12 August

This week in maths, I have been learning about the area of rectangles, parallelograms and triangles. For example, if the width of the rectangle is 4cm and the height is 5cm, you go 4 x 5, which equals 20, so the area of the rectangle would be 20cm squared. I find it kind of easy, because all you need to know is your times tables.

We have started doing our speeches, and mine is on animal cruelty. I’m very nervous about doing speeches, because I’m not that fussed on speaking in front of crowds, but somehow I’m looking forward to it. I have no idea why I’m looking forward to it.

Yesterday, we had our inter-house cross country. The whole length of it was 3 kilometers. I got placed 68th in the Year 7 girls. I think I could have done a bit better, because I tried hard at the start, but then didn’t run much in the middle and around the farm. When we went around the farm, there was lots of cow and sheep poo, and it was hard to not step on it.

For extension English, we have been typing up a poem about the tree in the middle of the school driveway. It is a very pretty tree, but unfortunately I can’t think of anything to write about it. Last time in extension English, we had to write a short story about hair. Mine was about a man who went into the hairdressers to get a haircut but ended up with a ugly hairdo, and he liked it because it was “his style.” In the end, everybody laughed and clapped because they thought it was going to end up bad, but it ended up good.

In writing, we have been doing discussion arguments. We are all doing one about banning smoking in prisons. When doing discussion arguments, you have to do both sides and in the conclusion you must say your opinion, not in the reasons.

My goal for next week.

• To not get shy when doing my speech. I will do this by practicing in front of my parents and in front of the mirror. I will know I have achieved this when I can freely say my speech without getting shy.

29 July

This week in English, we have been writing. We have been practising sentences. We have been looking at sentences in Extension English already, but we are still doing it in class. When doing it in class, I have learnt a little more about sentences then in Extension English. We have also been doing argument writing, and I find this better than report writing. Report writing was quite easy, because you got given a piece of paper with all the information on it and you took notes. With argument writing, you have to research for all the information yourself, and this is quite challenging. I am doing my argument topic on animal cruelty, and when researching, there can be some gross things about it which I don’t want to put it in my argument, which makes it harder to find information, but I am enjoying doing argument writing.

In maths, we have started doing measurement. I am finding this sort of difficult, because I don’t really enjoy converting measurements. I always have to have my notebook out when doing so, because it contains the information on how to convert measurements and I keep on forgetting.

In tech arts, we have finished Food and gone on to Design, which I am already starting to enjoy. We have started making things like mazes and operation games, made out of copper wire, LED’s and maybe a buzzer. There are only about three people making mazes, including me, and the rest are doing operation games. I decided to make a maze because an operation game seemed much to difficult for my capibility and a maze would be simple, but still hard to make, because I have a hard maze design. I have made my maze out of stiff paper ( Not cardboard ) and copper wire so far. I am going to add three LED’s to my maze. Two red LED’s in different places. One LED will go off as well as a buzzer if you hit the sides in one half of the maze, while the other one will go off as well as the buzzer if you hit the sides in another half of the maze. At the end, you must put your “stick” ( Or whatever metal thing I make to do the maze ) on another little square of copper wire, and a green LED will go off along with the buzzer. I think I just spoiled my plan though…

My goals for next week.

• To finish my speech and learn it off by heart. I will do this  by finishing my speech, and then going over it over and over again, until I know it. I will know I have achieved this when I can say my speech out loud and make no mistakes.
• To finish all my maths. I will do this by doing my maths and having no interruptions. I will know I have achieved this when I have finished all my maths.

Wearable Arts

This is me modelling our wearable arts =D

This week, we have been doing our wearable arts project. I found this quite exciting and challenging. It was challenging because I found it hard to create the dress and find materials for it. But in the end, Lisa ( My W.A partner ) and I created the dress out of plastic bags and made some ribbons for the straps out of an old black shirt. We also hot-glued black fabric in the inside of the top part of the dress so it wasn’t see-through. On the bottom part of the straps, we glued a black button and a black bottle top on for decoration. We sewed all the plastic bags together using a sewing machine for the under layer of the dress, and for the skirt, we hot-glued them on, and they stuck perfectly. On the morning of Wednesday, we were able to go up to the Tech Arts block and finish off our dress. Lisa and I went up and finished the skirt. I had done more than half of the skirt at home that morning, so we only had to do a little bit. Then we patched up all the holes and made it look neater with a bit more fabric, some decorations. We did most of it with the glue gun. We had our team finals on Wednesday, but unfortunately, we didn’t get through to the school finals on Friday.

