Pillow Day 2019

Hi everyone! I am back.
Last Thursday, Te Waka Ako (Senior Syndicate) had a Pillow Day. We got to bring our pillow to school. We could sleep at playtime as well. We had to design a pillow in our art books to make in Term 4. We had to think of a inspiring quote or message to put on the pillow and write it in a cool font on our page. My inspiring quote was:
'Be the girl that decided to go for it!' Here is a photo of my design:

On pillow day, we also did some enlargements. We had to draw a pixel portrait of ourselves and then enlarge it on another piece of paper by two.
Pillow Day was really fun! I wish we could do it again.
Thank you for reading my blog post. I hope you enjoyed it. And, it's the last day of Term 3 so.... Happy Holidays!!!
Blog you later!

Vector EPro8

Hi everyone. I am back!

On Friday, 4 students from the senior syndicate went to the Vector EPro8 Challenge. A few weeks ago, Miss Daly picked 4 students to go to the EPro8 challenge. The EPro8 challenge is an engineering challenge where you have to make things like a structure 2.5m tall or make a motorised police car. The 4 students that Miss Daly chose were Toby, Noah, Angelina and me! To practise, we had to go on a simulator online that Miss Daly had sent us. It had an online version of what we would be doing at the challenge. We also had to come up with a team name. We made the team name Waikowhai Code4 because there was 4 people in our team.

Finally, the day came. We were dressed up in our Waikowhai jackets and ready to leave. When we got there, the judge explained how everything worked, and then he told us how to earn points...

"These are the challenge cards." He held up a blue folder and which showed challenges inside. "These are the challenges. You can do a rat wheel, a lightning rod, a motorised car, an elevator or measuring the distances of a ball pit. Though, if you let me pick your challenge you can get an extra 30 points. You can also get points from a tidy workspace. Now, decide what you want to do and then go to your station, read the criteria of your challenge and start building when I say." 

Waikowhai Code4 decided what they wanted to do. We let the judge decide what we wanted to do. How he picked was he gave us an orange ball. We unscrewed it and inside it read 'Rat Wheel'. This meant we were to build the rat wheel. "Go!" yelled the judge. There was many hard challenges such as making it spin while a light goes on. Most of the time on the clock it said that our team was in 1st. Yes! We were winning!

Finally, it was 20 minutes until the challenge was over. The judge rushed over to us. "Okay, guys." he said. "Your last challenge takes and average of 20 minutes. You have to make a motorized vehicle that turns make the rat wheel spin without touching it. So, I suggest you get moving." 

So, we got going. By the the time we figured out what we were doing, there was 2 minutes left to go. The judge rushed up to us again. "OK team. You don't have enough time to complete this challenge. Do another challenge and attach it to this and then give me a good reason to not take down the rat wheel."

"OK" we all replied and then got to work. We looked at the challenge cards. "We can build a thunder rod on top of our rat wheel." said Toby. Everyone agreed and we got to work. It had to be 2.5 metres tall. The countdown was on. 5....4....3....2....1! "Everyone, stop what you are doing. If you have hit your buzzer then sit down and wait for me to come and check it otherwise pack up." the judge said. We sat down. He came to check us first. "OK this is good. Yep, 2.5 metres tall. Now, why did you need to keep the rat wheel." Uh, oh. We hadn't thought about that. Luckily, Noah came up with a brilliant reason. "Um, we need the lightning rod to give electricity to the rat wheel." said Noah. "Oh, OK, I like that idea. OK, 30 points for you." "Yes!!!" we all yelled.

Then it was time for the results. "OK guys, you all did really well." the judge said. "OK, so it look like 4th place was pretty close but these are 3 teams that will go to the semi-finals. In third place is....Waikowhai Code4. 'Yes! We were into the semi-finals!' We went up to collect out certificates. "In second place is....Dancing Dolphins. And in first place, who will win the trophy is....Gladstone Gearheads!" Gladstone Gearheads came up to collect their certificates. They all looked so happy. The judge asked up everyone could help load their workspace into the van. So, we did. Finally, we went back to school as semi-finalists. The semi-finals were in November and we were so excited...

Here are some photos of the day:

Thank you for reading my blog post. I hope you enjoyed it. Blog you later!

