Weather Bomb!💣

Wild weather including high winds have soaked large parts of the Southern New Zealand. A lot of people are trapped in this horrible weather!

Hopefully this weather doesn't carry on but for now everyone must take shelter and have alot of food and water. In Timaru district, the council says it'll probably take weeks to recover from flood damage. 

My Finished Product!

On Wednesday it was our last tech for the year. My group was in graphics with our tutor Mrs Ferguson. We spent the whole term designing and doing research for our juice cartons.

My fake juice carton was called Blueberry Pop. It had a straw on one side, a ingredients tab on the other and a fun maze to do at the back. Unfortunately I couldn't get the back to stick so I taped it on. For me the hot glueing bit was very hard as you had to stick on the sides while it was still hot.

Drawing the barcode was also very difficult as you have to draw and colour in a lot of lines, but it was fun. I had fun making this juice carton and hopefully we get to make more things like this.

Remembrance Of The Erebus Disaster🔥

There was a special ceremony for the families of victims killed in the Mt Erebus disaster. 

The apology mark 40 years since the crash of Air New Zealand Flight TE901 on Mt Erebus in Antarctica in 1979, with the loss of 257 lives. Some people say that this disaster will change New Zealand for ever and probably the airline itself.

Hopefully in the future we have no more disasters like this!

Rats Wash Up On Westport Beaches!

In totally around 600 rats have been recovered with experts concerned that more may follow.

Some of the rats have been sent for testing as the Department of Conservation to find out why it happened. 

Some people believe the rats could have washed out of the hills by heavy rain after a 1080 poison operation 140km away. However, most experts are ruling this out.

Locals are being warned to keep their dogs off the beaches.

Smart Relationships - Cybersmart!

Learners make smart relationships by knowing who they are talking to online. A learner having a smart relationship online is easy to control, you know what to do when something goes wrong and you know what to do when something doesn't seem right.

Smart relationships can happen with students connecting and sharing by commenting and interacting on each others blogs. They can make smart decisions in very hard choices. 

Facial Recognition For Sheep?

A Dunedin company has announced that they are developing facial recognition for sheep. This kind of equipment is out of this world, its way in the future. The piece of technology will help farmers remember their sheeps.

The project has now received $40,000 grand from Callaghan Innovation and the company is aiming to prototype the software this year. I think that is project may have some issues but might also be fun!  

FIRE!🔥

A major fire has hit Auckland's Sky City Convention Centre. The large flames and chemical spills began on Tuesday mid-afternoon and might still be carrying on right this moment. 

St Johns have spoken saying that one person has been admitted to Auckland City Hospital in a critical condition. Skycity has evacuated people in the Sky tower, casino and all Skycity hotels, restaurant and corporate offices.

Hopefully the firefighters do stop this tragic mess!

Local Elections!

Regions in New Zealand have completed their Local Body Elections for 2019. During these elections, regions in New Zealand vote for who they want as their mayor, city councillors, and district health boards.

Wellingtons mayoral race was good with Andy Forster beating incumbent Justin Lester. While Phil Goff remained mayor of Auckland beating John Tamihere. 

As a surprise 19 year old Fisher Wang was elected into the Rotorua Lakes Council making him the youngest ever voted into local government in NZ

A Penguin Travelled From NZ To Australia!

A fiorland penguin was found tired and struggling to walk amongst the rocks on Kennett River in west Melbourne on July 10. It was taken to the zoo to get some test results by marine experts. It'll be fed and taken care of until it is able to go back home to NZ.

The penguin travelled 2,500km in total from NZ to Australia! It's surprising because penguins can't fly but their actually one of the fastest swimmers on the planet! 

NZ History Taught In Schools

In New Zealand Jacinda Ardern has made the choice for all New Zealand schools to be taught about the history of our country by 2020. Some schools have the choice which parts they want to be taught. There will be changes to many schools.

 I think its a good idea that Jacinda Ardern has chosen to do this because not only will it help New Zealand kids right now it'll also help them in the future. Jacinda had thought of the idea while unveiling a plaque commemorating the New Zealand Wars.

Me!

