This afternoon, we did a Cybersmart Challenge called Email Etiquette. This activity was about writing good emails. A good quality email contains of this.

Subject Line: The subject line summarises your email’s content.  It should be catching people’s attention and be specific. 

Greeting: Emphasise the need for a polite greeting, such as “Kia ora [Name]” or “Hello [Name] ” or “Tēnā koe [Whaea]”

Body: The body of your email should be clear and to the point.  Pay attention to your punctuation and grammar.  Remember emails are formal means of communication, so avoid using any slang.
Closing: End your email politely with phrases like;
“Kind regards,” “Ngā mihi nui,” “Ma te wa” or “Best regards,” 

Then the task was to write an email to the Manaiakalani people saying what our favourite task was and what we suggest as to be a Cybersmart Challenge. This is mine.

How do you write your emails?

In the afternoons on Tuesday, we have been learning about New Zealand History. This activity was to create an animated slide on a Waka Hourua and a modern day ship, like a cruise ship. A Waka Hourua is two waka put together side by side with some sails. A waka is a ship Māori people or Polynesian people travel in. A Waka Hourua is just like a waka, but with added a another waka, and sails, possibly more room and shelters too. We have been learning about the Waka Hourua, and this activity is to show our learning and understanding of the Waka Hourura.

Would you choose to travel on a Waka Hourua at no cost or a very expensive cruise ship?

Today, we did a Cybersmart Challenge on creating an animation with Google Slides. First, you need a blank presentation. Choose a background and a few objects/animals for your first slide. Choose the things you want moving and the things you don’t. With the things you want moving, you duplicate the first slide and move it slowly, like, not too big of a jump. Repeat the duplicating and moving until you’ve finished. Then, you will  have created an animation!

This is my animation I created.

Would you rather watch a very short movie or a Google Slide animation?

Yesterday, I went to the Regional Interschool Chess Championships at Avonhead School. Going with me were Joseph and Joshua, year 7 boys in my school. We travelled to Avonhead school in my car, and that felt like aaages. When going there, my favourite thing about it was Joseph saying “My sister goes there.” when we were passing Marian and Joshua replied “At Pak n’ Save?”. It was so funny.

After we arrived, had a few friendly games, and in no time, the tournament had started. At the end of the tournament, we all played seven games in total. I lost 3 of my games, and won 4. In one of the games, I got a Sneaky Knight badge by checkmating my opponent with a knight. The people I lost to were three boys who ended in the top 3 of the whole junior division so they got either a bronze, silver or gold medal. Because I won against all the girls out of my seven draws, I got the best girl prize even though I had tied points with two other girls. The prize was a gold medal with the two words “BEST GIRL” and a certificate addressing me being 1st place amongst all female participants. I also had heaps of fun, meeting my friends from other schools, both known and unknown (new). This is my first gold medal ever! Both Joshua and Joseph gained a badge each from solving some puzzles provided by Chess Power.

In the car on our way back to school, we had lots of fun. We swung from side to side and squashed each other everytime my dad made a turn. We kept our seltbelts on all the time, but we were just doing it deliberately to have a laugh.

At the end of the day, we all had a very good time and everyone is taking some prize home.

Here are some highlights of the day in the tournament.

Would you rather have a medal or a badge?

This term, we have been learning about stewardship. Stewardship is protecting God’s creations and treating them with respect, like caring for the environment and keeping ourselves healthy. Some of the verses have the same meaning, as being stewards of the earth. I chose a verse and created an artwork along with it. The animal silhouettes represents the animals on earth, both on water and on land, and the plants means the trees and plants we have to care for. I put the verse at the bottom, and the outcome ended as this.

Why do you think being a steward of this earth is important?

For Cybersmart this week, the challenge is called Check me out. It talks about sharing personal information but not private information. Personal information are information like favourite food, favourite colour, things that you like, things that you are proud of. Private information are information like your date of birth, your full name, your money, your address. This is my work, containing only personal information.

What do you think are the differences between personal information and private information?

