Strike Day!

As part of our focus for the week, we had to show two facts and give our own opinion on what we think about the strike day!  Here's a short film showing our facts and opinion about the strike day. 

Fact or Opinion

WALT: I will read across texts and media to form my own opinion on the current teacher strikes For this weeks topic we have been focusing on the strike day, which was held on monday. We had to share our opinions on what we think about that day.

Life without trees

Beneath the shady tree

Who likes to lie with me

With my foot stomping on the ground

And my head in the sky

While the tall tree watches the clouds go by

I realised what is it like without trees

Standing still thinking about the question

Over and over again

Without a tree there's no shade to rest our tired heads

Closing my eyes scared to think if this world had no trees

They will be no fruits, fruits sweeter than a chocolate bar

Without a tree there will be nothing

To protect us from the noise nearby.

Test Result

WALT: Ask questions to help my understanding of others mathematical thinking.

Strike day!

More time to teach

Enough is Enough!  We need more with our teachers, without having students interrupting my one on one time with her/him.  We need more teachers at several schools because us students cannot learn anything, if there’s thirty other kids in one classroom.  For an example my teacher, Mrs Tele’a. She can never teach us anything. Without having to stop to talk to students, that has been sent here, for something they shouldn’t be doing.  Rather than writing reports about one student, teachers should focus more about their students learning.

Resourcing for additional needs
Different classes in Aotearoa have the same issues of teaching there rare students. By rare teachers have a difficult time teaching students, that don’t usually concentrate. My opinion to this topic is that we should have more teachers, to help our fellow students that are in need.  Students that are need, need extra help to catch up with the rest of the class. So that way students in need don’t find it difficult to learn, instead they can have more time with the teachers.

Better pay
Teachers need better pay! From my point of view I think teachers that have been here for over ten years, should get better pay than teachers that are coming now. Why? That because I think they deserve more than what they usually get. So overall my thoughts about this paragraph, is that we should get better pay. And have a lot more respect on how they work.

Conclusion.
So there you have it, here are my three reasons of why Strike day is so important. Teachers should have more time learning there kids, instead of having to write a reports about each person in a class. We should have more teachers in one classroom, because it is way easier for the people that are in need. Last, teachers should get more pay, than they usually get. Strike day is a really important thing in Aotearoa because its a message to the government, to get more teacher! So there you have it, I hope you understand how important this is to us.

Ned's Kindness Adventure!

This morning we had special visitors that came to our school, to talk to the whole school about something special.  Can you guess who it is? if you guessed ned your right. Ned also came with a friend called Cosmo, they’ve only been in New Zealand once, and visiting for a week. They are here to talk to us about how there adventure was in Kenya.

There first topic they talked about was about our superhero powers, which is our smiles.  He had heaps of reasons why our smile can change the world, for an example smile doesn’t just make people happy.  but it also brings everyone together. One of his quotes that stood out to me the most was that “Smiles break down walls”.  The reason to it is because it can bring people a happier life.

Then he started talking about the matters of other people, and what it means to care for others. He listed five things they weren’t just normal quotes, but they were important quotes for us kids to remember.  just by saying one little thing it can cheer someone up. The five things he listed down were, Different can be good, Include others, caring is cool and also each person matters a lot. Out of those five quotes only one of them stood out to me the most.  That quote was the last one which was, each person matters, because I feel like everyone should treat them as how you would want to be treated.

In every country we all know that there's languages that they speak.  In Kenya they have their own way of speaking their languages, where here in New Zealand we also speak different languages.  But most of us prefer to speak English because we are able to understand it. Whatever culture you are or whatever language you speak at home, feel free to express it around the world.  It’s a way to communicate to people that understand what your saying. I like to try new things, and I am willing to learn how to speak more than two languages. One of the languages I would like to learn is actually Filipino, I enjoy watching a lot of Filipino movies in my spare time.  I’ve never been to the Philippines but maybe in the future I could explore the Philippines, one day!