Yesterday was the day when we switched technicraft groups. I thought graphics was fun and turns out it was! The first thing we created was a me which is a poster about yourself. Here is my poster about myself.

Measles In Auckland!

In Auckland, New Zealand there have been around 778 people diagnosed with the mealse disease. The age groups that have been affected badly are children younger than 5 years old and those aged between 15 and 29. Auckland Regional Public Health Service said that New Zealand had lost immunity against measles.

Since I've been seeing a lot of people having measles it has made me a bit scared.

Netball

As some people know, yesterday was netball interschools which basically means "competing against other schools". I was very excited and tried to get as much sleep as possible which was kind of hard because I couldn't go to sleep. The netball team for the Y7 and Y8's were - Leanah, Mary Ruth, Nataaliyah, Agueer, Madisyn, Kotipi, Konzay, Leaaepeni, Tristan and I.

I was happy to represent my school in netball even though we came 13th out of 20. I thought my team could've done better but I think it's because we didn't practise as much as other schools. 


The Schools We Played Were:
Glen Innes Red
St Pius
Sylvia Park Green
Pt England Black
Glen Brae 
And Panmure Bridge School

I was proud of my team, hopefully we could play together sometime in the future!!

Queens Birthday Honours Kiwi Legends

This year the Queens birthday is honouring kiwi legends. The list includes 183 wonderful people who have made our country a better place. On the list it contains brand new dames and knights. The people on the list are known for many things such as thinking about our country before themselves.

Honours don't come so easy because the people who decide about giving people honours are Jacinda Ardern, the 12 person cabinet appointments and Honours committee. In my opinion I think it's a great idea that the queens birthday is dedicated to the knights and dames.

Room 6 Hosting Assembly

It has been one day since room 6 had the honour to host the school assembly. I was excited. They had to
learn how to cooperate with each other to pull off a successful assembly. After that room 12 revealed
our art work that we had been focusing on but only 5 people presented theirs.

Later on Mrs Hamilton came up to update the students on what's new. Then Mrs Shortland reminded us that it’s sausage sizzle week. As the assembly finished the classes walked out singing the song, Happy and it did make me happy!

Secure Electricity With Vector

Last Tuesday Vector had a visit to our school to see how much information the students at Ruapotaka school know about electricity and how to be safe around it. Esther (the name of the Vector tutor) also taught us how electricity is made and how much of it can be used.

There were a few volunteers that helped Ester demonstrate how solar power reflects onto the solar panels. I learnt that there are a lot of sources that can make electricity!

Our Second Week With Mr Grundy

Our first week with Mr Grundy was about sketching eight designs that we thought would work, move and be safe. The next week was all about which design we thought would be the best to make.

Instead of making a M&M dispenser I thought it would be way cooler to make a photo frame. First we had to think about where the joints of our wood were going to go. Mr Grundy went over the main questions I should be thinking about like "What will my creation be used for"?

I am excited for what the third week of tech with Mr Grundy!

Duffy Show

Yesterday was the first official Duffy show for 2019. The show was about Duffy and his cousin Sam who were magically sucked into the game (Magic Bricks) by wearing their nana's glasses and making silly moves.

A lot of students volunteered to help out Duffy as he had to solve puzzles during his quest to make it out of the video game. To make it out of the game Duffy and Sam had to figure out the meaning of their nana's book.

I thought the show was full of excitement! As the show ended Jessica stood up to thank Duffy and his fellow team members for the well presented show.

Wood Work With Mr Grundy

Today was the first day my fellow year 7's and I went to Technicraft at Tamaki College. I had a good experience in Mr Grundy's class drawing sketches of what we want to create. St Pius was another school that we had in wood work.

Soon after Mr Grundy demonstrated what it would look like when our sketches were finished. If you create a sketch you first have to know where the joints of your creation is going to be.

First Day At School!

Welcome back, I am starting a new learning journey with my new teachers Mr Reid and Mrs Golder. As you know our former principal Mrs Vickers has left but she has left Ruapotaka in good hands with Mrs Hamilton.

As you know I am now a year 7 in room 12. I now have to work harder, so that when I end intermediate I will have a successful education for when I move onto college. I am ready to overcome any obstacle Mrs Golder and Mr Reid throw at me!