Taking Flight- Flying Lizards

 

Taking Flight- Bird of the year

 The little blue penguins have a very delicate appearrence. Most of their body is covered in a metallic blue- grey colour, while their stomach is white. They are usually found in Australia and New Zealand. Little Blue Penguins eat fish, squids, and krill. Their feathers protect them against cold weather, and when there is predators, they hide in their burrows. The layer of air that is in their feathers helps them shoot to the surface to catch their prey. Most populations of little blue penguins are not endangered.

The Air Up There: Flying Fungi, Maths question

  We tested the air in your classroom and found 7 different kinds of mould.  The cleaner says that it takes 5 days for each mould to be removed. If the school had to remove each mould one at a time, how long would it take to remove all the mould?

 Answer: 35 days

How I worked it out: Because it said that it took 5 days for each mold, and there were 7 types of mould, I timed the 5 by 7, and the result was 35.

The Air Up There - Bumble Bees

 

This activity was to fill out the five sentances about Bumble Bees

The word ‘bumblebee’ is a compound word (bumble + bee). The word ‘bumble’ means to hum or buzz.

Bumblebees can fly very quickly. They can reach ground speeds of 1020 kilometres per hour (km/h).

Bumblebees are very strong! They carry up to 90 percent of their body weight in food with them to avoid starvation.

Bumblebees can do more work and carry more pollen than other bees, including honeybees. In fact, they can do up to 50 times as much work as a normal honeybee.

The number of bumblebees is declining in New Zealand due to a number of factors, including the loss of wild flowers.

A Heated Debate- Protecting ourselves from Skin Cancer

Did you know, that in New Zealand, about 8200 get skin cancer every year? New Zealand has the highest rate of Skin Cancer in the whole world. This is why we need to protect ourselves. 

The first thing we need to do is to use sunscreen. Even though it is so simple, many people are too careless to use it. Whenever it is a sunny day and you are going outside, rub sunscreen onto any part of your body where it is not covered, and remember your face as well.

Secondly, wear try not to go out so much in the afternoon. During the afternoon in summer, be very careful, because you might get sun burnt. The ultraviolet rays are the strongest during this time of the day.

Third, is that you wear a hat. Many schools give their students school hats, and that is because sunscreen is not enough to protect your body. Wearing a hat can help as well, as it shades your face from the sun light, protecting you from skin cancer.

The fourth thing is that you should check your outfit before going outside. Be careful to wear clothes that cover your skin. Even if it is very hot, don't wear clothes like singlets, as it can harm the skin that are not covered. Light long sleeved tops are the best choice, but T- Shirts are okay as well, although you have to remember the sunscreen.

Lastly, protect your eyes. Wearing glasses can help protect your eyes from UV rays. It can also shade and cover the skin around your eyes.

We all have to protect ourselves from skin cancer. If you follow these steps, then you are very likely safe from Skin Cancer!

A Heated Debate- Togs or Trackies?

 I encourage my friends and family to visit New Zealand in the middle of Winter. The Winter is not that cold, but still a bit chilly. Remember to bring some warm and thick clothes!

The first place you should visit is definitely the natural hot pools in Taupo and Rotorua. The spa's and hot pools are relaxing, and perfect if you just need a break. Some hot pools has some private spa's where you can hire for your family. 

Secondly, Snow mountains are a great choice, for example, Mount Ruapehu or skiing feilds. You can learn how to ski, where you can book classes with professional teachers. There are entertaining gondola's that take you to the top of the mountain, where you can get warm in the cafe. The views are amazing, the snow is like a big white blanket stretching over the mountain, perfect for a photo. The children all love the colourful sleds, you can use them to slide down little hills. Overall, Mount Ruapehu is a great attraction to take your kids to!

Lastly, the Moari New Year is celebrated in Winter. In New Zealand, it is a traditional celebration for the Moari New Year. you can learn all about Moari History, as there are many festivals throughout New Zealand.

Winter is a great time of year to visit New Zealand. There are so much to do. New Zealand is also a very lovely and scenic country, I hope that you will enjoy your visit if you come here!

The Great Fire Of London

 

Books!

