Word of the week

Word of the week: Excruciating

Type of word: Adjective

Synonyms: Painful, Extreme

Meaning: Intensely painful

Image

Riding my scooter, wossshhhhhh. I fell of and hit my head;I was in excruciating pain.

Weekly reflection

My Question Master

1.What did Hunter request to be ready in half an hour ?

The pigeons

2. How far away was the runner from where they stood?

50 Yards

3. What time had Bones and the runner been sent to the B company?

10 o'clock

4. How many times did Hunter look up and down the canal ?

About 100 times

5. What was wrong with Bone’s eyes ?

They were all gooey.

Word of the week

Word of the week: Matariki

Type of word:  Noun

Synonyms: Pleiades

Meaning: A Maori name for a cluster of stars, also known as Pleiades. It also symbolizes the Seven Sisters and the start of the Maori new year.

The stars glisten bright on the horizon. Curled up in a blanket my whanau and I sit on the beach, eyes fixed to the stars of Matariki.

Word of the week

Word of the week: Catastrophe

Meaning : Something causing great damage or suffering. In other words a disaster

Synonym : Devastation

Antonyms: Good Fortune  
Type of word: Noun

It was an absolute catastrophe, we ran out of bacon!

My Weekly Reflection

Alyson's Weekly Reflection

Word of the week

Word of the week: Spectacular

Meaning: Beautiful in a dramatic way.

Synonym: Marvelous

Antonyms: Inferior  

Type of word: Adjective

Tossing and turning restlessly trying to get to sleep. T-9 hours. When I wake up I jump and sprint to the kitchen. It was a spectacular sight  pancakes and bacon for everyone!

  

  

Weekly Reflection

Current Events:New Zealand Book Awards

A novel following 2 children living in Germany during the war has won the top fiction prize at the New Zealand Book Awards. Ngaruawahia based author Catherine Chidgey has been awarded $50 000 Acorn Foundation fictional prize for her novel. The Wish Child. It took Catherine 13 years to write. “The book took me a long, long time to write and changed a lot over that period, so I’m just so pleased and relieved that I stuck with it and made it the book that I want it to be, Catherine said.  Some of the other nominations were Billy Bird by Emma Neale, A Briefcase, Two Pies and a Penthouse Brannavan Gnanalingam and many more.
Source: Kiwi Kids News
2 words
1: Ngaruawahia: Is a town Ngāruawāhia is a town in the Waikato region of the North Island of New Zealand. It is located 20 km north-west of Hamilton.
2: Novel:A fictitious prose narrative of book length, typically representing character and action with some degree of realism.

SCIENCE

My IE Reflection

Current Events: Worlds Oldest Family

The Donnelly family from Northern Ireland have been awarded the title of the worlds oldest family with combined ages.  The 13 brothers and sisters, Sean (93), Maureen (92), Eileen (90), Peter (87), Mairead (86), Rose (85), Tony (83), Terry (81), Seamus (80), Brian (76), Kathleen (75), Colm (73) and Leo (72). All together they're 1073.  On the day of the day of the celebration it was also emotional occasion as the idea was of the youngest sibling Austin Donnelly who sadly died in 2015.

They are children of Peter and Ellen Donnelly. Although Peter was a father to 16 children he was an only child himself while their Mum Ellen was 1 of 14. Peter was a very successful farmer and entrepreneur. He had a very successful Apple farm. He was one of the first people in Northern Ireland to have a tractor and to have a secure license to export apples and Potatoes to the UK.  
Source: Kiwi Kids News
3 words
1: Entrepreneur
A person who sets up a business or businesses, taking on financial risks in the hope of profit.

2: Export
Send (goods or services) to another country for sale.

3: Secure
Fix or attach (something) firmly so that it cannot be moved or lost.

My Opinion: I think it is really cool that they have this record, I think my family wouldn't beat it though.

Current Events: Whakapapa gets snow machine!

