Going to the lagoon Swimming Pools

Yesterday my older sister Delina came and picked up me and my little sister Stacey and her daughter Sarahnea, to go to the Panmure Lagoon Pools. We were so excited. As soon as we got there we got changed and went straight into the pool. I heard my name being called. "Mary, Mary." I looked around no one was there. Turned around.... It was my friend from school Lizara.


We had our swim then went home. As soon as I got home, the next day I got sunburn. It's still sore but I will get over it.

What we are having for Dinner

Tonight we are having a delicious dinner. It was made by my Mum, Aunty, Uncles, and the kids.
We are having: Sausages, Mince Patties, and Salads. I am definitely looking forward to it. I am so hungry. I can not wait and let's not get started on what we are having for dessert. Okay I will tell you. We are having chocolate logs with Pavlova and peaches. I am sure that would be delicious.

Mowing The Lawn

Today me and my uncle and niece mowed the lawn today. Firstly we had to go and pick up the lawn mower then we stopped and the G.A.S station to get some gas. Then we picked up the rubbish around the house and we were ready to start mowing.

When we were trying to start the mower up my uncle broke the string that is attached to the whole mower. So we jumped into the truck and went to mitre 10. As soon as my uncle got the rope he wanted an ice-block. Eating the ice-block the others were melting.

Pulling into the drive way I couldn't wait to start mowing the lawn. We took everything apart so we could put the rope in. Such a big job for a little thing I reckon. As we were getting ready to put the rope in, we find out that it doesn't fit. So we go back to mitre 10 to change it. We got a little bit of extra money back too.

So everything after that had worked out perfectly. My uncle pulled the string and he was away.
We helped him by clearing the way. Whenever he would go past us with the lawn mower it would hurt us because of the stuff that pops out of it.
It was a long hard day but I enjoyed it.

What we did today - Work

"Come on wake up. You are not sleeping in today," shouted my aunty. I woke up without any care. Could barley walk down the stairs or wash my face properly. "Where are we going aunty." I asked politely. "We're going to work." "WORK" I thought in my head. I didn't want to say it aloud because I wouldn't of got my special present. Thinking in my head, "I thought we finished work at school. So much for the holidays."

As my aunty was making our lunch, we were having porridge for our breakfast.
We put on our shoes and we were off. We started to make the ground not feel much gravel and we tried to flatten it. We did really good. Me and my cousin then started to work on the Gorse. Are you wondering what is Gorse? Well Gorse is a plant that has prickles all over the stalk. And it is very sore. Here is a picture of what the Gorse looks like.


I tried my best to handle it but is was too painful. I wanted to stop straight away. But I never gave up. I tried and tried until we were done. We worked for hours and hours. But after we were done we had these marks of where the Gorse had spiked us. It looks like a rash but no.

As soon as my uncle had finished stacking his second to last stacks of wood. Me and my cousin went back out to Pukekohe and stacked the last stock. Finally we went to Papakura pools. My uncle paid for us to go on the hydro slide, and boy was that fun. We waited for my little sister Stacey and my Niece Jovana. As we were coming out of the slide they saw us and strated bragging. They weren't meant to see us but things happen.

That wasn't the greatest time of my life but it was still kind of fun. (Maybe.) I do not wish to do that again only if we are able to go to the pools again. 

Why I loved being a Year 7

This year has been an extraordinary year. I have loved every minute of it as well as being great friend of some of the year 8's. Through the year everybody has been friendly and it was hard saying goodbye to the year 8's because it was like growing up with them.

The things that I have enjoyed this year are: Being a Moo-Juicer, Making Coffee  for the school, being a role model for the juniors. Becoming a year 7 has really made me step up and show what a good role model is.

I would like to say a huge thanks to Miss Squires for teaching me a lot and being a good teacher. And to thank you to the Admin teachers. You guys have supported the school a lot. And a big thank you to Mrs Tele'a for being the best extension teacher ever. Also a HUGE Thank you to Mr Burt and Mrs Burt for making this school happen. If it wasn't for you guys where would we be right now.

I have loved being a year 7 and I definitely can not wait until next year when I will be a year 8. I hope I do my best.

Decorating our Christmas Tree

As I was walking past a big box I was wondering in my mind, "Should I open it, or...." I decided to open the box. My parents weren't home only my older brother. Me and my little sister pulled the tree out and put it together. 

We searched everywhere for the decorations and finally we found them. They were in my parents wardrobe down the bottom. It took two sisters to search the house and all along it was in a wardrobe. The first things we pulled out were the bells they made a lot of noise but it was fun. Secondly we pulled out the strings that go around your tree. To be honest that was quite the hardest bit because you had to go right around the tree. 

For the finishing touch we added some lights. Be and my little sister Stacey put the lights onto the tree. We couldn't wait until it was night time because we really wanted to see what the lights looked like on the tree. 

Finally we added the candy canes. We had 1 to eat then we stopped. We wanted to save our family some.

We heard our parents pulled into the drive way. We quickly packed everything up and as soon as they walked through the door.... They were surprised. I reckon we saved them a lot of work. I think they should of awarded us. But I thought again and realised that they were getting us presents. 

We had the best time decorating our tree and I can not wait to do it next year.

Maori D.L.O

The last term we have been learning about Art. But not only that we have been learning about Maori as well. So to match with our voice recording we added a animation. So here is our Maori D.L.O's. You can also find my friends that helped me make this animation in these links. Lizara, Lesieli. We hope you enjoy our Maori D.L.O.

Lizara, Mary and Lesieli - Maori Korero from Team 5 PES on Vimeo.

MATHS DLO

Mary and Lesieli from Team 5 PES on Vimeo.

