Holly

__TELEGRAMS__
A telegram is a communication sent over a telegraph. Normally a telegraph operator receives the message, and then writes it out for the person it is being sent to. Telegrams can also be transmitted over the phone. In the old days before phones could be easily used and before the Internet, telegrams were the best way to send messages in a hurry.

Telegraphy involves the transmission of electrical signals, which can be entered with a telegraph key on one end of the line, and then read with a corresponding key, or with the use of headphones which can be worn by the operator. Most telegraph operators around the world used Morse Code, an alphabet consisting of series of dots and dashes, to send messages.

When someone arrives at a telegraph office to send a telegram, they write the message out as they want the other person to receive it. Because the process can take a lot of time, most people used a special style which used shortened words and skipped words, rather than writing out full messages ( like we do now with text messages). The telegraph operator sends the message to the telegraph office closest to the person it is being sent to, and the receiving operator writes the message out so that it can be read by the person it is being sent to. The telegraph company would either deliver the message or you could pick it up from their office.

Telegrams were originally used for important information which needed to get to someone quickly, so getting a telegram often meant there was an emergency. During the war many Armies used telegrams to tell the families of deaths or wounds of their family members who were fighting the war (see below). But telegrams could also bring good news, like the birth of a baby, and even when my Mum was younger she remembered telegrams being read out at weddings with congratulations messages for the Bride and Groom from their friends around the world that couldn't be there for the wedding.

Telegrams started to be used in the 1800s and NZ Post ended the service in 1999, as there was no customer demanding its use due to the popularity of text messaging and emails.



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**__ MOTAT __**
**On wednesday we went to MOTAT. When we got there we had a lady talk to use about all of the rules. Then we went into the MOTAT education room. The lady talked to use about communication she said there are three types of communication visual, written and oral. She showed use cameras, type writters, phones, ipods and how they have changed over the years it was amazing how much they have changed.**

**After that we went to the tram to get a tram ride. we went all the way to the otherside of motat. It was fun we all had a good time on it.**

**Then we got onto the voyager it shook and shaked while playing a movie it was about a rollacoster. While we were in it everyone was screaming because they were all living the moment.**

**Soon after we had lunch. Then we played kiwiana search game. It was fun because we had to go around MOTAT searching for the item.**

**After that we took the bus back to school thinking about the great day at MOTAT.**

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** I asked my Nana how she used to communicate with people around the World and she said when she was younger if they wanted to contact someone overseas they would have to write letters, and the letters would be sent on a boat, it would take 6-8 weeks to get a letter to England. ** ======

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** When she was a teenager they had a phone but it was on a party line- that meant all the neighbours shared the same telephone line, so only one house in the neighbourhood could be on the phone at once, and if you picked up the phone and the neighbours were using it you could hear what they were saying! The phones didn't have any way to dial a number, you had to ring the telephone operator by ringing the bell and they would put the call through to the place you wanted to call (so you couldn't just ring a house directly). If someone was calling you they would go through the operator and she would ring the phone line and each house had a different number of rings (they used morse code for the ring numbers) so you knew when the call was for your house e.g for Nana's house it was 3 short rings of the bell followed 1 long ring, but if the bell rang with just 2 long bells it was for her neighbour etc. To call overseas was incredibly expensive so you would normally send a telegram or write a letter. To send a telegram you would go to the post office and write down what you wanted to say, or you could ring the telephone operator and get them to write down what you wanted to say and they would send off a telegram- but it had to be very short. When you were getting a telegram the local telephone operator called you and read out the message, and then a person would deliver a hard copy of the telegram to your house. ** ======

** How do we communicate with people around the world now? **
====** Now a days we can contact people around the world instantly and easily using email, skype, the telephone or mobile phones. We can still send letters if we want to (although they are a lot slower than email or phone, but posting a letter is still a lot faster than the mail service in the old days as we can now use planes to take mail rather than where all the letters were sent by boat.) I speak to my Aunty most weekends who lives in New York through skype and it is set up with a video so we can see her and what she is doing, what her house looks like and what the weather is like over there, and she can see and hear us at the same time- it is free on skype and it just amazes my nana that we can communicate like this!!! ** ====

__ sci tech __
====At school we are designing and making a anti bacterial natural cleaning product. we are making posters and designing a label. It is really fun our groups cleaning product name is party spray. We are using agar plates for experiments you would be discusted if you saw the amount of bacteria on our classroom door knob. ====

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I looked outside and everything was white I thought it was a dream but it wasn't it was snowing!!! I ran outside and started to make a snowman I made it so tall we put a beanie and gloves on it it looked buitiful. We then went to the park it was like a winter wonder land. We had a snow ball fight and made an igloo but soon the day was over it all went to fast. =====

__ART__
At art we learnt alot of techniques like wet on wet, wet on dry and dry on dry.Using these techniques we are going to paint endangered sea animals.

This week is EOTC week and we are going to do lots of fun things.
On Monday we went to the Marae. First we went inside and we greeted them with a song. Then we got split into groups (boys and girls). The boys did the haka and the girls did the poi dance. After we practised we showed each other.Then we got told a Maori story. After that we got back on the buses and went back to school, excited about our next trip. The next day we went to tree tops and my Dad came along with us. We had to do the practise course first and after that we got to do the other four courses. At first it was challenging but once we got used to it it was easy. My favourite course was course 4. Some people had to be rescued from the courses. On Wednesday we walked down to Waiatarua Reserve for Orienteering. We were put into groups and got given our maps and papers to clip then we set off. It was quite challenging to work out what we had to do, but once we started to read the map and hold it the right way we started to get it! It was confusing when some clippers had gone missing because we thought we had found the spot but there were no clippers there. Once we had finished the courses we went back and played "go home, stay home, 123". One girl broke her arm playing the game. Then we walked back to school and we were very tired. On Thursday we went to the wave pools.When we first walked in we had some safety tips, then we got to go and have a swim. We could go on the hydroslide, bomb in and also go in the lazy river. Every now and then the waves went on, and it was scary when you were in the middle of the pool as you would get dunked under by the waves. My favourite was the hydroslide and they would let us go in doubles which made it more fun. When we finished we went back to school on the buses and we were very sad EOTC week was finished.