This week we have learnt:

--> This week we have been learning more about Vincent van Gogh. 

We have also been learning to select information from different sources: books, videos, websites, You Tube,  and artworks,  and to synthesise  this information (combine, compare, evaluate, select, and  summarise it). 

 We have learnt that:
-  he had mental illness
-  he only sold one painting in his life
-  his paintings went from darker and sombre to lighter and vibrant and swirly
- he used to paint hard-working people
- today his paintings are worth a fortune 
- he saw everything differently to everyone else 
- he didn't want his photo taken; he thought his real self was in his self-portraits 
- he only painted what he saw
- he told his story through his art
- everything he did was done well because he did it with love
- he believed his paintings would one day be worth more than the cost of the supplies he used to paint them
- he loved to paint nature
- his self-portraits were based on his reflection in a mirror
- as an artist he never got any money or recognition in his lifetime
- he wrote a lot,  and many of his quotes are now well known
- he was obsessed with the poor and drawing and painting hard-working people and ordinary scenes
- he liked to write to his brother Theo
- after he died, his paintings got more recognition
- his brother Theo's  wife  worked to get recognition for van Gogh's art
- he did in fact have schizophrenia along with Bi-Polar, and ADD - according to Wikipedia

I find it cool how he can cope with painting with all the mental stress. He really had a passion for painting. (Mwaniki)

 We have also been learning about the longfin eel. We have found information mainly from You Tube videos and other information online, and some books belonging to Mrs Whitehead. We are using our research skills to select, evaluate and synthesise information to complete a project. 

We are also learning to present our work in interesting ways to help show understanding of the topic and for our projects to be eye-catching and clear to read.  

 
The longfin eel:

Did you know that:  
- they are native to New Zealand
- a female eel can grow up to 2 metres long
- a male grows up to 1 metre long
- they will eat anything they see moving in the water 
- the dorsal fin (the top fin) is longer than the lower fin
- one of their main threats is overfishing by commercial fishers 
- they've got really sensitive skin 
- after they breed they die 
- they go to Tonga to breed
- on their way to Tonga they don't eat anything 
- they go through three different stages before becoming an adult eel
- when they are born, they don't know who their parents are 
- the Maori name for eel is tuna,  and the Maori name for the longfin eel is kuwharuwahru 
- their bodies change before they migrate

Here's the link to the site:You Can't Write Proper English Under Pressure.
Congratulations to Sukhdev who completed the game up to Level 8.