WEEK 1: A Place to Stand
DAY 5: BLINK AND YOU’LL MISS IT
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.
Dear Mother,
I have just arrived at the Canadian border, it is already cold and I am hoping that there isn't a snow storm. It is below negative 15 degrees Celsius here, it is freezing even though I am wearing layers of clothes. I see Arctic foxes, Snowy Owls, and many more. But what surprises me the most is that some weird plants can actually survive these freezing temperatures. You could even see the mountains, and they are covered with snow. I hope you came with me it is beautiful.
~ Lyan
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 neighbourhoods 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.
I have been living in New Zealand for the last 5 years and to tell you it was amazing. I have met really amazing, kind and warm-hearted people, well some. I was really happy because I felt like I was at home. I was really lucky to be here with my family and the people I love.
But the thing is that this amazing country would be singing next week. This is why I am going to tell you about Aotearoa, which is the name of New Zealand in Maori, which also means Land of the Long White Cloud.
New Zealand is the cleanest country in the world and it is also one of the most beautiful countries in the world. New Zealand is second out of 163 countries on the global peace index. New Zealand is famous for its famous attractions and also of the safest countries to live in. This year we are lucky to have placed 5th in the commonwealth games, we showed off our New Zealand spirit and the players represented New Zealand well.
New Zealand is broken up into 3 parts the North Island (upper), South Island (middle) and the Stewart Island. The North Island is known for its cosmopolitan cities, Maori Culture, the Waikato River which is the longest in New Zealand by 425km. The South Island is famous for its jaw-dropping landscapes and snow-capped mountains, while Stewart island is known as Rakiura (Maori), which means 'The Land of the Glowing Skies', people normally go there to hike and go birdwatching.
During the winter season, when I went to school the ground was like an ice skating rink. My friends and I played there is it was so fun we slipped and fell down a few times but it was so fun. One of the best things about the school in New Zealand is that learning is engaging and fun.
Make sure to visit New Zealand someday and check out the amazing landscapes and sports.
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| Credit: https://www.nomadicmatt.com/travel-blogs/waitomos-glow-worm-caves/ Waimato Caves |
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| Credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Emerald_Lakes,_New_Zealand.jpg Emerald Lake |
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| Credit: https://www.newzealand.com/ca/feature/national-parks-aoraki-mount-cook/ Mt Cook |
Reflection: I think I did well on this post, I really liked the activity 3 because it reminded me Atlantis. But I also liked the second activity because it reminded me of the world wars when the soldier sent letters to their families.
Kumusta Lyan,
ReplyDeleteThis is a fabulous blog post. You have really thought about what it would be like to visit a tundra. I think I would like to visit a tundra, but I definitely wouldn't want to live in a place that cold. You would have to wear so many layers of clothing like you said! I wonder what kinds of interesting and strange plants could survive in that environment - did you find any?
You have written an excellent description of what NZ is like, with so many different facts. Well done on crediting the images you used too - it's very important to do that. Why do you think the Maori name (Rakiura) for Stewart Island means 'Land of the Glowing Skies'?
Keep up the excellent work Lyan!
From Laura
Hey Laura, thank you for your amazing comment. Plants that can survive in the tundra are Bearberry, Moss and many more, I learned this from my uncle at Canada. I think that Land of the Glowing SKies means being abke to the see the SOuthern Lights/Aurora lights. Anyways please have a great day, Merry Christmas and have a Happy New year!
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