Year 8 Challenges 2016

Mikonui flat hut

We just got back from the Mikoniu flat hut tramp, at first, it had to be postponed because of rain, but luckily there was a gap in the weather. When we arrived at the hut we got our tents up then we went swimming a swimming hole in the Tuke river. Some people did not go swimming including me. A few hours later we got into our food groups and cooked dinner, the group I was in had sizzlers, we did some riddles around the campfire,



 I only solved 2 of them. later that night we had to do a solo in the dark which was the part of the trip I was dreading, as I have a fear of the dark. When it was my turn to get a spot my brain was trying to get me to say, I don,t want to do this, but I just went along with it, around 10 minutes in, Mr-SW came to me and took me to the middle of the plain and we sat down, even though I was not doing it properly I still wrote something on the piece of paper I had.


The next morning Mr-SW woke us up by blowing a whistle and banging  a spoon on a pan, it took awhile for everyone to get up, but when they did we started making breakfast, my group had pancakes. after when we had to cross the Tuke river I was kind of anxious about it as the location we crossed as it was deep, but who does not like a challenge. on the way back we did a fire lighting challenge, the objective was to be the first team to boil a cup of water in a billy. the team I was in won. in to get to the historic homestead (our lunch spot) we had to cross the Tuke once more and cross the Mikonui. When we got back to the carpark I was relieved to get my pack of my bag.


Overall the trip was fun tiring, and cold



Bring it on!!!

My Debate Journey

Recently we did our 6th class debate, the first debate I was nervous, I did not even want to stand up and speak. But during the past debates, I have grown out of getting nervous at the start of it. The 6th debate was 'trophy hunting is okay', I was in the 2nd proposition team. Doing opening and closing statement, compared to to the other debates I did way better with my speaking and my statements.



Here is the video of this debate.

Skiing at Temple Basin

If you did not know, Temple Basin is ski field in the southern alps. It is located around halfway between Otira and Arthur's pass, to get to Tempe Basin you have to walk up a steep mountain walk which is a challenge in itself, that is where we start. Honestly, I thought the walk was not going to be as steep. But I was wrong, the second we started to ascend  I realized this was not going to be easy. When we got our gear on we had to get our skis on, while I was on the mountain I reckon I learnt a lot,


 when I went in I knew nothing about skiing, when I came out I knew how to slow down, stop, and go fast. to slow down you have to make a wedge/pizza shape with your skis. You then bend your knees in slightly, to stop you do the same but you bend your knees on further. To accelerate you just point your skis down and you slowly get faster. Temple basin may be on top of a mountain, but the lodge is a really cool place, there is a ping pong table, there is a cafeteria to hang around play games,


and eat, there are bunkrooms, ski hire, and a drying room to dry all of your wet gear. Instead of a travelator or chairlift, Temple basin has a rope tow to get you to the top, the cool thing about the rope tow is you can unclip from it where ever you want on the mountain, after 3 days of extreme fun we had to leave, on the walk down I found it way easier to walk since gravity was pulling us down, if you want to get fit and you want a good time skiing I recommend going to Temple basin.







BRING IT ON!!!

Mini Olympics

This week the sports committee, and the events committee and I held a mini Olympics at our school. I was kinda anxious about talking in front of the school and some parents but I realised that it was going to be good for my public speaking. Once I started speaking I thought that it was not that bad and I can do it again one day. The mini Olympics were successful, we had four activities that looked fun. we also organised for the PTA to run a sausage sizzle. The line grew and grew. After the event, I had to pack up the amp, mic, stand, and the cords, the funny thing about it was that I spent half an hour setting everything up but I took about 10 minutes to pack it up. The day was quite warm, and fun

The debate

On Thursday we did a debate on superman will always beat batman, I was on the proposition team. When we started I was nervous about doing my first rebuttal as I had to find things that the enemy had said and rebut. personally, I think I did quite well for my first rebuttal, I also did closing statement. every time I do closing or opening statement  I reckon I should try and write more to make it longer and get more points. The debate was close the opposition won by one point, the debate before our one the proposition won, so that makes me believe that superman and batman are awesome!!!

Speech writing

On Wednesday I went to a writer's workshop that my teacher had organized. I only went cause I was really struggling to find an idea to write about. around half an hour into the workshop, I got an idea. It is about how my mum loves electronic devices, the second my teacher gave me that idea I instantly started writing...

Here is a sneak peak of my writing

My mum has made a twitter account for...my cat…I know, ridiculous right.

   

What I want to accomplish this term

 This term I want to accomplish my high school math progressions , and not focus on the reagular progressions

Percentages in everyday use

Sea kayaking lake brunner

On Wednesday the sea kayakers embarked to Mitchells. When we arrived we had to pack the kayaks, (which was a real hassle as we had do pack them in the rain). Halfway through packing, the rain stops but shortly after it starts back up again. When it was time to take the kayaks down to the water most of us picked up a double kayak and it was still heavy. After all the kayaks were at the lake edge my arms felt like jelly. When we chose our kayaks I got a double kayak. I was in the front so I did not get to use the pedals that control the rudder which wad a bummer. When we launched the kayaks it took some time to co-operate with the person in the back seat. After 10 minutes we finally were able to communicate with each other properly, when we arrived at bain bay we unpack the kayaks and set up our tents. The boy's tent was so dirty the floor was wet and muddy and our stuff was everywhere. but we worried about that later. The next day we packed our things and left. It was raining quite hard but that did not put anyone off or did it bother anyone which was awesome. ThIs trip was tiring, wet, and very very fun

   Thanks to the TTP for making this trip possible

Abseiling and rock climbing

On Thursday, the group doing sea kayaking went to Charleston to do abseiling and rock climbing... I woke up with adrenaline and nervousness pumping through my veins. After the bell rang the polytech instructors came into the class to get us, they took us outside to introduce their selfs. we then embarked on our journey to Charleston. about an hour later we arrive. It was time to get the harnesses on, to be honest I hate getting things ike that on as it can be flimsy and hard to use. Once we got our harnesses some of us got given a bag of ropes to carry up the track, I was one of the chosen ones, five minutes up the track my shoulder and neck started to ache but I told myslef it was temporary pain. When we arrived at the lunch spot I looked at the cliff we will be abseiling down.


