Biography on Brooke Fraser by Alyssa

WALT: summarise information and write a biography

1993, was the year that a singer/songwriter was born. Who knew she would change people’s lives with her incredible musical skills.

Brooke Gabrielle Fraser is her full name, but she is better known as just Brooke Fraser. She was born on 15th December in Wellington, New Zealand. She was born to mother Linda Fraser and father Bernie Fraser a former All Black. Brooke is a christian and went to church regularly as a child. She is the eldest of three children. She grew up in Naenae, Lower hut, Wellington. The schools that she attended was Dyer Street school, Naenae Intermediate, Naenae College.

Fraser was really into music from a young age. She took piano lessons for ten years from the age of 7-17. When she was 12 years old she started writing songs and  taught herself the acoustic guitar at 15. Although she is very successful and has an amazing voice she never took singing lessons. 

When she was 15 she had began writing for a magazine called ‘Soul Purpose’. In early 2002 she was made editor for Soul Purpose magazine.Then she gave up her job being the editor after moving to Auckland in late 2002 so she could fulfill all her wildest dreams and hopes of becoming a singer. While Brooke was in Auckland Scotty Pearson, the drummer for Elemeno P set up a meeting with producer Matty J for her and he became Brooke’s manager.

The first song she ever published and recorded was ‘Better’ when she was about 17. So far she has released three Albums. The first album she ever recorded was ‘What to do with daylight’. It was released in New Zealand in late 2003. The album sold over 105,000 copies and was at the top of the charts for sixty two weeks. All of the singles in the album reached the top twenty in NZ’s single chart. 

Two years later she travelled to Africa and visited Rwanda and Tanzania. In Tanzania she went to visit the person she was sponsoring. Then when she was in Rwanda she met a young child called Albertine  and wrote a song about her and named it ‘Albertine’. After she discussed it over with her manager and crew they decided to call the album ‘Albertine’. On December 4th the album was released in New Zealand. Then on the 31st of March 2005 it was released internationally.

The most  popular and chart breaking album she has made in her life so far is ‘Flags’! It was a very popular hit, one of her singles in Flags called ‘Something in the water’ reached the number one on the R.I.A.N.Z singles chart in 2010!

Recently after she released her first album she moved to Sydney (where she has lived since 2004). On the 17th of March 2008 she married Scott Lingertwood in Sydney, which changed her last name to Lingertwood but her recording and stage name is still ‘Brooke Fraser”. She wrote a few songs called ‘Desert song’ and ‘Hosana’ for a Church since most of her songs are christian. So the Church re-named it self to Lingertwood Church after her.

Brooke has been a World Vision Artist Associate since 2001. She visited a few places in Africa as mentioned before. In 2006 she advertised the World Vision 40 hour famine with Petra Baghurst and Tau from Spacifix. The 40 hour famine raised a lot of money for the people in Africa. Brooke also sponsors eleven children through World Vision and helps fundraise. Brooke Lingertwood is a singer-songwriter born in New Zealand she has released three albums and there will probably be more to come!

By Alyssa, Year 6, 2011

Araina's ship menu

WALT: Summarise information

My reading group read a sheet on the food you would have to eat in the 1600's on a ship. Then we made our own menu. This is mine so enjoy!

By Ariana

Helen Clark Biography by Jackson

WALT: summarise information and write a biography

Helen Elizabeth Clark was born on a farm in Waikato on the 26 February 1950. Her dad was a farmer. She had three younger sisters. Her mum was a teacher. Helen Clark went to Epsom Girls Gammar in Auckland. She went to Auckland University and studied politics.This helped her accomplish becoming the Prime Minister of New Zealand. She was the Prime Minister for nine years. She became the Prime Minister of New Zealand for 1999 to 2008.

She married Peter Davis but they never had children. Helen Clark was the leader of the Labour Party. People started to vote in 1999 for Helen Clark and her group. Her party got the most votes 1999 so Helen Clark became the Prime Minister of New Zealand. In the year 2008 Helen Clark stopping being a leader of the Labour Party because they didn’t get voted in. Then John Key became the Prime Minister of New Zealand.

Helen Clark went to New York and got a very good job with the United Nations. Helen Clark became a administrator of the United Nations. Helen Clark became a administrator of the United Nations Development Program on April 17 in 2009 and is the first woman to lead the organization. She still works there.

