Year Sixes Sponge Cities

Today Year 6 explored how estuaries and wetland are important for cities.  We used a lesson borrowed from the Sustainable Schools Team.

Firstly we listened to a poem which weaved the Maori World View into our water cycle.

Next we reviewed the water cycle in groups.

Methunee "The sun makes the water go up and water comes down and the lakes get full and it happens again"

Albert "The sunlight makes the puddles, sea, lakes and rivers warm and then they rise up"

Afterwards we experimented in the nghere with how water moves in our cities. 

 Jerry - "The forest floor soaked up our water"

Robyn "The water flows quicker through the pipe compared to the forest floor"

Conrad "The sponge soaked up the water like the forest floor"

We learnt how China is leading the way in creating sponge cities by mimicking nature. Cities need lots of green and blue spaces to soak up downpours. 

Mark "If we put sponges in the city they would act like forest floors."

"Wetlands take less time to soak up water"

Conrad "More trees, grass and dirt will mean you're less effected by floods"

Lastly we played a Kahoot to review. 

Year Four Ocean Voyagers

 

Today Year 4 learnt about the important role of ocean voyages to our island nation. 

We 'Got Thinking' by listing all the vessels we knew in five minutes. Some of our ideas included waka, dinghy, cruise ship and boogie board. Ritchie thought of 19 including "waka, dinghy, speed boat, Titanic, jet ski, surf board, navy ship and submarine."

We 'Explored' our ocean history by watching this: 

 And reading this Hui Te Rangiora: The Navigator

Indigo "When the Egyptians were building the pyrimids the Polynesians moved to the Pacific Islands"

Kadien "They found their way using the starsa and the clouds"

Kayla "The first person that came to Aotearoa was called Kupe"

Touma "NZ has won lots sailing competition"

Ava "Ancestors from south east asia moved to the Pacific Islands 4000 years ago"

Mukundi "Kupe came approximately 1000 years ago"

"Many ships visited New Zealand" Elsie

"Captain Cook arrived 500 years after Kupe" Kayla

Lucy "NZ has won sailing cups"

Hunter "4000 years ago people travelled into the Pacific"

Saane "All of the people travelled to New Zealand with their boats"

Lastly we 'Made Meaning and Connections' by using A4 pieces of paper to design and build our own waka.  We "Shared & Shined" by testing our boats to see if they floated and making improvements.

Year Three Tummy Tea

 Today Year Three continued to learn about the uses for the herbs we grow at our kura.. We investigated kawakawa, an important plant for Maori Rongoa (medicine).

We combined kawakawa leaves, mint leaves, SunnyHoney and hot water to make refreshing tea that soothes our tummies after all that Easter chocolate. 

Tino "Kawakawa is healthy for your tummy and teeth" 

Camelias "It tasted like mint and water" 

Emily "I didn't really want to try ot but when I did, I liked it" 

Coby"Kawakawa leaves with make medicine. No holes us better for tea"

Ciara "The tea was a light yellow colour" 

Annabelle "Drink it slowly so you can get the taste". 

Next time we're going to take part in our anual bird survey. 

Year Six Estuary Habitat Hunt

 Today Year Six looked at the variety of habitats our Tamaki Estuary offers.

We played a fun Kahoot to review what a habitat its, read posters describing estuary habitats and the animals that are adapted to live there, cut and pasted descriptors and their photos and lastly played an online create a mangrove habitat game.

What have we learnt today?

Frida "Lots of birds like salt marshes"

Stephen "Mangroves have roots that like to live in muddy shaded places"

Eliza "Over 300 000 litres of rubbish are collected out of the Hauraki Gulf every year"

Harry "Reefs increase the biodiversity of estuaries"

Ruby "There are lots and lots of fish in estuaries and we need to help them"

Tai "Salt marshes are one of the hidden treasures of the estuary"

Chloe "Seagrass is great homes for baby snappers"

Kayden "In the marches stoats, cats and rats feed on the baby chicks and eggs of seabirds"

Monique "Pests like cats live on the estuary edge"

Rory "Shellfish keep the estuary clean"

Carlos "Mud snails live in mangroves"

Eco Leaders - Citizen Science - Stormwater Sleuth Study

 Today the Eco Leaders discovered FOUR KGS of waste in our drain litter trap.  OH MY GOODNESS! What was all this waste destined for the Tamaki Estuary????

