Cultural Arts

This slideshow contains all my Cultural Arts artwork, and some examples of inspiration or what it's meant to look like. 

My Artwork

 

This is my art depicting my river, my mountain, the sun, my name, a koru, zebra stripes, a sunset, a flower, and a lot of koru's. If you can't read the top piece of writing, it says:

Ko Kopuka-tau-manoka tōku maunga

Ko Owheo tōku awa

No Otepoti ahau

Ko Atawhai tōku ingoa

Ko Dickson tōku ingoa whanau

Aoraki Art

 This is my Aoraki artwork. The middle one, and tallest, is the eldest brother Aoraki. The four behind him are his brothers. The blue is an intertwining river, and the brown behind the river is the waka.

Aoraki: My version

This is a story about Aoraki and his brothers, but it may be a tiny bit different to the version you may of heard. This is my version of the story.

 Me and my brothers got bored one day in the sky with our dad, Rakinui. Aoraki was the one with the brilliant idea to visit our mother, Papatūānuku. Oh, how I missed her. Every day, every night, every second. What can I say? I’m a mummy’s boy. We packed our gear, everything we would need. We spent hours everyday behind our fathers back making a waka big enough for us all to fit. Oh, did I mention he doesn’t know we’re going? We knew we were going to get in trouble, but I didn’t care, and neither did my brothers. Aoraki was the mastermind behind this plan, but if anyone asked, we did it together. I looked up to my eldest brother, admired him, I really did. Now you’re all caught up, let’s skip to the day, today, when we finally finished the waka. We celebrated and cheered, for finally our waka was done! We didn’t care if our father heard us, although we should have.

We hopped on the boat that had beautiful pounamu eyes of Aoraki, who was carved from wood and stuck on our mast. We said the incantation and we descended slowly out of the clouds and down to the water. Suddenly, we heard the angry roar of Rakinui. But we did not regret what we had done. We were off. We sailed on for hours and hours, looking for our mother, not realising that we wouldn’t find her. The waves got rougher and rougher, turning the waka side to side and making me seasick, and scared. I was scared out of my mind, and so were my brothers. Except Aoraki. He put on a brave facade but he couldn’t fool us, his brothers. We pleaded with him to go back home, and although he was sad about it, he saw the fear in our faces and decided that we would go back. There were shouts while we tried to steady ourselves enough to do the incantation. 

But as we were about to say the incantation, the backslash hit us. If we went up to the sky, we would face dad’s wrath. We hesitated to say the incantation, and our father took his chance in our one moment of hesitation. A strong gust of wind hit us, not any wind, wind strong enough to tip our boat, strong enough that we knew that this was purposeful. Our father was made at us for leaving, and now he was teaching us a lesson. The boat turned, and we went under. We scrambled to the top of the overturned waka so we wouldn’t drown. We stayed like this for hours, pleading with our mother to help us, apologising to our father. But no help came. We turned as stiff as ice, and turned to stone. Our waka became the south island, while we became the mountains there, while our brother stood tall above as, as he did in god form, as he did now as a mountain.

Holi

Festivals

This slideshow is about Guy Fawkes, Diwali, and Day of the Dead. Each festivals includes; history and origin, how it's celebrated and the changes over the years, and comparing it to 2 other festivals. 

Bush Survival

My classroom is going on a camping trip to Arthur's Pass. We reviewed what to do if we get lost, and this is an information pack I've made. 

Cairn Animation

 My class (Room 7) is going on a camping trip to Arthur's Pass. Me and Harper learned about cairns and made a animation. Cairn are like landmarks people use to find their way back, and know they've been there.

Creatures at Arthur's Pass

My class is going on a camping trip to Arthur's Pass, so me and Harper did research on 3 select animals from Arthur's Pass.

What is the difference between heat exhaustion and heat stroke?

 

Hypothermia/Frostbite & Heat Exhaustion/Heat Stroke

 My class (Room 7) has been learning about hypothermia and heat exhaustion to prepare ourselves for our class camping trip to Arthur's Pass. 

Click this link to learn about Hypothermia

This link will take you to learn about Heat Exhaustion

One of the interesting things I learned from this is that Anna Bågenholm holds the record for the longest time a person has endured hypothermia and cardiac arrest and survived. She spent 80 minutes in a frozen lake before her comrades found her.

Endangered Species Essay

                                                         

Endangered Species Essay

There are many problems in the world, but we cannot tackle them all head on. We have to start at one at a time. That’s what I’m doing. Let’s talk about endangered species. Animals are found all over the world and are an important part of our ecosystem. To keep us alive, and the world alive. Without animals, it would be hard to survive. Some animals make it harder though, like the ones that eat your crops. Then again, they are starved because of humans taking over their habitats and making it unsafe. Lots of animals are losing their homes to deforestation. Alas, deforestation is another problem for another essay. 

Great example of human greed: tigers. Tigers are hardly ever used for eating, and never should be with their numbers dwindling, but are used to make a nice rug to wipe feet on at the front of the door. And their guts are used for medicine! Yuck. It may have worked in the beginning, even though it sounds disgusting, but with their numbers so low, it’s a horrible way to save people. You may convince yourself that you are saving lives by making this medicine, but you're killing more than your saving. 