 How many of you like books? Instead of being on your phone all day, grab a book. A book is the door to another world. There is no other way the get there, at least not yet. In books like Harry Potter, we are sucked into magical fantasy worlds. And in books that are similar in the setting to A Little Princess, we turn back time to the old days. 

For me, it's always a pleasure to be reading a nice book with no one interrupting me. Study shows that less than 20 percent of teenagers read books daily, and over 80 percent go onto social media every single day. Non-fiction books have a lot of information that is very helpful, whether it is about science, nature, sports, and much more. 

Books are more trustworthy, because a lot of information on social media are fake. The books are read and edited by publishers, which would mean that they have already corrected mistakes. Personely, my favourite book is A Little Princess. I hope that everyone has a favourite too! There are also many genres. Thrillers, Novel, Fiction, and so much more. Books are really a great big part of our life!

Music

 At 9:05 on Thursday we went to the hall for music with Fran. We used pizzicato on the violins. We made a nice tune, using the bow. It hurt my ears a bit, when we were playing the E string. The sound was so high! When put our fingers on the top of the strings so that when we played it, it would make a different sound. Using the violins was a great experience, there was a lot of things we learned. 

Part two Emily's Robot

                         Part 2 of Emily's Robot

Sadness filled my whole body. Sure, the city was saved but what was the difference? My mum was...I don’t know where she was and whether she was dead or alive. Then I thought of something. What if she was captured? I climbed back into the robot and pushed a lot of buttons. Suddenly, I heard a sound behind me. Turning around, I nearly fainted. “Mum...Mum!” It was my mum. Except, she wasn’t like my mum. She had metal arms and legs, and a metal face. She was a robot. “What happened to you?” She just stared at me. What happened next was crazy. I am still freaked out till this day. She reached out and...Strangled me!? Why would my mum do this? I knew then. She was transformed into a robot, and now she didn’t have a mind of her own. She was controlled by...Emily?

I was starting to choke. Before I fainted, I caught a glimpse of Emily. I understood everything now. Emily wasn’t dead, she was a robot, so that was why she came back. She was made of metal. She was immortal. Just then everything turned black. When I woke up, I found myself in a dark room. Then the lights were on. It was Emily. But that wasn’t what made me gasp. Her assistants were. Dressed in black dresses were Brooke and Carys. They weren’t robots. “What, why are you with her? Are you captured as well?” Carys scoffed. “Wendy, you do know that we were pretending to be your friend all along?” Then Brooke spoke. “Yeah Wendy. It’s such a good job being the assistant of Emily, We earn so much money.” I could not believe my ears. I could not believe anything! Anger ate me up from the inside. It gave me energy, power. I released it. Screaming and shouting in their faces, I said, “You two! Betrayers! Traitors! How dare you turn on me? What about all those times when I was kind to you? Remember all those days when we were happy? And you do this?” Brooke and Carys were shocked. Even Emily opened her mouth. But then she said, “You will be a very good robot Wendy. You two! Put her into the robot machine!” But I couldn’t. I will not let them do this to me. I pushed them with all my strength, and managed to jump out the window. I fell. And fell. The next thing I knew, I landed on the ground and ran to the library. When I arrived, I immediately went to the robot section.

Pulling out a book, I flipped through it until I found the page. I had read this before. The only way to fight a robot or turn it back to a human is to get some mint leaves. Robots hate that smell, and it is the only way to turn them back to normal. I ran home, and pulling out some mint leaves from the garden, I ran all the way back to the robot. Climbing up high, I hopped in again. “You again?” Said Emily, glaring at me. I pulled out the mint leaves and… “Ahh! Emily shouted as she slowley turned back to a human. I punched her right in the face. She fainted. Then I went to find my mum. Before she could strangle me again, She turned into a human at the smell of the mint. Everything was turned back to normal. I turned to my ex-best friends. “You two! How...Dare...YOU!” I grabbed a rope from my bag and tied them up. Later on that day, Brooke, Carys, and Emily were all sent to jail. My mum and I went home happily.

