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Aroha in my Whanau

 WA describing aroha in our whanau

My family of five is small and immediate. We love one another very much, even though we sometimes get angry and upset. We know that

'no matter what we are WHANAU.

In the evenings we laugh together and share our day with our parents. We have long days because dad works seven days a week and my mum is a teacher.

My siblings and I like to play rugby and soccer together outside and we especially like to sing. My family is good at it. My brother plays the guitar, my sister plays the piano and I sing. My dad plays the ukulele and my mum is the manager. I feel joy when I am with them.

I show love and care for my family especially my sister when she gets hurt. My whanau cares for me too. They are the best. My dad is almost as tall as the whiteboard and my mum loves 500,000 times more than my aunty!

My favourite whanau saying is: “Home is where the heart is.” When we get home we know we are together again at the end of the day.

My aroha symbol is:

                                                                    Daniel                                                           

Water Awareness

                                     Water Awareness

On Tuesday, two weeks ago, Mrs Agnew, our teacher, told us we were going swimming. I was excited and not at the same time. Two reasons: I like going to the pools, but I cannot swim. I was still determined to learn. So at 11:55, I got changed into my rash shirt and swimming shorts and put on a jumper that I got from home and wrapped a towel around me.

We came on a bus and went through Morrin Rd and stopped at CLM The Bays. We waited for almost 5 minutes because we didn't know where to go because it was our first day at the pools. Then, Mr Bell was told to take us to the back. We did, and waiting there was the Co-ordinator, Lauren."Come in", she said. We went through a door that was supposed to be a Fire Exit and arrived at Swim Magic Swim School.

Our Teachers were: Lauren the Co-ordinator (Mondays), Laura (Tuesdays & Thursdays) and Parys on Fridays. During our first lesson we learned how to float on our backs. This is important especially in an emergency at sea. 

At the end of each session we would do a manu. If you don't know what this means, it is a big jump into the pool. I was proud of mine.

On the last Thursday, we arrived at the pools and there was an inflatable boat on the water. We were told to get into the boat and sit with our legs inside it, facing others. Then when the teacher said 'go' we had to fall backwards into the water. That is the safest way to enter water from a boat.

I appreciate the Board of Trustees' generosity in paying for us all to attend water awareness lessons.

Revealing My Feelings through Art

A couple of weeks ago, our class teacher, Mrs Agnew, shared our new MITEY learning and the goal was to show our feelings through self portraits of ourselves. I had grew ecstatic and I bet the others were too! We started off by drawing the shape of the head and we drew lines on our faces: one vertically and three horizontally. These were to get the right places to draw in our eyes, nose, ears and eyes.

 

Then we drew our eyes in an almond shape but my friend Zachary Vargas drew his eyes round like Spongebob! We did the nose in a sort of cone shape and ears (Mrs Agnew drew the ears for me).

About a week later we drew in our hair and coloured in our faces. We drew our bodies, neck and coloured our jumpers/shirts.

We then had to use a white wax crayon to draw lines about feelings we have. For example angry = zigzag lines, calmness = wavy, gentle lines. Then we painted it with blue dye, and the white wax showed through the dye. It was very dramatic.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

The next week, I was amazed at other peoples' beautiful drawings, when they were all displayed.

My favourite blurb that I wrote on my paper was: When I feel embarrased I say "I didn't do it Miss".

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My Profile - By Daniel

                      My Profile

Kia Orana, My name is Daniel Kolotau Ripata. I am 9 years old, well almost 10. I go to St Patrick's School. I am from Tonga and the Cook Islands. My Teacher is Mrs Agnew and I am in Room 6. My favourite subject is Maths and I like playing this Math game called Sumdog. My favourite animal is a Lemur. I’ve been to Rarotonga to see Whanau and I would love to go there again.

Chicks in Room 6

                                   Chicks in Room 6

Last Tuesday, Jo from Living Eggs came to our school in Panmure to bring "Living Eggs" to our class in Room 6. She brought eleven eggs. "They are on Day 19 of hatching" she said. Then she left. She left the food, food bowl, water container, brooder box, wood shavings and the incubator.  