Another great example of human cruelty: elephants. In Africa, elephant meat is considered a delicacy and growing populations have increased demand. Isn’t that horrible? I mean, they’re endangered! Elephants are also killed for their tusks, to hang on the wall like a prize, or to scrape bark off trees, or to dig, and so much more. And, did you know that elephant ivory was used to make pianos? They killed elephants and made their tusks into piano keys for human enjoyment. Luckily, that’s not happening anymore, but you can’t change the fact that it did happen.

When a creature goes extinct, some of the time is because they have trouble repopulating, but most of the time it’s because of humans. When a species goes extinct, it leaves behind a scar, which affects the entire ecosystem. Animals eat each other, but keep the population down so animals don’t take over the world. They all do their part in nature, and we are here messing it up. Like bees, bees are thought to go extinct soon, but bees keep the plants alive. How is that fair? Is that how we repay debts? Yes, I know, ‘the world’s not fair’ and it’s not, especially to animals. Another example: South island Kokako. A Kokako is a supposedly “extinct” (or extremely rare) bird. Sometimes known as the “grey ghost”. They haven’t been seen in years but people still think they're alive. Personally, I think they’re desperate for them to be alive, and are grasping at straws. They don’t want to have to face the facts, humans can be cruel. But, of course, you already knew that.

Would you like another example of human cruelty? I could list so many animals that are critically endangered because of humans, but then we would be here years. So, think about the fact that animals have been on this earth much longer than us, and we’re killing them in their own habitats! As you can see from above, we humans kill animals for our own satisfaction and our own greed. Greed is a dangerous thing when it comes to humans and animals. We take, but never give. Welp, that’s us. Humans. The greatest species ever, or so we'd like to think.

Running Wild: Show don't tell

 

Michael Morpurgo: A little bit about him

 

Royal Albatross

 

Camp Equipment

 

Running Wild: Timeline

 

Running Wild: Show don't tell

 

Persuasive argument: Sumatran tigers

 Down below is a persuasive argument disguised as a letter. The letter is about Sumatran tigers, and why we should stop killing them.

Dear Joko Widodo, President of Indonesia,

I am writing to tell you that I am concerned about the number of critically endangered species in Indonesia. I have chosen only one, though there were many options.

Sumatran tigers are a shy species that need to be protected better.  Why do I say this? As you very well know, Sumatran tigers are dwindling in numbers and they will be extinct in just years. There are fewer than 400 in the wild, and they are dying out in their own habitat! Cruel, no? And the reasons they are dying out are horrible, for their skin and their insides. Their skin to be used as rugs and their insides to be medicine! Which, you probably knew as well.

When a species goes extinct, it leaves behind a scar, which affects the entire ecosystem.The tiger is a unique animal which plays an important role in our ecosystem. It is a top predator that keeps the population of wild animals in check, therefore keeping the balance between prey, herbivores and the vegetation upon which they eat.

Sumatran tigers are the smallest of their species, the tiger. They are also shy, and tend to avoid people. So why are we killing them? For our own satisfaction and our greed. Greed is a dangerous thing when it comes to humans and animals. We take, but never give. And what has the Sumatran tiger done to us? Nothing. Nothing, absolutely nothing, but instead of giving them the respect they deserve for keeping our ecosystem afloat, we make them into rugs to wipe our feet on.

There are eight main species of tiger, and three of them are already extinct. Are you ready to have it on your conscience that a fourth species has died out, in front of your own eyes? I am not saying it’s your fault, but I am saying you might have to lay the laws a little heavier. Reinforce boundaries perhaps?

Thank you for your time

Atawhai Dickson, New Zealand

Show don't tell: Running Wild & Endangered Species

 For literacy, my group had been reading 'Running Wild' by Michael Morpurgo. The slideshow below is phrases or snippets of the book, with the page number, that match the expressions.

In Running Wild, there are mentions of endangered species. Down below is a small fact file about Sumatran tigers, Orangutans and Sumatran elephants.

Running Wild: Oona

For literacy, my group has been reading 'Running Wild' by Michael Morpurgo. I have rewrote chapters 3-4 from Oona's, the elephant's, perspective.

Oona

I ran and ran, suddenly unaware of the boy on my back. Suddenly forgetting that I left Mahout at the beach. They were forgotten, cast from my mind. I only focused on running from the ocean, the sea, whatever you like to call it. Personally, I call it ‘The Wall of Doom’. “Run, run, run” my thoughts chanted to me. And that’s what I focused on. I could feel the thrown on top of me rock back and forth, but I paid this no mind. “Run, run, run”. I was running through the forest, branches were everywhere, hitting me, slashing at me, clawing at me, I didn’t notice. “Run, run, run”. There was muffled movement, presumably on top of all the cushions, on my back. It was as if someone was laying down. I didn’t think too much about the movement. “Run, run, run”. I was scared for my life, my shrill trumpeting filling the forest around me, knowing in the back of my mind that I knew not of where I was going. I was blundering blindly through the trees, but still, I did not care. “Run, run, run”. My terror was controlling my thoughts, I knew I had to look around and memorise everything for the way back, but I could not do anything except run. Or I would die.

