45min Inquiry

Tauranga Port imports and exports logs from Asia, Australia  Pacifica, America  UK, Europe  Middle East Africa and New Zealand.

They come and go on ship, train or trucks. The trees are mostly pine trees. The logs are taken to factories because they can be made into paper. They come on the big container ships.

TGC Orientation Day

Today 300 year 8 girls from Tauranga Intermediate and heaps of other people went to Tauranga Girls College for orientation day. Mrs Ferguson the deputy principle talked to us about the school and the opportunity that they have. 

Ms Leech took us around the school with some year 9 girls hunter. We looked at all the classrooms from the outside. We went into a classroom and got given information about next year. We talked for 1 hour all up the good and the bad of the school.

We went back to the old gym and said good bye. I am excited for next year but nervous as well of getting lost!

45min Inquiry

The first picture is a Totem pole. Most people call the totem pole a "story pole." They are man made carvings. The carver carves it about family. The totem pole can memorialize deceased person. Can also represent a animal or clan. The biggest totem pole is 56.4m.

Second picture is a boomerang. The boomerang is first came from Australia. They were used for hunting and you throw the boomerang and it spins in a perpendicular way. You throw a boomerang by holding the bottom of the boomerang. It needs to be thrown on a 5 to 10 degree angle.

Maori Carvings is this a third picture. The Toi Carving represents a special person. A lot of carvings can be seen in maraes.

Inuit whaling boots are for a child and they are made out of whale seal leather which is gray. White ribbon and is an Artic Souvenir

What are these things and what do they have in common.
1. Totem Pole
2. Boomerang
3. Maori carving
4. Inuit whaling boots

They are all apart of cultures.

Koi Carp Bow Hunting

On Saturday Mrs Mills went Bow fishing in the Waikato at Huntley. They used the bow and arrow to kill the Koi Carp because they are pests. They are pests because the pollute water quality and are a serious problem in Australia and New Zealand.

They eat native fish and their eggs, also they dig up the mud stirring the water and it kills native trees.

Koi Carp can grow up to 80cm and can weigh up to 10kgs.

Koi Carp is eatable but is a very oily fish and not many people like them. They breed between August & September. They are found in the Waikato and in Auckland. They are in lakes rivers & creeks. 

To use the bow in arrow you put the arrow in the bow and set it at your target. Aim for about 15cm below where the fish is because of the refraction of the light, speed and direction. 

The arrow needs a line attached to it because then you can receive the fish after you have killed it with the arrow. You don't need a license to do this.

Mrs Mills went boe hunting fishing last weekend because the koi carp were spawning (breeding) and they come into the shallows to do this.

You can hunt for Koi Carp in Tauranga in lakes, rivers and ponds but are more found in the Waikato or Auckland. Mrs Mills caught caught 6 Koi Carp she didn't not throw the fish back into the water because you can be fined.  She left them on the side of the lake and were taken by some fishermen.

Which button would you pick and why?

I choose yellow button. Which gives me the ability to read peoples minds.

I choose this one because then I can read peoples and my friends mind to see if they are telling the truth or lying. Also if I was a judge or a police officer I would be able to read the victims mind to see if they are telling the truth or not. If I could read someones mind then I would know what they think of me and when I'm not around.

Tennis Sport

Today room 41 had a Tennis tournament. We had to go into partners my partner was Anna. We were playing in the tournament first. We versed Jahna and Lauren first and we won! We played all the girls and kept our title. We played Mrs Mills and Sharnae and they beat us by 1 point. But then we got in again and got hold our title again.

Anna and I were the best girls so we played the best boys which were Kyle and Matthew. Unfortunately we lost 5-1. But we are still the best girls at tennis in our class.

Before we started playing we adapted the rules of the game. The double pair if they won they only had to get three points. For serve you didn't have to do over arm you could do under arm. You can have a double fault. 

It was hard hitting the ball lightly because I was used ti hitting a hockey ball really hard. I improved on hitting the ball softer over the 2 days we did tennis.

Anna and I did really well I personally thought we worked well as a team and got an amazing result out of it :)

Beyond the story

October 10, 2011

I hear the slapping of the water hit the ship in the cool morning air. My captain Mauro Balomaga was steering the Rena ship. Mauro left the controls to me. My name is Leion and I’m the navigator. We decided to take a shortcut close to Astrolabe Reef to try and save money on fuel. We took several short cuts on the trip in order to make it to the Port of Tauranga on time. “Creeeeaak!” the ship slowly stopped. I felt my body jolt as the boat slowed to a stop. Rena was stuck on the reef. I saw everyone running around. Watching the containers crash into the water, everything tipping. Saying to myself, “S**T, this is all my fault!” Helicopters came swooping in, rescuing everyone on board.


Mauro and I were arrested the next day. Watching everyone sitting in the courtroom, some of the ladies had tears rolling down their cheeks and had to leave the room. We were jailed for 7 months. We go to our prison cell. The dark room with two beds and a toilet sat in the empty room. They slam the gate behind us. Mauro and I left here for 7 months. Sitting here, tears roll out of my eyes. Thinking, what did I do? All I wanted was to be in my own bed and with my family but instead I’m here.


