The Samoan Pe'a - Mr.Tele'a

Lately in extension, we've been learning about symbols, the meanings behind tattoo's, and the Samoan Tatau or as most people know it as the Pe'a. While we were learning about symbolism and the Samoan Tatau, I realised that most tattoos aren't just for cosmetic reasons. Most are to have a constant reminder of a loved one.

After researching and finding out on what a Tatau is we were then lucky enough to have Mr.Tele'a come in and show us his very own. We asked him several questions relating to his Pe'a. He explained what the Pe'a meant to him, how unbearable the pain was, the meaning behind it, and how long it took to complete. 

During his long and painful process Mr.Tele'a said that his parents took a big part of this. He explained that when he considered getting the Tatau his parents were very proud. He also said that the reason on why he got his Pe'a was because his older brother asked him to be his So'a (partner), and because he had already been thinking about it that made up his mind.

 One of the parts in the Pe'a that we had a look at was The Va'a. It's a 20 - 30cm black strip across the back of the body ending near the front of the armpits with two sharp arrow heads. The two long black strips are meant to represent family, and the sharp arrow heads representing protection. 

We were then given a mini project, to create/design our own tattoo's. One would symbolise any one part of our culture or heritage and the other had to represent ourselves. Right now, I'm currently designing my tattoo's and finding out a little bit more on what designs I can incorporate into my design. 

Astria Countdown To Impact

Earlier on today Lisia and I completed Astria: Countdown To Impact. We saved the world by using Solar Sail, which are two mirrors that reflect the sun onto the asteroid, which would cause it to explode).

Today's session was much easier because most of our codes were unlocked, so all we basically had to do was go to the council and build the ship. I didn't really find anything hard today mostly because I I knew what to expect.

Overall I really enjoyed playing Astria: Countdown to Impact. It kind of helped me learn new vocabulary and helped me a bit with my reading. This game was really good because we not only had fun but we also learnt at least one or to things. 

Smart Footprint

Here are some tips on how to be cyber smart and how to leave a smart footprint.
"Your future lies before like a fall of driven snow, be carefully where you step, cause every step will show".

1. You never know when someones watching
2. Be-careful what you search online
3. Be original, and always create your own piece of awesomeness!
4. If it's not kind keep it in your mind!

The Lone Survivor

Here is my writing sample that I've created in 40 minutes. Hopefully you enjoy reading it! I was unable to finish it but I will make sure to write part 2! PART 2 COMING SOON!!

“Nia Everdeen please come to the stage”. As she called my name my heart sank, I didn't know if I’d make it out alive. One by one kids were called to the stage as if we were chosen, each  lining up as if we were going to get executed. After the roll call had ended we were all able to say one last goodbye to our family’s then head back to the train. While  I was saying goodbye to my mother she whispered in my ear “ I’ll find you, we all will”.

Arriving at the train we all set up and prepared ourselves for who knows what! In the morning the train suddenly stopped. “ Laura’s orders, everyone get of the train! NOW!” said one of the tall security guard’s. Confused and scared everyone quickly hopped off the train, and there in-front of us was this huge tall black building, with a logo on it titled  “Deathly Hallows”. “ Well the name explains it!” said one the the girls.

After everyone had finished setting up their rooms everyone was then called down to a secret hideaway room.  Out of nowhere a lady dressed in red suddenly appeared. “ Hi my name is Laura, I’m your trainer. You will eat, sleep,train together when I tell you and obey my orders. Today we start training, each and everyone of you have an ability that’s why you were  specifically chosen, your parents were just hiding it from you.

Each and every day 6:00am was the wake up call, get ready and have breakfast but today was different. As I was heading to the training room I felt as if I was being followed. So I thought that I would check up on the other girls and boys. The rooms were empty, but there were drips of blood leading to the secret hideaway.

Just as I was about to walk into the room I saw dead bodies everywhere, everyone I trained with was dead. I was the lone survivor. As I was walking away I suddenly heard Laura’s voice. “Come here my darling”. Slowly turning around I saw Laura standing there with her hand behind her back, and blood dripping from her mouth. 
TO BE CONTINUED>>>>

School Girls Abducted

On April 15th over 300 school girls were announced missing by president Good-luck Jonathon. Over six weeks the government and military have been searching for them but had no luck. 57 girls were able to escape and return to their family's, but 276 still remain missing.

Devastating news has come in that a couple of the girls were thrown in a bush, and that 2 may have died by a snake bite. They were also forced to change from Christian to Islamic. But there is hope for them, the military located them, but don't want to go into action yet, encase Boko Haram and his team suspect something and hurt the girls. Until they come up with a plan a very good one the girls will still remain missing.

I think putting this out there and including the media is making a huge difference because a lot more people are finding out about and are more aware of the situation now, but nobody is doing anything about it besides saying #BringBackOurGirls which won’t help find the girls anytime soon. It's nice to see how many people care for those girls, hopefully they do something about it and find them as soon as possible. #BringBackOurGirls

Comparing New Zealand With Malawi

This week in extension we have been researching a lot about people who are living in Malawi. The situation and conditions they are living in is very sad, food-wise. I've put down what us New Zealanders & Malawian's do on a every day bases, comparing them with one another. Enjoy and don't forget to sponsor for the 40hr famine!!

