie

Cruz and I have written this together about a weightlifter, Precious McKenzie:

The weightlifter's face, hard like a stone looked as if he was about to punch anyone that came in his way, bar to his chest and about to do the final lift.The crowd had gone wild as soon as the weightlifter, Precious McKenzie gripped the bar and with a grunt he pushed all his weight into the air. Now that was success!

'Brown Bother'

Click here if you would like to watch Joshua Iosefo's poem.

Recently at Mt Roskill Grammar a Prefect, Joshua Iosefo  wrote a poem about something very important. ‘Brown Brother’, which is the name of the poem was about stereotypes. Why did he write this poem? Well this is because all the prefects had to write a speech but Joshua’s unique idea was to write a poem. This poem got discovered on youtube by Campbell Live, as his friend, Rashad had uploaded it and they screened it on national tv.

I think the message behind this poem was very strong and important. To me it meant not to listen to stereotypes because, if you do that it limits yourself and it’s racist. One of the other things that it reminded me of while listening to this poem is that it doesn’t matter what skin tone/colour you are you shouldn’t ever mock anyone this is whether you’re white, brown, dark-skinned or anything else.

Some of the examples he gives during his poem, which I reckon are quite important are:
- ‘And whenever someone tries to breach my comfort zone, or whenever I don’t have anything else to say in defence in an argument I’m just going to that you’re a racist. That your words are a mockery to my skin tone and my colour.”
- ‘Do not be afraid to be the change. Not a change in skin tone or colour, but a change of mind-set.’

This poem to me means that though we may be different colours, we shouldn’t be a stereotype and label people and put them in a group in your heads because that’s just wrong! Also we, people shouldn’t be afraid of who we are because we’re afraid of others judging us. In your life there will many ups and downs but you should always have to keep your head up and strive to succeed and don’t be limited by what other people expect in you. Most importantly Joshua Iosefo's message was to never limit yourself and be who you are.

Art Alive

Replicating Harata Rewiri Tarapata by Charles F. Goldie

This term, the extension year 7 and 8 group have been focusing on a great New Zealand artist called Charles Frederick Goldie. Extension teacher, Mrs Tele'a gave us a project. In this we had to get one of Charles F. Goldies paintings and replicate it using Hyperstudio. This was a tough job but I persevered, did my best and have came up with this piece of art.


Above I have tried to reproduce the painting called Harata Rewiri Tarapata, which is a very ancient painting. The woman in this artwork is the widow of the late Chief Paul Tukane of Orakei. Her tribe was Nga Puhi. 

The official artwork was painted by the great Charles Frederick Goldie. This is an oil on canvas painting and it was painted in 1906. Do you realized that this painting is now 106 years old?   

One thing that really made me think about this painting is of the sitter. I wonder why she looked sad, was it just because she wanted her painting to be like that or maybe there was something about her life which could have been a little depressing. 

I think my image turned out the way I wanted and I’m actually really happy how it did turn out. One of the hardest parts throughout drawing this was the colour. That was because the background had a lot of texture and it was quite hard trying to get colours which were close to the actual one but at the end I endeavoured my best and I’m quite happy about it.

* Pt England Gallery of Fine Arts

If you live in New Zealand, Auckland, why don't you come along to the Point England Art Gallery which is being held in the Hall at Pt England School. Artworks from students all around our school have been put in this gallery. Here are the times you could come and visit:

Tuesday 26th - Thursday 28th = 9 am  -  7 pm

Friday 29th = 8am - 3pm

Comparing and Contrasting

Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso were artists and also lifelong friends. Matisse was on born on December 31, 1896 at Le Cateau-Cambresis, France and Picasso was born on October 25, 1881 at Malaga, Spain. They first met in Paris, where they went on to develop their own style of art. Matisse’s style of work was fauvism whereas Picasso’s was first an impressionistic style but then he became interested in cubism.

