Book Review

Team Time

At our school we have a day where in the middle block, we do this thing called Team Time. Team Time is basically free time for the whole middle block. How do you get on Team Time? Well, we have a hand-in sheet where we link all our work. Miss Power checks the hand-in sheet and sees who is on Team Time. Team Time is today and I think I will get on it because I have pretty much all of my links on the hand-in sheet. Team Time is really fun. Last time I played basketball the whole time but this time I think I will play soccer with one of my friends, Emil. Team Time is really fun and I can't wait!

Cantamaths

Yesterday, on the 28th August, me and 7 others went to Christchurch for Cantamaths. Remember the Westamaths post I did not too long ago? Well, we made it through that, so then we went to Christchurch. I got to school just after 9 am and everyone else was in my class. We were going in the school van to Christchurch. I won't tell you everything, because that would take AGES, but I will tell you some of the highlights. So we got in the school van and Matt's Dad drove us to Christchurch. We stopped in Arthur's Pass and the snow there was beautiful. Then we got out and had lunch in Springfield on a playground. There was a basket swing and that was really fun. Next stop was Riccarton Mall in Christchurch. We split into 2 groups. I wanted to go to Paper Plus because we all had vouchers for it. But it turns out either there wasn't one, or it was just really hard to find. So then we had Sushi for lunch. I had Salmon in mine. Then we went to the Horncastle Arena, where the competition would take place. The year 7's would go first. The runner waits outside the doors of Door 2. Then they went through and chose where they wanted to sit. The guy on the mic kept talking and it was annoying because I just wanted to watch the year 7's go. In the end, the year 7's got 90 points. They came 3rd equal with about 5 teams. Then it was the year 8's turn. I was the runner so I went and waited outside Door 2. We went in and I chose the same desk as the year 7's. In the end, we did okay with 50 points. Then came dinner at MacDonald's. I had a cheeseburger and chips. It was really yummy. Then we drove home. Nothing exciting on the way home. We got back to school and I was really tired. I went home and fell straight asleep because it was 11 pm and I was so tired. It was really fun and a great experience, I really liked going to Cantamaths. 

Lionel Messi

For those of you who don't know who this is, this is Lionel Messi. He plays professional football for the Barcelona football club in Spain. He also plays for the Argentina National Team. He captains both. He is the best footballer in the world right now, maybe the best of all time. He set the record for most goals scored in La Liga. He has scored 253 goals in 289 matches. He is also the top goal scorer for Barcelona as well with 368 goals in all competitions. He has won the Ballon d'Or award 5 times. He won his first in 2009 and won it 4 consecutive years from 2009-2012. The last time he won a Ballon d'Or was 2015.

This is why, in my opinion, Lionel Messi is the best footballer. 

Westamaths

                                       Westamaths

On Wednesday 14th August we were doing a maths competition called Westamaths. Usually the teams from our school have to travel to another school but this year would be different. We were hosting it in our hall. Schools are allowed two teams from each year group (year 6, 7 and 8). The teams consist of 4 members. One is a runner and one is a reader and then you have two more people in your team. You are also allowed two reserves in each year group. The year 7's would be doing their competition first. They start at 11am but they are ready at 10.45am so that they can get their briefing and be told what to do and how it works. Basically, you have 30 minutes to try and complete 20 questions. Each question is worth 5 points. So the most points you can get is 100 which doesn't happen that often. But if one question is too hard, then you can pass it. But if you pass it, you don't get any points for it. One of the year 7 teams came first. They managed to come first but they passed on one question so they got 95 points. They had to have a tie breaker for 1st place. It was with Westport South School. A tie breaker is where if two teams have the same amount of points, they each get one question and the first one to get it to the person who is marking, and gets it right, wins. They won their tie breaker so they came first. They are going to Cantamaths in Christchurch on the 28th of August. Then it was the year 6's turn. One of our school's year 6 teams were all year 5's. Our other year 6 team had a tie breaker for first, with Westport South again. They won their tie breaker and would've gone to Cantamaths if they were year 7 or 8 but year 6's can't go to Cantamaths. Then it was the year 8's. My team was Franklin, Matt, Ayesha who was the reader and then me who was the runner. We sat down at our desks while Mrs O, our principal, explained what we have to do. The first question came in an envelope and we walked up to our marker and then went back to our table with the envelope. Then when they said go we opened the envelope and got our first question. We were the 2nd or 3rd team to answer our first question. We had to beat the other Grey Main team. The points were on the projector in the hall and I kept looking up at them. At one point the other Grey Main team were 3 questions ahead of us. There was one team who finished all of the questions and didn't pass on a single one in 26 minutes. At the end we had 85 points, and another team had 85 points so we were going to do a tie breaker for third with Karoro School. One of the teachers held a question flipped over on our desk and then they flipped it. We had to work it out before the other team. We had done the question before in practice but we couldn't remember what it was. Matt kept saying it was 30 but we didn't listen to him and kept trying other answers. Then, after about 5 tries, he snatched the paper, wrote 30, and made me run. Then, the marker said it was correct! After we had finished, we were called up onto the stage. We got third place with 85 points. Buller got second with 90 points and Wesport South took home the trophy with 100 points. I didn't really care that we didn't come first, I was excited that we were going to Christchurch in 2 weeks for Cantamaths. 

