Farewell 2012

My first year at Tawa Intermediate has been amazing. We have done so many cool things this year. At the start of the year we did animating for room 15's assembly. In term one we had to dress up in pink for athletics. I didn't get in to anything this year. For cross-country we had to train every day for about a month, it was really annoying. Over all it was a great year.

My highlights for this year was Camp, Sustainability Movies and Mosaics. Camp was awesome because there were a lot of opportunities to do amazing things. Making the sustainability movie was the best because I love making movies and here was my chance to shine. My Movie got into a competition and it also got into the top 40. The Mosaics were really fun because we got to smash tiles, place them, glue them and then grout them together.

This year I had a couple of low lights this year was speeches and cross-country. The reason why speeches is one of my low lights is because I don't like speaking in public. Cross-country is one my my low lights because I don't like running and we also had to train all the time.

This year has gone really fast but every second seemed like a minute. I can't wait for next year but also don't want this year to end. Next year I want to be a Student Council and I want to be in Focus Photography Club because I like taking photos of things that look cool. Next year is a new year and I can't wait!

Take Off...

"Beep, beep," that was my alarm, waking me up. I was going to Australia! It was three in the morning and  I was excited. I had never left the North Island until that morning. This was it.

We got up and found out suitcases. While my dad was putting them in the car, my sisters and I were getting dressed. We had to wear something warm but underneath we had to have a T-shirt and shorts, for when we get hot. My mum, my dad, Josy, Daisy and myself, jumped into the car and we were off. In the car, we had pillows to lean on, so we could go to sleep on the way to the airport. Every time we passed a tree, Daisy, my little sister, would say goodbye to the tree. I was asleep when my mum told us that we were here.

Dad parked the car and we all hoped out. I got my suitcase and we all went to the van. We had to get in a van to get to the airport. The van had just left when we got there, so we had to wait in the office. It was nice and warm in the office and it had a TV. The TV wasn't that good because the TV was fuzzy. About ten minutes later the van arrived. Our suitcases went in the back and we all hopped in. We were a bit squashed because there was a big, baby car seat right in the middle and no one was sitting in it.

We got to the airport and checked in. It was about four in the morning and we were hungry so mum went to go and get us some breakfast. We had two muffins and three scones. We had to go though security next.

We walked down a corridor and turned left. We had to empty pockets and walk though a doorway. A security woman check our passports let us though. We had to walk though another corridor and turn left and then right. I looked out and saw a whole lot of seats. About half an hour went by. Then we had to show our passports and tickets again. The last corridor we walked though was the one leading up to the plane. We had to show our tickets one last time before hopping on the plane. We sat in our seats and my mum said to me, "This is it."

Sea World

On the second day of our trip, we went to Sea World.We met up with my mum's friend and my mum's sister's friend. First, we went to a sea lion show. The sea lions show was a story with a couple of sea lions. The story was about a greedy lady, who sells fish. But she is taking all the fish so a detective, a policeman and a sea lion tries to stop her. It was quite funny and the sea lion was really good.

Next, we went to the dolphin the show. This show wasn't a story, it was one where they talked about saving the dolphins. While the rescuers were talking, the dolphins were doing jumps and flips. Near the end of the show, the two trainers were standing on two dolphins each. Then the dolphins went underwater, but the trainers didn't, then they jumped up are they all went flying. It was hard to take photos because my camera was a bit slow but here is the best one.

After the dolphins did they final flips, we went to see some Polar Bears. There was this cute Polar Bear just sitting there eating a piece of meat. After a while he decided to go for a swim. He kept on doing the same thing over and over again. He would sit at the surface then dive under and pop up at the other end. To get to the start, he would fall on it's back and swim back. When he popped up, he would get his big, white paws and wipe his eyes. It was cute because he wasn't trained to do that. He was almost human.

My cousin, Josh, wanted to look at the sharks. We walked along a path and ended up underwater. We were in this room that had a big glass window. We could see all the different sharks and fish. It was amazing that the fish were swimming with the sharks and survived. There were about ten medium sized sharks and one big shark. Just as we were leaving, the big shark came up to the window and kept banging it's head on the window. It did that until a man, who was underwater, pushed his nose away.