Suddenly, the dark of the forest was gone, and the sun shone brightly but I did not slow down. We were in a clearing with high grass and scrubby trees, but that was not the thing in the forefront of my mind. I had to keep going. “Run, run, run” my thoughts reminded me. So that’s what I did. I ran. I didn’t even notice when the clearing changed into a swamp, and I was charging through the murky water until I was halfway across the swamp. It occured to me that there could be crocodiles in there, so I picked up the pace. I ran faster. With that newfound speed came the thought; “run, run, run”. 

Ahead of me, beyond a clearing, there was a wide rock strewn stream. Although, I barely noticed. I launched myself into the water, not caring if the boy on my back got wet, and water exploded around me, but I just ran. I didn’t stop for a drink, although that would’ve been wise. I was tiring, just a bit, but a couple more hours like this, and I would become so tired I couldn’t even walk. Once through the river, I saw a blurry mass ahead of me. I climbed the blurry mass, which turned out to be a hill when my vision cleared. I slowed, for the first time in forever, at least, that’s what it felt like. There was no way, not even if they were as amazing as me, that anything or anyone could run up this hill. I was now in a kind-of scurrying walk. I could think more clearly now, take in everything. I could smell things I didn’t before, hear things I didn't before, see things I didn’t before. It was a great effort, climbing the hill. The throne of my back wasn’t rocking around anymore, so I found it easier to balance myself. After a couple of minutes of peace, I felt something on my neck. It was as if someone was slapping me, and I heard an irritant, high pitched voice in my ear. They were trying to say something but it sounded like mumbo jumbo to me. But I did pick up on the urgency in their voice, and I gathered my strength and picked up my pace, now fastly shuffling up the hill.

My breathing was laboured, and my steps faltered. I stumbled and almost fell, but saved myself before I fell to the ground. I ran, trampling the undergrowth beneath my feet. I was barely aware that the throne tilted to one side, as if someone was weighing it down. I faintly heard something calling out to me, I recognized “Oona!” and “slow!”. I slowed. Now I knew why one side was slightly heavier than the other. The boy was thrown out of the throne, but managed to hold on to the side. I came to a stop. I turned my head and wrapped my trunk around his middle, depositing him back in the throne. He lay there limp, and I was worried I put him in too harshly. I moved, seeing that he was still breathing, and walked slowly at first, giving him time to recover. After a little bit, I gathered speed and was now in a full on run. 

I was exhausted, and my stamina was fading fast. I was more often, and my breathing came in puffs. From time to time, while still running, I would grab leaves from the tree’s with my trunk and munch on them. Although they weren’t enough to refill my stamina or make me less tired, they were helping with my hunger. I still had no idea where I was going, it was as if I was going in circles, the forest an endless loop. Just when you thought you were free, more trees. The world was a cruel place, but the forest was crueler. Don’t let the nice green, and the pretty flowers fool you, it has snakes and scorpions that are poisonous. It has big cats that are ruthless and fierce. The crocodiles, mean and vile. It was as if the birds had clones, for they were everywhere. Loud and obnoxious. While my kind, elephants, (that’s what I hear the humans call us) are majestic creatures. We are the real owners of the forest. Or so I thought, until I was in the cruel forest. No animal can own the forest, because the forest owns them. 

I had run through so many creeks and streams and rivers at this point, you think I would’ve stopped for water. I did no such thing. The thoughts of crocodiles kept me ploughing through, no stops. I didn’t really think about how the boy might need water, I guess I was too focused on the crocodiles. I kept eating leaves on the move, but no amount of leaves could stop my underside from rumbling, as if telling me to eat more. The boy leant down into my ear and yelled something in my ear. I recognized my name along with food but I didn’t slow. I flapped my ears to show him to stop being annoying and wait, that I got the message. But he kept wacking me, which didn’t hurt but it was annoying, and kept yelling at me, “water”, “Oona”, “food”, that’s what I caught at least. The rest sounded like fznhfd fbage buub wghgh tnbv. I think. He kept talking, soft, then loud and mean, then more whacks, finally he stopped. 

I stopped in a river, now desperately thirsty, the water up to the throne, so it was now like an island. This was his chance to drink, while I washed and drank and relaxed. The river swirled around us and the throne was now loose. I could feel it shifting sideways off my back, some of the cushions were already lost. I heard a ‘splash’ and the boy was off my back into the water. He got to land and started filling himself, making noises that sounded . . . triumphant? He filled the forest with his noise, and the birds scattered from the trees. I drifted further into the water, so now I was in the middle, where the current was strongest. He plunged into the water and almost came to me, but had to retreat when he reached the current. I ducked underwater, trying to play a game with him. The throne was gone, as it had sunk to the bottom while everything else was going downstream. I had been subconsciously moving forward, so when I got out of the water I was mere meters from the boy. Water was cascading wildly off me, and my trunk was flailing. I ducked under again, but left my eyes, and everything up, showing. This was an indicator that I was playing a game, and an invitation. He ran into the water, accepting my offer. I would lull to the side and that would create waves, and he would dive into them. I would also submerge myself fully and then rear up out of the water, where it all came cascading down off me, like a waterfall. He would stand under the water, making high pitched noises, but he loved it nonetheless. I swished my trunk at him, spraying him with water. He was making noises that didn’t sound high pitched, or irritating, but pure joy. 

