Balloon Investigation

Attempt 1:

Attempt 2:

Attempt 3:

In term 2 the extension group did an investigation on how far a balloon can go on a straw. We were put into groups of 5 and planned out how we were going to do it. Our first attempt was a fail. As well as the second. But our third and final came out strong and ended up at the end. Although the time was slow, we were happy that the balloon finally made it to the end.

Halloween- EXT

-Samhain (Sel-win)

-Harvest Festival

-Permeable

-Life or Death

-Prayers - Soul Cake

The year 7&8 extension class has researched more about the true meaning of Halloween. Here is one version of what Halloween is all about.

The Celtic Calendar has a light half and a dark half. The Celtic tribe would celebrate a harvest festival called Samhain (sel-win) near the beginning of the dark half. This was also near Halloween for us. People feared this festival because it was a matter of life or death. If the food they were harvesting wasn’t ready they would starve and die. When it was the harvest time, days would get shorter while nights were getting longer.

When it was time to change from light to dark, a veil that was in between life and death was thin. This made it easy for people from both worlds to permeable (easy to pass through).  

On May 13th pagans would celebrate a celebration called Lemuria. This was a time where Christians would convert pagans. Romans would go to graveyards and pour milk and offer soul cakes to the Christian souls. Now a days we get given or give out lollies as an offering.

They then changed the name of the day to All Saints Day or All Hallows Day. Not only did they change the name but they also changed the date to November 1st to drain the pagan Samhain. Because Samhain festival was before All Hallows Day people started calling Samhain, All Hallows Evening. This was shortened to All Hallows Eve, then Hallowe’en then finally to Halloween. On November 2nd they celebrated All Souls Day.

Halloween

-Trick or Treat

-Lollies

-Costume

-Pumpkins

-October 31

-Devils Birthday

-Death
-Dressing Up


Halloween. What is Halloween all about? Many people think that halloween is all about Trick or Treat, lollies, scary costumes, witches, or carving jack-o-lanterns. It could be. But to me, I think Halloween is all about remembering the Dead. The word Halloween is short for All Hallows Evening which can be known as Hallowe’en or All Hallows’ Eve. In extension we are learning about Halloween. So after all my research hopefully I can understand what the true meaning of Halloween is.

The Outlook For Someday Work Shop!!!

Some of the year 7&8 students from Pt England School, were fortunate enough to have a workshop with two guys named Iliah and Chris from the competition, ‘The Outlook For Someday’. It was a great chance for us students to learn more about movie making, whether its the different camera angles, how to be a good director, sound quality, lighting or even editing. We learnt a lot of things that hopefully we could put into action in the future. Here is my short reflection about the day.

The highlight of the day for me, was definitely the ending part. Share and view other peoples movies. Our theme was ‘Sustainability’ (which is also the theme for the competition) which means to keep something going or running. For example RECYCLING! Anyway, my group which we decided to call, V.I.P Productions consisted of me, Shoal, Brooklyn, and Jasmine. We thought that the perfect idea for our movie should be based on different ways to save our native endangered species. Our movie ended up looking great and we are definitely proud of it.

I didn't really have a low light. I had fun during the whole work shop. Finding out ways to make our movie look more effective helped us a lot. I know after this workshop, Mrs Telea (Extension Teacher) is going to make us enter into the competition. I really can’t wait to show of our skills to the whole of Pt England school and to the whole of New Zealand.

I would like to say a huge thank you to Iliah and Chris, for taking the time to come to our school and to teach us how to make our movies look more effective. We have learnt a lot and most of all we all had fun. Once again, thank you very much!!!

Here is our movie we made with Iliah and Chris

The Outlook for someday competition : (Our movie we entered into the competition)

SER (Self Explaining Roads) EXT Task

Last term, the extension group was helping a university student named, Rebekah, with her research. She was researching about SER streets (Self Explaining Roads) in Glen Innes. These are streets like, Maybury Street, Holland Ave, Anderson Ave and many more. Our task was to create a survey about SER streets and find out what people think about them. Lets see how my partner Shoal and I went.

Vivienne SER Roads from Team 4 Pes on Vimeo.

