Today we had Thinker Key Cards. Darryn was doing the Brainstorming key, Katie was doing the Ridiculous key, and Alana was doing the Variations key. We only got to rotate once so I missed out on Alana, (ohhh). The first thing we had to discuss in Katie's one was, 'What if every county had the same times'. The little twist was you were only allowed to say positives to the question. One of the good ideas for this was at least on Facebook or emailing someone, you wouldn't have a delayed response. At Darryn's one we had to brainstorm the ideas for it. Hannah and I picked "Use other materials to make clothes". Some of the ones I came up with were: Meat, paper and Money.
I don't know about you, but I would love a money dress!!

This is the Nisshin Maru, the Japanese factory ship

Today a guest speaker came and talked to us. His name was Grant. He is apart of the crew on Sea Shepherd. Sea Shepherds protect the Whale Sanctuary in the Ross Sea near Antarctica. He talked to us about the Japanese Whalers. It wasn't illegal to hunt whales until the International Whaling Commission (IWC) stopped whaling in 1986. The Japanese found a loophole. You were only allowed to kill whales if you used them for research. So they were killing them once again. Fortunately Sea Shepherds have set off on a mission "to stop the Japanese once and for all". The good thing about Sea Shepherds is that they don't just protest against it, (not that that's a bad thing) but they head out and do it themselves - they are proactive!

Waihopai River Restoration

Today at Enrich, well, it wasn't really AT Enrich. We spent about half the day planting down along the bank at the Waihopai River. My partner was India. What we had to do was create a 'wedge' in the ground, (which is really shoving the spade into the ground the rocking it back and forth). 'Wedging' is easier in our case because if we dug the hole it would loosen the ground, which wouldn't  help with the sticks we put in. It's a bit hard to explain, so here is a photo.

We planted Toi Toi's, Flax and Cabbage trees. We planted these because when the river floods it goes into a wee pond area which drags mud into the river. This is supposed to help catch the mud and hopefully make it cleaner.

I was surprised that only four girls planned it because it was properly thought out, planned and put together. Thanks Kate, Hannah, Hannah and Madison, I had fun!!

First day back

First day back!! Yeah!! What a rush. We played a game and it was called "All or Nothing". Have I ever told you guys about Bulls-eye?? All or Nothing is sorta like that except you trying to get the Beanbags into a bin. If you get it in the bin, you get to move it up a hoop and throw it back to the next person. My team was Team 3. In Round 1 we got up to the third hoop and we went to throw it to the next person but they dropped it. We didn't care though, that just motivated us more. If the next person drops it you have to move the hoop back to the Start. Round 2 wasn't so flash for me. We got all the way up to the 4th hoop and Max went to chuck it to me, but I just dropped it. WA wa waaa. But as for Round 3, no offence, but we smashed it!! Maddison made the throw of the day because she threw it and she got it in!! The only thing was that I missed the last catch, so I was definantly pressured. Here she goes, its flying in the air, coming down, I get ready, here it is, CATCH!!

I'm so sad it's the last day of the term. It wouldn't actually be the last day, but we're the only day that hasn't missed a day yet so now it is our turn because next Tuesday are the workshops for entry selection to Enrich.
         
We started off with Leader board Chess. I played Katlyn and man she gave me a run for my money!! Thank heavens we had the chess clock though, it saved my life! In the first game Katlyn was left with around 9 players and I think I was down to about 4 players, and for the second game it was about the same. 

Next we went on to Passion Time. My Passion is Painting but because of the mess me and a few other people made last week we weren't allowed to paint, I think that's fair enough though. So instead of painting I sketched a mountain. To be honest I think I might keep to painting because sketching, doesn't look to good when I do it. 

We had a little morning tea and then went into P4C.  The topic for P4C was "Do we have the right to Pollute?". My answer was... Half of the Pollution we can't help, example: showering, toast and waste. For showering some of us just stand there and think about our day when the water was running. It takes electricity to warm the water and the longer the water is running the more electricity it uses up. On the lines of electricity, there is TV.  Ahhh the great plasma or flatscreen, but whats the difference between radio and TV except for the picture?? Yes it's alright to have a TV but don't blow all your money on a flatscreen. All anyone needs is just a small one. Think  how much packaging it takes to wrap a flatscreen TV, and now how much it takes to wrap one half the size?? Plus all the plastic it takes to wrap it, where does it go because it takes about 80-100 years roughly to decay into the ground. 