The Snow

On Sunday 11th of August me and my family went to the snow. We drove to Arthur's Pass. It took around an hour to get there, I think, but it felt less. When we were close everything was still dry and normal and then we turned around a corner and everything was covered in snow! It was like the mountains had a great humongous white sheet draped over them. We stopped in a place where there were already about 10 cars parked. We almost got stuck when we were pulling in because of snow. Where we had parked, there had obviously been heavy snowfall because all of the cars had thick snow on top of them and on their windscreen. We got out and almost sunk in the snow because it was so deep. The first time I touched the snow, I didn't have gloves on and my hands were freezing. I threw a snowball at the hill and then there was a hole through the snow where it hit. Then not long after I got some gloves on and it wasn't cold anymore the next time I picked up snow. It actually took a while before my gloves got cold and wet. Then I started making some snowmen. Unfortunately we didn't bring any carrots so the snowmen that we actually managed to make didn't have any faces. I liked making the snowmen and I really liked going to the snow. I hope we go back soon. 

PrEP

This week at school we are getting ready for PrEP. First we made a CV. Then we made a covering letter to the teacher who was doing the job that we wanted to apply for. I made my covering letter and then Miss Power printed it out and I gave it to Mr.B, who is managing the Police Force. He only takes 8 people and I hope he chooses me. We have to walk around at PrEP time and reward the people who are being good and tell of the people who are being not good. 

Argument 4

Should animals be
kept in Circuses?

I strongly believe that animals shouldn’t be kept in
circuses. I believe so because they are neglected
before and after, they are forced to do tricks and
should be free. Here is some more depth into why I
think it’s not okay to keep animals in circuses.

Firstly, they are neglected behind the scenes. The
people who look after them probably don’t even feed
them the right food. Also they hurt them.
For instance, in a horse circus, they use whips and
I’m pretty confident that there isn’t grass inside
the circus tents or arenas. They maybe feed them
hay and hard feed. That’s why I think that animals
are neglected behind the scenes. 

Secondly, they are forced to do tricks that they
probably don’t want to do. They make them do the
tricks. In a horses case they probably, again, are
using whips and other painful methods such as spurs.
Also, if they don’t get the trick right they hurt them
even more and they might punish them by not giving
them food when they already aren’t fed enough. It is
just wrong.

Lastly, how would you feel if you were one of the
animals. Not getting enough food, being tormented
and forced to do tricks. It would not be very nice
would it? Did you know Elephants are pack animals
and should be with their family? How would it feel if
you were all cooped up alone without your family?
Also, it doesn’t matter how well you look after them
because they should be in their natural environment.
It’s just not fair on the animals. I think that people
should stop treating animals like this.

That is why I think that animals should NOT be kept
in circuses. They are neglected, they are forced to
do stuff that they don’t want to do and how would you
feel being tormented like that? I hope this changed
your mind about animals in circuses.

Maths DLO Enlarging By A Scale Factor