Novel Study Map

For the past 3 weeks in Te Ngahere we have been doing novel studies. We had a variety of book to choose to complete the tasks that were set for the book. I chose a book named Arohanui, Revenge of the Fey. The book is about a deal that was not fulfilled but the kids don’t understand the problem and try to save their father. I enjoyed reading a graphic novel in maori because I don’t usually see maori graphic novels. I enjoyed completing the tasks for this book. Especially the colour map. For the color map we had to draw the main parts of the map where the main activities happened throughout the story.

Waka Ama

This week in Te Ngahere we participated in Waka Ama. Matua Rob and Ropata taught us basic skills on how to paddle a waka. We were also taught to dig the paddle into the water until it gets heavy and pull the paddle back to push the waka forward. I enjoyed paddling on the six man with my class. It was fun to get out on the water and beat the twelve man in a race.

Duffy Assembly

Yesterday Paihia School had our first Duffy assembly. We got to meet a women called Tamara Star who showed us things about Duffy. She was dressed as a character in the story Dream Catcher. The character she dressed up as was called Zinki. We sang the Duffy song and were given our free Duffy books that we chose. It was fun being with Tamara for the Duffy assembly.

Gaming Info-graphic

For the past few weeks in Te Ngahere we have been working around gaming. We were given a survey to fill out on our chrome books. The results were then sent to the teacher. The questions in the survey were about how gaming affects our health, behavior and learning. We found out that a lot of kids play games a lot at home and some people are addicted to it. I really liked working around something that I like doing at home.

Gaming online

This week in Te Ngahere we have been learning about gaming. We had to fill out a questionnaire talking about how gaming affects our health, learning and behavior at school and at home. Then we had to read an article about gaming and answer the questions below. In my opinion learning about gaming is important because it shows us how gaming affects us. It is also fun because I get to learn about something that I like to do.

Your Brain on Video Games

On the eve of his big sister Liz’s high school graduation, nine-year-old Aiden sits with his parents and relatives at a celebration dinner, bored by their “adult” conversation and irritated at all the attention showered upon Liz. He can’t wait to get back to his video game! Before dinner, Mum had (annoyingly) called him away to join the family, and then she got mad when he spent a few minutes getting to the next level and saving his game. So many people in the house make him restless; he squirms uncomfortably and drums his fingers on the table, waiting to be excused.

Finally, he is allowed to escape the dinner table, and he settles into a corner of the living room couch to play his Nintendo DS. For the next hour or so, he is completely oblivious to the company in the house. Although he’s already played much longer than his mother likes, she lets him continue, knowing these family situations are a little overwhelming for him. And besides, the game keeps him occupied. What’s the harm? she thinks. It’s just for today.

However, in the meantime, a perfect storm is brewing. As the play continues, Aiden’s brain and psyche become overstimulated and excited — on fire! His nervous system shifts into high gear and settles there while he attempts to master different situations, strategizing, surviving, accumulating weapons, and defending his turf. His heart rate increases from 80 to over 100 beats per minute, and his blood pressure rises from a normal 90/60 to 140/90 — he’s ready to do battle, except that he’s just sitting on the couch, not moving much more than his eyes and thumbs. The DS screen virtually locks his eyes into position and sends signal after signal: “It’s bright daylight out, nowhere near time for bed!” Levels of the feel-good chemical dopamine rise in his brain, sustaining his interest, keeping him focused on the task at hand, and elevating his mood. The intense visual stimulation and activity flood his brain, which adapts to the heightened level of stimulation by shutting off other parts it considers nonessential.

The visual-motor areas of his brain light up. Blood flows away from his gut, kidneys, liver, and bladder and toward his limbs and heart — he’s ready to fight or escape! The reward pathways in his brain also light up and are reinforced by the flood of dopamine. He is so absorbed in the game, he doesn’t notice when his little sister, Arianna, comes over until she puts her chubby hand on the screen, trying to get his attention.

“DooOOON’T!!” he shouts and roughly shoves her out of the way. Arianna falls backward, bursts into tears, and runs to their mother, who silently curses herself for letting Aiden play this long.

“All right, that’s it. Time to start getting ready for bed. Get your pajamas on and you can have a snack before you go to bed,” she says, pulling the DS out of Aiden’s hands and turning it off in one fell swoop. Aiden looks at his mother with rage. How dare she ruin his game because of his stupid sister!

“Fine!” he shouts, runs up the stairs, and slams his bedroom door. His primitive brain is fully engaged now, turning him into an enraged animal ready to fight off all challengers. He rips all the sheets off his bed and then throws his lamp on the floor, providing a satisfactory crash and shatter. Thinking about how wronged he’s been and filled with visions of revenge, he kicks the wall a few times and then pounds on his bedroom door, putting a big hole in it.

