Sanding My Work

Last Wednesday I was able to start sanding my pewter design with sandpaper. This means not just rubbing it one time and expecting it to be finished, it means smoothing the edges, front and back many many times. 

After I finished smoothing my pewter with my first sandpaper I received a smoother sandpaper from Mr Grundy, this circle goes on until you use the smoothest sandpaper he has. I am currently using my 2nd piece of sandpaper and I actually love touching my flower!

This flower is really smooth and doesn't really have that much bumps on the edges. Tomorrow I'm excited to start sanding again!

Celebrating Ruapotaka School's Birthday!

Last Friday the students and staff of Ruapotaka School celebrated our 66th birthday. Although the schools birthday was on Sunday we celebrated on Friday.

Since every birthday should have a cake, we were surprised with a beautiful and moist chocolate cake. As we all gathered together Mrs Hamilton chose Nurul and Isadora to cut the cake since they happened to be the oldest and youngest students. 

It was a surprise to me finding out that the school is 66 years old!

Avalanche Warning For Mt Cook!

Mt Cook which is located in the South Island has been said to be experiencing major cold and windy conditions which is leading to many avalanches. This very dangerous avalanche is able to injury someone or even worse. 

This was spotted about a week ago. The avalanche might be able to reach Mt Hutt if it continues to move. Snow is very popular on Mt Cook so its not a surprise that there was an avalanche there!

Woodwork

Yesterday I finally finished my pewter necklace. Although the pewter is already done I just need to have the string. I liked how mine turned out.

Pita was another person who I saw was finish same as Malia from St Pius X. It was fun feeling my necklace but making it smooth was a long process. The flower I made was for my mum. After I finished doing all of that I had to write why I did it.

I can't wait to see my finished product!

King Street Bridge

For reading my group Apples read a story called "King Street Bridge". Apples has four students in the group Sunipa, Agueer, Satui and I.

The story was about Hera, a girl who had a lot of panic attacks but was also getting bullied at the same time. Once she had to walk home by herself the bullies (Lyza and Rebecca) threw water all over the poor girl causing her to have a panic attack. Hera then woke up to the sound of Lyza and Rebecca crying and trying to help her up. 

In the end Hera forgave them and they soon decided to be friends. Hera's best friend Jules helped her through the whole thing but couldn't be there to help her during the time she was having her panic attack. 

I really enjoyed reading this story! 

Hard Materials

Today was our third session with Mr Grundy. This was the day when our teacher tried to get us to trace our final design and cut it but unfortunately not all of us finished. We are making necklaces but in order to make them we had to fill out our pewter workbook.

Pewter is a type of material that is the colour silver. This is what we are using to make our necklaces out of. We have to have 4 people that would be chosen to have a necklace made for, you could also add yourself to one of the 4 people. For my final design I have decided to make a flower for my mum. 

It was my first time ever using a machine that could cut something out. My design that I cut out was a bit crooked with a few lines that were meant to be curves. It was fun this week learning how to use a machine!

New Zealand vs Coronavirus

New Zealand has now defeated the pandemic that has been going around the whole world. Now its been 17 days since a new case of covid-19 and 26 days in lockdown alert level 2! Since we are on alert level 1 gatherings have no limit in how many people can go.

We are still having the same border restrictions but we are only allowing NZ citizens or permanent residents in. All who come in through the border must self isolate for a fortnight.
Jacinda Ardern has asked that people keep track and write down every place they are going to.

South Island Beaches Turn Red?

A lot of the beaches down in the South island due to many dead red squat lobsters. This problem only occurs if adult squat lobsters give up their surface in the ocean. Many of the teenage lobsters turn up on the beaches with nowhere to breed. 

Many of the lobsters end up clinging on to rocks and from there they start to die. The red colour of the squat lobsters turn the sand red. If all the beaches in the South Island are red then there must be a lot of lobsters down there!

These squat lobsters are really red in colour so no wonder why these beaches show a lot of red!

Volleyball!

Today we had our first session of volleyball. We played with room 7 which makes it bigger and more people to play with. Our coach Elena had us practise setting, it wasn't really easy as you have to get in position and have your hands above your head. 

Soon we got into a group of four, then in partners and practised setting together. After we got the hang of setting we soon broke into four groups and played king of the court which is just versing every group until we have a "King" (basically a winner). We then finished and started playing girls vs boys. 

I liked the first session of volleyball and hope to my skills progress throughout the term!

Black Lives Matter!

New Zealand police have decided to not shut down all BLM protests. New Zealanders people still are marching through the city protesting justice for George Floyd and every person affected for something they didn't do just because of the colour of their skin.

However, new national leader Todd Muller is disappointed as he thinks that the NZ government has sent wrong messages and that many people are breaking a lot of rules. Organisers of the protests say they tried their hardest to provide hand sanitizer for protesters.

I think protesting is good as it might bring justice to all those people who have passed but it can risk someone getting the virus as people don't know each other. Stay safe and if you are deciding to protest take face masks and every other thing that protects you!