Animation with Google Slides

Wellinton Camp

On Sunday we drove down to Wellington. I really enjoyed playing cards with Emma and Liana, we played P’s and A’s. I have never been to Wellington before so it was cool looking out of the window and seeing the landscape change. On Monday morning we got woken up at 6:25 to go for a run. We left to go to Parliament. It was really fun going into the debating chambers and learning that in a way they are the most important rooms in the country. I also really enjoyed the Te Papa museum. The model of the blue whale heart was truly massive.

On Tuesday we went to the place that I had been looking forward to the most, Weta Workshops! From the start, I knew that it was going to be awesome. Our guide Reece was really funny and he had the most awesome stories. Sometimes he puts super glue on his fingers to stop them blistering. Unfortunately, it means that you can't use your phone. We went to the Wellington Zoo next which was pretty cool. I really liked seeing the Capuchin monkeys. I felt sorry for the Cheetah as it just walked around and around on the same track. You could see that it did it every day.

On Wednesday we went to Zealandia. The Tuatara were cute but scary at the same time. It was really hard to see them and sometimes it was just their head peeking out of a burrow. It was funny watching the Kaka drinking the sugar water and getting grain from the feeder. We drove down to Oriental Bay for lunch. It was freezing cold and blowing a gale. We went on a city adventure with our group leaders and we could go wherever we wanted. We got hot chocolate and ice cream. We caught a train on the way home and went to Jumparama.

Thursday we got up really early to get to the ferry terminal. We were heading over to Picton! At the start, I was really excited and when we boarded I realised how truly massive it was. On the way over lots of people got seasick, luckily I didn't. In Picton, we went to the Edwin Fox Museum. I really enjoyed the trip back to Wellington because it was really scenic. At the end, though the weather turned nasty and it was quite scary on the top deck. The trip back to Matawai is hard to remember because I was so tired. I enjoyed watching the movies and talking to Carol though.

Maths Reflection

We have been learning about symmetry, reflectional symmetry, and rotational symmetry for maths. e had to make a pattern that had rotational and reflectional symmetry. That means that is is a mirror image of the side over the symmetry line. Rotational symmetry means that the shape is able to be rotated and still be symmetrical. On mine, I had to rotate it 180* for it to be symmetrical. I chose not to colour mine.                                                              

Imagine a Night

Using the piece of Wellington writing we had to make a poem. We were using a template from the book imagine a night. Meaning that every sentence starts with imagine a night. I really enjoyed writing it and it was a really quick easy process. It was a cool way of recreating a story and using poetry. Usually, I find poetry quite hard but it was easy.

Wellington Writing

Recently we have been doing lots of learning about Wellington. In two days we are going there for school camp. We had to do a piece of writing about one of the places that we were going. I was doing Wellington Zoo. At the start of my writing, I was plain out of ideas. I was struggling to make an exciting story about a zoo. And then it hit me what if all of the animals escaped and fought back. It was still a hard story to write and it isn't my best but I was pleased with the end product.

Google Docs Ninja Award

Woohoo I am a 

Cybersmart Ninja

I really enjoyed doing this because it was a test of my knowledge of google docs. I felt like I knew most of the stuff and there were not many things that I struggled with. There were a few things that I had not learned or forgotten how to do so it was still a challenge. It was fun completing all of the Ninja tasks and I was very excited when I passed each one.

Visiting Gisborne Intermediate

Today we visited Gisborne Intermediate to experience going to school with over 600 kids and to show them about our go-kart derby. I was a bit shy in at the start when we got led into a class of 60 kids. It was like being in an assembly with the whole school. I looked around the class and realised that there were at least 15-20 people I knew. That made me much more comfortable. I really enjoyed collaborating with the people I did know and also with others I didn't. The shop day was so much fun and I thought it was an awesome way of making money.  I felt I learned lots about being in a big school like I will be in next year. Thank you very much to all of the teachers that helped.

Kid friendly things to do in Wellington

• Wellington Zoo
• Wellington Cable Car
• Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
• Indoor Grand Prix
• Space Place at Carter Observatory

Space Place at Carter Observatory is in an old observatory at the top of the Wellington Botanic Garden New Zealand.
At Space Place, they have a digital full-dome planetarium filled with stories facts and exhibits.
You can learn about planets, stars, constellations and galaxies and how New Zealand helped the world discover more about space.

Te Reo Maori Week

Our challenge was to incorporate some Te Reo Maori into our work as it is Te Reo Maori week.

We had to use the character that we designed for Spark Adobe to say two messages about netiquette.

Netiquette is about internet etiquette and following rules to make internet chat sites are safe for everyone. We learned about trolls and flamers who search the internet trying to start fights and cause trouble. I enjoyed using the bright green to highlight certain parts of my work. I made sure I kept it simple but eye-catching using google drawings.

