This week, our old class teacher is leaving for maternity leave. It is very exciting for a new baby to be born! Meanwhile, we have a new teacher replacing her until she comes back. She likes habitats, so that’s what we learnt with her on Tuesday for science. We didn’t have much time, but I already learnt a few things. I think the main thing I learnt from that lesson is what biotic and abiotic is. Biotic means basically anything living, like bacteria, animals, and plants. Abiotic is the opposite of biotic, meaning non-living things. Examples of abiotic things are the sun, water, humidity, soil, temperature, and air. This is a picture I found on Google, giving examples of biotic and abiotic things.

What else do you know about habitats?

Today I got bored of finishing all activities on this year’s Winter Learning Journey, so I decided to do a reflection of it. I attempted all 20 activities this term break, earning 1hr and 40 mins of free time at school following my class teacher’s conditions which were 5 mins of free time for every activity done.

My favourite activity was activity 13 where I modified chess my favourite board game. My second favourite activity was activity 8, creating a song that reminded of winter on Song Maker. My third favourite was activity 5 with yummy soup and noodles to consume afterwards.

My least favourite was the Kiribati dancing because I don’t like dancing and I don’t like being on camera. My second to least favourite was activity 18 Winter Energy Audit because I didn’t learn anything new or fun. My third to least favourite was activity 4 Minecraft Challenge because it’s there every time, it doesn’t teach anything, it’s boring and wasting valuable time.

I found activity 11 Snowstorm Boggle, activity 17 Snowstorm in a Jar, and activity 15 Cotton ball Catapult the easiest for the materials required and the time needed. I rank them from the boggle being the easiest to the snowstorm in a jar the third easiest.

I found the trickiest was activity 19 Star Gazing because the weather hasn’t been great for the last 2 weeks. I found activity 1 Planning a Winter Road Trip second trickiest for the time spent and activity 6 Snowflake Garland third trickiest also for the time spent, but also for the paper used and the rubbish created.

I think it will be nice to add more STEM challenges into the Winter Learning Journey because I love creating and learning in a fun way. I also found learning through experiments is one of the easiest and fun way to remember and learn things.

What would you like to add to the next Learning Journey (Spring)?

Today I did the last activity for me of the Winter Learning Journey. This is also the last Winter Learning Journey task, and I have mentioned previously that there are 20 activity in total. This makes this activity activity 20 of the Winter Learning Journey 2025. This activity is called hibernation hut because a lot of animals hide away sleeping from the cold winter months. I made my hibernation hut using my sofa, blankets and wood planks. I added extra blankets and pillows for inside to make it even cosier. I even made it through sleeping overnight without additional heating. It wasn’t that cold at all, but it was very secret. I made it in the living room, and here are pictures of the fort and me inside the fort.

Since this hibernation hut is for animals, I dressed myself as Pink Panther so I am an animal with my bear, duck, slug and unicorn (sleeping bag) inside the fort accompanying me.

What environment do you like to hide in?

Today I did activity 18 of the Winter Learning Journey which is about saving power and reducing power bills in our household this winter. Some of the ways I put on my slideshow that I think my family can reduce power on are remembering to turn off the TV and computer when finished using, and going outside more often for activities whenever possible because this means the house rarely needs power if left alone. This is my Canva template based power bill saving for my family this winter slideshow.

I forgot to add getting the government to cap the power company’s profit so that way everyone’s power bill would be lower. I didn’t have much room left on the slide though.

What else do you think people can save their power bill?

Today I did activity 12 of the Winter Learning Journey which is creating 4 math problems using things I saw in winter. I used what I saw this year, previous years and in my imagination. Dumb bees do not exist, which is an example of something I imagined. I named them dumb bees because real bees would predict cold weather and hide in hives. This is my Canva template based dumb bee math problem slides.

If you could add your favourite number into the total amount of dumb bees deaths, how many dumb bees would still remain?

Today I did activity 1 of the Winter Learning Journey. It instructed me to plan a 5 day road trip around the South Island or Central Plateau, a volcanic plateau in the North Island. I chose to make my ultimate plan around the South Island, spending a whole chunk of time researching good places to go, the distance it will take and the estimate time to see whether this amount of places could be fitted into a day or not. Each day, I allowed a maximum of 6.5 hours of driving, except the final leg home. That would leave plenty of time for pies, winter activities and photography with my dad’s cameras. I created my cover slide on Canva and the rest on Google Slides.

Where would you like to go out of my selection of places?

Today I did activity 3 of the Winter Learning Journey which is about igloos. For this activity, I watched a video on someone making an igloo and showing how quiet inside the completed form is. There were a few questions about what it would be like for me to live in an igloo. I learnt from the internet what to expect living in an igloo. I summarised the main points in the Canva presentation that I made from templates. Each background has a meaning about those environment in winter.

Have read this post about igloos, how do you feel about living in one yourself?

Today I did activity 16 of the Winter Learning Journey which is Kiribati dancing. This week is Kiribati Language week, Wikin te Taetae ni Kiribati, and so one way to celebrate the Kiribati culture is by learning their dance. This task wanted me to watch the video provided of some people dancing Kiribati culture and try to join in with the dancing. My dad helped me find some clothing to make me look like what they wear in the video which I think is in Kiribati. I danced as a male dancer, joining in near the end. This is me dancing and the original video provided. I tried to say Tia bo (saa-bo) at the end meaning goodbye in Kiribati like the video.

What cultural dance you would enjoy watching or dancing yourself?

Today I did a Winter Learning Journey activity on finding 10 signs of winter in nature outside. First, I did a plan on what I saw only in winter. I only could think of about 6 signs I actually saw, so a few of the signs of winter was what I could think of first. Then I searched up on Google for some winter plants and winter animals because the task said so. This is my scrapbook I made using a template on Canva and the top 10 winter plants and animals Google came up with first.

Winter Plants:

1. Camellia
2. Hellebore
3. Pansy
4. Cyclamen
5. Snowdrops
6. Daphne
7. Winter Jasmine
8. Crocus
9. Purple Kale
10. Violet

Winter Animals:

1. Birds
2. Bats
3. Hazel Dormouse
4. Frogs
5. Hedgehog
6. Fieldfare
7. Redwing
8. Common Starling
9. Polar Bear
10. Squirrel

Where do you like to spend your winter?

Today I did a Winter Learning Journey task that is about snowstorms in a jar. Basically, it is just making a snow globe with glitter or some sort of shiny stuff. I used sparkly mini stars that I found to make the snow, filled it up with tap water and added a few drops of hand sanitizer into the jam jar for the snowstorm effect of dropping to the bottom.

Would you rather be in a sandstorm or a snowstorm?