I had a lot of fun doing wearable arts this year, and I hope I can do it again soon. I’ve already got an idea for the next wearable arts I do, but I’m not going to say it. Doing this, I have learnt how to us a sewing machine and work it. It is actually really easy once you get the hang of it.

Science Fair

This is my science fair project.

I did an experiment on the relationship between the surface texture and how far a ball will roll. I did three tests on three surface textures. The surface textures were, a shagpile carpet, a wooden floor and a towel.

My hypothesis was that the ball would roll the least distance on the shagpile carpet, and the furthest distance on the wooden floor. My hypothesis was correct.

I used a ramp for the ball, so I didn’t have to worry about the force of the push every time. I set the ball at the top of the ramp and let it go. I also used a measuring tape to measure how far the ball went each time. Measuring the ball on the wooden floor was hard, seeing it went so far.

My results were that on the shagpile carpet, the ball only went around about 35cm, on the towel, it went around 75cm, and on the wooden floor, it went around about 11m.  

In conclusion, I said how my hypothesis was correct and why I think it was. I said how I thought I got the results I got. The shagpile carpet was very thick, with more fibers touching the ball to slow it down, while the wooden floor was just plain wood with nothing to stop the ball. The towel had a few fibers, while it wasn’t as textured as the shagpile carpet, but not as smooth as the wooden floor.

Thursday 29 April

This week, in maths, we have been doing probability. For me, some things in probability are hard, but some things easy, which makes it very challenging. But I am good at it, and I enjoy doing it for maths.

Unfortunately, I cannot talk about tech arts, because I was away when we did it. So I will just fill this space up with english. We have started a new vocab sheet, which is very fun.  I like the vocab sheets, because they challenge me in some ways and sometimes I have to… Usually I have to use a dictionary. But sometimes, even if I use a dictionary, I get the answers wrong.

In writing we have been doing explanation writing. I have learned that you have to actually explain the subject. Not just, for example, if you are explaining how to bake a cake, do not just write instructions.

I did not reach my goal for the holidays.

My goal for  next week is to write a brilliant explanation

I can achieve this by learning information on a particular subject and writing it all down, in my own words

I will know I have ahieved this when I can write a brilliant explanation, and get a good mark.

 

Thursday 1st April

Well, it’s the last day of school. Oh, by the way, happy April Fool’s Day!

For Tech Arts, we have done our second individual cooking. I made wedges and they turned out very delicous. Every person that tried one gave me the thumbs up :p. I, myself, thought they were a little spicy. I gave my neice one and she said they were spicy and that she only wanted half a one.

For Maths, we have done our very last maths test yesterday. We did two, one about the stuff we have already learnt, and one about decimals, fractions and percentages. I dont think that I will get all the answers correct on either of the tests.

On Monday, we did all the stuff for out SLC (Student Led Conferences), I had mine on Tuesday. For English, I have finished all my vocab work Yay.

I did not complete my goal for this week. And seeing today is the last day of school, I don’t think I need another goal, but maybe I can do one for the first week of- Hold on, we are going to camp then, so no… Actually, I might do one for the holidays.

• My goal for the holidays is to learn my times tables.
• I can achieve this by singing them in the car and practicing.
• I will know I have achieved this when I know all my times tables off by heart.

Thursday 25 March

In Tech arts, we are doing our second lesson of Food. I am cooking Poundies. Hopefully they will be yummy. We are doing that on Friday, not today. We have also started preparing for out Student Led Conferences, mine is on Tuesday next week; I’m nervous.

In maths, we are still learning about integers. It is my times tables that are letting me down. Otherwise, if I knew my times tables, I would be able to ge the answer correct. That really stinks.

Finally, in English, we have started another sheet. Just like In Control, but with new tasks and a different story. Out new story is Waiting in the Wings. It is about a girl that had to be on a play as a servant or maid. And she is nervous about saying one line. The line is, “More tea, Mrs Jenkins?” not much, really, is it? I wouldn’t have been nervous. But hey, one time I had to be in a play, and wear underpants on my head, because I was playing Captain Underpants. That was embarrasing.

I have achieved my goal for last week, but still need to work on it a little bit.

