It's Christmas!

I'm soooooooooo excited for christmas and the holidays but its going to be soooooo sad on the last day of school because i'm going to miss all the year 8s (well most of them), and I will realllyyyyyy miss Eva, Amelia and Abbyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy . For the holidays I'm sooooooooo excited because i get to go back to Australia for a week and i get to see all my best friends again and i'm just really really really excited. I'm also probably going to waimarama with abby which will be soooo fun because we get to go kayaking and we get to jump of a waterfall and we get to go eel fishing and do loads of other stuff which will be super fun. 

I'm going to miss everyone so much!!! Good luck to all the year 8s for college next year and i wish all the best for the year 7s who are going to be year 8s next year...

Term 4 highlights

This term has gone soooooo fast! I can't believe I only have 1 week left at school before I go to college. This term has been really fun and I will have so many memories from St Bens that will stay with me forever. My 6 highlights for this term areeee.......

Year 8 assembly

This week the year 8s have been planing the year 8 assembly... i would say more but i don't want to give anything. Although it has been really fun planning it :)

Retreat

Today the year 8s went on our last St. Benedicts retreat ever! It was loads of fun and we played lots of great activities. I really enjoyed the activity where we had to write our name on a piece of card and then it got passed around the circle and everyone had to write something nice about you. I got a lot of gymnastics and flexibility comments.

Talent Quest 

The real contest hasn't happened yet but as a house captain, I got the opportunity to watch the auditions and decide who gets through or not. It was really fun.

Zone Athletics

This year i made it to zones for athletics, because i came second in long jump out of the year 8 girls. It was fun because it was a really nice day and i just basically hung out with me friends the whole time and I think i came last or something in Long jump but it was still fun.

Tech

This term I have been in electronics for tech and we've been making an electronic car thats wheels spin so it drives around. I made mine a turtle.

T-ball

This term we've been playing cricket and t-ball for sport. I enjoyed playing t-ball because i play softball outside of school, so i wasn't half bad (normally i'm not very good at most school sports, like dodgeball).

So that was my 6 highlights. It will be really sad leaving St. Bens because its been such a great year.

What is your most fun experience you've had this year at school?

College

Next year I'm going to college and I'm really excited but super nervous at the same time. Something I want to achieve next year at college is to try get into a good netball team and hopefully make a good first impression on my new teachers. I'm looking forward to be able to make new friends as well as keeping I touch with my old ones. Something I think will be a bit challenging is all the extra homework that I will be getting, but I think I will be alright.

If your going to college next, where are you going?

Cyber bulling

Today (thursday) I finally did my speech! My topic was cyber bulling and what we can do to prevent it. I chose this topic because everyone knows how cyber bulling effects people, but i just wanted to try get the message out the a bit more that its not ok. 

While I was doing my speech, i was reallyyyy nervous but i managed to get through t with out any major mess ups. I fumbled a couple of times on my words and i think next time i could have maybe learned my speech a bit better so i wouldn't need cue cards. I don't really want to get into the next level of reading out my speech to the whole school so i don't mind so much that it wasn't perfect. 

I enjoyed listening to all the people in my class' speeches, and i think they were all pretty good. So i can't really say who i enjoyed the most. Anyway, thanks for reading :) 

What do you think you could have improved on while doing your speech?

THE SCORCH TRIALS!!!!!!

This is like the most amazinggggggggggg book i have ever readddddd. The scorch trials is book 2 of of 4 in the maze runner series written by James Dashner (best series in the world). I have read the whole series but my favourite book is The Scorch Trials. This book is about a group of teenage boys from 'The Maze' forced to travel 2 weeks across a desert named the scorch in Mexico to reach The Safe Haven by W.I.C.K.E.D (World in catastrophe killzone experiment department). They have to survive by trying to not to get killed by the Cranks (people all over the world who have a disease called The Flare, caused by the Sun Flares). Thomas (the main character) faces many challenges, including his best friend Thersea... (I won't continue otherwise i will spoil the book).

Have you read a book from the series the maze runner?

Thanks for reading :),

Wicked is good.