4 tiny pieces of soft plastic

6 tiny peices of hard plastic 

1 bottle top

1 piece of styrofoam

AND 4 KGS OF CLAY AND LEAVES

We think this came from the recent gardening work.  The left over dirt and leaves must have washed into the drain.

Unfortunately the reason our estuary is so muddy and murky and full of mangroves is from this type of thing washing down the outside drains.

What can we do??

Monique "sweep it onto a lawn instead"
Matthew "put waste in landfill not down the drain"

Year 4 Find Out About Tahora

 Today Year Four began their EfS lesson by estimating 15 metres.  We discovered there is an animal that lives in the Hauraki Gulf that is this long.  Wow!  It's the Bryde's Whale and they live in our neighbourhood all year long.

We read the Hauraki Broo by Nikki Robinson 

Nicolas "There are very few Bryd'es whales"

Peyton "A Bryde's whale is 15 metres long"

Hunter "It takes patience and time to find Bryde's whales"

Renee "They are medium size whales.  Ships crash into them so they need to slow down"

Emmersyn "They are smooth"

Hunter "The Hauraki Gulf is one of the few places the Bryde's whales live"

We learnt about what threatens the Bryde's Whale and how all the ships in the Hauraki Gulf have agreed to slow down.

Richie"I think the boats slowing down is one of the few things humanity has solved. It makes me feel happy that creatures in the ocean aren't dying"

What can we do?

Isabel "Fishing is a risk"

Indigo "Getting caught in a wave and going on shore"

Isabel "Ships need to slow down"

Pick up litter and bring a litterfree lunch

We learnt some Te Reo Maori words to describe the whales

Tahora - whale

Nui - big

Roa - long

Tino momona - fat

We sang a waiata to learn them - Tahora Nui Waiata

Room 6 collected 96 pieces of litter.  Well done! Sadly it sill lots of food wrappers.

Next time we are going to learn about how people voyage across our moana.

Room 4 had time to vote for the Fish of The Year https://www.mountainstosea.org.nz/fish 

Year Six Tamaki Estuary Exploration & Environmental Action

 Today Year 6 began our estuary inquiry.  We are going to be action learning for the Tamaki Estuary.  We are on a mission for our mahi to lead to authentic actions that will protect our local moana.

Some of our Estuary prior knowledge:

Ellen "Like a river"

Annabelle "There's trees"

Stephen "It's very watery and there's some mud sometimes"

Sophie "It's like a waterway"

Emme "It's got fish"

Matthew "It's got boats"

Ellen "It's got mangroves and eels"

Stephen "When the mangroves are small they are spikey"

Arta "People sail there"

Taanvi "There's underwater plants"

Albert "There's fresh water fish"

Oskar "There's takahe there"

After an introductory slideshow and Kahoot to review our new knowledge we recorded what we knew, our experiences, what we wondered and how we were going to find out more.

Some of our Wonderings:

Where does our estuary start and why does it start there?

Elizabeth "What plants grow there?"

Kayden "What types of fish live there?"

London "What is different about estuary fish.  What birds live there"

Harry "Will there still be estuaries in a 100 years?"

Eliza "Are there bees or wasps in estuaries"

Manushee "Are there any insects that live there"

Ruby "In 100 years will the estuary be better or worse?"

Where we thought we can find out more:

Rory "Google Earth"

Mark "Water testing"

Katara "Visit the estuary"

Zoha "Websites"

Annie "Young Ocean Explorers"

Jerry "Documentaries, books and Auckland City Council"

Lastly we took action:

K2 collected  211 of litter

K3 weeded the native bush area

k1 released trees in the bird corridor

Next time we're looking forward to learning more about the importance of estuaries and the different habitats they provide.