Week 2 Term 1

This week we have been frantically finishing off our Wearable Arts costumes, as most of us have other things to do around the school as well. In maths this week I have been learning about finding the circumference of a circle. What you have to do is measure the diameter of the circle. A diameter is the measurement between each side of a circle at its widest points. If you cannot measure the diameter, you have to measure the radius, which is half a diameter. So that means you have to multiply the radius by 2 by pi, (3.14) E.g: R= 3 multiplied by two=6 multiplied  by pi= 18.84. In English we have been learning about the different type of sentences. We have learned about simple, compound, and complex sentences. A simple sentence is a sentence that has a subject, verb, and object. E.g: John kicked the ball. John=Subject, Kicked=verb and ball=object. A compound sentence is a sentence that has to have a conjunction somewhere in it, and you have to make sure that there is a comma as well. You can identify a compound sentence by looking on either side of the comma, and if each part makes sense on its own, it is a compound sentence. E.g: That pillow is really soft, my nan knitted it. The last one is a complex sentence. This is when one part of the sentence can make sense on its own, but the other part has to rely on the other sentence so the whole sentence forms one ‘main idea.’

My goal for next week is to completely perfect one of  the songs that we are learning in flute at the moment: Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, by Mozart.

I will do this by practicing it hard each day.

I will know I have done this when I play next Tuesday at music and it sounds really good.

Wearable Arts

One of the things that our school has been focusing on at the moment is the Wearable Arts. Wearable Arts is a big thing that we have every second year. What we have to do is choose our category, and then start collecting rubbish for our costume. The categories are: Night Out, Down on the Farm, Cultural, Fancy Yourself as a Cartoon Character, (masks), Black and White, and Sport. Me and my friend Fin are making a tuxedo. We used black rubbish bags, plastic carrier bags and snack wrapper. We used black masking tape to hold it together. On our tuxedo we have a coat, a shirt, a tie, and some trousers. We are very proud of the final product. Here are some photos of what happened:

This is us when we were making the shirt.

Week 1 Term 3

We have had a busy first week back.

In maths we are learning about geometry and measurement. At the moment my group are converting measurements and finding the perimmeter of shapes. I have learnt that when you have a shape that you want to find the perimeter of, and that shape has at least two sides with a line through the middle of that shape, one of those shapes has to have a measurement next to it. The lines mean that that the sides they are touching are all equal measurements. In band I have learnt several new songs. The names of the ones that I can remember are: My Heart Will Go On, Spiderman, Latin Fire, and Ceremonium. We have worked on our wearable arts clothes, which is when you have to make an outfit using recycled items. I am making a tuxedo with my friend Fin, but so far it is not going so well, so we have learnt that we should so it instead next time. In P.E we have been training for our cross country in week 4. So far I have ran around the perimeter of the field and the park next to the school three times which is roughly 3.3 km.

My goal for next week is to run four laps of the field and Sherwin Park.

I will do this by really pushing myself in the training.

I will know I have done this when we are out next week running, and I completely run 4 laps non-stop.

Week 10 Term 2

The end of the term is almost here! I can’t wait till the holidays. In maths this week I have learnt about GST, and simple interest. When you want to find how much somebody owes the bank, first, you must find the total ammount that was given to that person. Then you have to find the interest rate. Change the interest rate into a decimal, e.g 10% = 0.1.Then once you have found the answer to that, multiply the answer by the number of years. When you have found the answer to that, add it onto the original amount that wasd owed, and then you will know what the person now owes the bank. In flute, the rest of my class went to an island that I can’t remember the name of, so I was doing one on one with my flute teacher. I have learnt a new song called Kum Bay Yah. It is an African song that can be played as a trio. That means there are three different versions to the song, and someone can play each version. In writing we have learnt how to write argument writing. At the moment our topic is cars should be banned. You can agree or disagree with this statement, but you have to have three different reasons to back up your opinion. You have to have an introduction, your three reasons, each in their own paragraphs, and then a summary of the topic to be the final chance to persuade the reader to take your side.

My goal for next week is to finish my final argument writing about how T.V adverts are horrible.

I will do this by planning it out well, and thinking of some good reasons.

I will know I have done this when I get my argument handed back to me at the end of the week.

Week 8 Term 2

This week I have been doing a lot of finishing touches on my science fair. I have done my science fair on magnetism. I had to find out some information about things like atoms and why metals like copper are not magnetic. I have found out that copper and brass and stainless steel are not magnetic because they can have alloys in them that interfere with the atoms. When I did my experiment, I found out that only the stainless steel was magnetic. I thought about this, and remembered from some research that that is because some objects have different alloys in them. In my band sessions we have learned a new song, which is the theme from Star Wars. Also, in after school practices, we have had to pick a certain song to play as a solo next week. I have picked a song called My Dreydl. My Dreydl is a traditional Hanukkah song.

My goal for next week is to be able to play My Dreydl perfectly, without any mistakes.

I will do this by practicing each day really hard.

I will know that I have done this when Carey, my music tutor, tells me that I was good.

