Danny the Champion of the World

This is my reading task. Danny the champion of the world is a book by Roald Dahl. Our reading group was assigned to read it for the rest of the term. The arguments (the boxes with black and blue writing) were with Ezra who is in my reading group. The first argument me and Ezra were on different sides of the argument, but for the last two arguments we were on the same side. I am in the blue writing and Ezra the black. This book is great for kids and I highly recommend it for 7-11 years of age and it is about Danny and his dad and how Danny discovers his dad deep dark secret. The Google drawing is of Danny's caravan. We had to make it only from evidence from the text. No example, no nothing. What I am proud of is how we argued with 'manners'. Well, that's the way Mrs Hill said it. When we first got this, there was only the first argument and map of the caravan. Mrs Hill added the two new ones later on.

Danny the Champion of the World

We are learning to strengthen our collaborative muscle

Do you think Danny’s father is a good role model for Danny? Why or why not? Give evidence from the text.

Yes apart from leaving his son at home at night because Danny isn’t 14    I think he can be a bad role model like by pretending his son was sick so he didn’t have to go to school.  Yes but Danny is so lucky to not go to school for 2 years But in real days you could get in a lot of trouble with the law for doing those things even though he didn’t like the rich man doesn’t give him a right to steal from him. Yes but it would be really fun and it would have a good taste of revenge and it would be good as long as he didn’t get caught  I think he has got his priorities wrong usually you put the kids future and safety before letting him have fun breaking the law.  Well then he should leave Danny at home but let him know he was going I think he is a good parent to Danny when he is at home helping him tucking him in teaching him but if I was his dad I would tell Danny about it rather than being selfish and going of  breaking the law and leaving Danny at home where he could get hurt but he’s good to Danny most of the time   It is okay if Danny’s okay with it but if his dad did get hurt doing poaching he could tell his son what time he should be home and then if he wasn’t home by then Danny could maybe go look for him or something like that  OK I am going to admit if I were in Danny's position I would love to poach pheasants so I guess Danny likes it But it’s still a bit dangerous but i still Think Danny's dad can be a good parent.  Well he was bad going off in the middle of the night without telling Danny that he was gone but apart from that he is a pretty jolly man who is a good-ish role model OK so he did do a few things wrong but he can be a fun caring dad and he is nice to Danny so we pretty much agree so do you think we have come to a conclusion of him doing a few things wrong but being a nice caring Dad?  Yes I think that we conclude that he is a good-ish dad  OK then that’s settled.

 

If you were Danny would you have done anything differently when his Dad didn’t return home after his poaching mission? Why or why not? Use evidence from the text. What side are you on?  I think if my family was gonna get shot or in trouble I would try and help even if it was a bit dangerous.  So in what way would you help? In any way possible but for Danny the case was driving the car out to find his father.  I would probably do the same as you said but for Danny to go out driving in a car at the age of 9 is… awesome! Awesome but scary I think he acted well to drive and aid his dad back to the car for his father's safety.  Yes, he did really really well for being a child but also it was pretty awesome when he skidded off the side of the road. Yeah I think it was great what he did for his family's safety. OK so do you agree even though it was quite dangerous it was a good thing to do?  Yes, and also just saying, there was 0% chance of him being shot because all the keepers had gone in for the night but he could’ve fallen down a trap. Yes I think the same and I think we have pretty much had the same thoughts on this throughout the whole discussion.  So is this the end of the argument even though it wasn’t one? Yeah I think so.

Using evidence from the text create a map of Danny’s caravan.

Do you think Danny’s father should have taken Danny poaching? Why? Why not? Use evidence from the text.

