The Highwayman|Simile & Metaphor

This week for reading Mrs Anderson's group have been focusing on the poem, the Highwayman. The Highwayman was set in the 18th century (1700's) and was written Alfred Noyes. For today's task we were to make a DLO explaining what a similie and a metaphor is. We were also to put examples of simile and metaphors from the poem. An example of a similie from the Highwayman poem is: Down like a dog on the highwayman. I know this is a similie because it has the word like. A similie is a statement comparing someone or an object with another which includes the words 'as' or 'like'.  

The Feathered Hunter|5 - 7 - 10

Today for Writing Ms Kirkpatrick have set a task for us. This task was to choose our own picture from pobble 365 and write a narrative to go with the picture. I picked the Feathered Hunter which is a picture of an owl trying to catch it's prey. This story was actually about an owl getting hunted but then I tried making a twist by doing the opposite. I have written a story about an owl who tried catching it's prey (eagle). The eagle doesn't know he was getting chased, but then he noticed so he tried hiding. But at the end he was eaten by the ravenous owl. If you would like to read my whole story click here.

That Was Winter|Poem

For writing this week Ms Kirkpatrick's group have been focusing on poems. First we read a poem called That Was Summer. For this task we were to look for three important elements which were the language features, Interesting Vocabulary and the verbs. In this poem I found a lot of verbs such as running, flopped, climb, holding, stood, and walk. This poem basically talks about what happens during summer and it also uses the 5 senses which is smell, touch, sight, sound, taste. After reading this poem we were to write our own version of the poem but talking about winter. In my poem I wrote what I usually do in winter which is drink hot chocolate, sleep in bed with loads of blankets, and also watch T.V and eat soup. We were also to illustrate our poem like it was a Journal book. If you would like to read the, That Was Winter poem click here.

Why do people build bridges? Explanation

This term as you know LS2 have been focusing and learning about structures such as towers, bridges, and tunnels. So for writing Ms Kirkpatrick has set a task where we were to write why do people build bridges. This is a easy questions to answer. We build bridge so that it is easier to access other places. Why go around a river where you can go through the river on a bridge? If you would like to learn about why people build bridges click on this link.

Sentences Using Colons | Illustration

For writing today we were to complete two task. One of them was the Sensory Verb quiz and the second task was based on the use of colons. Colons are used when you are listing different things, or if your explaining or quoting something for example Who would win out of the Warriors and the Dragons?: Warriors (just guessing) or Jane wanted three of her babies named Juliet, June, and Jasmine. For this activity we were to solve out 17 different sentences that were missing the colon. We were to put the colons where they were supposed to be in the sentence. After doing all 17 we were to make a DLO on one of the sentences. I decided to choose the sentence Barry wanted to know why I didn't respond to his text: I hadn't received it. My drawing or illustration has a photo of a phone that has all the message Barry is texting his friend. As you can see he has no replies to his messages. In my perspective my drawing explains the background of the sentence I have chosen. 

Sensory Verbs Quiz

Today for writing Ms Kirkpatrick has set a quiz based on sensory verbs which are of course the 5 senses (taste,sight, touch, smell, sound). One of the quiz sentences were the soap ___ lemon. The options were out of smell like, smell, smelt, and smells like. I picked smells like which was correct. There were 11 sentences to fill out and I got them all right. This quiz was pretty easy and hope to do another one. Sensory verbs are used when your talking about an event that has the 5 senses. 

How to tell the time on an analogue clock? Explanation

For the past few weeks of writing Ms Kirkpatrick group have been writing explanation about How to tell an analogue time. A lot of people around the world have analogue clocks to help children enlarge their skill. In our days a lot of people like using digital time as it easier to tell the time. But this is not that helpful because these days some students can't tell the time on an analogue clock and this is an easy maths skill. If you would like to read my explanation of how to tell an analogue time click here.

Explanation - How Does Wi-Fi Work?

This week Ms Kirkpatrick writing group are revisiting on writing explanations. For this weeks explanation we were to write a 5 paragraph explanation on 'How Does Wifi Work?' For those who dont know Wifi is a light which does not produce heat and is invisible to the human eye. Information from a Wifi network is sent through light, and electromagnetic radiation. Although humans can not see the light, the wifi discharges just like how nuclear explosion discharges Gamma rays which of course has a very high frequency. This is only the beginning of the journey so to learn more about wifi here is the link to my explanation.

