Holiday Blogging: Recount - The Secret Life of Pets!

We entered the dark cinema and found our row and seats. We sat down and pulled our snacks out and started eating the popcorn waiting for the movie to start, The Secret Life of Pets. “Can you pass Sonya’s lollies please?” I asked my Dad, while he was sharing his popcorn with my 2 little sisters, Angel and Annabelle. I gave my sister her lollies and soon after that the movie started.

The movie was about a spoiled dog named Max and his owner Katy. Max lived a comfortable life, in his apartment in New York. With his other friends, who were cats, dogs and a bird, from other apartments. Life was good for Max until one day his owner Katy brings home a new dog, Duke. Duke is a massive dog with very rough brown fur. Max at first doesn’t like Duke, but as he goes on an adventure with Duke meeting other rebellious pets including a fluffy bunny. He gets to know him better and they become very good friends.

I really enjoyed this movie, because it was very funny and displayed the characters of the pets very well. My highlight in the film was seeing New York at night. This is because I really love New York and the way that they displayed it was truly magical especially at night. My favourite character was Duke because even though he is a big dog, under all that fur, he is still a very sweet and accepting dog.

Reflection: Winter Learning Journey

During the last week, I have been participating in the Winter Learning Journey Programme. Today was the last day and it was honestly such a good experience! It was something to keep me still learning during the holidays and was also so fun. My highlight activity was Day 6, Activity 2. Which was when we got to choose one person to represent New Zealand at the Olympics. I say this because it made me realise how thankful I am to be able to call myself a Kiwi. I am very thankful to have participated in this programme, and not just for the competition. I would like to say a big thanks to Rachel Williamson for letting me participate, cheers!

Winter Learning Journey: Day 7, Activity 2

Activity 2: It is very expensive for each of the Paralympic athletes to fly from New Zealand to Rio de Janeiro to compete.  Most athletes have to fundraise in order to make the money that they need to go on the big trip. Recently, Harvey Norman announced that they will be helping to raise funds for the New Zealand Paralympic team. What could you do to help raise funds to support our amazing Paralympic athletes? On your blog, list 2 different ways in which you, your family or friends could raise money to support the athletes.

We can fundraise by doing a big run, and each kilometre we do we can raise money. This would be really fun and good for me and my friends. Then with my family we can make food and sell it and the money that we fundraise can go towards the Paralympic Athletes.

Winter Learning Journey: Day 7, Activity 1

Activity 1: At the first ever Paralympic Games in Rome, the athletes competed in eight sports. Cycling was one of them. For the cycling event, two people compete together as a team – one of the people has a disability and the other does not. Here is a picture of a para-cycling team from New Zealand:

At the moment the most famous para-cycling team in New Zealand is comprised of two female athletes – Emma Foy and Laura Thompson. Emma is blind but Laura is not. Together they work as an amazing team. Imagine that you were asked to compete in a tandem cycling event and you had to choose one person to compete with. Who would it be? On your blog, tell us who you would compete with and why. If it was me, I would choose my son, Aronui because he’s pretty fast and very funny. He would make me laugh as we biked along and would be very supportive and encouraging! I know that I could trust him to be a good teammate. Who would you choose?

If it was me then it would be my Dad. This is because I completely trust my Dad and he is very sporty. I also know that I would have a great time because he is very funny and supportive.

Winter Learning Journey: Day 6, Activity 3 (Bonus)

Bonus: Imagine that you are sitting in the crowd at the opening ceremonies for the Rio Olympics this August. The ceremony has just started and all of the Olympic athletes are parading around the stadium in their uniforms when all of a sudden…

In your blog, write an ending to this short story. It should be approximately 10-20 sentences long.

A mountain of fireworks blasted into the air. Then I heard the sound of Music from the middle on the stadium and at the same time saw people dancing onto the stadium insync. Everyone saw the beautiful dancers, dancing together and smiling like the sun. There were so many colours that it looked like a rainbow. I wish that I had 10 more pairs of eyes, so that I could see everything that was going on. I found myself shouting and clapping as loud as I could. I then saw different mascots coming out from the sides of the stadium and start to dance as well. There were Lions, Elephants, even Zebras but the most beautiful mascots were the birds. The Olympic Athletes paraded around the stadium all formed as one, even though they were from different countries, in that moment they were all one. Then it ended with a blast of fireworks and music.

