NO GOING BACK!

Could you ever imagine what life would be like without a net-book? It would be torture. However there are uppers and downers to being a Net-Booker.

The things I like about our net-books are: taking them home in the weekdays, weekends and holidays. You can learn at home and don’t have to at school all the time .

The other thing is, it’s better to have our net-book to post things on our blog, unlike last year when you had to wait for ages, on the iMacs. So those are the upper sides of having a net-book. But there are some downers.

Now for the bad downers. First of all, the Internet connection. Most of the time it is working, but sometimes, it’s not. It is just like having a pen and paper when Internet isn’t on. I mean, when you don’t have connection, you can’t show anyone your work. So that’s a big downer.

I would never go back to just a pencil and paper. I’d rather stay with the our net-books.
THE END.

"Senior Prize Giving"

It was the end of the year and there was prize giving. I was so excited about the dance that team four had to do. My teams song was Beat It by Michael Jackson. I was so nervous with my mum watching. So I just gave 100%. At the end of our performance, I just smiled at my family and walked off the stage. It was a cool as dance. Even though I didn't win an award, I still had fun doing my team item.

Outta This World

There is too much pollution in the year 2167 and everyone has to leave Earth and start fresh on a new planet. Check out my movie

.

Thank You Mrs Clarke

Dear Mrs Clarke,

I thank you for teaching us C.R.E for these past years. I also thank you for giving up your own time. I hope you can teach team four next year, just as amazing as you did for us. So in many different ways, I thank you.

The best lesson when you were here, was the the last one, the Christmas one. When you pulled out the chocolate. I hope I was going to get one. But it was alright. Thank anyway for that lesson.

Love lots from Gabriel.

Athletics Day

My favorite thing of the year. Athletics. There was one thing and one thing only that I was looking forward to doing. High Jump. Because since 2009 I either came first or second, but this year was different. I didn't come anything. But it was alright. At least I had fun.

An Extraordinary Concert Night!

Stand By Me

On the final night of Camp Bentzon, was our concert night. What a way to kick it off with Marvin’s dad Rodney singing Stand By Me and Mary Had A Little Lamb. I knew this was going to be fun night.

Now for our item. We done a mockumentary about the teachers. I was playing Mr Barks doing a Mr Bean Dance. But the funniest was Tui as Mrs Va’afusuanga. Everyone was laughing hard.

At the end of the night, everyone was at the edge of their seat. Waiting to here the final scores from the judges. Then they announced 4th and 3rd place. It was down to Bentzon and Kawau (my team.) Mrs Flavelle then said.... “The winner of 2011 Camp Bentzon..... KAWAU!!

Tennis Coaching

When I heard that room 17 was going to have tennis coaching, I thought to myself tennis, my least favourite sport. I don't even watch it on TV. I hate tennis.

Our tennis coach was named Marcel. He was a professional player and teaches other schools, well of course, tennis. If I had to pick my coach, I would pick him instead of any one else, because he was a kind coach. Now the tennis coaching was under way.

How to hold the racket is the main thing with tennis, because if you can't hold it right, you can't do the shots properly.  It was kind of frustrating for me but then, I got the hang of it. About 5 minutes after we learnt how to hold the ball, I was really good.

King and queen ball was the game we played. It was kind of like playing handball but your using a racket, and you have to hit the ball over a net. I was king once but then, Marvin got me out. Can you believe that? Only one round as king. I wasen't even good. Not fair that people are picking on me.

Even though I didn't really like tennis at the start of coaching, when you actually play it, It's pretty cool. Just one week in and now I just can't wait until Thursdays. Tennis is a cool sport, if you know how to play it.

Ice Cream Comet

Comets, did you know you could eat them?(Only ice cream ones though.) When I found out room 17 and 16 were going to make comets out of ice cream, biscuits and hundreds and thousands, I was very excited and couldn’t wait for the time to come.

“Out of my way I shouted to people.” I was dashing to the picnic table with a whole clump of ice cream in my hands. It felt like my hands were -5 degrees with that ice cream. But when the hundred and thousands came on, it was a bit warmer.

After all that coldness, my favourite time came. Eating the comets. The vanilla flavoured comet landed straight into my watering mouth. Lick after lick. The delicious treat for me was an early Halloween gift. Yummy.

As soon as we had eaten, we looked over all the mess Mr Somerville had made. IT WAS A PIG STY! There was heaps and heaps of food gone to waste. Hundreds of hundreds and thousands. Humongous amount of biscuits left on the floor and ice cream cones in the bin.

