Rips

Rips are very powerful in fact they cause the most drownings in New Zealand. Most of these are caused because people panic and do not stay calm. Also when they get caught in a rip and they don’t know how to get out. But it is really easy to get out of a rip you just have to stay calm and swim to the any side where the rip ends.

Rips are just very powerful waves. But the thing some people don’t know is that rips don’t go on for ever they only stop where they start. And if you just let the rip take you out and swim back you would still be alive instead of drowning.

Most people get too freaked out about rips and end up drowning. One of the lifeguards on our trip told us that if you are drowning try and touch the ground before putting your hands up. Also to help them watch over the whole beach you should always have a adult with no matter if you’re responsible or not.

Rips

Rips are very powerful in fact they cause the most drownings in New Zealand. Most of these are caused because people panic and do not stay calm. Also when they get caught in a rip and they don’t know how to get out. But it is really easy to get out of a rip you just have to stay calm and swim to the any side where the rip ends.

Rips are just very powerful waves. But the thing some people don’t know is that rips don’t go on for ever they only stop where they start. And if you just let the rip take you out and swim back you would still be alive instead of drowning.

Most people get too freaked out about rips and end up drowning. One of the lifeguards on our trip told us that if you are drowning try and touch the ground before putting your hands up. Also to help them watch over the whole beach you should always have a adult with no matter if you’re responsible or not.

Perspective Drawing

We watched multiple videos of how to draw a perspective drawing. Our job was to create a digital perspective drawing. When did this on an animating app called Hyper Studio Witch you can purchase in the app store.

Here's mine. It wasn't just any perspective drawing I did buildings and a street as you can see. It may look colourful but that might be because I like neon colours or just really bright colours.

Jo May

Te Tuhi

                                      Te Tuhi

The intermediate block got to go to Te Tuhi to learn about cultural arts. Being a big bunch we went in classes on different days and sessions. If you don’t know where or what Te Tuhi is, well don’t stress I will tell you as I am nice.

Te tuhi is a place Pakuranga across from the back of the warehouse. It is a place with art exhibitions and other art programs. The art program we went to was called “ Stories from the Pacific our instructor for the day was Jeremy. So take a read on what we got up to that session.

After introducing himself we went into the art room where there was pieces of paper with four squares on the paper. Handing around two pieces of tapa cloth he explained what we were going to do. It turns out that we were going to make paper tapa cloths we did this by scrunching the paper. We then rubbed pastel in the boxes and then dyed the whole paper. If you are wondering what colours we used the answer would be earthy colours.

The next step was to dry them but to save time we used the ones that the previous class had made. On the paper we drew four designs to do with our home, culture, interests and family. These designs had to be BASIC.

I drew a turtle to represent my culture a volleyball to symbolise my interest. Also a sky tower to because every time I see it I know i’m nearly home. For my family I drawed a door with four heads coming out of the side.

To make these stand-out we coloured the background with pastel and dye. Jeremy said it would add a lot of attention if it 2 was pastel and the other 2 was dye. To make it look more awesomer we did them diagonally.

Moving on we went to the exhibition called The Manukau Water we looked at the different artworks created by artist. Most of them was based around water and sound. Watching the animations, movies and canvases I was so inspired as I knew that art isn’t just painting it was also other ways like sketching and all sorts of things.

Finishing our session Ana ( a girl from our class) stood up and said a huge thank-you on behalf of  the whole class. At the end of the day we each went home with a imitation tapa cloth and a little knowledge about art.

Friends Writing Sample

Friends are like family, but they all have different personalities. You have some caring, humorous, nuts and most of all your besties. It doesn’t matter who your friends are or what their personalities are. You just have to accept them for who they are.

In my eyes everyone needs a friend whether its to pick you back up or to encourage you but most of all to have a laugh with. A good friend will always be there for you when you are feeling low.

Friends are like family members that you can always talk too. You spend time with them, make jokes or laugh with them. Once you find a good friend they turn into your family with out any of your ancestors dna though.

Do you know what 3 things it takes to form a good friendship? Well a good friendship would be based on trust which means that they can tell you their deepest secrets. Another key is on caring where when they get pushed down you pick them back up. The lucky last is respect make sure that they have respect for you and you have respect for them.

“A friend to me is someone to share the last cookie with” quoted by cookie monster

Future Aspirations

The year 7 and 8 intermediate classes were blessed when we had 3 talented speakers arrive at our school. They were here because they came to talk to us about their aspirations and hopefully inspire us to think about what we want to do when we get older. As they were part of the future aspirations this was hosted by Andrew Patterson.

Giving it over to Andrew he talked to us a little bit before he showed us a video. The video was about a boy who was year 8, when he first found out that he was a confident speaker. This year he is year 9 and is a confident speaker who gets paid to speak at conferences and all sorts of meetings. The video was full of laughter coming from both us and the audience in the video.

“Can we please say a huge hello to Mr Samuels” He said. When he came up to the front to talk to us we already knew him as he was the dad of three boys that attend our school. He talked to us about the time he had spent on the No 1 kids show What now. Also there was 1 key and 1 phrase. The phrase was To Miharo Hoki which means You are Amazing. Where the key to unlock this phrase was “ Your past doesn’t have to determine your future”. Before giving the mic back to Andrew we watched a little movie. It was about famous people who got told they could never make it but ended up stars. The purpose of this was to teach us that what other people say doesn’t mean they're right.