Winter Learning Journey: Day 6, Activity 2

Activity 2: The opening ceremonies for every Olympic Games must include formal speeches, a parade of athletes, songs and dances that showcase the culture of the host country. Follow this link to watch the highlights of opening ceremonies for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, England.

In the opening ceremony for the London Olympics there were a number of famous English people including the Queen, the Spice Girls, David Bowie, U2, the Rolling Stones and Paul McCartney. Imagine that we were going to host the Olympics here in New Zealand in 2024 and you were invited to be on the committee that decides who is invited to participate in the opening ceremonies. As a member of the group you must choose one of the following people to be in the opening ceremony: Richie McCaw (rugby player), Lorde (singer), Kane Williamson (cricket player), Maria Tutaia (netball player), John Key (prime minister of New Zealand) or Shaun Johnson (league player). On your blog, tell us who you think is the best person to choose and explain why you think that they are the best choice!

Personally I would choose Richie McCaw. This is because Richie McCaw is someone very special to New Zealand. I feel like if Richie McCaw presented New Zealand then who would do it very well and he would make New Zealand very proud.

Winter Learning Journey: Day 6, Activity 1

Activity 1: For all Olympic opening and closing ceremonies, the athletes from each country must wear a special uniform. The uniforms change each year. Look at the 3 pictures posted below. They are pictures of the uniforms that our New Zealand Olympic teams wore in 2012, 2008 and 2004. For this activity, you are asked to rank the uniforms from best (#1) to worst (#3). On your blog post your rankings and provide a brief explanation of why you ranked the uniforms in that order.

1. New Zealand Team Uniform – London Olympics 2012

2. New Zealand Team Uniform – Beijing Olympics 2008

3. New Zealand Olympic Team Uniform – Athens Olympics 2004

The #1 uniform for me was the uniform from 2012. I say this because it was nice to see that the girls got to wear dresses and the men looked respectably dressed. It also looked a lot tidier than the other 2. My #2 uniform is the 2004 uniforms. This is because I like that they put the fern on their uniform, but they also don’t look as tidy as the 2012 one. My #3 uniform is the 2008. This is because this one didn’t look as good as the 2 other ones. It just looked very plain.

Winter Learning Journey: Day 5, Activity 3 (Bonus)

Bonus:  Jesse Owens was a black American athlete who participated in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany. He is considered to be one of the bravest and most inspirational Olympic athletes because he competed at a time when the leader of Germany (Adolf Hitler) did not want black men competing at the Olympic Games. Here is a picture of Jesse from the 1930s.

Can you think of someone in your own life that inspires you? On your blog, tell us who your inspirational person is and why they inspire you.

An inspirational person in my life is my Aunty. She inspires me because when things got hard for her, she wasn’t a person to give up. She also looked at the bright side and figure out a plan. She never ever only thought about herself, she also thought about other people.

Winter Learning Journey: Day 5, Activity 2

Activity 2:  In 1936, a 13 year old girl named Marjorie Gestring became the youngest person to ever win an Olympic gold medal. She won the gold medal in the springboard diving competition. Imagine that you were alive in 1936 and you had the chance to interview her. On your blog, post five questions that you would like to ask the Olympic champion (if you had the chance to meet her!).

1. How does it feel to be the youngest person to ever win a Olympic Gold Medal?
2. How did you go from being a normal 13 year-old girl, to coming to the Olympics?
3. How did you first become interested in Springboard diving?
4. How has this changed your life?
5. What is your next step in life?

Winter Learning Journey: Day 5, Activity 1

Activity 1: Some Olympic athletes become famous not because they win but because they have an amazing attitude and great determination. They are sometimes called ‘underdogs.’ One of the most famous ‘underdogs’ in Olympic history was a man named Michael Edwards. He was a ski jumper from England who competed in the 1988 Olympic Games in Calgary, Canada. Although he came last in the event, he never gave up. Recently, a movie has been made about his life. It is called “Eddie the Eagle.”  For this activity, watch the trailer for Eddie the Eagle and then post a summary of the movie on your blog. What is the movie about?

This movie is about a boy named Eddie. All he ever wanted to do was become an Athlete and go to the Olympics. But it seemed like every single person in his life had no faith in him and always told him that he was never going to make it. But after meeting an ex-athlete that can help him, he starts to get better and become more confident in himself.