Finally the chaos was over. We all had a nice treat from Mr Somerville and Miss Garden. I hope we could do this again but make something that won’t melt, may be a spaceship. You never know.

Willow Park Camp

The time had come to go to the riverside camp, Willow Park. I would have preferred Tortara Springs though. But any camp is exciting for me.

It was now the second day. We got given options, they were tennis, mini-golf or riding on the quad bikes. But I decided to play mini-golf with Waata. He was up for the challenge and said to me, “bring it on.”

It was hole fifteen, the final hole. We were tied up at 7 all. I swung the putter back and hit the ball up the the hill. Almost had a hole in one, but the ball just went right.  Waata missed his shot. Then I just tapped the ball into the hole. I am the winner.

Performance night was the best night at Willow Park. Every group had to perform for the judges. For our performance, we done the National Anthem and the Haka. But the funniest one was peanut butter jelly time done by Ahsin’s group. That was a cool night.

After camp, I thought to my-self. Even though we didn’t go to Tortara Springs,  I still had a good time.

Countries I am Focusing On

The Countries I chose for my country research was Canada and Fiji. This is my movie. I hope you enjoy.

Manly Beat Warriors In A Thriller Grand Final

THE VODAFONE WARRIORS

MANLY WARRINGTON SEA EAGLES

It all came down to this, the 2011 grand final where the Vodafone Warriors take on Manly Warrington Sea Eagles. I was anxious for the match to start. Then the hooter went. Kick off time.

          Big hits were the best things I saw in the match. Warriors Five-eight James Maloney done two hits and Warriors center  Krisnan Inu done 2 hits. In some hits, blood spilled from the faces and onto the field which needed stitches.

          Thirty minutes into the game and no one had scored, until Manly struck the line. Brett 'The Snake' Stewart had gone in for the opening try. Which made the score 4-2 after James Maloney's Penalty goal. But the score was in favor of Manly

           In the shadows of full time, it wasn't good. Manly's captain Jamie Lyon scored then got the conversion. That made the 26-16

           Even though Warriors lost, it was still a good to experience a grand final match. They didn't lose by much. Only by 10 points.

Pool A has another good NZ match ahead. Going up against Japan. This will be held at Waikato Stadium,  in Hamilton. The Referee for this match will be Nigel Owens. I predict the score for this match is going to 64-7 in favour of NZ.

The Rugby World Cup Is Back!!

24 years ago from tomorrow, was the best year for the All Blacks. They won the RWC. Now it starts again on September 9th. For the opening, there will be the Haka and the Tongan chant at Eden Park, Auckland. But I know the All Blacks will prevail 36-12. That is my prediction for the score. They will win the World Cup.  The AB's will win because they have the best players in the world like Sonny-Bill, Ma'a Nonu, best Captain Richie McCaw, Dan Carter plus many more. No holding back!

Running For My Life Cartoon

In our reading group, I have been reading a book called When I Grow Up by Barbara Berge.

We had to choose a cartoon to draw out of three options. They were Running for my life (that's the one I done), Prise my fingers off or Legs turning into jelly. I picked the easiest one.

Gabriel Haka

For our hyperstudio stack, we had to put together a movie about New Zealand doing the haka. This is my movie. I hope you enjoy.

This is a presentation that I done about caring about a baby bird. I hope you like it.

RWC NZ

Just like my Ireland page, I done another presentation but I just chose it myself. This one is for NZ. My own country. I believe they will win the 2011 RWC. They have got heaps of star players like Richie McCaw, Dan Carter and many more. I have got the fixtures and the team, plus captain Richie McCaw. Click on this link to go to the page.

RWC Ireland!!!!

Around Auckland, schools like ours get a team in the RWC (Rugby World Cup). We got Ireland. So I done a two page presentation which would make me support Ireland even more. The fixtures (right) and the team (below). To find out more about Ireland, click on this link to the site.

Rugby World Cup Keep Your Eye On The Ball

I believe that holding the RWC (Rugby World Cup) in NZ is a good idea because the money we get will probably go towards rebuilding Christchurch. Also, we can we can build houses for the poor and give them food.

The All Blacks will win if the put heart into what they need to do and train hard. This all leads to winning the William Webb Ellis Cup (the trophy) or in other words Keep Your Eye On The Ball

My Family Flag

This is a flag that I drew for my family.