Writing|Using Punctuation to Create a Conversation

For writing this week we were to go on a text creator called Fake iPhone text Message to write a fake conversation between two peoples. First we were to write the message in the Fake iPhone text message. We weren't allowed to use any T.V show names so I decided to use Don and James. After that we were to write the message in a story format that included punctuation such as speech marks. This meant that we were to write every thing that a new person said on a new line.

She's Nice Our Teacher | A Poem Written by Judith Nicholls

This week for writing both Ms Kirkpatrick group were focusing on a poem called 'She's Nice Our Teacher' which was written by an author name Judith Nicholls who writes children books. For our task we were to read the poem and find 5 synonyms (a word that is similar to another word/e.g - kind:tender) of the word NICE. Then we were to find the joke that was in the poem which was pretty easy find. The joke was 'as long as a string'. After that we were to re-write the poem but instead find another boring and simple word to use. Jeremiah and I replaced the word NICE for LITTLE which a word new entrance kids would use.We found more interesting words to use then little like minute or elfin. I found this task enjoyable and wish to do this again with another poem. 

Setting Description - 5-7-10

The Tunnel

As I was marching along on the damp and soggy ground I heard the creaking of the forest trees and the rustling of the leaves. I strolled through the natural tunnel as it greets me. I feel the moist trees that have been sitting for centuries in this forest. I walk on the hard trunks as I hear the irritating noise of birds screaming for help as if they were attacked by a muscular animal. I smell the goodness of the forest leaves as I duck under the branches. I walk in a slothful way examining the fresh, fast flowing, river ahead of me. It feels like I have been walking for millions of hours, but this hike had only taken me thirty minutes. A large river full of fresh water was suddenly there. I glimpsed at all of the sticks from the trees floating on the river like boats skiing through side to side. There was a large bank where the water couldn’t escape, but can be used. “What are you doing you insane kid?” a man's voice whispered. I glanced back at the strange tunnel and was alarmed by the weird looking man.

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As part of writing today Mrs Kirkpatrick chose a picture that we were to write a setting description about it. We were using our 5-7-10 method that helped us improved in our writing. We were to add all of the interesting things included to make a story sound good which are hyperbole, alliteration, groups of 3, dialogue etc. As always our challenge was to write 12 sentences which was pretty hard. 

Tense Worksheet

Tense

L.I.

Identify the tense

Use the correct tense in our writing

Tense tells us when something is happening or going on. There are three main tenses: past, present, and future.

Fill in the missing words.

Past Tense	Present Tense	Future Tense
did	do	will do
forgot	forgetting	I Will forget
broke	breaking	Will break
tried	trying	Will try
hoped	hoping	shall hope
rang	ringing	will ring
speaking	speaking	will speak
wrote	writing	will write
flew	flying	Will fly
Studied	Studying	Will study
I went	going	Will go
spoke	speaking	Will speak
read	reading	Will read
ate	eating	Will eat
cried	crying	Will cry

Today as part of Writing Tamaki were filling the worksheet above which had three main tense. These three tense are Past, Present, Future tense. For example ate is the past tense, eating is the present tense and will eat is the future tense. It is important to use the right tense for a specific type of story. If your writing a recount you use past tense and if your writing a explanation you use present tense. 

5 -7-10 Character Description

A solitary life but worth it for the future

Sophia was really bored as she had a solitary childhood. She lives in a neighborhood where there were a lot of athletic kids but she just wasn’t into sports, instead she liked reading. If she had one hour of free time at home or school she would usually choose to read her favorite book Alex Rider Storm breaker. Sophia had a room full of books that weren’t for her age but she understood every word that was written. She always felt satisfied at the end of the book she read, and it always felt like a new world to her. Every time it was mufti day she would wear her captivating purple t-shirt that said ‘I Love Reading’. Since she was 5 years old she would always come home from school and would read a book that left her hooked into the story. Once she is reading, she can’t get her mind off the book. She was the only girl in her school who would go to the public library and pick 3 books that were twice as big as the ones in her school library. Although, Sophia always says to herself “I do have a solitary childhood, but it is worth it for my future”.

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Today for Writing my group (Tamaki) has been focusing on 5 - 7 - 10 character

description. Since we have been doing this for a long time we were to add a challenge

to it by writing only 12 sentences. This was a big challenge as we are always writing big
paragraphs mos of the time. I have included some mixture of compound and complex
sentences.

