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Tuesday, March 20, 2012

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.

Monday, March 19, 2012

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.  

Monday, March 12, 2012

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.

Friday, March 9, 2012

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. 

Friday, March 2, 2012

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.