Week 7 Term 2

This week I have finished a lot of my work. In maths I have been doing work on dividing fractions. E.g: 1/2 divided by 3/5+= 5/6. What you have to do is find the reciprocal of the number you are dividing by. So, the reciprocal of 3/5 is 5/3. Then you have to multiply the fractions. So all it is is 1/2 times 5/3= 5/6 because you multiply the denominator by the denominator and then do the same with the numerators, and then you have your answer. I have also learned about ratio. Ratio looks like this: 2:3. That means two to three. If you want to convert the ratio into a fraction, you just write 2/3. In reading we have had to read an article out of an autobiography, and then we had to answer some questions about it. Some of the questions were challenging, like, ‘find five scientific or technical expressions in the text.’ Me and a bunch of other people thought that you just had to pick out the words in bold, but it turned out it meant that you had to find words in the text that you wouldn’t use in an everyday conversation. In music I have have learned some new songs like William Tell.

My goal for next week is to finish my science fair experiments and do up my display.

I will do this by working hard each day after school.

I will know I have done this when my science fair presentation is ready for the science fair in week nine.

Week 6 Term 2

This week I have been learning a lot about multiplying fractions. I have learnt that all you have to do is multiply the denominator by the denominator of the other fraction, and do the same with the numerators. If your have a mixed number you must convert it into an improper fraction, and then use the same method, simplifying if necessary. In english we have been doing some work on note-taking and using those notes to write a report. We are doing reports about Cheetahs at the moment. We have to have four different paragraphs in our report, each about something differemt: General Info, Appearance, Why they are endangered, and Food/Hunting/Habitat. We must make sure that we have a topic sentence as well. A topic sentence is just a sentence, but it is the main idea of the paragraph. In band, I have learnt that when playing the flute you must make sure that your posture is good. This means that you need to sit up straight and keep your chin up.

My goal for next week is to be able to perfect the last 5 bars of a song that we are doing in band called Shine.

I will do this by practicing hard each day.

I will know that I have done this when I do not stuff up when we get to that part.

Week 5 Term 2

This week we have been learning a lot about dialogue punctuation. That is when you are writing something like a story , and you have to make the speech marks and punctuation correct. I have learnt in dialogue that even if it is not the beginning of a sentence, the first word in someone’s speech must start with a capital letter for example: Johnny said, “Can you come to my house on the weekend?” It is basically that kind of stuff. In maths I have learnt about comparing fractions. If you want to order fractions, an easy way of doing it is using the calculator, but if you want to work, you can do a do a little trick that I have learnt. What you have to do is divide the numerator, (the top number of the fraction,) by the denominator, (the bottom number.) The answer usually come out with a decimal, so, after you have changed all the fractions into decimals, you can order them. But don’t forget to write them out as fractions on the sheet! In music I have learnt how to play an ‘aggresive’ song called Dragon Slayer. In Tech Arts we have been doing art at the moment. We have to choose a cat saying, like A cat has nine lives. We then have to paint a background that goes with the saying. Then, we have to draw a cat, paint it, and then when it is dry we must glue it on some polystyrene. Then we have to cut out our cats, and glue them on our backgrounds. It then makes the cat stick out from the picture.

My goal for next week is to work on my cat picture with the best of my ability.

I will do this by working hard and concentrating.

I willknow I have done this when my finished product looks good.

I will know I have done this when it is

Week 4 Term 2

This week I have learnt lots of new songs for my flute because I went to a band camp. I learnt songs like Geronimo, which is a native American Indian war song. I also learnt Popcorn, Just a Little Latin, Bandroom Boogie, and Power Rock (We Will Rock You) Back at school, I got invited to do a Literacy Quiz as soon as we arrived. It was lots of different questions about different books, and my group got 38th out of 53 groups. In maths I have learnt how to do long multiplication with decimals.

My goal for next week is to finish all my maths work to with decimals.

I will do this by focusing, and remembering what Mrs Crowe had taught me this week.

I will know I have done this when I get most or all of my answers right.

Week 2 Term 2

This week we have been doing a group science fair project within our class, and we were researching about paper planes. My group were learning about the relationship of a different wingspan on a paper plane and it’s effect on the distance it flies. We found out that a narrower wingspan flies further, but a wider wingspan can stay in the air longer because the air gets under the wings and creates a lift. In maths I am learning about probability, and I have found out that an easy way of getting results is by using a tree diagram. A tree diagram is when you have, say a gender three babies. First, you draw an arrow that has two tips, and put boy on one tip, and girl on the other. Or you could just use B and G. Then, you have another arrow with two tips coming off each gender, and put B and G on the tips. Do this once more coming off the 4 new baby genders. To get your results, you look at how many different things are in each set, and times it by that many. So in this one, there are three groups with two things in each group. So you do 2x2x2. The answer would be 8, and that is how many combinations you can get. In band practice, I have learnt something called the B flat major scale. You have to play each note in the scale (B,C,D,E,F,G,A,B) and then go back again. I have also learnt some knew songs for when we go off to Totara Springs, which is our band camp. I have learnt one called Aura Lee, except that I have not perfected it. I have also learnt Hard Rock Blues, Bandroom Boogie, and Shine.

My goal for next week is to finish my maths work.

I will do this by not getting distracted, and focusing.

I will know I have done this when I have marked it and go onto a new set of maths.