 I think to myself am I going to beable to do that. We got instructions on how to use our equipment, we then walked down a muddy track into a slipprey cave my shoes got absolutly!!! coverd in mud. at the bottom of the cave there was some blowholes and luckily the tide was high. later that day some of us did climbimg or absiling I was do absiling after the practice abseil it was time to do the real thing. and trust me my heart was racing, when it was my go I clip into the saftey rope. I then clip into the abseil rope I slowly walk back to the edge.


 I take a look down and say " I can,t do this but instructor convinced me to go over the edge. after 5 times of trying to do it I just could not do it. I uncliped from the rope and walked down the hill to grab some lunch, I then had go to the climbing. I managed to get a little bit up the rock face. I then had to do a small abseil down, the instructor that convince me to go over the edge. told me he would do it with me I went to the cliff and clipped in. I got to the edge but the same thing happend. This challenge pushed me out of my comfort zone a little bit to sum it all up yesterday was really fun.

We are having another debate

 Next week on Tuesday we are having another debate. The topic is:  should zoos close: should wild animals be in the wild, at first I thought that they should be closed but no I realize that they don,t need to be closed, as zoos have programs that try and help save many of the endangered species. As I said in my other debate post I sometimes have a hard time trying to find scholarly information. I also need to get way more information than last time.  

Yesterday's debate

Yesterday we had a debate, on the NZ education system is broken. It did not go as planned though as I did not get the amount of info I wanted which was a bit of a let down. Next debate I need to get way more info be strong.

(sorry for short post)

Gorilla incident at Cinnanati Zoo

A few days ago in America, a four-year-old kid fell into a gorilla enclosure at Cinnanati Zoo. The gorilla was shot dead,  heaps of people around the world think the gorilla should not have been shot, and some think it had to be shot. Personally, I think it should have been shot and. is, they had to shoot the gorilla as they should not have taken any chances for the kid to get for the kid to get any fatal injuries. Overall I think the gorilla had to be shot

Debating and local issue argument

this week with literacy we wrote local issue arguments to the Grey star editor which was not like the usual  literacy because we were writing something to show the public which I think is really awesome as I don,t get to do that kind of stuff often,  we are also doing a debate about, is the New Zealand  education system broken. I am struggling to find some information as I,m struggling to find a scholarly website.

Here is my local issue argument

I think Greymouth needs to look more colourful and tidy. The name Greymouth (in my opinion) is a description more than a name. Look at Nelson and other cities, they have more colours on their buildings not just grey and black and dull colours like that.

Let's talk about litter. Every time I go into Greymouth I see pieces of rubbish on the road, gutters, and sidewalks. That is unacceptable because it pollutes our environment and it needs to be stopped. The beaches also need to be cleaned because if the trash gets into the ocean it can be lethal to the sea life, and birds. We don’t want our ocean turning out like the great pacific garbage patch. And that is why I think Greymouth needs to be more colourful and tidier.

My Jif/Gif using post-it notes

Decimal Place Value

Place value of decimals

                   

 I have been learning about decimal place value. Today I completed a Maths Buddy task and achieved 100%. 

Cave stream reflection

                                          Cave stream

When I got to school adrenaline was pumping through my veins. When we get to cave stream scenic reserve we get our gear on and have a snack. After that Mr-sw  told us about the history of cave stream. We then walked down the path to the entrance of the cave, we  started to walk into the cave. The second my shoe got covered in water it hit me. The water was freezing cold, when we got further into the cave the water got up to my waste. We were in the cave for about ten minutes and my feet started to get numb. I struggled to get up a waterfall but I managed with a help from an adult. In cave stream there are a few side caves, some of them are dead ends and some of them join back up with the main cave. I went through one of the side caves but that was it, When we got to the last chamber I saw natural light up high in front of us. I most of us waited a while to climb up ladder. When it was my turn I grabbed hold of the rung and climbed up, when I got to the top of the ladder I had to hold on to a chain and slide across, there then was a stomach crawl out of the cave. When I got out of the cave I walked up some stairs and took my shoes of. It took 5 minutes for me to feel my feet. When it was time to go back to the parking lot I put my shoes back on and walked to the parking lot. For me cave stream was my first actual cave experience. And for me it was wet, cold, and awesome. On the way home I thought to myself that I want to go again one day.

Making the totally wrong mistake

Today when we did the run I did the totally wrong thing and feel really horrible for doing it I know I let my teacher down for making this choice. Our teacher said to us to do the run he also said to run as far as we could, And most of us including me took that as a message to run half way, So we turned back. we got told to do the full run under fifteen minutes so I tried but I did not beat fifteen minutes but If that was the timed run I would have got a better time. And I don,t know why getting yelled at pushed me to get a better time, cause basically every time we do the timed run I don,t run as hard as I know I could. I really need to make up for this mistake by pushing myself out of my comfort zone and smashing my time. As I write this blog post I think back to that mistake and think, why did I do it.

Introducing room 8