He then talks about the education, and compares the time we wake up and the time the students in Kenya wakes up.  Here in New Zealand we usually wake up at 7:00 or 7:30, but in Kenya its a lot different. Because students in Kenya wake up at 5:00am, every single day just for school.  My question is, Why is it that they wake up so early then we do? Is it because they live so far from where school is? As you all may know I attend Pt England School, and I only live a few blocks away from where school is.  But it’s a bit different for us seniors, we start a bit earlier than the younger students do. That because we need to prepare for the day.

It was a really good experience to know the difference, between the students here New Zealand and the students in Kenya.  It was also really good to know the five importance, of how to be kind to other people. How smiles can change the world. You can speak whatever language you would like to speak.  And the differences between the kids in Kenya wake up, and when the kids in Aotearoa wake up. I hope some of these things can help you, to be kind to others.

Welcome back Mrs Tele'a

Dear Mrs Tele’a,

My Name is Samoa Koloa and I am 12 years of age. I was born here in Auckland New Zealand, but my nationality is Tongan. I only have one sibling and I am the youngest child in my family. One of my favourite things to do in my spare time is to spend time with my friends and family.

My favourite sports of all times are Rugby, but I also enjoy playing Netball, Softball and Touch. This year will be my last year attending Pt England School. Right now I am currently a Prefect and a year 8 leader of the school, and hoping to achieve more as the year goes.

One of my favourite subject to do at school is Maths, I really enjoy working out problems that are difficult to solve, because it helps me to achieve more in my learning. One of the things I dislike at school is not getting my work finished on time. I also don’t like getting distracted by my classmate while working. Next time I will need to be more focus while doing my work.

I hope that your class and your students comfort you and make you feel welcome. As the year goes I hope that you enjoy your time here in room three. I hope your student's in room three treats you well, and I can't wait to be spending time with you for the next two terms.

Letter to the Pak n Save Manager of Glen Innes

Samoa and Kerstein

130 Point England Road

Glen Innes

Auckland 1072

19th March 2018 Monday

Dear, Manager of glen Innes Pak N Save.

Malo e lelei Manager of Glen Innes Pak N Save,

Our name are Samoa and Kerstein we are both year 8 students at Pt England School. We are very excited to be writing this letter to you. we are writing this letter to let you know that you should think about getting rid of your plastic bags. Kerstein and I have a lot of reasons on why you should get rid of plastic bag, and why we think it is bad for our environment.

Why is it bad to have plastic bags in our environment? Yes why? Well one of our first reasons on why you should consider getting rid of you plastic bags is because plastic bags do not just pollute, but they also affect our water in this land. You might have noticed that plastic bags are not heavy, but they are lightweight so they can float anywhere in the world, which is not good. These plastic can also end up in the trees, fences and also the river!

The second reason why you should get rid of plastic bags is because it is not that easy to recycle. The reason why it is not easy to recycle plastic bags is like, what we just said in our first reason, because it is not heavy but they are lightweight, so they can travel anyway in the world. You never know where the paper might end up, it could end up in the river if you don’t recycle them. Fun fact, the recycling rate for the plastic bags is around 5%.

Last but not least our last reason on why you should ban plastic bags in your store is because, plastic bags are everywhere. For an example your walking to school and you see a bunch on plastic bags, just sitting there floating everywhere. If every store in New Zealand banned plastic bags, then we think it is easier for you managers, because plastic bags are not for free, so you will have to pay for it. If you banned having plastic bags in your stores then you wouldn’t have to worry about getting plastic bags every time you run out.

It has now come to an end to our letter, we are both glad to be writing this letter to the manager of Pak n Save. Kerstein and I have enjoyed writing this letter to you. We hope that our reasons to you were clear for you to read it, and possibly considering to banning the plastic bags.

Pascal's Triangle

This is a pascal's triangle, there are patterns, which patterns can you see? The patterns I could see are all the numbers on the side are all ones. The Numbers I shaded in are the numbers that are uneven. I first added all the numbers in each line and wrote the numbers that equal that numbers on each row. 