Without any explanation, he left the river and sat on the rocks. I cocked my head to the side, asking him what was wrong, but he didn’t see. He had his head in his hands.  I waved my trunk at him, but if he saw, he showed no sign of it. His head lifted up and he looked to the hummingbird, that was a couple of meters away from him. He then turned his attention to the butterflies skimming across the river. Then his gaze met mine, and we stared at each other. I realised now, it was a random thought, that I hadn’t slept in two days and that this was my first stop. Just on the move, I had to keep running. I didn’t break eye contact with the boy, but I did ponder this. Maybe the leaves were helping more than I thought. I broke eye contact and cleaned myself up a bit more. 

Once I left the river, he went right up to me. I could tell already he would try to say something. He stroked my trunk and talked softly, softer than I was expecting, while looking me directly in my eye. “Oona,” I recognised, names were easy enough. He was talking mumbo jumbo again, but I think he said his name was Will. Will. Huh. The other things I recognized weren’t so bright. Mumbo jumbo, more mumbo jumbo, then I heard something like “Dad bombed” “Mum drowned”. Yeesh. After more talking, he said “ . . . food . . . eat . . .” I guessed he was hungry. He ran off, and I was oh so tempted to run after him, and he returned with a branch of leaves. He offered it to me, and I took a tentative sniff. It was fine. I wrapped my trunk around it and ripped off the leaves I wanted, and munched on them. I had a feeling when he got me that branch he was trying to say something like “I got you food, now you get me food”, but politer. While I chomped and chewed, my eyes never left him once. Once I finished my food, I explored his hair and his ears with my trunk. He pushed away my trunk, and was making loud, angry, noises at me. I picked up on “ . . . food . . . food.'' He looked around and spotted something. He started talking again, his tone desperate. I turned around and started picking leaves off trees with my trunk, and started chewing them, telling him to do the same. He could reach them if he climbed the tree. I watched him, as water leaked from his eyes, and he sat with his knees to his chest, arms clasped around himself. He rocked back and forth, and after a couple of minutes like this, he calmed down and stopped the water from leaking out of his eyes. He was watching the river, motionless.  

I moved forward, and put my trunk on Will’s neck, then moved it to his shoulder. I encircled his chest and pulled at him gently. It was time to go. Since he does not have the throne anymore, he will just have to sit on my neck. I turned the boy around to face me, I looked down at him and told him it’s time to go. I lowered myself onto my front knees, then laid down completely. I waited some minutes for Will to hop on, and when he didn’t I wrapped my trunk around his middle and drawed him in towards me. It took him a while to understand my motives for this, but once he did, it was quite a job to get him onto my neck. I nudged him, pushed him and supported his bodyweight, while he scrambled up. After a while, he was on the back of my neck, behind my head. I heaved myself, with my trunk steading the boy all the while, until I was standing upright again, on all fours. The throne was gone, so he had nothing to keep him steady or hold onto. He threw himself forward on my neck, clutching it. I raised my trunk and put it in front of him, offering it so he could hold onto it and keep steady. He clutched my trunk in his hands tightly for support, and I knew sooner or later I would have to remove my trunk from his clutches. But I need not think of that right now. I started walking slowly, although he had my trunk for support, he needed balance too. I walked gently, trying my best not to sway from side to side. I was also very cautious of the branches that hung low from the canopy. And all the time Will was holding my trunk tightly. My trunk wasn’t hurting at all, or uncomfortable, yet. But I knew I could not keep it up forever. After the boy got used to my walk, he took one hand off my trunk, but I kept it there nonetheless. He got a bit too confident sometimes, and lost balance, but there was only one time he almost fell.

After hours of walking, well, me walking, I could feel Will’s grip slacken a bit. I thought he must have been tired. He went in and out of sleep. How did I know? When he would fall under, his grip went limp. This happened quite often. I was walking, being extra careful as he was asleep, and I stopped. The sight in front of me was amazing at a time like this! I reached my trunk towards the figs, dozens of them! While I did this the boy woke and threw himself forward. After a couple of seconds he realised we weren’t moving and sat up. He noticed the figs, and marveled at them. I grabbed lots, for me and him. He gorged on them while I munched. It would’ve been quite average for one of my old feeds, but these figs were better than anything I’ve ever tasted. I don’t know if it was because I was starving or because they were jungle grown, but they tasted delicious! More delicious than usual. Time and time again, Will asked for more, giving me hand signals. I was happy to oblige, because I wanted more too. When he was finished, I kept going. I was hungry like never before. I finally stripped the branches of the last figs available and was still hungry. I stripped a tree nearby of its leaves, twigs and all. I did this for a while, I mean, an elephants got to eat. He tried to talk to me, but I didn’t understand him. Nor did I care. I was eating. 

I finished eating, and started to pay attention to the boy on my back. And not a moment too soon. I let Will down, and he ran away into the bush. I do not want to describe what happened next. It was for that reason that Will started walking next to most of the time, especially when the undergrowth wasn’t too dense. The forest was beautiful if you didn’t think too much into it. Peacocks of all green and blues. Toucans with their bright colours and surprisingly beautiful squawks. I’ve spotted lots of creatures following us, at a distance. I spotted a thing swinging through the trees, a monkey, but not quite. I had no name for it. The flies and mosquitoes were another story. A whole other book! The flies would flank me, and circle around me. The mosquitoes were sucking my blood, as a mosquito does, and some of them flew into my eyes. They were everywhere. I didn’t mind though, I just had to flap my ears and they would leave for a small amount of time. Even the snakes didn't bother us. I had a feeling this was due to my presence, once they saw me they would slither back into the shadows. When we were walking through swamps and rivers, not even the crocodiles bothered us! Although, I was still cautious. I paused, before we went through, and let Will on my back. Then he would get off once we were through. I was not safe for him. 