The Rising Of The Chairs

The Rising of the Chairs

Ricky Jay was a big,tall and penurious magician who always dreamed of making chairs and tables fly. He wore a torn magician hat trying to hide his bald. He wore filthy clothes that he wore nearly everyday. Ricky was really depressed as his dreams just hadn’t come true. One day Ricky decided to climb Mount Cook. As he reached the top he was amazed to see chairs rising up around him. He walked closely to them as they surrounded him. He took of his warm gloves as he heaved one of the chairs. He forced the chair to levitate side to side. He had a big smile on his face as his dreams were accomplished. Ricky smiled with delight and his eyes sparkled with pleasure. He couldn’t wait to burst his emotions in front of all the magicians who ridiculed him and told him he was a rubbish magician. All those practical practices he did helped him a lot to achieve his goals.

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As part of writing this week we are learning and writing descriptive stories. Today Mrs Kirkpatrick choose a picture for us to write about. We were to write at lest 12 sentences with a mix of simple, compound and complex sentences. I learnt that a Juxtaposition is when you two things are together that are not similar or the same. For example fiction (made up story) and non-fiction (real life) or hot and cold. I have wrote a short story showing what the picture is about.

The Abandoned House - 5-7-10 Descriptive Writing

The Abandoned House

Everyone in my school is talking about how scary the abandoned house at Forest Street. They think no one in our school can go into the abandoned house not even look at it. Before I could say anything, I thought to myself, ‘would I be the first kid to see the abandoned house?’. So I decided to take the journey. I was voyaging through the damped forest searching for the abandoned house. They said that there was a family of 6 who were murdered by a man name Bram Stoker who is in prison for 20 years. I trudged past the bushes and I heard creepy noises coming towards me that was getting on my nerves. I look back and It was actually the leaves rustling around. I looked at the map and the abandoned house was 1 km away from where I was. On the map it says, “Do Not Enter The”. There were no words to finish the sentences which I was so agitated about. I wasn’t too sure about entering the abandoned house because I wasn’t brave enough. I remember the phrase my dad told me ‘If you have no confidence in self, you are twice defeated in the race of life’. I finally reached the abandoned house just as the moon arrived in my sight. I opened the door slowly. I enter as a I take a quick selfie to prove to the kids in my school I actually went to the abandoned house. I look at the photo and something shocking came to my sight. There was a thin man behind me. I rapidly look back and there was no one to be seen. I think the kids in my school were right. It’s pretty creepy in here. I sprinted towards the river so I can have another look of the creepy man who was in my photo. I ran towards the city and was relieved to be back. Even though I didn’t stay long at the abandoned house I still have proof that I went there. There is also a picture to show students in my school. I thought to myself, ‘people in my school will be shock to hear what I've done’.

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Today for Writing Mrs Kirkpatrick chose a picture then we had to write a descriptive writing about the picture. The picture was based on a boy holding a map in the middle of the forest. The expectations were to use a mix of simple, compound and complex sentences. I have used all three and have highlighted it (Simple is yellow, Compound is purple, Complex is pink). We used 5-7-10 as part of writing. The 5-7-10 method is when you have 5 minutes to write as much sentences as you can about the picture. For this you don't need to worry about any spelling mistakes. Then you have 7 minutes to talk with your buddy about your story. During this 7 minutes you can use DRAFT (Delete, Rearrange, Add, Fix, Talk) to fix your story. You also use constructive feedback and feedfoward with your partner. After that you 10 minutes to finish writing your story.

Explanation - How is Chinese new year celebrated?

How is Chinese new year celebrated?

Have you ever thought about celebrating Chinese New Year? As you may know or not know Chinese New Year is defined as an ancient and recognizable Chinese celebration that is celebrated all around the world. Chinese New Year started on the 16th of February on Friday and the celebration goes on for 15 days. Although, this celebration starts with a new moon and ends with a full moon. Did you know that Chinese people make really delicious food which has an amazing background to it?

Family meet together and celebrate Chinese New Year by eating traditional foods. In addition to all the Chinese cuisine like egg rolls, noodles and shrimp it has a special means to it. In my view of this, egg roll symbolises the wealth for the coming year and also represents . Noodles is an essential meal to the Chinese culture. Did you know that noodles should not be cut because it represents long life with good health? Shrimps is a delicious dish which symbolises happiness to people. Not many people know that there are 12 animals that represent each year in Chinese New Year.  