Persuasive writing

This morning we had to complete a presentation about what we think Persuasive writing means. And this is what I have created on my presentation. We had to highlight yellow if we think we agree, and highlight red if we think we do not agree. We then had to give our reason of why we think its the key point.

Persuasive Word Cloud

This week we have been learning about persuasive writing and giving our own thoughts about what we think! First we had to make a doc and write all the ideas we think Persuasive means. Then we had to copy and paste all the words we have wrote and make a word cloud. And so this is what I have Created.

Reflection of 2017

It’s that time of the year where the year 8’s head off to college and, the year 7’s become the leaders of the school. I’m a year 7 student and next year I will be leading the school and setting the examples for the younger students.

One of the things i’m most proud of 2017 is getting to know people and also building my confidence, while i’m in team 5. The other thing i’m most proud of is being announced as a prefect for 2018. I am looking forward to be leading the school as a prefect!

An important lessons I have learned throughout this year is, “ACHIEVE YOUR PERSONAL BEST”! What do you think achieve your personal best means to you? Personally for me I think it means to never give up with your learning, and also give everything a go! Like Sports, for an example you want to get the try, but you don’t quite know how to. JUST GIVE IT A GO!

I hope that next year I could focus on finishing my work and never getting distracted by my friends. I will always get distracted by my friends and part of that is because we always sit next to each other. So my goal for next year is to never get distracted by other people and, sit next to people that wouldn’t distract me.

If I come across challenges I will always remember to “Never give up”. I have one more year until I will be heading off to college, so i’m making the most of my time in intermediate.

I am looking forward to being leaders of the schools, and looking after the ones younger than me. I am so grateful to have a beautiful mother who loves and cares for me. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for my mother. And also to my teachers who have taught me over the past years, I would like to thank you guys as well! Last but not least I would like to thank my family for always encouraging me to try my best at school! I can not wait for 2018!

Perspectives and opinions

Last week Tonga and England played against Each other! It was one of the toughest game iv'e seen. It was the Semi finals to see who will play against Australia. This game was held at Mt Smart Stadium in Auckland. It was one of the biggest crowd we've seen ever since 22 years ago! 

Mate Ma'a Tonga Letter

Dear Mate Ma’a Tonga Team,

First of all I would like to congratulate you all on making it through the semi finals against England. It was one of the toughest match, but it was a really good game to watch! I know how much this meant for all of yous but look on the bright side, yous made it to the semi finals. That’s something right! Even though we didn’t get the result we all wanted, at least you had a big crowd supporting your from the sideline, and also around the world! You made all the fans pray for you and also crying with happiness when they see yous.

I have learnt a lot about the supporters and how much they had faith in the Mate Ma’a Tonga team! I have also learnt a lot about myself and also to keep going and never give up even when things get tough! What I enjoyed the most was when yous made a comeback in the second half against England. Most of us had no faith in yous but then yous all worked as a team. I enjoyed the teamwork yous put on the field, it inspired the little kids to be like yous. I didn’t even know there was that much tongans in Auckland until now! Your team made a lot of people proud, especially the King who came from Tonga to watch the semi finals! I’m pretty sure he was very proud of yous! Congratulation once again boys! Otua Mo Tonga Ko Hoku Tofia!

Your Sincerely,

Samoa

What it means to be a good role model?

Have you ever been recognised by someone as being a good role model? Or maybe you had someone in your life who has taught you how to become a really good role model? If you have absolutely no idea what i’m talking about, then follow my steps on how to become a good role model!

Well, being a good role model is someone who is always Confident in themselves and always positive. You wouldn’t want someone who always tries to put you down. For an example my friend Sabrina. She is always there for me even when i’m feeling sad. But most of the times she is always Encouraging me to do my personal best! Sabrina does anything to make me have a smile on my face everyday. A really good role model is somebody who is always there by your side even when things gets tough. And That is what a good role model should look like!

