Two weeks in one

Hello. Well it has been two weeks since I last wrote a blog post and normally I could write heaps about the events over that course. Unfortunately I have come up short with ideas but am willing to try my best.                
We have had a few major events  happen over the course of the week that has just gone such as our school disco and summer games.
During the first week I did the usual here and there transferring. I felt mixed emotions as I was processing so much.
Last week we had Inter-house Summer Games. I was in touch for this and it was really fun. My house was very cooperative with eachother. We won all games we competed in and we almost got a perfect streak of never getting a try scored against us but one boy managed to score.
 All mixed emotions were running through me these past weeks. There isn't much I can say to be honest because we had three days of school last week so not much educational activities happened. I am really hoping I can write heaps next time I write a reflection but these weeks just weren't in my favor.

Times going fast

Well the clock is ticking down until Term 1 is over. So much progress has been made over the past couple of weeks. I have exceeded way out of my comfort zone with a few bumps along the way. I have definitely been put under the element but I have found it very motivating.
In maths I have had to definitely revise on my integers knowledge as I am so lost this year. My mind has been so active I have forgotten everything I knew on integers. I remember some stuff about it but not as much as I did.
I have thoroughly enjoyed the Makuhari students. The Kapahaka group taught them how to dab, whip, nae nae and hit the quan which are very "in" dance moves of our generation. It is really amusing and very cool how the Makuhari students fit right in with our school which actually makes it a bit harder to see them go. It just makes you treasure the time you had with them.
This week, at Kapahaka, we had so much fun. The Makuhari students had joined us so we taught them a classic song you learn called "this is what you have to do" which teaches you the basics to Kapahaka.
This upcoming week I am going to strive to be the best role model I can be and try be a bit more organized than I was last week.

Reflection on my week

This week has been a very busy, emotional, happy and motivational week I have had yet. We had found out who are the new Head Students were and we welcomed the Makuhari students to our school. I was so nervous this week because I had to do the Karanga for Makuhari.

 All emotions came to me on Thursday when I found out I was one of the head students for 2016.  It definitely was a humbling experience for me. I really have to put my A into gear and manage myself this year. No more just saying it I actually have to do it. 

Other than these two events nothing else was really big or major. I can't really remember what I had learnt unfortunately. I think I was mainly focused on head student this week. This upcoming I think I will be much more relieved and really focused in my learning. Next time I write a blog post I will have more to say hopefully. 

Swimming sports

Last week I was absent for most of the week due to getting sick. I was able to attend two days of school and in those two days a lot of things happened but the biggest thing to happen was inter house swimming. The results in the end for my house were so joyous for me as house captain to know, that for now, our house, Waipa, came first for swimming. I can't get to excited as there might be a change in points and places. We all participated in swimming but not the championship heats. There were other heats where the school could participate. I did not come any places in any of the races but I am happy that I participated. I was very proud of one of my friends who came first in nearly all her heats. I can't say much about the day but I can say I nearly lost my voice due to chanting really loud.

Busy week

Well I can say that it is getting busier and busier by the week. Having an awesome time at school we did activities such as japanese, testing, sports, visiting the museum and so forth. It was very interesting at the museum. We did some interesting role play with costumes amd our educator there was Mr T. He was very humorous and entertaining. We went to the museum to learn more about the Treaty of Waitangi otherwise known in Maori as Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
For japanese we our teacher Mika made okanomi-yaki. Her recipe was very delicious when the finished product was on a platter served for us. We also had green tea which was very nice. Mika said that it is good with cancer.
For sports I played softball and it was really fun. My team got a few home runs but the other team was a bit more skilled.
Overall it has been a really good week. I made it as Waipa House Captain,  made it into rock band and I am still planning more activities I want to be involved with.

Visual Language

For the past few weeks our class has been doing a visual language task where you have to put together a collage to show where you want to be, what you want to do etc. Here is my artwork I did.

Visual language explanation

For visual language I incorporated a lot pictures that had some similarities between another. Here are what my symbols represent.

I wanted to be a singer, dancer and actor in movies so I included negative film strips, a photo of a hip hop dancing girl and two of my favourite singers Jennifer Lopez, otherwise known as J Lo, and Beyoncé Knowles, also known as Queen B or R n B Queen.

Not only are these two women beautiful and talented but they are very polite and inspirational. They are my idols. I have included a baritone saxophone (bari) and a guitar because I would like to carry on playing bari and learn guitar. If you look right next to J Lo’s head on the left you will see a stage which shows that I want to end up there singing for people.

The two pictures that show car interior and the outside of a car represent what I want my car to roughly look like. I would a mustang or a BMW i8.

There are three mansions on my dreamboard. They represent my dream houses. I want a pool and a lot of room inside overlooking outstanding scenery.

I want to travel all around the world so I stuck a picture of a plane and another of a globe with buildings going all around it. By the time I am around 60 I would have liked to travel to most countries of the world. I would like to experience at least 10 extreme theme parks.

There are some islands I would like to see such as Rarotonga, Samoa and Fiji. There are two photos not far from each other that show a beach and a beachy kind of resort.

Home is where my family are so I incorporated some of my heritage and culture into the photo. I added an actual photo of my Marae Whakakotahitanga. It is well known as Te kotahitanga, Rae O Te Papa and Tirohia. I added a photo of me in a kapa haka uniform. The photo was taken at the Hauraki Kapa Haka Competition in 2015. That represents me being Maori and my love for kapa haka. I wanted to reinforce kapa haka because that is one of the places I want to go. To Te Matatini like some of my family did. The photo of the mountain is Rangitoto which is what my Maunga (mountain) is. That represents my hometown.

I love my bestfriends so I added a photo of two friends taking a selfie to show that those are mine and my friends goals. I added a photo of my best friend holding a flower with me and my hair flowing in the wind. There are a few more little photos of my cousin and I taking photos. That represents the bond between my family and I to show the content between one another. The photo of me with a red-ish pink-ish flower shows the vibrancy I want to have in my life. The three other photos of me were added just to show my love for life and freedom.

The words shown on my visual language are the mottos or things I want to live by. Not so much the perfect though because no one and nothing can be exactly perfect.

There are three last pictures I have not yet explained. The candle is to reinforce the word below family. The converse show is to represent my love for shoes. I want to have a variety of shoes for every occasion I might have. The hologram looking phone is to show what my phone goals are.

Raiha

reflection on my first weeks back at school

Well I can say that I am not used to staying in class this much. I am so used to going out of class and doing band and choir. I can't wait for those to start again though. My weeks so far have definitely been different without the old year 8's and now being a year 8 myself I keep forgetting I am. I keep putting my hand up when the teachers say year 7's which is quite amusing as you would think I know. I enjoy the new year 7's but they are beating the year 8's at some things this year like finishing work on time. I can say that it is a bit harder to get into the things I did last year as the year 7's and 8's have stepped up their game. It is fun to make new friends and learn more about my peers. I can't wait to see what the year has to offer.