Every year, we have a YCC day at our school. YCC day, as Young Catholics Care, is when we come uniform-free to school with a gold coin donation. These money we donate to schools around the world that face challenges in schools. This year, we donate the money to Holy Trinity School, in Papua New Guinea. They face a whole heap of challenges, from all materials being shared to tight cramp spaces in classrooms. Although Papua New Guinea is a beautiful spot, much more things aren’t as good as that beautiful scene. There are a few abbreviations for YCC day. The abbreviations are Youth and Caritas Combined, Your choice of clothing, and Your Coin Counts, but the real one are Young Catholics Care. It used to be called Mufti Maniac, but it was found offensive in another language. In my class, we had a group photo together apart from the ones who were sick.

Who do you donate money to?

This week, we have been learning about Amazing Algorithms for reading.

Algorithms are like nice, simple instruction to make 1 thing, for example, creating a car. Algorithms break down making a car into much simpler things.

We first read a text about it, then did a quiz, next create an algorithm, and share it wit ha buddy to check it works. We also watched a video of how to make PB and J sandwich, with a girl and a boy, trying to make the clearest instructions for the tester. The first one were pretty funny like “Put the Peanut Butter on the bread. Then put the bread on top of the of the PB” which came out as bread, PB in its jar in the middle, then bread. The whole class kept laughing.

Then we moved on to doing our tasks. I chose to do a Cheese and onion on toast. These are my instructions.

How to make cheese and onion on toast

1. Get 2 pieces of bread
   1. a) Make sure your bread is cut
2. Sprinkle grated cheese all over the face of the bread
3. Add chopped onion rings on top of the cheese
4. Put a bit more grated cheese on top of the onion
5. Place the baking paper flat onto the baking tray, spread out
6. Place the bread with its toppings on the tray
   11. a) Make sure toppings are facing up
7. Put the tray into the grill, toppings still facing up
8. Close the grill door
9. Turn on the grill by heating it to 180°C
10. Don’t let the food burn
11. Take out the food and let it cool
12. Cut the food with a knife and fork
    12. a) Knife teeth facing down
    12. b) Fork sharps pointing down
13. Eat your food

Note: Burning lips take no responsibility.
We do not care!

Have you found any faults in my algorithm? By the way, what would your algorithm be on?

Today is the first day of Winter Sports at my school today! I am very excited to be versing other schools today in the sport I selected: Table Tennis!

Winter Sports is this programme provided by the Eastern Zone. It is where our school plays against other schools in the Eastern Zone of Christchurch. Obvious by it’s name, Winter Sports is a selection of sports for us to choose from. We do a google form to select a sport near the start of the year, so when it comes to time, we can do our selected sport. Some examples of choices are Circus, Table Tennis, Netball, Capture the Flag… There’s still more options, but it’ll be too long of a list to name them all. I have chosen Table Tennis, so that will be the sport I will be playing today.

This is soooo exciting! I feel like I am a busting volcano, ready to spill it’s laughter and fun. I think from the attitudes everyone else in my class, the whole of Year 6 are definitely exploding volcanoes…

Would you be excited for such an event?

Last Thursday and Friday, we Year 6 had these people from the council come in and teach us about Cycle Safety. They had set up this programme called Cycle Safe, and we learnt heaps of things and had lots of fun in the last few days.

Day 1: Thursday

I felt really nervous. I hadn’t ridden my bike in ages and was scared that my bike wouldn’t pass the test. My bike was a mountain bike and was pretty short so I could balance better and all, and I didn’t want to use their road bikes. We discussed some rules first like children aged 8 ½ or older are not supposed to ride bikes on the footpath, you must wear a bike helmet if riding a bike, and if you are riding a bike at night, you must also have a white light a the front and a red light at the back so other people can see you. Then we did a short bike check which contained Air, Brakes, Chain, and Quick release. My bike needed air in the tires, so I checked the air. I did that as well for brakes and chain, but not quick release. The quick release are like the joints where you unlock it and it is loose. My bike wheels uses the nuts, so I didn’t have to bother with that. And they adjusted my seat because they said it was too short. I whined, “Do we have to?” The staff replied Yes, so I allowed them to adjust the seat for me. My classmate, Leisha, had the same problem, and she copied me, in the same whining tone!!! The same answer was said, and so she allowed them to adjust it for her. Next, we learnt the 5 L’s, Left, Levers, Lean, Leg, and Look. Then we were put into groups and rode our bikes to the canopy in a single file line. My classmate and I tried to get front so we did paper scissors rock. I lost in paper scissors rock so I slipped into the line behind the person in the front of the line, but another of my classmates wouldn’t let me join the line. I got sent to the back of the line, feeling soooo annoyed. We rode to the canopy and started off with a few lessons. I learnt how to indicate left and right, look behind myself and also learnt that it is best to use both brakes, not just one. Another thing I enjoyed is the way to make sure people can see we are indicating. We were taught to have it for 3 seconds, and to ensure it is 3 seconds, we used 1 banana, 2 banana and 3 banana. Then we did a slooow race, where the first to reach the line is the last and the last to reach the line is first. After that, everyone joined as a whole to play a game called ‘Shrinking Box’. We headed back for school, just in time for morning tea.

