Exploring International Current Events

 LI: To understand the author's purpose

This week we've been exploring current events that are happening internationally. Authors write for a purpose. These reasons are to persuade, inform or entertain (PIE). Each day, newspaper editors around the world must make desicions about which stories they will run. We thought about why the story made the news and plotted the location on a google map. Something I found interesting that is happening around the world is how there was a white giraffe spotted in North-Kenya. I found this interesting as I never knew giraffes could be different colours but this giraffe has proven me wrong. I really enjoyed exploring these current events as some articles were weirdly interesting.

Exploring our National Current Events

 LI: To identify author's purpose.

Authors write for a purpose (reason). These reasons are to persuade, inform or entertain (PIE). Each day, newspaper editors around the world must make decisions about which stories they will run. Tanisha, Leroy, Lukah, Azatulah, Sakina and I explored the different types of current events that are happening in New Zealand, thought about why the story made the news and plotted the location on a google map. I found this task interesting because we all looked for different articles to read about and we got to share them to each other, some articles were shocking and interesting. Something I found interesting from this task was that NZ had a competition to see which bird would win bird of the year. I found this weirdly interesting because I've never heard of this before and I was slightly intrigued.

Provocation: Should masks be compulsory on NZ public transport?

 LI: To identify and consider the two perspectives of this provocation to help me form an opinion.

A provocation is an action or speech that triggers strong feelings about a topic. Today in groups for reading, Name, Name, Name and I thought about both sides of the provocation, ‘Should masks be compulsory on NZ public transport?’. We used our smart searching skill and information to help us form an opinion that we could justify with evidence and provide strong evidence for each opinion. On November 19th, masks are going to be required to use on public transport (buses, trains, planes and taxis/ubers). My opinion is undecided as I think that masks can help reduce the spread of coronavirus as Professor Michael Baker says if we don't want another lockdown we should wear masks to stop the spread. At the same time, I also think that masks shouldn't be compulsory because others might not be able to afford them and as Jamie-Lee Ross says peoples rights are getting taken away. Citizens wouldn't be able to enter public transportation because they aren't wearing masks, making it not fair on them if they were rushing to get to a place.   

Vincent Van Gogh Timeline

LI: To create a timeline to show the life of Vincent Van Gogh.

This week, for literacy and inquiry we worked together to create a timeline of Vincent Van Gogh’s life. We used our smart searching skills to find information about Vincent Van Gogh. Vincent was an Impressionist artist, meaning he liked to paint a moment in time (still life). I worked collaboratively with Florence, Sakina, and Taheesha to get this timeline completed. We enjoyed learning about Vincent Van gogh as we were able to learn something new.  Something we all found interesting was that he cut off a part of his ear and sent it to his girlfriend, because he got into an argument with Paul Gauguin, who is one of his friends. This was interesting, because we wouldn’t imagine someone cutting off part of their ear.

Famous Scientist Research

LI: To use smart searching skills to find out about a scientist from the past who made an important contribution to their field of science.

This week as an activity for distance learning in reading, Victoria and I worked together to create a DLO on researching a famous physicist. We chose to learn about Galileo Galilei because his name sounded most interesting and we’ve never heard of him before. We’ve included some things that he is recognised for, some of his biography, and his life/childhood growing up. Something we found new was that he had the intentions of becoming a priest and studied camaldolese. Camaldolese is the Congregation of Monk Hermits of Camaldoli. Something we found interesting was he that he discovered the four moons on Jupiter. We enjoyed this activity as we never knew who Galileo Galilei was and what his professions were.

Polynesian Panthers

LI: To use the information you gained from the text to create a DLO about the Polynesian Panthers.



This week for reading we read a text called Polynesian Panthers. Sakina and I created a DLO using the information from the text to tell others about this protest. In our DLO, we included who the Polynesian Panthers are, what happened and how this effected our community. Two interesting facts, Haylee and I found out was that the police and government, didn't raid the British and North Americans overstayers, and that the Polynesians weren't accepted back in those days, because we thought that everyone would be accepted for who they are.

Polynesian Panthers Evaluation

LI: To read the information in the text, think about what you have read and form an opinion.

This week in Reading, Kakapo we read a text about the Polynesian Panthers which was a true story that took place in the early 1970s. When we finished reading the text we made a evaluation DLO collaboratively. In our evaluation we included events that were linked to Dawn Raids, two events that we think were most important, questions we had after reading and our opinion on the Polynesian Panthers right to protest. I think the Polynesians Panthers had the rights to protest because they wanted to spread awareness about what was happening within the Pasifika community and wanted to be treated equally. 

Wahine Evaluation

LI: To read the information in the text, think about what you have read and form an opinion.


This week in reading, Kakapo worked collaboratively to create a evaluation about the story "Escape from the Wahine". In our evaluation we listed important factors that would be considered when thinking about why the Wahine sunk, two factors we think are important and why, which questions we had after reading and our opinion on who was to blame for the Wahine sinking. We worked together and shared our opinions on the topic.

