Commonwealth Games

5 Facts that I already know about the Commonwealth Games:

1	Only Commonwealth countries compete
2	New Zealand are competing in the commonwealth games
3	Commonwealth games are a bit like olympics
4	there isn't as much countries competing than the olympics
5	theres more than 10 games

Useful links:

http://www.glasgow2014.com/sites/default/files/attached-files/Glasgow%202014%20Factsheet.pdf

http://www.gameonscotland.org/glasgow2014/

http://www.hie.co.uk/regional-information/2014/100-facts-about-the-games.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/othersports/article-2290636/Commonwealth-Games-2014--Facts-Figures.html

10 new facts that I found out about the Commonwealth Games: (include a link to the site where you found your information. Your information needs to be in your own words)

1	Four hundred athletes from eleven countries competed over 6 sports and 59 events in the first games in 1930.
2	Valerie Adams was the flag bearer for NZ at the opening ceremony
3	The first Commonwealth Games took place in Hamilton, Canada in 1930
4	The Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games promises to be the best Commonwealth Games ever
5	The Commonwealth Games is a unique, world class event which is held once every four years. It's often referred to as the ‘Friendly Games’.
6	The Commonwealth is made up by 53 member countries.
7	More than two billion citizens live in the commonwealth and in 2009 447,043 of those people lived in the Highlands and Islands.
8	On the second Monday in March every year, an annual celebration for the Commonwealth is held to mark the Commonwealth’s achievements.
9	Scotland has previously hosted the Commonwealth Games twice, in 1970 and 1986, both in Edinburgh.
10	Thirty-one of the commonwealth members have a population size of 1.5million people or less.

My holidays

On the first week of the holidays my brother and I went to Hoyts in Sylvia Park to watch ‘Transformers 4’. It was a two hour movie but the pop corn didn't last long. Transformers 4 is about robot dinosaurs. And the good transformers are the bad ones to the army. All the Autobots join together and fight against the bad Transformers.

On the second week of the holidays on Thursday it was my twelfth birthday. For my birthday we didn't really do much. I just stayed home in front of the Tv play the new game that I got called Watchdogs.

On the third week of the holidays Me and my family went out to Parakai Springs. It was a one hour drive from our house in Point England.

Once we got to the pools we looked for a space to sit. Me and Shelford took our clothes off and went straight into the water. I was expecting the water to be cold but it was warm. Me and Shelford started to bomb and that's when my dad's jumped in with my little sister Keyana.

We all started to get board of swimming so we when on the slide with the blue broads. We went on a tiresome journey up the long stairs. Me Shelford and my dad when up to the biggest slide and my other dad went with my younger sister Keyana to the smaller slide. Once we were at the bottom my dads and my sister didn't want to go again but me and Shelford went down about seven times.

When we got tired of the slide we got something to eat once we finished we went to the hotter pools inside. Before we left the pools we spent some time in the hot pools. And when we left to go home I fell asleep in the car.

What is echolocation and how is it used?

What is echolocation and how is it used?

Echo’s are created by a sound bouncing off an object. People use echo’s if they want to know if there is a dead end in a cave. Echo’s can be heard after the sound has been made.  

Echolocation is an echo that rebounds off objects and comes back in the air molecules so you can hear what was said. Bats and other animals use echolocation to find food in pitch black. Other animals like dolphins and whales communicate using sound . Whales can use the water to amplify their low sounds. Dolphins make high pitched clicking sounds.

Some animals can use echolocation to figure out whos who.

Ben underwood uses echolocation because he was blind from eye cancer. Ben underwood could see using sharp clicking sounds with his mouth. He was able hear the echo from an object around or in front of him. By using echolocation Ben could rollerblade, bike and play basketball like a normal person.

Ben had learnt that he could see by clicking. He said “Clicking used to be a habit” and then hear the echoes from what was in front of him. He could hear were the echo’s were coming back from.

The weekend

Yesterday I went to the internet cafe and played games on the computers with my brother Shelford. We were there for about four hours. I learnt how to use cheat engine for social empires. And I helped my friend use it so he could level up on the game.

We all left and got a drink. Me and my brother went to go home and we saw Hiwarau and we started to play bands. Then we started to walk home and my Dad called me and asked me if we wanted to get a ride home.

So my dad picked me up from the library. Once we got home my friend named Kc. We started to play with our skateboards. Then we went inside and played skate 3.  

How to Kickflip on a skateboard

How to Kickflip on a skateboard

Learning how to Kickflip on a skateboard is the easiest trick after the Ollie. Once you are comfortable with riding around on your skateboard and with your Ollies thats when you can start learning how to kickflip.

First you need to put your weight on one foot but not too much weight because you need to have balance. The foot thats up closest to the top of the board is bent( the same technique as the Ollie). You flick the side of the skateboard. Try using a deck with no trucks and no wheels and practise on the grass.

Once you have learnt how to kickflip you start going a bit slower

Why we need to learn to swim

We need to learn how to because when we're out on a boat we need to know how to swim in case something bad happens.

Learning to swim is important if you want to have fun in the pool because it wouldn't be much fun you're in the shallow pools. The school payed for the swimming lesions for Pt England School last week we went swimming at the Glen Innes pools.

We learnt some basic swimming techniques like backstroke, breaststroke and others. If we don't bring our togs we had to go on detention because our school has payed money to buy the lain's and haier a swimming teacher.

I was lazy and didn't bring my togs for two swimming lessons and I had to watch on the side of the pool with a pencil and paper with my friends. Me for the three times I did go swimming I had to go with my friends Iisa, Frankie, Neo, Lukis and Anthony.

I have enjoyed swimming last week.

Guitars

A guitar is a musical instrument that makes musical sounds from six strings. Many music artists use guitars for their songs. There are lots of ways people use guitars.

There are a lot of parts to the guitar that makes it sound better. Tuning keys would be the most annoying part to the guitar. It gets really annoying when people untune the guitar strings. But then again, tuning keys are simply made for tuning the strings to the right sound.

The neck of the guitar holds lines of frets which helps you form guitar chords. The body of an acoustic guitar is the part that keeps the guitar

together. An acoustic guitar is different to a classical guitar because the strings are a different and are sometimes made of steel.  

When the string is plucked or strummed the strings vibrate and make a sound. That then goes into the hole in the sound board that echoes and amplifies the sound from the strings. And that's how the sound is created by the guitar.