What Is The Correct Way To Swim Backstroke?

Over the last few Fridays we have been working on our explanation writing. I chose to write about backstroke. Here is my writing.

What is the correct way to swim backstroke?

What is the proper way to swim backstroke?

How can you get faster at backstroke?

Have you mastered the right style?

Do you know how to do the correct hand, arm and leg movements?

Read on to find out.

Firstly the hand movement.

As your hands enters and exits the water

make sure your pinky finger enters and exits the water first.

The easiest way to remember this is pinky in pinky out.

To move faster through the water,

when your hands are in the water use your hands to push the water

and propel you forwards.

While you are swimming try to keep your body

streamlined to reduce drag and go faster.

Next the legs, while kicking use your whole leg,

and bend slightly at the knees,

keeping them just them below the surface.

Make sure to do large, long kicks, this is called a flutter kick.

Make sure they are loose and don't do small tight kicks.

Lastly the arms, the arms are the easiest to master.

While booth arms are going at the same time

neither are both in the air or in the water at the same time.

Think of it as a game of cat and mouse,

as one hand enters the water, the other one exits the water

and the other way around.

Keep them in tight circles next to your body.

When one hand is in the water it is the power stage, 

and when it is in the air it is in recovery.

Backstroke is one of the beginners strokes that you learn,

as a beginner, and is more of a triathlon sort of stroke.

Backstroke is normally the second stroke that you learn the first being freestyle.

My favourite part is my interdiction, but I probably could have added more technical words in my writing.

My Purrfect Cats for Miss McLeod

For the last two weeks we have been learning about persuasive pices of writing. We had to try to convince Miss McLeod to ether get a cat or a dog. I choose to persuade Miss McLeod to get a cat. This is my persuasive writing. I had to use persuasive words and phrases that were convincing. I learned that cat reduce chances of a heart attack by 30% (from a friend), and I enjoyed writing about cats.

Collaborative Success Criteria

• The correct structure of a persuasive text including an introduction, with a hook and your opinion, 3 body paragraphs and a conclusion.
• Persuasive vocabulary and phrases that convince people
• The reasons why with supporting ideas

Monday 17th October

Purrfect Cats For Miss McLeod

Did you know a cat’s purr is purrfectly soothing? I believe that after a busy day at school, there’s nothing better than coming home to a soothing cat purr. That’s why I think Miss McLeod should get a cat. Also because they don’t need lots of attention, no matter how far the go they always come back and they love it when you pat them.

One reason cats are great pets, because they don’t need much attention. They don’t need to walk them like dogs so you don’t need to get collars and leads. Also they will clean themselves. You can leave them for a long time so they are great if you work long hours. The only thing they will need is food. Did you know that if you have an outside fish pond they will drink from it?

Another great reason Miss McLeod should get a cat is that no matter how far they go they will always came back home. Cats love their homes. They might be gone all night they will come back home in the morning. When they find a present they will come back put it outside the house. They know their way around and they seem to know what time of day it is because when you come home they will be there, not far away.

Lastly they love it when you pat them. If they love you enough they will headbutt you and your face. If they are let in, and you are still in bed they will come in purring loudly. They purr lots when you pat them. They also like it when you brush them.

Overall I think Miss McLeod should get a cat because they don’t need much attention, No matter how far they go they will always  come back home and they love it when you pat  them. Run, don’t walk, to the closest pet store now before your purrfect companion gone forever!
                             

My Many Coloured Days Poem

On Thursday a few weeks ago Mr Maderin came in and taught us about thinglink. He showed us how to make a  rainbow and upload it to thinglink, then he showed us how to put tags on it. If you hover your mouse over the rainbow a sentence from my poem called 'My Many Coloured Days' will appear. The poem is about how colours are feelings. Here is my poem (on the rainbow).
Here is a link to thinglink

Tree House Sketching

On Monday last week we had to sketch what we wanted our tree house to look like. We also needed to think of descriptive words to describe our tree house for the writing part of this activity. My tree house has two doors one is the front door and the other goes to a bar that you can swing on for fun. Here is my drawing.

Gobstopper Experiment Writing

On Wednesday last week we had to eat and describe eating gobstoppers. Here is mine.

As the bag of colorful sphere came around I felt more and more scared. Mostly because the bag was full of gobstoppers. I have never had a gobstopper in my life and my mum has never let me have one because she says that it will make my teeth rot and I don’t want that to happen. I picked one up it was the colour of a lemon. It smelt of smarties and chewing gum.  I looked at the penny sized ball in my hand. It felt as hard as a diamond and smooth like a page in a book. Then Miss Mcleod told us to put it in our mouths. I didn’t want to eat it but my friend Lauren was saying it was ok to put it in my mouth so I did it. My mouth exploded with a taste of fruity mentos and smarties. After what seemed like 4 hours I took my gobstopper out now it was as small as a pea and was a different colour.  I took one last look at it then dropped it into a bin. “Bye bye little gobstopper” I thought to myself.