Winter Learning Journey: Day 4, Activity 3 (Bonus)

Bonus:  The New Zealand Olympic Team has created a video called #Be The Inspiration. They have posted it on the homepage of their website (on the left hand side). Watch the Be the Inspiration video and then post a critique of the video on your blog. In your critique tell us what you liked about the video and what you didn’t like. It is very common for movie reviewers to use stars to indicate how much they liked a movie. A rating of * = very bad movie, ** = bad movie, *** = okay movie, **** = good movie, and ***** = very good movie. At the end of your critique, please provide a rating for the Be The Inspiration movie.

What I really liked about this video was how they showed New Zealand’s settings and beautiful land. I also liked how they also used our Maori cultured. But I just didn’t like that they didn't use some of the athletes that are going to Rio in the video. I think that, that could’ve been good. Overall I rate this **** = good movie.

Winter Learning Journey: Day 4, Activity 2

Activity 2: Let’s imagine that you were able to meet one of the following three athletes competing for New Zealand at the Rio Olympics:

1. Lauren Boyle: Lauren is a swimmer from Auckland. She typically competes in the 400m and 800m freestyle races and, in the 2012, finished in 4th place at the London Olympics (just one spot away from winning a medal)! This will be Lauren’s third trip to an Olympic Games. She is the most successful swimmer in New Zealand sporting history. To learn more about Lauren you can read her biography at: http://www.olympic.org.nz/athletes/lauren-boyle/

2. Stuart Farquhar: Stuart competes in the athletics (javelin throwing) competition at the Olympics. He currently lives in Hamilton but was born and raised in Te Aroha. He has competed for New Zealand at four previous Olympics games. His best ever throw was 86.31 m. That’s a long way! To learn more about Stuart, please read his short biography at: http://www.olympic.org.nz/athletes/stuart-farquhar/

3. Andrea Kilday: Andrea competes in the sport of Taekwondo. This will be her first ever trip to an Olympic games but she recently won a gold medal at a large international competition in Papua New Guinea. Andrea was born in Christchurch and moved to Auckland in 2005 to train at the Sejong Taekwondo Club with her coach Jin Keun Oh. To read more about Andrea, visit her webpage at: http://www.olympic.org.nz/athletes/andrea-kilday/

In your blog tell us which one of these three athletes you would choose to meet and why.

I would like to meet Andrea Kilday. This is because I have always been fond of Taekwondo and I would like to ask her questions about her experience and how she feels about Taekwondo.

Winter Learning Journey: Day 4, Activity 1

Activity 1: New Zealand will be sending approximately 76 athletes to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in August to compete in the Summer Olympic Games. To learn more about these amazing athletes you can read their biographies on the New Zealand Olympic team website. Each athlete has their own page dedicated to them.

For this activity, please choose one of the athletes listed on the Rio Olympic Athletes page, read about them and then write a short description of them on your blog. In the blog please include their name, their sport, and three interesting facts about them.

The name of the athlete that I have chosen is Shakira Baker. She plays Rugby Sevens and is apart of the Black Ferns. She is originally from Greytown in Wairarapa. She studied Marine Biology when she was at University. She is related to Gillies Kaka who is in the New Zealand Sevens Team.

Recount: The Matariki Fireworks!

On a frosty Saturday night my family and I along with majority of Glen Innes headed to the last night of the Matariki Lights Festival. I was absolutely pumped because tonight I got to see the fireworks as well. After about 2 - 3 hours it was finally time.

So our whole family gathered on the left side of the reserve on a little hill side and waited. We suddenly heard the MC start to shout “10, 9, 8, 7..” so we joined along. “6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1!” It happened so fast, the first firework popped in the sky light popcorn, then the next one, then the next. The sky was filled with all the colours of the rainbow.

It was like we were at Christmas in the Park again. It honestly felt so magical because I was experiencing it with my family! I honestly couldn’t think of celebrating it any other way. The fireworks finished off with gold fireworks that brang the sky to life. When it finished I looked over to my family and saw that they all had massive smiles on their faces as well.