The current government of New Zealand strongly supported her getting job with Australia. So did the Pacific Island nations and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Gordon Brown.

The Solomon Islands leader awarded Clark the star of the Solomon Islands in 2005 to say thank you for stopping the fighting and making them have a good life instead of a bad life.

By Jackson

Tom and Malachi's explorers ship menu

This is Malachi and Tom's voyage menu for if we were in the sixteen hundreds on a ship to go exploring to another land. We would take this menu and the chef would prepare the food for all of the sailors.

Class Photo 2011

Mahele's Explorers Ship Menu

WALT: Summarise information

My reading group read a sheet that had all this information about what they ate on board. The next day we made a menu using the information on the sheet.To make it look old I put tea on it and ripped som  bits off. This is my menu hope you like it.

Bryn and Filo's Vile Vessel Keynote

WALT: summarise information

By Bryn and Filo

George's keynote about the Spice Race

WALT: summarise information in a text (cartoon)

The most interesting thing I learnt was that Christopher Columbus had leaky boats not good ones.

By George

Lola's Biography on Tove Jansson!

Tove Jansson

‘In a children’s book there must be a path were the author stands still and the child walks on, a threat or a wonder that is never explained, a face that never shows itself entirely.’

On August the 9th 1914 in Helsinki Finland, Tove Marika Jansson was born to her mother and father Signe Hammersten-Jansson and Viktor Jansson.Tove also had two other brothers Perolov and Lars Jansson.

Tove was born into an artistic family, her mother was a graphic designer and illustrator her father was a sculptor her brother Perolov became a photographer and Lars an author and cartoonist.

Tove was an artist, painter, illustrator, novelist and comic strip author, she never had any children. as well as her very own Mommin books she has also illustrated some other classics like ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘Alice in Wonderland’.

Although she had a studio in Helsinki,Tove lived most of her life on a small island called Klovharu, one of the Pellinki Islands near the town of Porvoo. She lived with her female partner, a graphic artist called Tuulikki Pietila.

 The Mommins are a family of trolls, who are white, round and furry with large snouts that make them look very similar to hippopotamuses, there is even a Mommin theme park called ‘Mommin World in Naantali’.

The first ever Mommin book was called ‘ The Mommin’s and the Great Flood’it was written in 1945.Tove had also worked for the Swedish language Satirical as an illustrator and cartoonist.One of her political cartoons claimed some fame, she drew Aldolf Hitler as a crying baby in a diaper!

The name ‘Mommintroll’ comes from her uncle, Einer Hammersten. When Tove was in Stokholm ( the capital of Sweden), living with her swedish side of the family, her uncle tried to stop her sneaking bits of food by telling her that there was a ‘Mommintroll’ lived in the kitchen pantry and breathed cold air down peoples necks!

After ‘Momminvalley in November’ Tove stopped writing about the Mommins and started writing for adults.

In 1966 she won the Hans Christian Andersen award for her contribution to children’s literature. Jansson’s Mommin books, were originally written in Swedish and have been translated into 33 different languages. Tove died aged 86 years old on the 27th of June 2001, she was missed.

By Lola  

             

Bill Gates biography by Charlotte.

One of the most kindest men in the world has to be William Henry Gates II or known just as Bill Gates. He was born on the 28th of October 1955 in Seattle, Washington in the United States of America.

Gates is worth about 56 billion dollars and is the second richest man in the world. He has given over half of his wealth to charities to nearly every country in the world.

Gates’ mother and father are William H Gates and Mary Maxwell Gates, Gates has one elder sister Kristie (Kristene) Gates and one younger sister Libby Gates.

Gates married Melinda French, in Dallas, Texas on January the 1st 1994. They have three children Jennifer Katherine Gates born on 1996 aged 15, Rory John Gates born 1999 aged 12 and Phoebe Adele Gates born 2002 aged 9.

They live in a house on the side of a hill overlookingLake Washington in Medina. Gates house cost $991,000 dollars. His 66,000 ft estate has a 18m swimming pool with an underwater music system as well as 230m gym and a 93m dining room.