Writing Sample - Friends

Who has a good friend that cares and make sure you are Okay? I sure do. Friends are people who are there for you through tough times. And they also make you happy. Make sure you hold onto the good friend you have, and let nothing happen between your friendship. They’re like family to you.

Little did you know that friends could be a teacher. They could teach you about how to play a game that you didn’t know how to play, or teach you about their culture.

Certain friends are shy and may not like mingling in. So it could be your job to ask them, “What is your name,” or introduce yourself first and make her/him feel welcomed.

What is a good friendship? You ask. Well a good friend never lies to you nor go behind your back to do something nasty. Friends help you make the right decision as well. Sure you guys may have some hiccups along the way... but you guys end up making up. And that is a true friend.

Being a friend to someone is a special honour. I love being a friend to my friends. I make them laugh, they make me laugh. But the most important thing in a friendship is making sure you choose a good friend that is good to you as much as you would be to them. If you're not kind then you’re not a friend at all.

I reckon I have the most amazing friends I could ever have. They are kind to me, they show empathy to me and I thank them for that. I have had some hiccups with my friends, but we grew up and got on with our friendship.

Future Aspiration

Have you ever wondered how you will turn out in the future? On Wednesday we had special speakers come in and talk to the intermediate block about our future aspirations. Luckily enough we got the chance to sit through a little conference to hear about their past, their tips and guidelines for us in the future.

One of the speakers were Mr Anthony Samuels. He talked about our past, and how it doesn’t have to stop us from having a good future. Mr Samuels specifically said, “Your past does not have to determine your future.” What Anthony meant by saying that is, just because you have made some bad mistakes in the past, does not mean you can’t have a future.  Basically he was saying you don’t have to make the same mistakes over and over again. We can learn from them, we just need to put them behind us and make a fresh start.

The second speaker was Paula Fakalata. Paula talked about his past and how although he was just a year 9 he did conference speaking. At only 14 years of age he gets paid for speaking in front of hundreds of people. Just imagine that was you. It must have been terrifying. Throughout his journey of finding his aspiration he had to take risks. That was what all of his talk was about. “You will have to take risks to get to where you want to be.”

Lastly a girl named Amelia Unufe also talked about her past. She spoke about how her older brothers were in gangs and she didn’t like it. Amelia was worried that she wouldn’t succeed in having a education. But she an important message. Just because your older siblings didn’t succeed and dropped out of school doesn’t mean you can’t have a great future. Keep hold of your aspirations. Through this  Amelia has succeeded in life and is now in her second year at university doing her fashion design degree.

Throughout this experience I truly believe that we can be all of these if we follow their advice. We can get a good degree if we just do our best. We will SUCCEED!

Presentation Cultural Designs

Cultural Designs

For the last Term we have been learning about Symbolism and Art. But for the last couple of weeks we have been looking at Symbolism and Tattoos. We have been looking at a common Tattoo and that is a cultural Tattoo. 

My cultural tattoo is about my culture and my family. 

It took me a while to think about what design to do, but I found one in the end. There where different design to choose from but I reckon I picked the best one.

The first image is about my mums side. As you can see the top picture is the one I've drawn. And the bottom picture is the one I got inspiration from.  I picked this particular design because it shows who 

I am and also because my mother is Maori. If you look at the image it has a description about that picture. It reads, 

"The Fish-Hook shape of the Hei Matau came from a Maori legend. Apparently it hold the North Island of Aotearoa (New Zealand). It was a big fish caught by Maui. And used his Grandmothers Jaw bone to catch that fish." And that is the reason why I picked it. 

The second image represents my dad's side of the family. As you can see this is the Hungarian Coat or Arms. And same as the other image the top picture is my drawn picture and the bottom is the

same picture I got some inspiration from. And if you read the image it reads, "The Coat of Arms was restored on July the 3rd 1990. The Coat of arms have been used before with and without the Holy Crown of Hunagry. It became part of the empire when Hungary became part of the Hasburg empire." The reason why I picked this certain imgae is because my dad is part Hungarian. Through his father. And it is really important to me. 

Overall I wouldn't get a tattoo if someone passed away in my family or if I just wanted to. But if you wanted a cultural design and you were the same culture as me I would recommend it. 

Pe'a Tattoo - Mr Tele'a

This Term we have been learning about Symbolism and art. But for the last couple of weeks we have been looking at Symbolism and tattoos.

There are different tattoos in the world, but the common one we have been looking at is the Cultural tattoos.

Our extension site had questions like... Would you get a tattoo? Why would you get a tattoo? What made you get the tattoo? We were all luckily enough to get the opportunity to see a Pe’a in real life. How we got this opportunity was through the beautiful Mrs Tele’a, who asked her husband is he could take off work to come in and show us his tatau.

We asked Mr Tele’a question like.. Was it a choice or a must? Did you get a choice of what design you wanted? Of course Mr Tele’a answered, It was a choice for all of them. Mr Tele’a got the tattoo with his older brothers. And he did not get to pick what design he wanted. The tattooist just started the tattoo. He also said that the tattooist didn’t have a piece of paper to copy of, he just went hard.

I bet you're wondering, What kind of tattoo did Mr Tele’a get? He got a Pe’a tattoo which is a traditional male tattoo of Samoa. It was originally called a Malofie but it has changed throughout the years and also means respect.

It was a big favour to ask of Mr Tele’a to show us his tattoos and we thank him very much. He put on a lava lava and showed us the tattoos he got.

On his back was a tattoo of a canoe. That was the one that really stood out. Mrs Tele’a asked  to stand up and point to where each tattoo where, and it was kind of difficult.

We thank Mr Tele’a for taking time off work and coming in and showing us what a Pe’a is. And We thank Mrs Tele’a for making this happen.

Throughout this time I have learnt a lot about a Tatau and what Pe’a truly means.