Downstairs, his relatives sit in quiet shock and murmur to each other how they’ve never seen him act like this. Dad runs up the stairs to contain his son. Calmly, his dad holds him in a bear hug from behind, waiting for the rage to subside.

As the dopamine in his brain and the adrenaline in his body begin to ebb, his rage loses its focus. Now, the pent-up energy takes on a disorganized, amorphous form. Aiden feels like he can’t think straight or get himself together. While he spaces out, his dad helps him put his pajamas on and they go back downstairs. Stress hormones remain high, however, making it difficult for him to relax or think clearly. He seems a little confused, actually. His relatives look at him with a mixture of concern and love, but they also wonder why his parents let him “get away with” this kind of behavior. His =mother intuitively knows that direct eye contact will overstimulate him again, so she approaches him slowly from the side, and rubs his back gently.

When his favorite aunt looks him in the face sympathetically, he immediately distrusts her intentions. Eye-to-eye interaction is interpreted by his primitive-mode brain as a challenge, and he starts getting revved up again. His mother intervenes, and takes him up to his room. She lowers the light, settles him into bed, and starts to read him a soothing story. His nervous system attempts to regulate itself back to normal, but it seems to still be held hostage by his hyped-up emotions. That night, after he does finally fall to sleep, Aiden awakens repeatedly with panic attacks — his heart races and blood pounds in his ears. He’s scared of the dark, and worried that his angry outburst has upset and alienated his parents. His mother, meanwhile, confiscates the DS and decides to take it with her to work on Monday. (She really wants to throw it in the trash, but it was expensive!)

The following morning, the fight in Aiden has subsided, but the aftermath leaves him in a fog, listless, weepy, and exhausted. He experiences an increased craving for sweets while cortisol, the stress hormone, drives his blood sugar up and down erratically. It will take weeks before his body, brain, and mind return to some sense of balance.











QUESTIONS





Vocab: write what these words mean (in your own words)






oblivious

Not realising that something is happening around one ✓


psyche

The human soul, mind or spirit ✓


accumulating

Something gathering or increasing into a whole ✓


reinforced

Supporting or strengthening something with a certain object or material ✓


subside

Becoming less violent or intense ✓


amorphous

Not being able to make out shapes or forms of things ✓


ebb

An emotion decreasing ✓


alienated

Cause someone to feel isolated or estrange ✓






What is a normal heart rate at rest?

The normal heart rate for a human is 60/100 beats per minute ✓




What is blood pressure?

Blood pressure allows parts of your body to function and work properly ✓





Explain the effect of adrenaline on your body. Find the sentence that this is relevant to.

Adrenaline is a rush that you get when you are about to kill someone or win a level. In your body adrenaline and dopamine is in conflict about if you are going to get angry or if you are going to get hype. ✓





List three physical effects the game has had on Aiden’s body.

The three physical effects the game had on Aiden’s body was no physical control over himself, isolating himself around others and not socializing with others around him. ✓





In your own words explain why kids can get anger after playing online or video games



Kids get angry after playing online games because they want to play longer than they want to. The parents limit their time of playing games when they want to keep playing or finish a level. ✓

Energise with Whaea Gina

Yesterday Whaea Gina visited our class to teach us about how much fat takeaways contain. We were shown two pictures of how a healthy heart looks like and how a unhealthy heart looks like. We found out that Carl's Jr is the most unhealthy takeaway restaurant to go to. It has 14 teaspoons of fat in their food. It was surprising learning about how much fat takeaways have and that we eat it a lot. This information is important to know in the future since we have a problem of overweight people in this country.

Beeswax Wraps

Yesterday in Te Ngahere we made beeswax wraps. We were given a small stretchy fabric to design ourselves before dipping it in the beeswax. We could draw anything we wanted on our small stretchy fabric. The purpose of making the beeswax wraps was to stop using as much glad wrap or tin foil in our lunches that create rubbish. We could use the beeswax wraps to wrap up sandwiches or any other foods in our lunch. I enjoyed making the beeswax wraps to wrap my lunch up in.

Litter less Lunches

On Tuesday in Te Ngahere we had a lady named Anouk come to Paihia School to teach us about litter less lunches. We learnt about how much rubbish we are making in New Zealand from lunches. We also learnt where some of the rubbish we drop goes. It was interesting learning about litter less lunches with Anouk. I learnt heaps of new things about rubbish and where it goes. Next time I will check for how much rubbish I have in my lunch box that could end up in a landfill or in the sea.

Whaea Gina

This week in Te Ngahere Whaea Gina visited Te Ngahere to teach us about the different types of cereal that we eat and how healthy it is. We talked about how much sugar, fat and fibre it must contain for the cereal or meal to be healthy. There had to be less than 10g of sugar per 100g, less than 10g of fat per 100g and more than 5g of fibre per 100g. We had to sort out the different breakfasts into 3 categories which were everyday, sometimes and occasionally. It’s important to know how healthy some cereal is so you can be healthy and fit.