Gabriel We Need A Make Over

As our school expands with over 500 children, we have less play area. Room 17 has a solution. We’ve surveyed children from room 16-18 about what they would like for them to play in room 17’s courtyard. A courtyard make over is what we need. We even have evidence that not many people play in this un-enticing area.


During this term, we have had fields closed. So now we have crowded conditions in the breeze, on the court and in the new senior block. With all the crowded conditions, the juniors are fearful of the seniors. I just wish that the the fields were open again so it’s less crowded.

Our courtyard is also ugly. Just plain ugly. It has a big ugly ditch right in the middle, which blocks us playing on the court. That’s not all. The walls are also dirty and everyone sticks their hand prints on them. It looks ugly.

Finally, with-out having to accessing the fields, we need more places to play. We are all squashed on a tiny little courtyard and the breeze. With this little courtyard, it just feels like a waste of space. So we need to get this courtyard done. With this space, no one will be all crammed in one space.

All I want is for our courtyard to get a makeover so more kids can play in different areas.

The blue highlighting is for our vocabulary and phrases that we had to put in the story and the red is the paragraph he marked.This is the rubric that my class mate Crusader marked.

On The Trail

This is the track that I drew from On The Trail. I hope you like it.

Partly Cloudy

The main characters in the story were Mr Atmosphere and the Stalk.
This was set high in the sky.
This Story starts when stalks deliver babies and pets to houses.Mr Atmosphere was trying to make babies but in stead he made a crocodile and a hedgehog. Plus many more things. Mr Atmosphere thought that Stalk was going to another cloud, but instead, he went to go get armor. The armor was football gear. Shoulder pads, a helmet and gloves. Then they laughed and laughed. Mr Atmosphere tried to make one more thing but......... He made a electric eel. They lived up in the sky forever.

Extreme Makeover Courtyard Edition.

Darius and I were thinking about redesigning our courtyard. This is what we wrote.


Why I chose basketball hoops?
I chose basketball hoop so then we can have more and more fun in the courts. The court is just not fun because there is nothing to do. We can even have comps.

I want basketball hoops in our courts to play in the summer and maybe in the winter.


The things that I found like the prices were....... for the ones bolted into the wall were only $59.00 each. They aren't to much money and then not too little.


Me and Darius chose picnic tables as well as a basketball hoops. We chose picnic tables because when we sit on the deck, it hurts my bum. So if we eat on picnic tables, then we can eat better.


This is our design. (Above)

Podcasting Zapped In Space.

Stay Tuned, there is a podcast that is coming up soon with this animation. This is a sneak peak from the book. And this is the two headed alien that I drew. I hope you enjoy the movie.

Since the first week of the term, we studied about the Samoan artist named Fatu Feu’u. He just doesn’t do his art-work for fun, he does it for culture. He does many patterns and motifs. It has just been really cool studying about his work. This is the thing that I wrote of him. Where he was from, what village and all that. To go along side it, I put a picture here.

Artist: Fatu Feuu
Tala Lasi Samoa-Painter of Tales

Born: 1946 Samoa


Village: Poutasi Falealili, Savai'i


Fatu Feu'u was born in the village of Poutasi Felealii on the island of Savai'i in Samoa. He was educated at Apia's Samoa collage, he emigrated to New Zealand in 1966 in order to study art. Fatu is a role model and mentor for other Pacific artists in New Zealand and the Pacific.


Fatu has transformed traditional design motifs intor in his paintings, prints and sculptures into fresh meanings: tatau, siapo, ufimata, lalaga and gog - tattoo, barkcloth, masks, weaving, and the figrate bird.His visual presentations reflect his passion and spiritual understandings of Samoan legends and fa'asamoa of Samoan Culture.

Bravery Heart-Break Loss and Hope

Did you ever wonder what it would be like for the women who had to stay back in NZ while the NZ and Australia men went to war. It would have been really sad. This is a little movie that our group done. I hope you enjoy.

Brave men AND women from SchoolTV on Vimeo. That was our movie that we filmed. I hope now you think about the past was our NZ and Australia men sacrefised their lives to defend our land.

Octopodi Part 2.

Octopodi is a short animation that you can watch on youtube. This is the second and third scene for octopodi.

