Practice, Practice, Business Cards!

 30.10.2020

Hi, it's Miriam and this is what we did at PREP this week. Today we practised a lot but also had a lot of fun. Today we finally decided on what our business card is going to be.

Today when we practiced the play, our teacher Mr. Sparks had us focus on staying in charecter. He also had us work on our slow motion. Our slow motion was for a fight scene in our play. It is based around people blaming other people about who's fault it is that the wedding went wrong.

 Since I am the Happy Caterer I get to through something in my fighting partners face! I'm really excited about that. My buddy and I worked really hard on our minny fight because we were finding it challenging to balance in slow motion. 

After lunch we work with our other teacher Mr. Allen on writing our blog post and creating advertisements for our play. Today as soon as we finished one run through of our play Mr. Allen had us walk around and look at each other's business card proposals. 

After we looked at all of them we had to vote for the business card that we liked the best. Once we had our business card we also had to vote on the logo that we liked the best. I voted for the most colorful and happy logo so people were captured by its appearance.

 Then we had 2 more tasks. The first one was to create a poster that we would vote on next week. The other task was to write a blog post about what we did today. So that's what I'm doing now. I want some people's opinion on my poster, so here it is.

Blog you later,

Miriam

PREP Play! We Got Our Roles!

25.9.2020

Hi again, it's Miriam and today we had another day of PREP. I had so much fun going throughout the play over and over again. One of the reasons I enjoyed PREP a lot today was because today we got our roles for the play. Even though these roles are not set in stone I was very happy to know that the teacher thought I was good enough to have a good role. As well as getting our roles we focused a lot on working together as a team and staying in charecter. 

At the beginning of the day we got into a circle and worked on a really hard teamwork game. The game was aimed to help teammates understand how other people in their group work and kind of help people feel their other teammates rhythm of work. How the game worked was however many people there were we would have to reach that number by going from 1 to however many people there were. The only problem with that is we aren't allowed to communicate who is going to say the number next so we had to wait until someone has already said a number to day the next one. Everytime that more than one person said the same number we had to start form one again.

After we did that Mr. Sparks, our drama teacher, told us where we were going to stand on the stage and what role we are going to be. My role is the Mexican Caterer who crashes his truck into the sea so there is no food. My character's name is Jose and he has to speak with a Spanish accent. Since I have a very vivid American accent it is very hard for me to sound Mexican but I will keep on practicing over the hollidays.

Thank you for reading my post. 

Blog you later,

Miriam

Campion College PREP!

18.9.2020

Hi I’m Miriam and I am currently am attending Campion College in Gisborne, New Zealand. 

Normally we have impact projects on a Friday each trimester but since this trimester is shorter than the other trimesters we are doing something called PREP. PREP is when we create something that people can buy or watch. Each group of people creates something to sell and with the money that we make from selling our items we donate it to the Saint Vincent De Paul Charity. 

This trimester for PREP I have joined a drama group and we are putting together a play that people can buy tickets to watch. This Friday we saw the script for the very first time and discussed how we should behave. Our teacher Mr. Sparks explained to us that we have to behave like professional paid actors so we decided on a contract that we all have to sign. I think that the contract was a very good idea because it shows us how we need to behave during our PREP time.

While we were looking at the script for the first time we were also figuring out how we were going to set up the stage and what we were going to call our drama group. We set up our stage with 4 big boxes at the back against the wall. Then we put a (slightly lower) small blue rectangular box in the middle of the beginning of the 4 boxes. Next we put 2 sets of steps on the sides of the big boxes. The rest of us put several seats around the stage set up. After that was done we passed around a small piece of paper with a bunch of names on it. Each person would tick the name that they wanted and the name with the most ticks would be the name of our drama group.

Later on in the day we talked about everything that we needed for our play to work. We talked about things like costumes, floats, seating, props and much more. We also talked about how we needed to find a specific group of people to target. Everyone decided that our main target for the people who we want to watch out play was our parents and fellow students.

Thank you for reading my blog. I post stuff every week about PREP,

Miriam

Term 4 Summary Blog Post ( All about Term 4! )

Hi, it's Miriam and today I am here to tell you about what we have been doing in Term 4. Term 4 has been a busy term. We have done Athletics, Kapa Haka Festival, Orientation Day, Olympic Pools just to name a few. Those are just a few of the things I will tell you about.