Winter Learning Journey: Day 3, Activity 3 (Bonus)

Bonus: This year two sports are being reintroduced into the Olympic Games. They are golf and sevens rugby. Imagine that you worked for TVNZ and you were paid to travel to Rio de Janeiro to attend the Olympic Games and report on the golf and/or the rugby competitions. On your blog, write a poem that describes how you would feel about travelling to Rio. Would you be excited? Would you be scared? How would you feel?

Reporting about Golf would be fun. Even though I would have to be in the sun, I wouldn’t mind, because I would never know what I will find. Reporting about Sevens Rugby would be like a dream come true, even though i’m not that good, that would be all good.

Winter Learning Journey: Day 3, Activity 2

Activity 2: Take a picture of yourself playing one of the 28 Olympic sports and post it to your blog along with the name of the sport and a brief description of what you are doing in the picture. As an example, I have posted a picture of my son, Aronui, posing as an archery competitor. He made his bow out of a tree branch!

Unfortunately I don’t have a photo but I am going to write about my Triathlon experience. During the Triathlon I got the chance to Swim, Ride and Run. It was an amazing experience because it was my first experience with a Triathlon and I hadn’t even heard of it until then.

Winter Learning Journey: Day 3, Activity 1

Activity 1: Visit the website for the 2016 Rio Olympics. Click on the name of the one of the sports that is listed on the main page. If possible, choose one that you have never heard of before and read about it. After reading about the sport, post a short description of it on your blog. The post must include:

1. The name of the sport
2. The aim of the sport
3. Two rules for the sport

The sport that I chose was Archery, Archery is a sport that I have heard of but have never tried or read about before. The aim of the game is to hit the bullseye mark within 70 metres. One rule is that you are not allowed to distract another player while they are shooting. Another rule is that if a player damages another player's equipment they must pay for the damage.

Winter Learning Journey: Day 2, Activity 3 (Bonus)

Bonus: It is time to get creative! For this bonus activity you are asked to design a simple logo for the next Summer Olympic Games. They will be held in Tokyo, Japan in 2020. The Olympic committee in Japan has already created four possible options for the logo (see below) but I think that you can create something even more interesting and attractive!

This is my logo. The 3 people playing sports are all the sports that are most common in Tokyo. Tennis, Baseball and Soccer. Then there is the heading and the Olympic rings.

Winter Learning Journey: Day 2, Activity 2

Activity 2: Rio de Janeiro, the host of Olympic Games this year, is a huge, vibrant and dynamic city. Perhaps the most famous landmark in the city is a large statue of Jesus called ‘Christ the Redeemer’ that sits on top of a hill overlooking Rio. Here is a picture of the statue:

New Zealand is also known for many famous landmarks, including the SkyTower and the Harbour Bridge. In your blog list 3 famous landmarks in New Zealand. Along with the name of each landmark provide a brief description of it. Where is the landmark located? In your opinion, why is it famous?  

1. The sky tower is a very tall building, that is located on Victoria Street, in Auckland City.  The sky tower is the tallest building in Auckland City, so it is very easy to spot. It is a famous landmark in Auckland because first of all it is the tallest tower, when you're at the top of the building you can see almost everything in the city and last of all you can bungee jump from the top.
2. Lake Taupo is also a famous landmark in New Zealand. It is a huge lake that is located in Waikato. I think that it is famous because it is place where you don’t only do fishing. You can Parachute, you can look at Volcanoes and you can look at the beautiful Rivers.

The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is a very famous Museum in New Zealand. It is located in Wellington. I think that it is famous because there is a lot of history about New Zealand all gathered in this one Museum. Where people can relax and look at the history of New Zealand and not worry about anything else.

Winter Learning Journey: Day 2, Activity 1

Activity 1: The mascots for the upcoming Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro are Vinicius and Tom. They can be found on all of the advertisements for the Olympic Games and they have also been featured in a number of videos.

Click on the link below to watch one episode of the Tom and Vinicius show. After you have finished watching the video, post a summary of the episode on your blog. What do you think is happening in the video? Please make sure to include a title that tells us which episode you are summarising!

The episode that I watched today was Tom and Vinicius Episode #1. It is basically about Tom and Vinicius chasing 2 firey balls which is coloured blue and yellow. They both go on this crazy run through the forest and at the end they both clash into each other after the 2 firey balls collide and disappear. They then become friends and go into Rio.