Friday 26 March 2021

Tech Reflection - Indian Curry

LI: To create indian curry.

Today for tech, the year 7s made indian curry with Mrs Hecka at Tamaki College. We used a range of different ingrediants like spices and we practiced dicing and measuring ingrediants.

First, we skinned and diced up an onion as well as two garlic clovers into small cubes. We proceeded to put it into a large pot with two teaspoons of oil, one teaspoon of ginger and half a cup of water. Then we cut up the spinach leaves and added it to the pot with half a cup of tomato sauce and different indian spices. Did you know, indian currys often use a LOT of spinach leaves?

While the curry was cooking, we cleaned up our kitchen stations to prepare us for the serving of the indian curry. During the time that the students were cooking the curry, Mrs Hecka (our tech teacher) was cooking rice.

We split the rice between our containers and divided the finished curry between group members, then we were sent to the Tamaki College Cafeteria to eat our indian curry.

I really enjoyed this session of tech with Mrs Hecka because I was able to practice dicing ingrediants, measuring amounts of spices and sauces and being able to proud of what I created.

Thursday 25 March 2021

PB4L - Motivation and Encouragement

LI: To give reasons why encouraging and supporting others is important.

Today for PB4L, we talked about motivation and encouragement and why it is important to support others when they are in a difficult or worrying situation for them.

We created a D.L.O presenting the benefits of encouragement and why you should not put people down just to make yourself feel better.

I really enjoyed this activity as it was fun, simple and taught me a lesson about how support and motivation affects other people.


AFL Lessons with Rebecca and Aundrey

LI: To practice applying our throwing, catching, kicking and passing skills to different games.

LS2 had a session with Rebecca and Aundrey. The year 7s worked with Rebecca and the year 8s worked with Aundrey. Last week, we learnt how to pass by hitting the end of the ball and kick by pointing aiming where we want the ball to go with our toes.

We learned two different catching skills. The first catching method is called the scooper where you have to lift your arms up from your side and as the ball is coming toward you, scoop the ball up to your chest. The other method to catch a ball is by catchnig the ball with our hands in a 'W' shape.

After we practiced these skills, we played Over the River. The rules to Over the River is that there are two islands and a river in between. There are 6 balls and each island start with 3 balls. The players with the balls have to use the kicking method to kick the ball to the other island and at the same time, prevent any of the other teams balls land on their island. Whichever team has the most balls on their island by the time the round ends, that island explodes.

The next game we played was called Corner Ball. We got into pairs and one partner was handed a ball. The person with the ball could not move and could only pass it by hitting the bottom of the ball like how we were taught. To get people out, we had to hit the ball towards their legs. The taggers could not tag other people that had balls.

I enjoyed this session of AFL because I learnt two different catching methods/skills and was able to apply them to a fun game of Over the River and Corner Ball.

Map Time

LI: To be familiar with google my maps.


Today, we practiced using google my maps to map out areas that we are familiar with.

First, we created a new custom map and mapped out our school, Panmure Bridge School, Kokako Lodge (which is where we will be going camping next week) and the street that our house belongs to.

I enjoyed this activity however it was very short and easy because I have used google my maps before and know the functions of it.

Friday 19 March 2021

Celebrating the Summer Learning Journey

LI: To celebrate our PBS SLJ participants.




During the end of the year holidays, the Summer Learning Journey for 2020 to 2021 was held. I participated in this program and would like to talk about my experience and about the rewards that were given to the participants.

We were given many fun and exciting challenges to complete and blog about. The activity I enjoyed the most was the Step it Up task for the Optical Illusion activity where I created my own optical illusion art piece and shared it with the world.

It was very fun to recieve the challenges given by Nano Girl, however I could not complete them myself due to the busy holidays. They looked very interesting and in my spare time, would be happy to do them seperately.

Today, the Summer Learning Journey prizes were given out during our weekly school Assembly! The different rewards were given to people who participated, the outstanding comments and blogposts, top participant in the Manaiakalani Cluster and top participant in New Zealand. There was also a lucky draw where four participants had the opportunity to win a speaker.

The prizes were handed out by Mrs Grant, the head of the Manaiakalani Cluster and Miss Paleti, a new recruit to the Summer Learning Journey team. The awards that I had won were the participation award, outstanding blogposts and a speaker.

Finally, I would also like to congratulate Sakshi who was a former student at Panmure Bridge School and is very intelligient. During the Assembly, she won the following prizes: Top commenter, top blogger for Manaiakalani and top blogger in the school.

I very much enjoyed participating in the Summer Learning Journey and completing the activities that were set for us because they were very fun and kept my learning going in the holidays. This is a very special day for Panmure Bridge School, because this is their 6th time (in a row) coming out as top school in New Zealand for the Summer Learning Journey!

Tech Reflection

LI: To test our knowledge on different foods and kitchen related items. >

Today, for our session of Tech we were given three documents filled with activites related to food, kitchen and cooking. This was to test what we know about the kitchen, hygiene and food.

The first document was called 'Welcome to the kitchen' and the activities were related to food and kitchen tool safety. For the first activity, we had to list 5 reasons why keeping our kitchen clean and tidy. The next activity was based around defining different ways to cut food and understanding religious food requirements.

The second document was called 'Healthier pikelets' and these activities were related to understanding the different kitchenware (such as pots, pans and utensils). For the first activity, we identified the different kitchen tools using numbers. Next, we wrote down the safe use for 5 different kitchen tools.

