Mrs Mitchell

Ever since the beginning of term 4 my classroom has now had another teacher for the rest of the year. Her name is Mrs Mitchell. She's funny and allows my class to have a few minutes of free time now and then. Wonderful would be a great way to describe her.

Our teacher Mr Reid has taken a leave, but will be returning next year. Luckily we have Mrs Mitchell so that we wouldn't need to have reliever every single day. I also can't wait for the pavlova she's soon going to bring for our class!

Temporary Fix

 

After having the temporary fix on the Auckland harbour bridge there have been six new lanes open on the bridge. A lot of people that live around the north shore area have been taking the western motorway on their way to work or to the city. 

Many aren't really happy to take public transport so thats probably why some work from home. Since this is only a temporary fix, this means it allows two extra lanes on the road. If you don't know what happened with the bridge try reading my previous blog post. 

Auckland Harbour Bridge

 

On Friday a horrible incident happened on the harbour bridge located in Auckland. This included two trucks toppling over each other.  Since this happened the bridge has been closed for repairing. This has caused at lot of traffic near that area. 

People around the north shore area will have to use buses or even work from home if its possible. This might only be a temporary fix because if it were to be permanent it would have a lot of people involved!

Control!

Yesterday my group and I had our second session in control tech. This week and last week was basically "preparing" because we mainly focused on naming our slides, folders and setting up our google classroom.

Since coronavirus is still happening, we have arranged seating places so that we are all spread out but we can still talk to each other and see the teacher. One thing I enjoy about this class is that we don't get dirty and we don't have to move a lot.

Tubro Touch!

Today was our second session of turbo touch. Since lockdown came in place a few weeks ago we sort of forgot some of the rules and skills that coach Chris taught us. 

After going over everything we played football touch. The aim of the game is to share the ball around your team and trying to tap the other team. Team 1 wore orange bibs, team 2 wore green bibs. I'd say this is my favourite game even though we've only had 2 sessions.

Cyber Attack

There has been a new cyber attack on the New Zealand stock exchange. This means that NZX has stopped all trading in most of its markets. It's the fourth cyber attack that has happened in the last week.

No one knows who is behind this whole attack. "Two to three percent of the profits of the traders could be wiped out by cyber attacks" New Zealand's Central bank said. The New Zealand government has now begun activating the national security system. 

Remembering The Christchurch Earthquake

At 4:35am on September the 4th 2010, residents of Christchurch had been awoken by the large noises and shaking of the big earthquake that happened that day. The earthquake damaged buildings in Timaru and Dunedin. 

To this day Christchurch cathedral is still being repaired as well as many other buildings. This earthquake had killed 185 people. 

How I Feel About Lockdown!

Since this is the second lockdown that New Zealand has been through, I'm not really that keen to be staying home. Although its boring one thing that is good about staying home is that we get to stop the spread of covid-19 throughout our community.

Staying home also gives me and my family time to retrace where we've been and to limit the contact between family members and the public. Maybe after this lockdown we will have a less amount of covid-19 cases than the start of it.

Volleyball Tournament!

This year I was able to represent my school at the volleyball tournament held at the Barfoot and Thompson Stadium in Selwyn College. Our first match was against Panmure district. We had a mix of 3 girls and 3 boys for the Y7&8 team. 

A few parents came to watch and support the students from our school. During our breaks we went outside to practise our digs, sets and how to call out for the ball. I enjoyed playing volleyball this year and hopefully I get the chance to do it in college next year.

Technicraft

Last Wednesday I got the chance to finish making my box to put my necklace in. After I saw my box was all finished Mr Grundy polished the wooden box with wood oil. As soon as that was done I tried to finish my workbook while the oil was setting.

On the workbook I had to write down the steps on how to make the pewter necklace and explain what I used to make it. It was fun making the necklace.

Finished Product!

Today I finally finished my final product. All I really had to do was just polish the front/back and the edges. My pewter flower was really shiny that you could see your reflection in it. 

As soon as I finished polishing Mr Grundy hooked up the necklace lace to my flower and it was done. I had a choice to make a box for my necklace to be in, so I did. It didn't really take long as I only had to choose a colour, cut out a piece of MDF and wait for it to all be glued tight together.

For my velvet I chose the colour purple because I thought it suited well with the silver necklace. I'm excited to finish making the box and placing my necklace inside it.

New Alert System!

There's a new volcano alert system, that could have possibly guessed the eruption of White Island 16 hours before it happened. This new gadget was designed and created by a team of scientists at Auckland University. 

It was an algorithm that can pick up patterns before the eruption happens. A person has spoken saying that this might be the only device of its kind in the world! The scientists are now looking at Ruapehu and Tongariro.

Dr Dempsey says that he really hopes this will be a product that is used around the world.

Orangutans and Siamangs At Auckland Zoo!

Auckland Zoo has officially opened a new habitat for orangutans and siamangs. The zoo staff has said that this has been their biggest development in 97 years! These chubby hairy creatures will enjoy their new home that has a lot of stuff that they could climb on.

This new environment provides a lot of things that orangutans and siamangs will love. I think that this is a great idea adding more animals in the zoo, especially for young children to watch. Their new home also allows the primate staff to take care of them!

Sanding Part 2!

Yesterday I was finally able to move onto my second to last piece of sandpaper. About 10-15 minutes went by and I had finished and was onto my last sandpaper. Since we had a few more weeks left in this class for next term I was really in such a rush. 

Once I was finished sanding my flower I then had to sand it with water and repeat the same moves that I have done for the last 2 weeks. As soon as I finished I gave it to Mr Grundy to see if it was all ready to be polished and shined.

Unfortunately there was not much time to start polishing so I have to wait till next term. I think that my design turned out better than I expected and I can't wait to see it all shiny!

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!

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.