The eggs have to keep warm at 37.7 degrees and not get bumped.

During our 2 weeks, we got to hold the chicks often, and I got to change their little home, the brooder. I changed the bedding, food and water. It took quite a long time but they need to keep dry and have food once in the morning and again in the evening.

I took all eleven of them home for the weekend. It was fun watching them and having special time holding them. On the last day, on Thursday, I changed the brooder, and then during the morning Jo came with Mrs Thompson to take the chicks back to the farm. It was sad. Zach and I cried. But I said Goodbye and continued with  my work. I will miss them, and maybe they will miss me, but I think they are happy with their mum:).

Athletics Day

 Last Friday we had Athletics Day. There are four houses: Rimu, Rata, Kauri, Totara. I am in Rimu and so I had to wear a blue T-Shirt. I competed in three Races. I came 2nd in each race. After the races the seniors did the 'Tug of War'. Totara won the Tug of War. At the end, the Teachers added the scores. They announced that Rimu has won! I liked this day because I spent time with my friends doing sport.

Daniel's Whakapapa Journey

                                                    

                                                 My Whakapapa Journey

My name is Daniel. I am 9 years old. I have a small immediate family. That means we can count them. But I have a big extended family!

The three koru at the top of my picture are my great grandfather, great  grandma and my other great grandfather. My great grandfather on my mother’s side was called William Ford. He was born in the 1820’s and died in 1905. He was the father of Irish inventor Henry Ford.

 The big Koru are my mum and dad. They are shaped as a heart because they are married.      

My mum is an organised Woman, who works as a Teacher. My dad is very funny and serious. He is a Maintenance man.                                                               

The Koru in the middle are my brother, Augustine, my sister, Marii and me. Augustine, who I call Auggy, is a very sporty person. He will only play soccer, rugby and other ball games. I am more of an indoor person. I do like sports too though.

I like History and other Subjects. 

My sister, Marii is the only one in my Whanau with the least weight. I really like everything my Whanau likes. My family likes everything like Sports and veggies. 

The Glum tree

I feel cold because my leaves are like a warm blanket to me but now they are all gone. I have to sleep cold on freezing nights. I wish they would never fall off during winter. The freezing cold makes me feel that I am in Antarctica. I don't like it when people trample my leaves. I feel so sad :( I also don’t like it when people climb over my naked body. It feels like cockroaches crawling all over me. Pinecone trees laugh at me because I am bare and they’re not. I feel so bad for my leaves on the ground because they are crushed and crumpled by the unforgiving winter weather.

Blog Profile 2020

COVID-19 Project

First Day of School - Term 2 2020

My Road Trip: - Daniel Ripata

                                                                   My Road Trip

                                                                        By Daniel Ripata

                                                               Chapter 1: Drive Time!
Last Week My Family and I Went on a Road Trip to New Plymouth. First we Woke Up Early. Then we Brushed Our Teeth And Changed Into Our Clothes And Then We Packed Our Clothes and Everything Else That We Needed. We Were On the Ute On Our Way to New Plymouth.
We have visited some other Places out Of Auckland.

  
                                                      Chapter 2: Visiting Small Towns
We Visited Other Small Towns and Places on our way to New Plymouth. I will Name Some - Te Kuiti, Waitomo, Three Sisters and a few that I forgot their names. The First Town (Or City) We Stopped at Was The McDonalds in Hamilton. It was a Five - Hour Drive to New Plymouth so we need to have breakfast. After breakfast, we continued with our drive. Finally, "We Arrived At Your Destination" Said The GPS Map. "Get Out Of The Car"Dad said, Then We All Got
out of the Car Except Dad and My Little Sister 'Marii'. Mum, my Brother and I got out of the Car
And Went To the Camp Site office. They let us Sleep in a Cabin for  the first night and then the second night we Put up Our Tent and sleep on the grass. After setting up on the first evening, We Went to the Pukekura Lights Festival. It was an amazing experience because we don't have that in Auckland.