As we wandered deeper into the jungle, the rain came more often. Not that it hadn’t rained yet, but it was more frequent and lasted longer. The rain was thunderous and treacherous and pounded against the canopy of leaves above us that you couldn’t hear the humming of insects anymore, which always seemed so loud. Once it came, me and Will were both immediately soaked to the skin. We were offered some protection by the denseness of the canopy above us, so it wasn’t hitting us full force. When we came into the smallest of clearings, it was more like hail than rain. Strong hail. 

Will was talking more often, chattering more than the monkeys. I didn’t mind though. I didn’t recognize most of the words, but it was soothing, in a way. It was good to know I wasn’t alone in this jungle. I was on a quest for food, browsing constantly as I went. Sniffing, making sure they were the kind of leaves I liked. Now, I’m not a super picky eater, but some leaves don’t taste too good, especially the ones with bird poop. I had to watch out for that. My trunk seemed to have a mind of its own, going ahead and searching out the kind of leaves I liked, and the most succulent and ripest fruits. 

Rain in the forest can go on for days, I learned, and they could stop as suddenly as they started. I didn’t mind. I loved the feeling of the cold rain hitting my skin, it was kind of refreshing. Once the rain stopped, the noise picked back up. Insects, birds and animals. They were celebrating that the rain had finally stopped. 

Some nights were harder for Will than me. Most nights. He cried and rambled about ‘Mom’ ‘Dad’ and he would cry. Cry and cry and cry. This upset me, Will was my friend. I tried to comfort him by trumpeting, but that never worked. He would stop eventually, and go to sleep. He drifted in and out of sleep often. Before we’d even find our next spot to sleep, he would be under, I would have to wake him with a trumpet of my trunk. When we were ready for sleep to come, Will slept away from me. Not too far, but far enough to not share my flies and mosquitoes. I slept easily, knowing that the animals were scared of me. Apart from the flies and insects. The insects buzzed with life, a humming rhythm was distinct in the forest. You could hear them but never see them. They flew over my ears, buzzing. It was an easy matter to get them to evacuate though, I just flapped my ears. Although I did this quite often, it worked well enough. Lying down, you don’t even have to strain your ears to hear it, you can hear not just the insects, but other animals as well. The owls hooting and screeching, the rusle in the trees, the howling, the endless racket of frogs and crickets. It was an orchestra. It never prevented my sleep though, but once you fall asleep, you can still hear the jungle night faintly in your dreams. 

I tried to remember how many nights had passed, but I couldn’t. I had no idea. It was if, in this endless loop, time simply did not exist. If it wasn’t for the holes in the canopy, or the clearings, I would never know day or night. If I had to guess, I would say several months or so. In the jungle, you had no schedule, like I did before the Wall of Doom. You lost the sense of purpose in things you used to do, like eat at a certain time, sleep at a certain time, stuff like that. You only had one purpose every day, and that was to stay alive. 

When I would look up, I kept seeing the monkey, not quite a monkey though. It was fatter, and had orange fur, and it’s face was squashed into itself. I’ll call it a monkey for now. The monkey would be there, and I was sure he was following us. While I was making this assessment, we came upon a good place to sleep. Will went up into a tree, and made his little nest there. I just slept on the ground. It wasn’t super comfortable, but I liked it. In the morning when I woke, I had a bad feeling, like I did with the tsunami. Except, it wasn’t a tsunami this time. If it was what I think it was, then we had to go. I lifted my trunk and shook Will’s shoulder, a clear sign we had to go. He didn’t argue. He let himself down from the leaves and on to my neck. He said something, but I was beyond listening. We had to go. Once he was on the back of my neck, and steady, I started walking, but much faster than usual. My eyes darted around, watching out for the danger. Maybe the only creature in the jungle that wouldn’t stay away from me. My head also darted from side to side, to get a better view. I could feel it watching us, and I know it’s nearby. But I will not lose my cool like I did for the tsunami . . . hopefully. A toucan startled me, when it suddenly took off and shook the leaves. My stride did not falter though, we had to be fast. The jungle seemed to be aware of its presence, the monkeys chattering more than usual, the birds screeching and taking off. The jungle was on edge. No, not the jungle, the jungle was always calm. The animals were on edge. 

In front of us, there was a shadow on the treeline. The shadow padded onto the trail and suddenly evolved into the danger I was running from. A tiger. It’s orange fur, bright as day. It’s stripes, making it look fierce. It looked back at me and Will, hissing, showing all its teeth. I trumpeted, but kept my trunk raised with my ears displayed. Hopeful that, and my sheer size, would scare off the tiger. We stared at each other for several minutes but without ever making eye contact. There was no more hissing, or trumpeting. It was a standoff. I wouldn’t give way, and neither would he. But neither was threatening the other either. The tiger began to circle, I tensed all my muscles, but stood my ground. The tiger was right next to me now. He panted and I could feel his breath on me, that’s how close he was. I know he was looking at Will, but I couldn’t move. I wouldn’t. One pounce would end it all, WIll would die. I know he was thinking the same thing, but if he were to attack Will, I would attack him. I had a feeling he knew that as well. He went back to circling us, his eyes on Will, then me, then Will. I was terrified, yes, I’ll admit it. I am a prideful animal, but I will admit when I was scared. The tiger was circling us, no longer looking at me, looking at Will. When he’d come too close for comfort, I’d let him know by swishing my head, and swaying my tail. He hissed, showing his displeasure and padded off into the woods, his and my dignity still intact. I felt triumphant, although I didn’t do much for fear that the tiger would come back. I flicked my ears and kept walking. That was the best thing to do in these cases. Walk it off.

