(Established 2009) This is the history of our Year 7 and 8 classes in Huia 1 at The Gardens School, NZ. We wrote for ourselves, our families and friends and for anyone who wanted to know what life was like at our school. From 2009 to 2013, Huia 1's teacher was Mrs Vincent. 1n 2014, classes changed and Huia 1 became Miss Murphy's room, with Mrs Vincent teaching on Thursday afternoons in Term 1. This blog has now ceased regular publication but is a record of our time together in Huia 1.
On Tuesday the 3rd of November (martes el tres de noviembre) we had athletics. Athletics is when you compete in different sports like shot put, high jump, long jump, long distance runs , relays, sprints and discus. (Take a look at the pictures below).
It started off as a rainy day however it cleared up which was great.
The intermediates did a great job when they were doing athletics and some of the intermediates made it into the team to go to the interschool athletics day which is coming up soon.
When athletics was finished there was a sausage sizzle. Everyone had an awesome time when they were eating - well we thought we should have a treat for all our efforts.
Written by Nikeeta and Brittany.
Photos by Nikeeta
Year 8 girls sprints.
Year 7 girls sprints- Te Ana wins just ahead of Mikayla.
More sprints .
Starting the boys long distance run.
High jump.
A fun obstacle course so we could fit all the groups in an activity.
Another high jump group.
Discus
More high jump.
And more high jump.
The start of the boys relay.
Sprints.
Girls relay.
Our long jump pit wasn't ready so we did a standing jump instead.
On Friday 6th of November Carlos came to visit us. He is an AFS student and he came from Paraguay which is next to Argentina. He lives with Mrs Grace who is a teacher at our school. We had fun learning Spanish because he understood what we were saying.
We also did a bit of fun and games as well. We played a game where you have to say a Spanish word clearly and it had to sound a bit "Spanishy". Each round had three students who had to say the same word. Carlos had to choose the best pronunciation. It was a whole heap of fun because we got los caramelos which were delisiosos. Take a look at the video below to see us learning spanish with Carlos.
While we were in the Poutama building we learnt to talk to Carlos in "espanol" and the awesome thing was that he understood what we said. While Carlos was around we had a great opportunity to ask him any Spanish questions we liked.
On Friday a special group got to make empanadas. Empanadas are from Argentina and are pastry with filling. We had three different fillings for the empanadas, which were carne picada (mince), maiz de crema (sweet corn) and jamón y queso (ham and cheese). There were some students that couldn't have meat (beef or ham) or others who couldn't eat any meat or eggs because of religious reasons so we had to make maiz de crema and empanadas with just cheese.
Our Spanish teacher, Mrs Lee, taught us how to make the empanadas and she brought the ingredients. The ingredients for all the empandas are: flaky pastry, mince, carrot, ham, cheese, sweet corn, egg and milk. The empanadas were triangular in shape. They needed to be folded on the sides in a special way so it could go in the oven.
We made the empanadas during our lunch time but it was worth it. At the end of the day the students that helped make the empanadas got an extra empanada because of their hard work to make them.
We are making a video called "Aprender Español es Divertida" which means "Learning Spanish is Fun". We think that making empanadas was a good idea because we would learn how to make them and so we would get an extra cooking lesson for the year (Sambit's opinion).I think making empandas was a good idea because I never made empanadas before and it we have had our last session for cooking this year (Roneel's comment).
By Sambit and Roneel
Kenneth said: The empanadas were pretty nice and similar to the ones I used used to have at my home. I already knew about empanadas because there was a fast food place in my home country (Philipines) where I used to get them. My favourite fillings are mince with cheese. The ones we made were a bit bigger that the ones I used to have.
Rebekah said: It was really fun because I love cooking and I like learaning new recipes so I can try them at home with my family. I'm going to ask Mum to buy the ingredients next shopping day. I learned how to say the ingredients of the empanadas in Spanish- jamón y queso, huevos, zanahoria, carne picada y maiz de crema.
Daniel said: I think empanadas were yum. I tried only one flavour, sweet corn. I think sweet corn was the best. Learning Spanish is fun because it is quite easy. It is easier to learn Spanish more than English because my mind thinks it is. Soy de Korea.
Aminder said: Fue muy divertida. I think the best one was the mince one because it was healthy and I like mince. I would like to make empanadas at home and let my family taste them as well.
Te Ana said: Me gustan las empanadas. I think they are the best empanadas I have tried. I haven't tried any before. They kind of remind me of small pastry pies.
Mrs Vincent said: Me gustan las empanadas. Me recuerdan de la Argentina. I tried many types of empanadas when I was in Argentina.
Mrs Lee said: I learned how to make empanadas when I was staying with my friend Monica in Iguazu. Aprendi cocinar las empanadas cuando era en Iguzu con mi amiga Monica. When I was in Argentina I used to go to a take-away shop which sold only empanadas. You can buy special circles of empanada pastry in a pack - a bit like a pack of won ton pastry- so you can easily make your own at home too.
How to Make Empanadas by Mrs Lee
First you need puff pastry, beef mince, cream corn, ham, cheese,eggs and carrot. You also need milk or egg for glazing.
Heat the oven to 180 degrees Celcius.
Peel and grate a carrot.
Brown the mince and grated carrot in the pan. No oil is needed.
Hard boil an egg.
Cut the egg finely and add it to the cooked mince and carrot.
Grate the cheese and cut the ham into small pieces.
Open a tin of sweet corn.
Cut each of the pastry sheets into four.
Place a spoonful of a filling onto each quarter of pastry.
Wet the edges of the pastry with your fingers dipped in water (or use a pastry brush). Don't use too much water.
Fold the pastry square in half to make a triangle containing all the filling. Press down on the edges of pastry to stick them together.
Trim the end off the triangle to make the shape a bit more semicircular.
Roll the edges of pastry over to make a rope-like pattern. (Ask William for a demonstration - he is the best empanada folder we have ever seen).
Place the empanadas on baking paper on an oven tray.
Brush with beaten egg or milk.
Place in centre of oven and bake for about 15-20 minutes until golden.
Remove and leave for five minutes until cool enough to eat.
ENJOY!
These can be reheated but are best eaten straight away. (Why would there be any left over?)
Other fillings could include: chicken or smoked fish or anything you want.
Here are some photos of real empanadas in Argentina. These are photos Mrs Lee took of her friend Monica making empanadas. Can you follow the steps?
Today the boys made pizzas. We had to choose between pizza or garlic bread. Andy did the research on pizza and Daniel did the research for garlic bread and most people ended up voting for pizza. We had to research a recipe with ingredients that would cost less than $6.00 for four people. The dough was made using yeast, flour, salt, sugar, warm water and oil. Some people made mistakes and had to redo it. We weren't supposed to add the flour until the yeast had frothed. We learned that we had to read the recipe properly for ourselves and not to rely on others to do it for us. Me gusta pizza!It was fun and the pizza tasted good.
