Media Studies Project Update

In media studies this term, we have been working on individual or group projects of our choice. My group, Catrin, Siobhan and I, have been working on making Grey High's double page feature in the Grey Star that comes out in July. So far we have organized a couple photos and blurbs for the paper. We plan to show more student work and achievements.

Media Studies - Ajax the Kea Dog

In media studies today we learnt about different aspects of a film. We studied the short film Ajax the Kea Dog.
Go to this link to view it yourself: https://vimeo.com/229067450

Sound

The short film Ajax the Kea Dog, I believe the director uses a range of sound to grasp the attention of the audience. I think he uses a calm and classical underlying soundtrack over the duration of the film to give the overall film a friendly and welcoming effect. I think this adds to the wilderness aspect as a similar soundtrack is played during shows like bear grills. At the beginning of the film, we have a voiceover about Ajax and his story. I think that he did this to be relatable to his audience as dogs are well loved in our community. I also think this is why he made the story about Ajax instead of about finding keas. Throughout the short film, we get different sound effects including bird calls and the zip of the tent to add context to the scenes.  There is also a music change when he changes locations adding to the scene of mystery in the unknown location

Year 9 Mathematics at GHS

Overall, this year has been a roller coaster of different things. This year I developed a lot of new skills, but I believe I haven't gotten any better at mathematics. I now know a few extra things like how to calculate the length of the hypotenuse on a triangle, but overall I didn't get much better at mathematics as I was just relearning things I already knew.

9MG English : Term One

This term, in English we spent most of it looking into and exploring the hero cycle. The hero cycle is the journey every hero faces to become a hero. There are 12 stages in the cycle. A few stages are: Status quo, departure, treasure and resolution. I enjoyed learning about this a lot. We made posters showing the stages. We also explored people and how they are hero's. I chose to do this on Walt Disney. We created an exhibit showcasing our hero.
This is my slideshow showing all the stages in the hero cycle.


At the start of every lesson we do something called a big question. The big question is an activity set up by our teacher Miss Evans. She will give us a question, topic, or anything really and we have 5 minutes to write 100 words about it. My favourite one we have done is where Miss Evans gave us 5 random words and we had to turn them into a story. The words were: Sponge-bob, Tuesday, ice cream, Music, & however. This is my story:
It was Tuesday night. I was craving a huge bowl of ice cream, however, my music was distracting me. I decided to turn on the t.v. My favourite childhood cartoon was playing, Spongebob. Suddenly I wasn’t thinking about ice cream. I was thinking about how Spongebob has changed my life. I flick off the t.v hastily, my mind filled with anger and sadness, knowing I will get addicted to it again. I shut my eyes and try to sleep. I sit there for what feels like forever, but my brain just wouldn’t shut off. Seconds led to minutes, minutes turned to hours. Eventually I give up trying. I flick the t.v back on and spend all night watching the Spongebob marathon.

At the end of every lesson we do something similar to the big question. It's called the success ticket. Each day we end the lesson by reflecting on our learning. We have a success criteria we refer to. It's not always about reflection, sometimes she asks for suggestions on games and other things.

In the past week we went on a year 9 day trip to Kumara. Before we left I wasn't really that keen on going, when I got their though I really enjoyed myself. We learnt so much about the history of this small town. We learnt about how the gold rush affected this, at that time, non-existent town. We also did a few team building games. We split off into groups with our mentor classes and travelled from activity to activity. My favourite thing we did was the London Dairy Rock bush walk. The rock was huge! It was quite a few tonnes. It was so cool and made me feel so small. A tiny fantail followed us around the walk. Overall I really enjoyed this trip and hope to do more things like this.

This term I have been quite successful. I have completed all my work too a high standard. I have further developed my literacy skills. I have also grown more use to high school and how we move about. Next term, I want to become more confident in my learning and continue to adapt to high school.

Weekend Journal

This weekend I spent the first day just sleeping, and watching the first Hunger Games movie. Dad took me to town for lunch because Jake was walking around town with his friends, Mum was at work and Eden was at a scout camp. Afterwards he gave me some pocket money. We walked around the warehouse for a bit. We spotter Jake there and he saw me so I ran. He caught up to me and asked "Can I have some money?" The next day I also didn't do much. We went to Erin's for a BBQ dinner to celebrate Hannah's Birthday. On Monday I also didn't do much. Eden went to Erin's for the day. I went to Jo's and played Speed Scrabble. I won both times we played.

Advertisement - Shortstreet Land

WALT: Create an Advertisement to advertise a product. 

We created a advertisement for a 'new' season of Shortstreet Land. I think it was a good ad but we had too many people in the group. It was hard to give everyone a job and/or scene it also made it difficult to make decisions since everyone had a different opinion. Our filming was good but in the future I would improve my editing skills. I think we used a lot of persuasive features. I don't think we did that good a job of advertising the product because we were focused on the filming, costumes and props more. Overall it was a lot of fun to make and film but we need to lower the amount of people in the group.

Fidget Spinner Investigation

WALT carry out an investigation on one of the 5 simple machines.

My Weekend Journal - Wk 3

My Weekend Journal

On Friday after school I went to Tess' house. We watched The Thinning. It was a great movie; I would watch a sequel. On Saturday I slept in till 10 am. I didn't do that much. On Sunday I watched another movie on my own. That is all I did in the weekend. Next weekend I don't have any plans.