The End

Emily's Robot

 The ground shook. I looked out the window, and to my horror, I saw…”Mum! There a giant robot outside!” It was true. A robot with the words 28 on it was stomping in the streets and passer bys were running everywhere. “What?” My mum came into the living room carrying a basket of laundry. When she looked out the window, the basket came crashing down and the clothes tipped over. Her face became pale as she whispered under her breath, “Emily’s robot.” I asked her what was Emily’s robot. But she didn’t seem to hear me. She shoved some water and food into her bag and ushered me into the car. I was confused. Suddenly, a big rock came down on us. It wasn’t a rock, a boulder. It hit our car and made a big dent on the roof.

“Run!” My mum grabbed  me and we ran. Dodging rocks and boulders that fell from the sky, we sprinted through the city. Towers were falling, and their was only screams of people that were hurt or captured. Finally, we stopped behind a bush and took deep breaths. “Mum, who is Emily’s robot?” My mum stared at me. “You see, Emily was my childhood best friend. Once, there was a competition of who can build the best robot. I won. But Emily was always arrogant and always got what she wanted. She became angry, and started to spread rumors that I had cheated. I hadn’t. So the next day, I confronted her and at the end of our argument, she said, “I will build it robot. It will be better than yours. It will rule the world.” Of course I didn’t believe her. How would a 6th grader build such a thing? But I guess I was wrong AHHH!” Out of nowhere, a giant boulder fell. A shadow loomed over us. The last thing I saw was my mum’s terrified face before she disappeared in a blink of an eye. I don’t know where she went, and I never will. At that moment I looked up and stared right at Emily’s robot.

My body shook, with mingled anger and sadness. I didn’t know what I was doing. I ran and grabbed onto its leg. Of course, it resisted and started shaking it. But I was determined to get revenge. As it swayed and shook, I jumped onto the head of the robot. I held on and felt a button. Opening it swiftly, I swung myself in. And I saw Emily. I walked quietly towards her, not making a bit of sound. Then I lunged myself at her. I kicked opened the window and threw her out. “I will get revenge!” She screamed as she fell. But I doubt she will. I pushed the red button and immediately the robot stopped moving. All I needed to do was to find my mum. But little did I know...

TO BE CONTINUED

Back to school

 

I feel very happy about coming back to school. At home in lockdown, there was three things that was the same as school. The first one was that Whaea Annie was still teaching us. Even though we stayed at home, we learnt a lot through google meets with Whaea Annie. The second thing was that we still did our todays slideshow. Every morning, Whaea Annie would cast onto google meet our today slideshow, and she would ask us each Kei te pehea koe, which meant how are you feeling today. We did the routine everyday. The last thing that was the same was that we did work on the class website. There was a lot of work to choose from and to keep us busy in lockdown. 

For example, on the class website, Whaea Annie made a Writing Slideshow which was very interesting. There was still some things that was different from school at home. We had no face to face talking, as we were on google meets. And we also didn’t have to finish at 3:00, as we could choose to keep on doing our work. Lastly, school didn’t start at 9:00, it started at 9:30. 

There were two things that I missed about school. The first is Whaea Annie. I missed having face to face conversations with her. The second is that I missed seeing my friends. During lockdown, I couldn’t see them, only on google meets. School has changed a little. We have to sanatise our hands when we come into class. There is another change, and it is that Artsplash is cancelled. I’m a bit disappointed about it. I enjoyed sharing on my blog and also doing as much maths as I like. My favourite activity from lockdown is planting. We were weeding in the garden, and also sprinkling some grass seeds on the dirt.

Overall, lockdown was a great experience, but I love going to school a lot more.

Corona Virus

 

Erased from my life

 Yawning, I went down the stairs. "Mum! Is breakfast ready yet?" Silence. I frowned. Walking faster, I entered the living room. I stood in shock. There was no one, and the furniture was gone. I quickly ran to my parents bedroom. The bed was empty, and there was no one. My heart started pounding, where are they? Going back to the kitchen, I made myself some food, and sat down on the bench. They probably had just gone to a work meeting. But why had they taken the furniture? I waited. The day passed, and they sill hadn't come home. Then I spotted something on my dad's desk. 