 

                                                  Chapter 3: Next Morning
I Woke up this Wet, Sunny Morning Outside the Cabin and We had Toast. Then We Made some Friends At this PlayGround Called the Jumping Pillow. Then I Helped My Family Put up the Tent.
Then We went somewhere to Get Food. Then We had Lunch and Then Mum and Dad Told
us that We can Swim at the Beach. This Kind Old Man let Me Use his Paddleboard. It was just like
Surfing but on your Belly. After that Mum Told us We have to  go Home to get Dinner. In Fact Dinner Was Fish and Chips. That was Delicous.

                                                     Chapter 4: 'Goodbye'
Next Morning I was Prepared to Leave the Campsite. So, We Packed Everything up. Even our Tent.
Then it was time to go Home. Another 5 - Hour Drive Through All the Other Small Towns. Our First Stop was Eltham And We saw the Rokotare Lake. Then We came To Hawera. We Saw The Water Tower. We Came through Inglewood and I saw the Toy Museum. Then We Came to Opunake and Saw the Beach. After That We Drove to Patea and Saw Turi's Canoe. We Went through Stratford and saw King Edward's Park. We then stopped at Whanganui. We saw the Whanganui river, it was calm and beautiful. We stopped to play at the Kowhai Park and have a rest because we will then drive for another 3 hours. Then We Went to Ohakune and We saw The Big Carrot. And We saw The Old Train
Bridge. We saw Mt. Ruapehu. Then We Came to Waiouru and We saw The Army Museum. Then We Went to Taumaranui and saw A Moa.   Then When We Came Back to Home In Auckland. I Kissed Everything That I Had. I Had The Best Road Trip Ever.

Wk 4: Day 5 - Concluding the Journey

Hi everyone,

It was a pleasure to be in this Summer Learning Journey this year. My favourite activity that I enjoyed doing the most was the En Pointe (Week 4). I like this activity because I like the quote that I chose. It helps me to remember that I can do any big jobs by breaking it into small jobs.

I don't have any activity that I don't like. I like all the activities.

I have learned through this Summer Learning Journey that I can do lots of things on the computer.  And I also learned about lots of famous people and what they did to be famous. I like history and I think I am good at it.

For the future of this SLJ, I think nothing should be changed. I like the way it is designed.

Thank you for allowing me to participate in this SLJ. I really like working and reading people's comments on my blog.

Daniel. R

Wk 4: Day 5 - Dancing Queens (En Pointe)

Image Attribution: My father

I chose this quote because it means that when you're finding it hard to work on something hard, you can break it down into small jobs and finish it quickly. 

Just like building my sister's playhouse by dad, August, and I. My brother and I helped paint the house at the end. Dad built most of the house working in small jobs one at a time.

Wk 4 Day 5: Dancing Queens (The World of Hip - Hop)

In the Dancing of the Royal Family, I liked everything that they did in the Dance. They were all had
Talents.

Wk 4 Day 4: Arty Designers (Top Secret Street Art)

One difference
from these two
 Paintings is that
one is the artist
Nick savva used
paint and Vrod used spray. But
the Similarities are that they are Artists                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Vrod
Nike Savvas

Wk 4 Day 4: Art Designers (Try your own Tapa)

                                                  Image Attribution: By Daniel Ripata
This Tapa shows a Face of Someone. The Dark magenta Cloud shows his
Beard. The Red Rectangle shows his Nose. The Black Rectangle shows
his outh with White Teeth. The Green Spots Are Eyes and the BIG, Black
Square is his Hair. 

Wk 4 Day 4: Arty Designers (Fashion Forward)

                 Image Attribution: by Daniel Ripata In Storyboard.

            I like the Name Twenty - Seven Names because they were the Names of Twenty seven Volunteers. I would think that Fashion is the best Type of  Designing.

Wk 4 Day 3: Screen Legends (Feast or Famine)

I would like to join the 40 Hour Famine because I  would like to make
Friends with Poor People. I also think that other People That Likes
the Poor People should join this Activity.