We should all Travel!

Hi everyone, I'm sure most of you know that this Term is all about Speeches! 

I struggled to come up with a topic and then struggled to write it, but with some help and google search I have managed to create an amazing speech about why we all should travel!

(Click here to get to my speech)

2 days ago on the 21st, a librarian came to our school to judge the top 3 in each year groups speeches. 

I was chosen to be in the top 3 and came 2nd out of the Year 8's. (Yay!) 

Have you written a speech?

Did you go to a speech compitition?

Have you won anything? 

I'd like to know more about how your speeches went and also have those questions answered if you can! 

See you next blog post! 

NZ Artist Study

Rei Hamon: New Zealand Pointillism Artist

(The one of the most successful artists in history, but also one of the least known.)

I Chose Rei Hamon because his life story is amazing, and how he came about to paint is really interesting!

If you read on, you will find about the life story of a hard working artist ,

who went through many challenges to get where where he was in the 1970's.

Francis Rei Paul Hamon, was born in Auckland December, 17, 1919.

As a boy, he grew up in Gisborne in the North Island.

He was used to working hard, helping his parents to enlarge their their small dairy farm.

From a young age, he went into the Urewera area to split posts in the bush for sheep stations.

For over forty years, Rei and his family, lived, worked in the bush.

In 1965, Rei was hurt in a farm accident, with serious back injury that almost left him paralysed.

Unable to do any more hard labour, he and his family were broke. They did not know what to do.

One day his daughter left her ballpoint pen and he pad at home. 

Rei found it, and started to draw, something that he had never done since early primary school!

He was embarrassed by his first drawings, and hid them, but his wife found them and took them to a local photographer. The photographer was impressed with their quality, and took them to

the director of a leading art gallery in Auckland, who immediately 

wanted to stage a show of Rei’s work.

That is how eventually with much practice, he developed a unique art style called pointillism.

He was a popular artist in the 1970s and 1980s, his drawings captured the

native New Zealand bush. He drew from the giant Kauri tree, to the tiny Manuka flower.

Sadly Rei died in 2008, but his artwork, and his life story still; and will continue to inspires other.

Post Impressionism

This art Work is done by a New Zealand artist called Robert Nettleton Field.

His art work style is called Post impressionism.

His art work is painted by using layers and brush techniques.

 

What do you think? 

The Spanish Flu

In 1918-1920 there spread a deadly influenza pandemic.
It infected over 500 Million people across the world, including remote pacific islands and the artic.
It killed between 50-100 Million people which killed 3-5% of the worlds population at that time.
(It killed 5-10 more times many people that the WW1 did.)

The deadly disease triggered mainly kids,young adults and old aged people.
It was spread at the end of WW1, when solders were coming back home from fighting.
This spread the disease to the whole world.
(The total death toll in New Zealand for the Spanish Flu was thought to be over 8,600.
The death toll for New Zealand in the WW1 was 16,697)

The Spanish flu was everywhere but newspaper reports were not allowed to report accurately on the illness or amount of people dead in the country that were involved in the WW1.
So people would not freak out and think that their solders were dieing and that leads to them losing the war.
But because Spain was a neutral country and didn't go to war their reports were accurate and seemed much higher that the other countrys.
This made people think that Spain was the most hard hit place, therefor the nickname for this disease was called the Spanish flu.