Book Review: Rata and the Totara tree

Name of the Book: Rata and The Totara Tree

Author Of the Remake: Katerina Te Heikoko Mataira

Journal Number: SJ level 4, March 2012 pp32-37

My Name: Jedida

Age: 11

School Pt England School

                         Book Review: Rata and the

                    Totara Tree

This book (as you might know by the many titles) is called Rata and the
Totara Tree. I don’t know if I have ever read the original version, but this
version is pretty cool, and as you might see at the top of the page, that
his story is retold by Katerina Te Heikoko Mataira.

So this book is about someone named Rata. Rata is a professional canoe
builder. So his chief asked him to make the biggest canoe he could make,
that would be great for exploring more islands and things. And to make
the biggest canoe he could, he had to find the biggest tree (and one of the
lightest as well,) so him and some other guys, went out and looked for the
perfect tree….

...4 days later… after a while, they finally found a tree. This tree was a
Totara Tree. Rata was so excited that he had found the perfect tree, that
he forgot to ask Tane (god of the forest) if he could make a canoe out of it.
So him and his guys, spent all afternoon cutting down the tree, and they
knew the exact spot.

So the next day they went back ready to start actually carving the tree into
a canoe, and they cut it down once again. And then they went back the
next day, and it was back up again! And then again, and again. (Well, three
times actually..) But one day, when they cut it down, Rata decided to stay,
so he told his men to go back after a long day, to get some rest. So they
went back, and Rata stayed to see who, what, and how was the tree just
magically appearing each day.

So he spent the night hiding in a bush, right next to the tree to find out that
the birds, insects and creatures of the forest, were putting the tree up, and
all of the little bits and pieces of the tree, back into its place. Rata was
amazed, and at the same time he realized that he forgot to ask Tane if he
could *borrow* the tree!

So the next day, he left the tree as it was, and saw the birds and insects
cutting it down, and carving it into a canoe, perfectly. So even though Rata
forgot to ask (because he was so excited,) he was still able to give the
canoe to his chief.

Over all, I think that this book is pretty good. It is able to teach some
lessons to Rata and maybe some people who read the story as well. I give
this book 3 out of 5 stars. Even though I have not yet read the original
version, I still think that Katerina Te Heikoko Mataira did a great job! If you
have reached this part of the review, thank you very much for reading, and
feel free to leave a comment on my blog.  

Last day of Textile at Tech!

Today was the last day of Textile! So today, we were focusing on getting our practice sewing papers finished. Honestly, I am pretty excited for our next class, because it's either Hard materials, Robotics, or Cooking! on the picture, you might see this piece of paper, this is my finished product. So yeah, thank you very much for checking out the rest of my work/blog posts from textile, and see you in the next subject!

Textile Cushions

In Textile we finally got to finish our cushions and this is how mine turned out! Next week will be the last week of Textile and then we will move to a different tech class at Tamaki College.

How's my design? ya like it? I like how it turned out and it looks way better than how I imagined and when it was before it was sewed! 

Book Review: Battle

Name of the Book: Battle

Name of the Author: Maria Samuela

Journal Number: SJ L4 November 2014, pp40-45

My Name: Jedida

Age:11

School: Pt England

                                   :Book Review:

This book is called Battle, and as you might be able to tell from the title,
this book is about a Battle. But this isn’t just any battle, it’s a Dance Battle.

So, I have read this book/story, and I think that it’s a great book/story, and
the author did a great job of writing it. This book is basically about a boy,
who takes his great great grandpa’s medal to a Battle (a dance battle to be
exact) and he is pretty nervous.

But when it comes to his turn, he puts jacket back and… I guess you’ll just
have to read the story to find out what happens next, or what i’m talking
about. I thought that the story was pretty short, but it’s actually pretty long
for a journal story. It’s a couple of pages long.

But anyways, I think that this book can teach some people maybe a couple
of lessons, like listen to your mother..But over all, I think that this book/story
is very good, and I recommend it for you to read. I give this story ⅘ stars.
Feel free to look at other post from me, and look out the next post about
the same story.

Jedida Immersion Assembly

Today is April 29th which is the first day of term 2 for school. This morning was immersion assembly,
and it was pretty funny. It started off as a normal assembly, but I knew it would change because it's
the beginning of the term, and in the beginning of the term, all of the teachers make there own team
movie or act. The theme for this term is "I like your Latitude."

The first performance was by Mr Burt, Mr Somerville, Mrs Tele'a, and Mr Jacobson. The performance
started with Mr Jacobson missing, and then Mr Somerville came into the (where we were having the a
assembly), with a remote. Mr Burt looked pretty confused but just went with it, Mr Somerville claimed it
was his remote and him and Mr Burt moved some stage walls around and out came a robot. They
played with it for a while and a lot of people loved it. Then out came Mr Jacobson (out of the robot.)

The next performance was by team 1, it was a movie about direction, which way is north south west
and east, and which way to go. It was also about how bees are the future and today, because bees
are very important and helpful to help fruit, and maybe vegetables grow. There movie was based in
the future so they had flying cars and everything.

As Mr Burt introduced the next performance, everyone said, it's time for team 2. So it was team 2's turn, and they had made a movie too. There movie was about there Easter egg hunt that they had last term, at the end of the term. In the movie, they told us how they looked in all directions, up, down, under, over, left, and right. So in all of the directions. Next was team Miss King introduced there movie and told everyone what they are learning about this term. As there movie started to play, we saw Miss Scanlan walking to school and not really enjoying it, so out came a fairy telling her that she can pick in any direction that the fairy gives her, the options that she got from fairy were the beach, and the forest, she choose the forest. After quite a lot of picking paths, she finally made it to school, where all of the students on her class were already there, and she was late.

"Time for Team 4!" Mr Burt said, they had made a movie as well. There movie was about navigation.
It started with 4 teachers meeting at the Pack n' save parking lot, with a narrator (Mr Jacobson,) But
there are 5 teachers in team 4, so they called Mr Goodwin (Because he's the 5th teacher,) but he did
not answer his phone or anything, but they got an incoming message from him that basically said that
they had to find there way back to Pt England without google maps or there cars, so they took a while,
and there were quite a lot of funny parts where they *had to stop for important things, quite a few times*
which ended up being food, which made everyone laugh. Eventually, they made it back to school just in
time for a meeting with Mr Goodwin, but they were pretty angry that he made them walk all that way,
and wanted him to do it himself. After there movie had played, Mr Goodwin gave a brief summery of
what team 4 are going to be learning about this term.

Lastly (or at least we thought) was team 5, and they had a performance, something different. There
performance was about travelling the world, and what continents are at the bottom or the top of the
world. Miss Tapuke was the person that was travelling around the world. The places she went to were
(In order),Europe (Paris), North America (Disney Land), Africa, And Asia. My favourite places were,
Paris and Disney Land.

Now the last performance was by Mrs Lagitupu, Miss Va'afusuaga, and Mr Vogt. They made a movie,
there movie was about how they get to school, how much time they take to get to school, and even
what time they wake up to get to school. In the movie, it also shows where they live, so if there late
or we don't know where they are, they might just live a bit far away from school.

That was the end of immersion Assembly and my story/writing, hope you enjoyed and feel free
to leave a comment. And I look forward to inquiry and learning new things this term.

Career Talk

Today is the 10th of April and it is a Wednesday. We had a talk from three special guests that came to Pt England, and the team 5 block. The talk was about there careers, what they wanted to be when they were little, and what inspired them. They all took turns to talk about how they got to where they are now, and what they do now as well.

They came after morning tea to start with. The first talker was Jason Young, and he is a builder. He started talking about how he grew up around here, and how he went to our school, and how he was once sitting were we are now. He told us what his favourite subjects in school were, and favourite sports as well. He also told us about the other schools that he went to.

The next person to talk was Fiona Bakulich. She is a funeral director, and she talked about what schools she went to,what she wanted to be when She was little, and even what career her parents had. She also talked about what she does in her job, and how she works quite a lot. She told us a bit about her family, and how she loves them very much. After saying what she needed to say, she let us ask some questions about her career, and what she does. She explained that it was kinda of hard some times because she had to stay strong for the people who have had loved ones pass away.

Next up was Tanielu Tele'a. Now, you might of heard that name before, and that's because he's in the Blues rugby team. Because, yes he plays rugby, and that means that it's his career. But, he talked about again, his career, and what does, how does it, and kind of how he feels about playing rugby/his career. He even went to this school, so he was telling about how he used to listen to people talk about their careers as well, and he also said that he remembers sitting right where we are right now, in this school, and the team 5 block.

Over all, I think that this talk was so great, and very helpful. And I think that quite a lot of people in this block got inspired by some of the things that the three speakers said/explained about their careers. I differently loved hearing about what other people think about their jobs, or what they do. And, I woul d love to say thank them very much.

Mata i Pusi: Story Review

Story Name: Mata i Pusi

Story By: Sisilia Eteuati

Story Reviewed By: Jedida

Age: 11

School: Pt England School

                                             Mata i Pusi: Story Review

The story that i’m reviewing is about a girl (but we don’t
know her name), she has a Samoan Mum, and a Palangi
Dad. You’ll see how that matters later on in the review. Her
Mum is a lawyer, but we also don’t know what her Dad
works as, she lives with her Mum, Dad, and Nana. Her Nana
is also Samoan.

Having a Palangi Dad, might mean having green eyes,
or light skin for some people. And she has Green eyes,
light brown hair, and light brown skin. So a bit from her
Mum, and a bit from her Dad like some other people.

The name of the story is called Mata i Pusi which means
cat eyes in Samoan, and people tease the main character
in this story because she is bi-racial. So they tease her
because she might look to palangi, or sound too samoan,
and that’s kind of what they tease her about.

Over all, I think that this story can teach you a lot, especially
about bi-racial families, or people. I give this story 4 out of 5
stars, and I also recommend it.