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In the last week of school we have science fair. this will be my first science fair, so when I heard that we would be doing one I didn’t really know what to expect. I first thought it might be like the ones you see on American high school movies; with the exploding volcanoes and confusing contraptions where there is parents, judges and students milling around. (and normally someones project blows up!) But listening to the year eights we are not even allowed to be with our projects when they are judged, only the judges will actually be in the same room as the projects.

 We spent a lot of time going over the scientific method in class , (they order and way that scientists carry out an experiment.) we also did two group experiments which were: ‘How does salt and sugar make a difference on the speed of ice melting?’ The other one was. ‘How does the shape of the wings affect the distance that a paper aeroplane would fly. I liked the paper plane one better as watching ice melt might even be more boring than watching paint dry!!  In the end (after and hour and a half) none of my group’s ice had actually melted!  After we had been taught all the necessary requirements it was time for us to start thinking of our question. The school science teacher came into our class one lunch time to give us ideas. I was going to do “how does different liquids added to bubble mixture affect how big the bubbles are?” But I was told that lots of others were also doing that question. She asked what equipment I could get my hands on I told her nails as dad always has spare nails in his work shop. I ended up deciding on “how does salinity (salt) affect the oxidation (rusting) speed?” I was going to use nails to test it on.

I got a science fair note book  (a vital part of the scientific method)and started to research I found out a whole lot of stuff about rusting and salt. My hypothesis (guess) is that the jar with most salt will rust the fastest. Tonight I started my experiment Mum got me some rock salt but it didn’t really dissolve so we heated up all of the five pots when They were cool I added the nails. They are now sitting in the kitchen rusting!!

I hope I have good results from my experiment and that it all goes well.

This is a report we did at school, we had a choice of elephants or wetas most people chose elephants.

The elephant being the largest and second tallest land animal is well known for its size. This amazing animal is full grown at 25 years although it can live up to a massive 65 years.

There are two species of elephants; the African elephant, which is the largest out of the two, at  two-four meters tall and weighing 7500kgs and the Asian elephant is smaller with littler and more curved ears. Another difference about the two elephants is that only the male Asian elephants have tusks unlike the African Elephant where both males and females have tusks.

In most other areas the two species are mostly the same. All elephants have two small eyes which are protected by very long lashes. They are colour blind and they have limited vision in strong light. Their large ears are all individual, similar to the human fingerprint. Most elephants have tusks which are actually teeth that continue growing until they reach 1.5 meters, weighing 45kg each. The tusks are used for digging, fighting, feeding and lifting. The skin is grey and big wrinkles help the elephant stay cool. And its nose; more well known as a trunk. As well as breathing and smelling it can be used to pick up food and suck up liquid and sensing.

 Elephants live in family groups called herds where all the elephants help protect the young. To communicate with each other they, trumpet, bellow, cry or snort. To indicate danger they flap their huge ears against their heads, and then the herd gathers closer together. Elephants only sleep for two-four hours at a time either standing or lying. 

Elephants live in deserts, mountains or tropical forests in Africa, India and Southern Asia. They eat grasses, leaves, roots and shoots if they are in the wild. If they are in captivity they will be fed hay, oats, potatoes and even some meat.

Even though they are such amazing and beautiful animals, poachers are still after them. They want the ivory that their tusks are made of. This is very valuable and it is used to make ornaments or jewellery.  People are also cutting down their habitat to make homes or factories. This is also reducing the number of elephants in the wild.

So we should do what we can to protect these beautiful creatures as they are endangered but their species deserve to survive.   

My dad is a farmer and he has one of those really cruddy Utes that N.Z farmers have. It is really, really, really, dirty, it also has a cracked door, smudges on  the windscreen and windows where our dog has licked them. It has four seats but Dad has trouble even fitting one passenger! It is like his traveling workshop with all his tools over the seats and our dog on the front seat so there is hardly any room!

He was discussing with my mum that he thinks he needs a new vehicle. He wasn’t that sure about what sort of thing that he wants . And when I was buying a friends birthday present up in Hamilton. After one of my soccer games (and as walking round a whole lot of girly shops is NOT my dads sort of thing) he was looking at a car competition (one of those flash looking 4-wheel drive things) and he called mum over. He said that he might need something like that instead of another Ute or a van like he’d been thinking.

