Camp Day - 3

27/11/14

Walking along one of the uphill paths, we noticed a small blue house,about the size of a doll house, sitting in the middle of nowhere. At first me and Mrs.Cameron thought that it was quite peculiar, but that was until we opened the little door to the little blue house. When I pulled out the book and flipped through the pages, we saw a lot of signatures of the people who had visited Matiu Sommes Island. We signed our names and rushed down hill to catch up with the rest of the group, hoping they hadn’t forgotten about us.

The sharp little pebbles that lined the track, created little cuts in my feet, but the pain was bearable. We followed the track all around until we found a place to spot the most magnificent views. As we were walking, a few of the students found, what they called, Weta motels. The small logs of wood each had three-levels that contained either a Weta or an insect of some sort.

After the short, but fun hike around Matiu Sommes Island, we headed down to wait for the ferry. We had to wait a while. During the time we waited we did a few fun activities, skimming rocks, dancing, building little huts and seeing who can throw a rock the longest distance. The fun soon finished, and we boarded onto the ferry. It was one of the best highlights I had at camp.  

Camp Experience - Bowling

A group of professional players, just as young as thirteen, bowl a strike with style. As each of our teams get put into our own lanes, we wait impatiently to have a go at bowling. Once everyone was prepared, we were able to bowl. The sound of pins getting knocked down by the size 15 bowling bowl, just made you feel excited. You just have joy,adrenaline and determination in your system, every time it was your turn. But the ignition of adrenaline soon burns out after your turn is over, hoping to be refuelled by the next round.But after a while you don’t really care about the determination to beat others because then the subject of fun takes over the whole thing. The only thing that everybody enjoyed was spending time together. We had fun because we were creating a tighter bond with each other.

By Serena Ah Lam

Leadership Confrence

At the leadership conference we listened to different speakers. My favourite speaker was Joe, the head boy from Hastings Boys High. My favourite part of his speech was how he talked to us about choosing our attitude, he taught us to see the good out of everything and to make other people’s day. From his speech, he inspired me to choose my attitude, he also motivated me to make my day, by making someone else's day.

Macy - My Reading Buddy

Macy is a seven years old. During the morning time at school, me and Macy put together a descriptive piece of writing. We decided to do it on princess Ariel. She has two features that Macy likes, She is a Princess and she is a Mermaid:

Princess Ariel

My name is Ariel. I live in a castle underwater with my parents, the king and queen, and my six older sisters. I have make-up on in this picture. I have blue eyes like the sea. My hair is red like the colour of Sebastian’s lobster shell. The things that I'm wearing is dark green like the seaweed near the beach. The reason why I am dressed like this is because I am going to the ball with the prince.

I am a Princess.

Descriptive writing

This term we are writing descriptive pieces. We are using Figurative language. Here is an example for an image I chose.

Spring covered the land with it’s blanket of fresh colours. The sky, painted with the mixture of water and fire that was then interfered with a brush of violet. Trees, wave to each other, their arms slightly bending with exhaustion, from standing tall all day. The small town hides it’s dullness behind the beauty of spring, hoping not to be seen. The breath taking view then disappears, slowly progressing to dissolve over town. The citizens wait till next time, hoping that the view will visit them once more.

Persuasive Piece of Writing

St.Mary’s intermediate department

St.Mary’s intermediate department is a place where students blossom into mature youth. The intermediate department have participated in many great learning and sporting experiences.

Our intermediate department receive many learning opportunities, including speech, drama and Tech Arts. During these learning opportunities and experiences, your children will learn how they can improve on things. They could also learn things from their experiences and put it into their daily lives, so that they could prepare for their futures.

Here in our intermediate, St.Mary’s participate in a variety of sports competition. That includes; triathlons, athletics and other sports. St.Mary’s teachers love to involve their students in as many sport’s activities as possible. For an award for participating, or getting a placing, the students earn a point towards their strips and stars, which is then put in consideration for a head role or a trophy.

In our extra curriculum area, we do many things. For example, we have our camp Wellington towards the end of the senior year.