Another way to be a good role model is to always show respect to people around you. If your not showing respect then that’s just telling people that can not handle being a good role model. If you're stuck with an equation, but your teacher is talking to another student. What should you do? First you should wait for their conversation to finish and then you may ask your teacher for help. Treat others as you wanted to be treated! That is another way to be a good role model!

What I was trying to tell you is that a role model is somebody you would look up to forever. if you didn’t understand what I was trying to say then maybe read one more time to get the idea. And there you have it if you have followed my steps on how to become a good role model, then maybe one day you will be recognised a one.

Fractions

Farming Flounder with kauri flats

Who else likes to eat flounders? I’m not a fan of eating flounders, but I know my family loves to eat flounders. This morning the whole pt england school walked to riverside ave to catch some Flounders. And yes we are not eating it but we are to farm the flounders. We are in partnership with Kauri flats.

Today in the morning all of the students from Pt England School all walked to riverside ave to catch Flounders. Why? So that when they grow we could put them back in the ocean. That because back in the days we had a lot of flounders, but nowadays we are getting less flounders then we had back in the days. We have caught over 20 flounders, which is pretty awesome!

When we got to our destination, Judah started off with a Karakia (Prayer), we then sang a Himene (Hymn), to bless the students and teachers catching flounders. We then shouted some words to entertain the flounder team. They will be placed in a special flounder tank where we could keep them safe and will take care of them until they grow, and then we will put them back where they belong.

We are looking forward to seeing them grow, we would also like to congratulate the flounder team.

Aim's ll 7's Boys come back with a gold medal

My Journey to the Manaiakalani

Every year Pt England School takes part in the film festival, that is run by Manaiakalani. Today I will be talking to you about my experience with the film festival this year. Every class from Pt England School has to come up with a movie that is only 3 minutes long, and I got to say that filming a movie that has to be 3 minutes long is pretty hard to film. 

Filming a movie is challenging because sometimes you have to control your laugh and sometimes when it comes to a serious scene you have to act like your angry or even sad. Trying not to laugh is one of the things I find difficult, because looking at the person right in front of you will just make you laugh out of no where. Whenever I look at someone and I am filming I also tend to laugh. 

Trying to learn your lines is really hard. For an example when your an Main characters and you have a lot of things to say and you are always in every scene is pretty hard to remember. If I had to be a main character I would rather practise every day until I remember all my lines. that What I would do!! 

Cross Country Highlight

After all those trainings, It’s the event we’ve been waiting for. Yes that’s right last friday we had our fun run. Team 5 has been training everyday for nearly two months, to achieve our personal best. The day before the cross country we have been running everyday, even when it was raining.

There were four house colours, Hikianalia, Hine Moana, te Aurere and last but not least Hokule'a. My House colour was Hokule'a. Not to get cocky but I have a chance that we may come first. I put on my P.E top, and that was when I knew I was going to run two whole laps. As I got out of my classroom All I could see was bright colours filled on the netball court. It was getting close to the year 7 girl’s, and that was when I started to get butterflies.

It was my turn to run. I got up and my leg started shaking, I started to get butterflies and couldn’t stop talking about how nervous I was to run. As we all stood in a line I started to panic, and was almost about to throw up. He said “Set”, my leg started to shake even more, then he said go I started to sprint. To be honest my plan was to sprint all the way to the black gate then stop. I know that most of yous would’ve did the same as well.

It was so Awesome to see all the whanau, the parent and also seeing the spark helpers to come and support our cross country. As I was running all I could see was teachers and helpers supporting every student to “Never Give up”. As they said told me to never give up I tried to keep running till I get to the finish line. I nearly got to the finish line, So I kept running until I finish the race. I was so proud of myself because I completed the race, and that was one of the things I tried to do, from the start.

So there you have, this was the highlight of PES Cross country. Here is a advice about not wagging school just because you either have cross country or athletics. Here is another tip for you, and that is to NEVER GIVE UP!