I think Danny's Dad should have taken Danny Poaching.  Agreed, because Danny came up with the idea of the raisin’s with the sleeping pill so of course he should come along.  But still I think because of the danger of keepers it made it more exciting and Danny's Dad went poaching his first time when he was Danny’s age.  Yeah, so it was time for Danny to go poaching otherwise it MIGHT be too late to start (Probably not though). But still there was danger but as long as Danny wanted to and he was gonna risk it for the fun it’s fine.  Plus his dad is a boss at poaching. So that means he would be able to care for Danny and make sure they wouldn’t get caught.  Yep, and Danny’s dad has been in that wood loads of times so he would know all the safe places for them to hide and he’s really smart like when he pretended to the keeper that he was just having a evening stroll. So is this the end?  YES ! OK THE END!!!!!!

Matariki

Matariki

In Totara Whanau, we have been learning about the Maori New year, also known as Matariki.  The seven stars are called Uru-a-rangi, Waipuna-a-rangi, Waita, Waiti, Tupu-a-rangi, Tupu-a-nuku and Matariki.  Matariki can be spotted during late May or early June.  Matariki was a time to remember the ones who had died since the last celebration.  But Matariki is also a happy event, with lots of the crops that have grown.  Matariki is a time singing, feasting and dancing.  Matariki celebrations were stopped in 1940, but revived in 2000.  Not many people took part at first, but within a few years thousands of people were following.  Matariki is also known as 'New Zealand Thanksgiving'.

Me and Hunta mixing the fish sauce

Claire cooking the fry bread

For our Matariki we did multiple activities such as cooking, carving, flax weaving, kite making and sewing.  I chose to do cooking.  Cooking was originally meant to be from 9:00 to 11.00 but by 11:00 we hadn't made the fry bread.  So cooking continued past morning tea.  When we were done the fish pie and fry bread, we started getting tables out.  We also got napkins and cups for the fish pie.  When everyone came into the hall, the teachers called students names and they went to get their kai.  The bonus thing about being a chef was you were allowed leftovers. YUM!  To do cooking we used our perseverance muscle to try again when we failed.  An example when I used my perseverance muscle was when I was cutting potatoes and I almost cut my finger.  However I kept on going.  I used my noticing muscle to make sure that I was careful and grated the carrots and cheese the right way. 

Terenzo showing his flax creation

Students carving

Luca and Jack making their kite

Students enjoying their food

Landscape Art

This is my landscape art.  It was actually easier than I thought.   In our first session we had to practice drawing the vanishing point in our books.  The vanishing point is, for example, when you draw a river or path heading away from the start of the paper, it gets thinner and thinner until it disappears.  That is the vanishing point.  After that Mrs Morris said that we could either do a real landscape or fictional landscape.  I chose fictional.  Mrs Hill showed us her example and then we had to draw a practice in our books.  Next time, we started our art by drawing the road, the house, the hills, the ocean and the sky with a pencil.  After that we started to use the oil pastels.  We had to use 3 shades of one colour.  For my road I used yellow, gold and orange.  The other colours I used were blue, pink, and green.  My sky was light blue and yellow smudged in with a white pastel.  It was really fun though and I am proud of how my art turned out.

I Am Poem

This is my I Am Poem. When we started, the only things on there were the the I am/I wonder/I hear e.g. We had to fill them in with good vocab words and the best nouns and adjectives. The goal was to leave the reader thinking about our poem. My writing goal is vocab and I have definitely used lots. We also had to use describing words and 'in the moment' words. What I could've done better is maybe done some more describing. These are some of the vocab I've used:
Colourful-ish
Achieve
Computers
Rarely
Personal Best
Ultimate

I am awesome

I wonder if people try hard to achieve their goals

I hear Max speaking loudly

I see my colourful-ish computer screen

I want to make my parents proud

I am awesome

I pretend I am a rugby player

I feel Max’s elbow touching mine, as we type on our computers

I touch the keys on my computer

I worry about getting in trouble

I cry when I hurt myself (Rarely)

I am awesome

I understand that mistakes are okay

I say kind things about people

I dream of weird stuff

I try my personal best

I hope I get an ultimate pride award at the end of the year

I am awesome