Matariki: A Maori Celebration

For homework this fornight, we have to research about Matariki. I can guess what a few of you would be thinking...
"Uhh..." and tapping their temples,
or
"Hmm..." and scratching their heads,
or maybe even
"What the heck is Matariki?" and raising an eyebrow.
A few might look it up in a normal dictionary, but not everyone would use a Maori dictionary. Some might not even pronounce Matariki correctly.

Anyway, I shouldn't keep you wondering for long. Here are a few information to help you understand Matariki.

Matariki...what is it?

It is a star cluster named Pleiades or The Seven Sisters. It is also referred to as the Maori New Year in which crops and trees are harvested and replanted. This symbolises a new beginning. It is also seen as a good time to learn about the land we live on and remember our ancestors and the legacy they left behind. Maoris also give ceremonial offerings to the land-based gods: Rongo, Uenuku and Whiro to ensure good crops for the coming year.

I hope that helps. For more information, read the poster bellow:

2010's Fifa World Cup: Who do you vote for?

2010's Fifa World Cup is held in Capetown, South Africa. Over 30 teams made it in, and we New Zealanders (or people voting for NZ) are proud to hear that the All Whites got in.

These are the participating teams:

• Algeria


• Argentina


• Australia


• Brazil


• Cameroon


• Chile


• Cote d'Ivoire


• Denmark


• England


• France


• Germany


• Ghana


• Greece


• Honduras


• Italy


• Korea DPR


• Korea Republic


• Mexico


• Netherlands


• New Zealand


• Nigeria


• Paraguay


• Portugal


• Serbia


• Slovakia


• Slovenia


• South Africa


• Spain


• Switzerland


• Uruguay


• USA

So many teams...31 teams! Now that you know the countries, who do you vote for? Why? Post your opinions.

The All Whites

This is the All Whites Crew:

Goal Keepers-

• Mark PASTON 1


• Glen MOSS 12


• James BANATYNE 23

Defenders-

• Ben SIGMUND 2


• Tony LOCHHEAD 3


• Winston REID 4


• Ivan VICELICH 5


• Ryan Nelsen 6


• Andy BOYENS 18

Midfielders-

• Tony SMITH 19


• Simon ELLIOTT 7


• Tim BROWN 8


• Leo BERTOS 11


• Andy BARRON 13


• Michael McGLINCHY 15


• Aaron CLAPHAM 16

Forwards-

• Dave MULLIGAN 17
• Shane SMELTZ 9
• Jeremy CHRISTIE 21

Coach-

• Riki HERBERT

My Opinion:

The All Whites did well, but it is quite obvious that they won't win. It has been fun watcing the All Whites win, lose or draw. Better luck next time.

Memorable Moments

For homework we had to write something memorable. I chose to write about the moment I got my IT award. I hope you like it.

* * *
Memorable moments: The reason why I love computers

Ok, this is it, I told myself. No more chickening out, no more interruptions. My breathing became twice as fast and my palms were dripping wet. I felt as if I was going to be blown up, although the only difference was that I wasn’t running away from anyone or anything. Well, I probably would if this gets any worse, I thought. The music came to and end and my doom has started so fast that I was unaware of my surroundings.
“Here it goes,” I said under my breath.
“…the awards. Let us start with”-I couldn’t hear anything, just the crazy voice in my mind that always says all sorts of random things. This is one of the times that I remember the song ‘Mama Mia’ because looking twice makes you hear everything. The voice ended and I was wrapped around with a blanket of darkness.

I blinked once, twice three times. That was a pretty rough day yesterday, but at least all the horror already happened and now I don’t have to deal with anything like that anymore, I said to myself. I got up before the rest of the world came and joined me. I was already clean and changed into my finest jeans and favorite top. I checked my watch for the time, and I caught a glimpse of the date: 14.12.09. I hesitated. Ok, what was last night? Was is just a dream, or did I just travel back time, I wondered. I felt like screaming, but I knew that if I did, mum would probably ground me for a week. My face became wary. I thought that all of the horror was over and done with, I was amazed. I actually believe that such things could happen over night and that I never thought about what I did the night before I slept. I am crazy. CRAZY, I repeated again and again until I finished changing into my ‘Girly Outfit’. It was going to be a long day, and it would be one of those days I would never forget unless my hair was whiter than the whitest white that ever existed.
“Here we go again.” I sighed.