EXT- Gavin Bishop

The year 7 & 8 extension class was given a short amount of time to research in pairs these people, Gavin Bishop, Darryn Joseph, Apirana Taylor, and John Farrell. Then for our independent task we had to choose one person from these four names to write about. I choose Gavin Bishop because after reading a little part from his background, he made me curious and I would love to learn more about him.

Gavin Bishop, was born in Invercargill, New Zealand. When he was 3 years of age, his family moved to Lake Wakatipu. Latter on in life he moved back to Invercargill, and joined the public library. He discovered that the library was a place for peace and quiet, and he enjoyed going there.  

When he was 18 years old, he enrolled himself to the Canterbury University School of Fine Arts in Christchurch. When he was a student there, a well known illustrator, named, Russell Clark was a teacher there. He graduated in 1967 and began teaching art at secondary school.

Gavin Bishop taught art at secondary school for thirty years. Ten years at Christ’s College and twenty years at Linwood High School. Now he is a full time writer and illustrator for children’s book. His first picture book was ‘Mrs McGinty and the Bizarre Plant’. It was published in 1981 by the Oxford University press.

I am definitely excited to go on our trip to the Vodafone event centre for the story lines festival. Why? Well mostly because we are meeting all those people that I mentioned earlier.

http://www.gavinbishop.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1&Itemid=3

SER (Self Explaining Roads) Survey

This is a survey to help a Tamaki University student with their research about Self Explaining Roads (SER). Self Explaining Roads are the streets like Maybury Rd, Holland, Anderson Ave, Waddell and many more with newly put islands on them. Could you please answer every question as it will be a huge help for them.

Please fill it out.... Heres the link SER SURVEY

Pt England Celebrities Comment On The Earthquake In Auckland

The first ever earthquake hits Auckland. It definitely was a surprise to me and my family. There was two earthquake approximately between 4:00-4:10 pm. The magnitude was 3.1 and 3.9. It was also 6km and 5 km deep. As you can see Brooklyn did not feel a thing but Shoal and I definitely felt the 3.9 shake. It says that it came from Mt Motutapu.  Although it was a mini shake it also says that that might be a sign for more to come. This is definitely a time for us to prepare and remember that the people in Christchurch have experienced this 100 times or more.

My Toy Invention

The extension group was given a task to make an object and creating it into a toy. Once again we did a random pick. We had to choose a number and behind that number was an object. I choose number 7 and my object was a beautiful necklace. Anyway, it was easy for me to create a toy but I think I can do way better. This is my idea....

So what I have came up with is that you can draw on it. So if you want to remember something like a phone number, you can just write on the necklace and then if you want it off you just wash it with soap.  Anyway, there is a game to it as well. This is how you play......

             

This is the aim of the game. So you find a little object and hide it. Where? I hear you ask, well you can open the big circle beads. Then another person has to guest which one is it in. It is really easy once you get use to it because one circle bead is bigger then the others. That is how you play.

In conclusion I would like to give this toy a name, price, powered and the audience. So, its name is 'A Useful Necklace' created by Vivienne. If you would like to buy one it would be $8.00.  This toy is not runed on power. You don't need batteries. I would recommend this to +10.  I hope you have enjoyed this and hopefully my toy will actually be created in real life.

Teddy Bear Facts

The extension group was assigned to research a particular toy. We weren't allowed to choose a toy, we had to do a random pick. So we had to pick a number and behind a number was a toy. We all choose our numbers. The toy I got was a bit boring. I wanted something new but after hearing what everyone else got I was really happy with my one. I choose the number 17 and behind number 17 was the one and only "Teddy Bear"

Here are some facts about the teddy bears.

NAME OF TOY::Teddy Bear
PERSON NAMED THE TEDDY BEAR::Theodore Roosevelt (Teddy)
ORIGINS::
DATE::1902
INVENTOR:: Richard Steiff or Theodore Roosevelt
COSTS:: Depends on the size and the look of it
AUDIENCE:: Any Age
PATENT:: No one
BAR::
B- Make the eyes bigger
A- I would add a recorder in it. Press a button and start talking.
R- I would replace nothing