Do you remember the time we first set foot on camp Adair, all sat excitedly on the large field?

Do you remember unpacking and settling into our cabins, bundles of joy, making us yield.

Especially cabin 1 and 2.

 

Do you remeber the remarkable activities we participated in with loads of happiness?

Do you remember getting fully bloated the delicious food provided, lots of jolliness. 

Do you remember settling into bed after a long day of activities and playing, and on the ground, there was Miss Rowland laying.

Especially cabin 1 and 2

 

Do you remeber the crucial, diabolical, rough things that was found in the boys bathroom?

Do you remember being cheery and loud but a bit sad on the last day of camp, not wanting to go back to our classroom.

Especially cabin 1 and 2. 

What did this amazing author (J.R.R Tolkein) do?

Well, this man had an amazing love for books. But growing up, what inspired him to have this deep affection for books turning his mind up into writing The Hobbit?

His Early Life, how did he grow up?

J.R.R Tolkein had an interesting childhood. Tolkein’s father sadly passed away when Tolkein was four years old. Tolkein only had his mother growing up whilst in genteel poverty. However, at the age of eleven years old, Tolkein won a Foundation Scholarship! What a great accomplishment! A year later Tolkein’s mother passed away from an untreatable disease at the time, and Tolkein and his siblings had to be transferred to an orphanage. When Tolkein was in this orphanage, he met a woman around three years older than himself, Edith. He ended up happily marrying Edith on the 22nd of March 1916, a memorable moment for Tolkein. As he grew older, Tolkein served in World War One (1914). A few decades later, Tolkein made a start in writing ‘The Hobbit’ (just before World War Two started). During World War Two (1939), Tolkein began to write ‘The Lord of The Rings’,. another one of his most popular books. Whilst he was writing ‘The Lord of The Rings’, his son, Christopher Tolkein, served as a pilot in the Royal Air Force.

What drew Tolkein into Writing ‘ The Hobbit ’

Tolkein had a started writing The Hobbit in his late thirties (1930). He was inspired to write ‘The Hobbit’ for his four children, Christopher, Micheal, John Francis Reuel and Priscilla Reuel Tolkein. Tolkein said himself, explaining he had originally started telling it to his children as a bedtime story, just as his mother had done with him and his brother when they were little. Each night, he would elaborate on the tale, increasing the epic journey little by little. His purpose of The Hobbit was to make two literary interests, one based on collected myths of England, and the other was stories for his children. “ The Hobbit is set in Middle-earth and follows a home loving Bilbo Baggins, the Hobbit of the title, who joins the Wizard Gandalf and the thirteen dwarves of Thorin’s Company, on a quest to reclaim the dwarves home and treasure from the dragon Smaug.” Sadly, all the Tolkein’s have passed excluding the grandchildren that are still here.

Tolkein Family

His life after he published The Hobbit

21, September 1937 – The fantasy novel, the hobbit was published by J.R.R Tolkein. Tolkein was not negatively affected when he published his book due to it blowing up in the 1960s. It was driven by a young generation of people as well. After publishing ‘The Hobbit’, it was  a selected nomination for an amazing Camegie Medal for the best Juvenile fiction from the New York Herald Tribune. ‘The Hobbit’ started to get more attention and a few more decades later, ‘The Hobbit’ was made into an adventurous film directed by Peter Jackson.

 

How did people react when Tolkein published The Hobbit

As it was Tolkeins first book that he published, it was supported with generally strong critical approval. Which means people did quite enjoyed The Hobbit! The book’s popularity itself grew and many people tend to have positive feedback on The Hobbit ! There are still people out there saying their affectionate thoughts. So as a result, The Hobbit was amazingly highly liked!

His Passing

On the 2nd of September, 1973 Tolkein had sadly passed. His poor passing was from a sickening stomach ulcer. Tolkein had written a total of 17 books, including The Hobbit. But mostly, another of his other book, The Lord of Rings, was VERY popular as well. After Tolkeins death, his second to youngest child, Christopher published a series of works based on his fathers extensive notes and unpublished manuscripts. Such as “The Book of Lost Tales’ ‘.  J.R.R Tolkein has taken himself far SUCCESSFULLY and many people including himself should be beyond overly proud.

J.R.R Tolkein had quite a hectic childhood, but made it through with his love of books, taking him far, it must’ve brought him many joys. His passionate, thoughtful family had his support and they had his, but overall, J.R.R Tolkein has left many great moments behind himself.

 

 

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J.R.R Tolkein

Edith Tolkein

Micheal Tolkein

John Francis Reuel Tolkein

Priscilla Reuel Tolkein

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The Hobbit Cover

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J.R.R Tolkein Passing Image

 

The graceful, delicate moves of the Chinese group, the exciting, powerful, thrilling joyous jots of the Punjabi dance groups and the shockingly talented, loud, and powerful voices of the Māori group  it’s still stuck into my mind to this day. What a great experience! Last week, on Wednesday, we went to polyfest! And around 32 schools came! Our speaker on the stage was very welcoming and made everyone’s day. We had a little korero of what our day was going to look like, then we got started. 