A ticket. It was a plane ticket. Had they...Then the door opened suddenly, as my dad rushed in. Looking around, he saw the ticket and ran towards it. I was so relieved. "Dad, where have you been?" But he just grabbed the ticket and said to himself, "Oh no, we won't get to the airport in time!" "Dad!" I shouted, trying to get his attention. He didn't even look at me. I reached out, trying to grab him, but I fell over, as my hand went right through him! I was so scared. Then something caught my eye. The family picture on the wall. It had always been there, a picture of my parents and I, taking a selfie. But I wasn't there anymore. There was only my dad and my mum. Horror washed over me. This isn't real, this isn't! I kept repeating to myself. How could it be? Yesterday night my parents could still see and hear me, and now they can't. But then, I remembered something. 

That night, my mum had gave me a big lecture, and I was very angry. I went to my room and opened up my computer. I opened up Siri so I could just have someone to talk to. "HI Siri." Hello, how can I help you?" "I want to be erased forever, because I don't want to be here anymore." I said, as I was still very angry. "Ok." Said Siri. I didn't take it seriously. What could a robot like Siri do? And the anwser was, a lot. Because now, I was actually erased from my life. No one remembers me anymore.

A stranger

 Cold sweat covered my hands. I grabbed my bag tightly. I could hear the sound of footsteps behind me. I wished I had listened to my mum, how I wished. But it was all too late. I started jogging. Then running. I did not want to see who was behind me. The empty streets were silent, except for the footsteps of the person behind me. They had started running too. What did they want to do with me? It all started that morning.

“Mum, can I please go to the park after school?” “No Wendy, it’s winter now. The day is shorter, and there is no time to go to the park. It will be very dark by then.” I did not listen to her. I thought that I could manage myself. So after school when I was supposed to go home, I went to the park. I played for so long that I didn’t notice it was dark. No stars shone in the sky. No moon was hanging in the sky like normal. No one in the streets. I grabbed my bag and started walking home. 

Home was not that far away. Then out of the corner of my eye, I saw a man. He was dressed from head to toe in black, with a hood over his face and hands in pockets. He was sitting on a wooden seat in the park. I had not noticed him then, but I did now. And that was because he had stood up and started walking towards me. Immediately I knew something was wrong. I started walking fast, afraid that it would be too obvious that I was scared of him if I ran. It was completely dark. I was nearly home, nearly...Then,  a hand reached out and grabbed me.

A mystery forever

 The door creaked as I slowly walked in. It was very dark. There was a lit candle in the corner. The room was scattered with furniture and crumpled paper, as if someone had made a big mess and had not bothered to tidy it up. I picked up a piece of paper, but strangely, nothing was on it. Trying not to make any sound, I crept up the stairs. A gust of wind blew from an open window. In the bedroom, there was no one. As I examined it, I nearly screamed in horror. 

A small boy was huddled in a corner, his back facing at me. His skin was pale, and he was wearing t-shirts and shorts on this cold winter day. Suddenly, I heard footsteps in the hall. I shot my head back, and saw an old woman. She had wrinkled skin, with her eyes staring right at me, with her walking stick rapping against the floor. “Who are you, and why are you in my house!” She said in a raspy voice. I opened my mouth, but no sound came out. I took many steps backward, to the stairs. She still followed me. I had read on the newspaper years ago about the old couple that had mysteriously died, and their grandson who disappeared.  Was this their ghost? 

I ran down the stairs and into the living room, and ran through the front door. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw an old man, rocking back and forth in a chair in the corner. I nearly fainted. How come I haven't seen him when I came in? I sprinted all the way back home. Gasping for air, I slammed the front door behind me. “Mum, I…” I started. “Don’t tell me you went to play with your friends again at the park. Go do your homework. Dinner’s nearly ready.” She said, as she chopped the potatoes. “I saw the ghost of the dead grandparents and their son in that abandoned house!” I said in one breath. Mum looked at me strangely. “Don’t talk nonsense Wendy.” Then she went back to making dinner.            