So pretty exciting day. Adios Enrich........ Until next term.....

Today we watched a sad and a little disgusting video. It was about the 10 Most Air polluted Cities in the world. At the start it said about how Las Angeles had 25 micrograms of Filth every cubic meter, and thats in the air!! I will now tell you one-by-one the 10 Most Air Polluted Cities in the World.

10: Kampour, India
9: Yasouj, Iran
8: Gaberone, Botswana
7: Peshawar, Pakistan
6: Kermanshah, Iran
5: Quetta, Pakistan
4: Ludhiana, India
3:Sanadaj, Iran
2:Ulanbataar, Mongolia
and finally the most air polluted city in the world is...
1: Ahwaz, Iran

When it showed you how polluted the air in Ahwaz was I felt sick to my heart. This was because when you looked at the air you couldn't see the towers or anything. I think that it would probably be unnatural to die of old age when you live there. After we watched the very sad clip of it, we had to do what we learnt and what we wondered. For what we learnt I put that sometimes instead of wanting things that you should be grateful of what you've got instead of saying 'I want this, I want that'. My wondering was.. In so many years time will cities almost be as bad as competing for the title 'Worlds Most Air Polluted City'. As we got further and further into the situation we looked up the Worlds Most Cleanest City and guess what...... Wellington was the most CLEANEST, Go Wellington!! And so on that happy note,
LONG LIVE CLEAN GREEN NZ!!

Today we watched a very sad movie. It was about how we are polluting the water and others are paying for it. For instance little kids, well all ages, have no choice but to drink the most filthiest water you have ever seen. If we keep using plastic bags then animals that live in the water will pay by DYING, because plastic will wrap around them!! The Turtles and Tortises are one of the most endangered species on the Planet. You guys know that if these animals die than we can't bring them back to life, we're not Cats who have 9 lives!! Also we think that chucking a little piece of rubbish out the car window, on the beach or even in the river but you think what would happen if everyone did that. Most people don't care about whats happening, but think of your Great-Great Grandchildren. If we keep polluting the water then we won't have anything to drink. We can only survive without water for THREE DAYS at tops. If we don't start to help then who knows what our Great-Great Grandchildren will live like, if they live. 

Here is a link to the Video. Pass it on.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YAoyTsyM7M

Today we did our Environmental Projects. My Project is to enhance the Invercargill Airport. Have you ever gone there when you/your kids are saying "I want to play, waiting's BORING" I know I say that! Well hopefully we can make this better (if the people from the airport say yes).  My group is Hannah C, Cassie and I. We are putting the main Keynote together. In this Keynote we will put slides from the other groups ideas into it. So we will have slides of Table games, Wall games, Juplo ( Big Lego ), Chalkboard and other things. We will have to be finished by Week 8 next term. This means we will have to work fast. I am positive we can get it done because there is no reason we can't. If this is accomplished then I will love going to the Airport when I have to!!

Today was a Mind Blowing day. First of all we did the roll. Skipping ahead we picked our high interest          

stations. I picked 3D Drawing. 3D Drawing is when you draw a 3D rectangle ( you can draw any shapes but this is the easiest choice) and you create little hollow boxes out of the rectangle. Underneath the writing I created boxes OVER boxes. It took a while but it was worth it!! Can't wait to see what we are going to do next week.

Teacher Comment

Hi Katie.

I was so impressed with your enthusiasm today!  You launched into our environment topic, and you worked really well with the other children in your group to think of ways to enhance the airport.  I look forward to seeing this project develop.  I was pleased we managed to fit our art in today - you have a real knack for painting and you did so well using the impressionism style!  It was great to see you bring in your painting you completed at home - landscapes are really hard, but you make it look so easy!  Katie.

Hot Myspace Generators

Today we had our TECHNOLOGY CHALLENGE!!  It was totally awesome. I should probably tell you about it. We got given a task sheet, string, sellotape, a piece of board, a cup, skewers, some popsicle sticks and a shuttlecock. The aim of the game was to build something free-standing and with ONE hand Launch the shuttlecock without throwing it, but it was the Team who had the shuttlecock go furtherest HORIZONTALLY . My team made a launcher where you have the cup underneath the board and put the shuttlecock at the end of the board when it's on the ground. The you smack the piece of board in the air with your hand, to make the shuttlecock fly into the air. I hope we win because the winners gets a piece of chocolate. I know what your thinking, "How much Chocolate?" Well Darryn said  the amount the launcher impresses him, thats how much you will get!! 

