Do you know how to work out common factors?

WALT - understand the common factors using multiplication.

I know this when I explain how to work out common factors for 48 and 36.

Ever wondered what a Tsunami looks like and how it destroys things? Found out in my diorama!

WALT - plan and construct a diorama.

I know this when I cut out cardboard to frame a formation and 

destruction of a Tsunami as a diorama and writing at least 3 statements about each diorama.

1. We cut out arrows to show the direction of where the water was going.
2. We stuck the labels away from the picture to make more space.
3. We used the shoe box lid so it wouldn't be dark.

1. We made a flap on the buildings to keep them firm. 
2. We cut and taped together a long piece of cardboard to form a Tsunami.
3. We used small bits of square shaped paper as the foam for the Tsunami.

If you ever need information about Tsunamis, read this!

WALT - group our information about Tsunamis using Prezi.
I know this when I add pictures, a video and facts in different bubbles in my presentation.

A long journey to spread the Good news!

WALT - identify how the early Church communities spread the Good News and recalls some of the success of Paul's journeys.

I know this when I illustrate Paul's 3 missionary journeys on the Asia Minor map.

1. Paul's 2nd journey is the longest walk.
2. On the 3rd journey he mostly travelled on water.

Paul spread the Good News about what Jesus had told him.

Tsunamis are killing people in Japan!

WALT - conduct a statistical investigation.
Success criteria: I know this when I gather data and graph it using a Google Spreadsheet.

1. The years 1496 & 1707 had the same number of deaths: 30,000.
2. Year 1303 has the lowest total of deaths: 660.
3. 1293 is the earliest year that Japan had a Tsunami.

Do you like reading a speech in front of big crowd?

WALT - impress my audience by adding in descriptive details and emotions to my character.

I know this when I add adjectives and dialogues into my narrative.

11:00 o’clock on a Wednesday morning, a girl called Betty practising on her speech for the Manaiakalani film festival. She was going to be on her own because she wanted to do it alone. She wanted it quick and simple. So day after day, time passed and it was finally time to go to Sylvia Park. She tried repeating and repeating her speech so that there wouldn’t be any mistakes in her speech. Her teacher led her to the staff room for Miss Fiddlesticks to drive her to Sylvia Park where the film were going to be played.

She was looking out the window and she wondered how big the audience might be. She hoped that the crowd would be small so that she wouldn't get stage fright. She started practising again in her mind and got bored of it bit by bit. When she got up to her 15th practice, she started to lose her vision and everything became blurry. Then, she fell asleep.

While Miss Fiddlesticks was driving, she noticed that Betty had gone quiet. So she went into the nearest Sylvia Park parking spot. Then she woke her up. "Come on, it's time to go!” They quickly walked until they got to Hoyts cinema. While they were going up the stairs, she saw a big group of students walking out the door. "Miss Fiddlesticks, how many people are in there?" asked Betty.

"Well you see Betty, there will be 7 schools coming here. It'll be so exciting!" answered Miss Fiddlesticks. Now, Betty started to panic in her mind. What if I make a mistake? They'll all start to laugh at me! Betty started to become a little light-headed and her body was stiff as a corpse.

After the whole extreme screen seats were emptied, more schools started to walk in. It felt as if the whole country was coming in! She walked in with Miss Fiddlesticks and held hands so that she wouldn't get lost in the crowd. they walked down the stairs to where a student was coming down. There, the director for setting up the show was arranging the students.

"Oh! So you must be Betty! From uh... Saint Patrick's School!" said the director. "Well in this list you come to the very front." This made Betty even more terrified. "Okay! Now practice time! Let's see what you've got Betty!" The director told Betty. Betty gulped and started to walk up the stairs. She said her quick and simple speech and walked down the stairs. That wasn't so bad! Betty thought.

After all the students had practised, all the schools were finally seated. "Perfect timing!" the director said. So Betty walked up the stairs and said her speech: "In life we have some accidents. Some accidents are not to laugh about because it is embarrassing for the person who has done it. Here is our film about accidents that happen." The crowd cheered for her and Betty accidentally fell off the stage. The audience thought it was part of the speech so they clapped and cheered even harder.

After all the films were shown she climbed on the bus with her class. There people started saying: "Wow Betty! That was awesome. You did great! You represented our school and class so well!" so off they went on the noisy bus, getting back to school all hungry and ready to eat their lunch.

A sad and depressing yet exciting day!

In the holidays, my family, my other friends and I wanted to go to the snow in Mt. Ruapehu, but went to the Luge instead.