First loss

“Ollie! Ollie! I’m back!” Shouted Mia as she put down her school bag. The house was strangely quiet. There was no familiar barking of her dog Ollie. Instantly she knew something was wrong. She called again, and hearing no response, went around the house searching for him. She was beginning to think that her mum had brought him to the vet again when she saw something that made her freeze. Slowly, the colour drained from Mia’s face. 

“Ollie!” She flung herself onto the ground beside him. Ollie had both eyes closed, and he was not breathing. Tears streamed down Mia’s face as she stroked his head. Ollie was Mia’s best friend. Mia did not have friends at school, she was always left out by the other children. Ollie was what kept Mia happy, he was there for her everyday of her life. It was clear that Ollie had died of old age. Weeks before Mia’s mum had brought him to the vet, and the Vet said that Ollie was slowly dying. Mia did not believe that Ollie was going to die, she did not want to believe it. Now Ollie had died home alone, with no one beside him to comfort him! The more Mia thought, the more she cried. She rang her mother, and her mother came home immediately from work.

 They buried him under an old oak tree, and on top of his grave lay a red ball, which was Ollie's favourite toy. Mia’s heart throbbed and ached, as she cried and cried. That night, she tossed and turned, but couldn’t sleep. When she finally drifted off, she thought she heard Ollie’s barking. But it was all her imagination. Mia had a wonderful dream. She dreamed that she saw Ollie in heaven, playing with many other dogs, and barking happily. She shed many tears in her sleep, as she saw her beloved dog in heaven. Mia’s Mum told her that Ollie would be watching her from heaven. Mia would always have a place in Ollie’s heart.

 

The music contest

 As Aisha looked into her father’s eyes, she blinked back tears. Why couldn’t they afford a doctor? Aisha’s father was very sick, and since they were living in poverty, which was usual in India, their family could not afford any medicine. Just a few days ago, Aisha had seen a flyer about a music contest. She was determined to compete and win to make her father proud. 

Aisha had not seen her father smile for years, ever since their family fell into poverty, and wasn’t even able to afford food. Some nights Aisha would play on her flute to keep herself company. Aisha loved music. She had an old flute which was her father’s when he was young. He had passed it down to his daughter. That night, Aisha’s father lay on the cold concrete floor with only a small blanket. Drops of rain leaked through the worn-out roof. As a storm raged on like an angry bull. There was a small television, very old and small, but still in use. Aisha’s father saw in the TV his daughter, winning first place in the music contest. 

Aisha stood on the podium with a gleaming medal on her neck, standing in triumph and pride. It brang back wonderful memories of his childhood, when he loved playing music, when he was a very happy boy. It was the last thing Aisha’s father saw. Then slowly, as he smiled proudly, he closed his eyes, and never open them again.

A Ghost town with a Ghost train

 

It had been a very long time since any train had been on this railroad. A very long time. The last train that came here was a hundred years ago, when there was still people living in this town. But now, there was not a soul in sight. This was a Ghost town. Reports have said that many travelers have been scared by this mysterious town. Sightings of ghosts had been seen here before. Noah’s dad told Noah that their visit to this town was not going to be easy. 

They had not eaten for days, and were very hungry. This was the closest town near them. Despite their fear of this town, they decided to go in, to see if they could get any food. Noah’s dad told him to wait by the empty train station to wait for him. Noah looked around, as he sat down on a wooden seat. He looked around. The station was empty. It was very quiet except for the sound of a train horn. Wait, a train horn? Noah jumped out of his seat. Sure enough, he saw a train, on the abandoned rail track. Didn’t this rail road close down a long time ago? Noah’s curiosity got the better of him. He ran as fast as he could, and jumped with all his might. 

He was on the train. He quickly found a door and pushed it open. Inside, it was as silent as death. Noah crept in, and glanced around. There were suitcases, and signs that people had been here. But there was no one in sight. He went to the front of the train, expecting to see the driver. But to his horror, he found that there wasn’t one, and the train was driving on it’s own. Were there ghosts? All this was enough for Noah, as he ran back to the door and tried to open it. He couldn’t. The door wouldn’t budge. Suddenly, he felt a cold presence...

Life in my Bubble