Weeping Woman illustrated by Picasso and Woman With a Hat created by Matisse were both oil on canvas paintings AND they were both about woman.  The difference between these two fabulous painting was that Weeping Woman had strong, intense emotions and Woman with a Hat had no emotions at all. In Matisse’s painting, he was experimenting with a different style of painting. Picasso on the other hand was conveying the suffering of war.

Another thing that was similar in both paintings were the bright, vibrant colours. In Weeping  Woman you could clearly see the shading changed from yellow to orange. Woman with a Hat was different. It had very unrealistic colours used (Fauvism).

Weeping Woman had clearly defined lines. They are sharp jagged lines which accentuate the artwork. Matisse’s artwork was way different in this. Many lines were blurred, the colours were mixed and smudgy. He used defined shape.

These two artists were great and both amazing at art. It’s great how they were both life-long friends. These two artworks may still be about woman, sadness and war but at the end of the day they are both amazing artworks.

Kiwi Kick

Wind gusted towards my face as my hair flew side from side. The freezing air attacked my skin and not so long after I had goosebumps. As my teeth chattered “Ahhh, It’s so COLD!”, I huddled and quickly put my jacket on and started jumping. That’s my way of getting warmer.

We were at the courts, sitting down waiting for Mike & Sam to start talking about what we were about to do. I already knew this was Kiwi Kick which is basically where we, Pt England School learn to play rugby but a safer way. Every class is scheduled once a week to be playing with another class. Us, room 20 are with room 22.

Sam told us what we were going to be doing. Which was learning a few techniques. First off, we learnt the drop punt which is basically where we hold the ball with both of our hands, position the ball straight in front of your stomach and drop the ball where your leg will kick the ball slightly and the ball will bounce back to you. Since I ain’t the type of sport type of person, It took me a while to figure out how to ACTUALLY do it properly. Well that’s what I thought?

Not long after Sam blew the whistle, signalling that time was up to practice that previous technique. We get repeating the same process of learning a few techniques. By the end we had only learned 3 skills, which I took pretty long doing.

As kiwi kick came to an end. “Over the next few weeks will be learning more skills and at the end we’ll have a few games of Kiwi Kick. So yeah, could you make two neat lines for your teachers.” Sam said. We headed back to our classes to continue with the rest of the day.

Show Not Tell (Raining)

I stepped in the cold winter weather and headed my way towards school, stepping into puddles of a liquid substance. The water poured heavily from the dull blue clouds. By now my clothes and my hair had been drenched.  I ran hurriedly to the bus stop, fortuitously making it on time as I saw the bus pull in.

Starmap Reflection

Last term the extension group got given a project, where we had to choose a famous person and do something kind of like a biography, but in a way it was different. We also had to tell our viewers how the person you chose affected your life. We had to show this by making a movie, animation etc. Anything you would want to do.

The famous person I did was Justin Bieber. I did him because I'm a huge fan of him and I think he is also very inspirational. I don't know why people hate on him when he hasn't done anything to them, he has just followed his dreams.

I think I didn't do such a good job on my movie because I think I tried my best. I think I could have done it better if I had thought more about it and created it more creatively. I believe I rushed it in a way.

Justin Bieber is a very very inspirational singer, I think this because he never knew he was going to be this big one day. He use to be just a little kid that just sang with his guitar in the streets. He never knew that this ONE video that his mum uploaded on youtube was going to make him a HUGE singer. One other reason why I think he has a lot of courage to do singing as his career is because he never gave up even after all the hate he got from a lot of people after his first song 'One Time' and also after all the hate he got from his hit song 'Baby'.

My Mihi.

This is my mihi. Hope you enjoy. 

Vincent Van Gogh - Starry Night

Starry Night, illustrated by Vincent Van Gogh is an amazing painting. The piece of artwork shows a mixture of emotions that include happiness as well as a bit of sadness. If you see the piece of art, you can tell that it could of been painted in the night time. The medium he used was oil, which is perfect for the image.