Everybody was excited so we all got up early in the morning at around at 6:00 o’clock.  My dad wanted to stay home because he wished to have some beer and food with his friends. I closed the door and we all started to put our food in a huge bag and our clothes in our own bags. We also had to bring a towel because we were also taking a shower in a Motel. We zipped them up and changed into our woolly and warm clothes so when we arrive there, we will still stay warm from the cold.

We put all our bags into the back of the car. All of the bags didn’t fit in the back, so we had to keep 2 bags in the back seat which was my brother’s and mine. My auntie bought 2 umbrellas in case it rained. I was seated in the middle at the back seat. My auntie was on the right and my brother was on the left. I was squashed that I had to lift my feet up. I found a comfy position, but I was also sleepy so I leaned on my auntie’s shoulder and fell asleep.

I got woken up when the car was going uphill. There was a kind of deep down cliff which made me feel scared for our lives so I looked away. After a while I smelt something very smelly like a car going through a dump yard. My sister decided to play the blame game and pointed the finger to my brother. I had to agree too because he sometimes doesn’t wash himself properly. All of us blocked our noses but I put my nose inside my shirt so I could still breathe. We kept blocking our noses until we found out it was just sulphur. My mum, auntie and I thought it was the gas, but my sister and brother thought it was a kind of metal kind of smell. We all just stopped blocking our noses and dealt with it.

Then a huge disappointment came when it rained heavily because we all knew that we couldn’t go to the snow. I asked my mum and she said that we would go up a rocky hill and the car might slip off the hill. After a while, we parked  at Mcdonald’s because all of us were really hungry. I ordered a frappe and forgot to order a cheeseburger. When I walked around, waiting for my order, every friend of mine was in a line. I felt like I was the only one who was the odd one out, so I just sat near a window and played on my ipad. I was playing ‘My Boo.’ I got really bored of just playing on my own. My mum came to me and led me to our table. My frappe was done and it was really icy. I had the flavour chocolate which was really tasty and delicious. I drank it slowly because I might have a brain freeze which can really hurt. But I was very  hungry and asked my mum if she had my cheese burger. She said that she didn’t hear me order a cheeseburger, so we went to the counter to get one. When they were done, we went back to our table to eat. When I took a bite, it was much better than the frappe. Suddenly, one of my uncles gave us three fries. One for auntie and me, the other for my brother and mum, and my sister. When I finished my frappe and cheeseburger, I was really full. I played on my ipad again but my brother snatched it off me so I quickly turned it off. When he turned it on, he can’t play with it because it needed my password. He was begging me to give him my password but I stubbornly refused because of the way he snatched it off me. When everyone had eaten their food, we all went back into the car and drove to a Motel.

I began to feel sick because of the sulphuric smell in the air. When we got to the motel, a man at the reception gave us the keys to our rooms.  We also got free milk and a free small cup of bubble bath liquid. We were staying in the room 207. Our neighbour was Ashley and to our right were strangers. Our room was nice. There was a television and 2 beds. When I sat on the blue couch, it almost tipped over. It was actually a couch that can be bent over to become a bed. When I went further, I saw small kitchen. Up ahead of the kitchen was a sink, a bathroom and a shower. I went back to the kitchen to check what was on the left. I opened the door and saw that it was a bedroom with a very large bed. Next to the bed was a blurry glass door. I opened the door and saw a jacuzzi. I couldn’t wait to go for a swim. I went back to the kitchen and saw some packets of coffee, chocolate drink powder and some sugar. I wanted to have some hot chocolate so I grabbed a cup and a plate, tore up the packet and poured the powder and boiling water into the cup. I added some sugar and milk before stirring it. I left it in the kitchen benchtop to let it cool down. I heard some of my friends outside so I went to them. There was tito Nick with Nico, Liam, and Carl. Tito Nick asked if anyone wanted to go to the Luge. I didn’t know what a Luge was, so I just agreed to go with them. He said I had to ask my mum if we were allowed. My mum said that we could come and I got really excited. We all went inside our car, but Danielle, Liam and Nico couldn’t go. I felt sad for them!