Athletics

At the beginning of this term we started training for our School athletics. Athletics at schools in Gisborne consists of High Jump, Long Jump, Ball Throw and Sprints. Some kids at our school take athletics seriously and some don't. I personally like to try to do well in it. During the first 3ish weeks of term we practiced a lot it was almost every day that you could see our school out on the field or reserve seeing who could throw the farthest or jump the highest. 

Finally the day came and everybody was nervous or scared. As soon as I finished a race I would dread my next race or field event. Our athletics took place on Wednesday in Week 4 Term 4. During my first 100 meter sprint race I rolled my ankle half way down the track which put me back to 4th place. Half of me wanted to make it into the finals and the other half of me didn't. I was sad that I didn't come a placing but I guess that that was what happened and I had to deal with it. 

Kapa Haka Festival

We had been practicing all year for the Turanganui Kapa Haka festival. Koka Terri one of my teachers and the Kapa Haka teacher had been preparing us for this day for what seemed like forever. I had endured a year of Kapa Haka so I felt prepared for the big day. I came to school with my black shorts already on, got changed into my dress and went to the Hall to get my Moko done. I had to put on special earrings and it was a struggle to take my other ones out. 

When we arrived at the Festival the front row put on their piupiu. Next we walked into the waiting area where we waited until it was our turn to perform. When we got onto the stage I felt my nerves kick in. I didn't even know why I was nervous because I wasn't scared. When we started to takahia our Puipui sawed and made a pretty noise. After our performance was done I felt that we had done a great done. 

Orientation Day

On Tuesday of Week 7 all the year 6 kids went to visit their Intermediate Schools that they are going to next year. The Intermediate School that I am going to is Campion College. Campion is a Catholic school and I am Jewish so I was a bit awkward going into their Church. We started off the day by doing a scavenger hunt around the school learning where all the different buildings are and what they are used for. After the scavenger hunt we broke up into to two groups, one going into the science lab to do science and the other into the art room to do some art. 

In the Science lab we learnt which metals create a reaction to water and which metals make a reaction with acid. Then we saw some unborn baby piglets whos mom died before they were borne, a vertebrae of a whale and the skull of a sheep. At the art room we got into groups of 5 or 6 and each folded a piece of paper into 3rds. Then we get given a theme and we have to draw a head in the first 3rd that relates to the theme that we were given. Next we draw the neck lines into the second 3rd so that the next person in front of behind you can draw the body. You would keep passing along the pieces of paper until there was a head, body and feet. For lunch we had sausages and next we went into the church and then went back to school. 

Olympic Pools

On Thursday Week 7 of Term 4 all the road patrollers that did patrols this year went on the road patrol reward day at the Olympic Pools. We left at 9:15am and got back at 3:00pm. We got a free hydroslide pass and free food for lunch. As soon as we got to the Pools we put our bags down under the shade and waited with the other schools to find out which school got the road patrol award this year. The winner was Te Wharau school. After that we were allowed to go and play in the pools. The first thing that I did when we got to go play was go down the hydroslide. 

Then I went to the diving boards and with my friends and we did front flips of them. One of my friends Sophie did a back tuck off on the low one. When we got to cold in the outdoor pools we would go to the indoor one. Before we knew it it was time for lunch. Lunch was pizza, garlic bread and french fries. After lunch we were aloud to go out and play for a couple more hours before getting changed and and leaving for school. Overall this was definitely my favorite experience this term.

Sorry that I do not have photos for all of the events. I wish I did so I could show you all the fun we had this term. Blog you later!

Turanganui Kapa Haka Festival!

Hi, it's Miriam. Sorry I have not posted anything in a long time. Turanganui Kapa Haka Festival! Our class has been very busey, as it is Term 4 the last term of the year. Yesterday, the 20th of November Nui Syndicate performed our Kapa Haka bracket at the Turanganui Haka Haka Festival. Waiting for us to go on stage was the scariest part. Well I wasn't scared to perform I just wanted to get it over and done with. We had been practising all year and I could tell that we were ready. I had been moved to the front row so I got to wear a Piupiu. A Piupiu is a skirt made out of strands of Karakiki flax. When you move the skirt sways with you and it looks magnificent. 