Receiving the mic Andrew then announced the next person who was Paula. He told us a story about how he nearly died. It may sound scary but its actually quite funny. The events leading up to the story started at his school when he first started swimming. He won all the awards as he had a secret weapon. He said it really came in handy when he got tired as he just put his legs down and walked. But one time when he went  to a swimming competition he realised that he couldn’t touch the ground and ended up drowning. The moral of his story was that he’s not scared we won’t succeed he’s scared we won’t try.

The last speaker was a lady named Amelia who is finishing her 2nd year of a 3 year degree. Her message was don’t let other peoples opinions and choices influence your decisions. She had said this message because in her life everybody thought she would grow up and be like her brothers instead of having hope and faith in her.

We are so grateful to have the opportunity to have people like them in our world. who give up their time to help inspire kids and young youth. Thank-you for inspiring us on this day and through the rest of the day.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Marsden Bay

Tattoo Design

Symbol, Symbolic and Symbolism 

Symbol, Symbolic and Symbolism may sound the same but they aren't all the same. As symbol means something that represents a day, a person or a object even letters.  Symbolic is something that has been illustrated, representative and emblematic. Symbolism pretty much sums the other 2 up as is the use of symbols to represent the ideas or qualities.

Sentences using these words.

"You could all tell that the shops were getting ready for christmas, they all showed this by adding the symbols which represent christmas."
" When shopping I could see jack lanterns and pumpkins which are symbolic for Halloween"
" Every time an event comes mum always believes in the importance of symbolism in Decorations"

Sulu'ape Video Recount

After looking at these words and what they meant we learnt about a samoan family who are all tattooist. The family was Sulu'ape, we watched a video of one of the family members who took on residency at the Auckland University The video showed another man who was called Faliniko Tominiko.

The video showed us the process and what it takes to get a Pe'a. Watching the video I curled up and had moments were I just closed my eyes. Because it looked so painful and scary that I couldn't take it all in. We watched more of the parts to this and in each of them we found out more.

To learn more about the Pe'a click here.

Mini Project

We got assigned a mini project for extension the project was to design a tattoo that represented our culture and another one representing us. Asking around my family about whats something that is symbolic in our family I got all sorts of answers. Turtle, Centipede, Flowers, Birds, Dolphins and many more patterns.

For my cultural tattoo I decided to combine both my Nuiean and Cook Island side. I interpreted some creatures that meant something to the island or our tribe. Also things that mean something to our family.     

The creatures I used were Onu and the Unga. A Onu is a turtle in Cook Island and a Unga is a coconut crab in Nuiean. I also combined some other creatures like the dolphin and the kakaia bird.
                                              
Along with those I decided to add a vaka which is a canoe in Cook Island. I chose this because back in the island my great grandfather was a legendary fisherman. On the Vaka you will see flowers which represent the beautiful Tiare maori and Jasmines that live back on the Island. To fill in the gaps I put some patterns that both of my cultures put on Tapa cloths.

To represent myself I decided to do things that I find interesting. Of course I only did the important things, not that i'm not important. But I did the things that didn't only represent me but was meaningful to others around me, for example my parents.             

I included some spears which is symbolic for protection and strength. In the middle I added a heart with two Korus in the centre. This shows the symbol of love and the Korus represent my country Aotearoa.
                   
The shape of it may look a little quirky but it's actually the shape of a dogs paw. I added a little dab of creativity by adding the shape of a turtle to both the palm and the paws. In each paw it either shows by passion and something I find beautiful. In the middle paw is my birthday because i've always wanted an established tattoo. Also it marks the day when I came into this world which is full of opportunities.

I've realised that the inside of the body of the turtle or the palm of the paw actually represents my personality. As I am protective on the outside but nice on the inside.

I've really took this opportunity to take a deeper look in to the art of both tattoos and my culture. I've learnt more about my culture and my family also I had the time to take a look into what I like and the things that surround me.

So heres my tattoos of both my culture and me. Ashlee

Cultural ( Left )  

This is my tattoo that represents my culture.

                                                          


Conclusion                      

Elections

ELECTIONS

The 2014 New Zealand Elections had come and gone. The numbers of people that had placed their votes was colossal. This had taken place on the 20th of September. Driving anywhere around New Zealand you could tell that elections were coming up, due to billboards and people waving signs around.

On the day you would see orange signs with bold writing spelling Vote with a black arrow pointing at places. One of the paces were you saw the signs would be at my school Point England. It was available for the community to come together and place their votes.

Rules

Election is a very serious time for New Zealand and many more countries. One of the rules are so serious that you could get fined up to 20,000 dollars.  In the weekends our very own Rugby Player Jonah Lamu was fined 20,000 dollars for posting who he voted for. In between the hours of 9am - 4pm you are not aloud to post or say who you voted for.

Policies

Labour
One of the policies including Education and Kids are that there will be the best start for all kiwi kids. The policies means that they will give parents more time to be parents also that kiwi kids will succeed in school and through out the community.

National
Did you know that National is investing 1.1 million dollars on building schools in Christchurch. The money will be going towards constructing 13 new schools on new sites. Rebuilding 10 schools on their existing sites and redeveloping 92 schools.

Quotes

"Did you know that Labour hasn't won this bad since 1920" Quoted by Isara Nua

Humour