It only took 15 minutes for us to get there to the Luge.  There was a skyline that goes up a really tall hill. I remembered going into the Luge once, but I was scared of the skyline because I thought the ropes might break. Carl cooled me down when he told me that the ropes were indestructible. When I looked closely at the ropes, they were made out of metal so I believed Carl was right. I checked my height to see if I was higher than 135 cm. But luckily I was over 135 cm. Carl said it was kind of cheating because I was wearing shoes. My heart was pounding really fast because I might’ve been lower than 135 cm. I took my shoes off and checked again. I was lucky because I was just 135 cm. That was how high I had to be to ride on the cart by myself. I wanted to ride it by myself because, when I was 7, everyone except me was on the Luge, and I was sad. We took some photos on a fake cart that was held down on the ground. After that, my mum bought the tickets and we went inside. There was a line of people who were going inside the skyline. A lady who was part of the staff, took photos of the people who were inside the skyline. When it was our turn, we just waited for the next skyline to pass over. Carl’s family just speedily went into the skyline we skipped. When we went inside the skyline, it was really slow so the photographer had enough time to take a picture of us inside. After she took the photo, she waited again for the next people to go inside the other skyline. Next our doors and windows closed and started to speed up. After a while, we were outside of the building and high above the ground. I was really scared. I just tried to close my eyes or just look away. Soon, our skyline started to shake. I grabbed hold of the seat until we were there. When it was done, the skyline started to go slower because we were about to get off the skyline.

After we went off the skyline, we went inside a hallway that led us to a small shop. The first thing I saw were mud soap. I thought it would be very smelly, but it smelt like perfume. I tried to check some other items but it was time to go to the Luge. We went outside a door that was close to the shop. There were other food shops outside like jelly beans, coffee and ice cream.

We went up ahead to see what was there, and it was the carts. We went around to get to the luge. The fences were made of metal and the metal ropes were below it. We kept walking and walking until we got to a person who was in charge.  I took off my sweater because the seats were wet. I also had to take off my scarf because a sign said not to wear loose garments. When everybody were on their cart, I held on to the handlebars and wondered what it were they for. The instructor said to try and pull the handle bars only a little bit but not all the way. When I pulled it, it started to lift up the cart and started to move. I let go of it because I thought I might crash to the cart in front of me. I did it a little more and saw that it was actually safe because it was only slow. It was also controllable to go left or right. Next I slowly drove straight up but the cart was moving left. The cart was going into a line of people on their carts. I parked there for a while and waited for my turn. When my turn came, I was ready to pull my handlebars when he was doing a count down. As soon as he said 0, I zoomed on the tracks but I was also slow because I was on the scenic cart. The fast people were on the intermediate, but the advanced was closed because it was too slippery and could cause injuries.

While I was going fast, a sign said to slow down so I tried to let go of it a little bit. While I was slowing down, I saw a small kid riding on his own, crashed and he was stuck. I looked back to see what happened, and I saw my mum helping him. I couldn't stop because I was already far away from him. I was going faster and faster until I went downhill. There was a turn left sign and so I slowed down because it also had a deep cliff. I stopped and started, stopped and started again and again so I would make sure I was safe. Other people weren't afraid of the cliff so they rode fast past me. I then got cold and my hands were freezing. I thought I would let go by now but I was too scared. I held on tight and saw that there were more tracks to go. Next I saw my mum and I went past her. I was confused of how she got there. In the middle of the road, I saw someone’s cart. I dodged it by turning left on the track. I saw a lot of male adults yelling “WOO!” and going zooming really fast than the others. I knew he was on the intermediate because it was faster than the scenic. I just ignored them and went on. I then saw Jetro with his dad. They were enjoying the ride. When I went under a bridge, I saw that it was finally over. I drove slowly in a tight road where it was going to end. I was relieved that it was finally over. I accidentally stopped near where the carts were supposed to go. I tried everything I can and pushed with all my might, but the cart was too heavy I couldn’t even move it a cm far. Then a kind lady pulled it to the other carts for me. I wondered where the conveyor belt led the carts to. I looked to the right side to see where they were going. There was actually a chairlift with a metal hook below the chair  where the cart’s handlebars would hang on to the hooks and carried away to where the instructor man was. I had to be 185 cm to go on the chair lift by myself but I was too short. So I waited and waited for so long for mum. Finally she was in the tight road and put her cart into the conveyor belt. After that, three kids, 2 boys and a girl crashed and accidentally went to the full conveyor belt instead of the empty conveyor belt that were on the left. We went to the line of a few people for the chairlift. When they were done. It was our turn. We stood on the ground and didn't know what would happen. Surprisingly, a chairlift was behind my back so I sat down so I wouldn't fall when we were going up. My mum pulled down the pole that was behind the chair to grab hold of it. I finally calmed down and wasn't afraid of the chair lift anymore. I smiled and I was proud of myself because I finally conquered my greatest fear!

WALT - write a recount using descriptive language to make my writing more interesting.

I know this when I use action words and describing words appropriately and correctly in my writing.

Why is Peter such a famous person in the early Church community?

WALT - understand who Peter was from the early Church community.

I know this when I highlight important facts about Peter and add them to my poster.

