To:  Professor Sir Dudley Stamp, The Royal Geographical Society, Lowther Lodge, 1 Kensington Gore, London, United Kingdom. 

From: Edmund Hillary, Mount Everest, Nepal. 

May 29, 1953

Dear Professor Dudley  Stamp.

This will probably be the last letter I will be sending you for the next 7 weeks. We are setting the last preparations to climb onto Mount Everest, and these preparations will be finished in 2 days. We still need to pack the rations, and the cookers you sent 2 weeks previously have not yet arrived, but we got a notice from the post office of Kathmandu saying that they will be arriving tomorrow afternoon. 

We will reach base camp on the 12th of  April, and the summit on May 29th, 1953. We will send short messages down using a radio set that we will be carrying with us. Then, the part of the expedition on the base of Mount Everest will send you the parts that are important. Tenzing Norgay will contact the ground station when we reach the top, and I will then raise the flag. After the expedition, I will probably head home, but my future dreams are to help open schools and hospitals for the people of the wonderful Himalaya. After that, I will travel to London to meet you. See you then, Professor Sir Dudley Stamp. 

Edmund Hillary.   

For Literacy, we have been learning about trailblazers. For the last week and this week, we have been working on an activity. We could choose from 6 activities. In this activity, you have to imagine you are a trailblazer doing the thing they are famous for, and write a letter to either the trailblazer’s family, or their sponsor. I chose to write to the sponsor. I found this activity very fun.

For inquiry today, we have been learning about the advocate and environmental NZ trailblazers. We copied off information from a slide show and then put it onto a timeline from 1893 to 1995. My favourite person on the timeline is probably Rodney Davies, because he protected the native bush, which is really great. Who is your favourite trailblazer here?

We have been learning how to count things in Te reo

Here is the link to my reflection

Today, Jan from Christchurch city council to discuss what it means to be a road user and what a road users responsibilities are.

First, she talked to us about the different uses of transport, like cars, bikes, and walking. Next, we went outside to conduct an experiment with different speeds, and how long it would take to stop. I worked with Geordie and Matai.  There was one driver, aka the person who walked, a person who measured, and a person who wrote it down. First, you had to walk, then jog, and then run.

I believe that  the speed limits around school should be lowered, and there should be a school zone, especially at the Keyes Rd round about.

I believe that  the speed limits around school aren’t safe for car users, because there are a lot of cars, and a lot of children, and it is quite unsafe.

I really enjoyed being the “driver”, because you got to run. I found the measuring quite challenging, because it was harder if the driver was further away from the line.

Do you think there should be a school zone at school?

For CRT, I did Epro 8. We made a fishing rod. My team was Ricky, Charlie, and Jacqueline. I found getting the rope the right length the hardest, because at the start it was really too short, then really too long. But in the end we got it. I really enjoyed testing the fishing rod,  because you got to cast it. The winning fishing rod was Daeyton’s Team       because their rod went the furthest. My team  listened to each other’s ideas. We all helped make the fishing rod, and we all stayed focused. It was very fun, and I really enjoyed it.