First Week Of Woodwork !

This week our senior block went to tech, Our group is now in wood works with Mr Grundy. We are learning how to make wood joints, so we can create pull on toys or mirrors or trucks. We are drawing the measurements and planing out designs before we start cutting wood. We are working in Mr Grundy's workshop at tamaki college. I have already drew out 6 designs and now i'm planning my final design. I'm thinking to do a truck or an mini mirror. I'll see which one I prefer next time at tech.

Children Walk For Climate Change

Millions of children from all around the world toke apart of something very important, which was a protest for global climate change. The protest is yet to be proven the biggest protest ever. People from more than 150 different countries have taken part in demonstration. Their goal is to put pressure on the governments and councils to focus more on climate issue. Plenty of children all around the world think that politicians, adults, and big companies aren't doing much to tackle climate change, and they want to be heard. The people who are taking part want the world leaders to take more action to protect the planet now.

Kayaking At Vector Wero Whitewater Park !

Today Room 8 went on a trip to Vector wero whitewater park, we got the chance to kayak with professionals and wear swimsuits. Once we all had the special gear on we had to get in a line from the shortest to tallest. The reason for that was because the instructors needed to give us the right kayak that our legs and our body could fit in. After that we got to go in the water. A Lot of people were struggling in the beginning but they got the hang of it. We had to follow the instructors all the way to the bridge. We learnt heaps from today and it was super cool.

Wellingtons Nz's Fittest City...

Wellington has been ranked the fittest city. The capital seized the title based on the public transport and the clean fresh air. American International Assurance says that people from wellington walk more and use public transport based on a public health study discharged last year. More than a quarter of all trips made by wellington between 2008 and 2014 were walking trips, the lowest rank was hamilton. According to AIA  10 percent of all deaths are caused by physical inactivity. Hopefully the whole of new zealand can get a lot more fitter and use our legs more.

Not Selling Energy Drinks To Children !

Countdown has now enforced a age restriction of buying energy drinks. You will have to be 16 and over to buy energy drinks from early september. Countdown is introducing the age restriction because of the high level of sugar and caffeine.

Energy drinks are not supposedly for young children, it also has warnings on the package. The new zealand beverage council said it was disappointed at countdowns decision. They said that energy drinks were fit to consume in moderation, and the restriction could make children crave them even more.

New Laws In New Zealand !

There had been four new laws that has been placed down on the 1st of july 2019.

Retailers selling single-use plastic bags or distributing them are officially illegal. Every supermarket to dairy will have to abide to the new law.  What is also changing will be the money people get while they're on parental leave. They will receive an extra $20 a week in their pocket.

The prime minister Jacinda Ardern recommends it to keep up with the living cost. The last two laws are an increase in the tax on petrol and landlords are required to insulate their homes.

Trip To The Tamaki Estuary !

On monday our whole school went down near the tamaki estuary at dunkirk. We looked at the direction where the rubbish comes from and where it leads. The rubbish comes from near our school than goes into the streams and leads out to the birds in the estuary. Which is very bad because it can cause a lot of birds to die when they mistake rubbish as food.

So our school walked along dunkirk rd towards the park picking up every rubbish we could spot. Even though I and winnie were walking in the back we collected heaps of rubbish the others couldn't spot. We found lots of newspaper in between the rocks and a ton of glass bottles from people drinking. We managed to make our way to the park with a lot of rubbish we found along the rocks.

I think the trip was a successful clean up, It could've been better but I reckon we did a great job.

Mrs Ferguson's Graphic Class.

Today at tech we were designing games and coming up with ideas to make them look extraordinary. We had a big piece of paper with all 4 of our ideas and designs. We had to fold the paper four times then start drawing in each square. I had an idea that we could play noughts and crosses, but instead of using a square, maybe a cat! The pieces replacing the x & o's could be a fish and a cats play ball.

Another Idea I had was to make a chess game with super villains, but I knew that was gonna take along time to print in the 3d printer. I had a lot of exciting fun designing and planning games at tech. Graphics was really nerve racking !

Queen's Birthday

Next Monday will be a public holiday. It will be the Queen of England's birthday. She will be turning 93 years old. We will not be having school on Monday!!! Which means we will be having a long weekend before we come back to school on Tuesday.
As of 2018 the Queen has been ruling for 66 years. She has been the longest monarch of England. Happy 93rd birthday for Monday, Queen Elizabeth.

Teachers Go On Strike!

Teachers across Aotearoa went on strike for better pay and better conditions. About 50'000 teachers went on strike and didn't turn up to school. Which meant that around 750'000 school students couldn't be taught anything. Most of the schools in New Zealand were unfortunately close, sadly ours as well.The ministry of education says 1,424 schools have notified the ministry that they will be closed for the strike. The government and the teachers are negotiating to decide how much they will be paid over the next 3 years. The government offered 3 percent raise for the next three years. Teachers across the country believe that's not enough.Teachers have vowed to strike again if the government doesn't give them better pay and better conditions after the mega strike.