 

Athlete Research

 

Running Wild: Tsunami

 For literacy, we have been reading 'Running Wild' by Michael Morpurgo. We have to write a story about a tsunami, based on the tsunami from Running Wild, from our point of view. We had to describe the the scene as it unfolds. Below is my story.

Tsunami

I was on the beach when it happened. I was enjoying the sun, yes I was tanning, because where I come from there isn’t much sun. It’s very dull when all you can see is grey, depressing even. So this vacation was just what I needed. Although very soon I wish I didn’t come here. I wanted to become a traveller, which I couldn’t do because I’m broke. This is the closest thing I’ll get to travelling. My Mum and Dad paid for the expenses as a Christmas gift. God I wish they didn’t, of course parts of  me loved them for it Anyway, I was just changing positions in my chair when I heard a commotion with an elephant trumpeting and kids yelling somewhere to my left. I didn’t think about it too much, considering that it was probably an elephant. I knew they were pretty tame here and the kids would be fine. That commotion brought me out of my stupor. I realised, just where water was gently lapping gently against my toes, there was nothing. I sat up and took off my sunglasses and gasped at the sight before me. 

The water was receding quickly, as if it couldn’t wait to get away from me, and it was already so far back you could see the fish flopping around, gasping for air, or well for water - you know what I mean. I looked up from the receding water to see a huge wave coming towards me. I tried to scream, but the sound caught in my throat. I was frozen, which wasn’t good considering there was a huge wave rushing towards me. A tsunami. I’ve seen enough movies to know that’s what it was. My body unfroze slowly, like it was thawing out. The moment I regained feeling, I did what every sensible human being would do, I ran. Away from the wall that was descending on me, away from my doom.

I wasn’t a runner, I hated running. So you could say I wasn’t the fastest person running, but I definitely wasn’t the slowest. The tsunami had caught everyone’s attention and people were running for their lives. I could hear a siren going off somewhere, but the pounding of my heart in my ears eventually drowned the screeching, screaming and crying of everything around me out. Everything except the tsunami. 

I could hear it coming. My thoughts were running wildly in my head and I could not control, did not bother. I knew the wall of doom was gaining on me, I heard it rushing past cars and buildings, knocking them down, taking people with it. The temptation to turn around, stop running and just let it absorb me was strong. But thoughts of my parents and my family and my friend came to the forefront of my mind, and I knew I had to keep going. 

I was in a crowd of people running for their lives, but we weren’t all squashed up together. There was space to run, and flail your arms. The occasional people  fell, and I'm not proud of it, but I left them. I only thought of me and my family, yeah it was selfish but I couldn’t take away any running time from myself. My legs felt like lead and I knew I would collapse soon, my heart was pounding with quick, frantic beats, and my right side felt like it was on fire. It would be so easy to give up, but I had to keep running. 

Soon, I spotted a car that looked abandoned, so I decided to take the risk and check it out.  I hoped desperately for four things. 1. That it was unlocked; 2. That it had the keys inside; 3. That the gas tank was filled and 4. that I wouldn’t die. I ran up to the car and grabbed the handle. It was locked. I checked inside, to see if it was worth smashing the window, and guess what? No keys. I wasted ten seconds doing this, it may not seem like much, but ten seconds was a lot when it came to being chased by the ocean. I left the car quickly and ran, regretting to check the car. I heard a thundering overhead, but didn’t pay any attention to it. I didn’t know what it was at that moment, but I later figured out that it was a helicopter, and I didn't care. 

Rubble was falling everywhere, along with buildings and lampposts. Luckily most of that was behind me, but I could see mounds of rubble and chunks of buildings in front of me. Once I started looking ahead a bit more, instead of what was right in front of me, I noticed pain in my feet. I thought it was from the running, so I ignored it. But the pain got deeper the more I moved on. I figured there was glass in my feet. I was worried, thinking they would get infected, but then I remembered I was about to die so it didn’t matter. 

I heard the tsunami slowing down, which I was grateful for. Hopefully that meant when it hits me, I knew I wasn’t going to outrun the tsunami, that I maybe wouldn’t... die? Then, before I could get my hopes up to high, something slammed me in the back. The air that was still inside of me before, which couldn’t have been much since I was running full speed, was immediately gone. I felt as if I had been hit by 100 football players, the biggest ones, all tackling me at the same time. Black spots swam across my vision and I was barely aware of the debris swimming around me. I couldn’t breath, my eyes stung, and my ribs were probably broken. I was in the tsunami. I blacked out.

