1. The Way We Are By Isabella

2. Essential Questions 1. How am I similar and different from my ePal? We like the same colour and we both live in countries that are prone to earthquakes. 2. How do the physical and climate differences in my ePal’s region affect my ePal’s life? Japan is prone to earthquakes which can cause tsunamis. That means she would have to go through earthquake and tsunami drills at school. 3. What affect does the culture in my ePal’s region have on my ePal’s life? My ePal celebrates Christmas with a fake Christmas tree, with her family and friends.

3. About Me My name is Isabella Meri Costigan. I live in Christchurch New Zealand with my Mum, grandparents, my two chickens(at home we fight over names for them so we just call them the chickens), my rabbit Milo, and my cat Socks My favorite colour is green and my favourite seasons are Spring and Winter because in Spring its not to hot or cold, and Winter is the Netball season which is one of my favourite sports. In Netball I play GK, Goal Keep because I’m tall. I am the tallest student in my school! I also Swim every now and then but because my mum works shift its hard to go swimming every week. My favorite school subjects are Maths and Reading because Maths comes easy to me and I can always trust a book! My favourite out of school subject is watching T.V and going to the races. My favorite series of books is Maximum Ride and my favorite author is Des Hunt. My favorite T.V show is Home and Away, and my favorite animal is a horse because I've grown up going to the races so much! My birthday is on the 27th of August and I have 0 siblings. I LOVE BULLRUSH!!!!!!!

4. About my EpalSatoi My epals name is SatoiAkeda. She is a girl in 4th grade(which in New Zealand is year 5) Satoi’s favourite colour is green because it represents nature. Satoi was born in Connecticut, New haven although she now lives in Osaka, Japan with her Mum, Dad and her dog Beans. Satoi’s move to Japan when she was five years old. Satoi’s favourite sport is swimming. And Satoi’s favourite food is Mac & Cheese and ice-cream( but I hope not together!) Satoi was not effected by the Japan earthquake or tsunami Satoi starts school at 8:30am and finishes and 4:30 pm that is 8 hours of school 5 days a week.

5. My Environment My school is in a suburban area. The name of this suburb is Opawa – the same name of my school Some tourist day trips could be - skiing at Mt Hutt in the winter, visiting Kaikoura and going on a whale watch expedition, and driving to Hanmer Springs to sit in the hot pools and relax. In winter, if we are lucky enough we can play in the snow, but not every winter. All through out the year people can go walking up the hills, along the beaches and rivers although in winter it may be a bit cold!

6. My epals environment Satoi’s school is in a suburban area. In that area there are lots of trees and flowers. In Japan there are lots of Mountains, and Satoi is lucky enough for her school to be near them!

7. How climate effects my life In Christchurch the temperature can range between 0-30 degrees. On the 4th of September 2010 Christchurch experienced something Cantabrians never thought was possible; there was a 7.1 earthquake and since then the earth hasn’t stopped shaking!

8. How climate effects my ePal In Osaka the temperature can range between 0-31 degrees (similar to Christchurch.) Japan is in the ‘ring of fire’ which is also known as the Pacific Plant. In the ring of fire there are many volcanoes that sometimes do erupt. New Zealand is also in the ring of fire but most volcanoes in the country are extinct.

9. My Culture In New Zealand we celebrate Matariki which is the Maori New Year. Matariki is in June, when Matariki occurs people look into the sky to look at the Matariki formation. In New Zealand we also celebrate Christmas. In my house we celebrate it with a real Christmas tree. On Christmas day the family comes over to my house and we have a big family lunch or dinner, depending on whether my cousins are going to their other grandparents house.

10. My epals culture In December Satoi celebrates Christmas with a fake Christmas tree. She celebrates Christmas with her family and friends. Towards the end of the year it is winter, so some times it snows during winter but most of the time it doesn’t. During winter Satoi makes ginger bread cookies and eats them with her family and friends.

11. Things I have in common with my epal Some things I have in common with my epal is that our favourite colour is green. Another thing we have in common is that we both like to swim. One of Satoi’s favourite foods is ice-cream and so is mine. I don’t know what her favourite flavour is but mine is Jelly-Tip. We both live in suburban area’s.

12. Things that are different Satoi’s other favourite food is mac&cheese, where’s mine is pizza. Satoi has a dog called Beans, where I have a cat and a rabbit. Satoi has 8hrs of school 5days a week, I only have 6hrs of school 5 days.

13. My experience of this project My experience on this project has been amazing!! I have loved every week of it and wish there were more weeks to come! Every Thursday I would get out of bed because I knew I would be going to the South Learning Centre to do some thing really fun! I would have never done something like this at school! Thank you for the great time Rosie!!!

14. THE END!!

15. Resources used www.worldatlas.com www.hoildaycheck.com www.wikipidia.org www.google.co.nz