The 12 animals that represents a year of the Chinese New Year are the Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig. This year is the year of the Dog and its element is earth. The dog represents loyalty and honesty. It is said that If you were born this year you are most likely to be loyalty and honesty just like the Dog? Meanwhile, there a decorations of dogs all over the world. There is even decorations at the bottom of the Auckland Sky Tower. Did you know that on the last day of Chinese New Year people like to celebrate their last day by having a lantern festival?

This lantern festival is celebrated on the 15th day of Chinese new year. They celebrate this festival by lighting lanterns and having big parades lead by people dressed in tradition costumes. They also wear dragon and lion outfits and they dance in the parade. The lantern festival gives good luck and long life to all people around the world. One reason why people celebrate lantern festival is to give respect and attention for those people who have pass away in the Chinese culture. This an amazing event that happens all around world and is well-known.

Finally I have come to an end. Chinese New Year is a special and popular celebration where there is full of happiness and excitement. This is a time where families and friends gather together and eat all their delicious foods. This all links back to the egg rolls, shrimps and noodles. Chinese New Year has been around for a long time and has been an amazing event. Hung Hei Fat Choi everyone (which means Happy New Year).

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On the 16th of February was the start of the Chinese year and as part of our writing task we wrote a explanation about how Chinese New Year is celebrated around the world. I have worked collaboratively with Joshua and we've worked well. Our explanation had to include some of the literacy devices like simple, compound and complex sentences. We have included these literacy devices using FANBOYS and AAAWWUBBIS. First before writing anything we watched a short video about how it all started. We wrote notes and had to discuss our ideas with our buddies. We wrote down all the food they ate, the lantern festival, the race of the 12 animals and the monster name Nian who tried to scare villagers a long time ago. I learnt that on the 15th day of Chinese new year there is a lantern festival that people attend all over the world.

Explanation - Morning Routine

Morning Routine

Key Points

• Say my morning pray for the day
• Go to the shower
• Have breakfast
• Leave to school

Waking up is not easy, because when you wake up you just want to go back to sleep because you're in your warm and cosy bed. For me having a morning routine for the day pushes me to get ready quickly and leave to school early. There a certain things I do before leaving school which I do in a hurry. I will explain to how this is done every morning.

Firstly I wake up at 6:30 and start with my morning prayer. My prayer is one of the essentials  of my day. I sit up with my hand together and close my eyes. I say my Tongan prayer and then say my English prayer. After saying my prayer I go straight to the shower.

Going for a shower relaxes me and refreshes my mind for a new busy day. I turn my water to warm since it is really cold in the morning. I shower for 5 to 10 minutes because I’m always in a hurry. I use this time wisely and make sure I brush my teeth and wash my face. After showering I get changed into my school clothes and put my badges on. After that breakfast is next.

Having breakfast is one of my best things of my routine. For breakfast I usually have Crunchy cereal. It’s really crunchy like eating millions of walnuts. If it’s an Inter School sports day I usually have weet-bix because its healthy and gives me energy for the sports day. After eating breakfast I put my lunch box and computer in my bag. Now it’s time to leave home. I normally leave home at 8:00. For me I’m always concerned about the time. So if it is past 8:00 I sometimes walk.  When I get to school I play basketball since that’s the only enjoyable sport to play when coming to school.

Like I have told you waking up is not easy, but I have to do it. Having an alarm will alert me to wake up and start my morning routine. My morning routine has been around for many of my school years, especially during my senior years. I am always willing to be at school early so I can have a great education.

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For writing we have been pretty busy learning and creating explanations. First before writing anything we went over the structure and the language features of an explanation. I learnt that in an explanation there has to be title (e.g how does a biathlon work?) Introduction, Paragraphs, and the conclusion. I also learnt the language features of an explanation includes similes ( a sentences that has the word like or as) , onomatopoeia (words that include sounds that are alike to the noises the word refers) ,verbs (action word), past tense (walk) etc. For our explanation text we either had to writer about our morning routine or how we walk to school. I decided to write about my morning routine. I have a really simple morning routine.

Can You Guess What I Did Over The Summer Holidays?

L.I. - Writing to recount

Writing using language features to engage readers

Complete these sentences about an event over the summer holiday.
Don’t tell us what the event was just give us enough information that we can know for ourselves.

