Christmas!

This is most likely my last blog post ever, and I have really liked doing blog posts.
So for this blog post it is about our plans and what we are doing for Christmas. For this Christmas we are going up to Hawkes Bay with some family friends to stay on the beach (in a house) for the new year.  Although we do this we have an old family tradition of going up to our cousins in Kapiti for Christmas day and dinner. I want to wish the year 7's good luck for being a yr 8 next year, it's great fun being the top of the school. And when your at camp make sure to give everything a go because once you have left you don't want to feel like you didn't do everything. :)
Thanks a lot,
MAtt

highlights

Some of my main highlights this term were:
Speeches (not really)
Dodgeball
Space
Athletics
Tech
and some other things I don't want to share... hehe
Thanks,
MAtt

College! :o

This is obviously my last year at st Ben's, as I am a year 8. Next year I am going to St Pats. It will feel really weird, going from the top of the school back down to the bottom, but I feel like it will be good fun as it is a new school and I have to learn alot about it. i guess the main challenge will be the change of having different classes  for different things and getting out of bed WAY earlier! Next year I want to try extra hard as it is a new year and different challenges. The main things I'll miss about St Ben's is that the school is so small and I pretty much know everyone. Also most of the teachers at our school are pretty cool. :d ( see the rhyming :P) 

Anyways, 

Thanks, 

MAtt.

Speech

I did my speech today and the main thing that comes to mind when I think about it is that I think I spoke a bit to fast. I feel like I could have learnt my lines a lot more though I knew a bit.I am really glad to get it over with though and good luck to the year 7's next year :P
Thanks,
MAtt

The Maze Runner!

Lately I borrowed a book from a really nice person in our class. The book was called the maze runner. The maze runner is a really entertaining  book about a big maze, but not as you know it. There are monsters, cliffs, traps and closing walls. The kids in the glade have lost their outside world memories and only remember their names. Thomas comes up in the "box" and helps them out but if I tell you anymore it would give away the story!
Thanks,
MAtt 

[[]l]oloololoo

Speech

Ever year in term 4 we have speech competitions. This year we have to write a blog post about how we are feeling leading up to it cause I guess its a big deal ;). I guess I'm a bit excited, once I have written my speech.:P I will probably be quiet nervous because I am not sure if people will like my speech but I want to focus on voice variation and eye contact to make my speech go better
Thanks,
MAtt

space topic

For the past 2 weeks we have been doing space for our topic in class. The main thing that I was interested in learning was the life of a star. I think we still need to learn a bit more but it has been good so far. thanks,
MAtt

My holidays

For the first week of the holiday’s week we went down south to Wanaka for a skiing holiday. As the weather was getting sunnier it was beautiful up Cardrona. When we first got up the top of the mountain there were so many jumps, runs and so much SNOW! As soon as we had topped up our card which we needed to get on to the chairlifts, we were off straight to captains, (a ski run)  our days was pretty much like that, we did do some other runs, but I can’t remember their names :P. Anyway it was awesome and we got 3 days in in all and we also did some jumps and rails which are really fun.

Thanks,

MAtt

 

Finishd wid produckshun, and I thot It looked awsum, I ws in chayr dans and im won of de mayn cast, my nayme was steelyon, my hilites wer the chayr dans and the hole procukshun was so cool and evryting was like pew pew alyens were like dying and blood was evrywere and da henchmen were like killing agents and agents were killing henchmen. it ws grat

Reading challenges

Every term we  have reading goals to complete by the end of the term. I have just finished a series so I haven't completed many yet but these are the ones I have done:
Read three books in a series : I read all three of the chasing the valley books
Read a book recommended by a family member: I read Big Nate, recommended by my brother.


I know it dosent look like I have done many but all the other challenges are single books and the next challenge I will go for is: Pick a random book out off the shelf.
Thanks,
MAtt

My favourite sport

Indoor cricket. Indoor cricket is my favourite and most successful sport I play at the moment. My favourite part of the game is the fact that the game is confined and you can bounce and catch off the nets. The rules of this form of the game are suited more for a faster and more exciting game. These are the pure basic rules of the game:

1.     Non-striker batsman only has to run to half way (as shown on photo)

2.    8 fielders, 2 batsman and 1 umpire.

3.    -5 runs if you get out

4.    Softer ball

5.    Not allowed the ball in the huddles

6.    If you hit the walls in the first half of the court you get an extra run when you run, but 2 extra runs if you hit the side back half.

7.    If you hit the far back wall on the full its 6 runs but if you run you get 7.

8.    4 batting partenerships.

9.    If you get a higher score then the batsmen on the other team who batted at the same partnership time as you, you get a “skin”

10.You are allowed to catch the ball off any net except the very back one, unless it hits another net and stays off the ground.

These are only a few  of the main rules, except there are some little things you should know to do during the game, e.g. If they bowl a wide you have to signal to the umpire if you want to re- bowl it.

The main skill that you learn (or should have) is fast reflexes. As you are playing

playing in a small court a ball can bounce of any wall or come at you at any time. Another skill relating to reflexes is just simply to be ready to catch, field or throw the ball at anytime.

I think that most people are put off cricket because of how long it takes and how little you are in the game, but indoor cricket is the opposite of this. You are constantly diving, talking and celebrating most balls!

