No ordinary Girl

“OH MY GOSH!” Mino reacted this way when our plans for the day were to paint and be creative. As I interrupted during the talk about what the instructions were, Mino glared at me and hushed me until I was completely silent. I knew Mino, when it came to being creative, being a movie maker, animating and especially being a member of a group discussion, she was focused and ready.

Back when my friends and I were younger than today, Mino had to be the one who stood out the most. She had long smooth bushy hair, cute round eyes and was very quiet. She was more of a mover than a talker but nowadays, it’s the other way around. She’d always been fond of drawing, being creative and being a movie maker the most at school which showed she was a talented young girl. We’d always loved to talk, run around and be different to other children and as we grew up, we still stayed the same.

Experiencing a new Sport

As the students of room 20 paced themselves to the courts for our Kiwi Kick session, a gust of wind blew strongly towards our way. My teeth were chattering, I couldn’t keep still and goosebumps were slowly appearing around my body. We finally reach our destination and I then murmur to myself “This is going to be a disaster”.

To start our session, the tutors asked us kindly to be seated facing and listening their way. Samwich, Anita and Mikey all introduced themselves and gave a little speech about ARL to introduce us to the sport. While our tutors were explaining the rules to the students in our class, mixed thoughts were going through my head.

“Tag” was the only word I could hear around me. Continuous tag was our warm up before any of us were allowed to learn anything and it seemed to be the most important thing. The aim of the game was not to get tagged and have fun I guess. All I could see after a few games were people panting, weezing and breathing very loud. Samwich blew the whistle, which only meant one thing, ‘GAME TIME!’

I wouldn’t know, but part of being in a sports team, you have to know what the skills are to accomplish anything. Skill 1: ‘Drop Punt’, if you are getting ready to kick a ball, alway remember, ‘Laces away from Faces’. Another thing, Skill 2: ‘Hand Pass’. In this sport, many people have difficulties doing this skill, so it’s easier if you move with the ball and hit it with your fist. We got told that we have a chance to learn skills every week, so it wasn’t a problem at all.

To finish off our day, Samwich said we had more final thing to do to end our session. We were able to practice and do our best to ace the kicks one last time. In our partners we had to aim for our targets, which were Samwich and Mike. “You can do this! You can do this!” was all I could say in my head during the time. I kicked the ball softly and with great success, I jumped up and down with laughter.


AFL was better than I imagined. Our tutors are the best, we learnt really cool skills and I had a great time! I think next week when we go again, I will know what I'm doing which means I can have much more FUN!

Comparing and Contrasting

Ms Squires has recently given Room 20 a task to compare and contrast 2 well known artists, Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso. Pablo Picasso was famous for the art style ‘impressionistim’’ but moved on and became fond of ‘cubism’ where as Henri Matisse was the pioneer of Fauvism. It was our job to find the differences and compare the similarities.

Born on December 31st 1869, Henri Matisse was well known and famous in France for creating, sketching and painting in the style of ‘Fauvism’. Initially he experimented with the impressionistic style of painting but then moved on Cubism, a style he became most famous for. Pablo and Henri met in Paris (Spain) while Henri was visiting there for his Study Law, he and Pablo then became lifelong friends.

Although Matisse and Picasso share the same subject with these paintings, ‘Woman with a hat’ and ‘Weeping Woman’, they both have a unique way of showing it. The both of them used oil paint but Matisse painted a work of art with mixed emotions while Picasso on the other hand showed an expression of sadness and intense feelings.

The hue and the value of their paintings are similar to each other but they both have their own differences. The most obvious similarities in these paintings are the vibrant but vivid colours they used to express what they were thinking at the time. Pablo had his own way of using colours and there wasn’t much shading, instead he was quite flat. Henri used a multitude of colours and made his artwork and showed the unrealistic colours.

The line and the shape of these paintings show their differences clearly. Henri does have some clear outlines but many lines are blurred. There are smudged shapes, with shapes defined though the use of a variety of colours. Clearly delineated lines is seen most in his artwork, with some dark outlines and jagged lines. I can clearly see that the perspectives in these paintings have their own angles.

There are many differences between ‘Women with a Hat’ and ‘Weeping Women’ but there were some similarities. From the way I see it, it looked like Henri and Pablo were trying to convey a message. But who knows?

Show Not Tell - Rainy Day

SPLOSH SPLOSH SPLOSH! was all I could hear walking down the path. Goosebumps appeared on my arms and I felt drenched. Droplets were dripping on my head and sprinkles of spray were blowing in my face.

What I have to Say...

A few weeks ago, the Year 7 & 8 Extension class were given a rubric and assigned to gather information about one person in particular, draw your best graphics and make an independent movie about that same person. We were lucky enough to choose 1 person from the Pacific Starmap 'Lighting the way for Pacific Artists', a star sports player or a celebrity who inspires you the most. I thought it would be a good opportunity for me to do Sia Figiel. She is a famous pacific women who writes poetries and is a publisher of novels as well. It wasn't the best movie I've made but it was good to watch.

I'm glad to say that I finished my project on Sia Figiel but I didn't do GREAT and I didn't do bad. During the time we had to complete these projects, I needed to tweet some things up but I did some things that were al right I guess. It was a good thing that I made progress in every session of Extension but I still think I could of managed my time more along with some focus. If we get given another task to complete and I still have a chance to be a member of this class, I will definitely do my best to complete it and put all my effort in it.

I have to admit in the beginning, I thought this was for nothing but after a few days I got the hang of it. Sia Figiel was fun to learn about and she was a women that I had been inspired by. She showed a heap of confidence and was keen to follow her dreams even though she had no support other than her kids and close friends. I learned even though your still learning about your dream and how much work you need to put in it, don't give up because you never know what's going to happen!

The Abundance

The Abundance illustrated by Daniella Hulmes was a brilliant piece of painting.  She was a person that enjoyed anything that associated with art. Daniella had decided to be an artist but her parents thought it wasn’t a good job choice because the ammount of money she would make. She had become a nurse for a few years, then got married and since then, she had become a fanatic of art and talked about it non-stop. He husband couldn’t take it anymore so he bought her an easel, paint supplies. It get’s even better when he enrolls her into an art class.

Daniella’s purpose of painting was to show joy and happiness. She loved working with bright, vibrant colours so she could bring happiness to homes. Oil paints was all she used because she loved the texture, smell, the feeling and the depth.

She was inspired by her husband’s culture (Samoa) because she loved the Island look and the style. When you have one look at the artworks drawn by her, you can really see the Pacific iconography.

Daniella Hulmes 'Abundance'

The lines by Daniella Hulme  of the  artwork ‘Abundance’ are strong, bold and drawn clearly. This artwork has a blend of cultures which incorporate the island look, the colours are vibrant and show joy and happiness. The effect of the artwork has an  isometric perspective.


Written by Mubba & Via