Pinky, (that’s what I named the pink octopus) shoots from the the slingshot over the seagull. She notices that she has got too much strength while she was flying. So she turned around and splattered ink into the seagulls face and lands into a pond. The seagull drops Orangey, (the orange octopus) and he lands onto the dangerous road. Pinky cries but...........


She doesn't give up. Trying to reach out when..... The chef grabbed Pinky and takes off. Stuck out in the open, Orangey climbs onto the nearest car and tries to catch up with the chef. The chef stops at his restaurant and goes into the kitchen. Orangey jumps off his ride and goes into the kitchen. Strapped up, Pinky sees Orangey and tries to get out, but she can’t. Orangey gets a knife and cuts the straps. They jump out the window and into the reef and live Happily Ever After.

Redesigning My Computer Mouse

This morning we had to use BAR (Bigger, Add, Replace) to redesign our mouses. I did a Spongbob mouse. I made the whole thing bigger. Just by a little bit. Added 3 mini speakers and replaced the clicking bits with Spongebob’s eyes. That was my mouse.



I made it bigger because some mouses that I use are just too small for my hand. But with this mouse, it will be just right. I replaced the Spongebob eyes with the clicking bits because those were just old. With the eyes of Spongebob, they are more detailed. I added the mini speakers because it is just too quiet from out of my net-book. But with the speakers, shared lunch and special places will never be quiet. So I would buy this mouse if it were real.

Marble Track Challenge 2

Planning:
First Darius will roll up 4 newspaper tubes with 2 stands. Then Starford will divide the cello-tape 9 pieces. I will be cutting holes, for the marble to travel through 4 holes.

What we did:
Our plan was to make the tubes on an ngle, but it didn’t quite work out. We tested it out and then the marble came out a hole that we didn’t even make. It was quite frustrating. In the end, we figured out where the hole was. It was right at the end of the first tube. So then we covered it up.

Yah! Term 2 is swimming term. I was so eager to go swimming this term, and show off all my skills. Even though it’s the least favourite sport for me, it still cool splashing around with my class mates.


With goosebumps traveling down my neck, I immediately jumped into the pool to get warm. I stayed under the water for about 20 seconds, getting Warmer by the moment. Then when my lungs could take no more, I came up gasping for air.


Para 3: Freestyle

I was the second person to take off at freestyle. Logan was in front of me just gliding through the water easily. I thought this was going to be easy, but it was struggling. Floppy arms and legs all over. That’s why I was struggling.

Para 4: Exhaustion at swimming.

Only at half-way, I was exhausted from swimming. I knew that stopping would mean that I a wimp at swimming so, I pushed my self to the limit. With my never say die attitude, I made it the whole length with-out stopping. That was exhausting.

Conclusion:
I think this swimming lesson has been the best for me. I learnt the different techniques to swim better and faster.

Free Typing Lessons

Last term room 17 were learning to touch type. Click onto this link and it will take you there. Click Here.

2011 QLD VS NSW (Gabriel Version)

Since I didn't go with the normal NSW and QLD teams, I decided to create my own. So here goes. Fullback Kurt Gidley. Wingers Brett Morris and Jarryd Hayne. Centers are Chris Lawrence and Jamie Lyon. Halfs are Jamie Soward and Peter Wallace. Props are Micheal Weyman and Kade Snowden. Hooker Robbie Farah. Second Rows are Luke Lewis and Chris Heighington. Lock is Greg Bird. Interchange is Anthony Watmough, Todd Carney, Paul Gallen and Tim Mannah. Now for the QLD team. Fullback Billy Slater. Wingers Darius Boyd and Jaral Yow Yeh. Centers are Greg Inglis and Willie Tonga. Halfs are Darren Lockeyer and Jonathan Thurstan. Props are Petro Civinaciva and Ben Hannet. Hooker Cameron Smith. Sam Thiday and Nate Myles. Lock Micheal Luck. Bench Cooper Cronk, Corey Parker, Ashley Harrison and Jacob Lillyman. 18th Man Dave Taylor.

Playing With Picasa

Picasa is where you can make slide shows, albums, how to upload to albums and things. This is a two item slide show that I made up. I hope you like it.

Easter Holidays

Do you like West Wave? West wave is where I went to with my family in the Easter holiday. Wave pools, hydro-slides, spa pools and bombing pools. That place is wicked! It was my turn up. The person if front of me just jumped off the platform. As I thought to myself this is going to be easy, but then I walked forward. I looked down and saw I was way high. I tried to turn back but, my brother blocked me off. So the only way down, was to jump.