Production Prep

This term we doing a production, and we have to update how we are doing leading up to it. For the dances I am in we have only done a few practises but I think we are going really well. Tainted love looks really good, but our chair dance needs a bit more practise. :) I have memerised most of my lines but I dont know when to say them! I am not in props but I hope they doing well and Sam and my costume is finished and looks good. I need to practise my lines alot more and read the few lines before them so I know when to say them.
Thanks,
MAtt

Foil (Remix of Lordes "Royals")

Foil is a very funny remix of Royals. This song is a story about the singer who goes into a restaurant and doesn't finish all his food.  He then takes his food home in a paper bag which to him doesn't keep his food fresh enough for him! He then goes on and says that foil will help in an alien invasion but i'll leave it for you to watch. Sorry, I cant find the song but might be able to , search up: Foil on youtube.
Thanks,
MAtt
(yes purposeful capital A!)

Favourite art

This is my best painting ever :) 

So for this weeks reflection we have to post or favorite piece of art e have done.We each painted a Egyptian head to put on the wall outside our classroom. my favorite part of this art is the face, especially the mouth as I am usually pretty bad at drawing thin black lines.
This might be (maybe one more) my last post until end of the holidays so I'll see you all soon. :::)
Cya,
MAtt
(yes I purposefully did a capital A!)

Egypt learning!!

 Hello People,
So I want to focus on one thing that has stuck into my mind the best... the weapons. There was a lot of information in their power point and the games that we played gave us a chance to play what we have learnt. The thing that I learn from the most is exactly what we are doing right now... power points and activity's! Thanks To the Bolgers I have learnt a lot! thank youuuuuuuuuuuu!

Cya

Nairnville

To start off with we will do a warm up game. Either Ship to shore or bopper tag. We will play a few of these games and then do some stretches, wrist rolls and toe touches. My favourite activity was the obsticale course were we climbed and crawled through things. I improved on everything except for rolly pollys which i'm  useless at!
Im just really looking forward to the sports segment.

Learning stuff

Well in the last couple of weeks I have learnt a lot of different things.


But the thing that stays in my head the most is the burial. The burial was a main part of Egyptian after life. They believed it was vital to keep the in tip top form. They took out the soft organs out, even the brain! They then wrapped the body in wrapping and placed it in a hard case and surrounded the body in riches and possessions.

Book groups

My book groups went really well. Most people read to where we were meant to, and some people didn't!
What went well was that we had really thoughtful discussions and we listened to each other. What we could improve on was Just staying FOCUSED! I have really gained from this expierance because now when I read my own books I think about what is important and what the characters would be like in real life!

Book- The Trucker

The Trucker is a book I used to read with My Dad. The book is about a kid who's
 dad is a trucker. He has a dream about going on a delivery drive but his dad wakes
him up and he realises it was all a dream.

But while he is still in his dream a car brakes down and he and his dad repair and
rescue the car. They are in a big storm and when they turn on the windscreen wipers
 I used to go "swish swish" . They stop at a Trucker stop to have something to eat and
the kid feels like a man and orders a massive burger and fries. When his Dad finally wakes him, He has to sprint outside in the big storm, jumps in. ( For real this time)       

holidays

last Saturday at the end of the holidays (still counts as the holidays) I played a game of rugby against Pram ( Parapram) and we won; by a fair margin. We received the ball from the kick off and the forwards did a great job charging up the field and secured the ball for us backs and Alex Blacktop was pulled just up short of the try line when Matt (great name!) Edwards dived over the line for a great team try. I kicked the conversion from the side line and we were ahead early in the game. Pram came back strong but we held the off and scored another try in the same fashion and I converted again. So to wrap it up I kick 4/5 conversions and we ended up wining 40 /20.

Mission Fair

So for the mission fair we had to come up with a stall to raise money for Caritas, to raise money for Solomon Islands. Our Stall was a game where you try throw money onto chocolate.

What went well was that we raised lots of money off a 50c game. we raised about $90. I don't think there was much more we could do to improve our stall except for a few more big bars.

stuff

I like to play backyard cricket either on the grass or on the tramp. Versing Marco is quite easy but he is getting a lot harder.

What is backyard cricket?

Well its pretty simple just a fast paced version of cricket with a tennis ball in your back-yard!

What I like about it is that you can bat for as long as you like and you can have fun and muck around while trying new styles out.

I do play really often mostly whenever I go outside.

Question:
Have you ever played back yard cricket? 
If no would you like to try it?

Stats

What areas have you improved on?

I have definitely improved most on mean, mode, median and range. I just needed to remember what they were and how to do them.

What areas do you still most need to work on?

 Probably remembering mode a bit more and what to do when there are two modes I only just remembered in the test.

What did you do in this unit to help?
I asked lots of people when I was stuck to help me out.

Camp Review!

What did you find the most challenging?
I found the high ropes the most challenging just because of how little the log was.

What did you find the easiest?
I found the rock climbing the easiest because of the energy going around and the support.

Was it what you expected?
No. It was BETTER then what I expected!

What was your proudest moment?
My proudest moment was when I got to the top of the rock climbing. I never was any good at rock climbing, that's why.

Swimming Reflection

hey peeps,
Santa here, so its time to reflect on our swimming. I got selected into the kayaking group in case a present falls in to the sea and I have to rescue it! We have been practicing how to capsize safely and also how to paddle properly in case the sea is choppy! I am defiantly improving in my kayaking and I can also help people to go faster to get the most out of my lessons.

HOO HOOO HOO merry christmas!\

Thanks,
MAtt 

OPC camp reflection

I am really looking forward to camp, but what am I looking forward to? Well, I am really looking forward to kayaking, camping on the beach, the flying fox and caving. (probably tons more just cant really remember at the moment!) I'm not really worried about much except for the high ropes. I have pretty much got all my gear but haven't got it out yet. I'm going pretty well in my practical and fitness tasks.
Thanks,
MAtt