Hiroshima Anniversary and the Sadako Story

Sadako

Sadako was a girl who lived in Hiroshima, Japan, with her beloved family.  One day she climbed out of her bed which was a quilt on the floor, and said to her mother, “I'm so excited about the carnival!”

Mother replied, “Oh, you must not call it a carnival, it is a memorial for those who died in the atomic bomb in 1945.”

“Oh, sorry,” said Sadako but she enjoyed the day anyway.

Sadako’s grandmother had been killed when America dropped an atomic bomb on her city of Hiroshima.  It was done to try and finish the second world war.  As well as hundreds of thousands killed instantly, thousands of children and adults died over the many years from the deadly effects of the radiation from the huge atomic bomb.   When the bomb was dropped, Sadako was only a little baby.   

Sadako loved running in the relay team at school, and she wanted to be famous.  She ran to school and back every day.  One day at school athletics her team won the relay race, but after she felt dizzy.

Another day she was running, collapsed and then woke up in hospital.  She had had blood tests done and it was bad news, she had leukemia which was deadly.

Her best friend said to make 1000 cranes and she would live for ever, which was a Japanese legend.  Sadako made 644 cranes but then sadly passed away at only 13 years old.

Her class made the last 356 cranes and there is now a memorial and statue of Sadako in Hiroshima, Japan, in a special place called The Peace Park.  Thousands of children visit there and leave garlands of paper cranes to symbolise peace, not war.

By Ben Room 8

PIX OF OUR KITES AND CUBES - AT LAST!

As promised weeks ago, we have finally got some better photos of our Battle of the Mountain kites, from our Matariki study ...

Despite it now being winter, we still haven't had enough wind to fly the kites, but we will video it when it happens, (not 'if') and share it on this blog.

 and our 3D ILLUSION CUBES:

3D ILLUSION CUBES

We have been working on creating maths shapes, which can appear several different ways depending on how you look at them.

This is how you can make one of these 3D illusion cubes:

1.Trace the hexagon and use a pencil and ruler to connect the opposite corners

2.Make a dot 5cm from the outside on each line.

3.Connect these dots to make a smaller hexagon

4.Erase every second line of the smaller hexagon

5.Erase every opposite second line of the bigger hexagon

6.Colour opposite sides to match:  using three colours:  a tint, your main colour, and a shade. 

Here are some examples of illusion cubes from a range of angles.

We will put these instructions on our blog, if you want to make one of these for yourself. 

Original information sourced from website:  teacherspayteachers. 

Photos of our completed cubes to follow!

MATARIKI - PUANGA, THE MAORI NEW YEAR 2016

MATARIKI - PUANGA

We have been learning about Matariki and Puanga.

• Matariki is the start of the Maori New Year, when the star group called Pleiades is seen in the west of New Zealand. This year it started on 6 June.  
• Puanga is the star that is seen from Whanganui and Taranaki that signals the start of Matariki in those western areas.
• The stars of Matariki are known as the Eyes of God or tiny eyes.   In Japan the same group of stars are on the Subaru logo!

Matariki was the time for gathering food for the winter, a time to gather together to celebrate whanau and rest from the hard work and prepare for the winter.  In olden days, people flew kites, which represented their prayers rising up to the gods.  It is a time for celebrating people, cultures, language and history.

How to find Matariki:

• Matariki is best seen just before dawn, low on the northeast horizon.
• Use the three stars which make up Orion's Belt, also called Tautoru.
• To the left of it, there'll be a bright orange star called Alderbaran, or Taumata-kuku.
• By following an imaginary line you'll come across the cluster of stars known as Matariki.

MATARIKI KITES:

• WE HAVE MADE KITES TO REPRESENT THE BATTLE OF THE MOUNTAINS, AND WE WILL FLY THEM OVER ON THE DOMAIN IN A MOCK ‘BATTLE OF THE MOUNTAINS’ TO CELEBRATE MATARIKI 2016.

Processes of kite making:

• Research ancient Maori methods of kite making - toitoi, raupo, etc.
• Find an easy, cheap way for a whole class to make kites
• Print off the plan and method
• Plan equipment and purchase at the cheapest outlet - (Mitre 10 & The $2 Shop)
• Paint the plastic with the mountain patterns
• Shape and assemble the kites.
• Attach the strings...

Fly the kites on the domain!

We will share our kite pix really soon!