Snow is already falling for the people in Happy Valley NZ. It's flying of peeks into pure white snow on top of  Mt Ruapehu. The new snow machine is one of the only 10 machines in the world. The 1.5 million German made machine can make it snow in any types of weather conditions however if the use a normal snow machine it wound have to be mins 2 degrees. The machine can produce 220 cubic Meters  which is enough snow that could bury your house. 

Source: Kiwi Kids News 

Cubic Meter: A way of measuring.  

My Opinion: I think this could be a great asset to New Zealand. 

Hauraki Plains Netball Representative

A photo we got with Alex!! 😀

On Saturday I trialed for the Year 8 Hauraki plains Rep team. I had to wake up semiyearly so I could get ready for my trial. When we got down there we saw Magic player Alex MacLeod Smith. A couple months ago we watched the Magic play the Mystics, we were getting a photo with Bailey Mes and Alex photo bombed. I said to Lara I think that's our photo bomber and it turns out it was. Alex had the job of warming us up. She got us to jun on the baseline and run to the end and a back a couple of times. The we did some stretches then played netball tag. Netball tag is when you are playing netball rules but you need to tag the opposition by touching them with the ball gently. After that it was time for us to trial. When we trialed they put me in Gs and GA. I personally didn’t think that I was going to get in because I felt like that trial wasn’t my best.

Today when I arrived at school my friends told me that the rep teams were up and to look at them. I found out that I got into the rep team. Most of the girls in my team I already play with some I think that could be a bonus. Being in reps it requires you to travel to different tournaments in different towns to play different teams. Last year some of the tournaments we played were Matamata, Taupo, Waihi, Thames, Ngatea and Morrinsville. We should be playing at some of the same tournaments as last year. I hope we end up having a really good season. One goal I want to try and achieve is to win 1 game because last year we couldn’t win 1 game. I’m so excited to be in the rep team and I can’t wait until we start playing.

Winter Sport

Netball

This year for my winter sport I am playing netball. I have been playing netball since I was 5 for the school. I play GA, WA, GS. I trialed at the end of last term and got into Ngatea 1. After the holidays we had our first training on the Monday back at school. I personally think that we have started to gel as a team quicker than last year. We had our first 2 games on Wednesday night. This week and next week is grading. We have to play all the teams in our age division to see who we will play in the long run. After school we headed to the courts and got our hoodies and got into our gear. We got the choice if we wanted to order a hoodie and if we did we got to pick a name to have on the back. I choose to had Hoody since my last name is Hood. We also watched some of the younger kids play while we were waiting for our coach. 

Rachel started to warm us up by jumping on the line and running. We started to do stretches such as tip toe, which is when you are on your very tippy toes with you arm high above your head and walking along slowly to stretch your calves. We did grape vine and a few more as well. When Ange got there we started to do some passing. Then Holly and I went and warmed up our shooting arms. We we got handed our bibs I found out I was playing GS. Our first game was against Combined 2, we beat them 23-0. We had a bit of time in between our 2 games so we went into the club rooms and chilled in there. We warmed up again for our net game. This time we were playing Kerepahi 1. I found this game a bit harder because they had a Gk that was a little late on getting the intercept so I got knocked quite a bit. However I still shot a few goals. On the 2nd half I was off so I had a bit of time to rest. We won 19-0. We we went home I had a nice hot shower to rest my muscles. I cant wait till next week when we play again. 

Current Events: The Treaty of Waitangi moved

The Treaty of Waitangi has been moved to a new home with tight security. The 177 year old document along with the piece of paper marking the Declaration of independence of the united Tribes of New Zealand and the women's suffrage Petition. They were shifted from Archives New Zealand to the National Library in Wellington. A pūtātara sounded at 4 am outside the Archives Building to mark the start of the move from the 27 year home to their new whare. Some of the staff carried the three fragile documents in specially prepared cases. Four warriors led the truck down the road 200m to the library with elders from iwi nationwide following behind. They were also voicing a karakia. The document will be part of a new exhibition at the library. 

Source: Kiwi Kids News 

3 words 

• Whare: A communal house for Maori people.
• Exhibition : A public display of art or items of interest. 
• Petition: A formal written request, typically one signed by many people. 