The final document was called 'Colorful & seasonal' and the activities were related to what we should eat more, moderately and less of. For the first activity, we wrote down the 6 different sections of the food pyramid. For the second activity, we listed what we should eat more of, a balanced amount of and less of. We finally seperated a list of vegetables and fruits into their correct column.

I really enjoyed this activity and completing these tasks because I tested my knowledge on food and kitchen tools and I was also able to learn more about safety hazards and the important benefits of hygiene. What I found difficult was listing the safe use for 5 different kitchen tools.

Thursday 18 March 2021

PB4L: Acceptable Uniform

LI: To understand acceptable and correct school uniform.

Today for PB4L my group has wrote the acceptable uniform.

First, we looked at what we should wear and not wear in our school uniform. Next we looked at what accessories we accept at school like religious items like necklaces, or anklets, and more.

Then we looked at the formal situation that showed what we should only wear and not wear in assembly, prize giving, Manaiakalani Film Festival, etc.

Lastly we created of an image for the girls uniform, and what girls should wear. 


Wednesday 17 March 2021

Maori Place Names

LI: To experiment with the google my maps function and use it to locate different Maori place names for a Te Reo challenge.

Today, I completed the #14 Te Reo Maori challenge which was to locate nine different Maori place names and translate the Maori term to the English name.

I started this challenge by looking at the PBS Te Reo Maori challenge blog page and found a list of nine different Maori place names in New Zealand. I then used Google My Maps to locate these nine places and find out what their name is in English.

Tūranga-nui-a-kiwa means Gisborne, Te Whanganui-a-Tara means Wellington, Waihopai means Invercargill, Kirikiriroa means Hamilton, Tāmaki-makau-rau is Auckland, Ōtepoti is Dunedin, Ōtautahi is Christchurch, Ngāmotu is New Plymouth and Motupōhue is The Bluff.

Once we added the places to our map, we linked images of the places to the area it matches to. We included the Maori and English name in the layer title.

I really enjoyed this activity because I was able to practice using the Google My Maps and finding out a new way to translate Maori place names into English.

Tuesday 16 March 2021

Cultural Food Collage

LI: To practice searching for smart images and create a cultural collage.

This week, our task for Inquiry was to create a cultural photo collage using the new smart image searching skills we learnt last week.

First, we were given four different choices relating to cultural differences to base our collage off of. The choices were: cultural food, music, language or countries. My partner and I chose to create a collage of cultural foods.

We used our smart image searching skills and searched for cultural images with creative common license.

In our collage, we started by thinking about the different countries and the foods we should include. The cultural foods we included were: Mexican, Indian, Spanish, Italian, Chinese, Malaysian and African food.

I enjoyed this activity very much and creating this cultural food collage. I was able to practice smart searching for images and experimenting with the creative common license function on google.

America's Cup 2021

LI: To use our reading strategies and smart searching skills to find out about the America's Cup.

Today, LS2 and LS1 worked together to complete a research and comprehension task. The information we found out was around the history of the America’s Cup yacht race.


We started the task by discussing what we already know about the America’s Cup in our groups. Each group had a mix of LS2 and LS1 students. We wrote down what we already knew in bullet-point notes using pieces of paper.


Then as a class, we read an article giving helpful information about the America’s Cup. We continued to write notes on what pieces of information we didn’t know.


After this, we used our notes and wrote down 20 keywords relating to the America’s Cup. We used our notes to find these keywords. We then choose 6 of the most important keywords from the list. Using those 6 keywords, we wrote a paragraph summary giving detailed information about the events and history on the America’s Cup yacht races.


We really enjoyed this activity because it allowed us to learn more about a new topic and we were able to practice sharing our prior knowledge as well as making and using our notes.


Monday 8 March 2021

Ko wai ahau?

Kumusta, my name is Bella and I am a Year 7 in LS2. I am part Maori, Irish and Filipino. In school, my favourite subjects are Reading and Writing because I have the opportunity to challenge my abilities in literature. In my family, there are 8 people: my mum and dad, my two sisters, my brother and myself. My favourite foods are Indian fried rice and Oi Sobag (cucumber kimchi). Some things I like to do are cooking, reading and watching Netflix. Something I would like to accomplish in 2021 is to become more confident in myself and be more involved in activities inside and outside of school.



Wednesday 3 March 2021

Giant Panda Research

LI: To use our smart searching skills to find information about the giant panda.

After using my smart searching skills to find out about the giant panda I made notes then used my notes to help me write TEEL paragraphs to share my learning. TEEL paragraphs help me/us expand my ideas and structure my/our thinking. My DLO gives information about the giant panda such as it's appearence, catering information and endangerment.

I found this activity fun because I was able to learn more about the giant panda during my research. I found it quiet hard to find valid information from verified sites. I enjoyed recording information on a DLO because I also focused on the layout.

Tuesday 2 March 2021

Using Smart Images

LI: To understand how to use the explore tool.

Our cybersmart activiy/challenge was based around instructing people on how to use the google explore tool and how to attribute images.

To use the explore funtion tool, search and image then go to the 'tool' button underneath the search bar. Then press 'creative common use'. This should allow you to find images with free permission to use. 

An image attribution gives credit to the owner of the image, and it lets other people know that you are allowed to use that image freely.

I didn't find this challenge very difficult because I am familiar with attributing and searching for images safely.