Amazing Year 8 Challenges!!!

Year 8 Challenge #6 Tramping

On Monday the 21st, I woke up excited and enthusiastic to go tramping at Mikonui flats. Travelling to school felt like it took forever. 

Sleeping in a 4 person tent with 5 people was the most awkward sleep ever. As we were all got crushed, and apparently I was kneeing Hannah's ribcage. And I was also apparently humming in the middle of the night. 

A couple of years ago on a tramp, somebody put what's called "THE STONE" in my teachers pack. "The stone" is a medium weight stone that has been painted green. On the tramp this year I was the unlucky camper. Just before we were about to leave the carpark, Mr S-W came up to me and said "I'm just doing a pack check." I found this a little strange as he had checked nobody else's pack. As we walked to the campsite I thought I felt lopsided in my pack but chose to ignore it. Towards the end of the day, I was unpacking my pack when I came across "THE STONE." I was a little annoyed but mostly surprised he snuck it into my pack. 

One of my favourite parts of the trip would be when I ignored 

the brain freezing water and jumped off a rock. It wasn't that high but it was still nerve-racking to jump off, especially to dive. I was so scared I was going to bellyflop into the water, but apparently, I was graceful and I just slipped into the water.

Another highlight of the tramp would be river crossing. We crossed the Tuke river. It was surprisingly deep, but i had no worries as we crossed in groups. I can't wait for my next challenge!

BRING IT ON!!!

Mad Lib Theatre

This week for writing, my class chose to do mad libs. We started off with a Titanic scene and performed them on the green screen.  I am currently working on a scene from Jurassic Park. Creating Mad libs, don't just improve your Nouns, Pronouns, Adjectives, Verbs, Adverbs etc. But also, your confidence towards stage performances. Mad libs have opened up a wide range of new words to my vocabulary list. In the Titanic scene, I acted as Rose and Emma was John. 

My Debate Journey

We just had our 6th class debate!!! For me, debating is very difficult for me as I dislike speaking in front of a class. I also had to go up against some very feisty competition, the first time I had to this I let her overpower me, but as this being my 6th debate I stood up to her and tried to rebut her as best I could.

Debating has taught me to : Use effective Google Search techniques, evaluate websites, argue a point of view, check if websites are scholarly, paraphrase someone else’s research, take on a role within a debate team, whether it be the opening statement, main argument (& crazy crossfire), rebuttal and collaborate with my teammates to organise our arguments.

TEMPLE BASIN PHOTOS

Most epic 3 days EVER!

I have been on many, many class trips before but this had to be the most epic! At the start of the year, my class was finding it hard to work together and look out for our peers, But this trip brought out the best in all of us. Skiing is a difficult sport to learn especially since you fall over and over, but my class didn't just leave that person to get up themselves, they would go over and help. It was so cool to see my class working together.

Usually, I don't like travelling on through the pass, but the car trip turned out to be hilarious, as we covered just about every topic from Brothers to flattened bunnies. Even the hike up the mountain was fun, as we took 2 walkie-talkies up the mountain. A few people were so excited to see snow and went crazy throwing snowballs every minute. Calder through so many snowballs and they all went down my back. A bit later on Calder was waiting for some people to catch up, so I went up and dumped a massive chunk of snow over his head, and it all got stuck in his sunglasses.

The first day of skiing was a little hard for me as, all my friends were either way up the top of temple or at the bottom learning to ski. So I had nobody to learn new skills off, that was until on the second day when I took a leap of confidence and tried to go to the very top of temple. Unfortunately, on 1 part of the tow rope I didn't see a rock and I face planted into a patch of rushers. It was hilarious just laying upside down in a patch of rushers.

The instructor did say " Temple basin is really hard to learn to ski, but if you can ski here, you can ski anywhere!" I may have fallen over so many times, but I got up and tried again just as many. Going skiing was the most EPIC time EVER!

Basketball Season

This basketball season was epic! Last night's score was 51-6, to us. I scored 5 shots and missed a lot. Playing basketball was awesome, it was so fun! This was my first year playing basketball, towards the end of the year I got a lot better at shooting and dribbling. I definitely recommend playing basketball as it is super fun and you don't have to be really competitive to play.