First, we just had to stay at our original spot because three stages were still being set up. All of us students all got split up into groups of 7-10 and altogether there were 20 groups. Some of us went with students’ parents, and some of us went with teachers. Either way, they were awesome! Whilst we were waiting, the speaker took us for a little walk around to see what was happening. We just went in a full circle and saw some pretty eye-catching, captivating, astonishing things!  There were lots of food markets in the corner too. Then after having a quick walk around which managed quite well, thanks to the helpers from ASB who held up flags so we could just follow them whilst seeing the big flag they were holding up so we wouldn’t get lost. Once we came back a few minutes travelled by and it was time to go to our first stage.

 

As we got up, we were told to get in our groups. Then we would be able to leave. How organised! Walking over to our first stage only took a short distance of time as it was quite close to where we were sitting originally. We were settling down to watch the stage for the next group whilst the chinese group was still performing for the last group that was here so we quickly sat down and tuned in. I would say their customers really showed off how graceful the culture can be. When the chinese group did their moves, each was fulled with flow and was very passionate. A few more peformances Fromm the Chinese group and then it was time for the previous group to leave.

 

The coordinator welcomed us with a joyful;, enthusiastic attitude that filled the audience with laughter and enjoyment. The first performance was from the Punjabi group! Again, like the Chinese group, their costumes were absolutely stunning! I noticed that the leader who was speaking for AC( Alfriston college) was a relative of a past gardens student! She even noticed us and gave us a shout out! Then, their music started to play and that was their cue to start with their peformance. It was so entertaining and astonishly great to see how good they were. They represented their culture very well! After that there was a few more peformances from the same and different high schools of the culture Punjabi. Each peformance had a speaker for that group that would talk about what their culture meant for them and what is was about. The next cultural group was the phillipino group. Their speaker did an inspiring, interesting, informative, amazing speech! Then went on with their peformance. We saw a few more cultures and then we went back to our spot as the first stage was done and the next group was ready to come in. We walked over and went to the Māori stage. We settled in and even though we were a distance away, their strengthening voices powered at us which made us more thrilled and surprised on what was on the stage. Again, the outfits were amazing, and the same with their voices.

Our main speaker introduced us to small skits that we got to interact with! Some of our students went up on the stage and won some prices. Then it was time to head back to school. At the end of the day, we got to have a bit of free time then as some of us were outdoors including me, Mrs Barrowman with springing joy told us there was a surprise inside. All of us, especially us year 8s, wanted to know what was in our space  as we have been waiting on our leavers jerseys,  And to our surprise, it was our leavers jerseys! And right after, we got to sing Mrs Van Tonder happy birthday! This finished off our day with all the year 8s having a long lasting smile! From going to polyfest, getting our leavers jerseys, spreading joy and singing Mrs VT happy birthday, all of it just made everyone’s day. What a great experience! As intermediates and our Tui kapa haka group who came, in my opinion, I think we  had an amazing day and I would also like to thank all our teachers who organised us to be there and to the parents who helped out. In my opinion, I think we represented our school well!

The Hopping Rabbit

 

As the Rabbit hops to space,

Each hop filled with grace.

The Rabbit was like a trampoline,

But the Rabbits feet started to become unclean.

 

 

The Rabbit was a pogo stick,

Whilst doing an awesome trick.

In the forest, as the Rabbit goes,

In the place where only he knows.

 

 

As the Rabbit hums while hopping,

His feet started to feel like it was throbbing.

The Rabbit was a machine,

Boing, Boing, Boing, hopping around, never clean.

 

 

 

 

(image credits to https://images.app.goo.gl/RtySpzHR4Q48imK78)

Awakening at 6:15 sharp, nice and early, to get ready for the first day of school. It was so early but I was not taking the risks of being late for road patrol on my first day back. Furthermore, Starting off a new year as an intermediate at the gardens school has been astonishingly enjoyable! Being excited to reunite with your friends, talking about your holidays and being more active had probably had payed off from waking up way to early sometimes. Throughout these first few days, choosing our tech options, sending out our job applications and building up our leadership skills has been my highlights for my first successful two weeks of school.

 

For our learning continuum, we have started off by setting up for the year. Such as labelling our stationary, finding our tote trays and getting to know our teachers. Next, we introduced the learning that we would be doing for our Self-Directed Learning that all of intermediate will be contributing in. Then, we did a writing test at the start of the year for our workshops. Although it has been quite a busy week, I can assure you that I have been absolutely thrilled by the experience of my year so far. Talking towards our self-directed learning, our P.A.L ( Portfolio Of Assessment ) is an important part of our curriculum. Marking our writing assessment, we had each teacher explain to us the main attributes of writing such as, ideas, organization, spelling, vocabulary, punctuation, sentence structure and structure and language. Then we marked where we thought we would put ourself based on our writing test.