My Opinion 

I think that it is good change and that it was quite amazing the way they chose to move the documents. 

Current Events: Flooding in Edgecumbe

The whole town of Edgecumbe in the North Island has been evacuated. After all the flooding 2000 people have had to evacuate. Flood waters have affected about 600 homes in the town. Tractors and boats have helped to take people to safety. The rain from Cyclone Debbie has cause the Rangitaki river to burst it's banks. Meteorologists have said that the weather is a once in 500 years event.  In Edgecumbe the water has been told to be 2 metres high in some areas. Police have been saying that they will patrol the evacuated areas and have put some barriers into place to prevent residents returning. Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett said the message from the authorities was to " get out and stay out". The storm has also hitting the South Island as well. Kaikoura was cut of by the earthquake in November and is once isolated again because landslides have blocked some roads.
Source: Kiwi Kids News
3 words

• Deputy: A person to take over after the head person. 
• Meteorologists: An expert in weather. 
• Barriers : A fence or an obstacle to prevent movement or access

My opinion : Where I am from I thought it hit really hard however compared to other towns it wasn't as bad. I feel really sorry for the residents in Kaikoura and Edgecumbe because there is a chance they can lose their houses.

I wonder: What causes a cyclone and how do they name them?

The Earthquake

I have been writing this story for a little while and I really wanted to share it so here it is. It's not quite done yet but i'll give you guys a taster.

It’s a big day for me because today I get to go to fly around the country side. I haven’t been able to sleep in days, i’m just so excited. Papa called me for breakfast. He had made me some bacon and eggs on toast, yumm. I grab out a glass and pour myself a drink of orange juice. I climb up onto the stool, my legs dangling down. Once  I eat up all my breakfast I go to my room and get changed. I put on my denim shorts, stripy t-shirt and my bright pink jacket. I go and sit in the living room and put on the television. I flop onto the couch. I have 3 more hours to wait.

I start watching Red Dog a movie about a dog in Australia who travels around the world in search of his master. I hear the door open and in comes my dog, …. He jumps up onto the couch and snuggles up next to me. Papa brought me …. when I was 6. He was a little puppy, he had short stubby legs and a short body that was close to the ground. Papa was outside mowing the lawns so I decided to make some fresh lemonade.  I take out the jug and 2 glasses. The lawn mower starts to slow down and Papa comes towards me. “I was just thinking a glass of lemonade was just what I needed”. “I must be a mind reader then aye” I grin at Papa. I take a sip of the lemonade and it was so sour I spat it out. Not enough sugar? I ask Papa. Not enough he says after he spits out his. I laugh. I head back inside and Papa gets back to mowing the lawns.

All of sudden I hear a huge rumble. I looks around and everything is shaking ,EARTHQUAKE I scream Papa runs inside and shuts the door, he told me to follow him I do as I am told and follow him closely behind. We head into his closet. Why are we going in here I asked. It’s a secret shelter to keep us safe during Earthquakes, Tsunamis and even bomb attacks. I climb down the last flight of stairs all I can see is Water and Tuna, Cards, a small radio, books, blankets and a little toilet out the back. Papa I’m scared I cry. He pulls me into a hug “ Everything will be alright” he says. I calm myself down and Papa turns on the radio.

Current events: Train goes through apartment building in China

China has some of the fastest growing cities in the world. Their population is sky rocketing. Since their population is growing they have had trouble picking where to lay their train tracks. There is some really high buildings around so that can make it an issue too. Engineers came up with an idea to put a railway line  through a block of apartments.  You'd think that it would be really noisy but engineers came up with an idea to make the noise less powering.  It is supposed only make the noise of a dishwasher. A bonus for those living in the building can actually catch the train from your building. 

Source: Kiwi Kids News 

3 words 
1 Engineers: a person who designs and builds machines and structure 
2 Train : A series of connected railway carriages or wagons moved by locomotive. 
3: Population: Is the number of the people in the country. 

My opinion: I think this is really cool and quite smart because it's using space extremely well. 

I wonder: How long does it take to build the railways in the apartments.