New Phone Number For The Police!

There is now a new official phone number for the new zealand police.

The new number is for non-emergencies. If you have a non-emergency you should call 105 now. Police minister Stuart Nash hoping that kind of repetition will make the number as memorable as 111. The police have put a two million dollar marketing budget behind the phone number to ensure every New Zealander knows it and when to call it.

The new number does not replace 111, it is still the number for emergencies. If you need to report a crime which has already happened, like a burglary or property damage and there is no threat dial 105.

Now people can feel a lot safer with a new number.

Cooking Sweet & Sour Pork!!

Cooking at tech!

On Thursday Leanah and I made sweet and sour pork served with rice!

The ingredients consist of:
A 1/2 onion
A chunk of pork
1/2 of a carrot
1/3 broccoli
1/4 green and red capsicum

Teaspoon of garlic and ginger
Flour, pepper, chilli and salt (sauce)
Rice

I really liked Tech this week, it was really intriguing to cook one of my favorite meals. It was pleasant.

What We're Learning In Extension Group?

Last Thursday our extension group was learning about the history of juggling. We had a bunch of activities involving juggling, we even got to juggle some balls. One of the activities was to write a legend about how juggling started.

Another activity we had to do was writing facts about juggling from online in to our google document. I had to share with my friend Kotipi because I didn't have a chromebook, which meant I only had to do 3 facts, while she did 4. While I was doing my work, I was learning how to do a rubik's cube.


I only got to do one side before I gave up. I felt so excited I had a chance to even try. Extension is going well with our juggling topic at the moment.

Making Chop Suey At Tech

Step (1) - soak vermicelli with boiling hot water

Step (2) - slice vegetables:

• peel and slice carrot
• slice and dice broccoli
• slice and dice onion
• slice and dice pepper
• slice and dice your meat.

Step (3) - combine all ingredients and transfer  into a pan and fry until the meat turns brown.

Step (4) - add vermicelli in frying pan then add soy sauce and spices.

Step (5) - when cooked serve onto a plate and enjoy!

Keeping Your Password Safe.

Keep it to yourself.
When creating a password you have to make sure it is not easy to figure out. Passwords should be something personal or something only you know. You should be the only person that knows your password.

When other people have your password they can access your personal information and change your work. If another person has your password they can make you look like a fool on your account. So the best option is don't share passwords because you can get hacked, tricked and lose all your work. I wouldn't be happy if my account got hacked.



So if you don't want your personal work changed don't share your password!

Tech Cooking

Today at tech Leanah and I cooked baked potato pockets.

The potato pockets contained:
Sliced Onions
Cut Ham
Uncooked mince

We cooked the onions, ham and mince in the pan and stuffed them all in the potatoes. Afterwards we put the potatoes in the oven. Than we took it out of the oven and served them on the plate. Finally we got to eat the food !!!

Learning About Electricity With Vector !

Last Tuesday week  Room 12 had a visitor from Vector to educate us about how electricity is made and what electricity does when we use it.

When using electricity it can be very expensive to pay for, but Vector has found a cheaper way by using solar power. The solar panel collects power from the sun and stores the energy in a battery. The battery is saving power to use later because we children are not at home most of the time when the sun is up.

Thanks to Vector I know a lot about energy and power.

Cooking At TamakiCollege !

On Wednesday we went to Tamaki college. Our group was lucky enough to be in the cooking class with Mrs Tuipulotu. She was teaching us how to cook healthy. We made vegetable soup. Leanah and me got all our vegetables ready on our plate, so we could prepare it for the pot .

1st Step - I put 2 cups of water in the cooking pot and put it on the stove. While my collaborator was cutting the vegetables, I was waiting for the pot to boil.

2nd Step - When the pot was boiled I lowered the stove and placed the potatoes and onions in the cooking pot. While my partner cut the silver beef.

3rd Step - Then we put the other vegetables in the boiling pot with the silver beef, after slicing and dicing them.

4th Step - After it was cooked we put the food on the plate. We also had to wait for Mrs Tuipulotu to take a photo of our food.

5th step - Finally the best step!! Now we could savour our food in peace.

Start of work 2019!

2019 has begun and I am really excited be a year 8. Adjusting to our new classmates will be quite difficult, but i'm still gonna try my best. Ruapotaka had their first school assembly with the new principal, Mrs Hamilton. She's a great principal and has a positive attitude for 2019. This year now that I'm a year 8 I will be having more responsibilities, like cleaning the staffroom and ringing the bell. I am really looking forward to 2019, It's going to be a great year.