Mandarin Pandas

In Mandarin lesson today we did some traditional Chinese art. We used black ink to paint panda bears. The paper we used was very absorbent and so the ink spread a lot. Evan accidently squirted ink all over my paper so I did my best to cover it up and ended up with random branches and black blobs that were meant to be clouds all over my painting.
Here is a picture of me and Lily painting.

My Passion Project

For my Term 4 passion project I did Earth Evolution. It was really interesting finding out about how the Earth really began. I wrote pages and pages of writing but it was all by hand so unfortunately I can't post it. Anyway, for the project part of my passion project I made a big piece of art that showed a few of the most important transitions the Earth went through. Lava and molten rock, granite rock, beginning of nonvascular plants, dinosaurs and lastly humans. Here are three photos.
I think my presentation went really well with lots of warm fuzzies from people in room 10. I was pretty pleased with the turn-out of my artwork too. It took me a lot of time to make but it was worth it.

My Finished Short Stories

Earlier I posted a doc with all my short stories on it. I have spent the last few days putting those stories onto these pages which I will print and bind together as a book. Welcome to The Little Book of Horrors...

Adding Detail

At the beginning of each reading session every day we have been doing something called adding detail. It was a short activity where we had 10 minutes to write about the photos on the slide above. Here is mine.

The Big Think

In Room 10 we have been working on something called the Big Think which is a slide and a spreadsheet where we pretended we had been given $1, 000, 000 out of nowhere and we then could buy pretty much anything we wanted to. Each slide had a topic, i.e. travel, and we then got to go online and find tickets to wherever we want to go in the world. That slide involved finding hotels, restaurants, activities and of course flights.
There were many slides, with topics like clothing, furnishings and food. We got to 'buy' as much of these things as we wanted but we had to stick to our budget of $1, 000, 000.
We then put all our prices of things we wanted onto a spreadsheet and worked out how much we had spent.

Mandarin

In Mandarin today we made a timetable, (in Mandarin of course.) I didn't do mine electronically so I've taken a photo of it, here it is! (Sorry, it's quite wonky.)

Science Badge;Psychology

  I chose to complete a science badge on psychology because it really interests me and I really wanted to explore that subject. Here is my favourite piece of writing for my science badge.

My Four Short Stories

The Girl Behind the Curtain

Hidden between the folds of the curtain, the little girl watched in horror, as the old man shook under the deathly grip of the monster from her nightmare.

Yellowed fangs, hollow eyes, a twisting smile full of lies.

Close your eyes and hold your breath, or you will meet a ghastly death. She blinked, the voice from her nightmare swirled through her head, laughing at her malevolently.

She wanted to move, to run, to escape, but her legs stood frozen to the ground like molded iron.

The old man’s head lolled to one side, the monster nodded and bared his claws. She couldn’t watch what came next, so she squeezed her eyes closed and bit her lip waiting in a terrified silence.

Crooked nose, grey black hair, none can escape his fateful glare,

Block your ears and clench your fist, or he’ll tick your name off his list.

Haunting voices and ghostly images swarmed into her memory. Her body shook and her stomach churned as she imagined what was happening to the poor old man.

A salty tear slid down her cheek leaving a pale water-track. There was a tiny splash as the tear landed on her bare foot, she gasped, anything could give her away now.

Pale grey lips, raspy voice, to turn evil was his choice.

Crooked shoulders, gnarled knees, a jangling bunch of rusty keys

More voices snarling at her. More mocking laughs, she’d heard before in that horrific nightmare.

No longer could she bare it, no longer would she bare it. She thrust aside the curtain and screamed as loud as she could.

She felt angry, upset, unjustified, hurt, because the monster’s victim was her Grandad.

Monster at Night

It’s 3am, I lie awake in my bed alone, restless. A tap drips in the bathroom nextdoor, otherwise there is silence.

Creak.

My wardrobe door slides open, I gasp and hide under the bed covers. The sound of feet padding towards me fills my ears. A clawed hand rests on my shoulder, another on my back.

Even through the bedcovers I can smell rancid breath. Like rotten meat and sour milk.

I imagine fangs dripping with blood hovering over my head. I think of the hungry malicious eyes boring into my back and tremble.

I try to scream but no sound comes out. My mouth's as dry as sand. A feeling of dread sucks all the happiness out of my body replacing it with a cold, black fear that engulfs my mind and body.

The monsters hand climbs up my neck and onto my head. Claws press deeply into my skull and a panting sound fills my ears.

I think about the monster, about to strike, readying his claws and fangs. I brace myself for what might come, biting my lip in fear.

I’m vaguely aware of a clawed hand pulling at my covers. I squeeze my eyes closed and bite back tears.

A cold chill passes over my head and neck as my covers are pulled away, I summon all my courage and turn to face the monster.

I am ready to see the blood-dripping fangs, the evil eyes and long sharp claws, except that is not what I see, I see the shape of a little animal, ruffled fur and scruffy ears.

I see the silhouette of my dog.

Lure

“Follow me, little girl, follow me…”

“We are we going?” the child asked brightly taking the grey bony hand in hers.

“Oh, that’s a surprise”,he said to her and smirked.

“I love surprises!”the little girl cried out and tugged on his hand. “Come on, let’s go to the surprise.”

“Of course little girl, of course.”

Hand in hand the grey shadow man and the excitable little girl walked down the alley and disappeared around a corner.

For a split second, a flicker of doubt crossed the little girl’s face but it quickly vanished when she remembered the surprise.

“Where are we going?” She asked.

The shadow replied with a gleeful but sinister laugh.

The child cocked her head to one side and gave him a questioning look.

“Where?”

“To the surprise little girl, the surprise.”

He lead her into a derelict building and up a flight of decrepit stairs, as he was opening an old, rotten door, she stopped and looked up at him.

“Mummy said I shouldn’t go in here”, she paused, an image of her mother pointing to the alleyway she was in and shaking her head. “She said it was a bad place.”

“Oh but this is my home, it’s a lovely place”, said the shadow man, his eyes full of sadness.

The little girls nodded, feeling bad and followed him down a corridor and into a dark room. He closed the door behind him and turned the key in the lock then tossed it into a corner.

It was pitch black and cold, the little girl felt sad, and in a trembling voice she whispered,

“What about the surprise?”

Mirror

A skeletal face emerged from the darkness, pale grey lips and searching eyes, a twisted neck and bent shoulders, bones showing through pale grey skin.

A gnarled hand lifted upwards and rested on a pronounced cheek bone. The lips curled into a smile. A broken laugh echoed through the room, breaking the silence.

Un-cut nails that were long and sharp scratched along the mirror, shattering the perfect glass. Shards landed with perfect precision around large bare feet, forming a mysterious sentence.

Welcome back to your former life, girl of untold happiness…

A spark of an idea, deja vu, blackness.

Thin eyelids flutter open, a memory planted in a possessed mind, a memory of a smiling child in a buttery yellow dress throwing a stick for a dog, laughing. A smiling mother calling and a grinning little sister with an out-of-tune ukulele in her hand.

A life of by-gone bliss.

Duane Kale

My Home Learning, Week 3

My Home Learning, Week 2