Using Sisomo to make my work Pop

We were learning how to use sisomo to make our work pop.

I really enjoyed making my character because I used a tool I had learned to use earlier in Cybersmart.

I found it hard to find my way round Spark Adobe the start.

It was easy to make your Music sound cool and to fit in with your character.

Next time I need to make sure that I make my text easy to read.

Sisomo is about getting sight, sound and motion into a digital learning object (DLO).

Criteria for assessment: Key: 👍 = beginner          👍👍 = stepping up         👍👍👍 = smart learner
My buddy and I used “comments” to collaborate	👍 👍
My buddy and I made decisions together using “comments”	👍 👍👍
My buddy and I wrote 3 important Cybersmart messages	👍 👍👍
My buddy and I created a character in Google Drawings	👍 👍👍
My buddy and I designed our slides so the messages were easy to read	👍 👍
My buddy and I used design elements in our slides	👍 👍👍
I was able to upload my slides into Spark Adobe to make a video	👍 👍👍
My DLO (digital learning object) has “SISOMO”	👍 👍👍

Zheng He - Explorer Extraordinaire

For reading over the last couple of weeks I have been studying Zheng He an infamous Chinese explorer. We were learning to show our information we found in an interactive and attractive way. In other words, we were making visual posters. Zheng He was in command of the largest fleets of ships in world history. There were lots of different ships for trading, war, carrying people and supplies. I tried to do my work really fast but when I showed it to Miss Dods she said it was not acceptable. I enjoyed learning about Zheng He because I had never heard of him. I found out that the Chinese had very advanced navigation and maps for their time. I think it is amazing what he has achieved, it shows that China has always been a very powerful and forward thinking country. That is my favourite explorer, who is yours?

Squirrel Vs Hawk...

When I first saw this video I was a little bit stuck. In fact I was a lot stuck I could not think of anything to write about because I had done a very similar piece of adrenalin writing before. Then i decided that i would make it funny. I had seen pictures of squirrels holding bazookas on the internet and that was my inspiration. I had fun with this piece of writing because I could take it wherever I wanted. The only challenge was when It came to editing I had changed tense a lot. I wanted to end the story but it kept going on and on. Finally I finished and only just met the deadline. I hope you enjoy it!

Banksy

Banksy was my second choice for my art inquiry. He is an anonymous graffiti artist who's work shows up mostly in England but also in other places around the world. I chose him because of his political art works and the mystery that surrounds him. He does such cool work and it inspired me to do my own Bansky prints. I found out the names of some of his simpler works, e.g balloon girl and then searched on the internet "balloon girl stencil".  Next I printed it out on about 12 peices of a4 paper. The next step was to stick it to cardboard and cut it out. Wow cutting it out is tricky! It took ages to do it with the craft knife, and that was the fastest way. It was worth though because once I had the cardboard cut out all I had to do was spraypaint over the top of it. The paper underneath was left with a cool design once I took the cardboard off. It was hard but it was definately worth the trouble. I learnt lots about stenciling and the techniques that Banksy uses!

Macklemore - Living a life for art!

When we got told we had to choose a artist straight away I new who my first choice was... Macklemore! I really love his music and I think he has an inspiring story, from rags to riches. We were learning about the arts and all of the different types. I had no idea that singing and acting were an art!
 The way Macklemore presents his music and the fact that he sings about everyday life is what I really enjoy about him. It was fun making my google slides presentation and making it look cool. I was trying to make it more like a movie than a slideshow and also add a music backing.

 It is actually harder than I thought to navigate and use google slides. I discovered that there was lots of different little tricks and cool things you can do to your work on slides, such as animating pictures. It was a fun challenge and I was very happy with the end product. Who is your favourite artist and
why?
 

Profile

My name is Quinn. I live on a rural New Zealand farm about an hour away from the city of Gisborne with my family. I go to Matawai School where I am a year eight student. I have lived in Matawai all of my life. It is a really cool place to live because sometimes it snows in the winter. I have lots of great friends at Matawai School and I will miss them next year when I go to High School.

I have always enjoyed school and I am quite competitive so I am always challenging myself to be better. I am good at reading and maths and they are the subjects that I enjoy the most. My goal this year as a year eight was to be the best that I could be with everything and put 100% effort and lots of time into all of my tasks. Sometimes I find staying in my work a little bit tricky because I like to talk to people.

I am looking forward to more sports ahead, I love all sports and enjoy being fit and healthy. My favourite sport is hockey and I try really hard to be a supportive and happy teammate as well as being a good player. I also play rugby and do running competitively but I do not enjoy them quite as much. I always think the second half of the school year is much more exciting than the first half and the half way point has just shot past. The year is whizzing by and I can not believe that we are past halfway through!

Nau mai, haere mai ki tēnei taonga

Welcome to my blog for learning.

I look forward to sharing my learning with my school,

my whānau and friends anywhere.