Beach Dogs Animation

Today we were learning to do a animation on google slides, it was my first time trying animation. We had to pick a background image and moving image for our animation. In our code we had to change false to true to make it loop. In normal slides it really slow so we had to make the code say 300 or 200 to make the animation look clean and fast. Hope you enjoy my animation :)

Weta Information Report: Report On The Weta

This is a piece of writing that we did for our minibeast topic when we were learning about weta. We had to write an information report on this insect.

Click here for our success criteria

   Report On The Weta

                                                       By Porsha

                What Is A Weta?

 Weta are a native insect to New Zealand. Weta are an            invertebrate and they have a skeleton on the outside of their body which is called an exoskeleton. Weta are very interesting critters, people often think they are a cricket from other countries.There are over 70 species of weta but the main 5 are tree weta,tusked weta,ground weta and giant weta. Just like other insects they have a thorax,abdomen and don’t forget they're antenna (feelers). Uwha\female weta have an ovipositor on the back of their abdomen. Most people think they are used to harm other insects but the ovipositor is used to lay eggs that why uwha/females have them. Weta may look weird but they are very dynamic insects.

                Where Do Weta Live?

Where a weta lives depends on the weta species, So Tree weta live in any form of wood\trees, sometimes they can even live in your firewood pile. Ground and tusked weta live in burrows in the ground but if they choose to they can climb trees for food. Cave weta can be found in loads of places such as  hollow tree trunks, under houses, tunnels and sea coast caves. Giant weta are mostly found in island sanctuaries. If you see a weta in any of these places don't ruin,crush or destroy it, if you can make more habitats for weta to live in.

              What do Weta Eat?  

Like most insects weta need to feed on something. Most weta are carnivores or herbivores. Ground and Tusked weta are carnivores, They eat snails worms and vertebres. All weta feed at night, except for when people find weta they normally give them a fresh carrot to chomp on. Giant and tree weta are herbivores, they eat a lot of different types of food but these are the main ones Lichens,leaves,flowers,seed heads and fruit. Even though we sometimes eat weta, I’m sure we’re glad that they don't eat us.

             How Do Weta Breed?

To keep weta going they need to reproduce so don’t die out. Normally on a spring/summer night weta mate. In autumn the uwha/female weta lays 6-10 eggs at a time and the following spring the babies hatch and grow. Most weta breed at night. In a uwha/female weta lifetime she lays about 300 eggs. As weta grow they shed their skin. Weta have a similar breeding cycle to other insect but there are some differences.

           Are Weta Social?

Not all weta species have the same social life. Surprisingly,Tree weta are the most social weta out of them all. Tree weta live in a special group called galleries, galleries can contain heaps of young weta and uwha/female weta but only one male. The only other type of weta that don't live alone are Cave weta. Cave weta live in groups near the sea coast caves but are very lonely critters. Weta communicate and hei/talk to each other by rubbing their legs together to make a chirping sound. Unlike tree and cave weta other species of weta mainly live alone. 

           What Are The Threats To Weta?

Weta don't have many threats native to new zealand,Weta numbers decreasing because of all these introduced pests and animals.The native Tuatara,Weka and Kiwi eat wekas. The introduced animals like Ngeru/Cats,Hedgehogs and Rats are main predators. Ground weta back into their holes and keep a lookout for predators and be safe. Giant weta are less aggressive and way more bigger so the predators will go for them more often than the other species of weta. To keep out these threats make weta hotels so they have a safer place to live.

Weta’s are very interesting critters and all the different species live a little differently but we need help protect them because they are very important insects.

                Some Weta Photos:

Reading Term Three Week 4-5, Insects

At school I've been learning about mini beasts. Here is some of the reading work I have been doing.

To Build a Bot and Emotional Robots - Reading Work

This term we have been learning about "emotional robots - A.I" and about kids building robots. We did this in our reading work. We read two interesting articles about building robots. 

                              My Reading document

Translation,Rotation & Reflection

Writing-Abandoned Places

 Abandoned Places

Our learning goals are to:-write a description, using powerful words and phrases-include some Te Reo Māori-carefully check that our sentences make sense and have correct punctuation and spelling.

Choose one of the images to prompt a piece of descriptive writing

The Abandoned Tarākona/Dragon

CLASH! I woke up, confused. A piece of metal barely missed my head. I stood up to see where I was, Two tall ash grey pereki/brick buildings were beside me the rest of the land was full of pīki\big Alder rākau\trees half the size of the building.. I stroked my hands along the old grey pereki. They were rough and solid  most of the paint was peeled of. I reached the door it was double my height and it had KEEP OUT! Carved onto the wood. The pereki\brick above the door was crumbling into little pieces falling onto my head. Curious, I opened the door,  “HELLO?!” I screamed. No one answered. I walked up the chalky concrete stairs. I was almost at the roof of the building when I heard a sound that I've never heard before, ROAR!!! My heart was pounding as fast as a single lightning strike. I told myself “There’s no turning back now”. 

I was now on the roof of this abandoned building, I looked down at the rest of this place There was nothing else. “How am I going to find my way back home”? I thought.There was a small black shed in the corner of the rooftop, I didn't want to open it But I had to. There was nowhere else to go. As I twisted the door handle I heard fire rumbling. Before I even thought about what was behind it I opened the door.

I saw coal black rough shimmery skin, It's scales were like leaves falling of 

rākau in the winter. His teeth were like pīki swords coming out of his mouth. His whero eyes had an Iridescent shimmer to them. It was beautiful but terrifying. The tail was like a dozen python snakes.. .A TāRAKONA/Dragon! in this exact moment I regret everything that led up to this moment BOOM!!! Black smoke filled up the shed. *cough cough* Then I was back home in my bedroom. Everything was normal. Then I picked up my notebook and wanted to write everything down that just happened but then these words were already written THE ABANDONED TāRAKONA\DRAGON!!!!

By Porsha