Day 1 (Week 2) - Summer Learning Journey

Hey! Hope you're doing well with your holidays! So we are back to another Day 1 of Summer Learning Journey but a different week, which is week 2. So sit back and relax and welcome to Summer Learning Journey Blogging.

WEEK 2: Water, Water, Everywhere

Welcome to the second week of the Summer Learning Journey. We hope that you enjoyed learning about the amazing land habitats that we have here in New Zealand and overseas. This week we are going to focus on water; the lakes, rivers, and oceans that make up our beautiful country. Are you ready to jump in and get wet? Let’s hope you brought your togs!

DAY 1: Swimming with the Fish

Activity 1: Surfs Up! [4 points]

In New Zealand, we have many beautiful beaches and stunning waterfalls. One of the most spectacular waterfalls is called Kitekite and it is located in Piha, a small village west of Auckland. Tourists and locals flock to Piha during the summer season to enjoy the waterfall, the local beach, and the great surf. Have you ever tried surfing? Although I have never surfed many of my friends have and they absolutely love it. In fact, it is their favourite summer activity! What is yours?

For this activity, please take a picture of yourself doing one of your favourite summer activities. It could be anything! Here is a picture of one of our team members (Laura) doing one of her favourite summer activities.

On your blog, post a picture of yourself doing one of your favourite summer activities. Below the picture tell us what the activity is and tell us why it is one of your favorites.

My favourite thing to do during holidays is selfies, going out of town (Long drive) or going to places like beaches. So first, I wanna talk about my UN-perfect selfies of my ugly self, I really like to do selfies a lot like seriously, lol :) Do you really wanna see my hideous selfies? well if you insist, here it is:

Next, Going out of town, I really like to take a long drive to other places. So I'm gonna share you guys my experience during holidays in Auckland. 

Questions you might ask for me:

• Why did I go to Auckland? 

Because the religion that I'm in is PMCC 4th watch and one of the churches in Auckland is their anniversary. The Auckland members invited us (Christchurch bredren) to attend their church anniversary. My parents decided to attend that church anniversary and at the same time, we are exploring the beauty of Auckland city with our family friends. As far I can remember we took a flight to Auckland on Friday night (luckily It's not 13th of Friday, because people believe that Friday the 13th is a bad luck day :(

Activity 2: The Great Taupo Cycle Challenge [4 points]

Every year approximately 7500 people arrive in Taupo, New Zealand to compete in a one-day cycling race around Lake Taupo. The race route is 160 km in length. Participants can choose to compete in the full race or the half-race (80 km). Let’s imagine that you were given a free ticket to compete in the Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge next year and you were able to bring three people with you like your ‘support crew.’ Who would you bring with you?

If it was me, I would choose my son, Aronui, as one of my supporters because he’s really funny and energetic. I think that he would make sure that I had a great time and that I spent the entire day laughing and smiling. I would also choose my sister, Leigh because she is very strong and fast. Thirdly, I would choose my co-leader, Hazel, because she is very organized and would make sure that we followed the trail and didn’t get lost!

On your blog, list the three people you would like to have on your Lake Taupo Cycle Race Support Crew. Tell us why you have chosen each person.

Activity 3: Something Smells Fishy…[10 points]

One of the longest and largest rivers in the world is called the Amazon River. It is located in South America and is approximately 6400 kilometres (kms) long. That is four times longer than the entire country of New Zealand. Wow!

Scientists believe that there are over 3000 different kinds of fish that live in the Amazon River. Now, that is a lot of fish! To learn more about fish, we went online and found some really cool facts about fish.

For this activity, we are going to provide you with five sentences about fish. Some of them are true and some are them are not. It is your job to read these ‘facts’, and decide whether they are true or false.

On your blog, write out each fact and in CAPITAL LETTERS beside the fact, write the word ‘TRUE’ if it is a true fact or ‘FALSE’ if it is not true.

True or False?

Fish Fact #1: The oldest known fish in the world is a 65 year old Australian lungfish.

My Answer: TRUE

Fish Fact #2: Sharks are the only fish that have eyelids.

My Answer: TRUE

Fish Fact #3: Starfish are a type of fish.

My Answer: FALSE

Fish Fact #4: Fish communicate with each other by making low-pitched sounds (moans, hisses, etc)

My Answer: TRUE

Fish Fact #5: Fish usually swim together in groups called ‘classes.’

My Answer: FALSE

That's all for today guys! Stay tuned! and have a great holidays!

Day 5 (Week 1, The last day of the week!) - SLJ

Hey lovely peoples! Guess what!?... It's Day 5! That means the last day of week 1! Yay, we are nearly moving to week 2! on the next day!  So just bear with me! Let's go~

DAY 5: Blink and You’ll Miss It

Activity 1: Towering Timbers [4 points]

There is a long and rich history of logging in New Zealand. Logging involves cutting down trees. The people who cut them down are called loggers. The trees that they cut down are sold and used to build things (eg. houses), to make products (eg. paper), and to generate (create) heat and power. Over the past two centuries, many of the trees in New Zealand have been cut down by loggers.