I want to find out more about Paul!

WALT - identify and understand famous people from the early Church times.
I know this when I illustrate and write 8 facts about Paul.

What did Jesus do that influenced the early Church?

WALT - Identify who Peter was and the significance of his role in the early Church communities.

Success criteria: I know this when I write key notes explaining the scriptures.

Hmm... I wonder what it was like back in the 1950s?

WALT - understand and extract information from the book "Time Capsule".

I know this when I complete a book review using the information from the story in my own words.

Introduce the book

This book is about a class and a lost time capsule.

By: Karen Anderson

Tell about the book, but don’t give away the ending!

This book is about a class finding a time capsule after their class was demolished for repairs.

Tell about your favourite part of the book or make a connection

I liked the part where they found Tyler’s uncle’s medal.

Give a recommendation (e.g., If you like… you will love this book or I recommend this book to anyone who likes…).

I think that people will love reading this book if they are interested in history, time capsules, rescues or schools.

A Tsunami is coming? Better bring my emergency kit with me!

WALT - identify ways of survival during a Tsunami.

I know this when I write a list of things that we need to make an emergency kit.

Block Building Time!

WALT - Write an opinion on an article.

I know this when I rewrite an advertisement from the NZ Catholic Newspaper and express how I feel about the product in the advertisement.

Let's continue the work of Christ!

WALT - continue Christ's saving work through Liturgy.

I know this when I read carefully through the scriptures, matching Eucharist, Sacrament of Reconciliation, Anointing of the sick to the correct scripture reference. 

Think about the people who are hurt, not yourself!

WALT - identify Christ's saving work during his life on earth.
I know this when I use 2 images to describe suffering and another 2 to show how the Christ saves us.

It's time to celebrate the Lord's day on Sunday!

WALT recognise that every Sunday is the day when the Church celebrates that God raised Jesus from the dead. I can do this when I write one sentence about why the Church celebrates the Eucharist every Sunday.

Why do we have school?

WALT - write an explanation with details.

I know this when I use 'because' to explain parts of a school.

A school is an organization for educating children.

There are many students who go and study in school. The principal runs the school and facilitates meetings with the teachers and staff. Teachers are adults who help the students to learn to read, write and think. A staff member is a person who helps the school with things. One staff is in charge of the attendance of the students and the other makes the lunch orders from the lunch orders box. When a school day ends, a cleaner comes in the classrooms and picks up the rubbish that are ignored or hidden by children.

There are many other programmes like 'Trash to fashion' and ‘Touch rugby’. In the trash to fashion activity, students have to use recyclable materials to turn into a fashionable outfit. Students have to plan the outfits by putting in a good sketch of how our designs are going to look like. In the end when the children have finished creating the dress, one of the members has to take a photo of the final look of the dress. The teacher who helps the students make the outfit has to send the picture to the trash to fashion judges and they will pick if the group could participate in the cat walk (Walking on the stage to show the outfit).

The purpose of attending school is to learn and to be educated so that the knowledge they gained, will help them get a good job and a better life in the future. There is also R.E where students learn about how to live as pilgrim people and the history of Jesus with his disciples. In writing, there are different genres like procedure, recount and explanation writings. Explanation is a writing where kids have to explain how something works, how to use it or what it is. Procedures is a writing where we have to include ingredients and how to make it. In each sentence, people have to start with an action word (verb). Students also have to make friends in school so that when kids don’t have anyone to play with, they don’t have to feel lonely.

There are facilities that teachers and students use. Classrooms are where students learn and each teacher has a room of her own and with her own children to teach. The sports shed is where people get the balls and equipment to borrow and use them at Morning Tea or Lunch. The library is where people can issue or borrow books to get information from something or do researching for their topics.

It is fun at school because there are lots of events that happens, like Cultural Festival or Te Mani Ahi (A performance by APOPS). Before Cultural Festival, students have to practice the dance moves every week on Thursdays for 8 weeks. Another event is 'St.Patrick's day'. This is when the school celebrates by attending Mass at Church first and then the students are split into teams to play activities and games run by the teachers in their classrooms. At the end of the day, everyone gets a Popsicle and they get to choose a flavour: lemon and wild berry. Mission day is a time where people have to think of fun activities or sell things to raise money for the Holy Angels Orphanage. On Daffodil Day, people have to wear yellow and donate a gold coin and it goes to the people who has cancer.

St. Patrick’s School  is a great place to play and learn new things. It is a fair and good place where you can make lots of new friends.

What did it mean again?

WALT - understand the vocabulary in 'Diver's Dream.'

I know this when I make a glossary about the words that I didn't know in the book.