My Weekend Journal - Wk 2

On Saturday I didn't do too much. Our friends came over for dinner. That night our family dog (Ninja) was allowed in my caravan for the night. During the night he figured out how to climb ON the bed. He tried to sleep on top of me! On Sunday we went to visit our friend Shelley in Hokitika. It was a really fun weekend.

My Weekend Journal - Wk 10

My Weekend Journal

This weekend was fun. On Saturday Jake, Eden and I went and watched cars 3 in the theater. It was a good movie. On Sunday the morning wasn't very eventful. In the afternoon we went and visited our friends Kate and Shannon. They have a cat named Kaos that is really fluffy. Recently he went out roaming and was hit by a car. He is fine but his pelvis was put out of place. He is looking better now. Other than that we didn't do much on the weekend. I also don't have any plans for the holidays other than sleep.

My Weekend Journal - Wk 9

My Weekend Journal

This weekend was cool because we got lots of visitors over the weekend. On Friday Eden left for a cub camp. It was really good having her out of the house for a couple days. On Saturday we got a visitor. It was my Aunty Trudy from Invercargill. She is doing a tour of New Zealand in her van. We were her first stop. She stayed all weekend and is leaving today. On Sunday we had even more visitors. Our good friend from Invercargill Cherm and her daughter came up for the night since they had been in Nelson. It was really good seeing everyone again.

My Weekend Journal - Wk 8

My Weekend Journal

Best. Weekend. Ever! There has been one thing on the top of my Christmas and birthday wish list for the past three years. I finally got it. My own room! I was (and still am) so excited. I got a caravan on Saturday morning and by Sunday night my stuff was moved in. It was my Granddad's caravan. Mum and Dad didn't know that they would buy it until Friday night. I could barely sleep that night because I was too excited! We also visited Catrin in her new house. It was a great weekend!

My Weekend Journal - Wk 7

My Weekend Journal

This weekend was really fun! On Saturday I didn't do that much in the morning. In the afternoon we went and visited our friends Kate and Shannon at their new house. We stayed there for dinner. On Sunday we went to town. We got pocket money and went to the Warehouse. Other than that we didn't do to much.

'On the Wallay Track' Artwork Response

On the Wallaby Track Response

On the Wallaby Track is a realistic painting that captures a struggling family. It was painted in 1896 by Frederick McCubbin.  In the foreground there is a women holding a baby, slumping against a tree and in the middle ground a man is cooking over a flame. In the background there is a blue tent hidden behind a bush.

On the Wallaby Track is a fantastic piece of artwork that has a lot of detail.

I find the colours to be very interesting. I like the use of pink, orange and yellow in the background. It makes me think that it is a sunset or a sunrise. The colours in the foreground are mixes of greens, yellows and browns. The colour choices impact the mood greatly, with the brighter colours lightning the otherwise gloomy painting.

I think the family in the painting has been through alot. When I first viewed this painting I thought the family were camping; after viewing the painting more closely I realized that the family looks very stressed. I began wondering are they really just camping? I now think that the family is staying there longer than I first thought because of the tired look upon the woman's face and her clothes look as though they haven’t been washed in a while.

Overall On the Wallaby Track is a very complex painting that has an intriguing story to tell. I recommend for everyone to go to this website to see more of his fantastic paintings: http://www.the-athenaeum.org/  

My Weekend Journal - Wk 6

My Weekend Journal

This weekend was pretty eventful. It was my sisters birthday party on Saturday so we had to prepare for that. We built fires and roasted marshmallows. It was really fun! I stayed that night at Catrin's. Then on Sunday we helped our neighbors Kate and Shannon move all their stuff to their new house. We spent all Sunday and some of Monday helping them. That is pretty much all I did.

My Weekend Journal - Wk 5

My Weekend Journal

This weekend was pretty eventful for me. On Saturday we had a party for my Dad's B-day. Lots of people came. We stayed up until just past midnight and gave dad his presents since his birthday was actually Sunday. On Sunday we had a really relaxed day. That night our friends Shelley and Rob came over since they missed his party. 

Weekend Journal - Wk 4

My Weekend Journal

The morning of Saturday was not very eventful for me. The afternoon was more eventful as my Mum, Jake, Eden and I went to go and get some ingredients for me as I was cooking dinner for 9 people! I cooked chicken fettuccine and apple crumble. It was delicious. We had our neighbors Kate and Shannon. We also had Shelley and Rob from Richmond. On Sunday I didn't do that much.

My Weekend Journal - Wk 2

My Weekend Journal

On Friday I went to the neighbors after school. I helped our neighbors look after Indigo and Jack. Other than that this weekend wasn't very eventful for me. On Saturday I didn't do that much. On Sunday I played lots of different games with Eden. I also finished my book. I am looking forward to seeing Miss C this Wednesday.

Draco - Narrative

This term we have been writing narratives. I really like writing narratives because there is no limit to what you can write about. Next time I would like to add more control to my story. I think that my story has good detail. This year I would love to continue writing narratives.
Here is my video of me reading the story.

My Weekend Journal - Wk 11

My Weekend Journal

On Saturday My Family and I went to town. Eden and I went to go see Boss Baby in the cinema. It was a good movie. Well this was happening Mum and Dad got tattoo's. Afterwards Eden and I walked around town. On Sunday we didn't do too much. On Monday Jake had Julia over. We played safe.