When I woke up, I immediately knew I wasn't in heaven. My head was throbbing, and I barely saw people standing over me, talking about how lucky I was, putting bandages on my ribs. My back was uncomfortable and it hurt with every slight shift as if it was broken, but it couldn’t be, I mean I’m alive, aren’t I? My ribs ached and every breath was pure pain, but I was alive. 

Running Wild: Character Profile

 For literacy, we have been reading 'Running Wild' by Michael Morpurgo. This is their character profile. I wrote down what their personalities were, or what they seemed like to me. 

Report: Rime of the Ancient Mariner

In my literacy group we have been reading 'Alone on a Wide Wide Sea' by Michael Morpurgo. The poem 'Rime of the Ancient Mariner' came up and we had to do a report on it. The poem is really good and there is a link to it at the end of my report if you would like to read it! I warn you, it's a really long poem.

 Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Rime of the Ancient Mariner is one of the most famous poems in the English language and was created by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1797, published in 1798, and was updated throughout his life. Samuel Coleridge was born October 21, 1772, Ottery St. Mary, Devonshire, England. He was an English lyrical poet, critic, and philosopher. 

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is about a seaman who shot an albatross, which leads to misfortune for him and his fellow sailors. The seaman, who is the ancient mariner, then goes around the world retelling the tale of his cursed journey. 

The ancient mariner isn’t a real person but Coleridge may have been inspired by a conversation he had with another famous poet, William Wordsworth, who had recently read George Shelvocke's ‘A Voyage Round the World’. Shelvocke writes of an incident when his second in command shot an albatross, which had been following the ship for several days. The ship, called the Speedwell, was later lost at Juan Fernandez Island.

Other people say that the poem was inspired by a dream that Coleridge's friend, George Cruikshank, had after he finished reading Thomas James’ ‘Strange and Dangerous Voyage’. This is about a man who had been shipwrecked and saved by angels who had piloted the ship.

There’s other, other, people who think that the old man who speaks at the start of the Rime of the Ancient Mariner could have been Fletcher Christian, who led the mutiny aboard the HMS Bounty in 1789. Coleridge had been aware of the rumours that Christian faked his own death and returned to England, meaning the old man of the poem could have been inspired by Christian. 

Are any of these true? We’ll never know, because Samuel Coleridge died in Croydon (United States) on the 25th of July, 1834. Samuel Coleridge was buried on Bandon Hill.

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Alone on a Wide Wide Sea

 My literacy group has been ready 'Alone on a Wide Wide Sea' by Michael Morpurgo. Down below is a slide show with three quotes from Aunty Megs and what it shows about her character.

Alone on a Wide Wide sea: Ida Barrington

My literacy group is currently ready 'Alone on a Wide Wide Sea' by Michael Morpurgo. We had to pick one character and make up a event in the past for them, and this is when she meets Piggy Bacon.

 Ida Barrington was just like any school girl her age. She was at an okay intelligence level, she was pretty and she was, well, good. Some might have gone as far to label her as an angel. That was until she became friends with Martin Bacon.

Ida had just transferred to a new school because hers had burned down due to some silly kids who really hated school. Ida always wondered how and why some 9 year olds burnt down the school.  As she was walking across the front of the school Ida felt as if she would throw up. “I can make new friends and be away from dad at the same time!” Ida thought to herself. This thought was enough for Ida to ignore the fact that her legs felt like jelly. She ignored the tug on her stomach that tried to turn her around. She ignored the small voice in her head that told her to go back home and call it a day, “your father won’t care” the small voice said. Ida knew this was true, when her father wasn’t sleeping he was drunk. She trudged across the grass and pushed all these thoughts to the back of her mind. “New friends” she repeated the words under her breath all the way to the principal's office. It took her a while to find it but she found it eventually. After talking to the principal a bit, he led her to her classroom and knocked on the door twice and walked in, without waiting for an invitation.

After Ida finished introducing herself to the class, she took her seat next to Martin Bacon. “What a weird last name” Ida thought to herself. Little did she know that would one day be her last name. She glanced to her side and saw Martin staring at her, “what?” she asked, it came off a bit harsher than meant “nothing” he said simply and turned away. That was how she met Martin Bacon. After class she was rushing to her next one when someone caught up with her. That someone was Martin. Ida sighed and then turned to him, “yes?” she asked politely. “I was just, uh, wondering if you would like to be friends?” he asked with a hint of uncertainty. Ida stopped in the crowded hallway, people bumped into her but she didn’t care, “you want to be my friend?” Ida asked excitedly, “yes, that’s what I said” Martin replied with annoyance. From that sentence Ida knew he was temperamental but she didn’t care. “Yes!” she practically shrieked, and ran off, hoping not to be late to her class. From that day forward her and Martin were friends, the best of friends, but in time Ida would come to regret that simple ‘yes’.

Coopers Station Advert

 This term, my literacy group are reading 'Alone on a wide wide sea' by Michael Morpurgo. Down below is an advert in the newspaper from Mr Bacon trying to get kids to come to his farm. 

Coopers Station Survival Instructions

 In my literacy group, we have been reading the book called 'Alone on a wide wide sea', by Michael Morpurgo. Down below are instructions on how to survive if you were at Coopers Station.

How to survive at Coopers Station

I have listed some equipment you will need to survive Piggy Bacon, without this equipment the method down below may be useless.

