Year 6 - Estuaries and Te Ao Maori

 Today Year Six explored how Maori are connected to the whenua and whakapapa back to estuaries, rivers and maunga.  We talked about how Maori have a relationship of kaitiakitanga (guardianship) rather than ownership. This strong connection is shown in the mihimihi/pepeha introductions. Tai was able to share his pepeha with us.

We revised our knowledge of Te Reo Maori terms with a quiz

Next we explored the idea of kaitiakitanga by reading Kaitiaki of the Stream We discussed the challenges Maori face preserving their estuaries and streams with issues such as bush clearance, fertiliser run off and stormwater.  Our Eco Leaders are being kaitiaki tomorrow when we go to plant 800 trees we have grown to protect waterways in Clevedon.

Estuaries traditionally were places to gather kai and offered important transpor links for waka.  To end our lesson we created paper waka and tested if they floated.

NIWA Township Flood Challenge with Year Six

 As part of our Protecting Estuary Inquiry we have  been investigating how our local wetlands are important for mitigating floods. Did you know floods are Tamaki Makaurau's most common natural hazard?

We played this online simulator to try and plan for town flooding: https://niwa.co.nz/township-flood-challenge-game/introduction-township-flood-challenge-game 

It taught us lots of strategies!

Afterwards we teamed up to play the board game version kindly loaned by Sustainable Schools.

Here was some of our thinking and actions:

Addison "You have to be very careful with your money"

Elizabeth "I learnt that it was really hard for me to get enough money to move out of the flood plain"

Jerry "We had to come together as a community and donate to each other to be able to buy stuff to stop the flood damage"

Kaiden "I sold the farm first when  I had lots of money before there were more floods"

Flynn "It was a good idea to buy a rental property out of the flood zone because then we get income"

Monique "Our farm was damaged and we had no money so we tried to get a loan from the marae"

Corina "We don't want to loan to them because we don't think they will be able to pay us back"

Rebab "But without the farm you won't have any food"

The marae decided to rent a house from the landlord for 200k a year because it was out of the flood zone. They also moved the whare nui 

Jerry "If you get the money you have to move the cowshed back because that is what gives you income"

We liked the online version for learning the game and then the board game for generating discussion.

We all agreed it was important to think very carefully about the location of your first house away from flood prone areas.

Year 6 Estuary Animal Champions

 

Today Year Six revised how we can categorise the estuary animals into endemic, native, introduced and pest.  We want to promote which animals live in our local estuary so people value the esturary and it's biodiversity. We were lucky enought to have eDNA information about the animals living in the estuary from the Wakaaranga Eco Warriors - Wilderlab eDNA Report for Wakaaranga Creek

We thought about how to champion the animals in our local estuary:

Ruby said posters to display down at the estuary.

Elizabeth added we could create a play or video with estuary animals in it.  Ticket sales could support environmental groups.

Tai suggested creating short informative videos.

We broke into groups to plan our campaigns.

K1 groups - 

White Faced Heron Group

Cockles Group

Springtail Group

Pied Shag Group

Snapper Group

Banded Kokopu

Mosquito Fish Group

Short Finned Eel

K3 Groups:

Short finned eel

Kingfisher

Mud Crab

Morepork

Oyster Catcher

Pied Stilt

Red Bill Seagull

Godwit

K2 Groups:

Tui

Fantail

Pukeko

Variable Oyster Catcher

Godwit

dotterel

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 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"

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.