Whoa! Check out the tugboat I found at sea!

WALT - understand and extract information from the book "A Diver's Dream".

I know this when I complete a book review using the information from the story in my own words.

Introduce the book

This book is about a man who got a tugboat for free.

Written by Angie Belcher.

Tell about the book, but don’t give away the ending!

This book is about a diver who wanted to have the old Taioma tugboat to be sunk for other divers to see and for fish to live in, but some people were complaining that the tugboat would be polluting the sea.

Give a recommendation (e.g., If you like…, you will love this book or I would recommend this book for anyone who likes…).

I would recommend this book for people who likes boats or diving.

Get ready to catch the ball!

WALT - write a recount using dialogue.
I know this when I use speech marks to start and end speech.

On a Tuesday afternoon, Room 6 went to play softball on the field. The class walked towards the coaches who were waiting for us near the trees to give us instructions. However, I just zoomed in front, all ready to listen. The coaches introduced themselves, their names were: Debbie and Santana. They asked us what sports we play. Most of my classmates chose basketball and soccer, but I was the only one who chose ping-pong (table tennis). 

First, they asked us what the triangle shaped mat was called. No one knew, but Aiden yelled out: "It's a home base!" We went towards the other mat that was different shaped. It was a square. Debbie asked what it was, and again, Aiden shouted out: "It's a first base!" Aiden knew all of this because he has played softball for 4 years. Everyone started to get the hang of the pattern. "How about this one? Everyone joined in, "Second base! The other one is a third base!"

Next, we were put into groups. I was in the second base and the other team was at the home base. I was actually proud because my friend was there: Greshka. When Debbie asked our team, "Who wants to go two times?" I quickly shot up my hand as fast as a gun shot, and luckily, I got picked. I was sort of good because at that time, I was energetic and hyper.

I was at the third of the line. I was jumping up and down and stomping on the ground. It was the feeling of excitement. The first person went, and I forgot to cheer because of all the adrenaline rush (sudden burst of energy) in my body. When the next person went, I was about to explode into shards and pieces. When the person was at the last base, he high-fived my hand and off, I ran. I felt as if I was faster than a speeding car.

When I came back, my lungs felt as if they were about to collapse and so I sat on the ground huffing and puffing and gasping for air. "Need... more.... OXYGEN!" Little by little, my body was getting pumped up again. I started jogging just to get ready. Just like before, I spread my legs longer so I would last a little bit longer on the air. When I came back, I was sort of frustrated because I wasn't fast enough to beat my opponent.

Then, they made our team go into 1 straight line facing towards the other team. In front of me, was Ingrid. I was a little bit confused because Philomena was in front of me too. "The person in front of you will have to be your partner! I made a confused face at both Philomena and Ingrid. When Debbie sorted our partners out, Ingrid was chosen to be my partner. Kevin, at the other end, didn't have a partner, so he was grouped up with Santana. 

After that, they gave the other team the tennis balls. They didn't look like tennis balls because they were too big and  shaped like base balls. Then they told us the basic techniques (moves). Debbie spread her fingers and placed her 2 thumbs together. "Can anyone tell me what this move is?" questioned Debbie. No one knew at first, but Aiden bravely shouted: "It's called a butterfly!" "Yes, it indeed is!" Debbie said. "Can anyone show me their butterfly?" I tried doing the same thing as she did, but I backed my hand a bit so the ball could land and won't fall off.

"Now try throwing it to your friend and let your friend try to catch it" Debbie told us. Ingrid and I needed some more practice, but we started to get there on the seventh throw. To test our butterfly catch skills, Debbie let us play 'who could throw and catch the furthest. The game rule was to throw the ball to your friend. You have to throw it to your friend, then he/she has to throw it back. If one of the groups drop their ball, they have to sit down because they're out.

Ingrid and I were prepared, but we failed at the first round because our throw was too low. We watched the other people throw, but someone's speed was too fast and it hit the ground. When people were backing a little bit more, it looks as if they were about to bump into the junior's playground! When the round finished, the winning group was Kevin and Santana. I applauded to them too loud and hard, that my hands almost turned red.

On the second round, we failed again because this time, we threw too high. After the round, the bell rang, but everyone begged to have one more round. We passed the first round, and Ingrid and I were actually proud of it. However, we had to walk two steps back. On the next round, we passed again! This time, we didn't have enough strength to throw the ball, so it hit the ground. We were sad again, but at least we got to the third round. New high score! I cheered in my head.

We had fun at softball, it was 40 minutes, but it felt as if it was at least 20 minutes or so because we didn't notice how fast time flew away when we were having too much fun.