Today was the BEST first day back, EVER!!!
First of all we had to pick which High Interest Topic we wanted they were...Maths Tessellation, Chemistry or Art. I picked Art. 


We  were going to paint an Impressionist Painting. We listened to a mini Bio of Claude Monet. He is a famous Impressionist painter. I will put a picture of my painting on my blog when it's finished. 
We used Arcrylics, Canvas paper and a photo of the painting we were going to copy. Here is one of Monet's Paintings.

This is my Reflection sheet. What we had to do was, it started us with the sentence starters and we had to fill out what we though about the statements. If you can't read it hold command down and zoom in!!

Today we walked down to the Museum where they have the Wearable Arts Exhibit. It took us abut 10 minutes to get there and then we went inside. All the costumes were put onto models and some of them were absolutely incredible!!!! These were my favourite ones.

Teacher Comment

Hi Katie.

What a great first term you have had at Enrich!  You have approached every task with enthusiasm, and you continue to work hard to complete work to a high standard.  Your determination for chess has continued week after week, and I have enjoyed our friendly battles during chess time, which sometimes continue over morning tea and lunch!  Well done on a great term!  Katie.

The Learning Wheel

Sadly this is the last day for Term one but..Man this term has whizzed by!! Today we made a Learning Wheel and for those who don't know what that is, it is a wheel where it has 5 sub-headings, which you write different answers for. This is my one. Also for the Wilson Game today we played DOGE BALL!! I found out that Darryn bet the PANTS OF OUR TEAM!!Also that Callum, Kate, Pearl and Kya are also very good players. I feel very proud of my achievements this term at Enrich. I think I have changed in the years that I have came to Enrich. I think that I have grown in my confidence. Also I have made more friends. Can't wait until next term!! Goodbye 

Readers Theatre

Today we started the day with our Talent Development. There were three choices: Photography, Drama and Canstruction. As of course  I chose Drama. Drama was Readers Theatre.  Readers Theatre is like an old time radio show where you have to use your voice and gestures to perform. We got the scripts today and we had to put on a live performance. AAAHHHGGG!! I had to go over the word "relatives" because I kept saying realitives, even though that is not a word. We performed the Three Billy Goats Gruff.  The performance turned out OK!

Still life art

Last week I went to do Art for my pick. If I reviewed it I thought I did pretty well. Darryn also taught me about 3D-3D which stands for Three dimensional Three dimensions. It is when you use a number of the exact same lines. Darryn said that he thought I did pretty well.
I will hopefully put a picture of it on my blog.

Scamper

Today we made another SCAMPER which stands for Substitute, Combine, Alter, Mini/Mega, Put to another use, Eliminate and Reverse.
Katie and Alana made a whole new level of the SCAMPER video. It was that HILARIOUS I could NOT stop laughing!! :D Our item was a Noodle. The coolest picture that we did was our Eliminate. We Eliminated half the noodle and used it as a baby's bottle. The purpose for it is look at things from different perspectives and to think outside the box.

Spanish

Hola! Mi nombere es Katie. In english I am saying 'hello my name is Katie'. At Enrich there is a spanish workshop were a lady comes and teaches us some spanish. Today I learnt how to say Good morning, Good afternoon and Good night. Good morning is Buenos Dias, Good afternoon is Buenas Tardes and last but not least Good night is Buenas Noches. I'm finding spanish really interesting and fun! I can't wait to see whats in store for us next week.

Perspectives

Last week we learnt about perspectives and what they are. I thought perspectives were what you think about a topic. To find out more about perspectives we went on a field trip to The Basilica, The City Gallery and the Water Tower. I didn't feel very well at the water tower because I'm not a fan of heights. When we were at the church it was amazing inside and it definatly changed your perspective about it. At the City Art Gallery I could not believe what I was seeing, it was so amazing! Below I've put a piture of one of the pictures at the Gallery. I'm glad we went to those places because I learnt more about perspective.