Tree House Padlet Planinng

For the last three weeks (in groups) we have been planning our ultimate tree house. The first two days we looked at other tree houses on the internet and decided what it could look like and what it might have. Some groups did it in a doc others put it in a Padlet. My group did it in a Padlet here it is.

James and The Giant Peach Character Description

This week we wrote a character description about James and his aunts, Aunt Spiker and Aunt Sponge. Here is my writing.

In the book James and The Giant Peach lies a spellbinding adventure that you will never forget.

(If you haven't read it or listened to it yet!).

James is a small, kind and caring boy because he was raised by kind parents for the first four years. Unfortunately the happiness did not last for poor James they passed away one day. He is lonely and sad because his aunts don’t let him see anyone or don’t let him leave the hill. James is very frightened of his aunts because they are mean to him.

Aunt Spiker and Aunt Sponge have very different appearances but they still have the same characteristics. Aunt Spiker is thin like the silk from a spider's web with thin lips but Aunt Sponge is as wide as outer space. The aunts are mean because they have beaten poor James up from the beginning. They are lazy and make James do all the work while they sit around all day. They are very beastly and horrid looking but they think they are beautiful. They are selfish and don’t care for anyone but themselves. The aunts never call James by his real name but call things like him you miserable creature.

Overall James and his aunts are very different in looks, attitudes and behavior. James is small and kind, his aunts are ugly and greedy.  The only things they have in common are, they live together and they are family.

Star Explosion Writing

For the last two weeks we have been writing about a star explosion and what happens. Here is my writing

When a star explodes it means it has died. The star takes four stages to explode completely. I find them very interesting.

First it starts to fizz around its lavery edges as it heats up.  It’s midde starts to turn a deep red colour. But it’s getting hotter as the explosion continues. I think  this is because the star cannot hold all the heat. This makes me wonder how long do stars live for in space?

Suddenly white and blue flames burst from the star. It sprouts from different places at different times.The fame is blue and white because that is the hottest part. I think this is because the core is pushing out too much heat. This makes me wonder why do star explosions start with mini explosions?

Next suddenly there is a bright white flash like a camera flash. It’s so bright it looks like it could blind you. All you can see is it ghostly faint outline. I think it is like that because, the white is the hottest part of a flame and it's getting hotter and hotter. This makes me wonder why does it flash so bright?

Lastly it turns blue and the star starts to grow every second. It grows so large you can barely see around it. It’s like a balloon being blown up. I think it is because it is exploding. This makes me wonder will it make a black hole or is this part a black hole

Here is the video we watched video.

By NASA's Ames Research Center.

Goodbye Summer, Hello Autumn Poem

This week we have been writing autumn poems called goodbye summer hello autumn.
Here is mine

Goodbye colourful summer dresses and flowy skirts, hello warm jumpers and jackets

Goodbye frosty ice, ice blocks and ice-cream, hello tropical creamy pumpkin soup

Goodbye swimming in the cool outside pools, hello delightful inside games

Goodbye annoying flies and bits, hello amazing bit free days and nights

Goodbye helpful and divine sun hats, hello beautiful gumboots

Goodbye splashy water fights, hello leafy leaf fights

Goodbye bare feet inside, hello warm slippers

Goodbye green leafs, hello brown leafs

Goodbye summer, hello autumn.

Word Cloud

This week we have been creating word clouds. Word clouds help people learn about you. You can make word clouds on abcya. My name is the biggest because I wrote it the most times in the program. Here is my personal word cloud.

Book Trailers

Over the last week we have been learning about book trailers. Book trailers are like movie trailers but they advertise books. I worked with Lauren and together we made a book trailer about Secret Kingdom Mermaid Reef. Here is our book trailer.

Book Trailer Rubric
Category	4	3	2	1
Presentation (Persuasion)	The trailer flows very smoothly and captivates the attention of the audience. It compels the viewer to read the book.	The trailer flows smoothly and holds the attention of the audience. The viewer is left interested in the book.	The trailer flows reasonably but there are some transitions that need improvement in order for the viewer to want to read the book.	The scenes from the trailer are choppy and the transitions seem abrupt. The viewer may be left confused and not inclined to read the book.
Content (Storyline/plot)	Key scenes of themes from the book have been creatively presented. These make the content of the book clear to the viewer.	There is one key scene of theme of the book represented in the trailer. This makes the viewer generally aware of the content of the book	An attempt has been made to represent a scene or theme in the trailer, however is not clear to the viewer.	There is no scene in the trailer that suggests the student has read the book. The viewer has no idea of what the book is about.