Written by Sylvia & Mubba

Daniella Hulmes

Daniella Hulme was a girl that loved painting, drawing and doing stuff associated with art. But there was something wrong. When she was young her parents didn’t support her choice of becoming an artist, they thought she wouldn’t make a good amount of money from it. She was a nurse for a few years of her life but when she got married she kept on talking about art. Her husband got sick of it so he brought her an easel, paint and art essentials. He ALSO enrolled her in an art class.

Her motivation was joy and happiness. Daniella wanted happiness to homes in the world so she loved working with bright, vibrant colours. The medium she used was oil and acrylic paint because she loved the texture, smell, feel and depth of the colour. And also you could work longer with the colours.  

Her inspiration was her husbands culture (Samoa) because she loved the islands. If you have a look at her paintings you’ll see the Pacific iconography.  

Daniella Hulmes - Abundance

The lines by Daniella Hulme  of the  artwork ‘Abundance’ are strong, bold and drawn clearly. This artwork has a blend of cultures which incorporates the island look, the colours are vibrant and show joy and happiness. The effect of the artwork has an  isometric perspective.


Written by Sylvia & Mubba

5 Extraordinary Boys!

Popular, talented, inspirational, gorgeous etc. Do you know who I'm talking about? ONE DIRECTION! If you don't know them, they are one great band. 5 boys that are extremely amazing and sensational. These are: Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson.  5 boys that are incredibly talented.

They all started off by entering X Factor (UK) as a solo act. Guest judge, Nicole Scherzinger then suggested that they should be put as a band and in the ‘groups’ category. Unfortunately they didn’t win, but the band came third.

‘What Makes You Beautiful’ was their first debut single which was released in September 2011. It has over 102 million views on Youtube. It’s is an amazing song. I am in love with this band. It has everything a great band needs.

Till now they have had 1 album and 18 songs. I love all their songs but a few of my favourite ones were: Moments, I Wish, One Thing, What Makes You Beautiful, Another World and More Than This. They mean a lot and that’s why I guess a lot of girls like them a lot, because they are inspirational.

I am something what you may call obsessed but as Louis says “Our directioners are not obsessed, their dedicated’. It’s amazing how One Direction is coming to NZ in just a few days. Unfortunately since the tickets sold out, my friends and I couldn’t get tickets. This kind of disappointed us. Hopefully One Direction comes to NZ in their tour in 2013, maybe we’ll be able to get tickets then.

Show Now Tell

I hit the ball back and BANG! Mino hits back like she didn’t even do that intentionally. “Gosh, Mino your such a good player!” I shout still looking at the tiny ball as if it was a prey. Carefully aiming to the other side of the table, I swung my arm, but with no luck, I failed.

Written by Sylvia & Mubasshira.

Leaving a Smart Footprint!

What does leaving a smart footprint mean? 

Watch this movie above and you'll find out what leaving a smart footprint means. I created this short video using Hyperstudio 5 for the graphics and iMovie 11 for putting it all together. I hope by the end of the movie you will understand what it means. Enjoy.  

Camp Reflection Day 1

I entered the hall and saw people putting down their gear by which their group name appeared. I searched around for a paper which said “Team Respect”. I went over and put my bags down. It was 8am in the morning and I had to wait for another 50 minutes until the bell went.

Wondering what I’m talking about? Today was our first day at Camp. We have done a lot of cool activites and it has been a splendid day. Well for now, I am going to be telling you of a few of the things that I have done.

Seini-Mino and Cruz led us to our first activity since they were our leaders. At first my group did Boxfit, which was basically just an activity that you learn how to box and to defend yourself. We started off by doing some basic exercises which included running. Another exercise we did was sit-ups. After we had warmed up the tutors showed us the basics. This was just learning how to  defend ourselves. Not so long after we had finished this activity and were ready to move on to our next rotation which was putting up tents.

We met Ms squires down at the field, she had a few tents by her and a few hammers. Firstly we started off just learning how to put up a tent, which looked easy, but was it really? One of our quick jobs were to get into groups of 6. I was in a group with Seini-Mino, Jay’Lee, Chante, Mary and Vivienne. “We have 45 minutes and we have to put up 10 tents” Ms Squires exclaimed. We got to work. We hadn’t even realized that time was nearly up and we had already finished our 10 tents.