• My goal for next week is to learn my times tables that I don’t already know
• I will achieve this by getting family members and friends to test me.
• I will know I have achieved this when I know my times tables off by heart.

Thursday 11 March

This week, in Tech Arts, we have done our Science test. All that was in it was a whole bunch of revision stuff. Like… Oh, gosh, it’s hard to explain. It was a test, and it had science questions in it, okay? I can’t exactly remember all of the questions… Oh, so, if I don’t remember all the questions, then I couldn’t have gotten a good score? Fine then, but just remember this, I got nineteen out of nineteen! I think that only three people (not including me) got nineteen. Our very last session is on Tuesday next week, and then we are doing Food on Friday.

The end of the swimming season is nearly finished, so I’m making the most of it, like lots of other people. But I never seem to bring my togs on the hot days, and I bring them on the cloudy/rainy days!! So then the pool is very cold. Still, I think I am getting better at breaststroke.

In maths, we have been learning about new ways to work out problems, I, myself, have finally learned one! It took me ages because I kept doing algorithm (however you spell it…) . They weren’t really that hard, but now I see it as if I’ve been doing it non-algorithm all along, but keep getting the wrong answer. The earth just isn’t fair…..

In English, we have finished our reading tasks and now we are starting new ones. Each group has a sheet with a story on the front page. Ours is called “In Control.” I’m in group two. I finished my first activity which is a story web and I’ve finished another task which is a newsflash about the story. I guess I should give you a summary about “In Control”… It’s about this girl called Scarlett, and she thinks she is fat, so she goes to see a dietician. A while later she loses weight, but she loses so much that she becomes anorexic. In my Newsflash, I had to come up with a dramatic ending, so I said that Scarlett died of anorexia. Even so, it would have been her mother’s fault even if she did die. Because it said that the mother was proud of Scarlett for losing so much weight.

• I did not complete my goal for this week.
• My goal for next week is to be able to be able to dive properly.
• I will again, achieve this by practising
• I will know I have achieved this when I can dive properly into the pool, and not do a belly flop.

The Terrifying Lesson

The Terrifying Lesson

Clutching the ragged old reins, I walked my gelding out into the large arena where the riding instructor was waiting patiently. A few more children on horses ambled along slowly behind me.

“Today,” called our teacher, “we will be jumping.” As if he knew what she was saying, my little dun gelding Kit, stamped at the dark soil impatiently.

   “Come on then, get in a line and go!” our teacher shouted. We shifted ourselves into a line carefully and started cantering around the course and flew over the fences as they came.

They were only small jumps, I might add. As my second fence camp up, I had forgotten to tighten (Or you might call it shorten) my reins. Oh jeez…. I thought wildly.

   “Tighten your reins! Tighten them, tighten them!” My teacher was going mad.

   “It’s too late!” I snapped back, gripping the reins tight. Kit soared over the obstacle and I was flung forward. Not off, but onto his neck. To my disappointment, there was another fence just a few strides after that one.

I clutched Kit’s mane in my hands and shut my eyes tight. He flew over the small jump. I opened my eyes slowly, my heart thumping wildly. I was still up on his neck. Looking around, I noticed that everybody had come to a halt and was staring at me, their face trying not to show the unbearable laugh. Embarrassed, I slipped back into my saddle and took hold of the reins shakily. Remembering my teacher and hoping she wouldn’t be angry, I managed to look across and peer at her.

   “If you are fine, then carry on.” She muttered waving her hand at the next jumps.

My Marked Work emily

Thursday 4 March

We did swimming sports last Friday (Of course I couldn’t say that on my last post because we do it on Thursdays!)… I wasn’t in it because I couldn’t swim a length, but a few other people including me had to serve out food to teachers and parents. After that (We were holding enormous trays), my fingers wouldn’t move from their position. I had to force them too. It hurt. Kids were being annoying by reaching out and saying, “Why THANK you!” But afterwards we got a lolly and a mince savoury.

In Tech- Wait; hold on, I was away on Tuesday. So I don’t know what happened. I was sick. No! I wasn’t faking! Hopefully it was something really boring! I bet you it was fun! I wish I wasn’t sick. For the last time, I wasn’t faking it!

I did not achieve my goal for this week.

My Goal for next Week

To be able to swim a length of the pool breath stroke.

I will be able to achieve this by practicing.

I will know I have achieved this when I am able to do a lap breath stroke non stop!