Speeches

This term is the annual speech competition. I am a bit nervous but i am prepared, i have finished my speech and practised it a couple of times. My topic is about cyber bulling, i finished writing it a couple of weeks ago. I don't think that i will get through to the next level to read my speech in front of the school because i have never gotten through before. This year i'm going to focus on making lots of eye contact and use some more hand gestures. 

What are you doing your speech on?

Space

This term we have started the topic about space. I have only been back at school now for a week after being away on holidays for a month, so i haven't learnt as much as some other people have. But i have learnt a bit about constellations and I've found a bit interesting about how people have named stars and visualised them into shapes. I would like to know what is the use of constellations. 

What has the space topic interested you about?

Production is over!

Last Wednesday and Thursday was the production! I had so much fun and it was such an amazing experience. I played the role of Steelian the cyborg on Wednesday and I was an agent in the chair dance on Thursday.

Some of my highlights of the production, were being able to say my lines at the exact right time to get people to laugh. I loved being able to act on stage but then again it was one of the most terrifying things i've ever done in my life, I was literally shaking backstage. But luckily Sam and Imogen were there, they are amazing at calming people down! Haha. I also enjoyed hanging out with my friends backstage. I found it so cool how we got to wear the microphone head set, to me it felt like a glimpse of stardom :D. I really did enjoy the dances, but the biggest highlight of being on stage, was the chair dance! We got loads of laughs and it was just really fun.

If i ever did a production again, i think next time i would pay more attention to my surroundings. For example the Jutonian refugee camp scene, Sam forgot to get the book for Omega to sign, so i was trying to signal Josh who was in the wing to get it and i didn't realise it was my line! All the actors were looking at me until i quickly remembered.

The scene i enjoyed the most was definitely the Agents HQ scene (scene 4), because that was the scene of the chair dance. Which was soooooo much fun.

I think i did ok performing, but i think i could of done much better. Like paying attention and acting a bit more (if you know what i mean). 

Overall i think the production was loads of fun and it feels weird not having to practise our dances every day. I'm glad i got the part of the cyborg because it was really fun to play and its sad to think that that was the last school production i will ever be doing. I'm definitely coming to the next production though!

Production week!

This Wednesday and Thursday is the production! I'm really excited but also really nervous (since i have one of the lead rolls) i have to do a lot of speaking. 

The thing i'm looking forward to the most is the chair dance, because its super fun and really cheesy. I'm also looking forward to performing in front of hundreds of people. 

My Mum and Dad will be coming to watch me as well as my sister who is also in the production. I have organised to come at 6 o'clock on both nights so i can get prepared to perform and get my face paint done.

Elections and parliament

This week we have been learning about elections and parliament. I have learnt a lot of different facts about it that I didn't know before.

 

I learnt that elections are held every 3 years on a Saturday and that you have to be over 18 years old to vote. All New Zealand citizens and permanent residence can vote and most candidates belong to a party (e.g. John Key belongs to the National party). You also have to have over 5% of the vote to earn a seat in parliament. The word Parliament comes from the word 'parler' which means 'to talk'.

 

I have learnt loads of other stuff but I can't remember them right now ;P

 

What is 1 thing you have learnt about elections and parliament?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reading challenges

Every term we are given reading challenges to complete during the term. I have read 5 books this term and I have completed 3 challenges...

• I have read a book set in space: Cress
• I have read a book recommended by a family member: The fault in our stars
• And I have read a book that I picked off my shelf without looking

I aim to have completed the challenge "read 3 books from the same series," since I have read 4 books from the "uglies" series but I have only read 2 of them this term and are planning to read the 5th book this term.

Tumbling

My favourite sport is Tumbling because its relly fun and you get to learn lots of new tricks. This term i have learned how to do a side ariel (no handed cartwheel) on the floor, how to do a backhandspring and roundoff backhandspring on the ground, a halftwist backflip on the tramp and a roundoff backtuck on the tumbletrack. Doing tumbling can also really help with your flexibility by bending alot while doing tricks, also when stretching.

Production preparation

This term we have been preparing for the production. I got one of the lead rolls as the cyborg and I will be performing on Wednesday.