So on the way home mum spotted the shop of the brand, that the competition car was. We stopped. I stayed it the car as it was a really cold day and I wasn’t in the mood for being freezing. They came back about 1/4 of an hour later and asked if I wanted to see the one that they thought might be appropriate. It was really flash with black leather upholstery and heaps of room and even a big enough boot for all dads tools and Norm our dog.

I had the birthday party at two so we had to get back. When I got home a couple of hours later I discovered our outside dog INSIDE! He was really good even when dad when out to the kitchen and he stayed right in front of  dads  chair! Well back to the car. I was told that after I had finished unpacking my small bag, to go and look in the garage, I thought that it might have been so that I could bring the clothes on the line in… But when I looked it was one of those big 4-wheel drive things which I found out was on trail for the weekend to see if it was the car for dad.

Dad took me to soccer in the morning; melted socks and all (see below!) in the trail car. We then went to our farm and drove up and down the big step hills at the back of our property just to check the 4-wheel drive. Dad thought it was pretty good, and I really liked the sigh light thingy. The next morning (this morning) dad took it back it was VERY dirty! ( the car washer can’t have been very happy!!)

So I was quite surprised when I got home from school to see a Honda Jazz sport (a trial car) sitting in our drive way! It has back seats that go right up so that Norm (dog) would fit in perfectly ( if we get it). We took it for a test run out to Pirongia and back, we then cheeked if Norm (our dog) would stay in it; he did! We then went up to Hamilton to see my Grandad he liked how the seats when up and down. I hope we get the Honda Jazz though Dad still hasn’t decided!

On  Sunday the 8th of June I was playing a soccer game in Hamilton. The morning started out a usual Sunday; me not wanting to get out of bed, rolling over, going back to sleep, etc. After feeding the cats and the dog I watched the ‘exciting’morning T.V and relaxed for a while. I was then told to get ready; my boots and shin-pads were already heating up by the fire, so I decided to warm my socks up too. I brought them out from my room and placed them by the heater and went to clean my teeth. When I came back they were still not warm so I held them just out from the heater… About 30 seconds later; after talking to dad I discovered that I had put them right on the heater. When I tried to pull them away, they were STUCK!! It turned out that they were made of nylon not wool; like I thought and they had melted onto the heater! My dad started laughing; and it was so not funny! After he had finished laughing he got a  knife  and a roll of paper towels and started to clean up my mess. After a lot of hard work, all that is left on our heater is a rather large smudge (right in the middle) and a horrible smell of burnt nylon when you turn the heater on!

So what I learnt from that  experience is that nylon melts and it is really smelly when it is melted! Also never put your socks too close to a heater!!!!!

(luckily I didn’t get into much trouble as both mum and dad found it funny!?)  Also this story has been changed a bit to make it just that bit more exciting/funny; but my socks really did melt!

On Sunday the 25 of May I was woken up at 5:00am by my dad, as I was competing in a soccer tournament in Auckland with the ‘rep’ team I had recently got into. It started at 9:00 though we had to be there at 8:20; with two and a bit hours to get up to Auckland.

We arrived (after some pretty horrible map reading on my part) to find my team waiting next to an ash-vet field. We were pretty excited as only a few of us have ever played on fake grass. But then we were told we were really playing on a normal field. We followed Matt sulkily to get our uniform; as it was our first tournament. It turned out to be the same black with red stripes; socks and pants (one stripe not 10) and a black top with one yellow stripe down the side!? It was meant to look like the Waikato colours.- Red, Yellow and Black. 

We did a quick warm up; passing. It was very hard as I had missed one of our two practices and I didnt know anybodies name! Soon after, the team that was first on the field was annoced. I was playing right defence. There was three attackers, two mid fields and three defence and the goalie . All the teams that we were versing were all from the wider Auckland region. After winning our first game (1-0); we all got our postions changed I ended up with center defence. And there was one attacker three mids and four defance as well as the goalie. We also won that game (2-0) but as we were getting tired and the next team was a bit better we had a draw.(0-0) Even though we had to get up so early it was still a really fun day!!!!