Waikowhai Primary School Cross Country 2019!

Kia ora everyone! I am back!
Last Wednesday on the 11th of September, Waikowhai Primary School had our 2019 Cross Country. Though, this year it was different. Instead of just doing a run, we had to skip continuously for 15 minutes, kick goals for 15 minutes, do an obstacle course and do a run. We also had to find sponsors before the race to raise money for us. We could get prizes and all the fundraising went to fund-raise for an outdoor canopy on our school courts. I raised $32.85 and I might get more!

First, our group, the Year 5s, went to the rest station. We had a cake and ice-block if we had ordered and paid for the Cake/Ice-block Combo. We played a hand game while we waited for our next activity.  Our next activity was kicking football goals. I was really good. Then, we did the obstacle course. We had to pull a ring through a tangled rope, go through the playground, down the slide, throw balls into buckets, jump over hurdles, go through a web and climb over the climbing wall.

Then, it was time for our run. We had to do 3 laps. In the Year 5 girls, Angelina came 1st, I came second and Brittany came 3rd. Now, I get to go to Cross Country Zones! There also was a bake sale on the day.
My favourite part was the obstacle course. I liked it because it was challenging and fun at the same time.
Here are some photos:

Thank you for reading my blog post. I hope you enjoyed it. Blog you later!

Food Diary

Kia ora, everyone. I am back!
Do you ever wonder how much sugar you are eating in a day and what the average amount is? Well, the senior syndicate of Waikowhai Primary found this out. The average amount of sugar to be having in a day is 6 teaspoons.

We wrote up a food diary of what we ate so we could find out how much sugar we are eating in a day. We had to write down what we had for breakfast, morning tea, lunch, dinner and snacks. Then we had to find out how much sugar was in each item. After that we had to add up the amount of sugar. My total was 9.94 teaspoons. 

But, all the sugar in fruit didn't count so we had to get rid of all the fruit sugar from our food diary. So, I took off all of the sugar from my fruit and it came down to 6.12 teaspoons.
We also had to do a Google Drawing on your worst thing you had and what a better thing instead of it was. Here is a link to my Google Drawing. Maybe you can try and do a food diary?
I hope you enjoyed my blog post. Blog you later!

Mt Ruapehu School Ski & Snowboard Camp 2019!!!

Hi everyone. I am back!

On the 20th of August 2019, 7:30am, 63 students from the senior syndicate of Waikowhai Primary School gathered inside in the junior classes and left for the carpark in front of the school. Why? All of these 63 students were off to school camp on Mt Ruapehu! But this was no ordinary school camp, this was a ski and snowboard camp, and, on the way to and from school, we stopped at awesome places like Huka Falls, Taupo Aquatic Centre, Jim Barker Memorial Park in Otorohanga, Hamilton Garden, the list goes on! We had to have a whole heap of gear; thermals; socks, top, pants, ski jacket & ski pants, gloves; waterproof and woolen. It was really exciting preparing for camp. we even had to have a meeting to prepare for camp; it was only for the parents who were helping on the trip.

 

On the 20th of August, the day was here. Like I said before, all of the 63 students were gathered at the front of the school in the carpark. Then, it was time to get on the bus. One their fist aid form, some people said that they got car sick. These people got to sit in the 4 front seats of the bus. The first stop on our way to our accommodation; The Crossing Backpackers, was Hamilton Gardens. The gardens were fun! And big! We did a photo hunt around the gardens. On 4 pieces of paper, that every group got given, there was a bunch of photos that we had to find around Hamilton Gardens and name what garden it was from. The second place we went was the Ed Hillary Walkway. We had to look at the boards and name questions. The next place we went was the Jim Barker Memorial Park and Taumarunui School. Then we were at The Crossing. We got unpacked. 

The next day we left for the mountain. We got into our groups, learnt the basics of skiing and then we were really good. The next day, we did the same. Just instead of learning the basics, we got free time without our instructor.

The last day we headed for school. This time the stops were: Taupo Aquatic Centre, Huka Falls and afternoon tea at Hamilton Gardens carpark.

Before and after camp we did a camp slideshow. After camp, we did a reflections and feelings slideshow about camp. Here they are:

Here are some photos: