Rugby League Session with Sio Siua Taukeiaho

On Tuesday the 22nd of June 2011 , we had a Junior Warriors Player come and teach us some lessons about Rugby League. His name is Sio Siua Taukeiaho.

The first drill we did was a group drill. We had to run with the ball and zig-zag around the cones. When we got to the other end we had to run around the cone and then sprint down to the next person in line and we had to pass the ball to them , then we just carried on until we all had a turn. The people who got 3 points won , the losing teams had to drop down and do 5 push ups. I was one of the losers.

The next drill we did was quite similar, instead we had to spread out on the cones and the person in front of the line had to zig-zag around us , when he or she got to the last person they had to sprint to the end and get a try , but the first person to get the ball on the try line won. Again the losers had to do another 5 push ups.

After we finished our drills we finished off with a game. Two groups joined together and we challenged the other two groups. The aim of the game that we were playing was that we had to kick the rugby ball over our shoulder height to the opposition. If the other team kicked the rugby ball in front of the opposition side and it hits the ground then that person that it landed in front of will be out. The carried on until one team had no players left.

Overall I really enjoyed having that session with Sio Siua. I learnt new things. Also we were really lucky because he gave up his free time to come and be with us.

Science Roadshow at Tamaki College

On Thursday the 9th of June the senior block of Pt England School went to Tamaki College for a Roadshow hosted by Fonterra. We went down there because it is part of our learning for Topic. But all the seniors didn't go all at once we had different times or else if we all went it will be crowded and there wouldn't be much room for all of us.

When we got to Tamaki College we went into the Auditorium, we went on the stands and sat in front of two Fonterra staff members. Fonterra hosted us with two shows, the first show was about heat. There they had liquids that helped start fires. The second one was about senses. We had a volunteer from our class which was Victoria, they did a challenge to see if she can feel where she was touched by a bit of hair. He did that to prove that we are more sensitive in other places such as in our soft places where it is really sensitive and on our rough skin we cant really feel much.

One of my favorite exhibits was Quirky Curiosities. When you go to that exhibit you can look through this mirror and there is a rocking chair. But when you turn the light on you can see a skeleton, but really it is just a ghost skeleton.

My second favorite exhibit was Bubbling Liquid. I liked Bubbling Liquid because it was fun, we had to rub our hands together until they were warm and when they were warm we put our hands on the bottom circle and all the liquid travels to the top. That was cool !

Overall it was really cool and I hope we can go to the Science Roadshow again , or I could be one of those presenters presenting my work for other people.

Swimming

Swimming

For 2 weeks during lunch time at quarter past 1 the year 7 and 8 students from Pt England have been going to the Glen Innes Pools for swimming lessons.
We have been learning how to swim because in cases of emergencies we will know how to survive. We also have to learnt to swim because New Zealand is surrounded by water and that is very dangerous if you don’t know how to swim.

For the first couple of days I was with Miss Dempster , awhile later Mr Harris took our group. Lucky last on the last week of our swimming lessons we went into Ms Titos group which is the highest group where you learn how to do fingers. Fingers is when you lift your elbow out of the water with your hand gliding past the water. Another technique of fingers is when you pull your elbow out and pull it straight in front of you.

When I learnt how to do fingers it was abit hard because I wasn’t quite use to it and I kept on saying it was really hard , but in the end I succeeded and I was very proud of myself.

There was a challenge, Ms T’s group had to swim as long as possible without touching the ground. I thought it would be easy but it wasn’t. Afew of us swam 600 metres but we still didn’t have the record , Mr Barks group had the record which was 640 metres. The next day Raven from our group won the record of 975 metres.

Overall I really enjoyed swimming. I am happy I had that time to learn how to swim properly. When I am in emergencies or in danger I can use my skills and i can survive. I love swimming and I hope everyone else does too.