We also have science fairs, where pupils will test out theories, whether they have achieved their aim or work on improving their project. We have statistical investigations where students will find out the majority of students  walk, bike or scoot to school, or another topic they would like to find out.

Students here at St.Mary’s have grown up to be mature adults.

St.Mary’s is a Catholic school and is influenced to be respectful, responsible and to reconcile with others.

Science Fair

For science fair, my title was Balloon in a Bottle. The thing that I had learnt from doing this project was how different water temperatures can effect balloons, and the reactions that they have. The thing I would do next time is to get some more graphs and statistics and maybe some more research on my project.

STM Intermediate

L.I

Is to write a report on our intermediate school.

In the Senior School, our school time is full of fun, perseverance and hard work.

At STM intermediate department, we push our students to try things new or different. We give them many opportunities to participate in events including speech, drama, sports and many more. Students in the senior department, wear their uniforms with pride and are expected to perform high standards in their work.

Here in the intermediate department, our teachers are strict on things. They teach us new stuff and helps us to understand the strand, if we don’t get it the first time. Our teachers help us to take on more responsibility, to help us prepare for the future. Our teachers support us and are very motherly, telling us what to do and what not to do. The teachers of the Senior school, helps, encourages and supports us with all the struggles that we have.

Sports, is part of our favourite extra curriculum activities. We have competed in many TACS competitions and other events. Here at St.Mary’s intermediate,we like to participate or try new sports; like volleyball, triathlon, cross country and it varies.

I would recommend St.Mary’s intermediate because it is a big, warm and loving family. St.Mary’s will take care of it’s children and would always support the loving bond between the children.

Written by; Serena Ah Lam

The next step for me is to make sure I don't use 'sugar coating' in my sentences. Also, I need to start thinking about my sentence starters, so that they start off different.

Production Diary

Production Diary

Last week St.Mary’s participated in Dive - in, the school production. On the night of the first real act, me, Lei, Fergus and Sophie were talking so much about how exciting it was. I remember me and Lei took a slight look from the backstage curtain, to see that the area of the audience was packed full of parents and other children.

After two of the acts had finished their performances, it was time for the choir to sing. Me and Lei started whispering out our nerves, even though we weren’t doing much. After hearing the audience clap, Mrs.Hoogerbrug was queuing us to get on stage to perform our play, Goodnight Mr.Tom.

As the senior students finished the fishing scene, me and the other characters, that weren’t needed anymore, were finished. So, we went backstage and waited patiently for the other acts to finish. During the long and quiet wait, some people easily got in trouble by whispering or even just by fiddling with things they had found on the floor.

After all the acts were completed, it was time to sing the library song. Our school sounded fantastic, we were loud and on key, well some of us actually. Caden kept nudging me to sing louder, so I decided why not. I belted out the words and was confident, it was awesome. When the song finished, everyone clapped and cheered, all our work had finally paid off.

From this production, I have learnt how to be more patient and how to co-operate with others, to make things work. The thing I would’ve changed was the order or sequence of the production, because that’s the only thing I wanted to change. Other than that, the production was awesome.

Recount

WALT

recount an exciting event so that our reader knows what happened and how we felt.

Bring it on

The only thing I felt was anxiety.

I look around only to see strangers, looking and pointing to me. The only thing that I felt was embarrassment. Surprisingly I saw an old face, it’s Liz. Hot-faced, I looked down at my feet, using my mum to guide me to the building. Suddenly I heard that familiar voice;

“HI SERENA!”
Her winning english accent, irritated me but my brothers forced me to reply. I didn’t. I looked back down.  Surprisingly, I heard the cold ringing sound of the first bell.

My mum had finally ditched me, only to leave me in a room with strange children and an adult, whose faces I’d never seen before.

A girl called Lei had greeted me with a vibrant warm smile. She helped me settle into a desk next to her and 2 other girls, Alex and Shemaiah. I felt a little better but, I still felt unsure about myself.

After the tall beautiful female adult introduced herself, she warmly invited me to introduce herself. I answered most questions, where’d you come from, what ethnicity are you and other things like that.

