Matariki writing

For miles there was only darkness, everywhere you turned nothing but a blank space of
darkness.

One dark night Ranginui {the sky father} moved his arm and the 7 sons caught a glimpse
of a beautiful bright sky with a very bright yellow sun after that they discussed what was
beyond their father.

”Let's kill them so we can see the light¨ said Tumatauenga {god of war} they all disagreed. They  said,

¨It is time to separate them.¨ Well not all of them. There was only one son that disagreed
and that son was Tawhirimatea {god of the wind and storms}. He didn't want to split his
parents apart. He flew up to his father and whispered in his father’s ear and warned him
about the separation. One at a time the brothers tried with all their might to separate their
parents but nothing would work.

Then Ranginui said,

¨You cannot break us for our love is too strong, Ranginui said amused.

¨I am strong enough¨ said Tane mahuta. {god of the forest}.
He pushed and pushed but Ranginui wouldn't budge,  Tane mahuta lay
on his back and pushed against Ranginui with his strong legs as his branches grew
longer and the earth started to quake and the grip between Ranginui and Papatuanuku
weakened. From Ranginui, a rain of tears and stars came down as they lost their grip
suddenly a warm bright light  flooded the land and they saw the light of the blue sky,
as that happened Ranginui raised to the sky, Tawhiri shot lightning bolts of anger to the
sky and Ranginui split them into seven stars the mother Matariki and the 6 sisters Waiti,
Waita, Waipuna Rangi, Tupu a rangi, Tupu a nuku and Ururangi.

Susana Reading Learning Story.

I chose this Library book to read at silent, sustained reading time because I like the author..   He is the author of a book I read called Gangster Granny.

I located information in the story that told me that the grandson relates better to his grandad than he anyone else.  In the story it says, ¨ Jack relates better to his grandpa then any of his friends even his Mum and Dad¨.

I worked out that Dad was crying.  I used the clue, ¨With the sleeve of his dressing gown, Dad wiped his eyes.”

I found out that an important idea in the story is the grandson related to his grandpa better than anyone else because he doesn’t have a lot of friends.

I used what I know about the story so far and my prediction for what's next from the story about the great escape to work out that the retirement home is suspicious about Jake( the grandson) and grandpa.

I enjoyed this book because it is different from other books I usually read. It was not challenging at all because I knew most of the words in my book and plus I sometimes use the 5 finger rule.

Here is a screencastify of me reading some of my books.                                           screencastify

Susana.Maths Learning Story.

Susana’s Maths learning Story

The Maths problem:  

The Te Rito community gardens in Porirua are thinking about developing a new vegetable garden. They have 36 meters of thick string to ‘rope off’ a rectangular area for the new garden. What different options do they have? They want the garden to be a rectangular shape. What is the largest rectangular garden they can make?  How can you prove this?

The story of the Maths problem: (use your own words)

The Te Rito garden people are making a rectangular garden. They have 36 meters of rope.

What we were trying to find out:

What is the largest rectangular garden they can make with 36 meters?  How can you prove this?

How we solved the problem:

First, we remembered that a rectangle has 2 long sides and 2 short sides and 4 corners. Then we drew a rectangle and we remembered it has to be exactly the same on each side. Next, we knew that the perimeter has to equal 36 meters. Then we tried drawing different rectangles like this: So what  did was I drew a rectangle and I was like thinking in my head well maybe if I made it 12 on every side but then Miss Trish came and said well what is half of 12 and then I said 6 so then Miss Trish said well maybe you can try that so I did and then Miss Trish reminded me you have to find the area so then I thought well maybe I can 12 x 6 and that = 72 and that was plan A but I have one more and that is plan B and this is how plan B works. So if you split 36 then you can split it in to 10 and 10 and then 8 and 8 so then I drew a rectangle and put the two 8s on the top and bottom and t hen I got the two 10s and put it on the two sides and I x the 10 and 8 and that = 80 so plan B has the bigger area.

Working as a group is important:  

I am good at listening to advice because I try the suggestions. I am getting better at explaining my thinking because I have been able to do it here.