We march onto the stage and wait for the guitar to start playing our first waiata. "Tu mai ra" sung Hunter, one of the Kea. As he sung we all stepped forward and formed a triangle shape. When Hunter stopped singing the boys all knelt down and we sang our school song together. When we would takahia our piupiu would sway. After "Tu Mai Ra" we sang some more songs then we did "Utaina". "Utaina" was our transition song were the boys went to the front and the girls went to the back. When we did the transition the boys were chanting the haka and the girls were singing the song. When we mixed the haka with the melody the sound that we made was beautiful. Next the boys did the haka and the girls chant along with them. I could tell that the haka scared some little kids because they ran to their parents. 

Our ending song was "He Honore". While we were singing it some of the Wai Syndicate started to sing along quietly. As the last couple of rows left the stage only the front row was left we sung the last line of "He Honore" the audience started clapping and cheering like crazy. As soon as we left the hall I thought that we had done a great job. Hopefully the teachers thought that too. But if I am going to be honest with you I do not realy want to be in the Mass Kapa Haka performance. (The mass performance is when lots of schools get together and sing the same songs, at the same time and in the same place.) The reason why I do not want to do the Mass Kapa Haka performance is because I don't want to do it again.

Us Singing Tu Mai Ra 

Singing Haramai a Paoa 

Dancing and singing to Kapiopio 

Girls doing the Poi to Pureanai

Before the Transition singing Utaina

Thanks for Reading, Blog you Later!

The Magnificent Marae

Hi, I'm back again and today I am going to tell you about our Marae trip last Thursday and Friday. This term we have been learning about Horua and one of the things that we had to do for it was go to our School Marae. Our School Marae is Te Poho o Rawiri. Te Poho o Rawiri was built almost 90 years ago. Even though it is very old the Marae is not in the exact place were the first one was built. Where Te Poho o Rawiri stands today is not where it originally was built. Te Poho o Rawiri was originally built down by were the port stands today. 

The Marae with all our stuff in it

When I first got to the Marae I was not excited at all. I didn't really want to do a Powhiri. I thought it would be boring and well not that fun. We sat out in the parking lot waiting for Aunty Buba and Uncle Albe to welcome us into the Marae. A couple minutes before we went into the Marae we had to take our shoes. I learnt that it is disrespectful to wear shoes into a Marae. Finally Koka Terri got us into our Powhiri line and Aunty Buba welcomed us onto the Marae. Her clear powerful voice made us feel welcome. After she had finished Koka Terri replied just like Aunty Buba had. Then we sang our school song and did a hungi. 

The Kapa Haka Performance

Kids Doing Rakau

After the Powhiri we broke up into different groups to do activities around the Marae. There were games like handball and skipping and then there were more traditional games like Rakau and games with Cabbage Tree trunks. There were also things like flax weaving and walking up Kaiti Hill to see the place where Cook landed and where the Marae used to be. Each group missed out on two activities. The two activities that I missed out on were flax weaving and handball. I was really bummed that I missed out on flax weaving as I want to be able to make different things out of it. That night we had a performance and our parents came to watch. We performed our Kapa Haka bracket and some school groups did Ukulele and told Jokes. The next day everyone was tired and gobbled up breakfast. After we continued with our activities and welcomed Wai onto the Marae. Packing up was very stressful and we were all glad to be back at school and back to our own beds to sleep. 

A group doing Maori art

Flax Weaving

Winn Dixie Map

Hi again, Today I am going to tell you about our activity for shared book. As you know our shared book is "Because of Winn Dixie". Again as you know "Because of Winn Dixie" is a book about a girl who moves to Watley, Florida from Naomi. Our task for shared book this week is to make a birds eye of view map of where all the characters live in the story.

The task was quite tricky because if you forgot about a certain landmark in the story then you had to restart. Our teachers wanted everything that they mentioned in the book to be on the map. THey also wanted the map to be colorful to attract people's attention. There is one house that is yellow in the book and most people forgot about that and they did it a different colour and had to restart. Luckily I didn't have to restart.

My Map of Naomi

Blog You Later!