Finally the teacher asked me the last question,

“This school is going to be hard and it’s your first day at St.Mary’s are you ready for the school year? Are you ready for the pressure?”

I then looked her straight in the eye and said

“BRING … IT...ON!!”

Memoir for Flaxmere

Flaxmere was usual enough;hoodrats roaming like they owned the place, the colour red all around, the smell of chicken and chips and even intimidating  groups of teenagers around, that I always tried to avoid when walking.My friends and I did what we normally do - we walked for a long amount of time, embraced the warmth of the hot sun, eating chicken and chips with yum, sweet chocolate, gossiping about the things we had heard in the past, playing softball in the park, enjoying our freedom while it lasts.Doing nothing important.

Inspired by James K. Baxter

Proportions and Ratios

In maths we have been learning about proportions and ratios. Here is my example of putting known decimals onto a number line:

Sacrament Strand

This is my R.E poster that is about the way of living a young Christian life.

Hastings Art Gallery

Instantly, as I entered through the exhibit doors, I was stunned. From wall to wall, each wall was covered in different pieces of art. I was impressed. Each piece was unique in it's own way. The colours, sent off a message, of how the person in the portrait was feeling. 

The first pieces of art, I wanted to look at, were the mini sculptures in the cases.When I have finished inspecting the details of the sculptures, I partnered up with Lei so that we could exchange thoughts about the paintings. We were surprised when both of us had different takes on the pieces of art. On one of the portraits, that used charcoal as a medium, my view was that the old woman was happy and that she was happy doing  what she was doing.

When it came to the inter actives, it looked as if everyone was enjoying it, I know I was. At, one end there was an activity where you had to trace the silhouette behind the shadow, and on the other there was  a place where you had to sketch the person in front of you. My favourite was the one where you sketch yourself while looking in the mirror.

On the way out there was a que to take photos. Me and Lei lined up and put on funky costumes. We took two photos and watched as others took theirs. When we finished it was time to leave. I enjoyed my visit and hope to see more of it in the future.

Electronics

Art Work

For our art work, we had to quater our A2 page while using 4 different materials, paint, Indian ink, charcoal and pastels. For the piece of art, we had to pick one topic, I chose to do the four seasons. It was a lot of work but it turned out great.

Elections with Coggle

We have been learning about elections. We have then used a sight called 'coggle' to complete our task. I picked only one party out of all fifteen. The policies that I have mentioned was ,'families,health and education'.

Tech Arts Project

This project I have been working on in tech arts, had taken me the whole term to complete. I had to carefully construct and work out what I was going to do. The result turned out to be a really good one, for me. I like it because these classic characters from Nickelodeon, are my favourite of all times. I had lots of fun building this project!!!

Pablo Picaso

The name of my piece of artwork is called 'Age before Beauty'. If you look at it closely, one side is an old lady and the other is a young and beautiful woman. The person that inspired my artwork was Pablo Piccaso because of his unique way of drawing. 

Reading

In reading, my story is about the Wind Woman. The main points behind this story, is to explain where the wind comes from. This story is about a woman who casts wind, North, South, East and West. The 'Wind Woman' only comes every ten thousand years. Each time she comes, she will do the same routine, from early morning, to late night. I enjoyed this story because, the story had many facts about this, particular subject. I would recommend this story to those who like to read Myths and Legends.

Writing

In my writing, I am writing a picture book. My picture book is about a new girl, Khylah Baulunt , who goes to school and makes a new friend, Louise Albercott. They both turn into best friends and has fun on the first day of school. Something I enjoyed about writing this piece, was making up the story of it. The picture book was based on a true story. So it gave me a clear picture of what I was going to write about.

My Maths Problems

These are some of my maths problems, that I had to do in class. I thought they weren't that hard, but as I started the figure out questions, I couldn't think of different answers, so I had some help along the way.

Advocate for the Poor

Jesus- Advocate for the poor.

An advocate - kai korero is a person who speaks and acts on behalf of others and who pleads for them with those in power.

