Zombie Apocalypse

 This week we were having a zombie apocalypse. My class and I were the only survivors. 

We had to make slides explaining each day how we survived and thrived through that day. We had these diary entries written by someone else surviving and had to write down things to remember and new additions to the plot too. We were in groups of 3 to 4 and I was with my friends Camille and Sophia. 

I found quite tricky to think of all the ways to survive, like how to find food, water, and shelter, because without those necessities we would die. Next time I would change how we made our weapons, because our teacher taught us even EASIER ways to make them. I really enjoyed working with my friends to survive the apocalypse, and I loved listening to Mrs Naden read us the diary entries, because they were REALLY cool.

I learnt about improvising and how to survive in the wild. I hope you enjoyed reading about my week. Here are the slides me and my friends made together:

September Reflection

Today is the last day of September and, like every month, we had to reflect. We had a template to fill out, and I quite enjoyed filling it in. 

Next time I think I would write about a different book, because I read lots of them. I found it tricky to take the picture, because people kept getting in it and the lighting kept ruining it. Our teacher filled most of it out, but left gaps for our answers. 

Here is my Reflection:

Cats vs Dogs

 Today we had to write about why we think cats are better than dogs, or the other way around. I chose to write about why dogs are better than cats, because I have a pet dog named Nina. I still love cats though, but I just did dogs because I have one as a pet. We were learning how to apply prior knowledge and opinions.

First we had to write a plan, to put our ideas about why we think they are better. Then when we finished our plan, we had to get a doc, and write it down in the form of persuasive writing. We had to have at least three different main points, and explain in more complex paragraphs. After we had finished, we had to compare our success criteria with our writing, and mark down if we had done the different things or not.

I found it really tricky to decide, because like I said at the start of this blog, I have a dog named Nina, but my Nana has two cats that I love too. I actually really enjoyed writing down why I thought they were better after I decided, because I c=got to explain about why I love them so much. If we got to do this again, I'd write about cats instead, because I love both dogs and cats.

I hope you enjoy reading my report and my blog. Do you prefer dogs to cats, or cats to dogs? Do you like both of them equally? Or do you not like either? Tell me in the comments below!

Here is my report:

Online Writing Book

 

Writing - Author Study

 We have been writing Author Reports in class for the past week. We have been learning how to link between paragraphs. We had to use idea links, use the same word towards the end of one paragraph in another, and start paragraphs with things like “As well as… He also”.  

Author Study

Full Name: Terry Pratchett        

Date of Birth: 28 April 1948

Place of Birth: Beaconsfield, UK

Famous for: Terry Pratchet is famous for writing many books, some of which are: Wee Free Men, Hogfather, and a Hat full of sky. As well as being famous for those, he is also famous for writing The Carpet People.

Childhood: Before he wrote any of those stories, Terry Pratchett went to Holtspur School where he was bullied because he had speech difficulties. He also had a principal who thought that he could tell how well you were going to do in adulthood because of how well you could read or write. The principal kept bothering him because of this. When Terry Pratchett got his first book published, it was called Business Rivals.

Adulthood: A while after writing Business Rivals, Terry Pratchett married a lady named Lyn Pratchett, and they had a daughter named Rhianna Pratchett, who is now 44 years old. Terry Pratchett died at the age 66. He died of Alzheimer’s disease, after a long struggle with it.He has written many amazing stories, and a lot of them are very well known.

WOW Facts:

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Bruce Goodin - Olympics Report

For the past few days, my writing group was learning to link paragraphs. Our success criteria was that we had to use phrases such as "As well as... He also...". We had to choose a New Zealand Olympian competitor to write about, and I chose Bruce Goodin.

Bruce Goodin is a 51 year old man who does equestrian (horse) show jumping, and cross country. He does it individually and with a team. He was in the New Zealand equestrian team for the Olympics this year. The reason why I chose him was because I do horse riding myself, and I wanted to find out about the people who are actually riding to compete in the Olympics.

It was quite tricky to find the information, because most sites didn't have much of the stuff I was looking for. I enjoyed writing about him because I learnt about his techniques, and about his horses, but next time I would change the order I wrote my paragraphs in.

Here is my report, and I hop you enjoy reading it:

Bruce Goodin

His name is Bruce Goodin. He was born on the tenth of October 1969. His hometown is Huntly, Waikato District, NZ. He is fifty one years old. When he was younger, Bruce Goodin went to Te Kauwhata College. 

As well as being David Goodin’s son, famed show jumper and cross-country competitor, he is husband to Ulrika, who represented Sweden in equestrian jumping. They also have a nine year old daughter named Elizabeth, who grew up on their farm.

Bruce Goodin also grew up on a farm, and started riding at age seven. His father was a rider, and always had horses and ponies around him. At first he didn’t like the sport, because he didn’t think he was any good. But when he was in his mid-teens he started to really enjoy it.

He in fact started to enjoy the sport so much that it grew into a real passion. He went on to become a horse breeder, equestrian athlete, coach, and horse trainer. His ambition was to compete in the Tokyo Olympics, and he got to be in the team. One of his most memorable moments was when he won the team competition at the 2018 Nations Cup in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. His hero was the British show jumper, John Whitaker. Both his father and his wife have competed in equestrian events.

Bruce Goodin’s personal philosophy is this: “It is about personal development, not a quick fix. It is about things being right for the horse, not for the rider's ego.” He has now competed at five different Olympic games. Athens 2004, Beijing 2008, Sydney 2000, Barcelona 1992, and Tokyo 2021.

How do snakes open their jaws so wide?

 My class has been learning to write explanations. We had two groups, and one were learning to write a complex sentence, the other was aiming to include a diagram. A complex sentence is a small phrase where you put it in a larger sentence, but you can move it around. 

There were lots of choices for what we could write about, but I chose snakes. I chose to write about how snakes open their jaws wide enough to swallow their prey, but I shortened that to just how snakes open their jaws so wide. I was away when everyone else started, so I had to work even faster. I got help from Kylah, one of my friends, so here is a link to her blog. 

I enjoyed finding out the facts about how snakes are able to stretch their jaws, because I didn't know them before. I found it tricky to structure my writing, because I hadn't had time to finish my plan. Next time I would change my title, because it's a bit long. 

Did you know how snakes open their jaws wide before you read this? Did you know about their split jaw? Tell me in the comments below!

Here is my explanation writing:

How Do Snakes Open Their Jaws So Wide

Introduction

Snakes open their jaws so wide so that they can swallow their prey whole. This is how they do it:

Why do snakes swallow their food whole?

Snakes do not have the right teeth to chew their food, so they must swallow their catch whole. Their jaws are constructed to allow them to stretch their mouths that wide.

How do snakes open their mouths so wide?

In snakes, the lower jaw is not connected like in mammals. At the front there is a split, and it’s held together by a stretchy ligament. That makes it so it can stretch, making the mouth larger. 

Diagram

Is all handwriting the same?

 This week we were learning to make connections between what we read. We did a handwriting experiment and had to show the differences between our handwriting. When me and my friend Kylah did the experiment, we learnt that all handwriting is different. Did you know that if you look closely at different peoples handwriting, there are lots of differences that you probably hadn't noticed before. I enjoyed looking at the differences in our writing, because it showed that not everyone is the same. I found it difficult to take the photos of our writing. Next time I think that I could be more descriptive of what the differences are. Down below I will put the link to my friend Kylah's blog, so you can have a look at her posts. Keep blogging!

Kylah