* * *

“So, your mum made you dress into those pink clothes, right?” Izzy, a girl I knew said.
“Well, yeah she did want me to dress in pink today. But it wasn’t my fault!” I exclaimed.
Ok, now I regret wearing these clothes to school. My mum did want me to wear these, but I agreed. But, it was after she convinced me. Now I have to spend the rest of the day hearing people criticize me. My friends, Svetlana, Shaina, Alicia and Grace liked it; I told them a million times that I don’t mind if they called me a ‘Girly Girl’. But since they were great friends, they didn’t.

Almost half of the first block was consumed by packing up, finishing work and watching a movie. Ok, soon we were lining up outside the hall. It smelt so much like new cement. This was just a practice, just a practice. Not the real one, not the real job. We entered the hall, one class at a time finding seat arranged for us, and the parents would be seating up on the new bleachers. Juli the room 19 teacher adjusted the microphone so that most of the teachers were able to talk. She teased Lily by saying that she needed it much lower down. It was true; she was short although Juli could have said it in a much nicer way. Soon the morning tea bell rang, the students and teachers evacuated from the hall and they soon ate some food. I was nervous, yes. Although I managed to nibble on something before I starved to death. I spent most of the time hoping that the bell wouldn’t ring. I was hopeless. I left my watch at home. It was kind of good and bad at the same time. Why? If I had my watch, I would find it hard to keep my eyes away from it, even just a second. If I didn’t then that wouldn’t happen, although I would be very curious of what time it was. Ok, 10…9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1…something unexpected will happen. Guess what? The bell rang. OMG! Now the real business will begin, I thought as I watched the rest of the year fives line up in a separate line right next to us.

* * *

Everything was happening way too fast for me to process and identify what was happening. All of a sudden I saw Anneke dancing with her pretty purple tutu. Ok, this is it, I told myself. No more chickening out, no more interruptions. My breathing became twice as fast and my palms were dripping wet. I felt as if I was going to be blown up, although the only difference was that I wasn’t running away from anyone or anything. Well, I probably would if this gets any worse, I thought. The music came to and end and my doom has started so fast that I was unaware of my surroundings.
“Here it goes,” I said under my breath.
“…the awards. Let us start with”-I couldn’t hear anything, just the crazy voice in my mind that always says all sorts of random things. This is one of the times that I remember the song ‘Mama Mia’ because looking twice makes you hear everything. I thought I was crazy. David, the associate principal, did pause.
“Daphney. Daphney you have the IT award…” He went on and on and on explaining why I deserved the award and what my teacher, Andrew thought about my talent. I was relieved. First, the horror was finished; next I actually have an award! YAY! Unlike last night, I would sleep in peace thinking about that perfect moment when I got my award. Now that is the reason why I love computers.

Mould Online Poster

For our homework this fortnight we had to make posters about mould. Instead of doing mine by hand, I used Glogster. Join me in Glogster, if you are unsure about the site, check the sites I have posted at the side. Se ya soon! Anyway, this is the poster I made...

Goodbye 2009 - Hello 2010

Say goodbye to 2009, which means bye bye primary, hello 2010-welcome Intermediate.

It wasn't so bad on the first day of school, I've had worse. Although I was kind of a loner because my friend ditched me. One of my friends was in my class, room 28. YAY! But she wasn't there. Oh.... I came to sit down with a couple of girls. I wasn't expecting them to ask me to play with them although, they did. The girl that asked me was Emma. She's my best friend. The other members of our group are: Shania, Nisa and Lisa. Soon Mansi, an old friend came along after her lloonngg vacation in Australia.

The first week was good, but every week gets better, and better, an better...so far.