Human Biology - Science

Quebec

Bonjour, this week in class we learnt about french speaking countries, my country was Quebec.

So close, yet so far!

I have only got 2 terms left of primary school, ever! That means I'm half way to High school, but there is still so much I have to do before I leave. For the next 2 terms I'm going to be working hard out so when I get to high school I will be prepared for everything they'll throw at me. I'm super nervous for high school, but at the same time, I'm super excited. Although I am going to be working really hard on school work I'm also going to focus on Physical activity (sport). Since it is my last year at school I want to achieve some new personal bests especially in athletics. 

My goals for the rest of this year: 

1. Be on time, focused and I am going to try not rush everything. Unlike last term, I was rushing to get everything published and mastered on time, even though it may not seem like I was it really felt like it.

2. Practice and really try to achieve new personal bests. I am really going to try and succeed  physically and academically.

3. Finish this year off with great achievements and be prepared for highschool!

Debate #2

We have another debate on Thursday. YAY!!!

Mathematics D.L.O 2

Challenge #3 Rafting The Grey River

On the 22nd-23th some of my classmates and I went rafting up the back of the Grey river, it was probably one of the most exciting and challenging things I've done in my life (so far.) One of my favourite highlights was probably when, I was in a raft with Hannah, Reed, Jordin, Calder and the instructor: Lochie. It was so awesome because Lochie was trying to stare us into the biggest rapids. I was sitting at the front of the boat when lochie stared us over a drop, the front of the boat bent backwards as we hit the white water that came straight towards us. 

in the saftey brief, I learnt a couple of signals that the instructors use to communicate with each other. I also learnt that you want to find the V of the river when going over rapids because when there are rapids that means shallow water. The V of the river means more water is running there so it's deeper, and the deeper it is the less chance you have of being beached. Unfortunately, once we DIDN'T go down the V and got beached right in the middle of the river. I thought that setting up the tents would be hard, it actually turned out really easy, even in the rain. 

It was such an AWESOME experience! I would definitely do it all again even if I was to fall out the raft (again.) This trip was definitely challenging, although this was more challenging to the body than the mind especially because of the lack of sleep. I have absolutely no regrets choosing to go rafting. I can't wait for the next Challenge.

BRING IT ON!!!

Challenge #2 Rock Climbing/Abseiling

On Friday the 17th some of my classmates and I went Rock climbing and Abseiling at Charleston. I was soo excited for the moment when I got to lean off a cliff. The closer we got to charleston, the more adrenaline I had running through me. When we pulled up to constants bay, the first thing I saw was the gigantic waves pounding against the rocks. The instructors: Josh and Hosei showed us how to put on a harness. We walked up a track for about 15mins to the amazing 30m high cliff. It was just so amazing to see this place in real life rather than through a screen. 

We dumped all of our bags in the lunch area and were showed how to use the equipment. At this point I thought I was going to explode with excitement. Finally, we were allowed to start abseiling our way of a cliff. I was the second to go, I felt rather thrilled than terrified to lean over an edge of a cliff. Lochie one of the other instructors clipped me into the safety rope so I wouldn't fall. I did a quick check of all of my safety gear just to make sure I was properly clipped in. 

I walked backwards to the edge of the cliff and I spread my feet, breathed in then leaned, and I took my first step down the rocky face. I couldn't believe I was over the edge, I looked out to see before I carried on with my journey down the rock wall. As I reached the end of the rock face my feet could no longer touch the wall, so I was just sitting there in mid air. I slowly lowered myself still keeping my hand tightly gripped on the rope so I would not crash into the rocky floor below. As I reached the safety of the ground I could not believe what I had just accomplished. 

Now I was off to rock climbing, I was first to climb. I decided to climb the harder one out of the two, It was nicknamed the "Chimney."  My heart was racing as I started to climb. The first few meters were the easiest, as got to the overhanging ledge I had to work my hands into every crevasse I could. My arms felt like they were burning and the annoying thing was, was that it wasn't even the hardest part. I was only 3m from touching the Caribeaners I kept wanting to come down but my instructor kept telling me to have another try.