Argument Writing

This week in Te Ngahere we have been writing an argument of our choice. We had to come up with topics of arguments that we can write about. We had to come up with reasons to persuade the person we are writing to. Our teacher suggested to us to argue against punishing the whole class when only a few do something wrong. I haven’t finished my argument but I will be posting it sometime soon.

Fitness with Whaea Gina

On Monday Whaea Gina visited our school to teach us about healthy eating. She showed us what we are putting in our body and how it affects our body. We would place random foods and drinks in different categories according to how much sugar it contains. Whaea Gina would give one kid a random food or drink and we would have to choose what category it needs to go in. The categories are everyday drinks, sometimes and occasionally which is hardly every. It was fun learning about healthy eating. It was also surprising seeing what we are putting in our bodies.

PE Basketball Skills

On Monday and Tuesday our teacher took us outside to teach us some skills for basketball such as passing, defending and dribbling. We got into groups of four and lined up at one end of the court and ran to each white line forward and backwards while dribbling. We were told that the ball can’t be dribbled directly in front of you and it had to be at a 45 degree angle from our leg. We also had to dribble the ball to the height of our waist so we have more control over the ball while jogging. It was fun because we got to play piggy in the middle using the skills that we were taught. Next time I could practise more on dribbling so I can have more control over the ball while I am bouncing it and running.

Stoat Report

Introduction
Stoats are a dangerous threat to our endemic and native bird species. They have been introduced to New Zealand and now are making a big impact to our native and endemic birdlife.

Why was it introduced? How did it get here?
Stoats, weasels and ferrets were originally introduced to New Zealand from Europe in 1880 to control the rabbit population. Rabbits were shipped to New Zealand from Australia in 1830 for food and for sport. By 1890 the population of rabbits grew dangerously and they started to destroy land. They would scratch the grass off the hillside of hills until it was bare soil. With no grass to hold the soil in place and covered in rabbit burrows the hillsides were damaged from the wind and rain. The stoats, weasel and ferrets job was to kill the rabbits to keep the rabbit population in balance but now they have become a pest to New Zealand by killing our native and endemic birds.

Classification
A stoat is classified as a mammal that is closely related to the weasel and ferret.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Sarcopterygii
Order: Carnivora
Family: Mustelidae
Genus: Mustela
Species: Mustela erminea

Animal Name
The stoat is known as a short tailed weasel or ermine. The scientific name for the stoat is Mustela erminea. A male stoat can be named a dog, hob or jack and a female can be called a jill. A baby stoats can be called a kitten or a kit. A group of stoats can either be called a gang or pack.

Anatomy/Appearance
Stoats have a long slender body with four short legs and a long tail. They have reddish - brown fur on their back, a creamy white colored underbelly and a long tail with a dark black tip. An adult male stoat can grow up 390 mm (39 cm) and can weigh up to 260 grams.







Locomotion
Stoats are very fast moving mammals and can reach a speed of up to 20 km per hour. They extend their legs to reach further distances while capturing their prey. They arch their back while they are in the air running to gain more speed. Their speed helps them for catching prey but is vulnerable against traps.

Diet
Stoats are carnivores which means they only eat meat. Their main prey are mice, rats, possums, hares and insects such as weta. They also eat New Zealand's birds that live on ground in the forest. Stoats will jump on their prey and bite their prey on the back of their skull or their neck. Stoats are one of the top predators in the food web.

Habitat and Range
Stoats prefer to live in areas where they can find prey to eat. They can be found on beaches, in remote forests and in mountains regions. In New Zealand they can be found in forests where they can find prey to eat. Stoats can be found in Britain and Southern Europe. The are known to be the most widespread mustelid.

Behaviour
In winter the stoats fur turns white and only the tip of the tail stays the same color. Stoats like to burrow under thick layers of grass where they can hide and stalk their prey. The stoat is nocturnal which means they are mostly active at night. At night they follow their prey into their burrow and kill them.

Defence/Offence
Stoats kill their prey by biting the back of their prey’s skull or neck until it dies. The stoat defends itself by biting their prey and holding on firmly. They try to wrap their body around their prey while still holding on to them with their teeth.

Conclusion
Stoats were introduced to New Zealand to kill rabbits but now they are killing our endemic and native birds. But there are now community's placing traps in the forest to kill these pests that harm our endemic and native birdlife.




A couple of weeks ago in Te Ngahere we wrote informational reports about a pest of our choice. We were learning how to use the correct structure for an information report. In each paragraph of the report we had to write about a different topic of the animal that we were researching. The paragraphs we had to write were the why it is introduced, classification, animal name, anatomy/appearance, locomotion, diet, habitat and range, behaviour, defence/offence and conclusion. I enjoyed researching about the stoat and next time I could use more topic sentences in my informational report.