When we were walking back to the rides, we passed a water tank, that a lot of people were putting their hands into. I thought that the people were patting dolphins but they we patting sting-rays. The tank was split into two parts. The smaller part had the little sting-rays and it had a sign that said, "Don't touch the head of the tail, only the sides". In the deeper end, the were huge sting-rays that were harder to touch because they kept on turning different directions. I stuck my hand in because I wanted to come home and tell everyone that I touched I sting-ray. When a sting-ray came by I reached out but a soon a I touched it, I pull it straight out. I did that because it was so slimy that it shocked me.

There were only two rides there, there was the Sea Viper and the Jet Rescue. I didn't go on the Sea Viper because it was closed when I got there. I went on the Jet Rescue instead. The Jet Rescue was I ride when you on jet skies and you go really fast. When it started I shut my eyes but after the first turn I open them.When we turn, it looked like we were vertical. As soon as you start it takes a picture of you, it was closing time so it didn't take any photos.
I wish we could go back again.

Our Hotel

Yesterday, I came back from Australia. We stayed in a hotel, in Surfers Paradise. The hotel is called The Equinox Sun Resort, it's right across the road from the beach and has a swimming pool. The Equinox is not a tall hotel because it is only thirteen floors high, most hotels on the Gold Coast are thirty floors high. We were on the twelfth floor so we had a great view of the beach, the pool and the tennis courts. 



  My cousins came to Australia too but we stayed for eight nights and they only stayed for four nights.We went to the pool twice a day because the temperature was up to 30ºC. On the second to last day, it was raining a lot. So dad suggested that we all get into our togs and go down to the spa. When we got down there the rain stopped and so we just played in the pool.

 






At night the pool lights turn on because the pool closes at 9:30 and it is dark then. The lights are blue and they make shadows on the pool walls, when you swim at night. At night, when you look out at the city, there are a lot of bright lights. I like looking out at the city when the sun is setting. All the street lights  and building lights makes Surfers Paradise look busy. Standing on the balcony at night made me feel like I was in a movie. But I did miss New Zealand.

Water Beds

A couple of days ago, I was wondering what a water bed is. Is it a bed that goes underwater? Is it a type of bed that a fish sleeps in? I found out that a water bed is a mattress filled with water.
My mum showed me a funny video about water beds. In Germany there is a tv show that pulls pranks on people. One of their pranks was in a bed shop and they did...

Click here to find out.

Outlook for Someday Reflections

Finally it is done, in the post up to Auckland.  In room 13, Ms T showed us a poster about a movie competition called The Outlook for Someday. The Outlook for Someday competition is a movie competition for young New Zealanders (under 24), to make a short movie about sustainability. So I went into a group with Renee, Be, Arielle and Lily. We did ours on Water Pollution. We did a news report, Be was the news reporter. She crossed over to Renee, Renee was a fish and she interviewed Arielle and Lily and they were fish too. When Renee finished, Be said that there was another report by herself and Lily(Lily was a reporter). Be said that was the end of the report. Here is our movie.

Something that I learnt from this project that I did not know before was…
* Information: When we were researching, Be found a website that tells you all about Pollution. We clicked on Water Pollution and there was a list of how long it takes for things to degrade. I didn't know that glass takes so long to degrade, that no one knows how long it takes.
* Process: When I was editing our movie, I needed to green screen so Ms T showed me how to green screen. So I learnt how to green screen. I showed a lot of people how to green screen after that.

The part of this project that was most challenging for me was…
The most challenging part of making the movie was finding the right colours for our fish because we had to green screen them. At the start we painted them yellow but then we found out that yellow is too close to green and so we had see threw fish.

The part of this project I found most rewarding was…
The most rewarding part was when Ms T put all the forms and the DVD of our movie in an envelop because then I knew it was all done, all the hard work had paid off.

The thing I need to improve on the most is…
I need to improve on thinking about what might happen when I do something, like when I painted the fish yellow and I didn't think about the green screen.

The thing I found that I am really good at is…
I think I'm good at editing movies because I helped two other groups edit their movies.