Left: NZ native forest Right: A logged forest

Some people like logging because it creates jobs for the loggers and generates money for New Zealand while others are against (opposed to) logging. Many of those opposed are worried that logging will damage the environment. It might also force animals who live in trees (eg. owls) to find new homes.

What do you think about logging?

On your blog tell us whether you think logging should be allowed in New Zealand. Be sure to provide at least two reasons to support your argument.

In my opinion, cutting down trees/ logging is extremely bad for our environment, why?

Here’s why:

There’s a word called “Deforestation” - that means removal or clearance of forest. Deforestation affects a lot of things like:  

• Oxygen - Based on my research, 90% of oxygen trees can produce in a year, so that means, no trees no oxygen. If there’s no oxygen then we won’t be able to breathe, then we could just die.
• Climate change - Deforestation control the climate change as well, the more we cut trees, the more the weather became crazy and out of control at all and it affects us.
• Greenhouse gasses -Greenhouse gasses are a huge role that controls by trees in the forest, it absorbs the fuel global warming. So the more we cut trees and not replanting it, the lesser trees get, when the lesser the trees get, the greenhouses gasses entering the atmosphere.

So please, when you cut trees it’s small or huge still replant it so it won’t cause a lot of problems to our planet. Here's a LINK to find out more about this

Activity 2: Living on the Edge [4 points]

While it can get quite cold in New Zealand, it rarely drops below freezing (00C). Most of the time the temperature in New Zealand is pretty mild. This is not the case in the tundra. The tundra is an area of land (biome) that is cold, dry and completely treeless. Did you know that the average temperature in the tundra is -280C?

Over the past few years, however, the temperature in the tundra has been rising and the weather has been changing. Let’s imagine that your teacher decides to take you on a class trip to the tundra before the weather changes too much and you aren’t able to go.

On your blog, write a letter to your best friend or a family member telling them about your trip to the tundra. To earn full points your letter must have a greeting (eg. Dear…) followed by 5 – 6 sentences of information about what your experience.

  

Here's my fake letter that I'm sending to my friend Jolly Rose about my "Trip" to Tundra. (I wish all of this is real)

North pole, Tundra (Biome)

22 September 2019

Dear Jolly Rose,

Kamusta Jolly Rose! My trip to Tundra was adventurous!, It was freezing cold there, the temperature was -28C. I felt like I was in a giant freezer! The ground was frosty and there are no trees could be seen even a single tree! It was just like a dream come true!

We also learn the two types of Tundra, which is Alpine Tundra and Arctic Tundra. Alpine Tundra is the area of land high in the mountains above the tree line. Next, the Arctic Tundra is located far north in the northern hemisphere along the Arctic Circle. There are huge areas of tundra in northern North America, northern Europe, and northern Asia as well.

Here are facts that I’ve learned while I was there, there’s a thing called “Permafrost’, Permafrost means a layer of a topsoil ground that remains frozen in years, that’s why even a single tree never grow there because the ground is frozen.

I really enjoyed my trip to Tundra, even thou it’s called I’d really like to come back there!

Kind regards,

Elisha Mae.

Activity 3: Going, going….gone [10 points]

Over the years, scientists have made some surprising discoveries. One of these discoveries

is that we have entire cities (e.g. Jakarta, Indonesia and Venice, Italy) that are slowly sinking into the ocean. Scientists believe that one day, the cities will disappear completely under the water. Yikes!

Some of the residents (people living in the cities) have taken pictures of their neighborhoods and written stories about their lives in order to make a record of what ‘life was like’ in their city before it disappeared.

Let’s imagine that New Zealand was going to sink to the bottom of the ocean next week (Eek!). Before it sinks you are asked to write a blog post telling people what life was like in New Zealand in 2018.

On your blog, post a description of life in New Zealand in 2018. Please remember that the people who read your post will have never been to New Zealand or even seen a picture so it is your job to ‘paint a picture’ of New Zealand using your words. You can also post pictures if you wish. Be sure to fully attribute the pictures.

For the past few years living in New Zealand is like a dream come true, because in New Zealand here, all the people are nice and kind, well some of them. Especially for Asian people like me, people in my country that would like to go here would willingly sell anything just to come to this wonderful place. So it's a blessing for me and my family that we came to this beautiful country.

But sadly, It's just so upsetting that knowing this flawless country would sink next week, but there's nothing we can do stop it. So that's why I'm gonna tell you, awesome people, my life was like in New Zealand before this gorgeous country sink to the ocean fully.

