Tongan Language Week

LI: to learn about the Tongan culture and traditions and honour the Tongan Language Week.

This week was Tongan Language week, where people share their knowledge about their home country (Tonga). This was also an opportunity for people who were not Tongan, to learn more about the different foods, people, and other knowledge that was passed down by their ancestors. As a group we translated simple words and phrases that we could use. We also wrote the Tongan words for the numbers up to 10.

I enjoyed doing this activity because this activity gave me the opportunnity to educate myself on Tongan traditions and culture. Something I liked about this activity was how there were Tongans who helped me pronounce the different words in the correct way.

Cybersmart | Photoshop or Fake

This week for cybersmart, we have been looking at the effects of media manipulation. Media maniplation is when someone has photoshopped a photo without that persons permission, and have posted it for views, money, and attention. We did this activity to give us an idea of what fake and real photos are.

To help us identify which photos were real or fake, we used image search. This would allow us to find out if the information connected to the image is true. For this create challenge, my partner and I created our own manipulated image, and we chose stonehenge. To make the image realistic we decided to pose in a spot that makes the audience think like we are at the place.

I enjoyed doing this activity because I learned how I can spot which photos are real or fake by using the correct sites.

First Impressions

LI: to describe the first impressions we got of a character and compare them with other characters

We recorded our first impressions of the wolf character from three different texts on the table. Two texts show the wolf as the antagonist and one text shows the wolf as the protagonist. To synthesise our ideas we used our prior knowledge and the new knowledge we gained from reading the text to help us form new ideas. Protagonist is the main character who leads the text, who we see the point of view from (e.g. the three pigs). Antagonist is the character who stands against the protagonist in the story (e.g. the wolf).  

In this task, we wrote an informed comparison from the texts that have different perspectives in the story, to see how the wolf is resembled by looking at the whole table and each character trait we established.

I found this activity helpful because it allowed me to have an understanding of the similaries and the differences between the three different texts. 

 

Describe the character

LI: to describe a character from a text we have read.

This term we have been looking at the different ways author’s bring characters to life. We thought about where the characters were, what situations they were in, the emotions they may have felt, what might have been going through their minds and how the author used sensory imagery to show us, rather than tell us about personalities and adventures of the characters we were reading about. I have used examples from the text and my own word knowledge to describe the character as seen through the author’s eyes.

To complete this activity, I described the wolves that had been in the 4 texts. I used the illustration from the text to narrate what the wolf is like in each texts. This activity was to build our understanding on characterisation and how authors can use vocabulary to develop a character. Using sensory imagery, we created a descriptive piece of text about the scene and used them in order to give emotion into the scene, making the reader think how we would want them to think.

By reflecting on this activity I can understand how to describe a character with more powerful vocabulary words.

Scene Description

LI: to describe a scene from a text we have read.

 

We have been exploring the ways writers use words to create mood and atmosphere in a text. I have used my knowledge of different langauge features used to  create mood and atmosphere in this text to help me describe a scene from the text that the character found themselves in. 

To complete this activity, I chose a scene from each text I have read. This reading challenge was to allow us to understand more about how the scenes are built and how authors use a variety of vocabulary to influence the way the audience encounters the different scenes, meaning it gives a well painted picture based on the scene. While describing the scene, we also used sensory imagery to support our thinking of the scene, which expresses how it feels in the that particular state.

I found this activity helpful because I learned how to be more familiar with using advanced vocabulary and sensory imagery to make my text more powerful. 

First impressions of Character Comparison

LI: To make an informed opinion.

To complete this activity I compared two texts. One from the perspective of the protagonist and one from the perspective of the antagonist. We used evidence from the text to support our thinking. To show my understanding considered both perspectives and I made an informed opinion. Do you agree with me?

3 Little Pig Wolf Analysis

Over the past few weeks our reading group has been looking at the characterisation of wolves and how they are often painted in bad light. For this particular task, we compared two texts that paint the wolf in good light and bad light, as the protagonist and as the antagonist. We used our connections and comparisons to make informed opinions on how the author can influence our ideas about the characterisation of wolves. To prove this with data we carried out a survey to find out people’s perceptions on characters in children’s literature. The text we used to gather our information was the Three Little Pigs. 

Have a look at the graphs we made to see how different people see different characters and our opinions on why they might think this way.

We have included our Google Form because if you are reading this post we would like you to fill in the form and share your thinking so we can find out what a wider audience think about the same text. This will take you about 5 minutes to complete.

Area, Perimeter & Circumference

LI: to understand the math language for the topic (area).

Area is a form of measurement that people use to figure out other things. Different shapes need different formulas in order to calculate the area. It is important to remember the formulas because it would make it a lot easier for you. Area is the amount of space a (2 dimentional/flat) shape can fill or cover. To figure out the formula of any quadrilateral shapes, you need to times the Length with the Width. In maths form it would look like this: (A = L x W). An area of something is always squared eg: 32cm².

The formula of a triangle is; A = bh ÷ 2. Make sure to remember that the height (bh) of a triangle is from the bottom to the tip of the triangle. The base (bh) of a triangle is from one point to another. You need to times the base with the height ( base x height). After calculating the bh you need to divide that number by 2 and that is the area.

The formula of a circle is; r² x 𝜋 or radius squared times pi. The radius is the length between the centre point of the circle to the outside. If you know that the diameter is for example 20 cm you divide that by 2 in order to get the radius. 20 ÷ 2 = 10. r = 10. You then find out what the “r²” is. If the radius was 10, you would need to times 10 by itself in to find what 10² is. 10 x 10 = 100 or 10² = 100. You then times 100 by 𝜋 or 10² x 𝜋. (100 x 3.14).

 

Eating times | PB4L

Students will remain seated while eating and dispose of rubbish correctly.

In the past 2 weeks we have been learning about the correct eating ways during morning tea and lunch time. Our group looked and discussed the different types of ways we could be mindful and eat correctly during these breaks, e.g. how returning the lunch tray on time is helpful to Whaea Hera. This is important as it would save time for her instead of waiting for the lunch trays to be delivered after the lunch bell.

I enjoyed doing this activity because this would give other students and I to know what to do during breaks, and give us a good and better environment.

Character Story Response

These are our character story responses where we analyze texts to build on our understanding of wolves and different characters. Once we read each text, we looked at some details that weren’t in the texts, made connections by sharing what we would do if we were the wolf, what perspective we think the texts are written in and what we could infer from the text. Looking at these books, we could see that the texts were mostly written in third person or in the narrator’s perspective because of the use of third person pronouns. Each texts are narratives and use past continuous tense. Past continuous talks about something continuously happening in the past. For example: the boy was walking towards the shops.

I enjoyed doing this activity because it let us practice analysing characters and how authors use character traits to portray people or figures in stories.