The dances I'm in are tainted love, let it go and take a chance on me, I'm also in a bit of footloose. I think we are going quite well with the dances, but we haven't finished any of them yet. I have memorised most of my lines but I need a little more practise because sometimes I forget. I haven't worked on any props yet because I seem to be away every time we make them, I'm either at dance or guitar. I have finished helped making the band costumes, and they all fit perfectly.


I think I can help others prepare for the production by helping people with their lines.


 

Wing$

A meaningful song to me is Wing$ by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. This song is about how new unique things that you have make you happy, and everyone wants that thing. 

In the music video it has used shoes as a demonstration, and shows a young version of Macklemore that has bought a new pair of shoes that are really expensive that no one else can afford. He thinks that these new shoes make him play much better at basketball, they become really special to him. But then some other kids begin to buy the shoes, and the pair of shoes that young Macklemore have don't seem very special anymore.

I also really like this song because its catchy :P.

Art

This is my art work that I worked on for 2 weeks during the time we were doing the Ancient Egypt topic. It is filled with hieroglyphics and has a picture of an old Egyptian King.

The hieroglyphics says something different in each column...
1st column (on the left) says - Ashlings Art
2nd column - Unicorn Power
3rd column - I am Divergent
4th column - wifi and Pizza
5th column - (bunch of random letters)
6th column - Zebras and giraffes
7th column - Gymnastics hehe
8th column - Candy-floss yum
9th column - Hey there Milo (milo is my dog incase you didn't know)

I like my art work because it actually says stuff instead of just a bunch of random letters everywhere.

Is your hieroglyphic art work say something? ;)

Egypt Topic

This term we have been learning about Ancient Egypt. I have learned a lot about the Pyramids of Giza because I did my double page spread on it. I also learnt a lot of other stuff like mummies and how the Egyptians lived. I think I learnt the most from when we had to do the double page spread because I have now memorised a lot about the Pyramids. The activities that I enjoyed the most was Egypt week. Where everyone was put in a group and given a topic, they had to make a powerpoint on it and make a fun game up to play with the whole class.

What topic did you learn about the most?

Gymnastics

This term we have been learning gymnastics at Narnville. There is 3 stations at gymnastics, we get put into groups and rotate around the stations. My favourite part was when my group went to the station with the inflatable tumble track. It was alot of fun because if you were experienced you got to do back handsprings and other tricks like that. I honestly don't think I actually improved on anything but it was fun anyway.

Egyptian Mummies

Today we learnt about Ancient Egypt Mummies. I learnt during reading groups. I think that I will remember about what I learnt today because it was really interesting. Things that help me remember things that I learnt be doing a revision now and then.  

Book groups

This term we have been doing book groups. I was reading dairy queen, with Maddy, Xara and Aimee. Most of the time are conversations went really well and we were one of the first groups to unlock crackers. But now and then we would go a little off topic and end up talking about something completely unrelated to the book. One of the things I gained from this experience was how to communicate with other people in a way that I haven't before. Overall I think that it was a really fun experience and I would love to do it again.



 

The magic faraway tree

by Enid Blyton

When I was younger, I loved to read a book called the magic faraway tree. It is about 2 girls and a boy. They are all siblings. One day they go into the woods and find a giant tree and start to climb up it. They find all sorts of friends on the way that have houses in the tree. They go on loads of different adventures. Every night, one of my parents would read it to me. I found it really funny. I read it when I was about 5.

My Holidays

In the holidays I went to Australia for a week. I arrived on Wednesday and we spent most of our day at the beach and then went to get frozen yogurt. On Thursday we went shopping for new clothes at Westfield Miranda.

 Friday I went to my friend Jasmine's house for a sleepover to help her sort out her birthday party the next day. On Saturday I went to watch jasmine play her soccer game. Then we got back to house and got dressed for the party. Once all the people arrived we went to a place in the city called FX. Which is a place where there are rooms with trampolines! Trampoline floors, trampoline walls, foam pits and trampoline dodgeball courts. It was really fun. When we got back home, we had pizza for dinner. Then we went in her pool and spa. After that we watched a movie and then went to bed. On Sunday we woke up and had breakfast. Then we went on her trampoline for a bit.