The Nikau Palm

For the past couple weeks in Te Ngahere we have been learning about endemic, native and introduced birds, animals and plants of New Zealand. We created two presentations about a bird, animal or tree of our choice. I enjoyed creating the presentation and working together with Missy. Missy and I presented a presentation about the Nikau Palm. What I could do better next time when presenting is to speak with a clear voice and make eye contact with the audience.

Food Chain Animation

Last term in Te Ngahere we created animations to explain how food chains work. We had to screencastify the animations and present them to the class. I enjoyed creating my animation and watching others. Next time I could focus on using more expression in my movie to make it more exciting.

Bay Bush Action

Last week in Te Ngahere we had two Bay Bush Action members (Stella and Brad) come in and explain to us what they do in the Ngahere. We all talked about the pests and threats to our native and endemic birds. They showed us some traps that they make to kill pests in the forest. They also demonstrated to us how each of the traps work. They kindly gave us 10 rat traps to place around the school. We made it our goal to become the first school to become rat free in New Zealand.

Moment in time draft

Last week in Te Ngahere we wrote a piece of writing describing a moment in time. We had to describe a forest using present tense verbs. We were learning to use the correct structure to describe a moment in time. I enjoyed describing the forest and trying to find new words to describe one part. Next time I could write more in my introduction and conclusion.

Plantation disperses across the forest floor. Birds chat away up high in trees.

Beams of sunlight shine through the canopy as people walk through the serene trail.
Long white clouds are spread across the sky as Sparrows and Fantails soar through the air.
Vines are hanging from tall trees swaying side to side in motion with the wind.
A Falcon’s screech echoing across the forest.
The continues smell of damp soggy wood smacking your nose as people wander around the forest.
Little insects scamper along the forest floor as their surroundings are silent around them.

The forest is an untroubled peaceful place.

Ecosystems Explanation Writing

Since the past term, Te Ngahere have been working on an explanation about ecosystems. We were learning to use the correct structure for an explanation. I enjoyed learning about ecosystems and what they need to have in them. This explanation is better than any of my other explanation writings.

What an Ecosystem needs?

Living in all ecosystems are inorganic matter and organic matter. Inorganic matter is a non living thing but is very important in an ecosystem. Organic Matter is a living thing. Producers and consumers are organic matter because they are all living things. All ecosystems need these to become a healthy ecosystem.

Inorganic Matter

Inorganic matter is a big part of the ecosystem even though it’s not alive. There are many different types of inorganic matter such as rain, grass, rocks, sand and much more. All these things help producers and consumers to stay alive. For example grass helps consumers because they produce food for them to eat.

Producers

Producers are plants that can produce energy on it’s own. Like trees, seaweed and kelp they create energy from sunlight. Without producers food chains would be unbalanced. They also produce energy for consumers because consumers can’t produce food for themselves. For example, kelp produce energy from sunlight then consumers come along and eat the producers to take the energy from them.

Consumers

Consumers are a big part of the ecosystem. Some consumers feed off producers which means they are herbivores. Other consumers eat each other to stay alive and survive and they are called carnivores.

Decomposers

Decomposers are a bit different to the other living things. A decomposer is a nonliving thing. They break down dead matter with chemicals inside of them. Example worms are decomposers. They recycle the dead matter into chemicals which they release into the air and water. This is very important because without decomposers recycling the dead matter and releasing chemicals into the air plants won't be able to get nutrients that they need.

Ecosystems are very fragile. When you damage one part of the ecosystem you affect the whole area. The food chain will become unbalanced and it won't be good. For example at Matai Bay there is no kelp because people were overfishing and taking to much snapper and crayfish so there were to many kina eating all the kelp. Ecosystems are very fragile and us kaitiaki need to protect our environments.

Metaphor Poem

A couple of weeks ago in Te Ngahere we posted a draft of our Metaphor poems. After we improved and changed our poems to make them sound better. We had the same learning intention but improved on them. The changes I made was I had to extend my sentences to make it sound better.

Izaiah is …

Izaiah is a hyena giggling and smirking with my pack

Izaiah is a spider, active when I learn new things

Izaiah is a dolphin, eager in what I learn

Izaiah is a honda NSX, accelerating down the track of knowledge

Izaiah is a Lamborghini Aventador, slick and beastly

Visual Pepeha

In Te Ngahere we have been revising our Pepeha. We have been learning how to say and read our Pepeha confidently. The purpose of learning our Pepeha is to know the tikanga behind it. I really enjoyed revisiting and learning my Pepeha. We were learning to introduce ourselves and our whanau as well.