At that very moment, I felt as though I was truly at my breaking point. But I kept on pushing myself higher and higher until finally, I touched the Caribeaners!!! Finally, I had accomplished a test that pushed me to the limit. 

I will never forget that moment when I leaned over the edge or when I touched those metal Caribeaners at the top of the chimney. I can't wait for the next challenge, BRING IT ON!!!

Upcoming Challenges 2016

I am so excited for the upcoming events. This year we get to push ourselves to the breaking point. We are travelling to Charleston to go 30m high rock climbing and abseiling. I absolutely love climbing, but not so much abseiling. 

A week later after hanging off a 30m cliff by the sea we get to travel to lake Brunner for an overnight rafting trip, AWESOME!!! We start at lake Brunner and then camp over night. I can't wait, especially since we get to cook and create our own breakfast, lunch and tea. My cooking group is Hannah, Emma and Joel. I can't wait for these awesome challenges. BRING IT ON!!!

Mathematics D.L.O 1

Gorilla Tragedy

Friday, 3rd June 2016

This particular subject is very frustrating for me, here's why:

On Sunday the 29th of May, a seventeen-year-old silverback gorilla called Harambe was shot. This gorilla was shot due to a young boy called 'Isiah' crawled into his enclosure. I feel as though it was good the gorilla was shot and not with a dart. I believe that if the silverback was subdued it may have got enraged before going to sleep and could have crushed the boy. 

Although in the Harambe's defence the boy's parents should have been paying more attention to their child. How does a 4year old get into gorilla's enclosure?! I strongly believe Cincinnati Zoo should close down until they have better fencing for the enclosure. 

If a 4-year-old boy can somehow get through the wire/bush fencing then how are you supposed to keep a silverback GORILLA in. In my opinion, Cincinnati Zoo really needs to improve their safety precautions in the zoo. 

I am very embittered with the mother for not taking proper care of her son and I can not believe the so-called fence at the zoo was permitted.

Please write your opinion in the comment box below.

NYLD//16 (National Young Leaders Day 2016)

The young leaders conference really made me think about my choices in life. The speaker that I found most inspiring was: Brylee Mills. Brylee Mills is an amputee, she lost her arm in an unfortunate car crash at the age of 6. She spoke about not living alone and never giving up. If Brylee mills can recover from such a life changer and become a professional dancer, then maybe I can try and change the world. " Dancing is symmetrical and I'm not" - Brylee Mills

Billy Graham was so inspiring. He talked about how it's okay to ask for help. When Billy Graham was younger he used to be called 'special'. Growing up was hard for him but one day he got taking to a boxing club, and that changed his life. At that moment, I realized that one small act of kindness can change someone's life forever. 

Emily Muli was very inspiring and motivating. Emily used to be quiet and would sit at the back of the class, she used to notice everything and even the people that got pushed over and wouldn't be helped up, there were people who had brilliant lunches and then there's the person who didn't have a lunch. As Emily got older she found her voice. She used her voice to speak up for others to help the ones in need. To this very day, Emily is helping save lives by supporting the world vision charity.

The things I will take away from this once in a lifetime opportunity, are: Being a leader means sometimes following others. Have self-character and don't listen to peer pressure. It's okay to ask for help. The words that we speak are very powerful and should be used in the right way. One small act of kindness could change someone's life forever and NEVER GIVE UP!

Art 2!

This is my finished product! I finally mastered my drawing of a girl. Next time I am going to try and create a more complicated drawing.

Art!

This week in art I decided to draw a girl. I am only half way through this project, I will try and put an update with my final picture. 

Gif Animation

 Click For Full Version: Post-it note Gif

Cross Country 2016!

Post-it Note Art

Half run mistake

Today Mr. S-W told my class we are to run as far as we can go. Most of my class including me made a wrong decision, or at least I feel as though I made a wrong decision, we are always told to think for ourselves. Today I totally ditched that theory. I am so angry with myself I just wish I could fix it. Although I have this terrible regret building up inside of me, I am so glad I made this wrong turn. It just means it's one more learning curve I have to get over.

Mr. S-W may be disappointed in us all but it's only because he is helping us for the future. I can't explain how much I hate myself. Mr. S-W is always in a great mindset, my goal is to try and find my OWN mindset.

Introducing Room 8