Equipment: 

1. To survive you must have resilience, a whole truckload of it

2. Obedience (it never hurts to be the favourite)

3. You need to be calm. Being temperamental will not end well because he has anger issues as well.

4. You need to have friends, a BUNCH of them. Why? Because you will need shields if Piggy Bacon tries shoot you

I have put a method on what to do down below, do your best to follow it.

Method:

1. Always put on a show when you're being whipped, if you do not, you will be whipped more. Always be EXTRA

2. Do not let Piggy Bacon catch you slacking, always work HARD

3. Do not go exploring at night, he will most likely catch you and if he does, well it won’t be pretty

4. Do not argue with Piggy Bacon, even if he is wrong (which he most likely is)

5. Do whatever Piggy Bacon wants, no matter how tiring the work is

6. Be polite to Piggy Bacon, although he doesn’t deserve your manners

7. Do not let him catch you calling him Piggy Bacon, call him Mr Bacon to his face or when he’s around

8. Eat all your breakfast, lunch and dinner. It may not taste the best but you won’t be getting anything else until Sunday. You need your protein because if you're too slow at work, you get the belt.

9. Every Sunday, you MUST sing along to the songs and eat as much as you can, or stuff it in your pockets for later

10. Pray every night, because that may be your only hope of escaping

Thank you. I hope you may never be in the situation where you have to use these instructions but if you are, I hoped they helped.

Hana: New Ending

 The story below is based on a book by Alan Gratz named 'Refugee', this is a new ending that I've made up.

Hana

‘“Okay Hana, it’s time we told you,” Hana’s Mum shot a nervous look at her husband and he nodded, as a sign for her to continue. Hana was confused, “okay…?” Hana replied slowly, “Hana, we aren’t your real parents. When we were escaping with our lives, we were on a boat. We came across a boy, no older than thirteen and his Mother, in the water. The boy saw us and doggy paddled to us, bringing his Mother along with him.” She stopped to look at Hana and then continued “we thought they were trying to climb aboard and tried to pick their fingers off, as there was no room. He told us if we can’t take them, someone needed to take his baby sister. I felt sympathy, knowing that if that baby stayed out there too long, she would die. I moved forward to take her, his Mother reluctantly handed her over said that she was one, and that her name was Hana”’

Hana was running from her house. Tears were threatening to spill over her face but she bit them back. She looked behind herself for a second but found herself on the ground clutching her stomach. It felt as if she had run into a wall. She looked up, the tears coming freely, to see a tall figure standing over her. He had stumbled back a bit but did not fall over. She got up and wiped herself off then wiped the tears from her face. Hana scowled, “watch where you’re going”. She looked up at him and noticed something straight away, they had some facial similarities, tan skin, hooked nose, black hair and chocolatey brown eyes. He seemed to notice this as well, but Hana did not dwell on this fact. Well, Hana thought to herself, anyone could look like that, it really isn’t uncommon. “What are you doing out here? You can’t be any older than six” the stranger said, taking in her appearance. “EXCUSE ME?! I am 7 years old!” Hana said indignantly while he rolled his eyes. “Well, are you going to answer my question?” he asked, running out of patience. “No,” Hana retorted, “I don’t feel the need to.” Hana said bluntly. “Fine, just tell me your name and I'll walk you home.” Hana was conflicted, it was getting dark and her house was a bit ways away but he was a stranger. “Fine,” she said suspiciously, “my name is Hana.” Hana started walking the way to her house, she decided that she would just take the most crowded route to her house, but if she lingered a bit longer she would’ve noticed the taken aback expression on his face.

Mahmoud

Everything clicked for Mahmoud, after she said her name. The similarities, the age, the name. Hana was his little sister! After years of searching for Hana, she was the one who found him, although not purposefully. He was relieved to know she was alive and that her dying wasn't his fault because she wasn't, well, dead. Mahmoud lingered a bit longer taking this in, but followed her anyway. He decided to stay quiet about this new found information.  After a while, Mahmoud noticed what Hana was doing. Every street they have been down so far has been crowded with people. Once or twice he had lost her head in the crowd, just to find it bobbing up again. Once they reached the doorstep to their home, Hana turned around slowly. “Thank you,” Hana said quietly, “and I’m sorry for running into you.” Mahmoud was amused with her sudden change in behaviour but kept his face blank, “no problem, mind if I talk to your parents for a second?” Mahmoud noticed her recoil slightly at the use of the word ‘parents’. “Yeah, no problem, I’ll go get them. Bye” Hana said awkwardly. After a few moments, Hanas parents came to the door. “I can’t thank you enough fo-'' Hana's mother stopped talking abruptly when she saw Mahmoud's face. She knew the instant she saw him that he was that boy in the water. Mahmoud remembered her too, and he said slowly, in his most polite voice “Hi, I believe we have some things to talk about...”

Numeracy; Rotation, Translation, Reflection

 

Matariki around the world

 Since Matariki is upon us, we have been learning about it and the legends along with it. There are different legends about Matariki, these are three of them. 

Matariki Stars

 We have been learning about Matariki for, well, Matariki. These are the seven stars of Matariki and a little bit about them. 

Week 8 Think and Respond

 This my think and respond. The first two are to do with language and vocabulary and the last three slides are based off of the book 'Refugee' chapters 36 - 40. 

Sea Star Habitat

 We are learning about sea creatures and I have done a Sea Star. This is about how they are suited to their particular habitat.