I was so excited to go to west wave. Easter holidays are all ways boring for me except for this year. My family were going to West Wave.

Gabriel First Highlight of Term 1

Camp was my first term highlight. I was the camp leader for the Responsible Rockers. That was my group name. Everything at camp was challenging. Swimming for the whole day at swimarama. Setting up our tents, the smoke from camp cooking, the strength for Kayaking and 2 hours of skating. But when it came up to Camp Concert, that was the most challenging of all. For our performance, we done some robot moves with a little bit of Tectonic. The next day on my birthday, we went to the YMCA in Pammure. I hope next term can be less struggling like this term. If it will be then I will be ready.

Art Space

I drew a flag that says Respect. I did that because I respects my school and my culture. First we sketched the out-line and then we coloured it with pastel. I used pink, grey, and green brown and yellow colours. After the pastel we went straight onto painting. Painting was the fun bit. I painted my painting red on the out-side and that was my flag.

Have You Seen This Cat?

Last Seen Outside our new house. SO PLEASE RETURN. I really want him back.

Japan Triple Disaster

What happened to Japan? I was watching 3 news when I heard about their immeasurable disaster that happened off the coast of Japan. There was a 8.9 earthquake, a Tsunami which engulfed the city with water and worst of all, their nuclear power plant erupted in fire.

The earthquake struck off the coast of Japan but didn’t do much damage to the houses because the houses in Japan are earthquakes proof cause they all was have them. Even though the earthquake was a 8.9 magnitude, it was no matter for the houses.

The earthquake was nothing until the massive Tsunami came and hit the town. An unexpected tsunami hit straight after the 8.9 magnitude. it washed the buildings away from in their place and engulfed the city with water.

But that wasn’t all. Their nuclear power plant exploded and set some of the coast on fire. It wasn’t just a double dustier, it was a triple disaster. It even burned inside the sea water. This was bad.

I hope that the coast of Japan can get help and rebuild the city so everyone can be safe in their lovely new homes. The End

Cricket

YES We have cricket training! Every Thursday after morning tea, room 17 have cricket training with some people from NZC. (New Zealand Cricket) called Hamit and Robin.

One of the shots that we learnt was the front foot drive. To do this shot, you have to place your foot right beside the ball then swing through with your bat. If you are right handed your left foot goes beside the ball, but if your left handed do the whole thing vice-versa.

After we finished learning that shot, we played a game where you had to hit the ball in the front foot drive off some tees and through these cones. It was embarrassing for me because I didn’t hit it between them. Hamit came to show me how it was done right. Once I got that right, I was smashing it down past the goal post.

I wish the NZC could stay at our school and teach us heaps more about cricket, but eventually they will have to go. That will be sad. The End.

Smackdown Vs Raw 2010

In the weekend when me my brother and my mum were cleaning out our wardrobe, I found this game called Smackdown vs Raw 2010. So as soon as we were finished our wardrobe , we went straight onto the playstation 2.

I was a wrestler called Randy Ortan and my brother was John Cena. As soon as we knew it, I won the match by chucking my brother off the Hell In The Cell. Just because that he wanted a rematch, so I gave him one. I won again.

The Seed

One day from out of the sky dropped one seed right in the middle of the chafer and scarab beetles boundary. So no one could claim the seed was theirs. So then the two kings decided, " we would have to have war then." So the two tribes prepared for war for 3 years straight. But what they did not realise was when they were preparing for war, the seed grew into a cherry tree and spread over both tribes lands. So from then on, both tribes lived happily ever after and shared the cherry tree which grew right on their boundary. The End.

First Post

In the holidays me and my sister went to this holiday programme called Youth Pride, which was held at Sacred Heart Collage.

When we went for the first time, it was kind of embarrassing because we hardly knew anyone apart from the people from Pt England and the people that lived on my street. After we went for about two weeks we knew mostly everyone there.

The main reason why we went to Youth Pride was because we wanted to win a trophy, but we had to compete against 6 other Youth pride schools. We had to travel by bus all the way to Western Springs near Motat where the big dance off was held. We were the first group to dance and it was a magnificent dance. At the end of our dance, the crowd rumbled and cheered.

Going first really paid off because at the end of the whole thing, we came first and won the trophy. It was hard work because the judges could not decide who to pick, so we had to have a dance off against One Tree Hill. But we still turned up on the top.

The End