My Holiday Reading Report: Teagan

Holiday Reading

On the last week of school the year seven and eight students from Panmure Bridge School got given a challenge. The challenge was to read three novels at home during the holidays to improve our  reading, and complete an activity and post it on your blog for each novel.

During the holidays I read the book Most Valuable Player. This book is set in America and is about a very good basketball player named Ashley. I wanted to do the dress up like a character activity because I had a lot of basketball singlets. So I dressed up as Ashley for my activity because Ashley is the main character in the story.

Next I had my second book to read Alien Rescue. This book was set in an alien planet called Halycrus and I wanted to make a new cover for the book. I made a very exciting looking cover design because you can see the aliens being rescued from the mountain swine.

Finally my last book that I had to read, Jake the Shredder, where I drew one of the characters. Then I drew an amazing picture of Jake because he, besides Betty was the main character in the story. I also drew him holding a skateboard because he likes skateboarding at the skatepark, where the story is set.

This challenge was very interesting because I really enjoyed reading my three novels. My activities were fun and looked exciting. I completed all the activities and posted them onto my blog.

Teagan

Tongariro News Report: Teagan

Tongariro Awakens

The people of Taupo are in shock as the mighty Tongariro awakens from his deep sleep. People watch in shock and awe Tongariro as he erupts for the first time in over a hundred years, burping boulders of fire and covering the city in ash.

Residents were all taken by surprise when Tongariro shook the ground tipping over streetlights and trees. It sounds like World War 3 was going on. People woke up and looked outside but there was no grass or a vegetable gardens, just a black darkness that has taken over their land. As I looked up and all I could see was a terrible black cloud covering the blue sunlight. The terror started at about 11:50pm last night.  The people in Taupo and cities nearby were all shaken up.  Pip James a citizen of Taupo tweeted that he could taste Tongariro.

During the eruption people near the area started to pack food and get going. The police started warning the people before the eruption but they did not heed the warning. A group of 20 year 8 students were on the mountain as it erupted, luckily they all safely returned home. Senior Volcano Geophysicist Steve Sherburn said there were no volcanic patterns and the mountain had only erupted for five minutes.

The volcano was very destructive as it shot out boulders of fire destroying the nearby tramping hut. It was burping out rocks and spewing out ash covering the city and animals too. After the terrible eruption people thought they were safe but they thought wrong. It was followed by a series of small earthquakes which shook the the city. Flights were delayed by the ash, cloud, planes and couldn’t go further than 8 miles, down below wasn’t good either as there was five cm of ash covering the roads.

People here have a long road ahead to clean up. For the people of Taupo stay strong, we are all right behind you.

My Valerie Adams Report: By Teagan

Valerie Adams

Valerie Kasanita Adams is one of the best Shot Putters in the world. She is one of the best gold medal chances for New Zealand, and makes New Zealand proud.

Valerie Kasanita Adams was born October 6th 1984. She was born in Rotorua, New Zealand. Valerie is Tongan from her mother Lilika Ngauomo, and English from her dad Sydney Adams. Valerie has several brothers over 7ft tall. Her youngest brother Steven Adams is a basketball player in Massachusetts United States of America. Valerie Is very tall. She is 6ft 4, that is 1.96 metres, nearly 2 metres tall. Valerie supports God and belongs to Latter Day Saints of Jesus Christ.

Valerie was shy at school. She went to Otatara Primary School. Her family couldn’t afford shoes for her massive feet. She was the tallest in her class and used to get teased and got called names at school. She was good at basketball and had strong forearms which was first recognised by her P.E. teacher at Mangere High School.

A sad part in Valerie’s life was when her mother Lilika Ngauamo died of cancer when Valerie was just 15 years old. Her mother inspired her to shot put and to work harder. Valerie later on got married to the a New Caledonian discus thrower Bertrand Vili in 2004. But unfortunately Valerie  and Bertrand separated in 2010.

She broke the record for shot put in bare feet in the junior championships.  In 2001 Valerie won gold at the World Youth championships in Hungary. In 2002 Valerie was first in the World Junior Track and Field Championships in Kingston, Jamaica, throwing a distance of 17.73m and then went on to win silver at the Manchester Commonwealth Games, with a throw of  17.45m.Valerie went to her first Olympics in Athens in 2004, just a month after having surgery.Valerie came ninth in the qualifying round, she missed out on the final. One of the finalists later failed a drugs test, which brought Valerie into eighth place. In 2008 Valerie won gold at the Beijing Olympics.

Valerie has had three coaches. Her first coach was Kirsten Hellier, who was a well known javelin thrower. They met in 1998 and were together for 11 years. Her second coach was Dide Poppe and fired him in 2010. She now lives in Switzerland with her third coach Jean Pierre Egger. Valerie has done very well under him.
Valerie Adams is one of New Zealand’s icons and will hopefully win us some medals at the London Olympics this year.

My Jean Batten Report: By Teagan

Jean Batten was a famous aviator who broke world records. She wanted to prove that men and women were equal.

Jean was born in Rotorua, New Zealand. She was born on the 15th of September 1909. Jean’s full name was Jean Gardner Batten. Jean’s  mum was an actress while her dad was working as a dentist. Jean had two older brothers, she would of had three but one died at birth. Jean’s  Dad wanted her to be a pianist but she wanted to be an aviator.  Jean sold her piano to pay the fares for herself and her mother to go to England. There she learned to fly and got her pilot’s license. Later on Jean sold her first plane the moth and bought a Percival Gull Monoplane.  

Jean started to achieve and break records. Her first record was for the first solo flight in 1933 from England to India. In 1934 she set the new record for women from England to Australia (14 days and 22 and a half hours). In 1935 she flew from Australia to England , she was the first woman to fly both ways. She made another record in that year from England to Brazil. In 1936 she went from England to New Zealand and from Australia to New Zealand. In 1937 she went from Australia to England and from London to South America in the fastest time.

Jean had no fear, she was a great navigator. Bad weather did not put her off. She was lucky to survive her first efforts, she caught a sandstorm over Iraq. When she lost control of the plane it went spinning. Her bed that night was under the wing in the desert. A sad time for Jean was when the man she was planning to marry got killed in a horrible plane crash, Jean was heartbroken. She went looking for him but didn’t find him.                         

When Jean was flying  all she needed was a compass and a watch.

Jean’s death was very sad. She died on the 22nd of November 1982. She got bitten by a dog and it turned septic and refused to take medicine. Later on the wound got infected. She died alone in Spain, Majorca. Her family didn’t know she was dead until five years later. Her mother died in 1966 on the island of Tenerife, Spain.     

Jean Batten was one of the world’s best aviators, and put New Zealand on the map. She will be greatly remembered in New Zealand history.