After morning tea, we learnt about main roads and side roads. We focused on the main road and one side road. These intersections are called T intersections, from the shape it is in. If there is a main road and two side roads, it would be a cross intersection. We learnt part of that, but there weren’t so much cross intersections around New Brighton, so we weren’t so focused on that. The top of the T is the main road. On the main road, going straight and turning left are like the kings of the T intersections. Turning right from the main road are like the queens of the intersections, like a pack of cards. If you are turning right from the main road, you are like the queens of the intersections because you must give way to people going straight from the other side. Then it is the side road. On the side road, turning left are like the jack. You must give way to people going straight from your right-hand side. After everyone has gone straight from your right-hand side, you may turn onto the main road because nobody else would now be bothering you. Finally, there’s the last of the intersection, turning right from the side road. Sometimes, when there’s heaps of traffic, it can take a while to get out. The reason behind that is because you must wait for both ways going straight, and anyone turning right. People turning left doesn’t bother, so when all is clear, then you go onto the main road. I got pretty bored on that. The other thing we talked about was behaviour. If anyone wasn’t showing good behaviour (especially with following instructions) will be sent back to school. The staff said it is much more serious because this is now actually on road in public. After our talk, we had lunch.

After lunch, we were handed hi-vis vests. I had an orange hi-vis because this is my own one, and I didn’t have to wear theirs. Our teacher stayed at school, so she didn’t get any photos of us on the road. I was well ready prepared, coming into school with my hi-vis on which I wore for the whole day. Their one were yellow, so I was the special one that was easily spotted. I think we only had a nice ride around, but I can’t remember. After a whole day, it was time to go home. I had really enjoyed my time riding my bike with the Cycle Safe people.

Day 2: Friday

I came into school happy, excited and prepared. Everyone apart from me got their hi-vis from the council. We got into groups and did our bike check. I did my bike check but then a staff that replaced someone who was here yesterday said something about my brakes. She almost wanted me to use one of their bikes, which I didn’t want to. The reason behind it is because their bikes are waaaaaaaaay to tall for me and that the fact their bikes are road bikes, unlike mine which is a mountain bike. She asked me how I know this is a mountain bike. I pointed out the frame is different and the tires are thicker if is a mountain bike. Another staff called Harry who was here yesterday with my group adjusted my brake angles by a little bit. I was ready to go.
We rode off onto the road. A big long bike ride. Using the 5 L’s, we got onto our bikes and rode up to QEII, where there was a one path turning into two paths. Everyone voted to go onto the long path. Due to time, Harry decided to go on the short path. It was about the same length really. And so, we headed for morning tea.

Morning tea ends. We did a few lessons, like

• a door and a bit more from a parked car
• how to stop on the road
• actual indicating on road
• turning left from main road
• turning left from side road

Then it was lunch time. We did turning left on a roundabout, turning right from both main road and side road after lunch. At the roundabout lesson, it was really scary. I felt nervous at first. We did it 2 more times, and it wasn’t as scary at the end. We also did the turning right which I found it very easy. The intersections were pretty calm, so I found it quite comfortable. We rode around New Brighton, including going to the seaside and visiting Thompson Park, but there was not much of the park left, so we left and went back to school. During the trip back to school, we played a game where you had to do everything we learnt from the lessons on road. Alike golf, you will get points for doing the wrong thing. Whoever gets the most points loses, so your aim is to get the least points. My classmate, Zara-Mao, was the one announced with the high score of … 4! But because Harry lost track of who got the least points, nobody knew.

Once we arrived, it was already the end of day. We received a certificate each and a few guides to biking from the council. We said our thank-yous, and it was the and of the Cycle Safe programme, complete.

Where would you take your bike ride to and what type of bike would you use?