Today was a great day and I really enjoyed it. I hope tomorrow is even better and we do many more activities.

Ben Carson!

Benjamin Carson was born in 1951 and lived in Detroit Michigan with his family for a short time. His mother Sonya, dropped out of third grade and decided to get married at the age of 13. Unfortunately, a few years later, when Benjamin was 8 years of age, his parents got divorced. Sonya had a very hard life after they had got divorced, she had to work 2 or 3 jobs a day so she could help provide for her children.

As for school, because of their difficult childhood, Benjamin and Curtis were pretty low with their grades. In 5th grade, Ben was actually the lowest student in his class. All his classmates use to call him dummy, which caused him to develop an uncontrollable temper. His mother then decided that she would try her best to educate her children. She limited their television watching to only 2 - 3 programs a week. She demanded them to get 2 books out of the library and give her a written report at the end of the week. Initially Ben got annoyed at doing this, he was jealous that he couldn’t be like the other kids and play outside.

After weeks, days, reading books and learning new things everyday, Benjamin was a changed person. An ordinary day at school, had changed Benjamin’s life. His teacher brought a rock sample for the class. He asked the kids if they knew the name of the rock, knowing Ben, he was the shy one and wouldn’t put up his hand. He looked around and saw that nobody had their hand up. This was his chance, he volunteered, the class grew quite as their teacher said “Ben?”. They turned and stared at him and started laughing. They were intending he would get the answer wrong.  Ben had amazed his class with the new knowledge he showed. A year or so later Benjamin Carson had become the top of the class and made his mother proud. By then he had also learnt to take care of his temper.

Being a Carpenter.

For todays task at Extension, we got given a piece of paper that had a career on it.  Mrs Tele'a would stick a paper on our foreheads without us knowing what was written over it. Our next job was to find out by asking the extension students around the room and they had to be close questions. Which means the answer could only be 'yes' or 'no'. I went around and asked many people questions. I found out that this has been a ancient job. I started guessing and one of the names that popped into my head was Carpenter. I asked Sylvia if I was a carpenter and found out that I was right.

We then had to research a little about our career that we were given. I found out a few things that I didn't even know about that job. 

- Carpenters construct, install and fix stuff that is made from wood and other materials.
- This job can be very stressful at times because it mostly requires standing up for a long time, climbing, bending and kneeling.
- Carpentry has a big risk of falling, slipping and getting hurt with rough or sharp tools.  
-  Carpenters have to be good with their hands and have a good eye co-ordination.
- They also have to be strong, physically fit and have a pretty good sense of balance.

Well those were the things that  I learnt about carpentry. I really liked doing this activity because I really enjoy getting things to research about. I hope we get more tasks like this in the next few weeks. 

The Best of 8 Years!

As every class from Pt England school settled down in the hall, Mr Burt said a little speech, informing us where the toilets would be, and telling us the boundaries of where we could  play. You must be wondering what I was talking about?

It was Friday the 24th of February and Pt England School was just about ready to head off to the Pt England Beach for a wonderful picnic. Why? Well at the beginning of each year we have a school picnic, where we just have a wonderful time together. Playing games, sports, swimming, listening to music, having lunch together.... Yupp! That’s the type of picnic I was talking about.

Our class, room 20 stood up and peeled away and started walking to our destination.  Each class did the same and not so long after we were all on our way to the beach. It was only down the road.
“The grass is a bit wet so you could all just kneel down” Mr Burt spoke through the loud speaker. We knelt down in our class rows while he reminded us about safety, and a few other things.

Strolling down the foot path, my friends and I found a spot to sit. The grass was still a tad wet, though the sun was out. I looked around and saw Sylvia laying down on her school jacket. Crouching down I whipped through my bag and found my jacket as well, laid it out and sat down. Exhausted from all the walking!