Long nights and days we sat in the prison cell. We got a newspaper every week. I was too ashamed and scared of reading them so there was a pile in the corner of the dark room. But one day I decided to read a few to see what my mess had down. Headlines ‘Rena’ as I read I was trying to hold back the tears.

‘No one else has been able to move the container ship. Halfway through January the ship broke in half’ Watching the black, gooey oil drift through the water onto the golden sand. The clear water turning into dark. Big containers from the ship floated to shore or sunk,” said the lady who had come to Tauranga for a holiday and was truly disappointed that this had happened.


A few months later still sitting in the empty cell with Mauro. All my facial hair growing. Every night I have problems sleeping. I wake up yelling or sweating from nightmares about the night and that thinking I am a bad person. I read another newspaper from when the accident happened.

Headlines: Rena destroying wildlife

“The big containers came crashing onto the beach. Broken into bits. Bits of driftwood floated ashore. On the 13th October the beaches were closed due to all the oil, containers and driftwood. Public volunteered to help clean up the oil and rubbish along the beaches because it affected a lot of people. 2,500 birds died from this incident. Penguins, birds and fish were killed. Oil getting into their lungs and gills and stopping them from breathing. The oil getting stuck in the penguins lungs and all of their wings not making them able to fly”.

Not only had I had ruined the ocean and the ship but I had ruined the nature and wildlife of the beach. Gushes of tears come run down my cheeks. I rip up the newspaper and throw it into the corner with all the other newspapers.


May 2012: Mauro and I are out of jail and set into the world again. Seeing the bright light blinded me. Just seeing all the colours made me smile. Being in the dark dirty room just made you sad and lonely. I regret doing what I did and know my decisions were stupid and thoughtless. The Rena is still out in the water but most of it has sunk. Some of the birds and animals were helped which I was happy about. They were set free at the beach where the public could watch all the penguins waddle into the ocean. I went down to the beach. I sent out a penguin and watching it waddle to the ocean and gliding on its stomach just made me smile, knowing that I did my time and now I’m ready to start over.

Waimarino

Yesterday room 41 & 42 went on a trip to Waimarino for the day. We arrived there and room 41 did kayaking first. We get shown how to put the buoyancy aid on and how to hold the paddle. We spent 2 hours nearly on the water kayaking. We all rafted up, which means you join all the kayaks to make a circle. We played cat and mouse. The water was very chilly! Sharnae, Lauren and I stood up and paddled and all of us fell in. Sharnae fell in the most.

We came back to Waimarino and had lunch. Now the land activities/water activities. I did the water slide twice but the second time I choked on the water. I was to chicken to jump off the high dive. I went on the UFO which is a trampoline on water and there was a mini blob on it which I did. But we had three people on it with Hoani, Nicole and I and then Hoani has to push us off. Sharnae got double blobed by Felila and Milly.

I think other schools should go there because... It is a great experience you learn how to T rescue and how to kayak. Also you are having fun but learning at the same time.

Key Competencies:
Managing Self- You have to manage yourself, you had to know where your limits were and not to get everything wet if you didn't have any warm clothes.
Relate to others- Not tease people if they can't do something and not to pressure them.
Thinking: Think if it is safe to do the activities and to see if it is safe that you won't land on anyone.
Using signs and symbols- You had to read the signs to know what to do and to see how to do the activities safely.
Participating and Contributing- Waimarino you have to participate in something.

Attitude Assembly

Yesterday we had a whole school assembly. We had a guy named Dave come and speak to us about Attitude. At the start he told us about him and that he had a twin and the only way you could tell the difference from who's who was his twin was the ugly one. He also told us heaps of other story. Once he went to a school and he saw a guy throw an apple at another boys head and the boy turned round ate the apple that exploded in his head and said you threw nice throw. He was trying to explain if a girl got hit in the head with an apple they would turn around with "you will die" look in their eyes going " who threw that? was it you?" Girls and boys react differently.

The things that make you you are...

Your genes: You are made up of looks by your parents. Example: if your dads dad is bald then you will most likely go bald.

Your environment: Everything has happened around impacts on how you come as a person. Your cultural the sports you play, your family and your friends have a huge impact on how you act.

Your choices: You can choose to be: positive / enthusiastic / a whinger / selfish / generous / lazy / wacky / successful and a thousand other shades of attitude. Sure, you can't switch moods on and off like a light switch, but you can choose your attitude.

12 Hour Relay

On Friday we had 12 hour relay. I was in the team that was running for the 12 hours. Lachie and I were captains for the A team. We had to be at school by 6:30am. Everyone was dressed in there house colors. Jessica,Sophia,I and heaps others put heaps of red spray paint in our hair. I did 12 laps all up which I did better than last year but right on about 4:00 I hurt my ankle was not able to run again that day. It was such a fun day. Everyone enjoyed it. Even though we didn't raise enough money to go to paintball again this year we still all tried our best in the relay. For the fun run and walk for the non people we came second. The day finished at 7:00pm. It was raining towards the end but it stopped for the end hour of the relay. We came 4th overall. 1st was Totura 2nd was Kahiktia and 3rd was Miro.