Swimming at G.I Aquatic Centre

Drowning is the most common injury and cause of death not just in New Zealand but in many other countries. Up to 180 kids in New Zealand die every year because they were unable to swim.

To ensure that we don’t end up in the New Zealand statistics Class 1 have been focusing on getting better at swimming. So every week from Tuesdays to Fridays we walk down to our local Glen Innes Aquatic Centre and get special lessons. We are all split up into 2 groups, confident and not so confident.

I’m in the Confident group, which is group 2 and for the first lesson of swimming Natasha ( our swimming instructor)  gave us a couple of warm up drills to get our blood flowing. After doing 2 laps of backstroke we started to do the side stroke, breathing on our left arm and stroking with our right arm. After learning some different techniques we then had a competition on who could hold their breath the longest. At 2:50pm we all hopped out and got out of out of our togs ready to head back to school.  

I've most definitely improved in my swimming skills, and now know that drowning isn't even a possibility for me, and I hope that these swimming lessons will help me when I’m in a bad situation in the future.

Inference

Here is a D.L.O I've created to explain Inference. I hope you enjoy!

I'm Trying To Sort Out...

                                           http://nz.ixl.com/math/year-8/compound-interest
Throughout the term I've been using a maths program called IXL. After a few weeks of figuring what strategies I know, and need to learn I found something that I need to work on. Something that I don't know yet and would like to learn, it Compound interest. Hopefully I get this figured out before the end of the year, but in the mean time I'm going to focus on getting better at my basic facts.

Visual Mihi 2014

  For the past few weeks in the year 7 & 8 extension group I have been working on my own individual visual mihi. Each symbol represent's me in some special way.

Not to mention how rare it is I'm half Samoan half Irish.My dad is full Samoan and my mum is Half Samoan, half Irish. I love my culture and that is something to be proud of.

Then as you can see I have dawn the Holy Bible and a Cross. To my family and I church and the man above is 1 important thing in our life, especially to my paper. His father used to be a Lay preacher, then he used to be one but he then retired before he passed away.

Then in the 3rd box there is a picture of an I-Pod and some music notes. This is one thing that I love and that calms me down and stop's me from hitting my annoying brothers.

Last but not least I've drawn a picture of some animals. One thing you should know is I love penguins and lions for some odd reason. For some odd reason all the pets I've owned have either ran away and came back the next day or died.

Maths DLO

For the past few weeks the Dodecahedron's have been working on statistics. Here's my D.L.O I've create to show you the meaning of these words.
Here is a site for some questions you can answer: IXL Maths Site

Personal Goals For 2014

My achievement I was most proud of last year in the classroom was bonding with all my classmates because  it made learning more fun because we were able to work with anyone.

The thing I was most proud of last year outside of the classroom was coming 1st in High Jump for the school athletics because I have never really accomplished anything like that before.

In reading my learning goal is to get higher grades. To achieve this goal I need make sure to read books properly and have more specific answers.

In writing  my goal is to obviously get better at it.  To achieve this goal I need to

set my writing out properly and add much more detail.

In Maths my goal is to get better at my basic facts and answer them under then 3 seconds. To  achieve this goal I need to practice, practice, practice.

The learning area I think I need to improve in most is maths. I love maths but sometimes I just don’t really understand it. To improve I’m going to start using maths whizz, xtra maths, and make sure to always ask for help when I stuck.

In my learning my goal this term is to show ‘Caring’ to not just my classmates but everyone in my school.

My goal for this year around the classroom is to have a better attitude towards learning and stay on task.

My goal for this year around the school is to be a awesome, supportive and helpful house captain for Takitimu.

My parents goal for me this Term is to stay focused on school and make sure to give everything a good shot.

Writing Sample

After hours of traveling in the car we finally made it to our destination point, “ The Campgrounds of  Whananaki ”. Hopping out of the car I quickly set up my tent preparing myself for the many camp disasters to come.

As drips of sweat ran down it was the perfect time to get a tan, because there was literally nothing else to do. Unable to talk or move I laid patiently waiting for idea to pop into my head. Full of energy my cousin yelled excitingly “ EVERYONE GET UP AND PUT YOURS TOGS ON, WE'RE GOING TO THE SURF BEACH”.Excited and hypo I quickly rushed to my tent and popped on my togs. Arriving at the beach as fast I could dropped everything I had and hopped in the water.

As I was just about to dip my feet in the water, I spotted something big and brown. I thought I was hallucinating, but in that split second I heard yelling from a distance away “ GET OUT OF THE WATER SHARK,SHARK”. Frightened and shocked I leaped like a frog out of the water and ran as fast as I could.

Running up to my family to spread the news, no one believed me. To make sure that what I saw was a shark I sat on the beach for hours just waiting for it to return. Finally afters waiting for 3 hours I spotted it again. My family ran down to the beach, shocked and surprised everyones eyes bulged making them look like they had just got the beating. In shock my mum said to me “ WERE DEFINITELY NOT COMING HERE NEXT YEAR! ”.