Music started to blast out from the loud speakers. “OMG!!! Yaay, MUSIC!!” some random kid desperately shouted. The voice came from behind my back, I didn’t bother turning around to see who it was. “Seriously, was whoever that was, THAT desperate for music” whispering to Sylvia, who was sitting down next to me.

It was half time and we were really enjoying ourselves. The girls (Sylvia, Selena, Seini-Mino and Athena) had all had been playing kicks and passes with softballs and rugby balls. I just sat there watching them. Pretty funny at times when the softball hit someone's hand. “Owww” Athena shouted. I couldn’t control my laughter.

Many funny things happened during this picnic. All my friends were having fun. I had an amazing time. The sky was starting to turn dim, not so long after, rain was spitting. My cold, bare arms started to make me shiver. There was 1 hour left before school was finished so all of Pt England grabbed their bags and all their things to start the walk back down to school.

That had been one of the best picnics so far. Actually it was the best!! I’m glad because that was my last. If only colleges had picnics like Pt England did.

4 Vital Symbols.

As you can see here is a image of what I have created using Comic Life and Hyperstudio. We got given a task where we had to draw 4 vital symbols that relate to us such as our hobbies and important things in our life. Here is what I came up with. 

Here are the meanings to these symbols. 

1. Books: I enjoy reading books, mainly mystery, comedy and biographies.

2. Computers / Devices: I really enjoy researching about practically anything I feel like. I also like learning aout computers and other sorts of devices. It's amazing how these great people have made these things for learning and other reasons. 

3. India: For those that don't know, that is the indian flag. Which means that I come from India. 

4. Music! Amazing and great. Music is also one of the things I really like to listen to in my spare time. As a matter of fact, I guess music is with me all the time on phones, iPods etc. 

Here is a link to my flickr page.

Goals 2012

 Here is my presentation about my 2012 goals. Hope you enjoy.

Facebook Gone Wrong.

A 15 year old girl in America , thought only her friends would see the nasty post she dedicated to her parents on Facebook. Little did she know that she had forgotten to put Max, her dog on the ‘family’ group which she had blocked from the post she had recently published.
As soon as her dad saw the nasty post about him and his wife, he got out his camera and recorded him getting his gun out and shooting his daughters laptop also saying “if you want a laptop now, get if from your own money”.

As soon as she saw the recording, she bursted out in tears. But , at some stage , she knew what she did was wrong , so she apologised to her parents & was alright with what her father had done. She just had to face consequences & move on.

Too often these days , teenagers don’t care about what they post. Even though they think their Facebook settings are on private, it doesn’t actually mean no-one can see it. The ramifications of this problem can be very dangerous and can cause very unhappy teenagers during their lifetime.

Cyber-Smart Inform

HUGE ramifications can happen if you are not beware of your child’s safety at this age.  There are many people out there that may not be as friendly as some . There is always a situation once , where a child might put inappropriate videos , pictures or some sort of a kind online that will hurt people’s feelings through their lifetime. So , I urge you to take care of your child & BEWARE of the danger that can happen...

Cyber-Smart Describe

As Kathy opened her laptop screen and logged into Facebook, little did she know that the image Kathy posted a few days earlier had gone live and I’m not trying to say just around her environment, I mean all over, all over the world.  Kathy was frustrated. “How do I take this off?” Well the answer was, she couldn’t, NEVER. Once you upload a image online, there’s a 99% chance that you would never be able to take it off again. She was mortified.

The Beach.

Unexpectedly the great strength of the wind blew me away roughly. My teeth chattered. It was a blue day and my body felt numb. Shivering and freezing, I grabbed my beach bag and pulled out my blanket as fast as I could. I wrapped it around me.  I was quivering and I just couldn’t take it anymore.


Thanks to this link for letting me use their image.

Poem About Me!

I am turning 13 on May 1st.
Finally a teenager.

I am a computer geek, nerd.
I personally think computers and devices are really cool.

I am organized.
My wardrobes are immaculate.

I am always listening to music.
When words have finished, music speaks.

I am very into shopping.
Spending money is one of the things I love doing, especially on clothes.