The Drive up to Hamilton 

The drive up to Hamilton was even MORE eventful than the actual competition!

We had McDonald’s for dinner and we were waiting in the car for the last person to buy there dinner. a van had its backing lights on and I made the comment;”Hey that car will have to wait for us to back” Well the driver certanly didn’t wait it started backing and didn’t stop until he/she felt the bump! We all let out a horrific scream as we felt the van rock!!!! As soon as the van stopped at St Paul’s we all crammed out to see the dent! It was quite big!!

The Quiz

On the 15th of May in the St Paul’s cathedral the 15th annual kids ‘lit’ quiz kicked off.
There was 47 teams of four (188 kids) competing to win thee grand prize of, $160 Book voucher value and a place in the National final. Second place got $100 in book vouchers and third place $40 in book vouchers.
There were 100 questions which were split into 10 categories. Each team had to chose a category to get double points for. The Categories were from elephants to the galaxy both of the Te Awamutu teams chose ‘magic’ as their ‘double’ category. After each Category been asked the ansers  were given follolowed by an adult question in which the adults could win a ten dollar book voucher and a book of there choice. There was also a ‘five dollar question where all the competitors had a chance to win five dollars of the quiz masters money! He was completely broke by the end of the night! The winners of each category won a book form a huge pile of giveaways! If there was a tie the tying teams had a sudden death question the other Te Awamutu team was in a sudden death question but the didn’t get it:(

It finished at about 10 and we didn’t get home till 11 after we had dropped everyone off! So a lot of us had the next day off!

On Saturday it was my first soccer game, well it was actually my first two games. I was asked to play for another team in my grade as they were short on defence players.

My first game was at 9:30 but we had to be there at 9:00 as we needed to warm up! I was a sub to start off with, as I was from another team. I got put on about ten minutes later as ‘right defence’ -we were winning 4-0 at half time. We swapped to an unwilling goalie, as the present goalie was promised if we were winning at half time he was allowed to play. I stayed as right defence and we scored one more goal before I was taken off to warm up with my ‘real’ team -the wolves. I thought this completely pointless as I was already warm; I was playing soccer two minutes ago! We went for a short run around to the empty field where we did goal kicks and goalie practice for the goalie.

We started our game at 11:00am where I was right defence again. The other team scored their first but final goal about 10-15minutes into the game but we matched their performance and scored a goal as well. Through out the first half we scored another three goals. At half time we were rewarded with oranges and jelly beans. Second half we got one more goal even though we were all very tired!!

As the teams I was playing for won both games I think it was a very successful but tiring soccer morning!

Where will you find roads without cars, forests without trees and cities without houses?

This is also from www.riddles.com it has heaps of neat riddles!!!! You should really check it out…

At 6:30am my Dad tried to wake me up before he went to the farm to milk the cows, but I must have taken AGES to wake up, because when I finally forced myself from my bed dad had already gone. I opened my presents on my parents bed, I got lots of cool stuff including a REALLY warm blanket for my bed, a Jumper and a pack of earrings.

I still had to go to school but that was O.K because we didn’t really do much work. We had a literature quiz what was actually quite fun because I knew some of the answers as I read quite a wide range of books. We then had to write a small piece of writing about five things that we are grateful for. After lunch we had french, we learnt how to say”how do you spell your name” and “what is your name” it was quite hard though. A small group of us got to miss out on half of singing, because in the afternoon we would be interviewing some people from the first school committee and we had to organise the video and questions. After lunch we had to interview them it was way harder than we all expected, but at the end I think we had all improved and we were making up questions on the spot!

After school I had soccer practice, all three of the open grade teams are training together so we get to train with people who have different skills than us. This makes it a lot easier to improve y skills etc.

Mum picked me up after. and we went out for dinner to the Thai restaurant in town. It was really yum, but very fulling; even dad was full! We had birthday cake for supper at home; it was a miracle we could fit it all in, but I suppose there is always room for CAKE!

After that I went to bed, I think it was a cool birthday. I cant wait till Friday night though as I am going to the mount with a friend!!