Wahine Summary

LI: To explain in fewer words what the text is about.

This week for reading Kakapo read a true story "Escape from the Wahine". First we did reciprocal reading, so we could have a better understanding of the text. After we finished doing reciprocal reading we created a summary about the story which includes 20 important words, 6 most important words and then used those 6 words to sum up the story. I found this story really interesting because I never knew about these stories and I now know that this was a very tragic event. I also found interesting that the storm was the harshest storm recorded in New Zealand.

Current Events

LI: To explore the international current events.


This week, we explored the international currents events and some of the different types of current events. Newspaper editors make choices everyday, about what to share with the world. On a google maps, Sakina, Florence and I worked collaboratively to plot locations about these current event stories. We really enjoyed finding out about these stories, which was very interesting.

Haiku Challenge 2

LI: To correctly structure and write a Haiku poem.

This week for another Haiku challenge I worked with Sakina and Florence. For this activity we chose to write about winter, that has 3 verses. A Haiku poem has 5 syllables in the first line, 7 syllables in the second line and another 5 syllables in the last line. Sakina, Florence and I worked collaboratively to make this Haiku poem and so we could communicate on which topic we would like.

Haiku Challenge 1

LI: To correctly structure and write a haiku poem.

This week Florence, Taheesha, Sakina and I worked together to create a Haiku Poem. Our Haiku poem was about the ocean. To create a Haiku it contains a 5 syllable sentence in the first line, 7 syllable sentence in the middle line and another 5 syllable sentence in the last line. This task was fun as I worked collaboratively with my friends and we were able to negotiate on what we wanted the topic to be about.

Ferdinand Magellan Summary

This week for reading we created a summary about Christopher Columbus or Ferdinand Magellan. I decided to make my summary about Ferdinand Magellan's achievements and voyages. For this activity we used our smart searching skills to find out information about the explorer we chose. Something I found interesting about Ferdinand is that he was the organiser of the first circumnavigation. In the summary we chose 20 important words and 6 of the most important words which were then used to make sentences.

Charting Our Islands | Shared Wordbank

LI: to learn new sets of vocabulary. This week in Reading one of our activities we did was a Shared Wordbank. A Shared Wordbank is an activity that helps us grow our vocabulary and have a better understanding of the word. We read a book called Charting our Islands, while reading it as a group. When we finished reading a page we shared words we didn’t understand. On our shared wordbank, we added the words we didn't understand or know the meaning of, we included synonyms, word families and a clear definition.

Charting Our Islands | Past & Present

This week in Reading, we got into our reading groups and collaboratively to complete the activities relating to Captain Cook and Kupe's’ voyage. For one of these tasks, we created a past and present DLO which explained the problems and differences between, the transportation from decades ago to now. We also did reciprocal reading and made a summary. Each person had a job to do, Vocab Clarifier, Questioners, Summarize, Predictor and the leader. 

Venn Diagram | Kupe & Captain James Cook

This week in our reading groups we worked collaboratively to create a Venn diagram about Captain James Cook and Kupe. For this task we used our knowledge to write the similarities and differences. Something that Captain Cook and Kupe had in common was that they were both navigators that found New Zealand. 

Treaty of Waitangi Collaborative Summary

LI: To identify key words in a text and use these words to collaboratively summarise the events in the text. This week for reading, we created a collaborative summary about the Treaty of Waitangi. First we read a story about the history of the Treaty of Waitangi and made some notes for our summary. We then answered the learning conversations and created our own questions for our group. Something I found interesting was how over 500 Maori chiefs had signed the treaty.

National Current Events

This week as a group, we explored the national current events. In my group were Pouvi, Afa, Makaili and Sakina. Not only did we explore the current events, but we also learnt the different types of current events. Together we read articles about national news and which articles matched the best with each type of current events. On a google map, we plotted the locations of where the current event stories took place, with a short explanation of the article/story.

Monatgues and Capulets | Fight Scene

This week we learnt about the story Romeo and Juliet. We watched a short video about the story to learn about it. After watching the story, we chose a scene. Sakina, Taheesha, Miiana and I chose the scene where the Montague's and Capulet's slaves fought. Then we wrote a play of the scene in our own sentences using the Shakespearean translation. After writing our scripts, we presented it to the class. We created a DLO to show the Montague's and Capulet's fight in pictures.

History Presentations

For the past few week we have been reading and creating DLO about the Horrible Histories books, in partners. My partner was Sakina, and for the past weeks we have been reading Henry VIII. Henry VIII was the king of England who married 6 women for a son. The pattern was divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived. For this book Sakina and I decided to create a Kahoot and a 5 sentence, 10 syllable summary about Henry VIII and his 6 wives.  After creating the DLO and the Kahoot, we presented it to the class, so they could learn what we learnt about king Henry VIII. From this book, we have learnt about the recent events about Henry VIII. Something that I found interesting about the book was that he married his brothers widow. Another thing I also found interesting was that he was charming and athletic when he was younger.