After I went back home for a bit, before I had to go to my other friend Charlotte's house for a sleepover. When I got there we made some bracelets and played on our ipads. Then we went out to dinner for Thai, it was really good. We got to sleep. Then Monday morning we got up and made a videostar. Then we went shopping and got some new clothes and rubber bands to make more bracelets. Then I went home and slept for a while.

On Tuesday my sister, mum and I went in the city and did some more shopping for clothes. I went to my old school to say goodbye to all my friends.

On Wednesday morning we had lunch with my grandma and grandpa. We then went to the airport and went back to New Zealand.



Mission Fair

Last thursday was our school's mission fair! All the year 6,7 and 8s got into to groups and had a stall to sell stuff to raise money for the solomon islands. In my stall, we sold candyfloss and snow cones. We also had a lolly guessing compitition and a game were you had to knock cans over with a sponge. Our candyfloss sold out really quickly so then we made some from Xara's couldrin. I think next time it would be easier if we had more people helping with the store because we had a really long line and it was really busy.

Videostar

Something I like to do at home is make videostars! Videostar is an app that let's you make your own music videos. You can pick your song and add loads of cool effects to your clips. I like this app because you can be really creative and the finished video looks awesome! Normally I do a videostar on the weekend because I have lots of time and it gives me weekdays to think of an awesome ideas. I know a lot of people who have this app and it is really popular. 

Have you ever made a videostar?

Here is a videostar I have made!

Statistics

This term we have been learning about statistics. I have improved on many different areas, such as pie graphs, histograms, stem and leaf graphs, time series graphs and much more. There wasn't an area I got a low score in the test we had. So i don't really think i need to improve on anything. I've learnt so much in the past term. I didn't know how to even make a pie graph let alone understand them! But now I can do all of that. I think it this will definitely help later on in the year.

Camp Revision

Last week, the year 8s went to OPC! It was so much fun! We were able to do loads of fun activities and really got to know each other.

The most challenging activity was probably the high ropes, there were 2 people and they had to make their way across a really thin rope using teamwork 15 metres in the air. The kayaking was also really tough! Me and Elizabeth were in a kayak together and we were playing a game were there was 2 teams and they had to pass the ball to each other and get it into the instructors canoe. You also couldn't paddle with if you had the ball. I had the ball and I was trying to pass it to another canoe. I had to stand up because I couldn't throw that far sitting down. I went to throw but I lost my balance and feel into the water! Later on we swapped our kayak with 2 other people's canoe. We had to stand up and try get into each other's boats, and once again, I lost my balance, and fell in.

The the easiest thing for me would probably have to be when we had to walk through the bush. Even though it was pretty hard, it still ended up being the easiest!



It definitely wasn't what i had expected! The Cabins were awesome, the activities were super fun and we all got a lot closer.





My proudest moment was probably when my group was caving and our instructor and teachers had left us to find the right way back. It was a super tight fit so not everyone could go in at once and i was outside waiting to go in and nobody could find the right way. So they all came out and i went in with some other people. We looked around for a couple of minutes and we still couldn't find it! But then i saw a little gap in the wall and sure enough, it led us out back to the instructors.





My favourite moment was when Samantha and I were doing the high ropes and we managed to get all the way to the end with out falling off!

Diving

This term for swimming, I chose to do Diving. So far, we have jumped off the 1 metre and 3 metre boards. We have learnt to jump forwards, jump backwards, tuck jump, dive of the 1 metre, forwards roll off the side of the pool, backwards roll off the side of the pool and fall backwards in pike position off the side of the pool. I'm pretty sure I'm improving because I couldn't dive before diving lessons. I think next lesson I will be able to improve by really listening hard and putting in 100%.

Camp

I am so excited for camp!!! I'm really looking forward to spending time with my class mates and all the fun activities! I'm kind of worried about caving and being away from home :(  But i think i'll be fine! I haven't quite got all my gear but we are going shopping on the weekend. I think I'm going quite well with the fitness and practical tasks. :) :) :)