Summer Learning Journey Teaser Week Task. Day 1.

Today we were doing the Summer Learning Journey teaser week tasks. This was task number one. It is day 2 of the teaser week.

Taku Mokai

In our class we have been learning about how to introduce them in Maori for our upcoming pet day. I chose to write about my cat Shadow. Here is my poster about her.

The Dreamgiver

Task: watch the video ‘Dreamgiver.’  You then have to write a short story or piece of descriptive
writing using this video as your inspiration. 

-We are learning to be descriptive writers (paint pictures with words)  so that our readers can
imagine what it is we are writing about and find our writing engaging. 

https://vimeo.com/106989758 - This video link may work better. 

     

The Dream Giver 

On a dark and stormy night something flew past my window. I heard fluttering
wings and saw something glowing but the glow was muffled by my curtains.
My heart skipped a beat and I couldn’t move. My parents told me this place
was paranormal but I never believed them! I forced myself to lie down and I
tried to sleep but then my shutters opened. A very ugly thing flew into my
dormitory window. The reason I slept in a dormitory was because I was in
college. Nobody was awake but they would have fainted if they saw that ugly
thing! He placed his sack onto my bed and then took a glowing orb from the
sack and flew over to Lisa’s computer. He cracked the orb in half and poured
it onto the computer.  A golden figure appeared and I gasped. It was Lisa’s
dream. He did the same to Anna’s necklace and Lily’s photo of her parents.
Then as the clock struck midnight a gust of wind blew through the dormitory
and made one of the glowing orbs fall onto my book. 

I was up to the chapter where the villain became the monarch. Suddenly I
was sucked into a dream that took me to a strange place. I recognised the
illustrations of the villain from my book and gasped. That gremlin fairy or
whatever it was, had put me in my own book! The villain saw me and chased
me onto the edge of a cliff. I realised that I was the person he wanted to kill.
I tried to scream but my vocal cords were frozen. I stepped backwards and
heard stones falling off the edge of the cliff. That stupid gremlin had
condmmed me to death. Suddenly he flew through into the book and trapped
the villain in an iron cage. I closed my eyes and I was back in my own bed.
I sat up and saw the gremlin. He walked over and said in a voice that sounded
like thorns, “ Kid promise not to tell anyone about me or dreams will just be a
silly gremlin flying into your room and cracking eggs. ”  I promised him this
and then...

All My Algebra DLO's

Packing my bags for...

In Room 7 on Fridays we had Mrs Wylde teaching us. She read us the poem " Packing My Bags For Mars" by James Norcliffe. She then made us write our own poem in the style he wrote his except we had to make it about a different place. Here is MY poem.

Success criteria:

WALT Develop our own poem in ( packing my bags for mars By James Norcliffe. WALT use increasingly  descriptive vocabulary to add interest to our writing. WALT have some fun and use creative ideas and our imagination.

Packing my bags for the Underworld

One heavy metallic, 

Shiny metal suitcase 

Full of cotton fibres woven into 

Lightweight flameproof metal

To carry my flameproof clothes

So they don’t melt

One special, homemade

Shiny smooth, heat resistant

Air filtering, respirator for breathing clear cool energy giving air

So I don’t suffocate

One precious,

From the heart, golden

Embroidered with diamonds

Bracelet worn around my wrist

So I don’t forget about home

One hallow infused

Sunray and Moonlight

Made from the finest of the

Heavens core,

 Crystal to  fend off the creatures of the underworld

Keeping me safe

One precious friend

So I am never alone

By Emma. B

Collaging Google Drawing

We have been learning how to make a collage on google drawings. We had to use the explore, mask and arrange tools to get our collage to come together. We had to make and NZ bird and put it into it's habitat. It was a lot of fun and I am very pleased with my bird.

My Glow Worm Information Report

We have been learning about minibeasts in class as part of science. We have been creating information reports on  a minibeast of our choice. The minibeast we chose had to live  in NZ. Here is my writing

Awesome Glow Worms 

What Are Glow Worms?

Glow worms are native to NZ. They are the larvae of the fungus gnat ( a type of fly ). They are mainly carnivores but they will eat leaves if necessary. Glow worms are nocturnal and are insects. Their DOC status is not threatened. They are also known as the Titiwai  and the Pūrātoke. A glow worm tail has a special organ that is the equivalent of a human kidney. It uses the glow to burn off waste. It’s tail glows because of bioluminescence which is a chemical reaction between the glow worm and the oxygen in the air. Bioluminescence is an insects natural light source to attract food or a mate.

Where do Titiwai live?

Pūrātoke live in many different places but they all are damp or dark  making them humid. Glow worms may be found on moist banks and dangling from ravines. Sometimes  they are found in abandoned mining tunnels and caves. Some of the many places they live are always humid.

What do Glow Worms Eat?

Glow worms have a basic diet in the insect kingdom. Glow worms have a meat based diet but they will eat leaves and dead wood. Slugs and snails often fall prey to Titiwai and so do other small invertebrates. Even other insects are a part of their diet! They use their glowing lights to attract prey into their sticky threads. Once the insects are stuck the Titiwai can eat them.

How do Pūrātoke reproduce?

Pūrātoke have a very strange life cycle. The adult fly only lives for three days but  in that time the fly lays its eggs. The eggs hatch in three weeks. Young larvae are three millimeters long when they hatch. Over six to nine months they grow steadily until they are three to four centimeters. When they become pupa they hang upside down on a string for two weeks.

What are their threats?

Arachnids are big threats because they eat glow worms. There is also a bit of cannibalism in territorial disputes between glow worm. One of their main threats is habitat loss and the pollution of streams because glow worms require clean water. We as humans need to look after their habitats and clean up our waterways.

Photos of the Pūrātoke!