Vaiaso O Le Gagana Samoa 2019 (SAMOAN LANGUAGE WEEK) by Leaaepeni

Monday 27th of May was the official beginning of Samoan Language week for 2019. There are Samoan events held across the whole of New Zealand. That means if you known some Samoan, share it with everyone. I'm going to attempt to write some sentences in Samoan.

Faʻafeiloaʻi i laʻu blog o loʻu igoa leaaaeni. O le gagana Gagana Samoa pe a maua uma e tagata samoa le avanoa e faʻasoa ai a latou gagana.

NZ Sign Language Week- By Jessica

On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of last week Riiana, Leanah and I presented the teachers with 6 different posters based on New Zealand Sign Language Week.
Not only did we present some NZSL posters, we also made 3/6 of our own. One poster entirely made specifically for Mrs Brough, another with words the juniors commonly use and the last one filled with signs the seniors should learn based on their learning criteria.

We presented the teachers with our posters during morning tea. Riiana and Leanah did all the talking while I repeated in sign language. It was challenging and fun learning NZSL. I had to learn many different signs according to what was being said. In the video below, we are displaying two posters which we coloured in. We also printed out a small poster with medical signs for Mrs Shortland. Our first presentation was on Monday:

On Tuesday we presented the teachers with the posters we had made for the students.

Then there was another... on Wednesday Riiana and I presented Mrs Brough with her very own poster. It consisted of words such as, thank you, boss, email and other computer and manner phrases. 

Bing Boom Ping - Sammy V by Jessica

Yesterday afternoon Ruapotaka School had a very special visitor. His name was Sam Verlinden, but he had a street name which was Sammy V. Sam took a major in the music industry and decided to write and conduct his own songs.

He had an interesting back story. He narrated his story with actions. According to Sam, he wanted to become better at singing to impress a girl so he read everyday to find new words for lyrics.

I thought it was interesting and new having someone who chose a music career and it all started with just reading and practise. I truly think he has inspired many of us, especially the juniors to continue reading everyday.

Painting by Leaaepeni

Today for our third session at Tech with Miss Ferguson, we did some painting.

It was fun being able to learn how to mix colours to create more colours. I used a paintbrush to mix yellow and blue to make green. Then red and blue to make purple and etc. I also learnt that you only need the three primary colours to make the three secondary colours. So you don't have to waste money buying hundreds of colours.

Tones
We had some time to figure out what tones were before Miss Ferguson revealed to the group what it was. The thing about tones is that it's a bit harder than having to paint casually with the colours, but, you have to mix it to make it lighter, darker or leave it the way it is.

Double Dutch. Jump! Jump! - By Jessica

This term we having skipping! My class is working very hard to come up with a routine to preform infront of the whole school and some parents if we're lucky.

My class is divided into 3 groups. Groups of 7-9. My group is made up of really talented students when it comes to skipping such as, Tupouseini, Izabella, Mary, Tiari, Saluselo, Tyron, Tristan, Leaaepeni and of course, me. We have been working very hard to come up with a routine and now we just need to memerise it and fit it in with some music.

Our Daily Fitness!! by Leaaepeni

On our first day back at school we had to start running laps for our fitness. We had to jog around the entire senior block, including the basketball and netball courts. Teachers spread themselves around the block . There is one teacher (Mrs Golder) who stands at the top of the hill with her phone timing us. We only run for 10 mins and when it's over we line up where we started from.

We start the running routine at the bottom of a hill and work our way around the block. Lap by lap people would be yelled at to start running because they walk too much. Some people can keep up the pace because they are fit and they practice a lot, but some are just good runners. Most of the good runners in the senior block are from Rooms 12 and 10, and there are only a few of fit runners in Room 9.

In our daily fitness we have some rules that we have to follow. The rules are:

1. If you are a slow runner move to the left

2. If you are overtaking move slightly to the right

3. When you are tying your shoelaces, move aside.