Birthday Presents

"OMG!! AAAAH, it's my birthday," I say to myself in my bedroom. 

It is February 4th 2013. I am turning 12 today. Today was the day I get all of my wishes, and hopefully they will come true. I walk downstairs to see if their were any presents waiting for me and I found them lying of the ground shaped like a big pyramid. The top of the present pyramid was a letter from my dad. The second present was from my mom. Inside the present bag was clothing and shoes. 

I went through all presents until I came to one present that surprised me. It was an IPAD and an IPHONE 5. I started to play on both presents. I was so fun. It was the first time I have ever touch or had my own phone and IPAD. I opened all my presents before I headed to school.

I felt very joyful to see all of my presents.

Picking Harakeke (Flax)

Last week my class and I had the privilege to experience the kaupapa (protocols) of collecting harakeke (flax). Flax is a taonga to all Maori people because they used flax for all sorts of things like for example clothing, baskets and many more things. We all walked down to Omaru Creek and talked about the rules.

Some rules were to not pick flax at night and to not pick them when it's raining. One of the most important rules was to not cut the Pepi (baby), Matua (father) and the Whaea (mother) because if you do then the whole bush will die. There were some other rules we were not to do with it

After discussing the rules we went off and picked our flax. My friend Jorja and I didn't really get to pick flax but we did get to capture everyone participating in this event. It was amazing seeing everyone co-operating together as a team. It was a short time down at Omaru Creek.

We came back to school with our flax in our hands and our class sat down quietly ready to start weaving. We were trying to weave a putiputi (flower). Some people got through it but some struggled. This was a great experience.

Even though I didn't get to do all of these things but I still had fun seeing people make the putiputi. At the same time is was funny. Anyway this day was AWESOME!!

Tuakana/Teina (Big Brother or Sister, Little Brother or Sister)

Do you know what Tuakana Teina is? Well, Tuakana means older brother or sister. Teina means younger brother or sister. Every Tuesday afternoon Rm19 and Rm9 have Tuakana Teina. But this time it isn’t older brother or sister it’s older buddy reader and younger buddy reader.

My partner every single Tuesday afternoon is LJ. He is a sweet and cute little boy. He is also a good reader. Sometimes he doesn't appear at school because he is absent. Anyway my Teina (my younger buddy reader) is an awesome person and a wonderful Teina.

LJ reads to me perfectly. He sometimes reads chapter books to me. LJ also reads books that even his friends can't read like for example ZAC POWER. ZAC POWER is a chapter book about a guy named Zac that has really cool powers. Anyway LJ reads the words and pronounces them exactly how you want it to be read like.

After hearing LJ read, I decided that it would be my turn to read. And when I read I like to read like a professional reader. LJ loved the way I read he even smiled when I finished reading the book. It was amazing reading to my Teina LJ.

Tuakana Teina is the best part of a Tuesday afternoon. It is a very fun way of reading. After every session I feel very proud of my partner when I hear him read.

All About ME!!

This is my presentation about me.

School Picnic

On one great morning Pt England School went down to the reserve. The sun was shinning and no grey clouds were coming out of the sky.

"Are you excited to go to the picnic," I asked my best-friend, Tui. "Yeah, I'm excited. I can't wait to play many activities like touch, rippa-rugby, volleyball and softball," she replied to me in a very happy voice. 

"It's time to go, Pt England School," Mr. Burt told us through the speaker.

When we arrived at the beach Mr. Burt did a karakia (prayer) to bless our day and then we went of into our team spot.

This was the first event I did before going onto touch. I played with a lot of people like Turuhira, Sesalina, Britney, Elizabeth, Gabriel and many other parents that joined in. It was really fun playing volleyball because my group kept on winning every single time the ball came to our side. It was 13 to us and 6 to the other team, when we ended our game.

Playing touch was my second event I played. And this time I played with different people. It was Tevite, Jay'lee, Serena, Tui, Logan, Melvin, Tevita and 1 adult name Winny. Touch is a game when 2 teams play against each other . It is not a contact game like 'Rugby' but more like netball. Except in netball you don't run with the ball. Also in netball they play with a actual 'Netball', but in touch they play with and actual touch rugby ball. Anyway I was on Winny's team and the players were Tevite, Logan and I. There were many of us that played touch. This was my favourite activity/event I enjoyed.

This isn't actually an event but it is something I enjoyed to. It was having my lunch with some of my friends. Instead of having lunch with my old besties Sylvia, Mino, Mubba. I had my morning tea with my friends Tui, Hosannah, Rita, Brooklyn and Shoal. It was awesome having to share my snacks with friends of mine.

Even when my old besties weren't there, I still had fun at the school picnic. I felt very happy at the end of the day.It was the best picnic ever.

The Meaning of Paticipation

’Participation’ means to participate in something you’ve never tried or done. It also means to share benefit or profit (participation loan). ‘Participation’ also means to collaborate with others.
This is a presentation that my partner and I did ourselves.