If I had to do another Outlook for Someday movie, the things I would do differently are:
Next time I will take time to make the fish better because they didn't fit their heads that well. You
could see the gaps between their heads and the fish heads.
I would also fix the sounds because they go loud and soft a bit.
I would make the editing a bit smoother. When the scenes change it is a bit jumpy.

Getting Ready for Aussie

In the holidays, my Family and I are going to Australia for a holiday. At the end of the last day of term, we are going to start getting ready. We will organise what suitcases we are going to take. The warmest it is here is the coldest it there so I will have to buy some clothes. I have been saving up some money but one New Zealand dollar is eighty cents Australian, hopefully things are cheaper in Australia. My cousins are coming too. They live in Auckland and I don't get to see them that much. I will take lots of pictures over there so I can put them on my blog.

Ki O Rahi

Room 13 have been learning a new game. It's called Ki O Rahi. Ki O Rahi is a game that was played since World War 1. Ki O Rahi was created as a peaceful way of sorting out arguments. When Ki O Rahi had been banned, rugby was introduce. During World War 2, Ki O Rahi was played again. The Maori showed other countries how to play, like Italy and France. In 2005 it was introduced to over 31000 schools in America.The first international matches were held between New Zealand and France in 2010.

Tom from Wellington City Council, taught us how to play Ki O Rahi. For Ki O Rahi, you play on a circle field, so someone mowed a big circle with little circles inside, on our field. This is what the field looks like:

The Kioma start with the ball. Someone from the Kioma team, stands in the Te Marama and throws the ball to another Kioma player, in the Pawero. The people in the Pawero throw it out to a player in the Te Ao zone. The Kioma team are trying to hit as many Pou as the can. One touch of the Pou equals one point but they can't get the points until they score a try. To score a try they need to run through the Te Roto zone and put the ball in the Te Kahaarait line. Once a try is scored, the ball starts back in the Te Marama zone and the Kioma try and get another try.
The Taniwha team, try and get the ball off the Kioma. Once they have the ball, they run up to the Te Kahaarait line and throw the ball at the Tupu. The two Kioma people in the Pawero try and stop the ball from hitting the Tupu. Once the Taniwha hit the Tupu, they try and get the ball again, and try and hit the Tupu again and again. The Te Ara zone is a zone that no one can walk on, the only time someone can walk on it, is when someone in the Te Ao zone wants to swap with someone in the Pawero.
 In this video that I made, the Green team are the Taniwha and the yellow team are the Kioma. It is a video of some of Room 13 playing and it has some voice overs of me explaining what it the aim of the game is. You should listen because it has good background music. If you Click Here it will take you to a website that has the Ki O Rahi legend and a Glossary. Here is the video about playing Ki O Rahi:

Do you like One Direction

For Statistics, in Room 13, I had to do a Tally Chart. The Question was:

Do You Like One Direction?

Yes: 11 People like One Direction.
No: 16 People don't like One Direction.

I thought more people would like One Direction because One Direction are really famous. I don't like One Direction but it is ok because everyone has their own opinion. Do you like One Direction? Please write your answer in the comment box.

Animation

At school, I make a lot of Animations, one of them is on Room 13's blog. I showed it to my younger sister(Josy) and she was inspired. At home we made an Animation of a cake getting eaten. Here it is:

 

Made By:

Josy(my younger sister)

Me(Ruby) 

and my Tiger Cake

Tiger Cake

Three Blobs

My little sister(Daisy) and my dad were watching TV and they saw a Cooking Show. On the Cooking Show, the person was making Tiger Cake. A Tiger Cake is a cake that has stripes on the inside. You need to make a normal cake but when it is already to cook, you need to split it in half. With one half you need to make it chocolate and the other half still stays the same. You put one mixture into a piping bag and put the other into another piping bag. Put a blob of one mixture in the middle of a cake tin. Grab the other piping bag and put a blob on top of the other blob. Keep doing the same until you run out of mixture. Once you put a blob on top of another it pushes the mixture out, like this:

Eighteen Blobs

Inside

After half an hour the cake was ready. It was golden with brown circles. We cut into it and it was uneven. It was brown with a little bit of yellow stripes. So if it is uneven make sure it is more yellow the brown. Here is the finished cake:

The Finished Thing

Dodge-ball Semi Finals and finals

We stood up, got ready and the whistle blew. Room 13 were playing dodge-ball against room 14. Dodge-balls were flying everywhere and I got out. After a while there was only Zac left and he was playing against about half of room 14. So you can guess who won but that is O.K because that means we are thrid equal with room fifteen. Room 15 were playing against room 10 and room 10 won. So that means room 14 and room 10 were fighting for first. Nearly the whole school were watching and cheering. Room 13 and room 15 were cheering "POUAKAI...POUAKAI!" At the end I saw a dodge-ball fly from room 14's side of the room and it hit the last player from room 10. Room 14 had won! Well done room 14. Maybe next year we will come first.

My Top 10 Glee Songs

I like glee and I like there music. Here are my top 10 favorite songs:
10:The Boy is Mine
9: We are Young
8: Its Not Right But Its O.K 
7: What Doesn't Kill Makes You Stronger
6: Rumor Has It / Someone Like You
5: Smooth Criminal
4: Shake It Out
3: Dinosaur
2: Loser Like Me
1: Hit Me With Best / One Way or Another
 If you click on the names it will take you to You Tube. I hope you like the songs like I do.

Olympic Medals

The London Olympics Sign

London Olympics

The Olympic Rings

Have you ever wondered about how many Olympic Medals all the countries have gotten these games? I went on the London Olympic website and found a chart that tells you what the tally is. Click Here to see the website. Maybe we will be the country with the most medals. Have a look at these pictures I found.

My Pet Lion

adopt your own virtual pet!

Win, Win, Win

On Friday the 29th of July, Room 13 had another game of dodge-ball against Room 3. We lined up, got ready, bent down, and then... the whistle blew. We ran! Smash, smash, dodge-balls flew everywhere! I dodged, jumped, ducked and ran to get away from the dodge-balls. In the end we won! The players the were still in had to line-up so the Sports Committee could count how many people were left. Yea, yea, yea we WON!!

 On Thursday the 2nd of August, Room 13 played a game of dodge against room 8.  It was the best game we have had in the dodge-ball inter-class competition.  About half way through, I got out.  Like the last two games... We Won!! We did our three cheers, shook hands, walked back to class and celebrated! We made to the quarter finals! I can't wait until we play another game.

More Fairy Doors

The other day, my family went for a walk to find more Fairy Doors. We went behind the boat sheds, across a small field and over a bridge. On the bridge there is another Fairy Door. It's a brown door with a yellow frame and it has a brown square in the middle. Here is the photo:

The next one we found was by a park. It is on the back of a fence. It is light blue and has a cute little handle. It also has a thing that looks like a mouth.The photo:

When we got home my dad got some old firewood from under the house. With the wood he made a little fairy door for my youngest sister, Daisy. I took a picture of it with a Pukeko beside it:

The Fairy Door Man has a website click here to see it.

Gold!!!

If you have been watching the Olympics you might know that we just got our first gold medal. We got it in rowing.It was amazing, at the start we were coming sixth and it looked like we weren't even get bronze. Then a bit later we were going for bronze. We pasted Croatia and Italy and we were going for gold! Yay we won! Gold gold gold! I can't wait till we get another gold.

First Day of School

I walked down to the car and hoped in. My mum tells me to take my bag off my back. We go down a hill, up a hill and down another hill. When we get there, I see two big white buildings with red roofs. I t was my first day of school. We walked up to my classroom, I reached out to open the door, I opened it, looked inside and.... black. I woke up, it was a dream.


Today is my first day of school and I knew it wasn't a dream. I ate my breakfast, got dressed and ran to the car. When we got to school there were kids playing outside and I asked my dad if I could join them. He said " After we meet your teacher." My teacher's name is Mrs Jones and she is really nice.


Arter school, my mum asked me what did I do at school today. I told her that we sang the alphabet and wrote our names on a big piece of paper, to put on our books. I can't wait to go to school tomorrow because I'm a big girl now.

Small to Big

Do you want to know about the stuff we can't see or how big things really are? My mum showed me this awesome website that teaches you about a lot of stuff that you might not know about.Click Here to see the website.