He has all of this because he invented Microsoft, with Paul Allen. When they first started on Microsoft all the wanted to do was get the interest of MITs president Ed Robert. He eventually agreed to meet them for a demo of their software and over the next few weeks they had made Microsoft adaptable to the new computer, this is how Microsoft developed into a world wide system.

Gates is known for how kind he is towards people in poor countries or people who have suffered from natural disasters. Gates said that he would give over have his wealth to charities, he has even made his own charity called the ‘Bill and Melinda gates foundation‘, which is one of the biggest charities in the world. In 2007 Bill and Melinda Gates were the second most generous people toward charities giving over $28 billion dollars. Gates has researched that one in five students can’t read and has invested $250 million dollars into making small new schools to help those students with their disabilities and put them in the right age group when they leave college. Gates has also donated a significant amount of money to help poor students get into university. He also donated $210 million dollars in october 2000 to help outstanding graduate students outside of the United Kingdom at the university of Cambridge. 100 students are funded every year. ‘The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation ‘ donated US $1.5 billion dollars for scholarships to high achieving students. The Gates Millennium Scholars Fund, according to its official website, it only provides scholarships to- African Americans, American Indians, Asians, Pacific Islanders, Americans or Hispanic American applicants.

AIDs, tuberculosis and Malaria are some of the three largest killers. ‘The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation ‘ has donated millions of dollars to help suffers from these diseases. Gates has authored two books - ‘The Road Ahead‘ (1995) and Business at the Speed of Thought (1999). Bill Gates is fifty six and very happy! 

BY  CHARLOTTE 

          

Ernest Rutherford biography By Matthew

WALT: write a biography

Ernest Rutherford

Ernest was born on 30th August 1871 in Nelson, New Zealand. He is an illustrious scientist born in a family of 11 kids (five girls and six boys). Ernest was well educated thanks to his mother, Martha who was a school teacher. 

At the age of ten Ernest received his first science book. After many experiments he used the speed of sound to estimate the distance to a lightning bolt. The other thing Ernest accomplished was making a mini cannon out of a hat, peg, marble and blasting powder. For three years Ernest boarded at Nelson Collage and in1889 he was Head Boy. He won one of ten scholarships and was allowed to attend Canterbury College in Christchurch. In 1893 Ernest mastered mathematics, Latin, English, French, art and physics (electricity and magnetism). Ernest then decided to stay a little longer and he mastered geology and chemistry. Also while at University Ernest showed that he could take the energy out of a steel needle into a discharged circuit to make the power of five hundred million volts.

Ernest Rutherford left New Zealand at twenty three to go to Cambridge in England. Rutherford managed to increase the electromagnetic wave over several hundred meters and it still worked with a brick wall in front. While at Cambridge Rutherford also helped JJ Thompson to find something smaller than an atom (an electron). Ernest understood the radioactive atom so radioactivity became his job. 

In 1898 Ernest Rutherford discovered that two quite separate types of emission came from atoms and he named them alpha and beta rays. Beta rays were soon shown to be high sped electrons. 

Rutherford returned to New Zealand to marry Mary Newton and had one child, Eileen. Rutherford then went to Canada. While in Canada he published his first book on radioactivity and in 1908 was awarded the Nobel Prize. In 1909 Ernest moved to Manchester to work. Many people tried to put up his pay to keep him working for them.Ernest Rutherford worked with Hans Geinger and in 1910 Ernest Rutherford and Hans Geinger split the atoms. Only three months after splitting the atom Ernest Rutherford made a machine so that if something hit it, it would bounce back. This experiment helped Ernest to find out that five million atoms side by side would not even be a little full stop. 

Rutherford was knighted in 1914 and went to Australia and New Zealand to have scientific meetings. Just before Ernest arrived in Australia, war was declared. After three months Ernest was asked to help Britain in the war. He joined a group of scientists. The scientists studied inventions and researched one of their tasks w to try and determine submarines under the water. One of the experiments included a seal lion from a circus.

In 1917 when the Americans ended the war Ernest lent his ideas to them. His next accomplishment was when he converted nitrogen atoms in oxygen atoms. 

Sadly his wife Mary died just twenty-nine days after birth and two before christmas in 1930. Soon after Mary’s death Ernest became Lord Rutherford of Nelson. He campaigned for Cambridge University to grant women to have the same privileges as men. In 1933 when Hitler rose to power in Germany, Rutherford was asked to become the president of the Academic Assistance Council which for short was called the AAC. THIs was for a group of scientists from Europe and America. They made things to Help the soldiers in the war.