 

We also have S.D.L zones for the whole of Kahu. We have to send our own applications with a good amount of evidence to prove that you are a interested, involved or self directed learner based on where you are at. This can help build up our leadership skills as intermediates who “Lead Proudly”. Each S.D.L (Self Directed Learner) zone you move up to, the more evidence you will need to put in. S.D.L zones will be announced at our Kahu Hui’s where as a whole hapori, we get together and talk about panui, sing some waiatas and to say any other announcements. In conclusion, I have been blown away from such a good first few days that has passed!

 

 

 

Do you enjoy playing sports?  Would you consider it entertaining? Or would you find it not that amusing. Well there are many sports you can play. Such as basketball, softball, touch, volleyball, cricket and many other sports. But for our main topic I will be encouraging you on why you should try out for netball. Although you may not be a very sporty person, or you may not think netball is your sport, you should still try your best even when you don’t like it. I will now be giving a variety of reasons on why you should try out for netball. 

 

Firstly, it can be enjoyable. It’s kinda like basketball but you don’t dribble the ball, instead you use your teammates by passing the ball to them. This can also have a result of being less tired compared to basketball. Additionally you might get tired of doing the same position over and over again, but you do not have to worry as there are other types of positions you can play! If you’re good at defence, the positions that include the most defence are wing defence, goal defence, and goalkeeper. The next position is centre, you mostly run around the court back and forth helping their teammates. Lastly for our positions, if you enjoy shooting from basketball or any other sport that includes a hoop, the positions you would probably enjoy the most is either goal shooter or goal attack.Now that I have showed you several options of positions you can play, there are still some things we need to cover up.   

 

After introducing the positions you can play, I will be giving a couple of reasons on what would happen if you tried out for netball. First of all, after playing for a few days, you will start to gain more strength in your upper body. When you play netball, it can boost your physiological well being and can improve  your self esteem and your confidence in sports such as netball.  It can also be quite refreshing to just go outside and get some exercise. However in my opinion, if you kept playing netball you would gain a lot of strength in your body! I would really like to encourage you to play netball as it is a really enjoyable and amusing sport!  

Do you have clubs at your school? Well we do, let me introduce you to what I got for mine! But first, what is a club? A club is an activity you get to do on a certain day( Thursdays and Fridays) and it’s for one block! (1 hour and 25 minutes) There are lots of activities you can do and what I chose was cross stitching! I’ve never heard of it before but I could tell it included a needle and string which I could handle. 

When I first came I saw more things than I thought that I was familiar with, I saw a needle, a special cloth, string and a hoop, in fact I knew all of them! The teacher who was hosting this club went through the slides of how to cross stitch and gave us the equipment except for the hoop. She told us to do a practice row for a start and I took quite the time but it ended up not being the worst! Once I showed her, she told me it was very tidy in the back and was good for the next step.But since the bell was about to ring we had to pack up.

This club wasn’t my first choice though, Foodtastic was which I got in for Friday! But I got lucky as cross stitching was my second choice so it was a win-win. We came back and I started the next step, we got to choose to make our wings or our school logo, most of us did the wings which I thought was kinda funny.

I came with an idea to add in another club if we had too! It’s called “Walk, Talk, Tell and Keep” you get put in a group then go take a walk around the school(not interrupting the other classes/clubs) and you could make up something or it could be real but not that personal that is a secret, then you come back and you get 5 minutes to go to someone else what you said to your group. Then you change groups with absolutely different people, you get to choose if you want to tell them but there could be a chance that they know the secret you’re telling them… and if you get caught, you’re out. Last survivor wins (YOU MUST TELL ATLEAST 3 TIMES) Would you like to try out my club if you had an opportunity?

“Brm brm brm brm” brm brm brm brm” my alarm goes off a6:30 in the morning to get ready for school, “maybe a little bit later” I thought and then I was straight asleep. “Chanel!” Chanel!” My mum said, I woke up to her face right up to my eye.Then I shot right up to check the time as it wasn’t as dark from when I first woke up. “We need to go!” As I said, the time was 8:45 and school started at 8:50!

I arrived at school anxious and a little bit disturbed because there were no cars in the car park, but I just assumed they were parked up at the top or somewhere else. When I walk to the office no one was there but I just grabbed a late pass and continued walking

 

Now I am a bit concerned because it’s extremely quiet and I cannot see anyone from where I am. Looking confused I checked my iPad to see a gmail from the teachers saying it was a public holiday. I was very annoyed! Then I messaged my mum and she came to pick me up and I stayed home for the est of the day

We had a e-asTTle writing test and the topic was “What is something you did and you are proud of?” I dont really have that much things that i am proud of so i just thought of something that i think a leader would do and there it was, helping a new student.

 

I didn’t  feel annoyed about this topic but it wasnt the best but as I said in my mind “oh well” and just forgot about it and continued with my writing. What I thought was challenging though was trying to stay on topic and not run out of ideas.

 

My writing goals for 2023 is Organising ideas before writing using mind-mapping, note taking, and graphic organisers. My second goal is grouping information that belongs together in a text to form paragraphs.

 

If I had to choose a different topic to write your e-asTTle on, I would make a choice to make it if you could make your own world what would it be? I would do this because a lot of ideas can come from this topic and it can end up to be a interesting story.