Te Whanau Raukura Performance

The Te Whanau Raukura Kapa Haka group came to our school to show us amazing dances and teach us new incredible things about the Haka and Maori history. They firstly talked to us about the items used in Hakas. The first one was the Poi Poi, which used to be a way for men back then to help them with their wrists so they were able to fight. Nowadays it is used mostly by women when dancing. Then next was the Te Rakau which was again used by men back in the days to help them with their joints and wrist so they were able to fight. Lastly there was the Taiaha which was a stick with a spear edge, it is said that the Taiaha is shaped like the body. The stick is the body, and the top is the head but also known as the tongue. Poking the tongue in Maori culture is a way to show intimidation and readiness for combat. 

Exploring Current Events

LI: To identify author’s purpose.

For Reading we were exploring different type of articles and news through current events. There are 12 different types of articles. The first is Timeliness which is a type of article that has happened recently. Relevance is a type of article where it is of importance to the reader. Magnitude is an article that has effected a lot of people in the story, such as a natural disaster like a flood or tornado. Another one is Unexpectedness is a story that you didn't anticipate, something unusual that occurs without a warning. Impact is a type of article that effects a large amount of readers. The next one is a Reference to someone that is important or famous, an article which talks about a famous or important person like a singer or politician. Oddity is an article which talks about a weird situation. Conflict is something that has major struggles in the news or article. A reference to something negative which is a unhappy and sad story. Continuity a follow up story of a one before, or something familiar to it. Emotions is a type of article which creates emotions such as happines, anger and more feelings to increase the interest of the story. Progress is a story about something that sparks new hope and achievement. Authors write for a purpose (reason). These reasons are to persuade, inform or entertain (PIE). Each day, newspaper editors around the world must make desicions about which stories they will run. We explored the different types of current events that are happening in New Zealand, thought about why the story made the news and plotted the location on a google map.

Provocation: Should masks be compulsory on NZ public transport?

LI: To identify and consider the two perspectives of this provocation to help me form an opinion

This week for Reading we were learning about Provocations. A Provocation is an action or phrase that triggers strong emotions. Our provocation was "Should masks be compulsory in Auckland public transport?". In our DLO (Digital Learning Object) we had to say if we agree or not with the provocation, and then share our opinion. My opinion is that I think we should have a free choice on rather or not we want to wear masks. Some people have not too good health and would have trouble breathing. 

The Charge of the Light Brigade

 LI: to understand the narrative in the poem

For Reading we learnt about another poem, and about the narrative in it. We've been reading new poems and text to let us practice how to understand more quickly the story. The poem, The Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred Lord Tennyson, is about the Crimean War that happened between Russia, and the Ottoman Empire. The poem tells the story about the 600 men of the Light Brigade from the Ottoman Empire who tried to attack Russia. They were ordered to charge on horseback into a valley but were ambushed and their attack ended in defeat for them. This activity was really cool doing because this poem was about a real life event, and tells it in a way where it feels like you're there and it's happening again. 

Word Problems

LI: to explain how we solved our problems

For Maths we worked in mixed math groups to practice our team skills and to help us explain how we solved these word problems. The topic of these word problems were about Metric Measurements, which was more specifically about weight and mass. The word problem was about the ingredients and the weight of these ingredients. We had to find the weight of the missing ingredient by adding up the weight of the ingredients we knew, and subtracting it from the weight of the whole food. 

Maori Names

LI: to learn Maori names

For Maori we learnt that the Te Reo Maori translation of English names has a similar sound to it. So we tried to translate them and match them together. We did this and it was really cool to do, because regular names were translated into these Te Reo Maori translations. 

Guy Fawkes

LI: to use the words you highlighted to help you summarise the story behind fireworks night

Learning Space 2 and Room 5 have come together to work with each - other. Learning Space 2 were teaching Rm 5 about keywords and summarisation. The text we were reading was Guy Fawkes which is tomorrow night. Through reading the text we were writing down keywords. Out of the list we wrote we had to pick 20 important words. From the 20 we had to pick the 6 most important, and using those 6 we summed up the text with a few sentences. Guy Fawkes was a day where a man named Guy Fawkes tried to assassinate the King by using barrels of gunpowder.