Lord Rutherford died age sixty-six on the 19th October 1937 nobody Knows how or why he died. All of Rutherford’s medals, trophies and even his Nobel Prize went to the University of Canterbury. Many people named buildings and places after Ernest Rutherford. He has appeared on four different countries stamps. On a Swedish stamp in 1968, a Canadian stamp in 1971, Russian stamp in 1971 and a New Zealand stamp in 1972 curiously he never featured on the British stamp.

In November 1992 he featured on New Zealand’s one hundred dollar note. Lord Rutherford of Nelson was buried in West Minister Abbey Which is one of the most famous places to be buried in the world, so it amazing to have a New Zealand there.       

By Matthew        

Spice race poster by Matthew and Liam

WALT: Summarise information

In our spice race poster we learn't what the Europeans wanted gold, spices, tea and silks. The Europeans tried to go across the Arab counties to get to India which in those days were called the Indies. TheArab countries decided to tax the Europeans to make money. One of the sailors named Christopher Columbus tried to go all the way round the world to the Indies and discovered America.

By Matthew and Liam

Art: Pastel Landscapes

WALT: create landscapes using pastel that have a horizon line, foreground and background

Art: Charcoal Lanadscapes

WALT: draw landscapes that include a horizon line, foreground and background

Charlotte's Ship Menu

WALT: summarise information


We read some information about what sailors in the 1600's would have eaten on board. They didn't must fresh food or water and ate lots of hardtack and salted meat. They would eat rats if they got really hungry. The most interesting thing was that Dodo's were made extinct by sailors eating them all.

Sofia and Georgia's Horrible Vessel diagram.

 

WALT: summarise key information

We read some information about life on board a ship in the 1600's and we summarised the information in our words. We worked hard and the most interesting thing was how they cooked everything on an open fire on the deck even though the boat was made of wood. It was interesting to find out about all the jobs on board. It was very dangerous!

By Sofia and Georgia

The Spice Race by Lola, Alice and Alex

WALT: summarise information

We read a comic strip about the spice race in the 1600's and we had to summarise it and display it on a poster. We learnt information such as, Christopher Columbus accidentally discovered the West Indies when he was trying to find India to get silk, spices and gold.

Biography: Roald Dahl

WALT: write biographies

I wonder what Roald Dahl’s life was like? He was born in Landaff, Cardiff in Wales on the 23rd of September 1916. His dad was Norwegian. His name was Harold Dahl. Interestingly Dahl had six sisters called Alfhild , Else, Louis, Asta, Ellen and Astri. When Dahl was three his seven year old sister Astri died from appendicitis. Weeks later his dad died of pneumonia at the age of 57.

Dahl’s mother decided to remain in Wales because her husband (Roald’s father) had wished to have his children educated at an English school. Which were then considered to be the best in the world best schools.

Dahl first went to Cathedral School in Landaff. At the age of eight he and four friends (one named Thwaites) were caned by the Head Master after putting a dead mouse in a jar of gobstoppers at the local sweet shop which was owned by a mean and disgusting old lady called Mrs Pratchett. This was known as the  “Great Mouse Plot” of 1924. After that he went to boarding school in England called Saint Peters in Westen-Super-Mare.

In November 1939 Dahl joined the Royal Air Force and he was accepted for flight training with sixteen other men. He was one of only three who survived the war.

Roald is best known as a children’s writer. His first children’s book was ‘The Gremlins’. It was released in 1943. ‘James and the Giant Peach’ was another famous book he wrote, it was also a film. Lots of children love his books because Roald Dahl has a child's imagination and he plays around with words. For example scrumdidlyumptios that means delicious and lovely, and chatbug that means someone who talks a lot.

Dahl married American actress Patricia Neal on 2nd July 1953. Their marriage lasted for 30 years and they had five children Olivia, Tessa, Theo, Ophelia and Lucy. On 5th December 1960, four month old Theo Dahl was severely injured when his baby carriage was struck by a taxi cab in New York City. For a long time he suffered from hydrocephalus.

Roald Dahl died on 23rd November 1990 at the age of 74 in Oxfordshire, England.


By Sofia, Year 6