Martin Luther King

Martin Luther King was an African American man. Martin was a brave man who stood up to racism. Martin Luther King, gave his famous speech about why people should be judged by their personal qualities and not by the colour of their skin. Martin Luther King delivered his 'I have a dream' speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C on the 28th of August 1963. Martin Luther King was born on the 15th of January 1929, Atlanta, USA and died on the 4th of April 1968, Memphis, USA.

www.nobelprize.org

My Prayer

 Dear God,

We thank you for all the many great and wonderful creations. We thank you for blessing us with food, money, shelter and clothing that we have. We ask you to bless my friends and family and the teachers and students of St. Mary's. We ask you to bless the less fortunate, that they may have hope that they will have the things that we have one day. We ask you to forgive our sins and help us to make the right choices and decisions.

 Amen.

Imagine a Dragon

This piece of artwork is part of my Legend and Country Inquiry task. This Legend was originated in the Country of Greece. Obviously my Legend was about a dragon.

Stranded

Stranded

I feel lost and scared. Its cold and it’s almost dark, I feel all alone and afraid, but I must stay strong, I must find my way home. I look around, no buildings and no people. All that I see is gravel and hills.I am abandoned in the middle of no where. Just as I pivit my head I hear the bus going over the hill, I decided to run. I ran and ran as fast as I could, I then thought to myself ‘I knew I should’ve gone to the gym’.  Quickly, I snapped out of my thoughts and tuned into the real world. I sprinted as hard as I could, but it was too late, the bus had disappeared. But there was one thing that I could see that would help me. It was a road. I decided to follow the road because it might lead me to somewhere.

I  walked along the road for hours and I felt as though I was going cry because I was tired, hungry, and thirsty. It started to spit, I was worried because I didn't have any water proof things to wear. As I walk along the road I saw a small shelter up ahead. I sprinted on the slippery and polished road but I was so desperate that I didn't care that it was slippery. As I dived in under the shelter I felt a sigh of relief. The ground was damp and muddy and there was absolutely no noise. As I waited for hours for the rain to stop. As I wait and wait for hours I start to drift off to sleep.

As I wake up I look around. I hear an engine. I quickly wake up to find myself looking at myself through a glass window. I sit up quickly and realize that the ground was no longer damp and muddy, but there was a soft and fuzzy replacement. I couldn't believe it, I was inside a car. At first I thought it was great, that I was saved . That’s when I realised the bad thing about it.

Who’s car was it’s?

What I like about this piece of writing;

I like this piece of writing because I've structured this piece,  into organised paragraph.

What I can work on next time;

I think I could work on adding more language features and using more complex sentences.

My Aesops Fable :)

The Town mouse and the Country Mouse

Once there was a Town mouse who went to his cousins house in the country. As his cousin, the country mouse, served dinner, beans and bacons, the Town mouse was astonished at what he had served. He told his cousin to go back to town with him, to see what he should live like. As they went straight away back to town, they ate jelly and cake. As they ate, 2 dogs loudly barked, and scared the Country mouse. The Country mouse went back home and left his cousin alone.

Moral; Better beans and bacon in peace

          than cakes and ale in fear.

Bibliography:http://www.pubwire.com/      

Thanks for reading my post :)

All About Me

Hello everyone,

For those who do not know me, my name is Serena Tofamamao Ah Lam.
I am the youngest of 4 kids and I am at the age of twelve.
This year I will be turning 13 on the 6th of July.
I am currently a St. Marys student but will be moving on to Sacred Heart next year.
This year I am in Mrs.Hutchins class (room 3).
It has been great this year, new friends, new faces and other things.
I love my class and hope to enjoy the rest of my school days this year.
I'm sure it will be Awesome.

Thanks for reading,
Serena Ah Lam

P.S I love pie

The Navy Band

My experience at the show of the Navy Band was very awesome. There were al kinds of different musical instruments that they played. When they started picking people to come on to the stage I slid down my chair because I did not want to go on stage in front of all those kids. The music that they played was reat and up to date. I loved every single minute of it.