After two years of living here, I can only describe it with one word "Amazing", New Zealand is just a simple country filled with amazing and astonish flowers and nature. The people that usually live here are called Maori and Kiwi.  Kiwi's love cars and you can see a lot of cars here driving every day.

The country of New Zealand won't be called as a country without these two great islands, which is the South and North Island. In this two great Islands, my city which is Christchurch, is part of South Island.

New Zealand's capital city was Wellington (one of the cities In North Island), but Auckland (another city in North Island) has way more population than Wellington, cool right?!

You don’t know how much people in Auckland, It’s over 1 million+ of the population of people living in Auckland!

In New Zealand, there are also four seasons, which is Winter, Summer, Autumn and last but not the least my favorite one is Spring. When it’s winter season it’s super cold but when It’s summer season It’s freakin’ hot. The weather in Christchurch is so crazy, for example, In the morning it was a sunny day but when like time for Lunch, the weather changes so rapidly.

Speaking of weathers, I remember when I and my friend went to school and it was Winter season, the field was frozen like it’s an ice skating rink. Every step we take, the more the slippery or shoes get and “THUG!”, I and my friend fall onto the frosty ground.

New Zealand has a also a native land bird living here and nowhere else around the world could be found. The name of that bird is “Kiwi” not the people here that I mentioned earlier, it’s the national bird. Speaking of “Kiwi” there’s actually three types of Kiwi in NZ (New Zealand).

1. Kiwi - The people that are actually living here, not the people that came from the other country.

2. Kiwi - The Kiwifruit

3. Kiwi - The Kiwi Bird (national native land bird)

The main language of this country is Maori and English, The “New Zeland” word in Maori is “Aotearoa” that means the long white cloud.  

I hope you guys the Day 5 activities of mine and stay tuned! Bye, see ya next week! Please leave a feedback or comment to help me improve my blogpost next time! Bye have a great holiday!

Day 3 (Week 1) - Summer Learning Journey

DAY 3: Awesome Animals

Hey Peeps! So we are back to another blog post of Summer Learning Journey! It's now day 3!! So, as usual, sit back and relax and welcome to Summer Learning Journey Blog post (LoL:)

Activity 1: Fantastic Beasts [4 points]

In New Zealand, we have many unusual animals. One of the most unusual is the kiwi bird - a bird that does not have wings and can not fly. Pretty strange, eh?! J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter books, has recently written a new book about strange or unusual animals called ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.’

For this activity, please watch this cool book trailer. Year 7 and Year 8 students in South Auckland, New Zealand helped to make it. Once you have watched the video, use your imagination and create your very own beast. What does your beast look, smell, feel, and sound like?

On your blog, post a description of your beast. Use interesting adjectives (describing words) to tell us about your beast.

My beast is just simple at it seems like the other beast, Dangerous, Scary and Mysterious? but when you go down further to know this type of beast... It's not just a normal beast... It may look scary but not as scary inside. It has a genuine heart who help animals inside the forest. This beast is furry and has brown-ish skin color and has very sharp teeth, this beast has also a horn colored dark brown... and of course, it has blue eyes. 

Activity 2: The Secretive Skink [4 points]

We have a number of small lizards (geckos and skinks) living in New Zealand. One of the least common is the Chevron Skink. According to the Department of Conservation, Chevron Skinks live mostly on two islands - Great Barrier Island and Little Barrier Island. These islands are ‘animal reserves.’ Very few people, other than staff working for the New Zealand Department of Conservation (DOC), are allowed to live there. The DOC staff are called ‘Rangers.’ Their job is to protect the wildlife (animals and plants) living on the island.

Would you like to be a DOC ranger and live with the animals on Great Barrier Island?

On your blog list three pros (good things) and three cons (bad things) about working as a DOC ranger. At the bottom of your post, tell us whether you would like to be a DOC Ranger or not.

Pros:

• I could help to protect the wildlife
• Visiting a place that I haven't been before
• A great adventurous experience in my life

 Tons:

• I could injure myself by protecting those wildlife animals
• Financial problems
• Homesick :(

Activity 3: The WWF: World Wildlife Fund [10 points]

In 1961, a number of people came together to start an organization called the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The main goal of this organization was/is to protect life on earth. Hundreds of WWF staff work in countries all over the world trying to protect our planet and the animals who live here. To learn more about their amazing work, click on one of the two video links below.

Clip #1: Freshwater Seals

Clip #2: Tigers

Once you have watched the video, go to your blog and, using full sentences, tell us:

1) The name of the animal the WWF is working to save.
2) What the WWF is doing to help the animal.
3) What, if any, success they have had protecting the animal.

Answers: 

1) The name of the animal that WWF is working to save is Seals and Pups

2) The WWF is working together to build snow banks for pups (baby seals)

3) The endangered cute pups will be safe now from dying.

If you make it to the end.. Thank you! See yah on the Day 4 (Week 1 )