I wondered if the bouncy castle is on today, although I do not want to get caught doing mischievous things on it.

I saw one lifeguards looking at me like a spying camera.

I heard multitudes of splashes around the center.

I heard girls screeching like a bunch of falcons and boys bombing like whales.

I felt the coldness of the water splash to my back.

I felt the water slithering around my body.

I wondered if the girl’s screeching would ever end.

During the holidays I did some pretty fun things. My favorite thing about the summer holidays was going to a camp site. I went to Rotorua and went to a camp site name Tui Ridge. The problem was that there were no internet so we did a lot of walking around the place. As part of our writing task we had to write a recount with seven sentences (for each senses) about one thing we did in the holidays. Can you guess what I did over the summer holiday. The recount describes shows you what I did but I didn't tell. For this task we had to use literacy devices like onomatopoeia, metaphor, similes etc. I have used some literacy devices like compound and complex sentences. I also had to illustrate what I did in the holidays. Above shows you my illustrated drawing. Remember to Guess what I did over the summer holiday. Good Luck.

Explanation - How Children Learn at School

Are you aware that children watch and copy other people? Learning is important for children because they are going to grow up and become adults. Children ask a lot of questions, talk and have fun this helps them to learn and experience as they grow. 

Firstly, children copy what they see. They copy things from other people, television and especially their parents. They are awesome observers and this will help their imagination grow. They often follow a certain role model. They listen to things that they are highly interested in. Kids also have a lot of energy.

Kids have a lot of energy and they use this energy to play with friends ad talk. They have numerous ways to play and have fun. When they play it helps them to gain more experience in the environment they are in. Children also ask plenty of questions.

Children ask questions when there confused. They take a lot of risk when they ask questions. They ask questions to help them understand. When they ask questions they improve the skill that there learning about.

Learning is vital for children because they be our next generation. Children will take risk and make mistakes. They will learn with and from each other.

This week for writing we have been practicing how to write an explanation about how children learn at school. Before writing we planned our explanation so we knew what to write in our text. Sylis and I were partners. We both worked collaboratively together to finish our work. We learnt that in an Explanation there has to be a Title, an Introduction which has a hook like a rhetorical question, Paragraph 1 2 3 and the Conclusion. The writing above shows you the explanation we wrote.

Camels - Explanation

Ofa - How the camel has adapted to surviving in the desert?

Introduction

Have you ever heard of a camel. “What is a camel”. Well a camel is a mammal with a very large neck that lives in a desert. They live in the desert because they are adapted to living in a hot and dry place. Adapt means when an animal makes changes so it can live healthy at it’s place.  Today I am going to tell you the six adaptation that a camel has why it has it.

Thick Lips & Thick Thur

First I will be talking about it’s thick lips and why it has a thick lip. Camels have thick lips so they can eat the spiky and prickly plants without feeling hurt or pain. Camels also have thick fur which gives them warmth during cold desert nights. They have thick furs to protect them from getting burn as well.

Eye, Ears and Nostrils

Secondly we will be talking about what their eyes, ears and nostrils have to protect them. Camels have eyelashes around their eyes so they can can defend themselves from any sandstorm disaster and also the sun. Camels also have hairs in their ears and nostrils so it can protect them from the sandstorm as well. These parts of the body really need hair.

Feet

Next we will be talking about the camel's feet. Camels have wide feet so they can walk and move easily on the sand. The camel's feet contains pads so it can secure it from the hot sand. The pads also protects them from sinking into the sand. Did you know that when they place their feet on the ground the pads spread out which makes its feet wide. I think the pads are really vital to camels.

Diet

Lastly the food they eat. Camels have one or two humps. Inside the humps are fat which can be used for food. Did you know that Camels eat salt bushes, dry plants, huge thorns and bones. When camels are thirsty they drink water from the cactus. Not many people know that Camels can drink up to 46 litres of water in one whole session. Interestingly camels can go up to 30 days without water.  

Camels have changed throughout the years but will stall enjoy the hot and parched desert.

This term for writing we have been learning how to write an explanation. First we wrote down all the ideas of what a explanation has. I learnt that an explanation has to have present tense words for example the present tense word for slept is sleep. After writing all the ideas down we decided to write an explanation about how the camels has adapted to surviving in the desert. One interesting fact that I learnt about Camels is that camels live up to 40-50 years long.